I know you're all getting as tired of reading it as I am of typing it.

One day I will have time to post on MSN again. Until then, the blog entries...they are here and here.

It was a busy night and morning and evening.

So go here for the Tour.

I promised I'd get back to this at some point.

Anyone else finding it difficult to login to MSN on the weekend?

The above explains this and this. ("Jump, jump!" - and yes, BGOAB, I'm stealing from you.)

I'll probably add it here later, but I'm running late this morning so just go here for the moment.

So....do you like pickles?

My mom is now the proud owner of a brand new Rav4. She's practically giddy about the car: "It's my size" she says, with lots of little hiddie holes in the back so all of her "just in case" gear is stowed out of the way, she has plenty of space to haul her plants/dirt, and she got the "Sports Package" upgrade with a 4 disk cd changer. In short, it's a sweet ride.

When we were at the dealership, the young, twenty-something chickie going through the manual and keys kept looking at me as she talked. In the back of my mind I thought, "She thinks this is my car." Sure enough, when I got up to show another employee which license tag to switch, the chickie remarked to my mom, "This is YOUR car? But this is a young person's car!"

Strangely my mom let her walk away with her eyes and limbs in tact. I take that as a sign that she was in a good mood.

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Lessons Learned This Weekend at the DMV:

1. Never show up at the DMV at 3 pm. You'll still be standing in line with at least thirty of your closest friends at 5:00 when DMV folks lock the doors. At least they didn't make us all leave.
2. If you're going to change car titles, make sure to call your insurer BEFORE you get in line at the DMV. Otherwise the DMV Dudette may refuse to give you your title until you have proof of insurance and you'll end up on your cell phone trying to holler over thirty of your closest friends to change your policy.
3. Never go to the DMV when you're sick. 'Nuff said.
4. Never take a child who just got his shots for school to the DMV. He may end up kicking, hitting and screaming at the sick librarian who is about two seconds from losing it. And yes I know, it wasn't his fault because he felt bad. Join the club, little dude, and don't thwack me with that huge stuffed rabbit again.

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Saturday was rainy so we spent a lot of on my mom's porch. She had the screened porch built a couple of years ago, although it had been in my dad's original plan for the house from before it was built. When she decided to make the cats indoor-only pets, she started leaving them out there a lot, many times unsupervised, until G-Cat started chewing his way through parts of the screen in order to pull a Houdini. The funny thing was that when she found him afterwards he never ran away from her, in fact he'd come strolling up to her as pleased as punch. It was like, "Look what I did, Mama!"

Anyway, she decided to make the porch more of a sun room as a result - had someone glass in the lower portion that the cats could reach and install a series of polymer panels up top that could be raised (for a sun room effect) or lowered (for a screen porch one). It looks really nice and sitting out there on my mom's white wicker furniture was wonderful: surrounded by the various greens of the woods, the ceiling fan causing the wind chimes to sing, and rain in the gutters sounding like drops on a tin roof.

Then my mom called me today...

MCL: "Tell your mother she's an idiot."
Me: *Short pause as various remarks go through my head, before I opt for the safe response* "You're an idiot, mom. Now why are you an idiot?"

Seems she had gone out to do some errands and, since it was such a nice day and the G-Cat was being so good, she left him out there by himself with the panels all pulled down.

You see where this is going, right?

Sure enough, she got back and there he was, trotting up to meet her. Houdini, the Master of Illusion escapes again....this time he climbed in between he polymer panels and the screen to chew his way out. *Ffppptt* Stupid cat.

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And on TV...

Are you ready for some football? I am. I cannot tell you how happy I was to watch my Panthers play their preseason game this past Saturday. It's a sure sign that Fall is not far behind. (And my main man Julius Peppers even got a sack. Pure bliss.)

What are you watching tonight? Me, I'm looking forward to the new episode of Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel. It starts at 10 pm so sorry folks, I gotta go. Oh, but I am feeling better - today is the last day of my antibiotics and I am tentatively optimistic. I do have to say that after talking with various medical folks (my pharmacist, my doctor's partner, etc.), the best advice I got was from Future Dr. Cara. After I upped my yogurt intake everything got much better. Thanks Soon-To-Be-Dr.-Cara!

