HAPPY   SUNDAY   !!!!!

HAPPY  SATURDAY    !!!!!!

Friday Cat Blogging

You didn't ask for it, but you got it...

Okay, it's kind of a contractual obligation that every blogger everywhere have an entry where we list nominees and who we want to win and who we think will win... Really, it's a rule, it's right up there with posting pictures of our cats. SO without further ado... Oh, also, Movie people slumming on cable and getting to cuss and do drugs and  get to have less fake looking fake sex,  will not get extra credit from the judges.

DRAMA SERIES:
"Boston Legal," ABC
"Damages," FX
"Dexter," Showtime
"House," Fox
"Lost," ABC
"Mad Men," AMC

Okay, lets get the deadwood out of the way first, shall we? Boston Legal? Really? Again? I watch it, I enjoy it but come on!  It's David E. Kelly's rebuttal to the accusations h only writes for skinny people that he can write for older, fat people too. I used to lust after James Spader when he was slimy in all those John Hughes movies, sadly today he isn't slimy as much as he is covered with chicken grease.  Nope.

Lost? Gonna lose.

 Moving on.. House? I love House! the writing is excellent and I think this season has been particularly strong with great performances all the way around. I applaud the shake up of the Ducklings and the lottery for the new positions. I love House because it makes the average Law and Order look like a pick-your-own-adventure book by comparison. I find procedural oddly comforting and there's nothing more comforting then saving the life of the victim of the week by 10:50 pm. Every Week.  But it's in what it's fourth season and its still without a win?  Nope. Moving on.

Dexter I didn't start watching this show until CBS began running a sanitized version on Sunday nights after Cold Case. Dexter is really good TV and I doubt sincerely that it would be getting the attention it's getting now if it had not been plucked from  Showtime obscurity to run on commercial TV, but it's in its third season and has been almost invisible on Showtime. Glorifying and somewhat justifying mass murder? Not gonna win. Moving on

Damages It has Glenn Close! It's about  high end corporate law and bad business practices that sometimes result in really tough quarterly reviews. Nah. Moving on.

Mad Men , It's about the old fashioned attitudes and old fashioned wacky clothes and old fashioned hair styles and Eames era furniture from the early in 60s and the old fashioned cigarettes they smoked in old fashioned days and the old fashioned drinks they drank at their old fashioned three martini lunches. It's when the men were men and the women were girls. The critics love it, it's fairly new it's on basic cable. Gonna win.

Should Win - House
Will Win - Mad Men


COMEDY SERIES:
"Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO
"Entourage," HBO
"The Office," NBC
"30 Rock," NBC
"Two and a Half Men," CBS

I never "got" CYE and I don't get HBO. It got a lot of attention that I also did not "get". Blah. Moving on.

Entourage. I like this show, I've Netflixed all the available episodes, but come on! It's not worthy of HBO, on network TV it would have been over in its second season. Seinfeld claimed it was a "show about nothing",  obviously, none of them ever watched Entourage because truly it is a show about NOTHING. No! No Emmy for them.

The Office. I work in a real office, I don't find  uncomfortable silences and pettiness and  mid level managerial dictators to be funny. Steve Carrol isn't the flavor of the week that he was. Not gonna happen.

30 Rock. Love. It. I want to take it behind the junior high and get it pregnant. I love it that much, this last season was not the wonder that was season one but it was still head and shoulders above anything else, with the exception of My Name is Earl which even in a season where it lost it's way, was still great, not as good as 30 Rock but great.

Two and a Half Men. Ew.

Should Win - 30 Rock
Will Win - 30 Rock


ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES:
Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie, "House"
James Spader, "Boston Legal"

If we remove from consideration shows I have never watched, this is a much tighter race. Spader who was oily is now greasy, Michael C. Hall makes murder sexy,  High Laurie is awesome . I vote for Laurie because by this time we should be tired of him winning every year, it would be nice if he could win this year.

Will - Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Should  - Hugh Laurie House

ACTRESS, DRAMA SERIES:
Glenn Close, "Damages"
Sally Field, "Brothers and Sisters"
Mariska Hargitay, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit"
Holly Hunter, "Saving Grace"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

Working again from the If I Never Saw It, It doesn't Exists para-grim. I would have to say.... Wow.  I don't like Mariska Hargitay, but I do like Holly Hunter from her film work. Have you ever watched Always?

