What, you can't hear my skin sizzling from where you are?

Yeah, that sunscreen stuff?

Wear it.

Also, when you're out on your parents' pontoon boat.... make sure the SPF is high enough.

Here's a hint: if you're as pale as I am, SPF 15 is NOT high enough. Even if it does protect from both kinds of UV rays.

I look like a cooked lobster. My knees got the worst of it so I've been waddling around the house all day - thankfully I have at least a little bit of silk clothing, though not much - only thing I can wear without feeling like somebody's trying to sandpaper my skin off.

Another chapter closed...

I sent my notice today. Just can't afford to go that far with that kind of reduction in hours.

I know it shouldn't take me long or anything. I was just hoping to have broken into something new by now. But nothing I'm interested in is open. So, back tot he same old stuff in the meantime.

Shouldn't take me long. But I still hate the process. Don't know many people who don't hate it. Just one of those necessities. I know people with no social anxieties whatsoever who still dread interviews and the like. I will never understand what it is exactly. Maybe just the scrutiny. The pressure.

Life is going to be weird for a bit....

I'm doomed....

I have discovered Aquabid. And there are bettas galore on that site.

I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque. I will not buy the super delta opaque.

But he's like.... $7.... as opposed to the $50+ they usually sell for.......... and neither of those include shipping.

No. I do NOT need to set up my 2.5 gallon right now. The one 10-gallon tank is enough. >.<;; Granted it is tempting to get a betta in the office. But I'd have to bowl it, which means no lights to heat it since our outlets are pretty much shot (3 of us are in an office built for one lol), and though we keep it pretty warm in there while we're around, it can get pretty dang cold in there when nobody's around. I suppose I could just take the fish home in the winter, and have him in the office during the summer.... but eh.

Yes, I admit it. Ever since I saw that one white betta in a store, I've been obsessed with the breed. Granted after Achilles the red terror I was rather fond of them, since I never realized before him that a fish could have so much personality. But man... I wish I had known at the store that his being white didn't mean he was sick. Should have had the sense to know, because it wasn't a dull white, this was iridescent. I found out they actually do come in white later, and could have kicked myself. I have never seen one in a fish store since.

I may be a bit fish-crazy right now. lol But I find it kinda relaxing to have the tank in here anyhow. And fish are fairly low-maintenance. I say this as I have a minor outbreak of ich... so tomorrow I get to run to the pet supply store nearby and grab some medicine. Need to stock my arsenal, since all I had was the stuff to help cure tears and fin rot for my betta. I've never had a fish get sick before now, but then I've also never had multiple fish at once, nor live plants. And supposedly ich is just a fact of life for most aquariums, so I'm not fussing too badly. Nobody's looking sickly yet, so the things haven't been attached to them long. I've joined a sort of discussion group online that's already given me some advice on it, and nobody else seems to think my fish are in real danger as long as I medicate them.

If only all medicine was as cheap as fish remedies...

I never did get to the pharmacy to see if anybody offers those stupid eyedrops at less than $100. *grumps* That much, just for something to stop my eyes from clouding when the weather turns cold. My immune system went haywire this year.

Fish

So I have a fishtank. With fish in it.

Sure, I've had bettas before. But now I have a ten-gallon. Why? Because I kept being haunted by the images of Howie's at the pirate parties, a nice 10-gallon tank sitting there, where a betta was living peacefully with other fish. I decided, I had to try it. After some careful reading of about 20 different sites, I decided the ONLY consistency I was finding was that neon tetras and bottom-feeders will generally not be harmed by the betta, nor will they attack his fins. So, that's what I chose. I now have 5 neons (1 died on the way home by flinging himself against the bag.... not the brightest bulb in the box, that one), one male Betta splendens (who was aggression-tested before we left the store - though his scales and fins were in perfect shape, he didn't flare even at other bettas), and one golden dojo loach.

I also have a handful of live plants - jungle val and anacharis. Which, as I am told, puts me at risk for snails since I wasn't warned that even store-bought live plants where they do not keep snails to sell will have snail eggs. But the advantage I have is that loaches are egg-eaters. Even if the dojo is not as active as people claim that species is, and sits on the bottom all day until he sees food float by.

