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February 27, 2006

Mister is sick. He's got kidney problems, crystals screwing up his plumbing, and now he's spending the week at the vet. It sounds like he'll be eating special prescription cat food for the rest of his life. Poor critter.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:33 PM | Comments (4)

February 24, 2006

Birthday

In the last five and a half years I've: graduated, failed at the Appalachian Trail, helped brothers with homework, entered the workforce, abandoned everything I knew for a cross country adventure with a friend, emptied my bank account, gone into debt, weathered misery, bought my first car, traveled to the desert with artists and friends, planned for retirement, lived through tragedy, fallen in love, learned to bake, moved six times, held five jobs, won professional awards, listened to amazing music, become a foodie, deveoped a sense of place, expanded my definition of family, traveled around the country, daydreamed a million possible futures.

Tomorrow I turn 28. Many people still consider that young. I don't feel old yet. I do feel older, more mature, more experienced and happier.

I'm excited about the next five and a half years, and the next 28 years, and however many years I get to live after that. I hope it's a lot, and that they're happy years. I don't want to hurry them along. I can't wait to see what they bring.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:11 AM | Comments (4)

February 22, 2006

In new job news, my latest workplace challenge is deciding which stall I like best in the bathroom.

At my last job, there were four stalls in a row, and though all looked the same they had very different characteristics.

The stall farthest from the door and sinks offered the most privacy and the most flushing power. Using it could be risky, however, because other people had discovered the strength of its flushing power, and often left foul odors lingering behind.

The stall closest to the sinks also offered some privacy, but it had virtually no flushing power and was known to overflow out of spite from time to time.

In between were two stalls that provided no privacy and moderate flushing power. The lingering odor in those stalls was OK at some times, awful at others. It was a crapshoot.

It took me a year and a half of observation and experimentation to settle on my favorite stall at The Daily News, and now I have to start the investigation process anew.

The bathroom at my new office is a rare breed.

The sinks are bright orange, the stalls are marigold yellow, the tiles on the walls are muddy green with rusty paisley patterns. I would almost consider the room a tribute to the '70s, except that I think all the fixtures are original and more than 30 years old.

So far I've ruled out one stall for future use.

All of the stalls have important warning signs at seated eye level, warning employees not to leave behind newspapers or magazines on the floor after flushing. It's a safety risk -- someone could trip!

For some reason, one of the stalls has two of these warning signs. There's the standard laminated print out, taped to the inside of the stall like all the other signs. Then there's a second sign, printed in white on a heavy block of gray plastic and glued haphazardly to the door. The glue is strong on this second sign, which was posted at a disturbingly jaunty angle.

Every time I have seen the off-kilter sign, I have tried to nudge it into better alignment with the stall door and its other surroundings -- to no avail.

I don't need this kind of stress in my life, and so I have decided to avoid that stall from this point forward. Exceptions will be made in the case of a potty emergency.

With one stall eliminated from the running, that leaves me with three more stalls to evaluate before I determine my workplace toilet of choice.

Ah, the joys and challenges of starting a new job.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2006

Olympics

Considering that all of the events ended hours ago and have been edited and re-edited into the most crowd-pleasing possible configuration, I wish that NBC would air its Olympic coverage a few hours earlier.

I've been sleep deprived practically every day of my first week of work, as I find myself riveted to the TV until long after my bedtime.

It's all so exciting!

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2006

An erratically-brilliant colleague and I were joined tonight by a former courts reporter who's now an at-home mom, a former copy editor who's now a grad student and the director of a regional tourism-boosting group. First we gathered for beer, wine, dogs and conversation in a living room off a tree-lined street.

Then on to the loud tunes of a local American Idol-wannabe at a trendy coffeeshop. I ordered a salad and everyone else ordered cake and french fries and forced them on me.

We checked out an old establishment hangout, but it looked like it was geriatric night, so we went to the young people's bar, where pool playing guys with backwards baseball caps played pool with tanktopped girls to the loud tunes of '80s and '90s hip hop. More french fries were consumed.

Then a long drive through crisp air under clear starry skies. Good times tonight.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2006

A nasty windstorm knocked out our lights around 3 a.m. last night. The loud buzz of a power surge before everything flashed off woke me up, then I woke Ben up. He set his cell phone clock to beep in the morning.

I tossed and turned for a long time after that. I was worrying about my rising dough, which needed the electric heat in the air to do its job. And I heard the wind whipping through the trees and beating against our windows.

An hour or so later, I jolted awake again as my clock started flashing and the low electric buzz of juice returned.

I'm very tired this morning.

After rebooting my computer, I immediately looked for news of the power outage. Nothing. I think I understand better now the value of the dozens of power out briefs I've written about local utilities over the years.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:10 AM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2006

The frustrating thing about making coffee in the morning is that you haven't had any coffee yet while you're making it. This morning, it took me several seconds of pouring to realize that my coffee mug was upside down.

"That's weird how it's splashing off the mug onto the counter," I thought. "Coffee doesn't usually do that. I wonder what's going on."

By the time I figured it out, I had already lost several tablespoons of the vital, life-giving beverage.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:49 AM | Comments (2)

February 14, 2006

Mellow Tuesday

Tomorrow, I start my new job. Today, I'm taking it easy.

I'm watching Olympic curling with the TV muted, listening to my new Bright Eyes CD, doing laundry, eating fried apples with peanut butter, and testing out my new rice cooker. In a little while, I need to catch up with some long-neglected correspondence -- including a thank you card for the new rice cooker. Maybe I'll vacuum if I get the urge. I'll chill with Ben. Then I'll go to bed early.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 02:57 PM | Comments (1)

February 11, 2006

Well, my brief career at The Daily News ended today. I'm sad to see it end, but it's a sweet sorroww.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)

February 08, 2006

Lots of change

Ben's car was officially declared totalled this week. With my upcoming job change we've decided to make a bunch of major life changes all at once.

Ben's not going to replace his car. Instead, we're moving into Portland as quickly as we can, and Ben will start taking the bus to work.

This week, we sealed the deal on a new place, a Northeast Portland apartment in a 1910 house that's been converted into three units. We'll have two bedrooms, wood floors, old fixtures and mustard colored walls. Colorful walls are especially exciting to me, after so many years with bland white walls.

We're moving roughly March 4. By then, I'll have been at my new job for about two and a half weeks.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)

February 04, 2006

I got my tax refund on Friday. Today, I did my part to boost the American economy -- I shopped. I bought two new suits for work, a bunch of professional blouses, a fun skirt, a tank top, some music, new shoes and a falafel. I also had my makeup done at a department store counter, and walked away with a free sample. At the end of the five hours, I was worn out. I am normally a coupon clipper, a price comparer and a sale watcher, and I used my bargain hunter's eye to get some really good deals. Still, by the time I left the mall, I had spent about a week's take-home pay. It felt intensely liberating. Now I'm ready for a nap. Or a beer. Or both.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2006

This is day 40-something of rain. The weather isn't affecting my mood as severely as it seems to be affecting some of my colleagues, but the dark skies are making me very sleepy. I've been having a hard time getting up when I'd like in the morning, which is too bad because I prefer to have time to read the paper, surf the web and drink a cup of coffee before I head in to work.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:00 AM | Comments (2)