DLand - I'm Making a Friggen House Here!

This is a jiffy update as I have more desire than time for this right now. We are in the throws of preparing for our big conference which is at the end of this week. I have a class I'm teaching on reporting on Thursday and I have yet to make handouts or finalize my agenda. Nothing like the last minute!This weekend was wonderful. We went to see the Leafs play the Capitals on Friday night and I had the pleasure of watching the Leafs be victorious. That was my consolation for being one of about 10 Leafs fans in the stands. We must stick together, eh. Regan came along for the game and she was an absolute jewel. She was obviously tired, but was less fussy than I think even I would have been in the same situation. Jason and Shannon have a fabulous little girl. Saturday was spent puttering about with Kevin and Jake and David while I built a house. Ok, so I sewed the roof of the pavilion together, but it's much more satisfying when I think of it as creating shelter rather than idling away at a sewing machine. Now to design the border for the roof and then I can build the walls in February. Jason and Rich worked on a shield and Shannon made the world's cutest garb for Regan to wear this weekend while Jake finished the fabulously red cotehardie. All in all we were kicking crafty butt. Sunday was spent watching sports and doing a bit of work online. I was hoping Philly would have made it to the Bowl, but I'm okay with Tampa Bay getting it. I was interested in the Raiders game, but fatigue took over and I literally fell asleep on the sofa in mid-sentence. “Wow that was a neat move I bet ... he ... *snore* ....” I barely remember going to bed. Contacts still in, socks still on ... I'm amazed I didn't have my ballcap still on. I regret missing Ice Castles this year. I would like to see that transition in person and congratulate everyone involved. But alas, work calls and I will be wowing librarians with my statistical knowledge and charms. Now it's back to flowcharts and database diagrams for me.

DLand - ARRR ... Maggie the Pirate Dog

Lots going on in the head of GenieAlisa if not really a lot going on to the outside world. I suppose the first bit of big news is about Bossman's dog, Maggie.Just before New Year's, Maggie's right eye started swelling ... like A LOT. Medicine made the swelling go down, but it came back a few weeks later. The diagnosis was cancer of the eyeball. I mean, REALLY, who gets that?! But apparently it's not that uncommon in dogs or humans. So last week she went in for surgery and had her right eye and the cancerous growth removed. Unfortunately, they could see some tumor had spread to the brain. Now, Maggie is a golden retriever, so I'm sure she wouldn't miss a little brain or depth perception, but this was traumatic news all the same. Yesterday was Maggie's MRI. Mrs. Bossman, Momma and Daddy Bossman and Maggie all drove up to Vienna to the only MRI machine on the east coast that works for animals. Hehe, they have separate receiving areas for cats and dogs. I guess MRIs are stressful enough on everyone as it is. The good news in all of this is that the tumor in Maggie's brain is not cancerous. Apparently the eye cancer is a special type that affects the optic nerve but doesn't really spread. So now plans just have to be made to either treat the tumor in her brain with radiation or surgery. It's like an ER episode in my office. So while it's been a tough few weeks for her, Maggie seems to be doing well. She came home yesterday from the MRI and we all are awaiting the test results. I'm pretty optimistic about it as is Maggie. Apparently being the pirate dog has not really dampened her spirits any. Ah, well, I was going to start a small rant about how I hate librarians, but I'm out of time for now. Working from home means I'm in my pajamas still, but I still have to get crap done. Guess I need to finish writing up the docs for our Patriot Act Subversion Tool (tm). Ugh. Stay tuned ...

DLand - Fast Cars and Sass

Had a good day today, overall. Thanks for asking. Painted my nails Maple Leaf blue. I even went into Sally's Beauty Supply and held bottles of polish up to my jersey to make sure the match was appropriate. And it doesn't even clash with the car.We saw two more Mini's outside the Ukrops tonight. One was the dark blue (Maple Leaf even) and one was like mine. But neither had the amazing stripes or headlamps like mine. And I'm sure none of them had all the goodies mine did. But still I parked facing them so my little car could visit with them. They could start a gang. A British, miniature, heart-stoppingly cute gang. I think I'm going to make a t-shirt for myself to wear at work that says “I did all your work plus the giant pile of crap I have to do and am still done before quitting time. What the fuck did you do all day?”. I'm not sure how it would fit on the front though; it may have to wrap around to the back. Maybe if my tits were bigger I could fit it all on there. Stop thinking about my tits. Geez ... you perv ... P.S. I just noticed that Andrew added a super keen new feature of having private diary entries as well (for gold and supergold members). You can read all about it here. Man, that Andrew guy just rocks!