Well, the other day, I did indeed come home to eggs.



After posting to a fish forum, it appears that they were not snail eggs as I feared, but fish eggs! Whoops, guess I shoulda posted before feeding them to the loach. Oh well, with luck it will happen again. I have determined they probably belong to the tetras, though I don't know if the loach is a male or a female. But supposedly loach eggs are red. Those are definitely not red, and one of my tetras looks "fat" (compare the one on the far right to the others - you'll have to click on the pic and view the full size to notice the difference probably, but the ones to the left are more streamlined):


Also, notice the bubbles in the egg picture. There were many more of them when I looked at the tank again this afternoon, just before I knocked the eggs down for the dojo to eat. After a bit of poking around, my suspicion was confirmed. My betta apparently decided if there are eggs, they must belong to him, so he made a nest for them. Shame I don't have a breeding setup just now. It'd be nice to get a female and see how he does raising his own spawn.

But in any case, if those are, in fact, tetra eggs (I don't have an extra tank to move them to at the moment, so the fry will probably be eaten before they get big enough to tell for sure - though I guess if they hatch at all they're the tetras, since I doubt the loach can fertilize its own eggs), I am way luckier with fish than I thought. Why? Well, everything I've heard about neon tetras says they're nearly impossible to breed in an aquarium PERIOD, and especially not in a community tank with other species.

Pet Food Recall

I know everybody's heard about it by now, but just in case you haven't gotten the latest:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/30/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html

Biggest thing to note:

DRY FOODS ARE NOW ON THE LIST!!!!

Before the article said the FDA knew another company had used the allegedly tainted wheat gluten, but they weren't releasing the name. It has since been edited, and since I no longer see that line, I assume this Hill's Pet Nutrition place was the one in question.

Needless to say, even though my brands are not yet on the list, I'm gonna be watching my cat REALLY close for a while..........

"The FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into any human food." I am hoping this was at the same time as trying to seek out more about it in the pet foods. Because guess what, FDA, to some of us, our pets are family, and losing one of them is as bad as losing any other family member.

新年快乐！

Happy New Year!

*heh* Well, the dog went back.

She apparently decided my carpet would make a lovely snack while I was gone. x.x She's fine when you're there with her, but I can't be there all day and I'd rather not have to crate her for as much time as I'd be gone.

No more dogs. I can't do that again. If I want to be around them, I'll hang out with other people's.

Figured I'd better update by now.

Brought home another dog. An American Eskimo this time. She seems pretty well trained, howls a bit at night right now for some reason, though she didn't the first two nights. Hopefully she'll settle.

Hopefully the cat will too. I've never had a dog indoors before, here or otherwise. The cat has been around dogs before but right now she's been hiding under the bed a lot. Came out for a bit but seems to have gotten some backward progress.

I'm also having issues adjusting, but mom reminded me it took me at least a week to get used to the cat. So I'm giving it at least two weeks before making a decision, trying not to stress out and so far failing quite frequently. *heh* Still have a long way to go there. But I have to remember, it'll either work or it won't, and if it doesn't, it's a no-kill shelter and they will take her back within 30 days.

We meet again, my most worthy of adversaries.

Okay, so like, for a while now I've wanted to get my firelite up and running, because it has, yanno, my entire college portfolio on it.

First problem was that my computer didn't recognize that anything had been plugged in at all. Right, okay, look up some stuff ont he website - hey it needs an AC adapter. Cool. Bookmark the product link, make a note to order one later.

Fast forward like a year or so (as in this week). I finally order the adapter. Yay!

Plug in the adapter. My computer dings! I click on the hardware list - IT KNOWS WHAT IT IS! Huzzah! Progress! Go to My Computer to open the files, rather happy....

And it's not there.

Okay, fine. Troubleshoot.

Okay, drivers are fine, everything's fine, Windows goes "uh, yeah I totally can't help you."

