Friday, May 22, 2009

Brooklyn Comic

Was reading a local paper yesterday and I came across a great comic about living in Brooklyn. Click through to go see it. I couldn't get it to display correctly on my blog.

Click here!

It's by local cartoonist Julia Wertz and is almost exactly how I feel about living in Brooklyn. Just thought I'd share.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Quickies

Apartment changes? Just barely as of late.



I threw up some cool cardboard thingies on the previously blank wall above my desk. I think it fills the space pretty well.



Alicia and I found an honest-to-god liquor store near our place. Previously, all of our beer was purchased through the grocery store. In addition, my mother bought me a case of Bawls energy drink (it's quite delicious!). I saw the opportunity to make an awesome shelf in our fridge. I raised the top shelf up three notches and you can see the result.

Isn't it pretty? Looks like a Frat house fridge!

Honestly, that is the end of all changes to this apartment... we're moving up stairs in two weeks!

Leela



Technically, Alicia and I adopted a second cat. In reality, this kitty had been pestering us for two years. We were afraid that Alicia was allergic to cats, so we took a risk and got Livia, a supposedly hypo-allergenic cat. We love Livia, but she gets lonely. To solve that, we finally brought in the cat above.




I took Leela (formerly known as Oreo) to the vet three weeks ago to give her a checkup. She's free from any of the standard kitty diseases plus she's flea-less. Leela took her vaccination shots like a champ, and home she came.

We kept her in the bathroom for the first day, but it turned out she was already trained to use the box. Or, maybe, she just wanted to impress us!



Livia and Leela haven't bonded yet. They hiss when they see each other. They've even divided the apartment in half: Livia gets the living room and the lovesac, Leela gets the bedroom and the window.

Leela started out antsy to get back outside, but now she doesn't even want to leave. She absolutely loves our bed.



Friends tell us that it might take up to 6 weeks for the cats to become friends. That seems about right. They are less jumpy around each other now... maybe they'll be curled up together soon.

Backyard at Night

Alicia and I have put a lot of work into our garden. I'm sure you've read about it on her blog and I plan on including more updates over the summer. For now, here's some pictures of our garden at night.







This here's one of the solar lamps we've lined the garden with. They were on sale at our local hardware store, though I think the rechargeable batteries need replacing.






Here's an overexposed photo of our view at night. At the bottom, you can see Leela, but more about her later!






Here's a backlit photo of Alicia. I no longer have the string of blue lights hanging, but didn't it look cool?






To finish it off, here's me!

The worst is over

I've finished my hard work this semester. I'll be giving the final to my students tonight, but that requires literally 0% work on my part. It was a toughie this semester.

The good news: I'm back to blogging! I'm hoping to push out a few updates out today and then resume my regular blogging schedule.

So come back to Brian Blogs in Brooklyn!


My Father Puttering around MN

My dad emailed this to me a few days ago: he's on the right as they go around Minnesota in their scooter club.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Hey Twitterverse. Sorry I've been away. It's been a strange weekend. My hard drive failed, got a new cat, etc.