Things that make me crabby ...

1) Totally WRONG usage of quotation marks and apostrophes.
Recent examples: New "May" hours
Try our new steak's
Wrong. Just totally WRONG!

2) Luxury SUVs. I mean, really. Isn't the purpose of an SUV is to haul stuff - like camping equipment, wet dogs, compost, etc. It's supposed to get dirty. It's supposed to be lived in. What is the point of having a huge vehicle upholstered in light colored LEATHER? (And don't get me started on the environment destroying aspect of the whole SUV movement!)

3) Soccer Moms who don't know how to drive their luxury SUVs. All right. This one really pisses me off. If you can't drive the frickin' automobile, stay off the road so those of us who know how to drive can get to where we need to go. And no, just because you stopped your vehicle there does not mean you are in an actual parking spot! Sheesh!

4) Grumpy waitresses. For some reason, I've never had a grumpy waiter. Just lucky, I guess. I went out last weekend and the waitress we had was a) barely dressed and b) had an attitude larger than Manhattan Island. I call it the "I-really-don't-want-a-tip" attitude. Huffy and all put out. Look, Chickee, I'm sorry you aren't thrilled to be working tonight. Believe me, I'm not thrilled you're working either. Just do your job, don't give me attitude and I won't give you attitude. Capeesh?

5) Bo lost!! Oh, woe, oh, Bo! You'll always be my American Idol. And at least you got to sing with Lynard Skynard. I never thought I was a Southern Rock kinda girl until you came on the scene. *Sigh*

6) Thongs. I'm not explaining this one.

7) Brittany Spears. No explanation needed on this one, either.

8) Chain e-mails. I don't care how many of these darn things I get, I'm not going to win the lottery if I send them out to 10 people in the next 5 minutes. It just doesn't work that way!

9) People who don't understand personal space and/or other social graces. So there is this guy I see almost everyday when I'm running for my bus in the evening. And I do mean running. My bus leaves at 5:55 and my train usually gets in around 5:53. I have figured out where in the train I need to sit in order to get out the door, into the station, down the escalator, out of the station, across the parking lot, across a street, and across the bus terminal to the bus. This guy hollers out to me, while I'm running down the sidewalk to try to make the bus "How was your day? How is your boyfriend? How was work?" etc. etc. When I miss the bus and have to wait for the 6:10 or when (gasp) the train is early and my usual bus isn't there, this guy comes right up to me, invades my personal space and starts talking away. Yes, I know he's not all there and he's really a nice guy and blah blah blah. I am perfectly nice to him when he's there (and I've learned way TMI about this dude) but it still makes me crabby.

10) Cleaning the litter box (oh come on, I had to bring the cats in here somehow!)

Bombs away...

So yesterday there was a bomb scare outside my office. The police cordoned off two blocks of Madison Ave for about 1.5 hours. I managed to get to work on time yesterday so I was in the building. The police stopped letting people in a few minutes after I got to work. By leaning waaaaaay out of the windows, my officemates and I could sort of see what was going on. The most interesting by far was the fact that the Starbucks on the corner was still serving people coffee - even though the customers couldn't get in. Yep, all the barristas were out on the sidewalk, taking orders over the police tape and delivering coffee - until the police ordered them back inside. Bombs be damned to those in need of their morning cuppa joe.

As far as I know, the bomb scare was just that - a scare and no bomb. Just some boob who left a package sitting on the corner or something. Or at least that's all I've heard. I guess these things are so common now that they don't even make the news unless the thing actually explodes. Kinda sad when you think about it.

New Address!

Thanks to my always awesome friend RT, I have changed the address to this blog and I have shed the guilt I felt over "borrowing" the name Slave2MyCat. (Get it? *shed* I crack myself up).

I've had a really yucky couple of days where I was annoyed at everybody and everything but I'm much more chipper today. Hooray for Fridays!

I finally bought a squirt bottle to squirt Isabella when she defies me jumps on the kitchen counters and starts knocking things off. I had to use it last night when she keep getting on the sink in my bathroom and knocking my contacts into the trash can. I must have gotten her because when I got up this morning, she had pulled all the TP off the roller. At first I was going to yell at the BF for using up all my TP but then I saw it pooled on the floor. She is the only culprit. Merlin doesn't have claws. (We didn't do it, I swear! He came that way!!)

I took a Jazz dance class yesterday and I suddenly realized just how old I am. It wasn't this hard 11 years ago, let me tell you! I am so amazingly sore I'll probably be hobbling for the rest of the weekend. Isabella will be upset since I won't be able to chase her around the apartment but I guess she'll survive somehow! Probably by knocking things off the counters and running away before I can squirt her. The little mess!

Name Change/Confession Time

NOTE: I wrote a brilliant post on this subject and then lost the entire thing when my IE crashed. So, 'coz I think this is important, I'm writing it again and NOT playing God of War on the PS2, which is what I had planned on doing after hitting "Publish". And now Isabella is awake and has decided to park her butt right in front of the monitor. Not my night at all.

Anyway, I created this blog several days ago and after typing a number of web addresses for my blog, and having them all turned down, I came up with Slave2MyCat. Or so I thought. Turns out Slave2MyCat is a fellow poster on one of my absolute favorite forums and I just didn't put the two together until I saw a post earlier this evening. I have apologized to the real Slave2MyCat and have changed the title for my blog. I haven't yet discovered how to change the address.