Right. Go to smartdisk's site. Whoa! There's actually a user's manual for this thing? How come I didn't get one with my firelite in the first place?

Turns out I really coulda used that manual.

To use a firelite with windows, you have to format it for either windows or both windows and mac, specifically. It will only work automatically with a mac. Basically: to get to my files I must erase my files.

Ummmmmmm no.

Crap.

Mood gets totally deflated as I keep reading about this process - have to create a partition for the external hard drive, blahblahblah....

So my college portfolio is STILL held hostage by this evil, evil little device.

Touche, monsieur Firelite... Touche.

I don't suppose anybody really close to me has a mac I can borrow some space on for a bit do they? I need to get my files off so I can format the disk so I can put my files back on the disk.

Man does my head hurt.

I haven't had nearly enough coffee for this.

Well, the dog is now in a foster home, with someone who is trying to find out if he would be okay left alone with other dogs. If so, I guess he's going to go ahead and fill out the paperwork to keep him.

I'm happy, but I still miss him. I really wish it could have worked out... but separation anxiety in a dog is too serious a problem for someone with my schedule to handle.

Dog gone

Alright, so kinda a lame title, especially for a sort of serious post. See, this week I adopted a German Shepherd mix the shelter had dubbed "Shaggy". Great dog, fairly quiet, good-natured, well-mannered. And absolitely beautiful. But then, all dogs are beutiful when you love them. I was told he had previously been crate trained and house trained, and that he was good with cats. So I figured it'd work out reasonably well.

They explained to me a little about crating, and that he'd probably whine some in his new home. But if he started to tear things up, it could be a sign of bigger problems. I was given the forms, told I could call them at any time for advice, and I had 30 days to bring him back if things didn't work out. Thankfully, it didn't take me that long to find out - better sooner than once he's actually attached.

We got home, he seemed to relax in the house very quickly. The cat, however, was less thrilled. Can't blame her really - he is NOT a small dog. He can lay his chin on my countertops with no real effort. I tried to follow their advice, and put him in the crate sometime before bed to test and see how he'd do. As expected, there was some whining. I was told also to ignore it, and not let him out until he'd stopped for a bit. Ignoring him includes not even saying "no", because even negative attention is attention, and it gives them a reason to keep it up.

I took him out sometime before bed, walked him outside, let him sit with me a bit, then crated him again for the night (partly because the bedroom is the cat's safehaven and I didn't want him sleeping there until she relaxed more, partly because I didn't know how he'd react to the house in general, and partly because I needed to see how he acted to know if he'd be safe left alone while I was at work). Now mind you, he will sit in his crate even if you're not in the room, as long as it's open. He thinks it's just great to be in it, even with it shut, if you're there with him. But close it and walk away and the problems start. The whining I expected. Even the barking (he's got the least obnoxious bark I swear I've ever heard...), and the howling. But after a bit, I heard the telltale signs of him tearing at the crate. Still, the advice was to ignore him. Well, I could ignore him in the sense of not giving him any attention, but not in the sense of being able to sleep through the racket.

I went to work the next day, on no sleep at all, leaving my grandfather with a request to check on him and make sure he wasn't injuring himself while I was gone. And, at lunchtime, I called the shelter. No answer, so I curled up at my desk and went to sleep for about half an hour. Then they called back - one of the younger staff there gave me suggestions on a couple kinds of toys that are good for keeping a dog busy. Though she also didn't seem to understand why I didn't think going to insane lengths to make him tolerate my lifestyle was a good idea. He's 5 years old, and I don't have the sheer time it takes to properly help a dog through separation anxiety. I don't want him to tolerate my home, I want him to LIKE it, and that can't be forced. If he's not as happy with me as he ought to be, if he's going to be upset every day, he will be much happier in the long run with someone else.

But I hung up, tracked down my mom and asked if she minded doing a wal-mart run with me. I picked up the toys, and some treats, and hoped it would work.

