"I should blog"

Zelda said it, not me.
"I should blog today".
I visited her site, no new entry...

Bad Bad Zelda...
Time to take her coffee away.
****
Sometime this week Zelda and I will become the proud parents of a set of All Clad cook ware.
We should be paying off all our debt, which we methodically are, first.
But life without toys...

Now... who gets to use it first?
***
This weekend we went cloth shopping.
Z is much more consistant about it than I.

J and I used to shop, at least look, regularly.
I am just begining to introduce the notion of 'window shopping' to Zelda.
(window shopping = just looking)

So far we seem to not be able to "just look".

Someday...
***
Zelda and I spend too much time in the living room.
Translation, we haven't fixed up the rest of the house yet.

Her studio is in place, but she hasn't used it yet.

"I need that box" which is hiding someplace we yet haven't found.

anyway,

focus on my issues, not others.
only way to change...

Modern Chemistry - Bunny Style

For the last several weeks Z has been on an anti depressant med as well as a sleep aid.
Her doctor told her I would see results and changes before she would.

Zelda is showing signs of happiness.

Mornings she now snuggles with me (and the benifits there of),
she isn't as grumpy in the car (even though the drive time is still just as bad and work load just as large),
She is more flirty.
Smiles more,
And is generally more fun to be with.
Upon reaching my office (half an hour through nasty traffic), even when she has had to wait on me, she hasn't seemed as faised by it anymore. (I haven't wanted to stop the car and push her out in a while.)

Yes,
I am seeing changes for the best for Zelda.

Interview News

Zelda's interview went well, though it seems eveyone's first comment at the office is,
"Are you SURE you want to work in the same office as your wife?".

I have thought about it, as has Zelda.

We have both worked in offices where family members were in charge.
Technically, Z and I do not work for the same company.

And though we will be 50 feet away, in an open office, I won't neccessarily interact with her every day.

We are professionals, and adults.
We will not set rules, but instead, standards for our interactions to meet.

After all, it's business.

The landscape company she interviewed with handles many, if not all of our commercial landscape designs, ie, the Starbucks I am working on at the moment. But I am all about paving over the world, and she'll be planning 'growies' and pools for obnoxiously rich people.

I'm somewhat jealous.

I had thought about double majoring in landscape Architect, but A&M College of Architecture, due to the work load, limits double major Architecture students to one other degree, Construction Science.
No French minor, or psychology architects for A&M...
Save that for graduate work...

They are going to put together an offer for her next week.

Zelda told me this morning, that if the numbers are right, and even though it makes her VERY anxious to make the switch into unknown territory, she will accept.

Good thing is, her current salary is right in line with what they pay for intern landscape designers.

A space is a space, whether it's inside or out...

Summer Reading

I have been "reading" a book about small homes. 1,300 s.f. or less.

The smallest so far is 267 s.f.

Just think...

The average mortgage these days is 150,000 to 300,000. (Double it with the interest added over 30 years and it becomes 300k to 600k).

The new homes are upwards of 2,000 s.f.

If for simplicity's sake we take 2,000 s.f. and divide it into 200,000, that's $100 per square foot.

That is not much these days. It'll get you decent flooring, gypsum walls, and some token trim.

Now let's take that same amount and reduce the square footage down to something liveable.

Say 1,000 s.f.

That gives $200 a s.f. and you can do some nice things to and with those spaces.

Alternative construction techniques, maybe solar cells, insulated light panels, a wind generator, rammed earth wall. Something that will pay you back in time...

And in the mean time, you'd have a really cool house.

Today

Zelda's phone interview turned into a "come talk with us" interview which she had today.

Kind of sureal to hear one's spouse in the back ground at the work place when that loved one works else where.

She has been asked back for a second interview with the big cheese.

Her (possible future) big cheese and my big cheese have been sharing office space for years.

I hope she gets it.

She doesn't yet know plants, but she knows business place.

We'll see.

Small world...

