Austin Yammerings

#2 Pasta Putanesca

2008-05-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

In the last year, I have learned through Top Chef how important Mise en Place is to a chef and after making the Silver Palate's Pasta Putanesca recipe I learned how important it is to the home cook. Mise En Place is the french word for preparing ingredients ahead of time. This dish is fast and very easy but to do it successfully I recommend doing all the Mise en Place before you put the oil in the pan. As soon as I got the ingredients home I was furiously cooking but what a mistake it was not to cut the anchovies, the olives, and the garlic first. Things were chaotic in the kitchen and made for a stressful dinner. I also made two other mistakes with this dish. First, I used diced tomatoes instead of the whole tomatoes called for in the recipe. I think the whole tomatoes would have provided more juice to the sauce and made it richer. The second mistake was I blindly grabbed a jar of olives and didn't notice they were pitted. There I was chopping the olive around the pit while the garlic was browning in the pan. What a pain.

#1 Linguine with Tomatoes and Basil

2008-05-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

This is the recipe that actually prompted me to get on Amazon and finally buy the Silver Palate cookbook. I had heard about the cook book years ago and been interested in the easy, yet elegant recipes it promised. But is was an interview I had heard with the authors about this gooey brie dish that ended my procrastination and it was this dish that I made about two days after the book was in my hot little hands. I love Brie and pasta but I thought that eating an entire pound of brie and two pounds of pasta between just the two of us might be a little ridiculous. So, I invited some of our favorite dinner guests to a nice Sunday dinner and went shopping. This dish is a dream to make for guests. The only real work is cutting tomatoes and garlic. I have to confess that I didn't read the recipe thoroughly at first and it did come to a surprise to me that you didn't cook the sauce at all. But it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The warm pasta adds enough heat to melt the Brie but it is still cool enough to be refreshing and almost kind of light. (If you don't think about all the cheese you just ate). We had this with a Cameron Hughes Lot 58 Chardonay and some La Brea bread. I highly recommend this dish more summer dinner parties. You make the sauce a couple hours ahead of time so the flavors can meld then all you have to do is cook the pasta before your friends arrive. Although, I would recommend not letting this easy step allow you to lose your focus. I got distracted and let the linguine burn a little. Oops. Luckily, I made a lot and there was enough pasta left to serve. Overall, I think it was a success and I am looking forward to having another dinner party with this dish.

New Project

2008-05-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

Recently, a younger cousin of mine excitedely mentioned that she had purchased the new Top Chef cook book and was discovering some great new dishes. I was inspired by her enthusiasm and thought I might buy it and cook as many of the recipes as I could. However, a couple of weeks before I bought the 25th Anniversary edition of the The Silver Palate and instead of splurging on yet another cook book I thought I might as well make as many of these recipes as I could and then move to another.

To make the cooking more interesting and to give me something fun to blog about I have designed a little challenge for myself. The blog-o-sphere is full of accounts of people making every recipe out of this or that great cook book. I know that I am not disciplined enough to actually make every recipe in any cook book so I thought I could try a scaled down version. To keep myself focused and manage my expectations, I intend to meet the following goals:

I will make 12 recipes out of the cook book that I can serve as a main dish. Desserts and side dishes are just a bonus.
I will make and blog about the recipes by September 30, 2008. I am writer and work well under a deadline.
I will remake 5 of the dishes and serve them to guests by December 15, 2008. The Silver Palate ladies encourage their readers to make entertaining a habit. We often get in a rut of just going out with friends or spending our weekends holed away in the house. This part of my challenge will hopefully form some new healthy routines without exhausting us too much.

Now, this is the part where I cheat a little. I have already made three of these recipes and have served one to guests. I will blog about those in the next entries. So this officially starts my mid-year challenge.

