How much wood can a woodchuck chuck?

I work in an area nicknamed named “the fishbowl.” Our room of cubicles is encased by almost floor to ceiling windows looking into a hallway, which has more windows extending to the outside. So anyone wandering the hallways can look in at us, walking around, darting into cubes, and staring back out at them, wondering when we’ll see freedom.

Today I was standing staring avidly out one of the windows. My co-workers passed me by and asked what I’m doing lurking outside my cube. To which I replied, “There’s an animal out there, and I can’t figure out what it is. I think it might be a beaver, but don’t beavers live near water?” The furry brown animal was sitting in a huge lawn of grass. Then she looked out too, and she noted, “It looks like a rabbit, except for the tail.” I agreed, “It doesn’t have the ears for a rabbit too.” She guessed, “I think it’s a squirrel.” “That’s a pretty huge squirrel,” I repsonded. Can they get that big, I wondered, thinking of some of the French river rats I had seen, which were admittedly the size of a beaver. Then finally some wandering business man called out “It’s a woodchuck” as he passed by. I was amazed, “Wow, a woodchuck, I’ve never seen one before. Is that what one looks like?” We stared at it for a while. Then my co-worker spoke, “I’ve never seen a woodchuck either, you think he said chipmunk.” I was thinking it’s still too big for a chipmunk, and we needed to stop augmenting small rodents to justify the appearance of this new creature. So enough wasting our precious work time, I went back to my comp to check it out online. It was a woodchuck, aka groundhog. For those of you who have never seen one either, here’s a photo. Another one of my great NY experiences.

How much do you care?

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many of us are being affected by the barrage of new stories and higher gas prices. However, as we are not actually there, there is no way to truly understand what it feels like. Empathy alone seems to me inconsequential compared to what actually is going on. We can only imagine the pain of loosing your home and loved ones, and be grateful that it is not us and pray for those who are still suffering.

I just heard the stories about people being forced to abandon their pets in order to get a seat on a transport or bus. I think if it was me, this would be the last issue to tip me over. It’s one thing to loose everything that you have, but then to have to give up something willingly would be completely agonizing. I don’t know if I could leave my dog behind on the street while I got on a bus and drove away. But in the end if you’re being evacuated, it won’t be optional. At least, there are several rescues working on bringing pets to shelters, where they might one day be reunited with their owners in the future or be adopted with a new family. This natural disaster reminds me of old war movies of people who were displaced from their homes and separated from each other only to hopefully be reunited after the tragedy is over.

If you’re interested in helping out pet rescues follow this link.

Version 7

Lotus Notes version 7 is coming out. What is Lotus Notes, you ask? It’s IBM’s software competing with Microsoft’s outlook application. There’s whole set ofother products competing with office, but that’s another topic I’ll never go into. The Lotus development group (recently re-name WPLC) decided to give us IBMers a 30 minute promotional presentation on the new version, to be released internally in the beginning of 2006. We were incented by free ice cream… and toppings that were to be given out after the presentation. Not only that, but the person who writes the best article about the coolest new feature on Lotus v7 will win an ipod.

It was amazing how hyped up office workers can get. The first feature introduced was developed to manage overload of e-mail… Do you ever come back from two days of vacation, sit down at your desk, and see 100 new e-mail messages waiting to be answered? Well, now Lotus Notes v7 can help you manage that. This new application will mark messages based on whether you’re in the TO line, one of several recipients on the TO line, or even better if you’re in the CC line. “Ooooooooh” goes the audience. Yes, even I was pulled into the magnetism of the new Lotus Notes Application.

There’s definitely some great new features, lots of oohs and aah, and even applauds. But then I thought about it later. In order not to be on low priority and to get an answer, I need to remember to put the person alone in the TO line and possibly send multiple e-mails if I have questions for several people on the same subject. I’m sure everyone else will figure it out. I wonder how many people will abuse the work arounds. Ah well, the ice cream was good, I had strawberry with marshmallows and nuts. It was a fun presentation.

Love Voodoo

A friend of mine recently gave me a love voodoo doll kit. At first, I was slightly disappointed it wasn’t a regular voodoo doll, which I could definitely use in my free time. But I’m dating again, so I’m sure this one could definitely come into use. It covers spells from breaking up couples so you can get your guy to dealing with bra straps. Most of the spells are pretty generic ie. if you want to be more articulate, put the doll between a dictionary and thesaurus. But some spells are way out there, ie if you want to get the guy to pick up the check you need to attach a picture of Czech leader Vaclav Havel to the hand of the doll. Now I have no clue who this guy is or what that has to do with paying a bill, but let me know if you do. But the best part is that the book is hilarious. Even for the most superstitious person, you can tell straight off that it’s just fun and games. The author “Voodoo Lou” makes you smile with his sardonic logic. So if you’re looking for a no brainer, and want to poke holes into something you should pick up this kit.

The infinite search

Trying to find an affordable place to live in NY with a dog is like trying to find an affordable place to live in LA when you’re a full-time unknown actor. You can be responsible, considerate, clean, but once you mention that one seemingly trite liability, the rental agents don’t call, the landlords hang up, and you get rejected right and left. I even got a solicitation on roommates.com from a lesbian couple, but was unwanted once they found out about my dog. Then you start thinking of settling. Looking farther away so it takes 45 minutes ….50 minutes….or even a little over an hour to get to work. Or thinking, you really don’t need to be close to a laundry, it’s a luxury item if you think about it. Or maybe the place you’re at is just fine, even though you can’t use more than two appliances in the kitchen without blowing a fuse; the stove is missing; and there’s annual floods and periodic rusty brown water. After all, it has a pretty view and a washer/dryer. Well, let’s hope something good happens. Maybe someone will get evicted from the one pet friendly apartment in White Plains. Or I receive an inheritance from a long lost relative, so I can just buy a place. Well you never know miracles can happen.