Tuesday, January 31, 2006

observation....

MK: you've seen these stories about there being pictures of jack abramoff with the president?

RTO: yeah sure.

MK:so?

RTO:

MK: i mean, we've got pictures of your dad with bill and hillary clinton, but i don't think any less of him for it.

Monday, January 30, 2006

oh yeah...

we saw a red light camera in action the other night. this little red suv ahead of us ran the light and there was much flashing. heh.

course every time we see a story about those things rto says, "i thought those were illegal. what happened?" but does he ever look it up!? no. apparently they're legal. plano added a few more today. w007!

light posting....

for a while now because there just isn't much happening here. or the really entertaining things, i really can't divulge in public. or i could, but it could end up being a career limiting move.

librarything saves the evening!

i was pretty sure i had a copy of the beumarchais plays for figaro, but after a couple searches not finding it i checked the librarything. yep it was in there, so that narrowed down the search since i haven't entered the scary bedroom shelves yet. i found the book shortly after that. yay!

Saturday, January 28, 2006

neighborhood kitty update....

so yesterday while i was sitting here i heard meowing. (when i told rto about this he was like "yeah, our cats do that) but it wasn't one of ours. so i went to the front door and looked out the window, sure enough, there was the orange and white kitty. i went to grab my camera but he took off before i could get a picture. i stepped outside and he was in the bushes, so i did get a few pictures (they're still on the camera though) anyway, i'd been wondering if he was still around since the people living next door are different and might not still be feeding him. a couple days ago i spotted a tabby with no tail as i was leaving for work. on the way home i saw him and the orange and white kitty together. hmmmm, so then the next morning as i went out to get the paper i spotted both of them on our front step, they took off when i opened the door. aaaaaaw. i don't think either of them have collars and they won't let me get near them, still it's fun to see them.

Friday, January 27, 2006

more bank ranting, or something like that.....

rto mentioned yesterday that as part of a class they had on customer service he had to call someone. so he chose to call one of our credit card providers. specifically, bankeone or chase as it's now called. see, when you're deployed some fun things kick in such as this:

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)
Formerly Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act (SSCRA)


and in regards to creditors specifically, this part:

Section 207
- Maximum rate of interest on debts incurred before military service


(a) INTEREST RATE LIMITATION-
(1) LIMITATION TO 6 PERCENT- An obligation or liability bearing interest at a rate in excess of 6 percent per year that is incurred by a servicemember, or the servicemember and the servicemember's spouse jointly, before the servicemember enters military service shall not bear interest at a rate in excess of 6 percent per year during the period of military service.


anyhoo, rto jumped through all the hoops, sent letters to everyone, and bankone/chase sent me a nice letter stating that this didn't apply to our card because rto was not the primary on the account. i didn't throw a fit about it because i don't think we had much on it at the time. so he called yesterday, told them he's about to deploy again and they better cooperate. he says that the rep he talked to tried to imply the law had been changed lately so they would comply. cute. i told him he should have added that citibank reduced our interest rate to 0%, they are that cool. he wasn't aware of that. oh well. it's just entertaining how weaselly they are.

you will not ignore the cat. Posted by Picasa


update: evil sarhj has already made a couple pshops of this. why he can't shop his own kitties i'll never know.

also, carnival of the cats is up at tbifoc.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

had to work today....

yipee!! :-I

anyhoo, last night i dreamt about sleeping. i was telling someone about how i was a champion sleeper. i was living in some kind of dorm and i had the top bunk in my room. i really only remember telling someone how i had everything arranged on my bed to acheive maximum sleeping comfort.

yeah, how sleep deprived am i?

Monday, January 23, 2006

to lighten the mood

Posted by Picasa

world's happiest dog?

also, bill clinton makes a guest appearance on Alien Loves Predator.

so this makes me feel better.....

The day of the depressed

If you are feeling slightly less enthusiastic than normal today then rest assured you are not the only one.


That is because, according to Cardiff University psychologist Cliff Arnall, today – January 23rd – is the most depressing day of the year.




saw an article about this in the paper, thanks! i needed an excuse for not getting out of bed til one o'clock! almost didn't make it, but thought "no, there's no reason for this, i've got a few things to do" little did i know. i did, however, put in twenty minutes on the bike, so today isn't a complete loss.

so i'm a little slow on the uptake....

last night at rehearsal we watched an old performance of suor angelica. so here's the thing, i've listened to this thing a few times now and i'm always a little amused towards the end when angelica decides to kill herself, she starts saying goodbye to everything and it's the happiest sounding music in the whole opera. (at least to me) but i couldn't quite put my finger on why it struck me, until seeing it last night and it hit me. it's so perfect, she's upset until that moment she decides to end her life. duh. i know, i know, most people probably don't think about suicide as making a person happy and i think that's why puccini got it right. anyhoo, was a bit dissapointed with the dvd they did some weird thing with the ending, they keep the camera tight on angelica and then overlayed (i think) some picture of the madonna and child (so no clue what it looked like on stage). i thought, "great, just destroy the redemption angle on that."