Yep

still like my new job.

Zelda is going to have a phone interview tomorrow with the Landscaping company that also shares our office space.

We'll see...

Go figure

I bought some new "hip" shoes couple of months back.

Zelda likes them too.

She calls them my "sexy shoes".

I have "sexy shoes".

Alas, my butt

my butt is only


"cute".



Sigh,

go figure...

Family over

Last night Jack, my youngest brother stopped by to say, "hi", and finally meet Zelda.

Some where in a past life he got some bad karma.

He got a hard start in life.

He and his brother were given up by their birth mom with in days of his entry into the world.

(She loved drugs more than being a mother.)

From there, my mom married his father and gave him a home.

But due to Dad's up bringing, he got in the way of mom being a mother to Jack.

Dad was also adopted.

And although his father was very successful in life,

died a millionaire,

married over 60 years,

remarried at 86 after 10 years of taking care of an invalid wife,

and was an accomplished wood worker.

He was first generation American, constantly strived to improve himself.

But as a father,

and grand father,

he simply



sucked.

He had photos, not of his family, nor his adopted son, but of a house he built.

Misplaced priorities.

I believe dad, in an effort to compensate for his own childhood, made Jack a friend.

Mom was not allowed to raise him.

Mom should have been more ballsy and played the divorse card.

She didn't and it split the family.

Mom and the rest of the family,
dad and Jack.

This made Jack the perfect scape goat for me and my other brother.

It's not healthy for anyone.

Jack can't keep a job.

And the ones he gets are dead end.

He's turned out to be a great guy, he just hasn't been able to conform to society.
****
It got Zelda and I talking about how we have been influenced by things in our childhood that we can't seem to out grow.

Zelda and a friend of her's were molested at the public pool by the father of a school mate.
They were 8.
Eight year olds don't know how to process that kind of violence.
And then children watch to see how the adults react.
Her mom was frightened by the notion the perv would know where they lived.
This frightened Zelda even more.

That, like Jack's abuse, was in the '70s and education about what should be done and the dangers wasn't there.

That man was never arrested.

Never locked up.

Hopefully an angry parent of one of his victims,

solved the problem, (I would have...)

but to think of how many women he has affected.

****
Because of dad's poor parenting skills,
Jack wasn't allowed to have a mom.

Physics says that for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I missed out on a father.
****

Bunny Sister and family stopped by today for barbeque and a visit.

The one eyed nephew also joined us.

His doctor seems to be quite the character.

Spudly, the one eyed Corsair, was informed that his eye could shrink, as the lens has been removed and this may cause the retina to detach.

But...

this is a one in 5,000,000.

Or, he could have contracted a fungus from the wire.
Which would require reopening the eye, cleaning it, and treating it with fungicide.

But...

he would had to have be exposed to the correct fungus.

Or the eye could colapse and he would have to operate on a "bloody mess".

But chances are that it would never happen.

Right now his biggest threat is the eye shrinking due to the loss of the lens.
(*see* above).

But now he can run with scissors with out worring.


I know, I know, it's all fun and games till someone looses and eye.


What does one eyed sailor say?


"Aye captain."

****
It was nice to have Bunny sister's family down. We had dinner, Zelda and Bunny Sister talked.
I made brownies.

And at the end of the evening, we sat out in the gazebo, enjoyed the cool breezes, and shared family stories of mom, dad, and our early years.

Update

I wasn't sure what to say to Cowboy.

I asked Zelda and she recommended I keep it short and professional.

I am not his boss after all.

Today as I passed by, he was closing an internet window.

My comment was simple, "That's going to get you in trouble one day".

He played dumb.

"What? I couldn't hear you."

I repeated my self and he again played dumb...

I left it at that.

But I think I'll make a noise like that everytime I pass by if he's doing something he shouldn't.

It was fun...

I love my new job!

My new work place is wonderful.

The people are great, knowledgeable, caring, and professional.

