Once upon a time...

I really dug this guy. It was around the year 2000. Boy will remain nameless. I traveled to Tornto to spend a few days with him. Upon leaving Toronto, I left a present for him. Now, I don't regred leaving said present for him, but I really miss it. It's a Beanie Baby rabbit that I had bought at Kings Island in 1998. I've spent the past hour looking for this damn rabbit. It's not really that important to me that I find it, but I really do miss it. I did, however, find it on ebay for $1. YAY! It was soft, and it had obnoxiously loud colors. See for yourself.



For those of you who don't know, I sort of collect stuffed bunnies. Hey, I gotta have something, right?

Stupid Meme - I was bored :P

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (23% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

What the hell

Sorry for the last post involving so much incessant rambling. I've been like that a lot lately. I've been fighting off migraines turning into headaches for the past week. I thought it was my new glasses, so I went and had the prescription checked today. The optomotrist said when he re-did the test, that it was 1 point higher than what he originally prescribed. So, it wouldn't make much of a difference. I'm guessing it's an environmental thing, and that I just couldn't see things with my new glasses because of the headaches/migraines. When I was at school Thursday, I really wanted to come home. I did, however, tough it out. I was doing all right until my sociology professor was writing on the chalkboard. It wasn't the writing, it was when he was tapping the chalk on what he had just written. At that point, I really was about to start screaming. I really just couldn't wait to get home. I had one class left, and noticed I had then started my period. Great. Having a bleeding headache and bleeding. Lovely. I went to my political science class, and once again, I was annoyed with my professor. Not only was he trying to test my German skills, but he keeps making biased comments about Liberals/Democrats and such stances. That was about the third time I've damn near walked out of the class. Adam told me to just put up with it, and get my grade. Fair enough. When student evaluations come out in December, I'll lay into him. It's a political science class. Not a Liberal bashing class. I won't mention what he said, but I know it would piss off several people reading this. I will say, though, he brought up "baby killers" in the midst of class. *stab*

In light of things...

After Adam and I returned from the Waddle, we were both changed. We're extremely happy that we could be a part of such a wonderful organization that does so much for Bassets in the tri-state area and also for those in the midst of disasters. Not only did we sign up to be volunteers for GABR, but more than likely, we will hopefully be adopting yet another Basset probably before the end of the year.

First things first, Adam gets his car fixed. Then he's going to check with the landlord to make sure we can a) have another Basset (more for Madison's sake, really) and b) that he won't try to charge us another $50 a month for it. I refuse to pay an extra $50 for another dog for more reasons than "tearing up the apartment". Within the past two years, we've already done some fixing to this apartment. We put in a new screen door (that the landlord refused to replace), installed a vent fan over the stove, added another set of cabinets, and we're also "remodeling" the bathroom. Now, with all that, I think he's getting the better end of the deal. He said he uses the money to fix the damaged floors. If that's true, why do all the wood floors in everyone's apartments here look like shit? I don't care, really, but if you're going to say the money's for something specific, then do it. Also, with winter coming up, he shovels the sidewalks maybe twice throughout the winter. That is, whenever there's a large amount of snow that fell. Any other time, I'm the one shoveling and applying salt to the sidewalks. I also pay for said salt. It's irritating really. And for those of you whom have been here, you know he seldom cuts the grass. So, what would the extra $50 go to if we did get another dog? For a while, when he was cutting the grass on a more regular basis, I would actually pick up Madison's poop. I believe in being a responsible dog owner, but when the grass is halfway up my legs, I'm not scrounging for a pile of dog shit. Really.

So, all in all, it's going to take some coaxing by Adam. He thinks he won't ask for extra money. I hope this is true. I told Adam to tell our landlord that we would gladly cut the grass if he needed. However, that would involve him leaving a lawnmower and gasoline here.

So, yeah, new doggie! I hope!

Stupid.

Because, you know, there's nothing that you don't actually have to consume or ingest that could cause cancer. She must live in a plastic bubble. I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist. There truely is some stupid shit that comes up there, and almost always people are worried about getting cancer. Well, you know, unless you live in a completely industrial or agricultural free environment, it isn't going to happen.