backing up.... angelica is in the convent because she had a child out of wedlock, during the opera we find out she's been there for seven years with not a peep from her family, then her aunt shows up, tells her her sister is getting married and angelica needs to give up her inheritance. angelica throws a fit and asks about her son, is told he died a couple years ago, so angelica kills herself by drinking poison (so she's got some time to sing)but at the last moment realizes she's just condemned herself to hell so she prays to the BVM and in most stagings, the statue of Mary comes to life and brings a little boy out to meet angelica as she dies. see!? God isn't so hateful! he understands! and whoever directed the La Scala version way back when just totally ignored that. gah! that's almost as bad as the time i saw the Barber of Seville and the director had figaro and all the servants kill everybody at the end. (hello!!!? what about that other opera where he gets married!?)

Sunday, January 22, 2006

finally got some christmas time pics off the camera. surprisingly i didn't really get any good pictures of eddie! so here's dad and sparky. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, January 21, 2006

still loading.....

still keeping busy getting my cd's onto the hard drive.... it's looking like i'll have to ditch the classical stuff and rto has said he can probably get me another drive for it. yay! anyway, i knew i had a lot. now if i could just figure out how to get the records converted......

Thursday, January 19, 2006

so subtle....

Dear maggie ,Here is your horoscope for Thursday, January 19:

It's time to get your body moving. Dance, yoga and swimming are all activities that will help center and soothe you. In fact, you might just find all that movement helps you solve a weighty problem.

truth be told we bought an exercise bike shortly after new years, i've been riding it 15 to 20 minutes every day (well, okay, except Sunday). i had a friend that slimmed down that way, very inspiring. anyhoo, we'll see how this turns out.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

4 more weeks!!!!!

because I RAWK! okay, calming down now. no really. remember that whole lady with the flu would i come back this week? well, it got to be 4:30 today and I hadn't heard anything official, so i called the temp agency. they called me back about ten after five. show up tomorrow and the next three weeks. yipee.

busy, busy...

okay, not really.

rto gave me an ipod shuffle for christmas. so i asked him to also get me an external hardrive so i can get all my music in one place for shuffling. only thing is, the drive he pieced together uses both usb ports on my laptop, so that doesn't quite work. he said he'd bring me a hub then. yay! cause i'm getting kind of tired of the few things that are loaded on the laptop. How much Hanson can one girl stand?

Monday, January 16, 2006

not sure what i would do in this situation...

funny, but not.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

why is this on the front page of my paper?

Granny declines enlistment invite
Army's invitation flattering, but soldier's life not for 87-year-old


sure, it's amusing, but come on! or did i miss an oppurtunity? i'm calling the local news next time i get an aarp card in the mail. (i get them occasionally since i turned 18. came across the latest while cleaning out my desk the other day) but then they aren't part of the government so maybe the press wouldn't be as interested. they even ran a story about this on channel 5 last night (though i can't find it online) *sigh*

nasty carlos

so last night, roxie's all curled up on her blanket. carlos is walking by and stops. i started watching, thought "wow, he's getting close to her and he isn't growling maybe he's just gonna curl up next to her!" ha! about that time he swings at her. ugh. not very hard mind you, and he missed, still didn't hiss, and roxie didn't move through the whole thing, so maybe there's hope.

Friday, January 13, 2006

out of sight, out of mind....

I almost forgot this. please, go wish him well, even though he probably won't see it for a few days.

soldiergrrrrrl update...

i think i mentioned when she had a photo picked up by yahoo a few months ago. but then a few days ago she found it on an anti war site. anyway, mudville gazette, has a nice piece about it today.

(fingers crossed) i'm not sick yet.....

looking good so far. anyway, nothing real exciting happening here.

it's really windy outside, seems we just missed getting some storms here last night. oh well, i tried, i washed my car and finally plugged the sprinkler system back in the other night. the other weird thing last night was it smelled smokey outside. it hit me when i let the puppy inside, but i didn't see any signs of a fire nearby.

anyway, no plans for today, woo hoo!

when rto is gone, carlos gets very insistant about sleeping on my head. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

i'm doomed! DOOMED!!!!!!

good news first, i don't have to go to work tomorrow. bad news part of it.... it's because the lady i work with has the flu and won't be back til next week. yay! anyhoo, my assignment most likely will be extended, i guess i don't care one way or the other. but yeah, she came to work today, went to the doctor this afternoon and called saying she wouldn't be back. she OFFICIALLY HAS THE FLU!!!! ugh, so here's hoping i didn't get too close to her, or that my immune system is feeling up to fighting. (and oh yeah, rto's gone til sunday, so if i do get sick, it won't be pretty)

other weird thing got a tax bill from Garland ISD, which, is normal, but it's addressed to, well, someone that doesn't live here (and no, it's not even rto's other wife Nicole ;D) actually got two! i decided to open one, because seeing someone else's name with my address on a property tax bill is a little worrying. so it gets better! property description had the house number of the house next door. course i get home too late to talk to anyone about it, fortunately i'll be home tomorrow.

