katakat.com bytes from a participant observer

Just kidding, no vacation. This summer has flown by like every other working day; I just look out the window to enjoy some sun and blue sky. Since it hasn't rained much this year, there's been no shortage of nice weather. At least I'm not missing much. I've had a lot of fires to put out at work lately. Being a newly-minted Department Chair trying to reconcile glacial tradition and steamrolling change has made it a tough road. My institution has had a lot of turnover in administrators lately, and my department has not had a dean for several months.

I'd like to start off this story by stating, for the record, I have beautiful teeth. At least that's what a dental hygienist told me just last week. However, I have one problem tooth, which has taken me on such an odyssey over the past four years I really need a mental (and dental) vacation. Long ago and far away, I chipped my front tooth, #8. I was 7 years old, and it was an accident; the perpetrator will not be named, but is my little brother. Anyway, the dentist (Dr. H, who I would have for 20+ years) ground away the chipped part, and it was fine as far as I was concerned.

This turning 41 thing is for the birds. Ever since I did, things have been going to hell in a handbasket. I would like to start over with 40. Can I get a refund on my birthday? More on this later....

After a long illness, Miss Kitty (a.k.a. "Sandy") departed this world. Dom had to take her in to the vet to be put down early this morning. Miss Kitty came in to this life with a house that Dom rented in Point Loma about a decade ago; the previous tenants, who had already named her "Sandy," could not take her with them to their new apartment, so they left her for Dom.

The past few months have left little breathing room for blogging. January was spent doing the library inventory and the library website revamp. February was spent mostly on the revamp and dealing with the beginning of classes. And a set of workshops on being a department chair (as I was elected to do this for my department, starting in July).

I created this avatar on Yahoo for my chat sessions. Cool, huh? Peeled off 20 years right away. And 20lbs, for that matter....

I borrowed my dad's laptop to do some PC work at home, since I have an old iMac and it can't handle MS FrontPage (yes, I know, it's not DW, but that's all I'm allowed to use at work). Sooo, I decided to try again to hook up a wireless network. I'd tried this years ago for my iMac, which actually has an Airport card in it (and can pick up any of a variety of networks in my condo complex, which is another story...) but for whatever reason the router kept forgetting its own existence and had to be re-installed for each use (mental note: this was a DLink router).

Well, the season has come and gone, but I'm still having fun with one of my toys. It is my Xootr, a manual scooter that folds up so I can take it just about anywhere. Riding this is like flying down a sidewalk! Of course, a helmet is imperative, considering how bad the sidewalks are around here-- some have 3" offsets from each other, in addition to cracks, debris, and lack of curb cuts for 10" curbs.

Ok, so I'm a little off here with the holidays, but here is what Thanksgiving dinner looked like this year, which is also what it might look like on any given Sunday. The table always has both leaves in it, just in case there is a need to seat 12. (The lead chef is the one in the apron.)

I'm debating whether I like this style. (I also had to figure out how to take my own photo by myself.) Here's the story: since I schedule my hair appointments on Saturdays, I let my stylist try out different looks for the hell of it, since I won't have to go to work for a few days. Being totally uncoordinated with any hair appliance, I can never duplicate her style, so when I leave the shop it's really just a temporary 'do.