Happening on a lap near you:
AC at 70- check.
Lavender rocking in the essential oil burner- check.
Mild to fucking awesome vodka buzz- check.
Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique at volumes that will only increase my hearing loss- check.
Cat on the lap- check.
I may never win the Powerball but I am winning at this life shit.
Karen in GA
Iggy the Wonder Schnauzer* has been sleeping like a brick against my husband’s leg for a couple of hours. I didn’t think he’d had enough exercise to explain him being this tired, but then I realized this is probably the first time in a long time that he’s slept in something other than a shelter or a fenced-in concrete kennel. Poor thing’s probably way more exhausted than he seemed.
*He was a Bichon Frise mix until they clipped his coat short, and we all got a good look at him.
Felonius Monk
Sometimes life is good. Enjoy.
Kristine
Just finished deskunking Gaby. It wasn’t a direct hit, but it was still enough to make her rub her face in the grass. Thanks to whoever invented Nature’s Miracle. Just a faint whiffiness remaining.
seaboogie
I got fired this week, and it is the best thing that has happened to me in a long, long time. Headed in to my bad work situation (incompetent control-freak boss who hated me) after a week’s vacation, massively depressed, then fired first thing (due to an errant e-mail – went out in a blaze of glory) and headed back home a free person. Going to start my own business as a consultant in something that I am really good at. The Universe seems to be on my side for a change!
SIA
@seaboogie: So sorry! And congratulations! I had a very similar experience in 1985, and I’ve been running my own show since.
@Karen in GA: so happy for all you all! Pics?
MacKenna
I remember somebody saying they wouldn’t ever want to live in a world without animals in it. I totally get that. Glad you and Steve found each other.
South of I10
Slumber party with six 9 year olds for my daughter’s birthday party. They are wide awake and I am fading. Send help.
Karen in GA
@SIA: Here’s Iggy.
The prophet Nostradumbass
AC at 70? I have it at 72 here, and that’s a borderline felony in California.
About Vodka (the Russian stuff, anyway).
ninedragonspot
Don’t forget about the Russian vodka boycott.
seaboogie
@Kristine: @Kristine: I remember bathing and blow drying Seamus, my big handsome golden that was all ‘feathers’ and such a beautiful dog. He went outside about 10 minutes later and got a full frontal skunking. Did the whole skunk remedy thing with peroxide and dish detergent – poor thing went from glorious to absolutely miserable in less than 30 minutes – stuck outside cold, wet and utterly abject. And let me tell you, a blow drying will open up those hair follicles for the skunkiness in such a way that only time and multiple treatments will make it go away.
Mnemosyne
@ninedragonspot:
I have heard that Finnish vodka is better than Russian anyway (at least, that’s what Finns have told me).
The prophet Nostradumbass
@ninedragonspot: Jinx.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Mnemosyne: As long as the filtering is done properly, the only differences among vodkas come down to the water used, and if they start doctoring the taste, which starts pushing it into the gin category.
Yatsuno
FYWP.
@Mnemosyne: Most Scanihoovian vodkas, like Absolut, are quite nice. Plus Grey Goose is French. So drink up!
SIA
@Karen in GA: Aw, he’s adorable!
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Yatsuno: Skyy isn’t terrible, and it’s from San Francisco.
Yatsuno
@The prophet Nostradumbass: For some reason I thought Skyy was Finnish. Shows you what I know. I haven’t bothered with booze since they privatised it all last year. Way too fucking expensive now.
michelle
@ninedragonspot: Geez, I gave up vodka after ending up on the bathroom floor in Riga — not drunk enough to vomit but too drunk to move. That stuff is horrible. I remember seeing people keeling over in the snowbanks — on my way to work. Not the best buzz, but I am a lightweight.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
No thank you. The Finnish vodka I’ve had has an obvious, nasty isopropanol taste that I can do without. I’d much rather drink an American vodka, TYVM.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Yatsuno: actually, after looking on that Internet thing, it appears it’s produced in San Jose now. Huge difference, I know.
ninedragonspot
@The prophet Nostradumbass: I should know that if I go head to head with a prophet, I will lose.
ninedragonspot
@michelle: Well, I was a Stoli drinker up until this. Maybe I will switch to soju. I have never seen more drunk people (men, mostly) than in Seoul.
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
Apparently you need a Finn to tell you which one to get, because a lot of the ones that are exported are crap. One of my bosses who went to Finland was sent home with a specific brand that she said was really good.
Gordon, the Big Express Engine
Vodka martinis are an abomination,
Gex
Added some pics of my Maine Coon, Simon. He was as lovely a cat as I’ve ever had. Great personality.
It is good to find contentment with what one has and good to value relationships (even with pets) above other things.
Warren Terra
That seems awfully cold. Try 78 and a fan, you’ll cut your power bill in half.
Gordon, the Big Express Engine
I paid 5 bucks today to enter the Venice Freak Show. I saw a blockhead and the wolf boy among other things. All part of life’s rich pageant.
Suzanne
@Roger Moore: I heard that Tito’s vodka is awesome, and it’s a lot cheaper than Grey Goose.
