If anyone from the Altenburg legacy happens to stop by this blog, I am looking for any relatives who may be diagnosed with one of the porphyrias: AIP, HCP, VP, etc.
Our family is from Cook County, Illinois and parts of Wisconsin. My mother is "Mook" Altenburg, her parents were Ernest and Lucille.
If you are one of my cousins or their offspring, and think you may have information regarding a family medical history of porphyria, please contact me privately by email at kathleensmueller@hotmail.com
I'd also like to connect with Altenburg cousins anyway!! lol
All the best,
K2
Friday, January 11, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Happy Birthday Millennium Dog!
Hobie the Y2K K9 turns eight years old today.
Here is a fun video of Hobie listening to wolves howling on CD.
Here is a fun video of Hobie listening to wolves howling on CD.
Friday, January 4, 2008
All-new Dog Whisperer tonight!
Dog Whisperer's regular season resumes tonight after the holiday marathon break.
Don't miss it! Sounds like a good episode! 8 pm eastern, repeated at 11 pm.
Don't forget to watch the new show about dogs immediately following Dog Whisperer at 9 pm eastern, repeated at midnight.
Happy trails!
Don't miss it! Sounds like a good episode! 8 pm eastern, repeated at 11 pm.
Don't forget to watch the new show about dogs immediately following Dog Whisperer at 9 pm eastern, repeated at midnight.
Happy trails!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Dog Whisperer Week on NGC
Whoops! Forgot to post here announcing Dog Whisperer Week on NGC, which ends tonight.
My bad!!!
My bad!!!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Dog Whisperer Marathon Friday!
Dog Whisperer Marathon on the National Geographic Channel starting Friday at 2:00 pm Eastern. Check your local listings!
For fun, go onto National Geographic's web site, and take the "Diagnose The Dog" test on the Dog Whisperer page! Fun!!!
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
For fun, go onto National Geographic's web site, and take the "Diagnose The Dog" test on the Dog Whisperer page! Fun!!!
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Since Hector was a pup!
Some of you may have read my essay on k2k9.com about my wonderful dog, Hector, and how he got his name. His name came about because of a phrase some of us at work used "we've been doing things that way since Hector was a pup". This is a phrase evidently popular for centuries. When I got Hector, we couldn't think of a name, and I was at work with my dear friend Roberta and she used the phrase (as we always did) and we looked at each other and said "HECTOR!!" and that's how my Hec got his name.
Somebody was Googling over the weekend, looking for "since hector was a pup cartoon" and landed on k2k9.com (yeah, I can spy on them and see how they ended up on my web site).
I decided to Google the same phrase and see what else comes up. Here is a great article explaining the possible origins of the phrase "since Hector was a pup".
"since Hector was a pup"
Dear Editor:
I sometimes hear the phrase "since Hector was a pup" and can't for the life of me find its source. I suspect it refers to the Hector of Homer's "Iliad." Can you confirm this hunch?
—M.E., Scottsboro, Ala.
Dear M.E.:
No one seems to be quite sure of the origin of this curious phrase. "Since Hector was a pup" is one of a variety of expressions meaning basically "since way back when," another favorite being "since Pontius was a pilot."
Several sources offer the unsubstantiated suggestion that the expression is based on the once-common practice of naming big dogs "Hector," most likely after the hero of Trojan War fame. Names for dogs, just as for people, go in and out of style. (We wouldn't even want to guess how many dogs were named "Lassie" in the 1960s.) According to the theory, "Hector" was in vogue for dogs in the mid-to-late 19th century, and the expression refers to the long past puppyhood of the family dog.
If this theory is true, it would discredit other suggestions that the expression was coined later by W.C. Fields or by the creator of a comic strip popular in the 1920s, "Polly and Her Pals."
It may be that one or both of these humorists was simply the vehicle for popularizing an expression already in existence. "Since Hector was a pup" may also have been a favorite expression of poet and dog-lover Ogden Nash, who works a variation on it in these lines:
"She seems to pant, time up, time up!
My little dog must die,
and lie in dust with Hector's pup;
So presently must I."
Somebody was Googling over the weekend, looking for "since hector was a pup cartoon" and landed on k2k9.com (yeah, I can spy on them and see how they ended up on my web site).
I decided to Google the same phrase and see what else comes up. Here is a great article explaining the possible origins of the phrase "since Hector was a pup".
"since Hector was a pup"
Dear Editor:
I sometimes hear the phrase "since Hector was a pup" and can't for the life of me find its source. I suspect it refers to the Hector of Homer's "Iliad." Can you confirm this hunch?
—M.E., Scottsboro, Ala.
Dear M.E.:
No one seems to be quite sure of the origin of this curious phrase. "Since Hector was a pup" is one of a variety of expressions meaning basically "since way back when," another favorite being "since Pontius was a pilot."
Several sources offer the unsubstantiated suggestion that the expression is based on the once-common practice of naming big dogs "Hector," most likely after the hero of Trojan War fame. Names for dogs, just as for people, go in and out of style. (We wouldn't even want to guess how many dogs were named "Lassie" in the 1960s.) According to the theory, "Hector" was in vogue for dogs in the mid-to-late 19th century, and the expression refers to the long past puppyhood of the family dog.
If this theory is true, it would discredit other suggestions that the expression was coined later by W.C. Fields or by the creator of a comic strip popular in the 1920s, "Polly and Her Pals."
It may be that one or both of these humorists was simply the vehicle for popularizing an expression already in existence. "Since Hector was a pup" may also have been a favorite expression of poet and dog-lover Ogden Nash, who works a variation on it in these lines:
"She seems to pant, time up, time up!
My little dog must die,
and lie in dust with Hector's pup;
So presently must I."
Friday, November 16, 2007
so proud of my hector!
I have to brag about my wonderful dog, and how great I handled a potential panic-attack situation!!
So, I stupidly accepted a vet appointment for 5:15 pm tonight. Bad idea since the vet's office is on the main highway called "Route 9" (the old Boston Post Road for any of you historians out there), and very heavy work traffic at 5:00-ish.
It was pouring rain, and already dark by the time I left the house with Hector in the car. I decided to leave my eyeglasses at home even though I have a hard time seeing at night, and especially in the rain with that glare, but the other challenge is walking the dog with glasses on... my glasses make me a little dizzy, and Hector pulls so I was afraid I'd fall down and the glasses would smash into my face.
So, perfect setup for a panic attack:
1) Having to take Hector somewhere where there will be other dogs (and cats)
2) Pouring rain
3) Pouring rain in the dark
4) 5:00 work traffic on Route 9
5) Route 9 itself, which I avoid like the plague at all costs
6) Having to make it to an appointment on time
7) Driving on very dark back roads which are under construction and heavy work traffic to get to Route 9
I made it all the way to Route 9 which is about 10 minutes from my house on awful back roads. As soon as I get to the set of traffic lights where I need to turn right to go to the vet's office, there is a HUGE accident in the middle of the intersection, police blue lights flashing, cars backed up for miles. I'm early, but now I'm thinking "I'm gonna be late" and then, "That could've been ME" Yep, somebody ended up with our worst nightmare: a car crash, in the middle of a busy intersection on route 9 in the dark at rush hour in the pouring rain.
I get to the vet's office, and we are 15 minutes early. I see a person with another dog go inside ahead of us. I do not want to encounter them, so I park in the back of the building. I calmly take Hector out of the car and we go for a little walk. Remember, it's dark, and pouring rain. I have to make sure I have my keys, credit card, and his papers from the previous vet because I've changed vets since the last time he had shots. Hector and I walk around in the back parking lot for a while, and we're getting soaked and he does his "business" (thank goodness).
