Where's the Rat in This Picture?

I know I have an unnatural fascination with the species known as the "Subway Rat" but I do. So be it. I took this on my Blackberry, which is normally great with photos but that little rat-bastard was moving so I was trying to move along with him. Why couldn't he just sit all nice purty while I was attempting to take his picture? Anyway, this is at my favorite rat-watching spot: 14th Street/Union Square Station. I know that the picture doesn't totally capture it, but he was quite snarky.

Okay, so it's "The Crow" outside again today. It's "Seven" minus creepy no-fingerprints Kevin Spacey (who I think is creepy, no matter what). I am chilled, I'm multiplyin'. I have a leisurely week this week, no plans, I'm just flyin' by the seat of my pants. Footloose and fancy-free. Like Kramer without undies, "I'm lovin' it."

The B-stards at the Crane finally rented my apartment. Yeah, you got it. My ties with Sioux Falls, SD are finally severed (minus that I have all my worldly possessions in storage there, so at least until next February I'm free of them). I fought with them all weekend about my carpeting. They (supposedly) brought in a service to blacklight my carpeting and were coming after me for replacing costs of the carpeting. Now, if I ruin something, I own up to it. Could there have been Lady urine on the carpeting? I suppose. Maybe she snuck into the bedroom and drained the main vein. I cannot be 100% certain, I don't have peepers in the back of my head. But, to black light my apartment only after I move out, not before I move in, and blame all the stains on me is wrong. Furthermore, to lie about it and say to me that "the results from the last tenant are in storage" and to let it slip to my mom that they never blacklit the last tenant because "he didn't have a pet" is wrong. To say that my apartment smelled like urine, is wrong (it didn't, by the by).

So, after much back-and-forth yesterday they split the costs with me. True, they did find a renter and I am off the hook for my lease and really, that's the most important thing. I just detest being lied-to and made to feel like a pig because my dog may or may not have had an accident (or two). But, I also had the carpets professionally cleaned four times since Lady passed-away and clearly, she couldn't have accidents now that she's dust in an urn on my mantle. Could she (she was thrifty though, that one). I shall defend her honor until the end.

Dang, I miss that little dog. No one captures your heart like your first dog.

Enough morbidity for the day. I am flying high on my drum of Starbucks coffee and gearing-up to work my very first reference desk shift here. Should be fantastic. I'm excited to see how these students differ from the SDSU kids. No more soil samples. No more angri-anything. Thankfully, I doubt I'll see anyone wearing hunting gear. Ugly doesn't even cover it.

Observation of the day: a doorman using a spray hose to get tiny leaves off of the sidewalk in the rain. Does this make sense?

Waste of Time Yesterday: Two hours of A&E's "Intervention." I dreamt about being addicted to (and I am NOT lyin') Fresca all night. I adore Fresca, it's diet, it's carbonated, it's grapefruit juice, it's tangy. Give me more....

(In answer to the question where is the rat, he's in just about the exact center of the photo, you can see his tail curling towards the platform if you squint hard enough.)