Tahoe Wildlife, Part 1

Just prior to the Lake Tahoe trip a few weeks ago, I finally bit the bullet and replaced my trusty old 35mm SLR camera with a digital SLR. So this week, I'll post a selection of photos with the new camera from the trip. Of course, many of these photos will eventually end up on Home Dipu proper, but in the meantime, here's a preview.

Today's selection covers a sampling of the wildlife we ran into. And while I'm on the subject of wildlife, don't forget to check out Tom's BirdBrains of Austin blog, which he's updating regularly!

First, a really fat chipmunk, one of many living just outside our resort building:

Fat, fat chipmunk
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And part of the reason why he's probably fat (courtesy a donut tossed down by Michelle):

Mmmmmm, donut...
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We stepped out of the garage in our building and literally nearly ran into this tiny lost deer. As I quickly focused to take this photo, I realized that I was looking through a small viewfinder at a creature that was barreling in a panic in my general direction, and that that was probably not the smartest thing I could be doing:

Look out!
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Fortunately, the deer wasn't SO panicked that he ran blindly; he knew enough to flee well in front of us:

Barbara watches as the deer flees down the hill
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Heading for safety
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Here's a lone solitary raven we spotted in the distance near our resort:

Lone raven
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But not solitary for long:

Raven love
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A wounded raccoon accosted the cleaning crew as they left our suite:

Masked bandit
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And of course, Michelle fed it a donut:

Mmmmm, donut...
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I zoomed way in for a shot of this tiny green fly:

Green fly
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A squirrel in silhouette outside our suite:

Tahoe squirrel
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Steller's jays (like blue jays with black hoods) were the most common bird I saw outside our balcony:

Steller's jay
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Steller's jay in flight
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Steller's jay in flight
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Stay tuned for more Tahoe photos later this week!

Fun with Urology

Sorry, another post written by a 12-year-old. Most people who've lived in Austin awhile become aware through osmosis that there's a urologist in town who performs vasectomies named ... Dr. Dick Chop. No lie. Okay, he's Dr. Richard Chopp, but still, that's too damn close for comfort if you're the one being worked on, wouldn't you say?

But that's old news. However, when I was watching the weather report tonight, it was sponsored by The Urology Team (which apparently Dick Chopp is part of). Dr. Chopp wasn't featured, but they did highlight two other doctors who work with male sexual dysfunctons. And who is one of these doctors dealing with impotence?

DR. HARDEMAN.

I shit you not.

What's, ahem, up with the doctors in this practice?!

Holiday pay!

It may not be a big deal. It's certainly something I always took for granted. But I couldn't help but get a little excited when I confirmed that I actually got a paycheck for last week. As you may have figured out by now, I took all of last week off for the cruise gang's reunion at Lake Tahoe. And as a contractor, I have no vacation time, so any time I take off (whether sick time or vacation) is unpaid. Which, unfortunately, makes it feel like any vacation costs more than it used to, even double or more, because of the "lost" pay. Partly because of that, I hadn't taken any vacations in nearly 2 years, which for me is an unheard-of drought (I know, I'm spoiled). But for the Tahoe trip, I took a damn the torpedoes approach because dammit, I needed a vacation. Even though it meant giving up 5 days of pay, I convinced myself that that was simply the cost of getting away for a bit.

Except now I know I only gave up 4 days of pay! Unlike my last contract agency, my current agency actually has 6 paid holidays for their contractors. I hadn't worked long enough to be eligible for holiday pay on Memorial Day, but I got in just under the wire for July 4th. So I got one day's pay last week! Hey, it's something! And it's my first paid holiday in exactly 2 years, since July 4th, 2005! So now upcoming holidays like Labor Day and Thanksgiving won't look like total financial black holes to me; I'll get paid just like a normal person! I still may not have paid vacation/sick time, but between this and group health insurance coverage, these are some good steps in the right direction...

Separation Anxiety

When you live alone for a long time, you get used to the freedom and independence, but you also kinda take it for granted. And you start to wonder if you'll ever be able to adjust to living with others again.

Last week in Lake Tahoe, three singles and one couple shared a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom suite. Unlike on the Alaska cruise 2 years ago, I can't exactly say that Barbara and Lisa were my roomies, as this time my "room" was the living room where the sofabed was, rather than one stateroom cabin that housed all three of us. But I still shared a bathroom and closet space with them, and they even let me into their drawers (heh), so we were sorta roomies. Plus Matt and Michelle were there to hang out in the living room and on the patio as well.

And sure, it's an adjustment being around people so much. But then when you get home, all that space and peace and quiet you normally crave feels a bit emptier for a couple of days. It's like getting your land legs back after a week on a boat (yes, everything comes back to the the Alaska cruise, okay?!). You're a bit wobbly on your feet at first. You realize that you can no longer simply turn your head and make a comment to someone, or share a laugh with them, or even ignore them because you know you'll talk to them later. Lisa put it best when she described the feeling as separation anxiety. Sure, this is old news for many of you, but for those of us who are perennially single, it's a bit more rare for us. Let's see, when was the last time I felt this way? Oh yes -- after the Alaska cruise.

And so, in conclusion, Alaska cruise.

I'm sorry, what was I saying...?

17 Hours from Tahoe

I'm used to traveling 16, 24, even 36 hours one way when flying thousands of miles internationally. Not so much for a domestic trip covering barely 1500 miles as the crow flies. Still, it could have been much worse. Despite sweating in a hot plane with power problems for over an hour, having our flight switched to another plane, being moved back to the original plane when they rerouted us Austin-bound folks because we'd miss our connecting flight, waiting again on the same stuffy plane while they finally fixed the power problem, then waiting on the ground in El Paso for a planeload of latecomers, we made it home fine. All our luggage was routed correctly despite arriving on another flight. And the Southwest personnel handled things as well as they could under the circumstances.

Still, it's draining when you're prepared for a 10-hour journey from the lobby of your hotel resort to your own doorstep at home and end up with a 17-hour jaunt, arriving home at 2 am. Although I've never quite understood why it's so tiring to just sit and wait all day. I guess waking up at 6 am doesn't help.

But if Barbara and I thought we were having some bad plane luck, we weren't alone, as Matt and Michelle also had 4-plus hours added to their journey, including sitting on a hot runway in a too-heavy plane for hours and then having an extra stop added to their trip. They were also on Southwest. Meanwhile, Lisa breezed home on United with no problems. I guess 07/07/07 wasn't a lucky day for Southwest Airlines.

So ended a week of vacation in Lake Tahoe, my first trip out of state in almost 2 years. (Yes, I didn't mention anything about it on here before; I don't like to announce when I'll be out of town on the web). Unlike that trip (the cruise), this one wasn't quite one for the ages. It was fun, it was beautiful, it was relaxing at times, but maybe I'd set my expectations too high. The Alaska cruise blew us away because we really weren't sure what to expect and had somewhat low expectations. This was a good trip, but I'd hesitate to call it a great one. Still, it had its moments, so stay tuned for more entries later this week...