God and Gabo

2008-02-13T04:57:00.000-08:00

So, I finished Why God Won't Go Away and am so glad I picked up that book. Most people probably read this book in college (it was one of CornyT's texts he teaches from) so I am a little old for the religious eureka moment that you often have as a young adult but my belief system did undergo a paradigm shift. The authors argument that we have a biological ability to have spiritual experiences was convincing and their evolutionary explanations for the human need for myths and stories was profound. The author's argue that stories helped the species survive; imagine a hunter walking through the woods, hears a strange noise, sees nothing but remembers a run in with a tiger a few days back, is sure the noise is the tiger returning, and takes off maybe evading danger maybe just getting a good run in. Had the hunter not had the capacity to imagine or believe the tiger may be out there without seeing it would lead to an easy lunch for the tiger. All in all this book blends the arguments of science in a beautiful and harmonious way. Although be warned this is a very academic book and at times it is very repetitive and the attention to detail necessary for scientific papers does not make the most entertaining reading.
The third book of the year was Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores. I have been shopping around for a new book club and the one I am currently trying on selected this slim, novella for the month of March. What I loved most about it was it's quick reading, 119 pages. I finished it in three hours and felt so satisfied that I could book another book down on the ole' list. What I hated least about it was the subject matter. I can live with a less than likable protagonist and I can understand that this is allegorical and is more about aging than love but what I have a hard time argue away is that he could only love the girl when she was asleep. When she does say something he decides he loves her so much more when she is sleeping. *sigh* Besides that I also feel like the whole book was a little shallow although I do appreciate how it inspired a lot of thought and was not as easy to "get" as it was to read. This should be an interesting book discussion.

Citizen Smarty Pants

2008-01-31T05:09:00.000-08:00

So I just finished my first book of the year, just making my one book a month goal. Phew. Luckily, the book, Citizen Vince, was such an enjoyable and quick read. My favorite type of book is not a particular genre but is anything that is a little smart and a little entertaining. Not to say I don't read books that are not "smart" or not entertaining, I certainly do. But when I can find that combo I am at my happiest. Citizen Vince is historical fiction set in 1980 (yes, over twenty years makes it nice and historical, scary) a few days before the Carter Reagan election. Jess Walter captures the spirit of that time so well and does a beautiful job of rendering the whole psyche of the country through some unlikely characters. At the center of those character is Vince Camden a New York thug dropped in small town America through the Witness Relocation program. Through Vince Walter explores identity, American values and morals. He asked the question of who we are as Americans, what makes us vote for a candidate who may not necessarily want baby sitting our kids. I think what I took away most from the book was, we still can't get away from the romanticism of a cowboy in charge, interest rates were 20% percent in 1980 (we may have it bad now with the dollar taking a beating but 20%!!! Oh MY GOD), and heroes should not have to kill the bad guys (kind of a spoiler). I highly recommend it!

Neurological Mysticism and New York Thugs

2008-01-25T05:09:00.000-08:00

Every year I have a goal to read a minimum of one book a month. Since I have been keeping track I have only stayed at that bare minimum once. Typically I am between 16 and 25. Last year I think I was at 18; slow year but I was a little busy. So this year I have no excuse, no major event to plan and I am not even volunteering much so I am ashamed to say that it is January 25 and I haven't even finished one book yet. I have however started three, so the likelihood that I will finish at least one of those is high, I hope. I started with an old Louise Erdrich book I had laying around the house, the only book of hers I haven't read. Oh I tried to get into it but this one, Tales of Burning Love, had none of the interesting conflict that characterized her earlier work and just a lot of tedious unrequited love. Yawn they're bad for eachother they can't stay away from eachother YAWN. So faced with going to the gym with no ipod (missing headphones) and no book, I grabbed a book out of CornyT's back seat, Why God Won't Go Away. He couldn't believe I actually wanted to read one of the texts for the class he taught (special topic religion and science) and we both figured I would dump it when something better came along. To our surprise I love it. The book has educated me on the anatomy and physiology of the brain and makes a cogent argument for the neurological capacity for spirituality. The authors also argue that the need for archetypal stories is biologically driven and necessary for our survival. Interesting stuff and I am about half way through. However, I am setting it aside for the moment to read Citizen Vince. I reserved it from the library when I was desperate for a read and now I feel obligated to finish it so the brain book is on hold for the moment. Luckily, I am loving it so far. Only 25 pages in but I am so taken with the fresh voice and the compelling plot. I love it when I find a book that is entertaining and smart- the ultimate combination.