I go back to the car, and realize we've still got 10 minutes to kill, and I don't want to encounter the other patient (dog). So, we get back in the car, I start it up to turn on some heat, and I sit there and read the newspaper which happens to be on the floor of the car. I decide I am going to go inside at 5:14 exactly. I read until 5:14. Then, I gather my keys, credit card, papers, put them in my pocket, grab the dog, and we walk up to the building.
Yippee! The waiting room is empty!
The ladies greet us and everybody ooohs and aaaahs over Hector because he is so handsome and so goofy all at the same time.
We sit down after we weigh him, and he's had some treats. As we're heading to the waiting area, a customer comes out of the exam room with a German Shepherd Dog. Hector and the dog sniff each other, but no problems ensue. This is remarkable, if you know Hector. He usually goes nuts when he sees another dog.
A minute later, a man, and a young boy of about 11 years old, and an elderly woman come in with a Yellow Lab/Mix who is shaking and all three of the people are freaking out. The dog has no collar on and the boy is holding the collar and leash in his hand, saying, "It's not my fault. It was an accident." What happened was, the dog pulled so hard that it broke its collar and was loose in the parking lot with no collar, no leash, during rush-hour on Route 9. (Our second worst nightmare, those of us who own dogs). The grandmother assures the boy that everyone knows it's not his fault, the dog is safe now, and they are amazed that the dog ran in to the office instead of out into traffic! The man is holding the dog on the ground and trying to tell it to calm down, but the man is shaking so badly the entire family is petrified. The grandmother tries to fix the collar (a flimsy prong collar made for a chihuahua, not a Lab!). As I'm watching this, I am amazed that Hector is within 12 inches of this dog and could care less. He is just totally relaxed and calm, and so am I!
As grandmother fails to fix the collar, I offer the advice of taking the leash and looping it thru the handle, thus making a collar and leash combo out of the leash. They all smile at me, toss away the broken collar, and do as I suggested. Everyone breathes a heavy sigh of relief.
Just then, a little baby Chocolate Lab comes in with its owner. Of course, the puppy greets everyone, and everybody is ooohing and aaahhing again. Once again, Hector sniffs noses with the pup but doesn't cause a ruckus like he's been known to do. The perfect gentleman, he just sits quietly beside me.
We get called into the exam room, and Hector gets fussed over by two assistants and the vet himself. Hector gets his shots, and off we go.
When we get back into the waiting area, there are two more dogs. Again, Hector either ignores or just sniffs and keeps walking.
After I pay the bill, two people come in with two CATS. One loose, being held in the owner's arms, the other in a crate. I tell Hector to sit, and we wait for the people to pass us before we proceed out the door. Hector again, the perfect gentleman, he almost didn't even care that there were two cats in the room!!
I was so happy, I actually did one of those skip-jump things like you see on TV as we were jogging through the parking lot on our way back to the car!!! and I think I even let out a little WHOOP!! LOLOL I was so proud of Hector, I smothered him with kisses when we got inside the car! ROFL
Wait, there's more... afterwards, I went to WAL MART to get dog food and some food for us people! WOW!!! and guess what? No panic attack!!!! (that's the same Wal Mart where I had the bad one a month or two ago)
I am so proud of Hector for being so well-behaved, and of me for not having a PA!!!!!
K2
So, I stupidly accepted a vet appointment for 5:15 pm tonight. Bad idea since the vet's office is on the main highway called "Route 9" (the old Boston Post Road for any of you historians out there), and very heavy work traffic at 5:00-ish.
It was pouring rain, and already dark by the time I left the house with Hector in the car. I decided to leave my eyeglasses at home even though I have a hard time seeing at night, and especially in the rain with that glare, but the other challenge is walking the dog with glasses on... my glasses make me a little dizzy, and Hector pulls so I was afraid I'd fall down and the glasses would smash into my face.
So, perfect setup for a panic attack:
1) Having to take Hector somewhere where there will be other dogs (and cats)
2) Pouring rain
3) Pouring rain in the dark
4) 5:00 work traffic on Route 9
5) Route 9 itself, which I avoid like the plague at all costs
6) Having to make it to an appointment on time
7) Driving on very dark back roads which are under construction and heavy work traffic to get to Route 9
I made it all the way to Route 9 which is about 10 minutes from my house on awful back roads. As soon as I get to the set of traffic lights where I need to turn right to go to the vet's office, there is a HUGE accident in the middle of the intersection, police blue lights flashing, cars backed up for miles. I'm early, but now I'm thinking "I'm gonna be late" and then, "That could've been ME" Yep, somebody ended up with our worst nightmare: a car crash, in the middle of a busy intersection on route 9 in the dark at rush hour in the pouring rain.
I get to the vet's office, and we are 15 minutes early. I see a person with another dog go inside ahead of us. I do not want to encounter them, so I park in the back of the building. I calmly take Hector out of the car and we go for a little walk. Remember, it's dark, and pouring rain. I have to make sure I have my keys, credit card, and his papers from the previous vet because I've changed vets since the last time he had shots. Hector and I walk around in the back parking lot for a while, and we're getting soaked and he does his "business" (thank goodness).
I go back to the car, and realize we've still got 10 minutes to kill, and I don't want to encounter the other patient (dog). So, we get back in the car, I start it up to turn on some heat, and I sit there and read the newspaper which happens to be on the floor of the car. I decide I am going to go inside at 5:14 exactly. I read until 5:14. Then, I gather my keys, credit card, papers, put them in my pocket, grab the dog, and we walk up to the building.
Yippee! The waiting room is empty!
The ladies greet us and everybody ooohs and aaaahs over Hector because he is so handsome and so goofy all at the same time.
We sit down after we weigh him, and he's had some treats. As we're heading to the waiting area, a customer comes out of the exam room with a German Shepherd Dog. Hector and the dog sniff each other, but no problems ensue. This is remarkable, if you know Hector. He usually goes nuts when he sees another dog.
A minute later, a man, and a young boy of about 11 years old, and an elderly woman come in with a Yellow Lab/Mix who is shaking and all three of the people are freaking out. The dog has no collar on and the boy is holding the collar and leash in his hand, saying, "It's not my fault. It was an accident." What happened was, the dog pulled so hard that it broke its collar and was loose in the parking lot with no collar, no leash, during rush-hour on Route 9. (Our second worst nightmare, those of us who own dogs). The grandmother assures the boy that everyone knows it's not his fault, the dog is safe now, and they are amazed that the dog ran in to the office instead of out into traffic! The man is holding the dog on the ground and trying to tell it to calm down, but the man is shaking so badly the entire family is petrified. The grandmother tries to fix the collar (a flimsy prong collar made for a chihuahua, not a Lab!). As I'm watching this, I am amazed that Hector is within 12 inches of this dog and could care less. He is just totally relaxed and calm, and so am I!
As grandmother fails to fix the collar, I offer the advice of taking the leash and looping it thru the handle, thus making a collar and leash combo out of the leash. They all smile at me, toss away the broken collar, and do as I suggested. Everyone breathes a heavy sigh of relief.
Just then, a little baby Chocolate Lab comes in with its owner. Of course, the puppy greets everyone, and everybody is ooohing and aaahhing again. Once again, Hector sniffs noses with the pup but doesn't cause a ruckus like he's been known to do. The perfect gentleman, he just sits quietly beside me.
We get called into the exam room, and Hector gets fussed over by two assistants and the vet himself. Hector gets his shots, and off we go.
When we get back into the waiting area, there are two more dogs. Again, Hector either ignores or just sniffs and keeps walking.
After I pay the bill, two people come in with two CATS. One loose, being held in the owner's arms, the other in a crate. I tell Hector to sit, and we wait for the people to pass us before we proceed out the door. Hector again, the perfect gentleman, he almost didn't even care that there were two cats in the room!!