Redshirt
Cole was also in his driveway revving his truck all day, kitty in lap. ‘Murica!
Roger Moore
@ninedragonspot:
You can keep being a Stoli drinker, then. The article points out that Stoli is made in Lithuania, not Russia.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Roger Moore: The profits still go to Russia.
Joshua Norton
Moar kittehs:
http://www.tastefullyoffensive.com/2013/07/cats-demanding-petting-compilation.html
Yatsuno
F. Y. W. P.
@Roger Moore:
According to the article anyway.
I still find it astounding that the Sochi games are moving forward after this. There are many gay athletes who will not feel comfortable or safe going to Russia, and I’d bet money Russia still has its anti-HIV laws on the books. Hell they made China ump a bunch of these for Beijing.
John Cole
All I drink when it comes to vodka is Skyy if I am buying and Ketel One if others are.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Yatsuno: the only way the IOC would even consider moving the games is if a majority of the national committees would demand something, and that will not happen. The Russians can bribe IOC members who will send no athletes to Sochi so that they vote in the right way, and that will be that.
PhoenixRising
Also, your blog community rocks.
Or at least buys e-books, which is a very good thing.
ninedragonspot
@Yatsuno: So which gay figure skater will be the Jesse Owens of the 2014 Olympics, I wonder. Johnny Weir, perhaps?
Yatsuno
@ninedragonspot: It’s a decent question. There are out lesbians who play on the women’s hockey team as well.
Roger Moore
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
Moving the games may not be practical, but I would hope the IOC would put its foot down by threatening to blackball Russia permanently if they arrest any athletes. Unfortunately, I doubt the IOC will have fans’ backs to the same extent as the athletes’.
BillinGlendaleCA
@ninedragonspot: The wife likes soju with lemon.
Red Apple Smokes
Sobieski is better than it has any right to be at that price. An added bonus is that it’s tagged gluten free.
Guy
@Warren Terra: Yes. 78 and ceiling fans here. A little airflow makes a huge difference and saves a bundle of money.
NotMax
@John Cole, et al.
The Costco Kirkland brand vodka is a very nice, very smooth premium brand (also French).
However, it comes in the most user unfriendly bottle ever.
Luci
Iggy The Wonder Schnauzer is adorbsies… 80 on the a/c and a fan is also good, and it keeps my bills way down in the summer. No humidity and not too hot is what you get. Also, when you go outside when it’s hot, there is not such a shock to your system. John…. you DO know how to live! :)
Maude
@Warren Terra:
If it isn’t that hot, the AC set higher won’t remove the humidity. At 70, it won’t turn on the compressor much.
Digital Amish
Lavender!? Seriously?
I think someone needs to check your man card.
If you want to mellow out, turn off the Beastie Boys and put on some J.J. Cale.
StringOnAStick
We put our 12 year old Steve-near-look-alike on no-grain food 3 weeks ago based on some things I read on this blog, and wow, what a difference! Thanks everyone! She was always a playful kitty (we got her as a rescue at age 9) but was getting too tubby and the vet wagged her finger at us last visit. Diet food made an already loud cat even more vocal, but with no-grain (Blue Buffalo) she’s slimmed down, coat looks nicer, and is even more playful than she ever was (I shudder to think what a terrorist she must have been as an adolescent). I just listened to her doing the “skid from room to room” fun-run on hardwood downstairs, followed by a rocket up the stairs to see what I’m up to.
Such a weird July day here near Denver; cold, rainy and such heavy cloud deck that I can only see 1/2 way up the foothills behind us. Every year I ask for cooler weather on my birthday (mid-July) and very, very rarely get it, and this year it got cold, rained nearly 3 inches and has since been mostly below 90, which is not typical at all. Then we have today, 2 weeks later – even colder and actually fall-like with temps over 20 degrees below normal. Global weirding is a funny thing.
Diana
@StringOnAStick: its the jet stream. Now that its no longer got a nice pile of arctic ice to anchor it, it wanders all over the place, bringinging icy weather to the south and pushing hot southern weather up north. Here in the northeast we just had a heat dome courtesy of a stuck jet stream. Agree with the commentators here, though, fan plus AC no lower than 78 is all you need.
lojasmo
The finale of Fringe left me a quivering teary mess.
Watch. Fringe.
manyakitty
@John Cole: Skyy has the best of all the flavored vodkas. By far. Call them novelties or whatever, but they’re GOOD.
PonB
Lurker and occasional commenter here in California…My project Audiot Savant just released our second CD called “The Cage” – available at CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, etc. Progressive rock made by two idiots in a spare room…Please check it out!
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/AudiotSavant
It’s great to see so much creativity amongst our little tribe…
– PonB
Paul in KY
@seaboogie: Best of luck to you.
Manyakitty
@StringOnAStick: Grain free is definitely the way to go. One of mine developed some digestive issues and that’s the first thing the vet recommended. He’s still Tunchlike, but much less gassy. Because cats are greedy little pigs, all three are now on the special diet, which consists of Wellness Core grain-free dry and Best Feline Friends wet. They LURVE their food, too.