Sugarfoot in sepia

Lazy Saturday

Sugarfoot gets ready for her close-up

Mobile blogging

I am a technology slut. Though my computer is only a few feet away, i am blogging from my phone. Why? Because I can.

Sugarfoot in the sink

Do it for the animals

I have just received notice that HALO (Helping Animals Live On), the organization that runs no-kill animal shelters and adoption centers around the Phoenix area, will soon open a thrift store. If you wish to donate merchandise or volunteer, please contact Pamela Kleckner at PamHaloThrift@aol.com. If you don't, Sugarfoot will be sad!

New phone

I just received my upgraded phone from T-Mobile, replacing the old piece of trash I had previously. This is the first time I've had a picture phone, so I am taking a lot of pictures:

Here's one Michael took:

Burglary

I arrived home tonight to find two officers in the house. They had responded to the security alarm, which had begun to sound only minutes before. Burglars had broken two windows, moved the couch across the room, and left hastily without stealing anything. The best news is that Missy and Sugarfoot were unharmed. Missy seemed happy to have met some new people, without any suspicion of their sinister motives. I found Sugarfoot hiding under the bed, scared but safe. Minutes later, she was frolicking about the living room floor as though nothing had happened.

1. Vladislav Delay: The Four Quarters
2. Super Furry Animals: Guerrilla
3. Syd Barrett: The Madcap Laughs
4. Arizona Amp and Alternator: Arizona Amp and Alternator
5. DJ Shadow: Endtroducing...

Catch-up

This week I haven't had much time or energy for blogging. The semester began Tuesday and it seems that I have had next to zero free time since then. However, I need to blog regularly or I'll lose momentum.

Sugarfoot has become very interested in my mouse and how it moves the cursor on the screen. I now have to lock her out of the room if I want to get anything done. She has also started doing a kind of hermit crab impression with sheets of newspaper, which is just as cute as swatting at a two-dimensional arrow on my monitor, but less likely to disrupt my productivity.

I am going to try to get all my reading and homework done for all of next week by Saturday afternoon. Michael has been gone the last two weekends, so this will be our first opportunity to spend the weekend together in three weeks. Hopefully we will finally get to see Brokeback Mountain Sunday morning. We tried to go three weeks ago but it was sold out at the one theater showing it. I hope we can also watch Kill Bill Vol. 2, which I gave to Michael for Christmas.

I may also decide to go to Torah study and services at Temple Beth Israel Saturday morning. This will most likely depend on a) how much reading/homework I will have finished and b) whether I can drag myself out of bed early enough.

Here is the complete list of today's listening:

1. Max Tundra: Mastered by the Guy at the Exchange
2. Slowdive: Souvlaki
3. Scraping Foetus off the Wheel: Hole
4. M. Ward: Transfiguration of Vincent
5. Jan Jelinek: Kosmischer Pitch
6. Jason Anderson: New England
7. Animal Collective: Here Comes the Indian
8. Grand National: Kicking the National Habit

Last week in review

• I started e-mail correspondence with a rabbi at a local Reform congregation, hoping to set up an appointment to discuss learning about that aspect of my heritage and possibly starting to attend services and Torah study. We are having a hard time finding a time when we will both be free.
• I received my financial aid, got caught up with my bills (mostly), and put a significant chunk into savings for moving expenses and furniture once I graduate.
• I contacted a reputable credit counselling service (non-profit, of course) so I can reduce my monthly payments and get them paid off sooner. We have set up a start date of February 1st.
• I got a nasty phone call from Citibank's henchmen threatening to sue me and do all sorts of nasty things to me. It was upsetting, but Michael, relying upon his experience in the financial industry, reassured me that I will probably not get sued. It is in their best interest to work with me and get paid, rather than not.
• Sugarfoot had her first veterinary appointment this morning after I found blood in the litter box. She registered her objections all the way to the examination room. The vet suggested that she could have an infection or a parasitic infestation. Running all the tests would have cost nearly $400, so we decided to treat both without running the tests. This cost just under $100. The only challenge left now is learning how to administer a pill to a cat.
• The spring semester begins tomorrow. I need to meet with the anthropology undergraduate advisor to correct some minor misclassifications of past classes on my transcript and to remove my minor. Then I can pay for graduation.
• Tim Buckley's long out-of-print sixth album, Starsailor, is now available on iTunes!
• Jnana Records is releasing a five-disc charity compilation benefiting Médecins Sans Frontières for $24.99 plus shipping! It includes tracks by Damon and Naomi, Matmos, Devendra Banhart, Jarboe, Six Organs of Admittance, Edward Ka-Spel, Larsen, Vashti Bunyan, The Angels of Light, Jad Fair, Antony, The Hafler Trio, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Nurse With Wound, Shirley Collins, Current 93, Thurston Moore, Marc Almond, Simon Finn, Jim O'Rourke, Ghostigital, Coil, Ghost, and lots, lots more.
• Last Tuesday signaled a good start for 2006 in terms of new music. The first domestic release of Sia's Colour the Small One, Standing in the Way of Control by The Gossip, With Love and Squalor by We Are Scientists, and Morningwood's eponymous debut all left me wanting to hear them again. I'm not aware of anything decent coming out tomorrow, but the 24th of this month has me salivating. We will finally see domestic release of 2005's albums by Clearlake and Test Icicles, new stuff from Cat Power, Ariel Pink and The National Trust, and the long-awaited covers album collaboration between Tortoise and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy.

Good karma

While I remember it, I'd like to encourage anyone reading this to give money to or volunteer for or adopt a pet through HALO Animal Rescue. They are a no-kill animal shelter that runs the adoption centers in Phoenix-area Petsmart locations. All animals available for adoption have already been spayed or neutered, microchipped, and (in the case of cats) litter-trained. I have just started volunteering for them a few weeks ago. It is so fun being around the animals that one forgets that it's work!

I have had my cat Sugarfoot (pictured below) for just over a month and she is a pure joy. My boyfriend and I fell in love with her while shopping at Petsmart one day and I decided to adopt her on a whim. I decided then to volunteer for HALO because Sugarfoot wouldn't have lived long enough to find a loving home if it weren't for them. I hope I can help do the same for the other animals they shelter.

My babies