I was so happy, I actually did one of those skip-jump things like you see on TV as we were jogging through the parking lot on our way back to the car!!! and I think I even let out a little WHOOP!! LOLOL I was so proud of Hector, I smothered him with kisses when we got inside the car! ROFL
Wait, there's more... afterwards, I went to WAL MART to get dog food and some food for us people! WOW!!! and guess what? No panic attack!!!! (that's the same Wal Mart where I had the bad one a month or two ago)
I am so proud of Hector for being so well-behaved, and of me for not having a PA!!!!!
K2
Monday, November 12, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Forums
Coming soon! On k2k9.com we will host a forum for dog enthusiasts as well as a place where each forum member can create their own Dog Blog!! Should be up 'n' running in a few days! Stay tuned!!
In the meantime, if you are a person with fibromyalgia, or know anyone who has fibromyalgia who might be interested in my forum on my other web site (www.fibroworks.com) please send them my way!
Here is the URL: www.fibroworks.com/board2
In the meantime, if you are a person with fibromyalgia, or know anyone who has fibromyalgia who might be interested in my forum on my other web site (www.fibroworks.com) please send them my way!
Here is the URL: www.fibroworks.com/board2
Saturday, October 27, 2007
New photos
Just wanted to share these. Hector at the top of the stairs, and a rainbow in my backyard.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
tori does beantown
The show was awesome!! Tori came out dressed as Pip (photos here are from the actual show I attended!), and did several songs, then she went offstage costume changed to Tori.
I downloaded the show from toribootlegs.com! She played 25 songs.
Miss Massachusetts was in the audience, and Tori did an improv song to Miss Massachusetts. It was hilarious!
Pip played: Cruel, Bliss, Fat Slut, Smokey Jo, Teenage Hustling (awesome!!), and Waitress.
Then Tori came out and did Professional Widow, Big Wheel, Crucify, Conertina, Cornflake Girl, a very emotional rendition of Putting the Damage On, Take to the Sky, Jackie's Strength (OMG so good!), Etienne (a song I'd never heard before ? I'm shocked at that one!), Virginia, Hotel, Code Red, Precious Things. (Oh, and in the middle there she did the Miss Massachusetts thing).
She said goodbye, then came back and did Digital Ghost.
Said goodbye again and came back again and did Bouncing off Clouds and Hey Jupiter.
(so cool that I have the playlist and can recount everything!!! I never would've remembered!)
Afterwards people were talking about how they were blown away that she did 25 songs!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Doggie In The Window videos
Look, I made a little video of my dogs set to Patti Page's "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?" and added it to my video list on You Tube. For some reason, every time I look at my blog page, it shows all these other videos set to the same tune, not mine! To see mine, please click your "refresh" button, and my videos will appear. Jeesh, you'd think in the 21st Century, they'd be able to get this right!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Tori Amos concert next week!
One week from tonight, Susan and I go to see Tori Amos play in Boston! I can hardly wait! Tori is the most inspirational, phenomenal, outrageous and beautifully talented musician, singer, songwriter and pianist of our time. In my quite-biased opinion.
I posted some videos on my blog last week from You Tube. I was so thrilled to find this episode of VH1 Storytellers from 1998. It was the first time I'd ever seen Tori perform "live" (well, on TV!). I was absolutely mesmerized by her. I had been listening to her records for several years, but never had I seen her perform. I was entranced and enchanted. It changed my life forever. Of particular note was her performance of the song "Father Lucifer". I was over the moon last week when I found this on You Tube. I played it over and over. It is just beautiful.
Well, to my chagrin and extreme annoyance and disappointment, somehow this video of "Father Lucifer" is "no longer available" on You Tube. Why? All of the other clips are still available. I am truly devastated at the second loss of this great televised performance.
What I would give to have a VHS or DVD of this episode of VH1 Storytellers. If anyone has it, contact me privately at k2k9dogs@yahoo.com
I posted some videos on my blog last week from You Tube. I was so thrilled to find this episode of VH1 Storytellers from 1998. It was the first time I'd ever seen Tori perform "live" (well, on TV!). I was absolutely mesmerized by her. I had been listening to her records for several years, but never had I seen her perform. I was entranced and enchanted. It changed my life forever. Of particular note was her performance of the song "Father Lucifer". I was over the moon last week when I found this on You Tube. I played it over and over. It is just beautiful.
Well, to my chagrin and extreme annoyance and disappointment, somehow this video of "Father Lucifer" is "no longer available" on You Tube. Why? All of the other clips are still available. I am truly devastated at the second loss of this great televised performance.
What I would give to have a VHS or DVD of this episode of VH1 Storytellers. If anyone has it, contact me privately at k2k9dogs@yahoo.com
Monday, October 1, 2007
October 1st - 23 years in student travel!
The entire state of Massachusetts used area code 617, and dial-up speeds of 300 baud were considered fast. In fact, nobody else even had dial-up, or new what a "baud rate" was, except us!
How amazing that twenty-three years have passed since I started my first job in the student travel business: October 1, 1984. I was 24 years old, married, going to college and travel-agent-training full-time. I needed to get a full-time second-shift job since the collection agency would not let me go back to full-time (I had reduced my hours to part-time a year before). I was putting my then-husband through college at the prestigiuos Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and, well, one of us had to earn a steady paycheck. That one would turn out to be me, and the resentment that ensued would be the reason for the dissolution of our marriage shortly thereafter.
I kind of fell into my career in student travel by accident and karmic coincidence.
I started job hunting, and responded to one of those ads in the newspaper classifieds that read "Send resume to Box X, Worcester Telegram and Gazette bla bla bla" An unknown company needed a second-shift person to operate their IBM System 36 computer system -- a system I had operated for four years at Associated Credit (Worcester's premiere collection agency) and at Easy Day/Suburbanite in Framingham (the household cleaning product manufacturer), for four years prior to that.
I kind of fell into my career in student travel by accident and karmic coincidence.
I started job hunting, and responded to one of those ads in the newspaper classifieds that read "Send resume to Box X, Worcester Telegram and Gazette bla bla bla" An unknown company needed a second-shift person to operate their IBM System 36 computer system -- a system I had operated for four years at Associated Credit (Worcester's premiere collection agency) and at Easy Day/Suburbanite in Framingham (the household cleaning product manufacturer), for four years prior to that.
I mailed my resume to the T&G, and received a call practically the next day. It was Charlene Flannery, asking me to come in for an interview, to a travel company located at the Worcester Airport. The company's name was ALSG (American Leadership Study Groups) the first of the "alphabet-soup" stutrav companies, and owned by one "Gilmartin" (as my friends in Worcester erroneously referred to Gil Markle). "Gilmartin" was more well-known for having brought the Rolling Stones to Worcester two years earlier, in 1982, and owned the countryside recording studio Long View Farm. He also owned ALSG.
Flannery hired me practically on-the-spot, and introduced me to Gil Markle during the interview. When Gil and I shook hands and smiled politely, "Nice to meet you," there was a spark of electricity which I vehemently denied at the time, but was irrefutably love at first sight on both our parts. On my first night of work, I called my former co-worker, Jeannie, at the collection agency and whispered into the phone, "His name isn't Gilmartin, it's Gil Markle. Gil is his first name." as Gil himself walked around the corner and heard me, and I quickly ended the call.
I started work on that October 1st. Whether that was a Monday, just like today, I can't recall, but it probably was. My job, exactly as it was at Associated and at Easy Day, was to operate the large System 36 CPU, run backups, run reports and do data entry, and work a modified second-shift from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm. I arrived practically fully trained, plus I was going to school for travel and tourism. If this was not fate waving its mighty hand, I don't know what was. It was as if the job were tailor-made just for me.