In the swing of things

2008-01-08T16:18:00.000-08:00

Well we all back to work and a little bitter about being pulled out of our cabin paradise of long naps, long walks, and lots of leisure time but reality isn't all that bad I guess. Work is incredibly busy for me right now. We are one month out before our big release that has been about 6 months in the making and I have a big document to complete in about a week. To make things more complicated we are going to Connecticut this weekend to Nephew 2s barmitzvah and are celebrating a belated Christmas. Getting any work done there will be a little hard but I have a long battery on the laptop and plane rides are boring anyway. Who wants to read a book on a plane anyway:).
So, anyway I digress, in the spirit of New Year's here is my list of resolutions:
* Blog more
* Find more ways to express my creativity
* Volunteer more
* Send work for publication
* Manage Grady's allergies

Merry Christmas 2007/Happy New Year 2008

2007-12-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas in the Ozarks. Grady and CornyT and I rented a cabin and spent four days getting away from it all. The trip was ideal. When we weren't snuggled down by the fire sipping hot chocolate with Irish cream, we were taking the dog for hikes in the mountains. Rarely do things turn out as well as you hope but this little retreat in our charming mountain cabin could not have gone better. I also was pleasantly surprised by the book I brought. At first, I wasn't so sure about the book club choice, Suite Francaise, but two chapters in I was completely hooked. I finished soon after we got back from Arkansas and it was my 16th book 2007 and I think it might have been my favorite. All and all I really loved her keen sense of character and her ability to shows all sides of a very complicated historical event.

Itchy but not mangy

2007-12-01T19:42:00.000-08:00

I read recently that Austin was ranked as one of the worst cities for allergies. I never new what a scratchy throat and watery eyes felt like until I spent a couple of years in the Texas capital. In fact, the first year I was afflicted I was convinced I had a bad cold. It wasn't until the following year when I had the exact same symptoms that it occurred to me that it was the infamous "cedar fever". Well turns out that our canine pals also suffer more acutely in Austin and as I learned today my breed of choice, Golden Retrievers are even more at risk for skin allergies. Poor Grady. Looks like we are going to have to take him to a doggie allergist and have his skin tested. We did get some good news from the vet: the mange that the puppy had was Demodectic mange, the non-contagious type. Yay. I also decided that I am definitely switching to this vet full time now and will take Grady and Livia to him for now on. He was personable, seemed knowledgeable, and didn't charge me for the visit because he just referred us to a specialist. He did give me some FREE prednisone and a little topical spray for the red patches. Wish I had found this guy 7 months ago. While we were waiting in seclusion (you say mange and you get your private waiting area) I read a chart explaining the age rate in cats. It's not quite the even 7 human years like it is for dogs, and according to this chart Livia's 7 years is actually 51 cat years old. Oh and I found it amusing when I told the vet that we were the first foster parents for the puppy now known as Xena he said " that puppy is quite a handfull isn't she". ha ha it was nice to hear someone agree with us and we weren't just being hard on her.

I must have too much time on my hands

2007-11-28T19:31:00.001-08:00

The wedding planning must be over because I just spent a good five minutes watching a cat nap.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid315932962/bctid422561510

And then I spent good time watching this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYuX1rFOMvM

I should probably find something more constructive to with my time.

