10/17 - I haz a plethora

of disconnected stuff to write about today....even though it isn't "Thursday Thirteen", please bear with me.....

First off is that I am starting to accumulate things to try to make the 20some hours worth of travelling to Oz a bit less difficult.  I've purchased a new neck pillow and an eyemask/ear plug combination to help me get some sleep, I've got a couple dozen unread books in my Nook, and I've even bought melatonin to test out in advance.

Next is also travel related.  I've decided to cancel the 17 day cruise from Chile to LA and instead book a land trip that includes both Machu Picchu and Easter Island.  The cruiseline opened up the excursion they were offering to the ruins - and it was sold out in less than a day.  I"m currently on the waiting list, but as I started to do the math I realized it was a lot less expensive to do a tour of Peru - which was really all I wanted to see.  And then I discovered that I could tag Easter Island on there for not much more. Only downside is I'll have to spend a bit to get my FF miles reinstated - but its well worth it..  (Note to Amy - that doesn't mean I won't meet up with you out west if you'd like to go - it just means I can be a lot more flexible with when).....

We move on to my furkids.  I had a bad experience with my regular catsitter the last time I went away - I came back to the cats being just about out of food and litter boxes that looked untouched for at least five days.  So this time I'm hiring a service....not cheap, but still much less and more comfortable than boarding the demonic duo.  

Next is WeightWatchers.   I'm afraid that after dropping about 15 lbs everything stalled - and I got frustrated, stopped tracking and gained a couple back.  That said, I'm back on the "wagon" and I kind of look at it this way - if I can go through the lose 15 gain 2 cycle a few times....I'll eventually get to where I want to be so its worth sticking with it.  Note to Steph - I really do need to lay off the beer, though).

Remember the mole?  Well, he (or she or they for that matter) won.  I told you that the solar spike was worthless......well, the "mole deterrent" granules aren't any better - nor are the poison peanuts, it seems.  I've resigned myself to just living with the critters until the first freeze drives them deeper....next spring I'll try lawn insect killer to see if maybe I can get rid of whats got them so excited.  The grass seed I planted didn't fix everything, but the lawn is better than it was - I'll deal with the rest in the spring.

The debate?  Well, I wasn't going to watch it, but then I saw some tweets about how it was quite aggressive on both sides, so I changed the channel and it wasn't bad....at least I thought it showcased the difference between the two party platforms.  There were exaggerations and misstatements on both sides, which I expected - as well as the "after debate" claims by each side that the other lied.  What troubles me is the way that the media (and I mean ALL media here) tends to pick up one point to focus on and ignores the rest.  But I did find the binders of women very funny..

I have lots of other things to write about including my Renfest experiences, but this has rambled on longer than I intended so I'll save that for another post.