And they like to have fun as well.

T and I sit down at one end of the space, with the 'long timers' down at the other.
They are my age and 3 of the 4 are fellow Aggies.

Many a day I have heard whistling comming from the 'east side'.

The ole "whistle while you work" has a twist.

Christmas songs are popular, as are 50's lounge tunes.

And they tend to be catchy.

Seems they can't stand a solo, and are compelled to join in chorus.

"Jingle bells' in the key of Oh!"
*****

Originally, they had wanted a drafting grunt when I interviewed.

I told them that was not what I was looking for,
so they changed the job description to fit me.

I want to do "everything" and so far, they have given me a lot of rope.

T supervises our end of the building and he's great.

Very calm, friendly, and usually gets there before everyone else and many times is the last to leave. (I only recently learned he's had a heart transplant!)

Tomorrow we get an intern for the summer.
A friend's daughter majoring in Interior Design.

Hopefully she'll be a useful part of the office and not a burden as has been my experience with interns. (specifically Interiors majors, I've had two)

So T will have to *supervise* me (not really),
the intern,
a new guy we have coming in,
and Cowboy.
*****
Cowboy has been with the company for some time now, and is the exception to the rule about great workers.

Cowboy likes the girls,
and meets many of them on line,
at work...

They had decided to remove the 'grunts' from the internet so as to stop this activity.
But since I am not a grunt... they instead decided to leave Cowboy on the net for the time being so as to not cause waves...

In reality, it seems to me that they are lying to him and not being up front and honest.
(your work is poor, you should not be on the internet, you are about to be fired)

But I am not privy to their conversations and do not know what's transpired between the three of them other than Coach knows about the net distractions...

I walked past his desk the other day and one of his 'ladies' had sent him a candid photo of her with out her clothes.

Which he happened to *enlarge*,

just

as I was passing by.

Coach, our boss, would not like this if he knew it.

But coach,
like his name,
tries to see the good in everyone,
giving them their turn at bat,
even if he's sure they will only strike out.

Up till now I haven't said anything to Cowboy.
But tomorrow I'll have too.

The new intern will be seated behind him.

She shouldn't be taught bad habits.

(nor as we all agreed, be subjected to him)

2) My silence,
even though I do not have the authority,
is giving him the,
"it's okay to do that on company time"
from me.

And it's NOT okay.

Maybe if he was able to get his work done on time and accurately.

But time after time T has to check his work and red line it over and over.

And ultimately T and I had to correct his work on his last project.

We can't seem to figure out why he misses so many things...

(he's not on the internet 100% of the time after all, but my thinking is that he is interupted often enough with IM that he forgets where he was in the work...)

He can't even get the walls in the right place, let alone the details...

T told Coach that he would no longer be able to watch over him and that Coach would need to supervise.

Coach isn't always around to ask how to do something, but T, T is always there...

So, I am working my courage up to talk to Cowboy,
in a professional,
respectful manor.
Trying to be diplomatic and 'fair' as my position will allow.

But this has got to stop...
And I have to do what I can with in my limits.

This company allows me to step up and lead.

And that is something I'm ready to do.

What can I say?

I love flowers!

In the begining, Zelda made...

Somethin' good!

The newest memeber of the Kamikazi Grrrlzz, Coco, sent me a care package.

(Zelda enjoyed teasing me with "I know a secret! about you, and I'm not tellin'!)

I received a fedex package Saturday as we were unloading the groceries.

Thanks Coco!

They are yummie!

Only one question:

Where's the rest?!

Huh?

I'm not a fan of basketball.

Recently the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, (who brought you streaming audio on the web), was fined by the NBA for a blog entry.

You can follow the link above (purple titles) and read it for yourself.

It cost him $100,000.00!!!!

What ever happened to Free Speach?

(by the way, Mr. Cuban sold the streaming audio technology to Yahoo, became a billionaire over night, and bought the Mavericks because basketball is his first love)

Sleepy time

I am happy to say that Zelda has been sleeping soundly through the night on her new meds.