All this got me thinking about screen names, however. While I feel horrible about shang-haiing my fellow-poster's nomiker, I wonder if I am in the majority or the minority. (Of course, I was the type of person who, in my highschool and college papers, gave credit to EVERYONE. My footnote and bibliography pages were always very long. ) So my hypothetical question is (hypothetical since I highly doubt anyone will be reading this) have you ever seen a screen-name, thought "Cool!" and used it elsewhere? Screennames are kinda cool when you think about it because we have (almost) total control of what we name ourselves. If I want to be SexyHotChick, I can be, and no one will know that I'm 35, short and struggling with my weight (in which case I could be OldShortFatty)

I actually have 4 different screen names I use various places. Three of them are from books that I loved Loved LOVED. I've never run into another Nemeria even though it's from a wildly popular series of books (A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. Waiting patiently for Book 4 - A Feast for Crows). Of course, the fact that I spelled it wrong may have something to do with that.

And to tie this whole thing in with my cats, Merlin was named Merlin when we got him. We kept the name because it fit - almost all black with magical green eyes. The little girl we adopted with Merlin, (who we have since lost) was named Olivia. We never called her that. She was Van Gogh from the first moment we saw her. (Yes, she was missing an ear. Turns out she was deaf, too, so Beethoven would have worked as well). And Isabella - a rather fancy name for such an ornery little miss - was named after hurricane Isabelle. The BF brought her home right before the hurricane hit NYC. We were only going to keep her until the storm blew over. Yeah, we were lying to ourselves. She became Isabella the next day although the vet suggested Ginger. We didn't think Ginger fit.

So, that's it for now. Slave2MyCat - I again apologize for swiping your screen name for my blog name. It was just so darn clever - that should have clued me in that I hadn't thought of it myself!

Hmmm, now if I can get Isabella out of the way, I may just have time to save Athens...

Yawn!

What a long day! Just got back from Pilates and tap class and my legs feel like spaghetti! That combined with the fact that the elevator in my building is out of service for at least the next three weeks. Good thing there are only three floors to the building. Too bad I live on the 3rd floor. 45 stairs really isn't that much - unless you've been working out for two hours and are trying to carry up bottled water. And what does this have to do with cats? Well, I can't work out at home because my cats think whenever I lie down, it's automatic play time. Ever tried to do leg lifts with a cat grabbing onto your ankle every time it's in reach? Or one deciding that your stomach is perfect for a nap, even though you are trying to do stomach crunches? Lots of fun! And I'm allergic to cats (yes, I'm allergic and I have two. I get shots every week in order to tolerate them. Do ya think they are grateful?) so I have to vacuum before I get on the floor which means if I want to work out at home every day, I have to vacuum everyday - which would probably really help my allergies - but I just can't be bothered to do that. So, it's Pilates and dance classes and 45 steps. I guess I'll get even more exercise doing laundry. I only did three loads last night instead of my usual 6 for a Sunday evening. I couldn't handle lugging the laundry up the stairs anymore. Boy, I really miss having a washer/dryer in my apartment!

National Hug Your Cat Day

May 15 is National Hug Your Cat Day in the U.S. http://www.gigglepages.com/dcat/hugcat.html - see? I'm not the only one who knows this
http://www.123greetings.com/events/hug_your_cat_day/ - in case you want to send your cat a card
http://www.crayola.com/calendar/detail.cfm?event_id=51&year=2005 - although Crayola seems to think June 3 is Hug your Cat day

And if you Google "hug your cat day" you come up with lots of different websites devoted to hugging your cat.

Who comes up with these things? As if any cat owner needs a specific day to hug his/her cats. As if my cats allow me to hug them whenever I want. Isabella thinks I'm preventing her from doing something fun (like running into the hallway or pouncing on Merlin) and Merlin thinks I'm getting ready to give him medication (which I usually am).

Won't there ever be a "Cats be kind to owners" day?

Don't answer that.

Merlin - daring Isabella to cross the line 

Isabella - she only looks innocent! 

Joining the Mob

So, my really cool friend, Reluctant Texan, decided to start a blog (Coffee in my Veins) and, after reading hers I decided to give it a whirl. I have no idea if I'll keep up with this or not. Here's to beginning.

So, as my blog name says, I am a slave to my cat. Actually, cats. They rule my life while my BF just thinks he does. Let me introduce you to my clan:

Merlin - old man and crankster extraordinare. He's about 14 years old. We aren't really sure. We adopted him in 2000 from an animal shelter. He actually chose me. We had decided on another cat and were waiting for the paperwork when I feel a cat rub up against my back, come around to my right side and look up at me with these amazing green eyes. Why anyone would want to give this handsome and loving mush up is beyond me. Of course, he spent the first week hiding behind my toilet...

Isabella - monster/menace/troublemaker. She's about 2 years old. We adopted her off the mean streets of the South Bronx when she was about 9 months old. Since then, her goals in life seem to be: terrorize Merlin, knock everything off the kitchen cabinets - breakable or not, shred every piece of furniture, carpet, clothes hamper and speaker in sight, and pretty much run around like a holy terror. Not necessarily in that order.

Of course, I love these two furry creatures to pieces.