Flannery stationed me at a desk at the far end of the mailroom which everyone called "The Bowling Alley" -- a long corridor just inside the exit door from ALSG's offices to the main terminal of the deserted Worcester Airport. I was completely isolated from the rest of the "DP" (data processing) staff, except for the computer programmer who would sit at the desk next to me once a week. At 5:00 pm, when the other DP girls would go home, I would move to their area and run reports, do backups and all the data entry they'd left behind.
My DP colleagues would complain when Flannery and her cohort Debbie Condon were out of earshot, saying it was very unfair that I was kept apart from the rest of the team. To make matters worse, because I worked a second shift (same shift as the sales staff) I was doubly-isolated because the sales department would never include me in their social events or business meetings. I was a lone worker, sitting in my little booth down at the end of the bowling alley by day, and inside the roaring computer room by night.
Each day, around 3:00 pm, Gil Markle would make his trek from his cavernous, plant-filled executive office to the airport lounge and bar. As he walked by my cubicle, he would always stop and say hello. We were both painfully shy, and the conversation basically amounted only to "hi" with a smile, and that darned electricity between us every time. In the evenings, before he went home to Long View Farm, he would stop in the computer room and visit me. He liked to sneak up on me when I was in the middle of those roaring machines and scare the living daylights out of me. He wore sneakers, and was always very silent. I'd be engrossed in a sales report and I'd look up from the report and he'd be standing within ONE INCH of me, reading over my shoulder! I would jump and exclaim, "Ugh! You scared the shit outta me!" and then I would laugh, and he would keep a poker face. On his way out to various trips he would take, he'd always visit my desk and tell me where he was going. And when he returned, I think I was the first person in the office he'd visit.
The reincarnation of ALSG, passports, began in 1992, a year prior to ALSG's demise, and is still going strong today. Stronger than ALSG ever was, in fact.
I'm now Vice President of U.S. Operations at passports. Every day, I still do backups, operate computers (although they no longer take up the space of an entire room!), and still do the same data entry tasks I did back then. Plus wear a thousand other hats, including supervising and managing up to 50 people, with a lot of help from my senior colleagues.
Flannery hired me practically on-the-spot, and introduced me to Gil Markle during the interview. When Gil and I shook hands and smiled politely, "Nice to meet you," there was a spark of electricity which I vehemently denied at the time, but was irrefutably love at first sight on both our parts. On my first night of work, I called my former co-worker, Jeannie, at the collection agency and whispered into the phone, "His name isn't Gilmartin, it's Gil Markle. Gil is his first name." as Gil himself walked around the corner and heard me, and I quickly ended the call.
I started work on that October 1st. Whether that was a Monday, just like today, I can't recall, but it probably was. My job, exactly as it was at Associated and at Easy Day, was to operate the large System 36 CPU, run backups, run reports and do data entry, and work a modified second-shift from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm. I arrived practically fully trained, plus I was going to school for travel and tourism. If this was not fate waving its mighty hand, I don't know what was. It was as if the job were tailor-made just for me.
Flannery stationed me at a desk at the far end of the mailroom which everyone called "The Bowling Alley" -- a long corridor just inside the exit door from ALSG's offices to the main terminal of the deserted Worcester Airport. I was completely isolated from the rest of the "DP" (data processing) staff, except for the computer programmer who would sit at the desk next to me once a week. At 5:00 pm, when the other DP girls would go home, I would move to their area and run reports, do backups and all the data entry they'd left behind.
My DP colleagues would complain when Flannery and her cohort Debbie Condon were out of earshot, saying it was very unfair that I was kept apart from the rest of the team. To make matters worse, because I worked a second shift (same shift as the sales staff) I was doubly-isolated because the sales department would never include me in their social events or business meetings. I was a lone worker, sitting in my little booth down at the end of the bowling alley by day, and inside the roaring computer room by night.
Each day, around 3:00 pm, Gil Markle would make his trek from his cavernous, plant-filled executive office to the airport lounge and bar. As he walked by my cubicle, he would always stop and say hello. We were both painfully shy, and the conversation basically amounted only to "hi" with a smile, and that darned electricity between us every time. In the evenings, before he went home to Long View Farm, he would stop in the computer room and visit me. He liked to sneak up on me when I was in the middle of those roaring machines and scare the living daylights out of me. He wore sneakers, and was always very silent. I'd be engrossed in a sales report and I'd look up from the report and he'd be standing within ONE INCH of me, reading over my shoulder! I would jump and exclaim, "Ugh! You scared the shit outta me!" and then I would laugh, and he would keep a poker face. On his way out to various trips he would take, he'd always visit my desk and tell me where he was going. And when he returned, I think I was the first person in the office he'd visit.
ALSG was ahead of its time. We had the internet in 1984. Gil owned another subdivision of ALSG called modemcity, and we had email and people could login and set up an account with a credit card. There were chat rooms and bulletin boards, long before that became the norm. I "met" people from all over the world on modemcity. And Gil and I started writing each other love letters by email. Or, as we called it at the time "modem mail". Gil was smart enough to keep and archive those emails, which we still have today. It's great looking back at them, and even the business emails still exist, which are often times hilarious.
Gil wrote the following poem, which I always figured was about me! See his footnotes at the bottom of the page after you click here:
Gil wrote the following poem, which I always figured was about me! See his footnotes at the bottom of the page after you click here:
The photo of me on my profile here on blogspot.com was taken in 1986, and I'm standing beside the modems and the large "Vax" computer that drove modemcity, and which I co-operated for many years. The series of photos taken that day include the one at the head of this blog posting, which would soon appear in Worcester Business Digest, accompanying an article about Gil and modemcity.
During another interview, Gil made mention of the little pink "While You Were Out" slips, and, for effect, crumpled one up and tossed it across the room, claiming that the paper office would one day be obsolete. It was only this year, 2007, when we came to that reality, now scanning almost all of our office documents instead of keeping paper files. Twenty-two years later!
We moved the Vax, the System 36, and all of ALSG's employees, equipment and furniture out of Worcester Airport in 1986 and in to the old Sibley's Neighbor restaurant in Spencer. And, we've been there ever since. Except ALSG eventually got sold, moved to Boston, and went out of business in short order in June of 1993.
The reincarnation of ALSG, passports, began in 1992, a year prior to ALSG's demise, and is still going strong today. Stronger than ALSG ever was, in fact.
I'm now Vice President of U.S. Operations at passports. Every day, I still do backups, operate computers (although they no longer take up the space of an entire room!), and still do the same data entry tasks I did back then. Plus wear a thousand other hats, including supervising and managing up to 50 people, with a lot of help from my senior colleagues.
And Gil and I still send each other love-letter emails.
It's been an amazing 23 years, and it went by in the snap of a finger. No two days are ever the same, and I am never, ever bored. Gil and I have stayed together through it all, and are more in love today than we were then. The electricity is still there. We make a great team.
It's been an amazing 23 years, and it went by in the snap of a finger. No two days are ever the same, and I am never, ever bored. Gil and I have stayed together through it all, and are more in love today than we were then. The electricity is still there. We make a great team.
One time, on a long-distance motorcoach filled with 50 passports clients and about 10 employees, a client asked us each to go up to the microphone and talk about how we got our start in student travel. Without exception, each and every one of us said, "I kinda got into student travel quite by accident." and then proceeded to tell our stories. There are no coincidences. It's been a wild ride.
Monday, September 10, 2007
In Memory of John2
Saturday, we had the memorial party in honor and memory of our dear friend John Farrell. I called John "John2" (say with a French accent "jean-tu"!) because both of our computer names at ALSG and Long View Farm ended in the number 2. I'm kathy2 and he was john2. We called each other brother and sister because we had the same "last name" LOL. I often would call him up and greet him with "Brother John?!" when he answered the phone.