Matilda's Legacy

2007-11-28T18:45:00.000-08:00

Despite her misbehaving ways I think the crazy puppy has found a "forever home". Good thing too because I am sure she is probably tired of moving around. She spent one week with us, one week with our friends who rescued her from the mean people next door, and almost 2 weeks now with her current foster mom. The road was a little uncertain for the pupster and CornyT and I were working really hard to find her a new home. I plastered her picture on the internet and put a poster up in my office breakroom. All that exposure and we only got one phone call. However, I think it was the phone call that convinced her current "foster" mother to make the big committment. In fact, she said she would either keep her or find her a new home. YAY- the poster in the office went down today! The puppy did pick up a few things along her journeys; a new name, Xena, and mange. The mange though I think she spread around a little. Grady is scratching a lot and has brown stuff on his belly. I am going to take him to the vet this weekend. I had wanted to get a second opinion on my current vet's exclusive steroid treatment so this gives me good impetus to do so. Hopefully, this vet will be a little more friendly. I thought that my current vet was pretty good with the animals and Grady seemed to really like him but he barely said more than a few absolutely, necessary words to me. I tried to tell myself it was probably because he was just more comfortable with animals than with people but it is off putting when you ask questions and he just shakes his head and talks to your pet. I am also a little unsettled that he doesn't have an assistant and I have never seen another patient in his office. This has it's upsides I never have to wait to see him and I can always get an appointment when I need one. But it is still a little disconcerting... Anyway, we'll see what the next vet says about Grady's allergies and prolonged prednisone use and maybe he will tell me and not Grady.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T19:38:00.000-08:00

WE have had a very relaxing and cozy Thanksgiving holiday. Yesterday we stayed home ALL day made. I don't think I even brushed my hair! We made a beautiful turkey dinner, drank mimosas and played the Wii. What a day. Grady was so perplexed that we were home all day and he was overcome by the temptation of all the food on the table that he could not take it and he stole a stick of butter off the table. Bad boy! I caught him doing it and chased him into "his room" and pulled it out of his mouth. Later he stole the box the butter came in from the recycling. Wow who knew he was so crazy for butter. Well I hope all of you had a great holiday.

My Impressions of L'Atelier in Las Vegas

2007-11-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

Originally, we planned to honeymoon in Peru directly following the wedding. However, when CornyT landed a teaching gig at a local university we had to rethink that plan. University's tend to frown on their professors missing 5 classes in a row. This dilemma coincided with our viewing an episode of Anthony Bourdain's: No Reservations featuring the fine dining available in Las Vegas. Bourdain's show made the gaudy and smoky wasteland of Vegas seem like an epicurean's heaven. In addition, we had been spending the last six months addicted to the Bravo show, Top Chef and were starting to really get into the world of snobby foodies. So, we opted for a low key, restfull, gastronomical honeymoon and it turned out it really was just what we needed. We are still doing the planning for Peru and intend to go there in the Spring of 08 but I am glad that we ended up taking a lazy trip right after the wedding, because the planning and the festivities reall took a lot out of us:).
Initially, we were only going to visit Thomas Keller's Bouchon. Bourdain's description of this restaurant left the biggest impression on us and we were very excited to try the famous chef's bistro offerings. But Corny T did more and more research and he got us reservations to a great restaurant every night we were there. During the wedding, CornyT's sister-in-law urged us to go to Robuchon's and so as almost an after thought he got us a reservation for the first night we were in town. This last minute addition turned out to be the most extravagant and interesting meal of the entire trip. I had never had a nine course meal before and had never had anything quite this elaborate. What a treat and what a great way to celebrate a truly fabulous event as marrying my CornyT. The next morning we furiously took notes over a typical, purely utilitarian, mediocre Vegas breakfast buffet. Below I have pasted my impressions of each dish in the nine course meal. CornyT has promised to put his musings in as soon as he has time. So here it goes, my pathetic stab at food writing:)

Amuse Bouche: Frothing Foie Gras

My first experience with foie gras was this frothy little "shot glass" of port, foam and foie gras. Foie gras would become the theme of the weekend but this was my first time to ever have the duck liver delicacy. The waiter explained that the chef recommended digging deep into the glass with a spoon to get all the flavors in one bite. I am not sure if I did an excellent job of this- it kind of took me two bites to get to everything- and I think my experience would have been a little more explosive had I gotten all the ingredients in one bite. However, once I got to the foie gras at the bottom my mouth was happy.