Should - Holly Hunter
Will - Glenn Close

ACTRESS, COMEDY SERIES:
Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who?"
America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "New Adventures of Old Christine"
Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"

With the exception of Parker, lets hear it for actual TV actresses on  real, live network TV shall we?

Should - Tina Fey 30 Rock
Will - Mary Louise Parker Weeds


ACTOR, COMEDY SERIES:

Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
Lee Pace, "Pushing Daisies"
Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"
Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men"

This race hurts my feelings. I love Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock but at the same time I lurve Lee Pace on the criminally overlooked Pushing Daisies... Let's face it, 30 Rock is doing okay, it can survive Baldwin walking home empty handed, I'm sure his mouth will be wide open. Has there ever been an actor who needs to be kept as busy? Every time he gets time off he catches a nasty case of foot-in-mouth disease. I also really like Tony Shalhoub and Monk but he has like forty of them.

Should - Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies
Will - Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY SERIES:
Jon Cryer, "Two and a Half Men"
Kevin Dillon, "Entourage"
Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"
Rainn Wilson, "The Office"

I'm sorry, I fell asleep.

SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES:
Ted Danson, "Damages"
Michael Emerson, "Lost"
Zeljko Ivanek, "Damages"
William Shatner, "Boston Legal"
John Slattery, "Mad Men"

I either don't watch the shows or I don't care for the nominee.

Should - Micheal Emerson, Lost
Will - William Shatner, Boston Legal

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA SERIES:
Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal"
Rachel Griffiths, "Brothers and Sisters"
Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy"
Dianne Wiest, "In Treatment"
Chandra Wilson, "Grey's Anatomy"

Ibid.

Should - Diane Wiest, In Treatment
Will - Rachell Griffiths, Brothers and Sisters

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY SERIES:
Kristin Chenoweth, "Pushing Daisies"
Amy Poehler, "Saturday Night Live"
Jean Smart, "Samantha Who?"
Holland Taylor, "Two and a Half Men"
Vanessa Williams, "Ugly Betty"

Another feeling hurting race.

Will - Jean Smart, Samantha Who?
Should - Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies AND
              Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live

WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY PROGRAM:
"The Colbert Report"
"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart"
"Late Night With Conan O'Brien"
"Late Show With David Letterman"
"Saturday Night Live"

Everyone all ready knows that The Colbert Report and The Daily Show are phenomenal, but ...

Will - TCR or TDS
Should - SNL

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IN A VARIETY OR MUSIC PROGRAM:
Tina Fey, Host/Performer, "Saturday Night Live"

VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES:
"Saturday Night Live," NBC

2008 Emmy Nominations

Offical 2008 Emmy nomination list




CNNs parred down list

Vegetables and Dogger

There was a birthday party at work featuring tacos and I was able to supply the tomatoes! Yea! true, I supplied only the bare minimum of tomatoes and that was actually a melange of both varieties for the tacos, but there were tomatoes and they did get eaten. My tomatoes from my garden! Sigh, relevance at last.

I did not mention to the people eating my tomatoes that the little amount I had was worth it’s weight in gold and that they might as well be daubing truffles on their tacos, but I didn’t, I just said I grew those, those are mine.

The garden seems to be in waiting mode. I have nothing to harvest except for some of the tiny tomatoes and possibly the largest cucumber that I need to remember to go measure to see if it is at a length that is suitable for picking, according to my book they should be harvested when they are between six and nine inches in length. The longest cuke is a mere seven inches I think I’ll let it gestate a little longer before I present it to Alphagal.

Those puppies grow fast! I had one cucumber perking along and then I had the second one put in an appearance and then out of nowhere the third one showed up and I have two more fetal cukes waiting in the wings.

This tells me that while something is out there pollinating those things that is choosing to not pollinate my squash, another road block to squash husbandry is that my squash plants just do not produce female flowers - There is an official name for this, and usually they will sell you at least one plant of the other gender so that you can get some vegetables but oddly, I got twelve boy plants in two different squash varieties. This is how I’m couching my non-skill in squash farming. Its not me, its them

It’s all kind of moot for mine at this point as I pulled two more of the nutrient sucking beasts out of the ground to give the working plants a bigger piece of the air-and-water pie. The peppers seem to be busy doing something, it’s not entirely clear but they seem very busy  at it as do the eggplants. The larger tomatoes seem to be using their time to gestate; Which I totally approve of as these tomatoes are larger than the specimens that ripened earlier on that were sized more like “David” tomatoes than the advertised “Goliath”.

