A Day (Week) in the Life (of Jo Taylor)

OK, so that Beatles reference was a stretch. I tried.

Last Tuesday- I rescued a stray lost kitten that was playing in the street (it's busy too!) and its owner retrieved it. Hung out with my gimpy friend who had ankle surgery.

Wednesday- Went to work as normal. Went home as normal. I was going to pick up some friends to go contra dancing (yay!). Drove 2 blocks from my apartment and whilst being the first car to cross the intersection during the green light promptly got slammed into by another driver who ran a red light. (yes yes I'm fine) Outrageous chaos ensued. When other people are in traumatic/stressful situations I am usually pretty good at remaining calm and rational. Apparently not so when reversed. A very long and annoying story short: other driver claimed HE had a green light, insurance companies duke it out, get in contact with witness to the accident, backpedal and offer me some money. My poor Oldsmobile was totaled.

Let's all just give a moment of silence for that trooper. Drove me the Indiana-Baltimore trip THREE times and never once complained. Anyway, I am of course getting reimbursed for the value of the car, but now I'm just annoyed that I have to go through the process of getting another car. I was going to get one soon anyway, but wanted to save up enough money to buy a nice one.

Sigh.

But wait, it doesn't end there. Friday- I donate blood. Guys, I don't think you understand how momentous an occasion this is for me. I am absolutely terrified of giving blood. Like, really irrationally afraid. Vaccines are bad enough. BUT EXTRACTING 10% OF MY LIFE SOURCE? Uh-uh. Well, I was really curious to see if I could do it (I kept being reassured it wasn't as bad as I was making it out). Well, OK, it turns out it wasn't as bad as I was making it out, but it was still not pleasant. I got a bit nauseous during it but then felt much better after having some juice and resting. My officemate Heather and I did it together, so we headed back up to the office. So yeah, well, no one told me that resting for 5 minutes was an insufficient time to become able to walk up TWO flights of stairs. I want it on the record that I never passed out, contrary to my coworkers who saw fit to coddle me embarrassingly afterwards. I WAS conscious the whole time, just momentarily deaf with blurry eyesight. At least I know to take the elevator now.

BUT WAIT GUYS it gets better. Enter Hurricane Sandy. That's all I need to say. And also that I was totally unprepared for what a hurricane is like. It's windy and rainy and cold and scary because there are at least a dozen trees within sight of the window in my bedroom. Work has been closed for the past 2 days but tomorrow we're back at it. A lot of folks lost power (luckily I didn't) but it's not half as bad as what happened further north. Maryland, and Baltimore, missed the worst of the storm while New Jersey and NYC got slammed.

So yeah, that's my terribly exciting life! Paperwork and hurricanes and blood donations oh my!

Weathering out Hurricane Sandy (pun intended)

Jo's Guide to Hurricane Preparation:

- Stock up on kitty litter (worse comes to worse maybe I can use the litterbox too)
- Have car totaled in previous week to assure no trees/power lines fall on it
- Fill up every water bottle in the house
- Buy all the Hurricane Food Essentials such as canned peas, chips and dip, cranberries, and alcohol
- Do laundry in case you're stuck inside for a while
- Watch every natural disaster movie available to get in the spirit

Quote of the Day (WARNING nerd jokes)

12:53 me: my supply of fudge striped cookies is dwindling

  THAT'S what i need to stock up on for the hurricane

 Roberto: hahaha

  i'm buying stuff to make hurricanes today.

 me: yessss

 Roberto: light rum, dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice.

12:54 me: my friend is a meteorologist and he went to the weather version of AAS and they gave everybody there free hurricanes

 Roberto: nice.

12:55 we need to come up with some kind of astronomy drink.

  like the dark matter shot or something.

12:57 me: yeah, and everyone will always ask each other and the bartender, what is this made of?

  they'll just shrug and say WIMPs?

12:58 Roberto: hahahaha

  machos

12:59 WIMPS = whiskey……melon, patron

 me: hahahahahaha

  legit lol'ing right now

13:00 Roberto: whiskey, ice, melon juice, patron

 me: that actually sounds a bit unpleasant

- Talking about the upcoming Hurricane Sandy due to hit the mid-Atlantic soon.

Quote of the Day

Roberto: so you up to anything?

23:32 me: not much

  was reading for a bit. hangin out with the cat

  you know

  big stuff

23:35 you?

 Roberto: nothing exciting. grocery shopping, cleaning.

23:36 me: preparing for the bone chiseling.

23:37 Roberto: yeah.

  thanks for that.

 me: just doing my duty as your friend

  your pragmatic friend haha

23:39 Roberto: when are you donating blood again? have you seen the size of those needles?

 me: hahahaha

  touche  - My friend is having ankle surgery. I am donating blood for the first time ever.