Some background history: John and his life-partner Geoff met Gil in the mid-1960s down in Truro. They hit it off, and Gil offered them both work at Long View Farm where they lived and worked for a couple of decades. They re-built Long View when Gil purchased the property from an elderly lady. Meaning, they designed and renovated the whole inside of the two buildings, put recording studios in and everything -- you name it from soup to nuts they did it. They also re-built/renovated the building that now houses Passports, which is a building almost identical to Long View (white farmhouse and red barn).
John was a very talented singer, songwriter and a fabulous chef and avid gardener. He was one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. He would have you cracking up laughing within one second of being with him, and the laughter would continue all day long. He did all the cooking at Long View for all the various musicians that used to stay and record there. And all the time he was cooking, he'd be singing. It was such a shame that he died of cancer of the larynx and lungs. He couldn't speak for the last two years of his life, let alone sing. A real tragedy. And he was far too young at 60 years old. After all, he'd tell you himself that 60 is the new 40!
(continued below, after photos)
K2 & Vincenzo
K2, Gil & Moe
Gil & Moe: A Tradition, what's a party without a photo of Gil and Moe!?
Jubilee and Abby (Jubilee is 19 years old! I call her
Jumpin' Jahoozabee because she used to jump so high!)
Brother Bill and Scott. That's our building behind
them.
Geoffrey, sitting at one of the built-in desks he
created in 1986. Another is behind him. He also
installed the bay windows.
K2, Sue and Tacke (the "church lights" behind us
were chosen by John2 in 1986 when a local church
was being renovated and they were selling their used
light fixtures. Whenever I turn the church lights on or off,
I think of John.)
John and Geoff had a somewhat well-known band in the area called "Fragile and the Eggs". You can find all of their stuff on Gil's website (www.studiowner.com) just search "John Farrell" in the Media Library section of the web site.
Watching John perform in some of the videos is priceless. He was a great performer, but I guess I'm a little biased!! We played the videos on three plasma screens all day Saturday.
Around the time that Gil and I left the farm, John and Geoff moved to Florida and retired.
Geoff is an artist (painter and sculptor), and a lot of his work is sold in Provincetown. They owned a vacation home in North Truro up until about 4 years ago when John started getting sick they sold it. I went down to Florida to visit them about a year after John was diagnosed with cancer. I'm so glad I went. I almost cancelled the trip because... yes.... I had a fibro-flare. I flew down there in horrible pain, which lasted throughout my visit. I'm so glad I went because it was one of the last times I saw him. He came up here that summer to visit, but he was so sick by then, it was difficult for him to be away from home.
What a wonderful day Saturday was. The party was perfect, perfect, perfect. Even the relentless thunderstorms that started halfway through the (outdoor) party were perfect, and we figured they were sent special delivery from John himself! We hadn't had ANY rain in 7 weeks, so it was actually welcome, and everyone stayed outside even though they could've gone indoors whenever they wanted!
It was more like a reunion than a memorial service, and we planned it that way on purpose. There were people there that I hadn't seen in years and years, and some I never met before. John was the heart and soul of Long View. He and Geoff lived there full-time and John was really the glue that held the place together.
Gil and Dave have been working on videos and audio during the year since John died (he died Aug 29, 2006), in preparation for this event.
It was John who, in the past, would organize the kind of party we threw this weekend in his memory.
Guests came from out of state, and even from other countries. Gil somberly noted, in his eulogy, that some of them hadn't seen each other in 20 years, and may never see each other ever again if the same time pattern continues. During the eulogy the lightning was so vivid, and the thunder so loud and incredible, as we all huddled under a huge canopy in the pouring rain and laughed because we knew that John had sent the thunderstorms to us! When Gil passed the microphone to Geoff, Geoff said very few words, but they were heartwarming and we were all crying. Geoff and John were together for 42 years! They were the first committed gay couple I ever met, and we became very close and dear friends.
We had the videos of John with his own music as the soundtrack set up on a constant loop on three plasma screens in our office building (which John and Geoff re-designed and renovated in the mid 80s when Gil bought the property) and the video ran repeatedly all day, and people would go inside and sit for a while and laugh and cry and reminisce.
The food, which we had catered, was excellent. Our office building is located at a horribly dangerous intersection, so we hired a town cop for the day to do traffic detail. The last of the guests left at about 11:00, and we had two of our employees stay behind to provide building security. Gil and I stayed up really late watching video footage that I and two other people had shot throughout the event.
Traffic detail cop and Lupo, videographer extraordinaire!
What a week it's been!!! I had no houseguests after all, so now I have a spotlessly clean house! Bonus!!!
Some background history: John and his life-partner Geoff met Gil in the mid-1960s down in Truro. They hit it off, and Gil offered them both work at Long View Farm where they lived and worked for a couple of decades. They re-built Long View when Gil purchased the property from an elderly lady. Meaning, they designed and renovated the whole inside of the two buildings, put recording studios in and everything -- you name it from soup to nuts they did it. They also re-built/renovated the building that now houses Passports, which is a building almost identical to Long View (white farmhouse and red barn).
John was a very talented singer, songwriter and a fabulous chef and avid gardener. He was one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. He would have you cracking up laughing within one second of being with him, and the laughter would continue all day long. He did all the cooking at Long View for all the various musicians that used to stay and record there. And all the time he was cooking, he'd be singing. It was such a shame that he died of cancer of the larynx and lungs. He couldn't speak for the last two years of his life, let alone sing. A real tragedy. And he was far too young at 60 years old. After all, he'd tell you himself that 60 is the new 40!
(continued below, after photos)
K2 & Vincenzo
K2, Gil & Moe
Gil & Moe: A Tradition, what's a party without a photo of Gil and Moe!?
Jubilee and Abby (Jubilee is 19 years old! I call her
Jumpin' Jahoozabee because she used to jump so high!)
Brother Bill and Scott. That's our building behind
them.
Geoffrey, sitting at one of the built-in desks he
created in 1986. Another is behind him. He also
installed the bay windows.
K2, Sue and Tacke (the "church lights" behind us
were chosen by John2 in 1986 when a local church
was being renovated and they were selling their used
light fixtures. Whenever I turn the church lights on or off,
I think of John.)
John and Geoff had a somewhat well-known band in the area called "Fragile and the Eggs". You can find all of their stuff on Gil's website (www.studiowner.com) just search "John Farrell" in the Media Library section of the web site.
Watching John perform in some of the videos is priceless. He was a great performer, but I guess I'm a little biased!! We played the videos on three plasma screens all day Saturday.
Around the time that Gil and I left the farm, John and Geoff moved to Florida and retired.
Geoff is an artist (painter and sculptor), and a lot of his work is sold in Provincetown. They owned a vacation home in North Truro up until about 4 years ago when John started getting sick they sold it. I went down to Florida to visit them about a year after John was diagnosed with cancer. I'm so glad I went. I almost cancelled the trip because... yes.... I had a fibro-flare. I flew down there in horrible pain, which lasted throughout my visit. I'm so glad I went because it was one of the last times I saw him. He came up here that summer to visit, but he was so sick by then, it was difficult for him to be away from home.
What a wonderful day Saturday was. The party was perfect, perfect, perfect. Even the relentless thunderstorms that started halfway through the (outdoor) party were perfect, and we figured they were sent special delivery from John himself! We hadn't had ANY rain in 7 weeks, so it was actually welcome, and everyone stayed outside even though they could've gone indoors whenever they wanted!
It was more like a reunion than a memorial service, and we planned it that way on purpose. There were people there that I hadn't seen in years and years, and some I never met before. John was the heart and soul of Long View. He and Geoff lived there full-time and John was really the glue that held the place together.