I'm heading to see MCL this weekend; it's a trip that we knew would happen sometime this month but we weren't sure when until today. Why? My mom My mom has been interested in getting a new car for a while and she's been looking for one that she wanted, something that won't cost too much to own but will let her haul stuff like dirt and plants for her yard. She finally found one and so off we go. What that means for you is that the Tour is going to be rather brief because I still have to pack. Sorry 'bout that, but that's life...what can you do

Okay, for the folks who are new to the Tour de Blog, here's the story. I wanted a way to share with my friends and family blogs and blog entries that I had found interesting (or funny, inspiring, whatever) with my friends and family. So I began writing lists every Friday a short introduction to the entry and a link. And, surprisingly to me at least, folks seem to enjoy it - so I do it every week.

Now, on with the show:

• If you have not yet read Belinda's wonderful entry about being an advocate for her family's health care or her husband Alex's equally eloquent entry about the same subject from his perspective, then get to it. It is without a doubt a must read, and I don't say that often. I do have to wonder what conversation at the family dinner is like in the Ninja Poodles household when you have two such articulate people in the same family. I'm betting there are rhyming couplets being tossed around left and right.
• WHW tells about what's been going on in his life for the last week and about his "bizarro magnetism" (his words, not mine).
• Chris and the kids had an interesting time at the county fair (once you read that entry, this follow up probably won't surprise you).
• Soon-to-be-Dr.-Cara is home and has plenty to say about what happened while she was gone.
• T proves that she's not only a FABulous teacher, she's also a MTV video fanatic.
• BGOAB debates whether to mow or ride, and relates his weekend plans.
• John over at Stank is rarely effusively positive about anything (that doesn't involve the Steelers, that is), so when he speaks glowingly about the new Google Toolbar you should probably listen.
• Sue's been spreading her wings at Blogger too, and this week she wrote about her trip to the cemetery. Back on her original space, she wrote a really great entry about what it means to really listen to people. Well done, Sue. I can barely keep up with answering comments on two blogs this week and here you are writing a bunch of great things on two spaces.
• This week Mocha got back from her trips of the past two weeks and got debriefed on what happened back home.
• Loofa wrote a very nice entry on whether blog friendships are real. I read a BlogHer article on the same subject not long ago and thought, "Hmmmm...I should write about that." Oh well. *grin* Yet another thing to add to my "to blog" list.
• I read two articles that I though folks might be interested in. For Aynde and Jordan there's an article on a new Bollywood film. And for those of us who grew up watching and loving the Muppets, there's an article on a new puppet project by Jim Henson's son.

So I got antibiotics from my doctor last Friday to hopefully kill off the sinus infection I've had for about three weeks. Well, it's worked out pretty well for the most part - my head is feeling MUCH better.

There's only one problem. Well, there are two actually.

The first is that this particular antibiotic is well known for cause...intestinal distress, if you know what I mean.

The second is that I work on a floor without a bathroom.

You see the problem. So I was out of work...again. I am so thankful that my boss is very, very understanding and that my co-workers are such good sports about me being out. And I'm glad I only have six more days of this crap (pun VERY much intended).

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*sigh* I just love my mom.

It's going to be a long weekend and I have a lot of reading to do. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to really put in the effort to make it feel like home.

Attila, I'm heading off with the hordes...

Not much to catch you up on in my life this week. I've been sick (still), I've got a doctors appointment tomorrow (*insert Monty Python "yay" here*), accessing Spaces has been difficult (thank goodness they got the majority of the problems cleared up by tonight), and it's hot outside (blah). Work is work - although I've apparently been such a grumpy, snappish type person the last few weeks that everybody is either avoiding me or only poking their head in for a second to ask whatever they have to before heading for the hills as fast as they can. Oh well, I'm too tired to care about it much right now.  

And since I haven't felt like exercising or fixing anything but quick and easy crap, I've gained weight...so my clothes are uncomfortable. Yeah, it's just been that kind of summer.

But it's going to get better, I know it. Tomorrow I'm going to get meds and be back to my usually sunny self again in no time. Right? Right. Now, on to the Tour.

• No surprise, but the move to "Live" is the talk of MSN Spaces. To be fair, it's early yet - but the initial problems were enough to prompt several folks like Bill, BGOAB and myself to think about moving elsewhere. I can't speak for the guys, but I plan to investigate my options for a little bit. I may not end up going through with it but I'd like to know what the other possibilities are out there.
• This has been quite a week for T. First she was featured by MSN, then she had possibly the worst first day back at school ever, and then she had a visit by some cute firemen (and not a good kind of visit). Go by and say something nice to her, please, she deserves it.
  