And how is Dogger? Dogger had a very good Tuesday and Wednesday and in fact, I’m thinking she might need a little more enforced downtime because I think she may not be taking it as slow and carefully as a dog on heavy pain killers and a blown knee should. I’m like, Hon! You’re drugged to the gills, sit back, watch your hand for a minute, listen to colors for a while... But I’m glad, its signs of life. I spoke with my regular vet today and she didn’t embrace Conservative Management as closely as I do. She brought up the Addison's specter and how the knee and everything that goes with it is taxing a system that does not need any further. I countered with that with 20/20 hindsight, it was clear that the knee had been taxing her for a while and I took her in to be examined because she was acting oddly four days prior to the accident and her lytes were perfect. She said Dogger is only acting like she is to please me and she gave me the impression that I am being selfish. She wants me to call her in a week and give her a report.

Hanging on


I’m not ready to let her go. I thought I was, but I’m not ready.

The surgery is not an option. If I win the lottery, then Sure! Lets do this thing!- but I don’t play the lottery. I am going to do nothing. Dogger and I are going to go the Conservative Approach or as it is popularly known, Let Go and Let God. Dogger and I are going to let nature takes it’s course. And I'm going to pray. A lot.

I had Made The Decision. And I felt good about it, I looked at how she was when I brought her back from the vets office and how she really went down hill as the evening went on. I thought is this it? Is this what it is going to be like? Watching her lie there and rot? She would not go outside, she would not void. She was unhappy. I was unhappy. I cried a lot. We were unhappy. I looked at how she was and I would not make her live like this.

I told my family and I called my vet. I even alerted my boss that I was going to need time off.

On Friday instead of Dogger and I seeing my parents and going to the beach, my parents were going to come up here to see Dogger and say goodbye. A long time ago I “wrote” tiny little doggy and kitty DNRs for my animals, there would be no heroics no artificial support. When my animals were ready I would listen and I would do my job as the Human and I would be humane, which I believe is guaranteeing a death with dignity and a life as pain free as possible. I promised both of my animals that when the came into my life, that I would take care of them for the rest of their lives.

It also means, if it comes down to it, deciding when that will be. It’s a serious responsibility, to be Gawd for your animal. Oh sure they’re cute when they’re all little and healthy but what about when that puppy or kitten becomes chronically ill? Or suffers a debilitating injury? Sure, for $2000 you can “fix” it but does your pet want to be crippled? Will they understand the sickness that comes with chemo or the pain that comes with rehab? Are you a hero for giving the animal more time or a monster for demanding more time?

If you are lucky your pet will age gracefully and pass on in their sleep. Terrible, yes, but natural and painless. But what if that doesn't happen?  Yea! Your pet is 17! blind, deaf and paralyzed, but Woo! 17 years old! When is it enough? It’s is the quality of their life or quantity of their life that is important to you?

I was ready to let Dogger go. But. A day later and she was smiling at me. She voluntarily went outside. She figured out which steps are the easiest for her to navigate. One day of practice and she is hopping around much more gracefully. I want to give Dogger time to heal, it’s not going to be fun. I doubt she’s going to love it. Am I being a monster for demanding that she spend the next six weeks effectively bed-fast? Am I subverting nature? But see, I’ve already suborned nature with both animals. They are both all ready medicated for conditions that would kill them if they didn’t take meds every day for the rest of their lives. They did not get to vote on this.

Dogger and I are going to take it one day at a time, she is on a strict diet and more or less crate-fast. For my part,  instead of my daily dog walk, I’m going to pull out my  bike and as I peddle along every day I’m going to pray that I can put my bike away again and go back to walking my dog. Pray for Dogger.

Yay!!!

She voided completely!!!  I was worried about impaction here folks, it had been two days. This is a huge deal. Yay!!!