It took some trial and error but she has found the right dosage.

Sweet dreams love...

Herpes, the other std

For anyone who hasn't slogged through the old original posts, when Herpes was something "new and scary", here's some history.

Neither Zelda nor I "slept around" nor caught it with a 'one night stand'.

We both contracted this little virus from people we were dating at the time. And at the time, we were committed to them.

Over 99% of the population has the cousin of herpes simplex virus (causing cold sores), chicken pox, which causes blistering all over the body. This family of viruses live in the nerve cells. Which is why, currently, there is no "cure". Unlike skin cells, or other types of cells, that die and are replaced, nerve cells are permanent.

Very shrewd virus, wouldn't you say?

Now that we are married, I don't think Zelda has an outbreak nearly as often as she once did.

I notice them for myself, but seeing as we are all different, the virus also expresses its self based on the person. I have a slightly painful sensation in my right groin where the nerve runs back to the spinal chord. I am having one today.

It's no big deal.

I saw an add the other day for Valtrex (valcyclovir) which made claims that it is the best medicine for stopping outbreaks and for preventing transmission to others.

I was given a perscription for Valtrex back when I was single, shortly before I met Zelda.

Valtrex is new to the market, so there isn't a generic for it at the moment.
And it is very expensive.

There is another drug on the market for the treatment and supression of herpes, called Acyclovir. This one IS a generic.


Their claim in the advertisements is that Valtrex stays in the system longer and thus "is best".

The literature on the Valtrex box compares the different Rx for herpes treatment.
The literature IN the Valtrex box shows that the longest medically tested supression is given by the inexpensive, generic, older, Acyclovir, not valtrex.

Valtrex is a tweaked version of Acyclovir so that the drug companies can make money.

They are not interested in finding new drugs for those with this very common disease who have the painful outbreaks.

The best protection for stopping transmission?



The good ole condom.

Chocolate Love

For Valentines day this year,
Zelda's bestest friend sent us chocolates from a mail order company she formerly worked for.
(and although it sounds odd for my wife's best girl friend to be sending us (Zelda) valentines candy, it is all above board.)

In the care package were some chocolate truffles that were

ab
so
lute
ly

Incredible!

the mouth feel...

I have heard some women describe certain foods as "better than sex".

These truffles, although Nothing compared to sex, are as close as one's mouth could get to an orgasm...

check out the link above and try it for yourself...

more flowers

Pass

My results from the latest Arch. exam came back last weekend.

Pass.

Next one comes up the first part of June...
Haven't been studing enough for it yet.
Began tonight at the corporate coffee while Zelda worked out.

She always has a better attitude when she works out.
A sense of accomplishment and forward movement.

Keep going sweetheart!

And on that note, I'm glad to see my beeoootiful wife has blogged tonight...

Beady eyes

Will wonders never cease?

One of the things that attracted me to Zelda was/is the artist in her.

I knew she painted.
I knew she worked in bead work.
And sculpture.

Yesterday she took me to a web site where her work is posted for sale.

(She wants to start her her company back up!)

It's beautiful stuff, check it out for yourself.

You can visit her blog and take her link to "A thousand Ages", a web site by her bestest friend and her husband, and all the bracelets on the site are Zelda's!

(I had visited the link before, and had admired the jewelry, *even contemplating purchasing something for Z*, but didn't know till yesterday who the artist was.)

Or, you can follow this link.

http://www.athousandages.com/cgi-bin/ages/scan/st=db/co=yes/sf=category/se=Bracelets/va=banner_image=/va=banner_text=.html?id=t3kPSLh7

What do you call...

For Zelda and I, the "One eyed Nephew" jokes have begun.

What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs in a swimming pool?

'Bob'

What do you call a One eyed nephew?

Karl...

It's letting off the steam...

Here's my sister's blog.

http://metoody.blogspot.com/