Cat and mouse chase

It was kind of a weird, yet fun, week.

One year ago today (October 21), I adopted my cat, Jimmy.

If you've been following this blog, you know that I love my cat. I got an email that he was due for an update on his rabies vaccine, as well as an annual checkup. So as a responsible cat owner, I scheduled a vet appointment for him on Tuesday, which was my day off this week.

As the time of his appointment got close, I had to find him. He wasn't in his usual spots, and instead he was under my niece's bed. I coaxed him out into the living room, where I had his kennel. I picked him up to put him in it. In the past year, that is the first (and only) time I have picked him up, because he doesn't like it at all. He hissed and meowed at me. I tried to put him in, but he simply would not cooperate. I figured I'd have to try something else. (Later I realized I should have put the door facing up instead of on the ground, but it was too late.) So he ran to hide under my bed. I tried to get him out of there, but he escaped before I could get him and ran downstairs. So then I tried to get him downstairs and he ran upstairs. We played this game of cat and mouse, except that the cat was the mouse. He was really afraid to see me, and he got very good at hiding from me. Shortly before the appointment, I called the vet to say that I would be late. An hour later, I had to call them to say I wouldn't be coming because I couldn't get him. He won.

I don't necessarily think he needs to go to the vet, though. He doesn't go outside, so I don't think he needs rabies vaccines. And since he refuses to be held or picked up, I think just getting a checkup is worse for him than just staying home. Our last cat, Jenny, went thirteen years without going to the vet, and she lived a long life of fifteen years, and she even went outside. Jimmy is about nine years old now. I did take him to the vet in June because he lost a tooth. (On that occasion, he chased a laser into the kennel, and I closed the door behind him. That didn't work this time around.)

It was traumatizing to me to have my cat afraid of me. But he's forgiven me, and he's been interrupting me as I write this so he can be petted. He's sitting placidly next to me at the moment.

After that wasted afternoon, I went running up Mueller Park Canyon, and this time it was my turn to be chased. I hadn't gone very far when I noticed a man running behind me. I tend to be a slow runner, so I always feel a little awkward when that happens. At one point, I had stopped for some cyclists, and he caught up to me. I told him he could pass, but he told me I was "an animal" and was setting an incredible pace, so he liked following me. He was from Oklahoma and didn't usually do hills, but I was still impressed by him, especially since he looked twenty years older than I am. Indeed, having someone following me motivated me to go faster, and I made it to Elephant Rock in 38 minutes, which I think was the fastest I'd ever done it. So if anyone wants to run up one of those canyons with someone else as motivation, let me know. (I've decided not to extend invitations, for my own mental health.)

I got a new Fitbit this week. I switched from the Surge to the Ionic. I upgraded mostly because (1) my Surge band was in bad shape, and the band for that model cannot be replaced, and (2) I wanted one that I could wear swimming. Well, I debated between that and the Garmin Vivoactive 3, but I opted to stick with Fitbit because (1) Kohl's had a sale on it, (2) I didn't want to get used to a new setup, especially since Fitbit's app seems to be more user friendly (especially for counting calories, which I'm doing right now), and (3) I'm Fitbit friends with two of my cousins. But I instantly had buyer's remorse once I set it up, because it only shows the time when you press a button or hold your wrist in a certain way. The Fitbit Surge and the Garmin I was considering always have the display on. I have worn a watch continually since I was in second grade, so it drives me nuts not to be able to see the time. I'm getting used to it, but I still don't like that aspect. Hopefully I'll come to love the watch.

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week, This Is the Place did Little Haunts, which featured trick-or-treating for kids. It was very busy, and I had a hard time juggling history and trick-or-treating, since so many people were just there for the candy. Thursday and Friday, I was in the bank, where we gave out colored pencils. Many of the kids were disappointed they didn't get candy. Saturday I was in the print shop, where we had candy, and I was annoyed with how many kids were picky about what they got. If you have a peanut allergy, that's fine, but otherwise it bugged me. Just take the candy! It's free!

On Friday and Saturday, I dressed in my vampire costume, which I have worn many times since I got the cape in 2006 and the teeth in 2010. It really is a great costume. Several small kids wouldn't come in to get candy because they were afraid of me. One toddler said to her parents, "He's a vam-pirate!"

