Been feeling a bit blah lately. Spent too much time crying yesterday. My body and spirit feel downtrodden.

I either had/have a flu bug, or the heat was making me sick and i'm not getting better as soon as the heat goes away.

I wish people would say what they mean and mean what they say.

I feel like there is much i want to do but no energy to do it.

Positively, our tomatoes are doing very well. We picked our first one... but haven't eaten it. We picked it ceremoniously and thought we would eat it the same way, but my stomach wasn't ready for a tomato yesterday. Hopefully today...

Yep, everyone knows it's hot right now. My turn to complain about it.

Often, i think to myself that i am fortunate that i now live in Buffalo and not Knoxville anymore, where the heat is worse. But it's not too bad, Knoxvegas ain't the "deep south", where i am sure i would be seen on the news on a roof with a gun. Even this heat up here makes me feel like i'm gonna snap.

Yesterday, (e:Uncutsaniflush) and i went to a mall in Mississauga. So we could be in a/c... and see something and be somewhere we haven't been before. Went to dinner with my parents.

Today, it was a local mall.. and swimming with Kirsten.

Oh, please, how i hope the weather critters are right and it will be cooler tomorrow....!!!!

I have returned from my grand road trip (e:LeeTee,206) to Franklin Furnace, Ohio

I missed (e:Uncutsaniflush,242) . It's the first time since we have been together that we have spent the night apart. I told Kirsten to not mind me if i cuddled up to her in the night. But i was surrounded by puppy (and my teddy bear, Petey), so i didn't get a chance... lucky her.

We laughed a lot on the way there. I feel so comfortable with Kirsten... not as uptight as i can be with other people. We got really punchy near the end, though. And i got me some serious cases of the giggles. As did she. Particularly when i mentioned her glasses. She wears contacts, and i have never seen her with her glasses on. Now i know why. Damn, thems some glasses she has. Bent arm on one side, wobbly frame and no arm on the other side. I think it took us 15 minutes of recovery to stop that giggle fest. I think the dogs stopped playing to look at us in wonderment at some point...

I confirm that (e:Uncutsaniflush) would have found the trip to be torture. It was so all about the pugs.

As expected, i took pictures. Should i start calling them pugtures? I was saddened to see a lot of them were blurry. I need to experiment more with our camera when i'm in less of a hurry to see how i can get more from it. It's a good, but suffering thing, with me.

I don't know what the lil guy is called yet. We were searching for a name, but none have "clicked" with Kirsten yet. I thought she settled on Sebastian, but then a neighbour with a pug named Cosmo suggested Milo... and now, he's just the "lil man" again.

But here he is...



And here is this cool action shot of the lil guy and Ava, playing on the bed in the Days Inn in Wheelersburg, Ohio

On another, completely different note, i am glad for myself that i didn't burn my bridges with neighbour and Her Sailorness, Deb. (e:LeeTee,204) and (e:LeeTee,205) I felt then, as i do now, that i handled things the way i was meant to, like a grown up... despite the times i wanted to push her off the sailboat. But i digress...

Deb works for the state. I never knew in what capacity. When Kirsten and i were loading up the car, Deb was on her way to work and stopped to chat for a moment. She asked me if i was working. When i said no, she asked what i did or wanted to do, and would i be interested in helping people, in particular, the developmentally delayed. When i told her i would, she said she thought i would be great at it and could get me a job "in 24 hours" and to let her know when i am ready to go to work. I thanked her and told her i would talk with her more about it when i got home.

Kirsten let me in on what she thinks the job would be (Kirsten also works for the government -- as a therapist at ECMC) and where and what Deb does. We don't think she would be my direct supervisor... we think she is more in the administrative side of the organization.

Now, i would love love love to have a job as an aide working with developementally delayed adults. Working for the state would just be an added bonus. The more i think about it, the more excited i get... Trying not to keep my hopes up. I need to talk to Deb more about all of this before i go and get too much more excited.

Kirsten, Ava and i are headed off on a road trip to pick up a wee lil baby pug. All the way down to Franklin Furnace, Ohio, right on the Kentuky border.

(E:Uncutsaniflush) isn't coming along... he prolly thinks it would be torture.

Speaking of torture.... expect pictures when we get back, (e:peeps)!!

Thanks for the input, (e:Folks)! (e:LeeTee,204) and (e:Twisted,414)

OK, here's what i did. I called my mom. Moral support from my sweetie, (e:Uncutsaniflush) and my Mom was most excellent. Mom agreed with my gut about not going.

Since i know Deb had today off, wasn't at home and she was planning on seeing Al Gore today, i called her on her cell. She didn't answer. So, i left her a message saying, basicly, that i wanted to call her and give her plenty of warning that i would not be on her crew for Tuesday night's race. I just didn't see the point of explaining to her why on a cell phone message. Then, i told her i hoped she was having a good day and to have fun seeing Al Gore.

She returned my call when i was in a store laying on a mattress (my back is sore every morning and i know if i had a little less front i would have less back pain) in Carolina Furniture on Sheridan.

• Side note to (e:Paul). There's a store in that shopping plaza called Banzai. It's a Japanese and Dollar store that sells candy. If i knew what kind you liked, i would have gotten you some.**

Deb's message to me said, basicly, that she was disappointed i wasn't coming to the race on Tuesday 'cause she thought i liked it. And that Al Gore was actually funny... but the same stuff was said as his book and the movie.

Haven't seen her or called her back. If i see her and she asks, i will be honest with her about my reasons. But not if she doesn't. She lives next door and in general terms, on dry land only it seems, i like her. She and her husband are getting divorced, and i think she is moving out (she gets the ski chalet in Ellicotville)... but in the meantime, i do have to live beside her.