Mostly unrelated observations about this past week

[jmc_bks]

+  The cat and my wallet have been traumatized.  I noticed last week that she was panting for no good reason, which was odd.  And then I noticed it again a couple more times.  Off to the vet we went this morning.  It was ugly.  Howling and panting all the way there in the car, even though it was a short ride.  Followed by hissing, spitting, biting, and scratching.  Eventually the vet's assistant had to corner her and scoop her up into a plastic tub fitted with a little spigot-like tube, which they use to give nervous pets gas.  Once that was done, they took X-rays and bloodwork.  Given her age (12!), she may have a thyroid problem.  We'll know tomorrow when the bloodwork comes back.   Then she and my wallet will be traumatized all over again :(

+  The vet's office had a huge display of books and comics of L.Ron Hubbard.  Some appeared to be fictional and others to be motivational or inspirational.  I'm not sure what that says about the vet, or if I even want to know.  The display did seem a bit out of place next to the shelves of pet toys and bags of dog food.

+  Why must Rafa, Verdasco, Lopez, and Ferrer all be in the same quarter at the US Open?  Almagro, Granollers, Garcia-Lopez, and Robredo are in Murray's quarter.  Djokovic has no Spaniards in his quarter, while Federer has Juan Carlos Ferrero and Montanes.  It's as if the Open is out to decimate the Spanish Armada, although that may just be the downside of having so many players in the top 50.  Also, why doesn't the app include the qualifying information?  Qualies were going on this past week, but the app isn't active until Monday.  :(

+  Other than Mockingjay, which I'm still thinking about and re-reading, I haven't read anything new this week.  

+  There is an interview with K.A. Mitchell over at Jessewave's.  Hey, that reminds me that I need to check and see when No Souvenirs will be out in print, because I want a print copy to go on my bookshelf.  ETA:  January, 2011.

+  The MARC train has a page now that tracks its on time performance for each train on a daily basis.  I'm very curious about how they define "on time", since one of the trains they list with that status was actually about 10 minutes late by my watch.

Comments

[sarahf.livejournal.com]

Thanks for link to interview with KA. I <3 her so much. Lunch w/ her in Florida was amazing--just her and me and talk about school and writing and traveling.

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Oh, how awesome! I <3 her work, and she seemed very cool at RWA in DC. When she tweeted that she was in this general area this/last week, I was tempted to invite her to lunch if it was convenient to her trip, but the idea felt sort of too fangirly and stalkery, so I abandoned it.

[sarahf.livejournal.com]

Well, FWIW, if you want to do that next time, if there is a next time, I can give you an introduction. Or at least, I can suggest it to her and see what she says. But yeah, she's amazingly wonderful.