Okay, so I lied about not having any new pics for a long time.  I had to show off the xanga shirt sent to me by the very kind revelife crew, courtesy of my buddy Shana.  Thanks, guys. 

I'll try to put up a blog with some substance soon.  But don't hold your breath

Hey, remember when I used to post a blog on here every once in a while?

Yeah, me neither.  But I'm posting one now, so read it.  You know, to help you get to sleep, and stuff.

I'd like to tell you I've been away because my life is so insanely adventurous and interesting.  But that wouldn't be entirely true.  Actually, it would be a complete fallacy.  Life here hasn't been completely uneventful, though.  A little over a week ago, the remnants of Hurricane Ike came through the Cincinnati area.  That's nothing new.  Just about every hurricane that comes inland ends up eventually in the Ohio Valley.  But they're harmless rainshowers by the time they get here.  Ike, however, skipped geography class, and thought Cincinnati was a Gulf coast city.  What was left of Ike was anything but harmless, pounding the area with gale force winds that brought down trees and powerlines all over, leaving (as most recently reported) 1.2 million people without power in the Cincinnati area, and hundreds of thousands in the Dayton, Lousiville, and Lexington areas.  I'm thankful that I was one of the very few I know who never lost power, and sustained no damage to my house or property.  My dad and stepmom were without power for four days, and there are some who still, 9 days later, are in the dark.  The store where I work lost all of our frozen and refrigerated food, and many people lost the refrigerated and frozen food in their homes, food that many are financially strained to replace.  I know coastal cities have been much more adversely affected, and I feel for them.  But there's no doubt that its a lot more real when you get a glimpse of the destructive power one of those storms possesses, even in its weakened state, right here nearly a thousand miles from the Gulf.  Weird, man.  Just weird.  Anyway, the effects of Ike will be felt here for a while, so please be in prayer for those who were hit hard.

No harm can come from such an innocent-looking creature, right?

Sure.  Just keep telling yourself that.

That is a picture of my cat Mariah, a stray animal I took in some time back after she was discovered by my dad and stepmom outside their place having just delivered a litter of kittens.  They fixed her a place to nurse her kittens, and when they were weaned, Dad kept two of the kittens (Frog, the gigantic, genetically enhanced supercat, and Gizmo, the feline chameleon), and gave the other away.  I gave Mariah a place to live because they couldn't keep her (Buster, the schizophrenic dog, thought he was the kittens' daddy and was gonna kill her over them.)

That being said, she's a very good cat, most of the time.  I'm much more of a dog person, but she's grown on me since I've had her.  She's really friendly, and loves attention.  But she's still a cat, and my experience has been that all cats have at least some small degree of brain damage.

About an hour or so ago, I was just getting online, and she walked by, so I picked her up and sat her in my lap.  She was standing in my lap, with her front paws on my shoulder, and I was talking to her, talking some nonsensical gibberish like people do with their pets.  About 10 feet from where I'm sitting is one of those Airwick air fresheners (I can't remember what they're called) that automatically sprays a puff of air freshener out periodically.)  While I was talking to her, it sprayed a puff and scared the heck out of my cat.  Purely by reflex (I think), she took a swing with her claws, and got me right in the neck.  So at that point I had a small claw wound in my neck, and she turned to the air freshener and hissed, as if to say, "See what I'm capable of?  Wanna mess with me now?"  Like the air freshener was gonna reply, "Oh crap!  No, no, I'm sorry.  I did not mean to offend you, and I hope you will accept my sincere apology."

She's sleeping soundly in my recliner now, so apparently her conscience isn't bothering her to any visible extent.  Thankfully, she didn't sever my carotid artery or anything, and I'm anticipating a full recovery.  Of course, I'll have to sleep a little lighter now that I know I'm living with a sadist.  A deceptively cute, cuddly sadist.