Poor Fish! Poor Agatha!

Fish's bad day was his own making. It's the cleaning crew's day, and he has taken to hiding in what was Agatha's secret hiding spot deep in the base cabinet in my bathroom. The little cabinet door on the far left is badly hung, so that it's easy to pop the magnetic latch with a paw. Then one can go to the far right corner behind the extra toilet paper and the basket of cleaning stuff, either under or on top of the little partial shelf, and those intruders with brooms and a vacuum cleaner can't get you.

The cleaning crew knows to leave the cabinet door ajar, but if the cabinet door hits the shower stall door, the resulting opening isn't large enough for a good-sized Fish-cat. And then if you reach out with your claws and drag the little bathroom rug into the opening too, it gets very thoroughly plugged up. Cleaning crew usually comes and goes before noon, so I assume he spent the afternoon in there.

Agatha's bad day was a vet trip. One eye started having some clear discharge Sunday night, and when it persisted I made the appointment to take her in--at 16, she's fragile enough that I like to catch things early. No signs of corneal injury, a small (very small) bump on the edge of the eyelid that we will watch to make sure it's not growing, and no obvious cause for the eye irritation. Rx: eyedrops to be applied 3x/day for a week, and come back if it's not better.

I have sinned....

OK, it's more that I have violated policy. It seems that while USGS employees are encouraged to raise money for charitable causes, it is not permitted to do this on government premises or during work hours. Exceptions are made for the Combined Federal Campaign, for Katrina relief, and for some third item that escapes me at the moment.

Which means that the letter I posted on the bulletin board of the break room asking if anyone wanted to donate to Komen for the Cure in support of my participating in next Sunday's JazzerThon...was Not Permitted. Neither was the poster placed by a co-worker similarly raising funds for a breast cancer walk-a-thon next summer, and of course the emails I sent to the 6 co-workers who contributed last year (when I posted a similar letter in the same location) should not have been sent.

I suspect that a third co-worker who had been trying to raise money for a charity bike ride event, and who used rather more...broadcast tactics (he sent 'all hands' emails to the local office once, and distribute letters to everyone's desks another time) asked for clarification on the policy after I sent my emails last week, and thus the exact official policy has been determined. My letter and the other co-worker's poster have been removed, and we know not to do it again.

This may be the last year I do the JazzerThon anyway. Support for it is really low at my particular center now, my joints creak a little more each year, and I really don't like fund-raising, so the fun of participating is diminishing. I still think it's a great cause, but I may just stick to personal donations in the future. I've not done much for fund-raising this year beyond hitting up family, the above mentioned work stuff, and asking fellow Jazzercisers. I'll just enjoy the actual event on Sunday (3 hours of aerobics, for those who don't recall my write-ups of some earlier ones), and think hard about it next year before signing up again.