Farewell Suburbs, Hello Big City!

For years I avoided having to work "in the city". I managed to avoid such things as:

Nasty Traffic - and the obvious ensuing rage

Outrageous Parking costs - and the obvious ensuing rage

Public transportation -and the obvious ensuing rage and fear of germs

Walking in the shadows of big buildings - and having them fall on you in the next earthquake.

I enjoyed the peace and quiet of our suburbanite headquarters. It boasted things like:

A 10 minute commute from home - this I shall miss most of all

Free Parking - no, this I shall miss most of all

CVS and Grocery Store across the street - hmm...

Sunny walks along tree lined streets and parks...I'll miss this too

But alas, all good things must come to an end. My company decided to close our lovely suburb digs and move us all up to the BIG CITY last month. There can be no soothing salve over the open wound of our loss (of suburbanite status that is).

As moving day loomed, little hints of the change to come were dropped....hints like the dead silence coming from once chattering cubes:

Hints such as our supplies being all packed up tight:

Naturally I put our department mascot to work packing up the more important areas. Areas like my desk, for instance. SOMEONE, I WON"T SAY WHO, obviously discovered my secret DP stash:

Thankfully, despite a massive sugar high and his lack of opposable thumbs, Magic managed to get me packed up in time for the moving box pickup:

yes, the plant made it to the big city as well.

Magic waves a fond farewell to his lovely view of the airport:

Then it was time to take the long, sad and somewhat pathetic journey out of the building:

a final glance at our awesome view before the final elevator ride to the lobby:

Not everyone was able to fit into the moving boxes. I wonder what will become of him?

I was too distraught at this point to drive, so Magic had to get us out of the garage and safely home:

Look, even the sky was weeping for us:

But the following week - our new journey began! Commuting by shuttle to the BIG CITY. Magic couldn't wait to start working "uptown". Here he is awaiting the elevator to the shuttle:
SOMEONE, I WON'T SAY WHO...made a mad dash to be first in line for the shuttle:oh no, he's not eager at ALL:
and here are our new digs in the big city!

(not my cube, by the way - I didn't photograph it! DUH!).

Please note that SOMEONE, I WON'T SAY WHO, insisted on having the best office in the department:

Magic and I are now settling in to our new digs and enjoying the energy and vibe of the BIG CITY!

I do kinda feel a bit like this guy now though:

Not that I am angry or anything...

I subscribe to several newspapers, for several (slightly) good reasons:

#1 - My love of the newspaper biz, which supplied me my first job.

#2 - Guilt laden purchases from sad eyed looking high school kids that haunt my neighborhood.

#3 - Fear based purchases from sad eyed looking high school kids that now know where I live and might come back with eggs if I refuse to purchase said newspapers.

I feel I am also doing my duty in keeping the newspaper business limping along for another year. I retain fond memories of my high school years spent working at the local paper...running copy (from a typewriter!), waxing layout pages, developing half tone negatives and running to the printers to pick up the stacks of ink dampened papers for delivery.

Which brings me to the point of my post tonight. Now I realize that delivery boys on bikes are a thing of the past. I accept that. I accept that newspaper deliveries are now made from fast moving vans early in the morning. What I cannot accept is the rampant abuse my poor front stoop flower planter has taken over the past year!

Evidence Photo number one:

Please note the huge section of the rim missing due to the random tossing of paper in the general direction of my house while the van speeds by under cover of darkness. This damage happened last summer. I merely turned the pot around and moved on, thinking it was a one time occurrence.

Several times since I've found the newspaper actually ON THE PLANT in the planter, damaging both the plants delicate leaves and my delicate (raging) nerves.

And then this occurred last week:

Evidence Photo #2

Now really! What has this plant and planter ever done to the newspaper delivery guy? He has got to be aiming for the poor thing at this point! This is getting personal now! Take a closer look:

Now, check THIS out:

Evidence Photo #3

Please not the VERY WIDE EXPANSE OF SPACE available for the newspaper delivery guy to aim for when speeding by in his van (under cover of darkness)!!

It's not that hard to aim AWAY FROM THE POOR PLANT! I must now go to the local Ace Hardware, choose another planter (one made from some kind of iron!) and re-plant my precious spoon petal daisies (bought with my $2.98 tax refund from 2 years ago - see blog archive for further info).

After airing this grievance publicly, I feel I can move on...maybe.

Small Fry Invasion

Over the course of the last two weekends, my normally quiet days off were enhanced by the presence of "small fry". Many small fry. Hell, it was an invasion! Five the first weekend, and five the second. Some were visiting, some were spending the night, and all were excited to see each other and spend time at Auntie's house.

Here's a glimpse of what fitting five kids into airbeds and sleeping bags look like:

I SO ADORE their "let's see who can stay up the longest!" contest. Really, I do. 12:30am, by the way.

Of course, the Lego's had to be invaded. Happy hours were spent crafting farms, skyscrapers, Mario Brothers game scenes, hospitals and the occasional jail.

of course they always look forward to cleaning up the legos:
Since the weather was finally nice and I was getting tired of the sounds of 5 voices reverberating off the walls of my house, I kicked them outside and took them to the local park:



and that is when the fun really started. I decided to corral their high energy into some high jumping photography:



Then the posing began...Mario Brothers power pose:
some kind of yoga type kickboxing pose:
Air Jordan pose:
and finally, the "enough with the camera" pose:
The boys returned to tire swinging:

while the girls began their modeling careers once again:

a little cousin love:

and here is the youngest of the bunch snapping a photo of me with the toy camera:

All in all, a fun time was had by all. The kids all enjoyed yummy diner Food, Pizza lunches, unlimited legos, sunshine in the park, paper airplanes in the backyard, ice cream and Charlie Chaplin movies, cinnamon rolls and Little Rascals and Looney Tunes to boot!

I think I heard my house actually heave a sigh of relief when the last of the bunch went home!

Backyard Birdies...and the cat that awaits them...

Having been sick for the last week, I found myself prisoner on the couch, surrounded by musilex meds, tissues, unhealthy snacks and Dr Pepper. My television viewing was limited to watching things like Judge shows celebrating people that made me feel normal, shows about murders, solving murders, unsolved murders and the people who commit murder, hours of programming about nazis, hoarders and drug addicts and to wrap it up...people who are addicted to eating things like couch cushions, toilet paper, soap and the like.

I was getting depressed.

I finally decided to shut off the TV and do something else. ANYTHING ELSE. I chose to organize some of my many photos on my computer and found I had an interesting collection of backyard birds to share:

Here we have a winter visitor to the bird feeder:

and here we have Killer Diller, laying in wait...

This was a nest over the garage door a couple of seasons back:

These are the parents of that big ass baby in the nest above:

One parent guarded that nest faithfully (I can never tell which is mother or father):

Here is a baby robin I had to rescue from the clutches of Killer Diller:

I tried to return it as close to the nest as possible:

Two baby robins in their comfy nest (I was hopeful the one I rescued was one of them!):

and here we have Killer Diller, right below the nest, waiting...

The following is a rather intensely built Blue Jay nest in the front of the house:

and here we have a rather intense Blue Jay scolding anyone who dares get close to the nest:

This is me attempting to gain some video of the baby blue jays...FAIL:

Below is a family of some kind of bird, all hanging out on the weather vane:

and finally, the weather vane in the sunset:

that's all for now...gotta go blow my nose again...ugh..