Edit: I just looked at her user info. Maybe she should focus more on ingesting what she possibly can rather than being in a bazillion pro-ana communities. I'm trying so hard not to say something.

I'm stepping away from the keyboard....now.

Help :(

I got new glasses about two weeks ago. For the past 7 days, I've had a nasty headache that I just can't kill. It could be a variety of things: weather changes, PMS, new glasses, stress or anything really. I honestly think, for the most part, that it's from my glasses. I took Adam to Chik-Fil-A yesterday while he was at Chocolate Fest, and I couldn't read the prices and unit counts of the value meals on their board from about 15 feet away. Well, at least I know my glasses are fuxored. On the other hand, my headache just isn't getting better. I'm starting to become sensitive to light now, and I have to leave for class at 9. I've already missed most of my classes twice due to finding out about Adam's Mom and the nasty rain that hit Indy a few weeks ago. The rain reason may seem like a lame excuse, but I literally looked like I had jumped into a pool with my clothes and backpack on. I had two classes left to be squishy, cold, and wet. So, that's my reasoning for that. I really don't want to miss school, but I really don't want to aggravate this headache, either. oiiiiiiii. If I do miss school today, I'll at the very least go get my prescription changed. I just don't know what to do.

MLA, anyone?

I need to do my Works Cited page. However, I missed the day that she showed us how to write that page. Is anyone familiar with MLA Works Cited for certain pages within a book? I have the sentences followed by the page number, but I have no idea how to integrate that into a Works Cited page. I've scoured books and the internet, but I can't find it!

Help!?

Turtle

Please remove the pecan chocolate turtle that's as big as my hand from my hand.

An idea! An idea!

In the midst of writing my paper, I decided to go to Chocolate Fest. I guess the thought of chocolate itself starts making me think of creative ideas. One idea entered my mind. Since I am unable to get a hold of anyone within the geochemistry lab, and I'm somewhat in a need of extra money, why not start a dog walking business in the neighborhood? To me, I think it's a great idea. I can get business cards, print flyers, and talk to some neighbors who have dogs to see if I can get them as referrals. I found a website that suggested that I get some sort of pet walking insurance, but I think by having the owner sign a simple waiver will do. I will, however, ask the clients (should I ever get any and stick by this thing) if I could meet their pets first to be sure that we get along. I don't want to walk a dog that's going to be mean to me and anyone else on the street. Also, there's quite a few places I can post flyers and cards at in the neighborhood. That's a plus. Now, the only part I can't figure out is how much to charge. I tried looking for prices from other people I've found online, but I came up with entries that are more than 3 years old. I'm not trying to actually start a business. A little extra money in my pocket would be nice, and also meeting new people in the neighorhood would definitely have it's benefits. What do you guys think?

Book Reports...

I hate them. I'd rather write a research paper. At least, that way, I'm learning something new and not regurgitating crap from a book. The book, Into the Wild was okay. Many of the chapters had experiences from the author that really had nothing to do with the initial story he was writing.

I hate exploratory essays. I hate MLA format, and worst of all, I hate works cited pages.

How in the hell am I going to come up with 1000 or so words about a book that I honestly didn't want to read to begin with?

Regardless, today is Chocolate Fest. This couldn't come at a better time since I have PMS from hell. :) If any of you go, say hi to Adam. He's working the Scholar's Inn booth.

GABR pictures from this weekend

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This is Gus. He's also from Indiana. He happens to be the one I was talking about that's from Nineveh.

Bash/Waddle Review

We arrived to Dwight, IL at around 2pm on Saturday. At first, it was very overwhelming to see hundreds of Basset Hounds everywhere. For most of the Bash, Adam and I sat around taking everything in. Madison did well, for the most part. There were, occasionally, some Bassets that just sniffed her the wrong way. Madison has issues if a dog (or person) give her too much face time while sniffing.