Gil and Dave have been working on videos and audio during the year since John died (he died Aug 29, 2006), in preparation for this event.
It was John who, in the past, would organize the kind of party we threw this weekend in his memory.
Guests came from out of state, and even from other countries. Gil somberly noted, in his eulogy, that some of them hadn't seen each other in 20 years, and may never see each other ever again if the same time pattern continues. During the eulogy the lightning was so vivid, and the thunder so loud and incredible, as we all huddled under a huge canopy in the pouring rain and laughed because we knew that John had sent the thunderstorms to us! When Gil passed the microphone to Geoff, Geoff said very few words, but they were heartwarming and we were all crying. Geoff and John were together for 42 years! They were the first committed gay couple I ever met, and we became very close and dear friends.
We had the videos of John with his own music as the soundtrack set up on a constant loop on three plasma screens in our office building (which John and Geoff re-designed and renovated in the mid 80s when Gil bought the property) and the video ran repeatedly all day, and people would go inside and sit for a while and laugh and cry and reminisce.
The food, which we had catered, was excellent. Our office building is located at a horribly dangerous intersection, so we hired a town cop for the day to do traffic detail. The last of the guests left at about 11:00, and we had two of our employees stay behind to provide building security. Gil and I stayed up really late watching video footage that I and two other people had shot throughout the event.
Traffic detail cop and Lupo, videographer extraordinaire!
What a week it's been!!! I had no houseguests after all, so now I have a spotlessly clean house! Bonus!!!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Hobie 'n' Hector meet Monty!!
Mike called tonight to ask if he could come by and intro his puppy, Monty, to Hobie and Hector.
I of course said yes right away. We had already planned in advance that he would walk up to the fence from the outside and let them sniff and we'd take it from there. If Hobie and Hector were good, we'd bring Monty inside the yard.Well, my dogs were perfect angels!
First, while I was waiting for Mike and Monty to walk over from their house, I picked up all the toys of value and their rawhide bones, any food, etc. I put everything away in the closet and left two boring tennis balls (there is diff between tennis balls if you ask Hector. There are the boring kind and the high-value kind. The high-value kind got put away in the closet).
Then, my dogs and I walked around inside the fence together. I picked up dog doo-doos and they just hung around and were VERY relaxed. I was so proud because I have just started taking my new anti-anxiety meds so I was relaxed and it obviously translated to the dogs. We had about a 10-15 minute wait. And while we were waiting, all of the dogs in the neighborhood were announcing Monty's arrival. It was so funny! I could tell where they were on the walking route by which dog was barking (yes, you can recognize their voices!).
Mike and Monty approached the fence, and it was delightful. This little puppy, so cute, and my dogs were just perfect gentlemen. I told Mike to bring Monty in through the HOUSE, so we all went back up to the house -- Mike and Monty in front, and me and my dogs in the back. We all entered the house simultaneously from the back door and the front door (this was unplanned) and they greeted in the kitchen. Then, we all went into the back yard together. I had Mike carry Monty down the stairs. He's still a bit small for stairs!
We let him off-leash and they had a ball! They were sniffing like crazy, and then running and leaping and running, running, running. Hobie, the one we were most worried about, was actually almost "motherly" towards Monty. He was just so wonderful with the puppy. I was so proud of him. Hector was a little bit stimulated and tried to mount this little dog a few times and after the meeting was so over-exerted it took him over an hour to stop panting! But all in all, he did very well. He and Monty have almost the same markings so it was so delightful seeing a mini version of Hector running alongside of the big doofus!
They were very gentle with Monty. I noticed that they allowed Monty to be the leader. It was not really like they were chasing Monty, it was more like they were FOLLOWING Monty. They moved as a pack, at a slow trot. It was awesome! But then, Monty would lie down and flip over and show his stomach very submissive. It was just a great, great experience and I am SOOOO happy.
Afterwards when Mike got home he called me and we talked about it for 10 minutes! We were both very happy that it was such a successful meeting. Now the ice is broken, and I don't have to worry. Oh, and did I mention how proud I am of my boys?
I of course said yes right away. We had already planned in advance that he would walk up to the fence from the outside and let them sniff and we'd take it from there. If Hobie and Hector were good, we'd bring Monty inside the yard.Well, my dogs were perfect angels!
First, while I was waiting for Mike and Monty to walk over from their house, I picked up all the toys of value and their rawhide bones, any food, etc. I put everything away in the closet and left two boring tennis balls (there is diff between tennis balls if you ask Hector. There are the boring kind and the high-value kind. The high-value kind got put away in the closet).
Then, my dogs and I walked around inside the fence together. I picked up dog doo-doos and they just hung around and were VERY relaxed. I was so proud because I have just started taking my new anti-anxiety meds so I was relaxed and it obviously translated to the dogs. We had about a 10-15 minute wait. And while we were waiting, all of the dogs in the neighborhood were announcing Monty's arrival. It was so funny! I could tell where they were on the walking route by which dog was barking (yes, you can recognize their voices!).
Mike and Monty approached the fence, and it was delightful. This little puppy, so cute, and my dogs were just perfect gentlemen. I told Mike to bring Monty in through the HOUSE, so we all went back up to the house -- Mike and Monty in front, and me and my dogs in the back. We all entered the house simultaneously from the back door and the front door (this was unplanned) and they greeted in the kitchen. Then, we all went into the back yard together. I had Mike carry Monty down the stairs. He's still a bit small for stairs!
We let him off-leash and they had a ball! They were sniffing like crazy, and then running and leaping and running, running, running. Hobie, the one we were most worried about, was actually almost "motherly" towards Monty. He was just so wonderful with the puppy. I was so proud of him. Hector was a little bit stimulated and tried to mount this little dog a few times and after the meeting was so over-exerted it took him over an hour to stop panting! But all in all, he did very well. He and Monty have almost the same markings so it was so delightful seeing a mini version of Hector running alongside of the big doofus!
They were very gentle with Monty. I noticed that they allowed Monty to be the leader. It was not really like they were chasing Monty, it was more like they were FOLLOWING Monty. They moved as a pack, at a slow trot. It was awesome! But then, Monty would lie down and flip over and show his stomach very submissive. It was just a great, great experience and I am SOOOO happy.
Afterwards when Mike got home he called me and we talked about it for 10 minutes! We were both very happy that it was such a successful meeting. Now the ice is broken, and I don't have to worry. Oh, and did I mention how proud I am of my boys?
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Cat attack!!
Wait'll you hear what happened on this morning's walk.
I had watched "Greta and Hoss" on DW last night -- every time that episode is on I point at the screen and go "That's me!" Hoss does exactly what Hobie does on walks. I noticed that when another dog approached, Cesar did make the people STOP, make the dogs sit and calm down, and then continue walking. I can't imagine how that is done without incident, but that's definitely what he trained them to do! Hopefully I can master that one day!
I decided to take a friend's advice and use the prong collars this morning. Thank goodness I did because they definitely gave me a (little) more control over the dogs. My goal was to walk them over to the other road so they could hopefully meet Mike's new puppy. But, in order to do that, we have to walk up three dead-end dirt roads: mine, another one, and then Mike's. My street is good because they know everybody; the other street is deserted (no houses) so there are no problems there; Mike's road is very populated and lots of pets. But I noticed that there were very few cars in the driveways, it being Saturday morning and "tax-free weekend" here in Mass, everybody is probably out shopping. Hooray! It would be an easy walk!
