Wool socks and a Ball Gown: So Prince George's

Don't even talk to me.  I am so aggravated.

It's been kind of a rough week.  The wrong drops in my eye.  The upgrade that went poorly.  Nasty pain in my neck and back.  An extremely irritating and pointless (but thorough!) security investigation.  An old cyst that chose to swell up again.  Getting on another diet and feeling like a zombie as a result.  (You know, I wish I could go back and retroactively not write a couple of "I'm never going on a diet again" posts I've written.  That was before I was pre-diabetic and had an effed up back.  Before ye olde neurosurgeon told me the best thing I could do for my back was lose weight.  Sigh.)

Anyway, that week is done, and good riddance.  It's time for the weekend!  I started by changing into comfy pants.  Oh hell yeah.  I'm wearing the frak out of these comfy pants.  Sheepskin boots too. If I'm not comfortable now, it's not for lack of trying.

After the switch to extremely comfortable, JD and I drove on over to the local Outback Steakhouse.  He thought we'd get there before the rush.  Hah!  I know my Outback culture.  Friday evening rush starts well before I leave work.  I'm flexible, though.  I told them we'd be happy to sit in the bar, so we got seated pretty much right away.  Dinner was *delicious*.  A wood fire grilled steak, grilled asparagus, and steamed green beans.  You can't beat that with a stick.  I mean it.  Stay away from my steak with your sticks.

We popped into MOM's (My Organic Market) to get some flax seed and $75 later walked out with sweet potato dog treats, fancy chocolate, probiotics, and several other organically expensive items.  It's almost as bad as visiting the store my boss likes to call "Whole Wallet".  I seldom get out of there for under $100, though in that case it's almost entirely cheese.  They have an excellent cheese counter.

Tomorrow is farriery and riding (do I remember how?  does Pluto?) and sig-beer.  JD is still disappointed that our long time beer venue has turned hoity toity.  They no longer carry onion rings, or in fact most kinds of bar food.  They carry risotto balls.  Risotto balls!  Because beer and fried risotto go together like wool socks and a ball gown.  Who thought that was a good idea?  At any rate, they still serve beer.  So far.

Sunday I plan to go hiking, possibly in the snow.  That actually sounds like a good time to me, provided I can be warm and dry afterward.

Also, this weekend, I am PACKING!  Because it's almost time for me to go see Cody and Just Blue Skies so we can get our chick hiking on.  I miss those women fiercely.

A good day, all in all.

A good night's sleep made a new woman out of me.  At least until I hauled the kittens to the vet.  Those kitties are getting *heavy*.  And Olli punctured my with one needle-like claw.  They were pronounced healthy but fat by the vet.  No more kitten food, no more free feeding.  They've only been here two weeks!  How could they get fat so fast?

On top of mutilating me, none of the kittens are speaking to me now.  As I feared, they are royally pissed about being taken to the vet.  It'll take a while for them to like me again.  Sigh.  At least they still like JD.

I spent much of my afternoon figuring out how to create new users and assign new tokens in RSA Authentication Manager.  Thrilling, I know.  Had to be done, though.  When and if we actually get the tokens, I won't have time to figure it out.  We'll need to assign the tokens ASAP and get them in the mail to their users.  The old ones expire in two weeks.  (Yikes!)  As I learn more, I am shocked by the crappy interface, support, and platform requirements of the software.  This is what happens when you're basically unchallenged in the marketplace.  Capitalism works best when somebody else is willing to have a go at it too.

I had my heart warmed a little bit recently.  My friend Shannon of Four Pillars Farm recently adopted a horse who she initially thought was a Standardbred.  He looked suspiciously Lipizzanish, so she had his DNA tested.  And he is, in fact, a Lipizzan.  Siglavy Actress I.  He could not have ended up in a better place than with Shannon, a Lipizzan breeder.

It was more of a tummy warming that I had with dinner.  JD suggested we go to Duclaw where I could get the Euphoria nut brown ale, and we could both get dinner.  It was pretty datelike.  We even held hands until food started arriving.  :)  And then after that we spent a ton of money at Petco.  Turns out new kittens need lots of stuff.  And so does an old dog.  She has her own Snuggie which should make her happy on a cold evening on the sofa.