We watched the agility games to start with. It's pretty funny seeing 50+ lb. dogs with stubby legs trying to run their fastest over a hurdle, through a tunnel, and through a baby pool of water. I didn't get any pictures of it because we were too far back. I'm sure you can get a nice mental picture, though. :)

Throughout the day, the coordinators of GABR brought up some of the dogs that needed to be adopted. I think I melted inside everytime. They were all beautiful, but the ones that had the bad past lives really got to me.

We left the Bash at about 6 pm. Adam and I were ready to grub and to sleep. We got to our hotel in Pontiac, IL (about 15 miles away from Dwight) and started unpacking. There were quite a few people there with dogs. There were probably 20 dogs there and maybe 15 or so people. We made our rounds and introduced ourselves to most of the people. We were told that there would be a pizza party at 8 pm. Prior to this knowledge, we were going to go to the only Mexican restaurant in town. They said they, "HAVE THE BEST MARGARITAS IN TOWN!" Well, I was certainly down for a margarita.

We put Madison up so we could leave. Of course, she carried on howling and crying. We decided just to get delivery. We really didn't want to piss off the rest of the people there with Madison's problem. She's not normally that bad, but we think she was confused since we weren't at her house.

We got out food and went to bed. We were pooped! (Imagine that!) We got up the next morning at around 7:30 am. They had a church service at a Lutheran church in Dwight. Adam and I both decided to pass since we both have/had issues with the Lutheran church. We got ready, had breakfast, and headed back toward Dwight. We got to the beginning of what would be the Waddle. We started to get out of the car, and I realized I couldn't find my camera. I was freaking out, as most people would. We turned my car upside down trying to look for that thing. I had no idea where it was. I remembered having it in the car on our way to the hotel, but after that was mostly fuzz. So, I frantically called the hotel to see if they had found it. The woman asked me to call back in about 5 minutes while she asked the housekeeping lady. As soon as I hung up, I then realized I had also left my body pillow there. I wasn't so much worried about the body pillow as I was about a $400 digital camera. So, we started heading back down to Pontiac, and I called the hotel back. They had found the camera and had it behind the desk. I also told her about the pillow while I was on the phone with her. We got back to Pontiac and got my camera and pillow, and then we were on our way, once again, back to Dwight. I know I'm a dingbat, but this was ridiculous.

We finally got to Dwight, camera in hand, and parked our car. Much of the morning was walking around and meeting new people. Adam had noticed that nearly every dog there had a personalized bandana with their name on it. I think, deep down, Adam was starting to feel a bit jealous. When I received the information to order the bandanas, I really didn't have the $10 to purchase one. As we were walking around the retail tent, Adam saw some women with an embroidery sewing machine there. He asked if we could get a bandana that day. They said we could, so we picked out a purple bandana (to match Madison's collar and harness) and had her name put on it. Adam really wanted it to read Madison B. Hound, but I wasn't having it, really. So, 15 minutes later, Madison had her very own personalized bandana. Around this time it started getting hot outside. I mean, pretty damn hot. Of course, I didn't really plan on it being so hot outside, so I was wearing my blue Chicago Cubs t-shirt. That shirt had to go. I should really just part with the damn thing, really. So, GABR had t-shirts for sale. They were 18 bucks. Jeebuz! Let me step back a day while I'm talking about expensive clothing. At the Bash, they had the GABR clothing retain "tent". I, being addicted to wearing hoodies nearly all year, fell in love with a dark brown embroidered hoodie. Adam had somehow coaxed me into spending 50 bucks on a new hoodie. I guess it's because I didn't buy the lavendar hoodie I saw at school a month ago, but at least GABR isn't a money mongering cesspool of fees like IUPUI. ;) So, I had to keep reminding myself that the money went for a good cause and an organization I really believe in. So, within 5 minutes, I was stylin' in my very own Guardian Angel Basset Rescue t-shirt hot off the iron, literally. They were making the shirts to order with their iron ons in the back of a van. I felt so much better. Even though the shirts are heavy weight t-shirts, I felt much cooler (literally) wearing a white t-shirt. I think Adam started getting a little jealous that I had bought myself two articles of clothing and Madison a personal bandana. I kept asking him if he wanted a shirt. He said no, but I think I should have bought him one anyway. Now I feel guilty, but I paid for the hotel and the gas for the trip. Not to mention I paid for most of our trip to Missouri two weeks ago. I'm sorry Adam, I love you, but you can afford your own shirt.