Sunday the 13th

 

...my big activity for the day was to take Dogger for a walk and on our walk, she, I pray to God, just hurt one of her toes and the walk back home was kind of a nightmare.

Yeah. About that "toe". It wasn't her toe or her ankle or her hip. Dogger doesn't do things half way. She can't sprain something she has to blow her knee out which when it happens to Tiger Woods, she blew out her ACL.

The walk home Sunday night must have been tortuous for her but she did it for me. We were still close to the rec center when we passed an old woman sitting on a porch. This is a house where a lot of Doggers little kid friends live, I hope they didn't see us. The woman watched us struggle to cross the street and limp past her house and she said Our family will pray for you.

How did she know?

There isn't much good news to share. I took her to the vet and the vet called me later to tell me Dogger had suffered a Cruciate injury.  Prayer would be helpful.

There are possible solutions, the first is Do Nothing, site, which is essentially keeping the dog immobilized for six to eight weeks - You lock the dog in it's crate for six weeks.

Dogger  is still sedated and on  serious veterinary pain meds and she isn't completely conscience and she is all ready over her box. It's not a great solution but it is by far the cheapest. I kind of liked that solution. But more searching got me more sites and more opinions. Some said that this surgery was better than that procedure and then the next site said the procedure as all right, but the surgery was really the way to go.

They all agree that something has to be done.  My vet got back to me and gave me the name of the surgeon who takes care of this in the Raleigh area. That vets' office offers a credit plan that I have all ready been approved for - Which is nice because the surgery runs about $1700 and oh, by the way? Her other knee doesn't look great either.

Dogger and I was really looking forward to going to Marquette in the fall. I don't think we're going to make it.  Depending on what the vet tells me, Dogger will either be at the other end of her six week box sentence or be in recovery from the surgery. She and I have been crying together for two days.

Two Strikes


Well that was kind of a waste.

It’s one thing to get not-much-accomplished one weekend but to do it two weekends in a row? That’s irresponsible.

Saturday? Saturday I did laundry and washed the dog. I gave her a bath in the yard, ya know just to shake things up a bit, and it’s easier to clean up afterwards. I’m like, “shake on you crazy diamond! Make a mess! Do your thing!”.

She was back in the house post bath, and I was in the yard picking up towels and collecting shampoo and a unmarked cop car came tearing down the street and into the driveway of the house across the street from me, where there was nothing. The unmarked seemed pissed and then tore too fast down the street and out of sight.

My plan had been to wash Dogger and take her for a walk. Bath taken care of it was time for the walk and Dogger and I got just past the end of our street when Dogger refused to go further, and of course she did this right in front of a family having a cook-out, so we had an audience. They said the reason the dog would not move was “all the cops down there” And I asked where the cops were, so I might be part of a crowd of on lookers. Dogger wouldn’t walk any futher though and I tried everything to get her to move, I dragged, I cajoled, I picked her up by her harness and carried her, but it was to no avail.

On our way home Dogger and I met up with a group of girls who told me the cops were there to “Pick this guy up but then he ran between these houses and got away” . Well, that told me why the unmarked was upset when he got to the neighbors house but if anyone had fled though there, they were more stealthy than the cop had been. (edit to add - I spoke with the cook out family again Sunday evening and they said the cops search included police dogs and they did find the guy.)

Later on I watched two episodes of a My First Place on TLC. The first episode was about a nice couple in Alaska, he’s a firefighter and she’s clerical worker and they had spent years burdened with medical bills and ultimately had to declare bankruptcy Years had passed and they wanted to buy their own home, which they now shared with two children, the wife’s very ill, very elderly mother as well as the wife’s sister and her baby. They had to work really hard and go through a lot of paper work and being yanked around but they finally got a house it wasn’t 100% what they wanted or needed but they were happy to have it. I liked them.

The second couple was from San Francisco and they wanted a nicer condo, one nearer to shops and restaurants all for $700,000 . They looked at fifty places before they found the “right” one. It’s just hard to feel  for people when their biggest issue for house hunting seems to be that the property they are looking at is not close enough to their favorite trendy bistro and “compromise” is defined as granite counter tops that do not match their china exactly. I hated them.