LA LANGOUSTINE: Langoustine carpaccio with roasted poppy seed dressing

This was the most artistic dish of the evening. The thin, almost translucent meat was spread across a square glass plate and sprinkled with an orange poppy seed dressing. Alone the poppy seed dressing had a unremarkable flavor but the unique texture and subtle flavor of the lobster meat paired well with it making this one of the most unusual dishes I have ever had.

LES HUITRES: Poached baby Kussi oysters with French « Echiré » butter

Ahh the oysters. This was one of my favorite courses of the night and I still get a little flutter in my heart when I think of the blend of the subtly flavored oyster with the tangy butter and dash of lemon. Ohh so good. The three baby oysters were presented soaking in a light butter sauce in their shells atop a bed of coarse salt with a wedge of propped in front. To eat the oysters you poured them into your mouth drenched in the butter sauce. These flesh was firm and weighty in the mouth and the flavor was the subtle tanginess of a perfectly fresh oyster. The acidity from the lemon underscored the flavor of both the shell-fish and the butter sauce. A perfectly elegant and simple dish.

The EGG Dish (or L'oeuf)

This was even a little more unusual then the langoustine. Three layers starting with foam, poached egg, mushrooms, and puree of parsley were presented in a parfait glass. Oh and if I haven't mentioned before foam was a big part of this meal. Light flavorful, yummy foam. My only complaint about so many dishes with foam is that the whole meal starts to have the same texture and feel. With this egg dish we were again told to dig down deep with our spoon and retrieve all the flavors in one bite. Again, I got this in sections rather all in one bite. Typically you think of parsley has having little flavor but in puree form it is a surprising explosion of taste. Overall this dish really stayed with me because it was so unusuall and the textures of the foam and the poached egg were really surprising.

Asparagus Cappaccinno
This was a light green, frothy soup with a distinctive asparagus flavor with chunks of guyere cheese. The cheese was excellent but the flavor was a little disparate because it didn't melt completely in the soup. Where it did melt it was an amazing and startling pairing of flavors. All in all though, I felt like this was the most ordinary of all the dishes.

Halibut
This description is really can suffer from my lack of notes and faded memory. The fish was presented topped with finely diced spring vegetables. This course was a little difficult to eat. Each bite of fish scattered the veg and it was hard to get a taste of the fish and the veg in one mouthful. The Lemon thyme used to flavor the veg didn't seem to mix throughout the veg and some bites would be bland while others were really tangy. The halibut itself was perfectly cooked and tasted incredibly fresh.

Veal Piccata
This was the main dish and the one dish that CornyT and I did not share. He chose the quail while I chose the veal. The thin layer of veal was topped with an arugula salad. The veal was very tender but without a strong, memorable flavor. The standout of this dish were the Robuchon mashed potatoes. I read one blog that described them as sublime and there really is no better way to describe them.

Papaya Sorbet
A pink puree presented in a small bowl topped with a peak of banana sorbet. The was a perfect light dish after the previous heavy meals. The papaya flavor was subtle but complex and the delicate banana paired well. Just for pure bursts of flavor this was my favorite dessert dish.

Coffee Ice Cream
This final dessert was a scoop of coffee colored ice cream surrounded by mousse and topped with crumbled chunky brownies. The ice cream was a delicate texture and the mousse had a broad flavor. Not the stand out dish of the meal but a nice end to an amazing meal I will certainly not forget.
After we waddled away from the table my only serious complaint was the coffee. Geesh I am shocked that such a superb restaurant would serve such weak, mediocre coffee. CornyT told me I should have sent it back but I hate doing that and I was so lost in the whole experience that it wasn't until we reflected on it all later that I thought what a disappointment that was. But don't get me wrong I still LOVED this meal want an amazing experience.