One interesting part of the Halloween festivities is Alice the dragon. My coworker Chris is usually Alice, and in this video, you can see me walking alongside him when he was Alice. But a couple of times, I had/got to play Alice. It is very heavy and difficult to see out of. I also am not very expressive, so I didn't do a great job. But it was kind of fun to get in bright orange tights and control the dragon. It did kind of weird me out to have some curious kids come up and rub my legs. When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants to be a dragon. It's for fun.

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Pumpkinundation roundup is still going strong.

This Trader Joe's Organic Pumpkin went into a pumpkin dessert my mom made.

 It was like pumpkin pie with oats thrown in. It was good but a little weird. It had a bit of a tangy taste to it. 7/10.

If you had not told me that this Baker Josef's (Trader Joe's) Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread was gluten free, I wouldn't have guessed it. It was good, but something was a little off about it; it's not as good as bread with gluten flour. 7/10.

Tootsie Caramel Apple Pops are just green apple candy with caramel on top. Always a classic. 8/10.

Taco Time Pumpkin Empanadas are basically pumpkin pie filling inside a cinnamon-coated tortilla. They've been making these for like a decade, with good reason. 9/10.

barkThins Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed Snacking Chocolate aren't pumpkin spice, but they are pumpkin inspired. I do enjoy the texture of pumpkin seeds. 8/10.

Special K Pumpkin Spice Pastry Crisps are really weird. They're like crackers with a sticky filling. Pumpkin is nowhere on the ingredient list. 5/10.

Someone asked me recently what the best pumpkin ice cream is, and I said Dairy Queen Pumpkin Pie Blizzards. They're just spicy enough without being overbearing, and the graham cracker bits make for a wonderful treat. 10/10.

I was nervous about this Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese, because I'm picky about cheese. I like cheddar, but I don't like parmesan, and I don't know about gouda. This isn't a pumpkin spice product, but it does have nutmeg. It was better than I expected. I was able to eat three quarters of the package. But then it had cooled so much that I didn't like it anymore. My mom liked it. 6/10.

Thomas' Pumpkin Spice Bagels are the best pumpkin bagels there are. They're soft, and they have little pockets of what seems to be pie filling. 8/10.

I had these Kellogg's Pumpkin Spice Nutrigrain Bars in 2016, and I was sad when I didn't see them last year. These are way better than the Trader Joe's "This Pumpkin Walks into a Bar" bars. 8/10.

Normal Ice Cream is an ice cream truck in Trolley Square (aka Hipster Square) with unique flavors. This Normal Ice Cream Corny Apple is a blend of cream cheese ice cream and apple cider sorbet, with green apple jam and caramel corn. It combines the less common Halloween flavors of apple cider and popcorn ball. I really loved the apple sorbet mixed with the ice cream. 8/10.

This Cafe Zupas Autumn Harvest Protein Bowl only counts as a pumpkin item because it has some pumpkin seeds. I didn't love it. I didn't love the goat cheese or the maple vinaigrette, and it was weird to eat cold sweet potatoes. 6/10.

I had a sip or two of the Cafe Zupas Pumpkin Chorizo Soup while it was warm, and I found it surprisingly spicy. Then I let it cool a bit, and it wasn't as spicy, but it didn't taste as good. I didn't like this creamy soup that much. 6/10.

What are you supposed to do with granola? Eat it out of hand (messy), or eat it with milk like cereal? I did both with this Bear Naked Pumpkin Spice Granola. There was nothing wrong with it, but there was nothing noteworthy about it. 7/10.

This Russell Stover Caramel Apple Pumpkin was apple flavored caramel in chocolate. I really liked it. 8/10. (As a side note, when I was at Walgreens looking at the candy, a shabbily dressed woman came up and butted in front of me, mumbling in a raspy smoker voice, and after she walked away, her repulsive smell lingered in the air. I felt sad when I realized her life has probably been destroyed from drugs. I don't have any sympathy at all for people who make money off of making or selling drugs, because they're using their skill sets to make money from killing people and ruining society. If you do that, you should stop. And if you won't stop, you should go die, because the world would be better off without you.)

I went to a church linger longer, where they had pumpkin bread (7/10) and a pumpkin roll with chocolate chips (8/10).

They also had Dick's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (8/10) and weird, tiny pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (5/10). Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies have been around longer than the pumpkin spice craze.