oh, and since he's gone, i've made a post at rto's. and it's not really related to this, so go check it out.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

seemed like a good time....

to see where i am on the reading pile..... last post was in July?

seems like i've made a very slight dent.....

side table: (by the couch)
Sept 2004-March 2005 Smithsonian
Autumn 2004 and Winter 2005 Wilson Quarterlies.

Nightstand (which holds up well considering all that's piled on it):

First Stack:

Current (December 2005) Classical Singer - (i cracked this open today)

Audition Connection (opera america) uh, December 2003- December 2005 there's ONE article in each of these. you'd think i could take the time to read it. *sigh* oh, and they're bi-monthly, so it's not as bad as it sounds.

Voices-OPERA America's Bulletin for Singers- Winter 2004 and Winter 2005 (not sure what's up with that) (oh, says it's published three times a year, so where are the other two?)

Newsline - OPERA America - Jan. 2004 thru Nov/Dec 2005 -(10 issues a year) (whoa further down the pile i found September 2003 and Nov/Dec 2003, this is obviously priority reading)

mental_floss - Sept/Oct 2004 thru May/June 2005

Texas Music Teacher - Winter and Spring 2005

Anime for Girls - rto got this for me

Reader's Digest - January, March 2005 (this is all?)

some piece of mail about a piano course....

Why Cats Paint

American Music Teacher - April/May, June/July 2005

oh, and the NYT Sunday Crosswords Omnibus volume 4 lives here.

Second Stack:

Making Money Teaching Music

Brains that Work a little Bit Differently

Holy Blood, Holy Grail

Kindaichi the Killer parts 1 & 2

Hello Kitty: the remarkable story of Sanrio and the billion dollar feline phenomenon.

Reader's Digest - January 2006

Thou Art That - Joseph Cambell

Pathways to Bliss - Joseph Cambell

whee! have i mentioned i can't remember the last book i read? well, except for what rto and i read on trips. we finished the Kite Runner last night. it made rto cry a couple times. and i think the last time i was caught up on periodicals was 2002.

good news....

Soldiergrrrrrl is back in the states. and guess who she ran into? that would be quite the homecoming. ;D

Monday, January 09, 2006

something to do....

go here. to read about operation: love our troops. or just go straight to their site to leave a message.

so maybe rto isn't sooooo bad....

there's coffee today. i was thinking i'd have to make a pot, but it's already made. yay!

still not feeling a hundred percent, think i may have a good cough going by tomorrow. (i can just feel this thing working it's way down the ol' respiratory tract) it made for some craptacular singing last night. not that anyone cared.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

i'm sick

thanks rto. >:(

Friday, January 06, 2006

kabob kick

guess what we're having for dinner tonight?

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

still hating w*rk....

and freaking out about what a musical hack i am. *sigh*

so here's the thing, i've been not saying anything about this so i don't jinx it or wake up or something..... after the whole cinderella thing, which i thoroughly enjoyed, i've been thinking maybe i should just forget the opera thing, i'm not so motivated as others and well, i'm a goof. then we get home from christmas and i've got a letter from the opera, didn't get cast (which is really no surprise)but! was offered the chance to cover a role. which is cool! seeing as i don't have any experience. this is a step up for me. i guess i'm just doing the usual second guessing, "what the heck have i gotten myself into?" mental gymnastics at this point. oh well.

i'm sure i'll calm down at some point. which brings me back to w*rk. i hate it. yeah, yeah, who doesn't?

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

can't....resist.... cat burglars!

just saw this on the news. who steals a cat at gunpoint? and they picked the bad photo of him for the story, there was another one on tv where he looked a little more lovable. here he looks like "why did you steal me? i kill you!"

i have no money....

but iowasoccermom is auctioning some of her paintings to raise funds for a keyboard. go check them out.

Monday, January 02, 2006

super magie mouser puppy...

rto just let the puppy in. i told him he better find the mouse the cats were playing with earlier. he's looking for it, the puppy comes running back towards me.

MK: what's in your mouth puppy?

Roxie: nothing

MK: *looks down to see mouse that has been dropped at her feet* well, that was quick! here you go rto.

i felt kinda bad earlier cause the kitties were going to town with the mouse. they don't usually get them anymore because the puppy eats them. unlike today, i usually only find half of one after the puppy gets it. stupid puppy.

eeeeeeeeeee!

the beltway boys just came on! good thing rto conked out a while back. ;D