Ditz attack.

Have I mentioned recently how much I hate Mondays?

I got up this morning operating on autopilot. And autopilot was defective. Couldn’t find my watch. Nearly forgot the brownies I’d baked over the weekend as bribes to my MIS department so I wouldn’t get reported for unauthorized use of my company issue computer. Gathered up film to be developed, the VHS tape to be copied, the prescription to be filled, some checks to be deposited. Each time I located one of those items, I lost track of another one. Finally got out the door five minutes late. Stopped for my traditional morning paper/coffee/bagel. Remembered as I was paying for these items that this was the day I’d made the appointment for my car to get an oil change and pre-trip check-up done.

I had to call the Professor (who had already witnessed my witless dance as I attempted to get out the door minutes before) and ask him to please come and pick me up at the service center and take me to work. Thank whatever Deities are responsible that today’s schedule already had him out of bed and working on the computer when I called, and that he’ll still be awake when I have to leave work and pick up my car.

Can you say “Duh” boys and girls? Maybe I ought to go blonde when I color my hair.

Saturday we rearranged the bedroom furniture. I’ve been bugged about the way the bedroom was set up since I first moved into the apartment. I made the mistake of putting the bed against the wall whose only outlet was operated by an of/on switch as you enter the bedroom. I couldn’t put a lamp there because the bed was blocking the outlet. I couldn’t plug the alarm clocks into the outlet because I kept switching them off by accident when I entered the room. Things are now arranged so that it is not necessary to use fifty cumulative feet of extension cords to enable me to plug everything into the correct outlet. The Professor was exceedingly helpful with this project, and actually did most of the heavy work himself. Whatta guy!

Yesterday we’d hoped to go to a local arboretum. We’d visited there at Christmas time to see the Christmas displays, but I wanted the Prof to see the place again in the summer, when the plantings were at their prime. The arboretum has a national reputation, and rightly so. The topiary and rose gardens in particular are amazing, and there is an old Italian style fountain and pools with huge koi in them. It’s a great place to go and just relax.

The weather clouded over on Sunday though, and a trip to the arboretum wouldn’t have been quite as much fun in the rain. I convinced the Professor that a trip to the zoo would be better, since there were more buildings to duck inside if it began to rain. I’m glad we went. It had been far longer than I realized since I was last there. Things have changed so much in the past five years that there were parts of the zoo I didn’t recognize!

There was a bad fire at the zoo just before Christmas in 1994 that wiped out the Primate Center. I got to see our new Primate Center for the first time, and I was floored. I’ve been to a lot of zoos, both here and abroad and this was easily the finest primate exhibit I’ve ever seen. It was a shock when I was looking for familiar faces among the gorilla troop, and suddenly realized that Snickers, Samantha, John and the rest had all been dead for over six years.

There is now also a walk through free flight cage with lorikeets. You are given a small cup of nectar on the way in, and the birds alight on you so they can get the nectar. The Professor had one land on his head – it was a stitch. I managed to get a few pictures of it for posterity. He got pictures of another nibbling my ear. It is unusual to be able to interact with the animals any more at the zoo, and this opportunity to do so was an amazing experience.

I want, more than ever, to resume some sort of contact and work at the zoo. Later on today I intend to send out a few e-mails and see if the Docents have any openings coming up.