Not so fast. I made it to Ralph's house (this is the dog-hater -- his property abutts mine but he lives on the other road -- same road as Mike, only further down). I didn't see the cat snoozing in the brush, but the dogs sure smelled her. They zoomed to the left and then I realized there was a cat! Thinking back, I realize that the dogs were perfectly fine, it was only when I said "NO!" that things started to escalate. Darn it!!! But those prong collars sure came in handy. The dogs were straining at the leashes and I figured out that because I'm so short I have a low center of gravity and I could feel that I was about to go down on the ground face first. So, instead of letting them pull me down, I SAT down deliberately! !! If anyone had looked out their window at this point, heaven only knows what they would've thought! (Meanwhile, my house, which is RIGHT THERE? Well, Gil is home all right, but he has the music on FULL BLAST so he can't hear the ruckus. Hobie is barking, Hector is whining, and I'm saying "NO!" in as calm a voice as I can muster). I do feel bad because I shouldn't have been pulling CONSTANTLY on those prong collars. I know they're only supposed to be used for "snap" corrections, but I didn't know what else to do. I was terrified that if I let go, the cat would run, they'd chase her, and kill her. And, in hindsight, I should've just kept walking instead of stopping and sitting down on the ground!
It gets better. All of a sudden, the cat springs into action and she rears up on her haunches and starts PUNCHING the dogs and hissing at them! Between this, and me sitting on the ground and foot-tapping the dogs' legs so that their feet keep going out from under them, the dogs completely calmed down. I said, out loud, "Everyone has to calm down!" and I looked in Hobie's eyes. After all I was sitting on the ground, and so was he. And I did not see a killer. I saw curiosity, love, and beauty.
Once they were completely calm, I stood up, dusted myself off (it had rained so the dirt road was all MUD!), and decided not to go to Mike's but to turn around and go home. As we started walking back down the road from whence we came, the cat started to trot after us. I looked at her, and she was so darned cute! And I thought, "Aw, isn't that sweet, she's walking with us!"
WRONG!!! She trotted up to us, and stood on her hind legs and started punching the dogs and hissing!!! It was amazing and hilarious. It was all I could do not to laugh, but at the same time I was scared it would make the dogs escalate again. Instead of continuing down the road, I made the radical decision to cut through Ralph's yard (dog-hater) which brings me to the back gate of my yard in about 12 seconds. I made it inside the gate, having to tromp through thickets, thorns and hopefully not poison ivy. I entered first, made the dogs go in and then dropped the leashes. Then, I started to have what I think was an asthma attack or something! I don't have asthma, but I couldn't breathe and I was coughing. I guess it was probably panic attack, who knows! I walked around the yard to cool off. The dogs knew I was mad, they both sat in the shade FAR AWAY from me.
But at the same time I was fascinated by what that cat had done. Amazing.
Hey, if nothing else I'm good for a story or two!
I had watched "Greta and Hoss" on DW last night -- every time that episode is on I point at the screen and go "That's me!" Hoss does exactly what Hobie does on walks. I noticed that when another dog approached, Cesar did make the people STOP, make the dogs sit and calm down, and then continue walking. I can't imagine how that is done without incident, but that's definitely what he trained them to do! Hopefully I can master that one day!
I decided to take a friend's advice and use the prong collars this morning. Thank goodness I did because they definitely gave me a (little) more control over the dogs. My goal was to walk them over to the other road so they could hopefully meet Mike's new puppy. But, in order to do that, we have to walk up three dead-end dirt roads: mine, another one, and then Mike's. My street is good because they know everybody; the other street is deserted (no houses) so there are no problems there; Mike's road is very populated and lots of pets. But I noticed that there were very few cars in the driveways, it being Saturday morning and "tax-free weekend" here in Mass, everybody is probably out shopping. Hooray! It would be an easy walk!
Not so fast. I made it to Ralph's house (this is the dog-hater -- his property abutts mine but he lives on the other road -- same road as Mike, only further down). I didn't see the cat snoozing in the brush, but the dogs sure smelled her. They zoomed to the left and then I realized there was a cat! Thinking back, I realize that the dogs were perfectly fine, it was only when I said "NO!" that things started to escalate. Darn it!!! But those prong collars sure came in handy. The dogs were straining at the leashes and I figured out that because I'm so short I have a low center of gravity and I could feel that I was about to go down on the ground face first. So, instead of letting them pull me down, I SAT down deliberately! !! If anyone had looked out their window at this point, heaven only knows what they would've thought! (Meanwhile, my house, which is RIGHT THERE? Well, Gil is home all right, but he has the music on FULL BLAST so he can't hear the ruckus. Hobie is barking, Hector is whining, and I'm saying "NO!" in as calm a voice as I can muster). I do feel bad because I shouldn't have been pulling CONSTANTLY on those prong collars. I know they're only supposed to be used for "snap" corrections, but I didn't know what else to do. I was terrified that if I let go, the cat would run, they'd chase her, and kill her. And, in hindsight, I should've just kept walking instead of stopping and sitting down on the ground!
It gets better. All of a sudden, the cat springs into action and she rears up on her haunches and starts PUNCHING the dogs and hissing at them! Between this, and me sitting on the ground and foot-tapping the dogs' legs so that their feet keep going out from under them, the dogs completely calmed down. I said, out loud, "Everyone has to calm down!" and I looked in Hobie's eyes. After all I was sitting on the ground, and so was he. And I did not see a killer. I saw curiosity, love, and beauty.
Once they were completely calm, I stood up, dusted myself off (it had rained so the dirt road was all MUD!), and decided not to go to Mike's but to turn around and go home. As we started walking back down the road from whence we came, the cat started to trot after us. I looked at her, and she was so darned cute! And I thought, "Aw, isn't that sweet, she's walking with us!"
WRONG!!! She trotted up to us, and stood on her hind legs and started punching the dogs and hissing!!! It was amazing and hilarious. It was all I could do not to laugh, but at the same time I was scared it would make the dogs escalate again. Instead of continuing down the road, I made the radical decision to cut through Ralph's yard (dog-hater) which brings me to the back gate of my yard in about 12 seconds. I made it inside the gate, having to tromp through thickets, thorns and hopefully not poison ivy. I entered first, made the dogs go in and then dropped the leashes. Then, I started to have what I think was an asthma attack or something! I don't have asthma, but I couldn't breathe and I was coughing. I guess it was probably panic attack, who knows! I walked around the yard to cool off. The dogs knew I was mad, they both sat in the shade FAR AWAY from me.
But at the same time I was fascinated by what that cat had done. Amazing.
Hey, if nothing else I'm good for a story or two!
Monday, August 6, 2007
"Hey, Lady!"
I just thought this was funny, and I had to memorialize it someplace.
This is as good a place as any.
I was pulling out of a parking lot today, and stopped at the end to look both ways before I made a right turn toward home. Coming at me from my right was a huge dump truck, and it was maneuvering around a family walking five-abreast on the road. Thus, the truck was in the wrong lane. And so, I waited, and kept my eye on that truck as it careened toward me in the wrong lane.
I suppose it must have looked, to a woman riding a bicycle coming from the left, as though I was going to pull out -- which would've been really stupid since there was a truck in my lane, going the wrong way. Bicycle-riding-woman was coming from my left, right up alongside my car, and she and her four companions were apparently not worried about the large Mack truck heading their way in the wrong lane, but were instead worried about me because I hadn't (yet) looked to my left to see if anyone was coming.
I, of course, learned from my mother, Mook, many years ago "head on a swivel" when pulling out of anywhere. What Mook meant by that was to turn my head back-and-forth several times before moving forward in an automobile. In England they say, "Look Left!" (because they drive on the "wrong" side of the road). And, being one to always be extra-super-duper careful, I was simply sitting and waiting for the truck to go by and then I was going to start my head-on-a-swivel, which eventually would've meant turning my head to the left, then back to the right, then left again, right, left, right until I was satisfied that it was safe to proceed.
