I think I'm going to call my landlord on Monday and ask when the last time this part of the building was snaked. Clearly there are issues.

I am painfully re-acquiring "bike butt" because, ouch.

Ouch indeed.

I don't mind being fussed over when sick. But I do like the quiet and a number of my family members are not so quiet.

So, would you switch to feeding raw? I've thought about it but realize that I don't even take that kind of time feeding myself.

I can't see how this would get the cats into better hydration, at least not enough to overcome the Ew! Raw Meat! squick factor. I have been pondering the possibility of a homecooked diet, but I am not done researching that yet.

And I have been thinking on getting a cat fountain. We know they would drink out of it, as they happily drink out of the zen-rock-garden decorative fountain we have, when we have water in in it. As a matter of fact, Harvey was quite pleased to drink out of the lead crystal bowl I had floating candles in, a few years back. We don't leave the decorative fountain with water in it, due to massive crunchy water issues. Also, if the cats are going to drink out of it, I'd be happier if it were easier to clean. Hence the desire for a cat fountain, as those are generally meant to be relatively easy to clean. The $160 vet bill for Harvey was planned and budgeted for, but the $180 total for Sammie this month puts a bit of a spanner in the works. (not to mention one of these next days I need to try to get a UA sample from her so we can be sure she beat the UTI).

OK my Hot Pockets are ridiculously overengineered.

After cooking your sandwich, fold and lock the bottom flaps.

Using the sleeve as a holder, begin eating your sandwich.

Peel away the tab as you enjoy the rest of your sandwich.

Next they're going to tell me digest your sandwich.

There's a microwave pizza box that directs you to put any loose toppings on the pizza. I'm trying to imagine someone paralyzed with doubt about what he should do with a piece of pepperoni that fell out of the wrapping.

It's probably the same guy who's always in front of me waiting to turn right on red when the green arrow appears. The light is red, but there's a green arrow. What do I do?!??

I mostly prefer to be left alone when I'm sick, but I like if possible to have eager servants caring people within earshot.

I might prefer to be alone when sick because I look like hell, and yes I am that vain. My last words on my deathbed will likely be a weakly whispered "How's my hair?"

I might prefer to be alone when sick because I look like hell

This definitely has something to do with it for me. Also I feel embarrassed when I'm sick because I hate feeling helpless. Puking is great for my abs, though.

proof that I am bad for The Cubs:

My sister came by yesterday and said, "did you know The Cubs are in first place?"

I said, "The Chicago Cubs?"

So today I went to look up their schedule, see if I could catch a game some time. They've already dropped down to second. The only way for the Cubs to triumph is for me not to pay attention.

We're back from Alameda where Suzi continues to avoid us like the plague.

Emmett's team won again - their third slaughter in a row. Jack and Kye both hit home runs - Kye's was a grand slam. We're kind of getting by on our high powered offense, since we were a little sloppy in the field making errors at second base, and both Emmett and Jack got picked off second.

Emmett hit well (2-3, and he reached on an error on that third one). But he was kind of bummed because he played the whole game in left field. He hurt his thumb last week and aggravated it yesterday. We've only got 10 players for this tournament so coach was being extra careful with him, but Emmett hates it out there.

Can't complain though when your team is blowing other teams completely out of the water. And mind, we're playing other all-star teams. We're just on a roll.

Funny thing was that we were originally scheduled to play the host Alameda team in the early rounds. The whole schedule was rejiggered to put them in a separate pool so they wouldn't play us until the semi-finals (should we both advance). We've played them four times in the last three weeks, and won three of them very handily.