31 posts from 2008

Argh, it's the dreaded "kitten season" (cats that have not been spayed or neutered are breeding right now) and on top of that, Brunswick suddenly seems inundated with stray homeless cats. Everyone I know has taken in as many rescues as they can, myself included. I just don't know what to do about this. My neighbors and I speculate that perhaps there are more strays on the streets now because of the spate of home foreclosures and people having to move due to finances.

Anyway, the latest stray on Brunswick Street has been nicknamed "Smoky" by the neighbors. He is 100% gray and male, and by appearances it looks like he has NOT been neutered yet. Smoky is very loving and friendly so obviously he used to have a home. Are you missing a lovable gray male cat? If yes, send a message to annamatt at g mail dot com and I will try to locate Smoky for you--he is roaming outside near the post office. Smoky likes to lie in the middle of the road, and he is the same color as the road, so all of us are scared he might get hit by a car soon. We affixed a reflective collar onto him in the hopes it will save him. If you are Smoky's owner, please claim him quickly! There is another urgent matter: he has a golf-ball sized mass in his belly that might be a tumor, and it will need medical attention soon, no matter what it is. Smoky needs your help immediately.

If we can't find Smoky's owners soon, we're going to start looking for someone to adopt him.

OK, does anyone know why a helicopter was buzzing Brunswick--flying extremely low and making multiple passes at the city--at 3 AM last night?

I checked the Frederick News Post online but saw no mention of bad traffic accidents, barricade situations, or overturned rail cars.

The helicopter woke me up, it was so loud and so close...I literally thought it was going to land in the cemetery half a blockaway from our house.

Mysterious.

Edited to add:

My friend found out the helicopter was responding to an accident near the Maryland/West Virginia line. They needed a place to land.

This past weekend I blogged about the blinding light on top of the new Brunswick water tower...tonight as I was driving home late from my job #2, I noticed the blinking, blinding, painful strobe light had been replaced by a steady red light. Sweet relief for tired eyes!

Maybe the blinking, blinding strobe light was some kind of temporary emergency beacon signaling a problem at the tower? Hmm. Mysterious.

My great-Aunt Aune in Finland turned 100 years old today! She doesn't want to be photographed, though.

This being April, we have made four donations to charities so far this year. Here they are:

January 2008: Brunswick Volunteer Fire Company: http://http://bvfd5.org/

Living within a few blocks of the fire house as I do, I hear the siren go off all the time, so I know how often these volunteers go out there to help both Brunswick and other nearby towns combat fires, respond to car crashes and other emergencies, and help people in need. Brunswick's firehouse staff is an all volunteer force--Frederick County does not provide them with an annual budget, so they have to get funding from the citizenry. I have been helped out by firemen and firewomen before in my lifetime, so I like to contribute to my local fire hall to say thanks.

February 2008: Brunswick Volunteer Ambulance & Rescue

200 W Potomac St, Brunswick, MD 21716

Brunswick has a new water tower, which is fantastic, because this is a growing town that needs more clean water to satisfy the needs of its expanding body of citizenry. No objection here.

The new water tower has a blinking light on top of it to alert low-flying helicopters and aircraft of its prescence, which is a safe and smart thing to do. No objection here either.

What I do object to is the fact that the light on top of the new water tower blinks at strobe light speed, and is very, very bright white like a strobe light, and, in fact, when driving late at night, is incredibly distracting and blinding, much like a strobe light. The first time I witnessed it, in fact, I thought it was the blink of an emergency vehicle, and I found that after looking at it for a second I could no longer see the road properly--all I could see was one of those blue sunspots that your eye generates as a warning as if to say "Hey! Stop looking at that bright thing! It's gonna hurt you!"

I also started to get the feeling that if I looked at the warning light on the water tower any longer, I'd go into a seizure.

Hmm, drivers going into seizures. Not good.

I suggest that Brunswick either make the light blink at a slower, less seizure-inducing pace, or else tone it down a few lumens, or both. I can imagine the residents of the new housing complex on the hill near the tower also want the throbbing disco light effect coming through their curtains at night to cease. Don't worry, guys, down at our end o' town you get to hear the blaring fire siren at 3 AM instead!*

* No, I am not the person who wrote to the firehall complaining about the siren and refusing to donate money to them until the siren stops. Check out my next post about charities and you will see that my family indeed gave the fire hall some money this year.

Ok, so I have not been able to blog much lately--or do anything at all much lately--because I have been pouring all of my time and energy into 2 jobs.

This is the first time in my life I have ever had two jobs at once, and the first time in my life (graduate school aside, which I never finished, but during the first year and a half that I completed 15 credits) I have had to work more than 40 hours a week. It is tiring. I know I am privileged because many people (such as my husband and my brother) have had to work 3 jobs at once at times in their lives just to get by.) I am lucky. But I am also tired!

Job #1 is my full-time "day job," 40 hours a week at a federal contractor (the name of which I must conceal, but rest assured you have most likely never heard of it anyway--we're no SAIC) working on a defense-related project. I love my customer and my boss; I love the actual work part such as writing papers and meeting my customers and going to military bases. The part I hate? The company ownership, which I feel is leading the company in a very misguided direction. So, this is a job I hope to escape no later than July 2008, if all the stars line up right.

Job #2 is my own company. We are a 2-person company only. I don't really want to describe my company much at this time, but I plan to describe it to you sometime later, when I am no longer working 2 jobs at once. I don't want to jinx it. We have 15 customers right now, but I do not yet receive a salary from this job. I hope to transition to this job full time--and earn a salary--in July 2008 or later. Right now I put in as many hours as I can into this venture.

So...the end result is I am either sleeping, driving, or working most of the time these days. In fact I drive to Fort Eustis tomorrow so if anyone comments on this blog I probably won't get around to reading and uploading comments until next weekend; most nights now I don't get home until 10 PM or later. (This sucks because by that time of night most of the best parking spaces in front of my house are gone, so I have to carry my half dozen heavy, paper-filled work bags into the house from a greater and greater distance.)

This year is going by very fast, so no doubt I will blink and soon it will be July and I will be able to return to regular blogging, regular work hours, and, hopefully, a regular life as an independent entrepreneur. I think entrepreneurship is exciting and wonderful so I definitely want to blog about it more when I can.

I can't help but feel somber this week, hearing about the morbid milestone in casualties we have reached in Iraq and Afghanistan after 5 years of conflict. Stay safe out there, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coasties! I wish we didn't have to lose a single one.

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1. He is so young he cannot say "Meow" yet--all he can do is look up at me and say "Ack!"

2. When The Little Buddy says "Ack!" he opens up his mouth really huge and wide--like half the size of his head.

3. The Little Buddy enjoys watching You Tube videos of budgie birds and other cats. Every night we watch some You Tube together.

4. The Little Buddy tries to make friends with all of the other cats in the house.

5. The Little Buddy can leap into the air with great velocity.