• Prudence is still resting after her surgery, but Chris tells us about daughter Panda's adventures in pie making and competing at the county fair.
• WHW gives us a list of the things running through his mind at the moment and, trust me, it's a bit...how can I put this politely? Diverse. Yeah, that'll do. ("Palmetto" trees...*grrrrrr*.) Oh, and if you haven't yet seen his ode to parenting, you should check it out.
  
• Time to catch up with Aynde - seems she's been talking with birds, pondering her karma, and moving in with Mongo.
• Ninja Poodles has had a lot of good entries this week, including dealing with the backlash from her "Barnyard" post. (A Bogus Steve Oederkerk? What a loser in the Game of Life.) If that doesn't butter your bread, check out Belinda discussing her mixed feelings about her daughter's preschool interview. But, MY personal favorite is the entry where Belinda starts suspecting that there's something going on between her husband and Mocha.
• Speaking of Belinda's husband, he has his own blog where he's announcing the completion of "Tater," his potato cannon - which I just find frightening (there's a STUN GUN in it, daggnabbit!). Anyone want to place bets on how long it'll be until WHW makes one of these with his boys?
  
• Speaking of Mocha, she catches us up on events at BlogHer. And yeah, Dana, I wish I had been there too.
• John over at Stank makes some observations about the sign at The Kingston Christian Church.
• I have plenty of good BlogHer articles, like this one from Jory Des Jardins about whether it's "selling out" to partner with mainstream advertisers on your blog. I also enjoyed Liz Rizzo's entry on her reaction when he doesn't call (been there, done that a few times). And apparently there is quite a discussion going on about whether to be or not be a mommyblogger. It's not something I really have to worry about, thank goodness, but I can understand the debate since it very much reflects the tension I often see between the Singles and Couples-With-Kids.
• And finally, just for Mama Christy, there's proof that her choice to look on the positive side of life can pay major health dividends.
• Thought I was done until I ran into this entry by Purls Before Swine - all I can say is "wow" and "I wish..."
  

Another night spend trying to get into my space, mostly without success. So "Spaces" - honey, pal, sweetie, dude - are we done yet with the changes? I'm sure they're lovely, these new updates, but really I just need a space to write in and access reliably...the bells and whistles don't make me nearly as excited as you might think.

So, instead of a real entry, here's yet ANOTHER list of links (and it's not even Thursday yet - at this rate I'm going to have nothing left for the tour).

• From Reuters comes a story about Stephen King and John Irving urging J.K. Rowling not to kill off Harry Potter in the last book. Really no new Rowling news in the article but some of the quotes from King and Irving are interesting.
• There's a short BlogHer article on shyness and how to coup with it. I haven't followed all of the links from it yet but they look promising.
• The heat that has been crushing the rest of the country reached here a couple of days ago. Normally I'm not one to complain about heat after spending years sweating in August band camps, but multiple days of over 100 degree heat is something we don't get a lot around here. Since I've been sick I haven't been going out much anyway (thank goodness for air conditioning), but now that I'm starting to feel better the heat is keeping me from being able to get my normal walk breaks at work or unwind in the evenings with a walk around the neighborhood; even just walking from my car into the office is awful and I end up a sweating, sopping mess. *sigh* It's only the second day of August and I'm already tired of this summer.
  

'Cause that's all the time I have to write it this morning. You would have gotten an actual entry last night if MSN Spaces hadn't been doing the online equivalent of a 360 degree head spin while puking split pea soup. So send your nasty-grams to them.

• Have you been keeping up with DOPA (Deleting Online Predators Act), which folks in Congress hope will block access to MySpace and other blog sites at schools and libraries to "keep kids safe?" I'm ashamed to say I've been a little slack about reading up on the topic, luckily there's a nice little article from CNN and a step-by-step analysis of the bill by Cool Cat Teacher.
• I was reading news articles at lunch at came across news of a "body farm" being planned in western NC as part of Western Carolina's forensic anthropology program. Very cool.
• Had to buy new eyeliner yesterday and happened to read the name of the color I always buy..."Espresso." Coincidence? I think not.

Yeah, yeah...so it's lame. What do you expect in five minutes?