Oklahoma!

I went to the Hanger Theater production of Oklahoma! yesterday. I think it is the best production I have seen at the Hanger Theater. The cast had a lot of energy and they had good voices. It was a good way to relax from the stress of last week’s business trip and to celebrate the two years I have been dating Laura. I am not certain when, if ever, I last went to a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

I have not been one to go to many plays, but this month I also went to a performance of The Soup Comes Last at the Kitchen Theater. I had seen this play 4 years ago, but the updated version was better.

Last to Know

I might have been one of the last to learn of Joss Whedon’s new work, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-ALong Blog, but I thought I would mention it here. I found out about it from Laura. You can read Laura’s excellent post on it. There is not much more to say, it is Joss, it is good, go watch it.

Really, if you are not a fan of Joss Whedon’s work, you might want to check yourself in for some psychological evaluation.

Work Success and Failure, Beach, and Flower

Before I left on my business trip to Florida, I got an email message indicating that the government has requested that I put in a proposal for Phase II of my research project. I don’t feel that I had succeeded so far in Phase I but I must have convinced my technical reviewer enough. If my proposal looks acceptable to them, it would mean an additional $650,000 for my research.

On the other hand, two days worth of work trying to fix some equipment at our customer was a complete failure. While I left the equipment in working order, it was broken again within two days. What a waste of time and an terrible shock to my self esteem.

After I left Palm Bay I ended up in Fort Walton Beach. It was a nice place. I wish I had more time to enjoy the area. Just look at the beach - wouldn’t you want to be there?

On another note, the Orchid I have been nurturing has flowered.

It hasn’t been flowering since last October. I gave it to Laura for Valentines Day and it flowered through her birthday. Now it flowers again for the second anniversary of our first date.

So Tired

I have been putting in some long days on this business trip and it is tiring. Although not as tired as Laura, who is back with the cats and the dog. She hasn’t been sleeping well - and Oliver doesn’t seem to be helping with some late night barking. I wish I was there to help her out as she finishes writing up part of her thesis for a conference presentation at the end of the month. Also, today is the second anniversary of the first time we met. Another reason to be back with her. But alas, my travels and trials are not yet finished. Tomorrow will be another early day.

Florida - On Business

I once again find myself in undesirable environs away from that which comforts me and makes me happy. Having traveled to Florida on business, I awoke before dawn in a hotel room whose decor would offend even the blind. After readying myself for the day, I peeked outside to see that the sun had finally risen above the horizon.

It is early and I would rather be woken by cats, but instead I am off to fix what is broken and improve what is not.

Allergies and Medications

As you may know, I have allergies. Some of my allergies attacks can be very disruptive, but those attacks do not happen that frequently. The real annoyance is waking up every morning having to blow my nose, and then blow my nose some more. Sometime I am congested and my nose runs through lunch time. I tried taking Clortrimeton, Claritin, and Zyrtecc without improvement. So I decided to go to the doctor and get some prescription medication. They gave me prescriptions for Nasonex and Allegra. They also gave me some samples of Nasonex. I have used the sample these last two days. I do not enjoy sticking a sprayer up my nose. I am not certain if it is improving things yet or I am just going through a natural cycle towards less allergy response. I am really hoping that it does help.

Nasonex is a topical steroid delivered by aerosolized spray that helps prevent histamine responses in the nose. The documentation with it indicated that they don’t exactly know how it works. Many require days or even weeks to notice a difference. A phrase the documentation kept using was “not statistically significant.” I couldn’t tell if they were talking about the effects or the side effects of the drug.

Allegra is another antihistamine. Unlike Benadryl, it does not cross the blood brain barrier so it should not cause me to be sleepy. That is a good thing. The problem with Benadryl is that I cannot take it during the day at work. There are times when the allergies get so bad that I cannot work without taking something. If Allegra works then maybe I will have something I can take.

The last option is to get allergy treatments. The description given was that they would scratch my arm with a bunch of allergens to see which I respond to and then give me shots to desensitize me to that allergen. Every scratch sends off my allergy response and I hate needles. I think I will try to avoid this option as long as possible.

Can’t Really Blame Bush

In the end, the president isn’t really the one who controlled US policy over the last 8 years. People like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, and others in the Republican party elite where the ones responsible for convincing the seemingly gullible president into unjust and unwinnable war, illegal torture, bad monetary policy, bad environmental policy, and disruption of government oversight of the commercial sector. While the president will be remembered for the many fiascoes during his terms in office, I would hate to think that the others will be able to fade away - a fate best left for good generals. I certainly hope that, after the president leaves office, those in power will be brought to justice for the crimes they committed.

Oliver Keeps Watch - Even Inside

I am working on getting a better picture of it, but he looks out the window enough that I have plenty of opportunities. Sometime he even does this little woof bark that is really cute - I don’t think there is anything out there, but he wants to make sure they know he is still watching.

Odd Man Out

I think this picture was taken by my uncle of me and my siblings and their significant others at my nephew’s bar-mitzvah. I am the odd man out in that I chose to wear a light color jacket to a dark jacket party. I also seem to be the only one looking at this camera, which means that I am the only one not looking at the professional photographer. Oh well.

Potato and Julius

I have forgotten what day it is in the Garden Journal. I probably could figure it out, but it is hot and I am lazy. The garden is doing very well. There are about a dozen tomatoes growing, the largest is about the size of a plum. There are many dozen flowers on the tomato plants, so I am looking forward to a lot of tomatoes to harvest. There are a good number of pods on the bean plants, although I don’t know if they are green or white. The pepper plants don’t seem to be doing too well, something probably insect is eating at them. But they are surviving and there are a couple little buds that might grow to be either green or jalapeño peppers. The potato plants are growing like crazy still. They have these weird flowers.

We also have some mint that is growing like crazy. Fortunately it is in a pot. There is some growing in the lawn from before I owned the house and it makes a nice smell as I mow it.

I have been accused of hating Julius, one of the cats that lives with us. I want to deny these allegations and stop the spread of these false rumors. How can anyone hate Julius.

When he gets into your lap, you just have to pet him. The way he washes his right paw in the water bowl is cute. And how tenacious he can be for a chance at some milk is adorable. So, just to set the record straight, I do in fact like Julius - although maybe not as much as Lucy.