"Hey, LADY!" Bicycle-riding-woman hollered as she passed close by the front of my car, four companions close at her heels on their own bikes. I hadn't looked left, so I hadn't seen them (yet) but I think she thought I was just an absent-minded old lady. Those thoughts went through my brain rapid-fire, and instead of glaring at her, I just smiled. As she rode past, she said, "I just wanted to make sure you saw us!" and then all five of them waved. I pulled out behind them, real, real slow, and stayed way back until they turned up the bike path 100 yards away. As they turned, and I drove past them, they all waved again.
It was the first time anybody ever yelled, "Hey, Lady!" directed at me.
"OMG," I thought, "I have become 'lady.' That word. It's connotation, "Old hag." "Lady!" the very sound of it like something that smells bad.
"Hey! Lady!" Jerry Lewis.
Stephen King's "Hitchhiker" ("Thanks for the ride, Lady.")
"Jeez, Lady, watch where you're goin'!"
"Ugh! LAAAADY!!!" as some gray-haired woman cuts you off in traffic.
"Hey, Lady! Wake up!"
"Hey! Lady! Pay attention!"
But it was none of those things. It was Smart Lady, waiting for the truck to pass before moving into traffic.
This is as good a place as any.
I was pulling out of a parking lot today, and stopped at the end to look both ways before I made a right turn toward home. Coming at me from my right was a huge dump truck, and it was maneuvering around a family walking five-abreast on the road. Thus, the truck was in the wrong lane. And so, I waited, and kept my eye on that truck as it careened toward me in the wrong lane.
I suppose it must have looked, to a woman riding a bicycle coming from the left, as though I was going to pull out -- which would've been really stupid since there was a truck in my lane, going the wrong way. Bicycle-riding-woman was coming from my left, right up alongside my car, and she and her four companions were apparently not worried about the large Mack truck heading their way in the wrong lane, but were instead worried about me because I hadn't (yet) looked to my left to see if anyone was coming.
I, of course, learned from my mother, Mook, many years ago "head on a swivel" when pulling out of anywhere. What Mook meant by that was to turn my head back-and-forth several times before moving forward in an automobile. In England they say, "Look Left!" (because they drive on the "wrong" side of the road). And, being one to always be extra-super-duper careful, I was simply sitting and waiting for the truck to go by and then I was going to start my head-on-a-swivel, which eventually would've meant turning my head to the left, then back to the right, then left again, right, left, right until I was satisfied that it was safe to proceed.
"Hey, LADY!" Bicycle-riding-woman hollered as she passed close by the front of my car, four companions close at her heels on their own bikes. I hadn't looked left, so I hadn't seen them (yet) but I think she thought I was just an absent-minded old lady. Those thoughts went through my brain rapid-fire, and instead of glaring at her, I just smiled. As she rode past, she said, "I just wanted to make sure you saw us!" and then all five of them waved. I pulled out behind them, real, real slow, and stayed way back until they turned up the bike path 100 yards away. As they turned, and I drove past them, they all waved again.
It was the first time anybody ever yelled, "Hey, Lady!" directed at me.
"OMG," I thought, "I have become 'lady.' That word. It's connotation, "Old hag." "Lady!" the very sound of it like something that smells bad.
"Hey! Lady!" Jerry Lewis.
Stephen King's "Hitchhiker" ("Thanks for the ride, Lady.")
"Jeez, Lady, watch where you're goin'!"
"Ugh! LAAAADY!!!" as some gray-haired woman cuts you off in traffic.
"Hey, Lady! Wake up!"
"Hey! Lady! Pay attention!"
But it was none of those things. It was Smart Lady, waiting for the truck to pass before moving into traffic.
Monday, July 23, 2007
massachusetts legislators take a bite out of lyme
Today, Massachusetts legislators announced a proposal by Rep. Jennifer Callahan of Worcester that would result in a special facility, possibly located right here in Worcester (!!) devoted to educating health professionals about chronic Lyme disease which is often undiagnosed and untreated. Here is a news article on the topic, which was announced just one hour ago.
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO58179/
In addition, here is an article written about three weeks ago regarding the controversy over chronic Lyme diagnosis, and the difficulties patients like me often encounter in trying to geta diagnosis.
http://tinyurl.com/2kckz2
This, along with the recognition of Fibromyalgia by the FDA just last month, is fantastic news for people like me who have been living with these bizarre and annoying symptoms for many years with no diagnosis.As you know, I've long suspected that I may have chronic Lyme disease. I was tested for Lyme by a reluctant physician in 2004 when I first developed chronic fatigue, pain and other symptoms consistent with Lyme (as well as MS, fibromyalgia, Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and several other syndromes). That test came back negative. This is a common problem with chronic Lyme because only one testing lab in the U.S. is equipped to properly test blood samples for the presence of the Borelia bacteria in the blood. If your test doesn't get sent to that lab (and most don't), and you don't have the telltale "bull's-eye" rash, then your test comes back negative and you're told you don't have Lyme. This is more than a common occurrence, and part of the focus of Ms. Callahan's proposal.I have been exposed to ticks constantly due to my interactions with my dogs as well as the frequency of my visits to Cape Cod. Ticks are also rampant in Worcester County as well. The way I figure it, if I don't have Lyme disease, it would be a miracle! While I have, to my knowledge, not seen the typical bull's-eye rash, I have often found ticks on myself, although I am not aware specifically of an actual bite. I check myself and my dogs for ticks constantly, and I'm more than vigilant about doing so. We are over-run with ticks here on Cape Cod, and it's not unusual to find one crawling up my leg! The dogs, who often sleep with me, are always loaded with ticks. I spend a good part of our post-walk routine picking ticks off everybody.Since neurologists are the specialists most often dealing with chronic Lyme, it is more than ironic that these two newsworthy developments would occur just days before my upcoming introductory appointment with a neurologist.I intend to discuss both issues with her: Lyme and Fibromyalgia.Stay tuned!
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO58179/
In addition, here is an article written about three weeks ago regarding the controversy over chronic Lyme diagnosis, and the difficulties patients like me often encounter in trying to geta diagnosis.
http://tinyurl.com/2kckz2
This, along with the recognition of Fibromyalgia by the FDA just last month, is fantastic news for people like me who have been living with these bizarre and annoying symptoms for many years with no diagnosis.As you know, I've long suspected that I may have chronic Lyme disease. I was tested for Lyme by a reluctant physician in 2004 when I first developed chronic fatigue, pain and other symptoms consistent with Lyme (as well as MS, fibromyalgia, Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and several other syndromes). That test came back negative. This is a common problem with chronic Lyme because only one testing lab in the U.S. is equipped to properly test blood samples for the presence of the Borelia bacteria in the blood. If your test doesn't get sent to that lab (and most don't), and you don't have the telltale "bull's-eye" rash, then your test comes back negative and you're told you don't have Lyme. This is more than a common occurrence, and part of the focus of Ms. Callahan's proposal.I have been exposed to ticks constantly due to my interactions with my dogs as well as the frequency of my visits to Cape Cod. Ticks are also rampant in Worcester County as well. The way I figure it, if I don't have Lyme disease, it would be a miracle! While I have, to my knowledge, not seen the typical bull's-eye rash, I have often found ticks on myself, although I am not aware specifically of an actual bite. I check myself and my dogs for ticks constantly, and I'm more than vigilant about doing so. We are over-run with ticks here on Cape Cod, and it's not unusual to find one crawling up my leg! The dogs, who often sleep with me, are always loaded with ticks. I spend a good part of our post-walk routine picking ticks off everybody.Since neurologists are the specialists most often dealing with chronic Lyme, it is more than ironic that these two newsworthy developments would occur just days before my upcoming introductory appointment with a neurologist.I intend to discuss both issues with her: Lyme and Fibromyalgia.Stay tuned!
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