That afternoon, Grampool told me he had done okay.... but he missed something I saw right off. He'd torn a chucnk off his crate. I'd have to watch him closely that night. I took him outside, I ran him until he insisted on going back inside. I made sure he was tired, in case that would help him calm down. I let him hang out with me in the living room all evening.

Then I crated him to take a shower, as a sort of test again. This time, he wouldn't even calm down to be in there for that long. Less than half an hour, and he was already ripping. But, I hadn't tossed both his toys in yet. So I figured, okay, maybe he'll be alright. Let him out until bedtime, and a few hours later re-crated him. And walked to the bedroom. And tried to sleep past his whining.

The night before, he had taken 10-20 minute breaks between fits. Last night, however, he was relentless. Barking, whining, tearing at the crate all at once. Around midnight I realized he wasn't stopping. I grabbed my radio, hoping that would at least quiet him for a bit. I went into the room where he's staying, turned on the light... and there was blood on his muzzle. He also had slobber all down his front from panting and generally being over-stressed. I opened the crate, tried and failed to get him to sit still long enough for me to 1) wipe the blood off him and 2) figure out if that was more blood or just slobber on his paws. Called my grandfather for help, so one of us could hold him while the other took a look (tried my parents but their phone was off). Thankfully the cut isn't as deep as I feared, but I kept thinking, this dog is going to end up seriously injuring himself if he's left alone that often. And I'm not sure, but I think he's getting worse the more he gets to like me, because that makes being away from me worse.

So I left the crate open, and slept on the couch. Called my boss this morning, opting to take a personal day in the interest of not having to stress the dog further. He's pretty much been sleeping all morning - and it's no wonder, it took him ages to stop panting last night.

That's the worst of it. I've already fallen in love with the pup. He's calm, reasonably quiet aside from when he's in the crate, very well-mannered indoors, understands what no means. I mean, he tries to nose at the trash when he thinks you're not looking, and tries to eat the cat's food, but all dogs do that. And he sneaks onto the couch when he sees my back turned too. As soon as I see him though, he hops off and tries to act like he did nothing. He's got just enough of that mischeif streak to make him fun.

He just will never be able to live someplace where he's left alone. Probably the best place for him would be a house where he can go both indoors and out, where there is at least one other dog to keep him company, since his owners will at least have to leave him for grocery shopping and such, even if there's usually somebody home.

I've called the shelter, and I'm taking him back when they open in half an hour. There's a choice of a 75% refund, or you can leave everything on record and get another dog later. I dunno how long it'll be before I find another dog I like quite so much to want to take it home, so the refund is probably the better idea. For now, Shaggy's sleeping by my computer chair.

I went crazy taking photos today so I'd have something to remember him by.

"Shaggy" in his crate, before I had his toys:


A nice side view of him, now with his stuffed animal and Kong toy (or rather, something made like them since I couldn't find the actual brand name):


Now tell me who could resist this face?


Or this one:


Here's what he looks like when his ears "stand up" (that's all the farther they go):


*sniff sniff* Yup, somebody peed there.


Here's a good one to get an idea of his size - Shaggy with my grandfather:


Shaggy with his new buddy, uh... Buddy. He kinda ignores him though. Buddy is way more interested in Shaggy than Shaggy is in him.


If you have ansy questions as to why I have to give him up:


And the chunks I managed to find that he tore off:


Some of the facial closeups, you might be able to see where he cut himself if you look hard enough. The dried blood sorta matches his fur though. It's not a bad cut, but I keep thinking of how badly he keeps trying to tear up the crate, and I know that even if I let him sleep in my room it won't be enough - I mean, what about while I'm at work? It wasn't a bad cut this time, but it could get worse if it continues.

I was really kinda hoping he'd make it okay. He really is a great dog....

Well, the holidays have come and (almost) gone.... I head back to work on Tuesday. The week off was rather nice, I'll admit, though it never seems long enough.

