I am the proud owner of a brand new bicycle

I went ahead and bought myself a bicycle today! It is very cute and sparkly blue. I have a matching helmet, given my accident prone nature and necessary investment. We are supposed to have a fabulous weekend (in the 80s) and I hope Sir GB and I will be able to take a nice bike ride.

Gerby on Wheels

Yup...today I did it. With the help of my sidekick Mr Cobb I learned how to ride a bike. Only took me 31 years. Video will be coming shortly.

But for now a photo will have to do...

That Oregon Duck

Who is actually a Donald, it is a long and involved story, but basically one of the only nice things Disney does (they are truly an evil empire).
But back to the point....The Oregon Donald, appears to have a history of fighting, as can be seen in this footage.

In my vast experience with waterfowl, I find that they can be quite pesky and ferocious if taunted. So a word of warning if your run into the Oregon Donald, keep on his good side. It is embarassing to have your ass kicked by a duck.

When Mascots Attack

I do love it when mascots fight. I remember many moons ago when the Oregon Donald and the Utah hawklike thing got in a fantastic brawl...truly spectacular.

But here is a clip from a game last night, featuring one of my least favorite schools Oral Roberts U versus IUPUI, which you have to love because it is a palindrome. While ORU won the game (those bastards), IUPUI won the more important game (MASCOT RUMBLE).

Life with a cat

Simon Tofield creates these awesome cartoons about life with cats. I would probably not appreciate them, except for the delightful Tiger Cat.

She typifies this behavior whenever she wants to go in or out....

Gerbie goes to LA

We had a great time. I am really looking forward to moving there. I think it will be a ton of fun. I even saw my first celebrity. Steve-o from jackass. If you are wondering if he is always that way, the answer appears to be yes, based on his appearance at the burbank airport.

But here are some other celebrities I met, I think Joss approves :)

kitteh's do the darndest thing

Kittens apparently like to play chess, just like the BIL. I wonder if there were any at Dorkfest 2008

I must inquire.....

In other news, Sir GB and I are headed to LA on wednesday to check out my new campus, and check out areas to live....should be interesting.

I also got the best valentines day present ever...a GPS for my car. While I don't need it so much in Mt View, but it will be a godsend when I move to LA.

I continue my quest to get Sir GB and Tiger to move with me, but if that fails, I will get my own kitteh, and maybe it can teach me to play chess....how handy

Getting Ready for Valentines Dayy

It is coming up next week...so you better be prepared or you might have an angry sweetie.... hint, hint....

In Memoriam Syggy "The Bean" Gerbil

She passed away today after coming home from the hospital. She was a benevolent leader and always kind (unless you tried to steal her biscuits). She will be missed, but now she can eat all the biscuits and food, and play ball forever.

In case you find Tom Cruise's rants on the beauty of scientology to be frightening, you'll enjoy this....

I find him to be pretty scary. But it is much more entertaining when done with cats, and LOL technology....see what you think....

Think good thoughts

So many of you know that my mom is dog lover, and my dad is a dog tolerator. But one of their babies is sick. This is Syggy. Last fall she was diagnosed with diabetes. She was making huge improvements, losing weight, and a much happier dog. But she has had a setback and is in the hospital. She is improving a bit, but it is still touch and go...So think good thoughts for this little girl, she maybe chubby, but she is definitely a sweetie.

I know just what you were waiting for...

Pictures from our last trip....click here

Hello, is it me your looking for?

I don't know if any of you out there remember this classic Lionel Richie song...but it is ridiculous....

in the video his blind girlfriend sculpts a lionel richie head. Well this group in england decided they too would make blindfolded lionel richie heads...the results are shall we say awesome. Check out the video here.

Happy Boxing Day!

As we are a half English household, we celebrate boxing day. Since we spent most of Christmas playing the wii, we are very sore...and are celebrating by resting....

But tomorrow we are off to San Louis Obsipo for a few days...then back home for New Year's Eve with some of our pals and probably some more wii!

Happy Holidays from the Gerbil-Bear-Cat Family

Wishing you a Happy Christmas (if you celebrate it) and New Year!

Tiger finally agreed to let me take some holiday snap shots of her...she is kind of a pain like that.

I won't regale you with our adventures, because you can skim through them here.

We are looking forward to an exciting New Year with the Gerbil part of the family moving to LA, getting a new Cat family member and a big trip to New Zealand.

Huggles to all of you out there!

Who was afraid of Santa

Of course it was me. In general I was scared of all men with facial hair. Gerbil family legend states that it was because of me Papa Gerbil had to shave his cool 70's facial hair. Sorry!

But Back to the holiday theme....there is an entire photo gallery of kids being freaked out by santa....click here. But there is also someone who actually studies this topic...click here.

Honestly, if I was in charge of a kid, I would be glad if they were freaked out by Santa. Who wants to be held by some weirdo in a red suit, usually with a fake beard and probably smells...

Luckily, Tiger is not into sitting still so, she is spared a trip to animal santa....but she did find her christmas presents...this is the problem of buying catnip toys for your cat....she was trying to wrestle them free of a petco bag...she is a very special kitty. But you are in luck, in the next day or so her holiday photos will be posted right here.....

So the moral of this tale...santas are creepy and don't make your kid sit with them....

TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I managed to get myself an assistant professor position. In July I will be starting at Cal-State Northridge. This will be my first experience in a school of this size, but I am sure I'll be able to figure it out....

It will mean that Sir GB and I will be living in different places for awhile, but we'll figure it out. It is only an hour flight and about $100, which these days is way cheaper than driving...

But the other good news, is that means we get to add to the Gerbil-Bear-Cat family. Tiger will be getting a sibling, a little brother or sister kitty to keep me company in SoCal. Soon, I will be soliciting entries in the cat naming bonanza....

Job update

Unless something changes in the next 30 hours, I'll be moving to LA this summer. Not such a bad thing. I liked the people in the department, I can definitely get tenure there...and I need a change of pace from around here.

So I'll confirm on the blog tomorrow....but tonight I am having dinner with the delightful and ever charming, Dana D, who is out here interviewing at Santa Cruz...

But until confirmation...here are some holiday whales...b/c we all need to see whales in santa hats

Who has a wii

I have a wii!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But Sir GB says I have to wrap it for christmas...I think he doesn't want to be distracted by it....

We are busy getting ready for the holidays! I am very excited for the break!

How I think that Sir GB thinks I drive

Not only is this a good song, but it pretty much depicts Sir GB's description of my driving