Sunday I went to Mass and then came home and was stricken for want of a better word with a headache so bad it made me want to die, well first, tear off my head then die. It was awful! Every time I moved I got nauseated and it was just too bright everywhere I went. I finally went upstairs and went to sleep and only after the nap did it go away and that kind of blew my day because it didn’t clear up until early evening and so my big activity for the day was to take Dogger for a walk and on our walk, she, I pray to God, just hurt one of her toes and the walk back home was kind of a nightmare.

HAPPY     SUNDAY      !!!!!!!

HAPPY     SATURDAY    !!!!!

Friday Cat Blogging

Thank Gawd it’s not Thursday Anymore


I just had the weirdest day. It started off weird got progressively more weird and ended up kind of messy.

The Kitty decided at 3:35 Thursday morning that it was important that he gak . Nothing gets my attention faster than the sound of my cat gaking and if he can arrange to do that at o’dark thirty in the morning it’s just so much more special. So needless to say I was up with my glasses on and the lights all the way up and The Kitty is sitting there looking up at me with his little head cocked to one side saying It was some other cat that gaked. It couldn’t possibly have been me. I’m too cute to gak! and I’m thinking I don’t have another cat and how I am going to clean up the gak - at o’dark thirty in the morning. I couldn’t find it.

Truthfully, I didn’t look real hard, I hadn’t stepped in it yet so my interest waned. I found it much later, after I came home from work. What fun! But a whole bunch more fun than if I had found it at o’dark thirty.

I went to work. I’m driving along and as I’m passing by Moore Square a woman waves me down to stop. She didn’t look odd, she looked like a Soccer Mom that lost her way. I stopped to see what she wanted. She wasn’t a Soccer Mom. Once I had stopped the car that much became evident. She wanted me to roll down my passenger window. I did not. I asked her what she wanted. She wanted me to roll down my window. I rolled down the drivers window and asked her what she needed.

She needed a ride to Dix. It turns out she was a patient there oh, until recently and she had left AMA and now wanted to go back. I wished her God Speed.

She wanted me to take her back. She had been there for ten days and she was sure they would just be thrilled to see her as they had wanted her to stay longer anyway and it would be a happy reunion. I said I could not do that, I could not drop her off at a psych hospital like a sack of kittens. I would not do that to a human being, I would not do that to a sack of kittens. But she insisted and I kept saying I would not do that. Over and over again.


Her - Take me to DIX!

Me - I will not do that!

One, I do not pick up hitch hikers, I have a rule. Two, I do not pick up people and drop them at the door of a mental hospital. I don’t know how you go about being admitted to a mental hospital, but I don’t think you just walk in, ring the bell and get fitted for your straight jacket. And so I am sitting there parked in the middle of the street talking with this crazy woman and I keep trying to offer her options to her existing plan.

Me - You could call 911

Her - They won’t do anything. Just drop me off at DIX!

Me - No! There is a women’s shelter 75 feet from us, go ask them!

Her - They won’t help me! Drive me to DIX! Just drop me off!

Me - No I can’t do that. I will not do that. No, No, No!

Her - Drive me to Dix! They will be happy to see me!

Me - NO!

Her - Drive me to Dix!!!

Me - No! I can’t do that!

Her - circling my car and peering into my back seat while I quickly take an inventory of the assorted dog toys and garbage there that could be weaponized. Almost everything. Drive me to Dix... Just drop me off...

Me - No. I have to go ( not mentioning that I have to go to Dix)

Her - Do you have any money? I need a dollar for the bus.

Me - I have no cash.

Her - .15?

Me - I have no cash I have no change. I have to go now. I’m sorry!

Her - That’s okay, you were nicer than the other people who stopped.

I drove off. I felt really bad about this. It would be one thing if I didn’t actually work on the campus, but I work within sight of the hospital. It’s right there. But I just can’t, I just can not drop person off at the front door - If I could even find the right front door, and then leave them there. That would be cruel and wrong. What if they wouldn’t take her? Dix campus employees as a whole don’t really like random wandering loonies on campus. It’s frowned on. RWL break into cars and get into office buildings and steal things and make scenes and scare people.

And then I went to work and scanned pictures of a stage four bed sore. Don’t ask. If eating isn’t important to you, check google images. And then I came home and found  the cat gak and took Dogger for a walk and ended up covered with dog shit. It’s just been a really weird day.