Didn't get near as much done as I thought I would over the week, but such is life. I at least got some laundry done and my tree taken down. Only got to the humane society over the weekends like normal - there's a new pup there by the way. 7 month old mixed breed they're calling Sox - a brindle with short flopped ears and white socks on her feet. I've found she answers to Josie. Absolutely sweet animal, though she seems a little skittish. We walked near the cats' outdoor pen, and when one of the cats came up to the fence to investigate, the dog got a bit jumpy. Nobody there knows what her past is because the dog warden brought her in. But I was almost tempted to bring her home myself.

We went shopping earlier i the week and I dropped about $200. >.< I suppose it makes up for me not having bought my allotment of one dvd per paycheck for the past like, 4 months. And I got a new winter coat on sale - marked down from $140 to only about $50. And some new stuff for my phone - a headset so when people call me and I'm, say, cooking dinner, I still have both hands to talk. There were other things too but nothing major.

And I think my dog allergy may be disappearing. The last couple trips to the humane society I forgot my alavert, but I had no reaction to the dogs. The other day I had my uncle's dog in the house for a little while (to see how the cat would react to another animal before I go and get a dog - she's not too skittish but seems a little jealous) - again, no reaction. Supposedly allergies can come and go like that though, and mine was very mild to begin with (merely annoying rather than dangerous - my nose clogs up and my eyes itch but I can still breathe through my mouth just fine). So it's possible I had an allergy last for a whopping 5 years. Go figure.

Not much else to report. My life's really kinda boring these days....

Long night

Well, that was an adventure I didn't need.

Last night, right before I was about to crawl into bed, the CO alarm started shrieking. Took me a minute to figure out what it was because it had never gone off before. First reaction, go check the stove. Apparently I'd left a burner on (I swear I went to turn it off, but I must've not gotten it all the way off because there was just the barest hint of blue flame still there). After that my immediate thought was: "Where's the cat?" Track down the cat, drag her out from under where she was sitting, try to carry her outside by the scruff. We get to the door, she pulls the "nuh-uh that's outside - I'm an inside cat now!" and jumps away. Right. Okay. Run like a thing gone mad to my grandparents' house to borrow their cat carrier (yeah, I need my own - I intend to get one if we get out this week). I run back to the house with the carrier. Stuff the cat inside, who begins yowling. Take her next door.

My grandfather insists on going back to check the house. Understandably, he wants to open up the windows and vent the place out.

Get back to their place and call my parents. Dad said he was going to come up and check the house, and that I could stay with them for the night. Okay. He removes the battery from the alarm and puts it back. Instructs me to turn the furnace back on and shut the windows, then get out. Then he would come back in the morning and see if the alarm had started again - just in case it wasn't the burner.

Got to my parents' house, and mom got me set up in my old room, which is now a guest room. Dad ran back to the house for the cat's litter box, and we got her water and everything before shutting the door and letting her out of the carrier. Once she was out of the box she was perfectly calm. Good to know she adapts well, so if I ever move it won't stress her too badly. I climbed into bed, she stared at me for a bit until I picked her up and put her in it with me. Then she fell right to sleep..... and I'm pretty sure she slept better than I did.

This morning dad ran back over to check the place - the alarm was not ringing, and he checked - the battery was still working. So everything was fine. We dropped off the cat on my way to work.

Needless to say I was rather tired today....

Dogs

First day at the shelter went well.

Had a little time with 4 dogs.

Stardust - Shep mix. Rather sweet, but bites the leash and tries to play tug-of-war. Needs some patience.

Lucy - Australian cattle dog. Small bundle of energy, still not fully grown. Seems to want to visit with every other living thing she sees. Quick to spot weaknesses in a gate, so watch her. Loves jogging.

Macy - Rottweiler. Absolutely wonderful dog as far as behavior goes. Not good with other dogs - one barked in her face and she started snarling. Granted I can't blame her. However, she does know "come" (just a pat or a soft clap works), "sit" (they've trained sit along with a lifting of the hand), and "down" (sweep you hand along the ground and away from her - found that one out by accident). Scratch her ears and belly and she'll love you forever. Definitely has the rottie strut down, as she was trotting around the pen (they have outside ones you can unleash the dogs in) as though she were on patrol. She and Lucy were my favorites of the day.