After I bought my shirt, we stopped at the Membership table. I told the Membership coordinator that I would definitely buy a membership before the end of the year. She gave us a bag of information to hand out and also, a video from last year's waddle. I can't wait to see this! After we saw her, we decided to go find a small spot of shade for the three of us. We sat down and met more people and more bassets. Madison really loves Basset puppies, so we were in search for more puppies. When we sat down, a girl had a one year old pup with her. His name was Willie, and he and Madison got along great! Then another couple with a puppy came up to us and asked how old Madison was. We told her 3.5 years. Their puppy was as big as Madison and was only 6 months old. I have a feeling they're going to end up with a horse instead of a dog. Madison and Gus, the 6 month old, started cuddling and kissing. It was cute! Of course, I have pictures of this. After about 15 minutes of this, it was time to waddle. We all started lining up. As we were getting to our beginning destination, we noticed some of the waddler humans were carrying signs with their states (or countries) on them. We looked all over for the sign for those from Indiana, but we never found it. When I had mentioned this to Adam, the couple and Gus were behind us. They said they were from Indiana, so of course us Hoosiers had to stick together, that and Gus and Madison were busy playing kissy face. We got to talking to them and asked where they were from. They said, "Some small town south of Indianapolis." Well, I'm from "some small town south of Indianapolis", so I pried to get it out of them. They said they were from Nineveh. Well, I'll be damned! Nineveh was part of the school system that I went to from 5-12 in Trafalgar. Neat! So we made semi-local friends but never got their info. :(

As the waddle began to end, several dogs were getting pooped. I certainly was getting pooped myself. There was one dog in particular I was worried about. He was a puppy, probably less than a year old, that just crashed on the street. Adam tried telling the guy to pick the pup up and put him in the grass. The guy just wasn't listening. I was started to get mad. Adam took the dog the last of our water along with our collapsable bowl we had for Madison. The guy kept telling everyone his dog was fine but that his wife just left him back here. Okay, buddy. We don'g give a crap that your wife is way up yonder, but your dog could die if you don't bother to do anything about it. So, between Adam and a few other people trying to cool this puppy off, the guy keeps rambling about his damn wife. At this time, we all were beginning to get mowed over by bassets and owners. I would have liked to have stayed with the puppy, but the pooped puppy wagon was coming. I really hope he was okay, and that the guy learned a lesson. He just seemed like he didn't want anybody's help, and that pissed me off. I mean, I woud at least thank people if that happened to Madison, but I probably expect too much from people these days.

So, we go to the end of the Waddle and found a grassy shady spot to sit in. Adam goes to get Madison a bowl of water since we gave ours up. He came back, and Madison got her drink. Adam then, bless his heart, started taking the bucket to all of the Bassets around us for a drink. Those people thanked him dearly. Go Adam!

After that, I was getting very hungry and tired. We decided to leave during all of the raffles going on. I passed out in the car to fight hunger. We didn't stop for food until we got to Lafayette, IN. Oh well! It was a great weekend, and I'll be posting pictures soon! :) Thank you to everyone who helped us raise over $300 for Madison! We look forward to doing it again next year, so be prepared! :)

I'm not sure what the final money count was by the end of the Waddle for funds raised, but I'll post that as soon as I find out.

Finally, I'll add that Lori pointed out to me that St. Francis Hospitals has volunteers for PET THERAPY. What it is is you donate some of your time and take your pet into the hospital to help with morale. Now, I have the cutest Basset ever, and she thinks I should spread her joy with other people. I'm definitely going to look into this! :)