City Life

I'm sitting on my fire escape. I like to sit at the top of my fire escape, on the roof of my row home. I could walk across the roofs and fire escapes of a dozen row homes since they are really one large seamless building broken up into homes and one-floor apartments. I like to sit on my fire escape and gaze up at the 10-15 stars I can see near the heart of Baltimore.

I hear a rustling near the bottom of the fire escape. Too soft to be a person. Rustling in the alleyway = rats. I think, "Can rats climb stairs? Wow I hope not, because they could climb the stairs of my fire escape and be at my back door. They could be clawing at my door and windows from the fire escape." I sit and hope that rats can't climb stairs. I look down and there is no rat. Phew.

I hear a rustling 3 floors below me in the alley that runs behind the large seamless row of row homes. This time, without looking I know it's rats. I look anyway- yes, it's a rat. It scurries out from under my neighbor's car that is parked in the alleyway. It runs across the alley to a dumpster that is overfilling with trash. They pick up the trash on Mondays so it's overfilling by Sunday.

I look back up to the sky again.

A few minutes later, a man steps out into the alley from the large seamless row of shops/restaurants that occupies the side of the alley parallel to the large seamless row of row homes. He empties a mopping bucket. The alley is slightly at an incline- the dirty water runs all the way down the alley. It makes sense now; I have noticed how where the middle of the alleyway street meets is turned an odd shade of pale orange. It must be bleached? by the frequent dumping of cleaning materials in the mopping buckets.

Some time later I hear the caw-ing of a large flock of crows. I hope that maybe they are ravens (I don't really the difference between the two) because of Baltimore's history with ravens (think Edgar Allen Poe).

I sit in relative silence (there is humming of heaters, some quiet honking in the background). Then I hear rustling again, this time at a different dumpster. Rats? I think. I look down.

I see a rat skitter. skitter. skitter. up three steps of a stairwell across the alleyway from my fire escape.

Quote of the Day

Matt: How is your tarantula? Please tell me it is doing better

me: DUDE. I was really scared so the first thing I did when I got home is look at her- she was in a different spot! I tapped the cage a lot but she didn't move. Later I came back and she was in a different place again. She is clearly alive, maybe recovering from molting so won't respond to my polite taps. It is rather tedious to shed your exoskeleton.

Matt: I know that when I have to do it I tend to lounge around for the next couple of days.

- Conversation between myself and friend Matt

(A few days ago Zelda the tarantula molted. I was mortified when I came home from work and saw TWO tarantulas. While this is very cool that she shed her exoskeleton, this morning she was sprawled out very oddly and I tapped on the glass to see if she was ok. She did not move. I tapped harder. Still nothing. I told some of my coworkers about earlier how I was nervous she was dying/ill.)

On a happier note

I made a website for work.

You can see all my lovely coworkers and their... interesting photos here.

My website is here. SO PROFESSIONAL EH?

FYI

How to annoy Jo:

- Tell me all about your mundane problems then act all insecure about them and expect me to care
- Say you don't like cats
- Ignore my attempts to talk to you
- Ignore my attempts to tell you why I'm in a bad mood
- Give me stupid one-word answers
- Don't answer my repeated calls
- Call Indiana a fly-over state (I know it is, just don't say it in front of me)
- Say that Italians didn't invent pizza

Quote of the Day

me: what is he studying exactly?meteorology still??? Weatherology?

11:32 an analysis of the movie Twister?

 Elaine: haha... i think it's technically earth/atmospheric science

  basically Twisterology

 me: hahaha

11:33 "and in this scene we see Bill Paxton's character going through a transition from dichotomy of the two women in his life to a state of infatuation for Helen Hunt"

11:34 "in the background an F5 tornado rages from the ionochromostratosphere into the warm front collision path of a dual-toned shelf cloud"

11:37 Elaine: hahahahaha

  this should be how all meteorology papers are published  -conversation between Elaine and myself about meteorology journal papers

Biscuits To Die For

I found a photocopied recipe while cleaning up some stuff in my bookshelf today: "Just like Red Lobster's cheese garlic biscuits". I am going to a party/bonfire tonight so thought I may make them. I'm not sure where the recipe came from- I probably copied it from a newspaper clipping recipe my mom had.

The recipe is very easy and good, but I think it can be improved. Here is my (BETTER) version:

- 2 cups biscuit baking mix
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (the sharper the better, you can grate your own or buy it shredded)
- 1 or 2 TB melted margarine/butter
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Stir baking mix, milk and cheese until combined. Then beat vigorously with wooden spoon for about 30 seconds.
- Drop dough onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake ~10 minutes or until golden brown.
- Meanwhile, stir together melted butter and garlic powder. Brush over biscuits as soon as they are done.
- ENJOY cheesy garlic deliciousness!

This recipe only makes about 9/10 biscuits (the original recipe quotes it as 10-12 which is definitely not true). Double or triple for lots of biscuit love. :)