Saydee - Shep/lab mix. Nice dog, but very barky and hyper. Doesn't like to listen. She seems to be under the impression she's the boss. I had to help another girl get her back in, because she tried to leash the dog, and the dog was another tugger. She's going to need somebody firm and consistent to work with her.

On that note... is it really that hard for most people to distinguish a play growl from a real one? I guess it just kinda comes naturally to me. The girl wanted help because she was afraid she'd be bitten. I'm actually a little surprise... one thing they missed in the shelter rules was that you should always stay calm around a high-strung dog. Again, something I guess most people don't think about. But I've always had this sort of strange understanding with animals. Well, mammals anyhow. Though reptiles seem to like me too. For some reason a lot of birds just won't warm up to me. Not sure why they seem to be the only family of animals that react that way. Maybe my body language is all wrong for them?

But the drive isn't bad, aside from trying to find the turnoff to the humane society. It's rather tucked back in. I think I'll be ging back - next time in coveralls so it's easier to tear down to a level where my cat won't pick up anything from the shelter.

As for my comments on the dogs - consider it an advertisement. :P Go adopt a dog. I suppose at this point if you're in the Delaware area - anyplace where you'd reasonably drop by there to find a dog - feel free to ask me if I know anything about whichever ones you might be interested in. Can't promise I'll know much, or even anything, but the ones that stand out to me I should be able to give you a rundown on. If it helps them get adopted to a good home, then I'm all for it.

Dogs

Yay, I got myself fully upgraded, templates and all, to the new blogger. More yay, it actually saves my links now instead of erasing them just because I changed my friggin color scheme.

Yay, if you click this link then buy stuff there it will give me money: Link!

And I might be heading into Delaware today - going to check out the drive, see if it's reasonable for semi-regular trips to the humane society. It's not actually in town in town, so not overly far. Like 20 miles or so I think my little shelter directory said. There's a couple that are closer, but I've been to the Delware one once before, and I already emailed the lady in charge of the volunteering program, who said it's perfectly okay if I just wander in whenever the heck I have time. Yeah, I'm gonna go try to help out. Mostly hoping to do more of the playing with and excercising the dogs thing - largely because I do have something of an ulterior motive for going.

See, I've decided that a cat in the house just isn't enough. I am a lot pickier with dogs than I am with cats, but I really want a dog. Yes, an indoor dog. Yes, I know I'm allergic. Want to know how serious I am? I'll get allergy shots if I find out it's a more sensible solution than buying alavert constantly (alavert is so far the only thing that doesn't make me drowsy in the way of allergy meds - if I knew what the heck that upper respiratory tea had in it that Howie and Karen gave me, I'd buy a ton of that too since it's cheaper - though I wan't a fan of the taste). Yes, I still have a phobia of needles. But I will face them to have a dog.

So I'm going to try and get to know every dog who comes into the humane society as I'm hanging around there, and hopefully will find one I want to take home. I also intend to put in an application with the ISSR Shiloh Shepherd rescue and rehome facility, so I might be adopting one of those if I can't find another dog before they match me up with one of theirs (I am making sure to put on my app that I MUST meet the dog before making a decision - all the pictures and descriptions in the world can't tell me as much as 5 minutes with the animal in person). If you've never seen a shiloh shepherd, well, basically they're like a german shepherd, only humongous. Like, great dane sized. Oh yeah. Big doggies. Big, and supposedly very smart. Considering I adore wolves, big and smart works for me. Temperament's supposed to be pretty sound too, though being big and smart I will have to make sure they know I'm boss.

Which really isn't that hard. I don't need a dog to obey my every whim, just know that my house has rules. So what if I weigh 110 and the dog 140? Doesn't matter. I babysat a doberman for a while.... a doberman on the large end. One of my cousins had one once that seemed insanely small by comparison. No, this was a friggin pony who thought she was a lapdog. This dog scared the crap out of the roofers asking if he could back down the driveway - giant dog, tiny twig girl holding it back. It was pretty funny. But she was big and smart, and stubborn. But she did as she was told.

My childhood dog was a lot smaller (half beagle, half who-knows-what), but also the smartest dog I've ever met. Smarter than most humans I know........ granted that doesn't necessarily take much, but you know what I mean. Great dog. Stubborn as hell. Wouldn't listen to you unless she saw good reason to. Tricks? Pfft. Her favorite was "run to the creek and play deaf". Fetch? More like "I grab the ball, you chase me and try to get it back." But she listened where it counted - she knew she wasn't allowed in the road. Only allowed indoors when invited. Don't jump all over people. She had a heart as big as her brain. Saved a turtle once. I thought she was playing with it. She wouldn't listen to me when I told her to drop it (normally that was a command she obeyed). Brought the thing all the way to me, set it down, and stared until I picked it up. There was a chip in its shell - it had been hit by a lawn mower. She was also protective - she figured out my mom didn't like snakes, so anytime mom was in the yard, the dog would go around killing any snake she found. She also really didn't like the utility guys.... not since one walked toward mom with a big tool in his hand and she assumed he was after her. She definitely had a streak of mischeif and a mind of her own, but she loved our family and was most certainly part of it. I want that experience again, though I know no dog will ever match up to my Jodi.

But basically speaking, big dogs are not a problem for me, really, as long as they're not overtly aggressive (and maybe even those I'd be fine with - I've never had a dog aggressive toward me to know). And I far prefer smart dogs. I just can't stand the dumb ones. No matter how sweet and loveable they are. I'll pet them, I'll play with them, but I don't want to take one home with me. Give me somebody who's got brains, knows how to use 'em, and isn't afraid to tell me when something's not right.

Oh yeah, I have a public blog.

Well, back from vacation (as of a couple weeks ago). Hurricane force winds, island cut off from the mainland. Oh yeah. It rocked. :P And we think we might have seen somebody get sucked into the ocean, but we're not entirely sure....

Day one:

Day three:

Well, a couple new things. I'm off to the ocean for vacation tomorrow. No, not Florida. Yes, I know it's November. That's the best time - no crowding. And if there's a southwest wind it will be plenty warm enough.

Meanwhile, I switched to the new blogger thing today. We'll see how this works. If it's faster, than AWESOME. If it doesn't suit me... well... no turning back now. The templates are supposed to be easier to edit now, though, which is a plus if that's really the case.

Also awaiting word from amazon on their referral program.

And somebody needs to like, not be annoying. I wanna know how James managed to attract a freak show when it comes to recruiters.... people asking for information they're not supposed to ask for, varying levels of rudeness.... just, wow. I find it ironic that these are the kinds of people who can apparently get jobs, and the polite people who actually know how to work with others get ignored.

And my cat is telling me it's time to go back to the couch. Since I'm leaving her for a week here soon, I'd better obey. :P

And yet I didn't go into music

So, I was singing a couple arias in the shower (shut up), came out to the keyboard afterword to check what notes I was hitting, and it turns out that not only can I still COMFORTABLY hit a high C (as in, I'm thinking "huh? why did that seem so hard back in high school"), but I CAN HIT A HIGH D!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've still got it. I seriously need to get back my breath support but I've still got it.

Oh wow I'm shaking. Partly because I'm excited, partly because I just shredded my poor out of shape lungs, and partly because I was dumb enough to sing Mozart's Alleluia right after work when my energy's down.

But I can hit a high D!

Well, dad's rather unpopular here today it seems.

My cat has decided that he's now the bad guy. I mean really, how dare he make her take her worm medicine.

I tried to tell her the pills'll make her feel better. Naturally she doesn't believe me. But I'm the good guy, since I didn't try to shove pills at her, so she's loving all over me. Apparently I will protect her from the big scary man who makes her swallow things she doesn't want.

Now I just have to wipe up the carpet from where she tried to drool the flavor out.

I'm still here. No real news, no social life, but I'm still here.

Still on dialup.

And I can't seem to find out where people my own age actually hang out around here. Apparently they all had the sense to move out.