Giving this another try

2007-11-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

Ok I have tried to get back to blogging about 3 times now since we got back from our honeymoon and I have been interrupted each time. So, I am hoping that I can finish this post and get back into a habit of blogging again. It is nice to have all the wedding preparation over and to be married and rested and relaxed from our Vegas honeymoon. About a week after the honeymoon we introduced a new complication to our life; a three month old, puppy our friends rescued from a neglected life on a 6 foot rope tied to a bus with no real food or water. A recent city law was passed to protect dogs from spending any time tied up in yards but unfortunately the city never responded to the two calls our friends made. In a perfect world the city would have responded immediately and given those people a fine for mistreating an animal but our friend worried the pup, we now all call Matilda, would not survive that long. So, after a weekend of watching the neglected puppy starve out her kitchen window she walked over and bought the puppy from the people. What a big heart. We worried that our friends and their three cats would have a hard time with the little gal so we volunteered to take her. We also had a better set up with crates, food, treats and a buddy. Grady loved the companionship- they played and played. His favorite game was putting her entire head into his mouth. She was adorable but we have learned that one dog is enough for us- good to know actually. Now she is spending the holiday with a friend of our friends with the hope that they will bond and become the best friends. I hope that it works out for Matilda's sake. And for the friend too because having a dog is such a rewarding experience.

Good Reads

2007-09-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

A week ago an invitation to Good Reads appeared in my in box and I haven't been able to stop thinking about all the books I have read, how I liked them, and all the books I want to read. good reads is kind of a MySpace for the bookworm. Have you ever heard of better site for me? Two of my favorite things books and friends. If they added dogs to this site some how it would be PERFECT for me:). So, on top of obsessing about my own reading habits I am now fascinated with all the books my friends have read. And I can't help competing a little for most read spot. So far, corynyt has more books on there then I do but I think that will soon change. Ha our relationship is not competitive at all. The next step is to go on there and review all the books I have read and note when I read the book. What a clever idea

Round and Round

2007-09-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

When I was little we had a house with an open floor plan and a spacious living room and kitchen (or at least I remember it as roomy, my parents probably have a more realistic memory). The kitchen had an opening to the dining room and the hallway so you could make a circle starting in the living room through the kitchen out to the hallway and back to the living room. I would spend hours on my three wheel bike, knotted sock in hand, rolling around and around that cirlce with our border collie puppy chasing nipping at my big plastic tires and sliding on the wood floor. I must have been three but I still have clear memories of that little black and white blur barking and panting as I maneuvered my little trike.
Now I live in another house with an open floor plan, this time it is an office with doorways on either end of the living room and it also makes a nice circle in the house- a perfect dog chasing circle. Actually, it was CornyT who discovered the joys of getting Grady to chase him around the house with some chew toy dangling behind him. But I was soon with him running and squealing with our seventy pounds of happy dog at our heels. The memories of my childhood came flooding back and now I play the game almost every night for at least a few minutes. They say Border Collies are smart but I never remember our pup letting me get a headstart and then turning directions as I come out the other side. Very clever Golden. When he does surprise me I inevitably squeal with utter delight and turn around and run. CornyT once asked if I was exagerrating my enthusiasm for Grady's benefit and I sheepishly confessed that no, it was pure, genuine glee. To help me with my worthy opponent CornyT has now taken to calling out from the couch the direction Grady is headed. Yes, it is sad that I have to resort to cheating to get the upper hand on a year-old Golden but maybe he should learn English!

Catch Up

2007-09-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well we are getting closer to the big date, the invitations are out and CornyT bought a suit. We found a fantastic suit on an Italian suit at the local outlet malls. Usually those places have terrible selections but this time we got so lucky and found the exact color and style we wanted. So now we will be clothed and ready to go in a month and a half. The only thing missing are the rings and firming up the after wedding travel plans. On this cool and cloudy labor day morning, I am enjoying my day off by taking a break from wedding plans and catching up on all the fun internet browsing I haven't had time to do. Lately, every time I am on the web I feel obligated to look up hair styles, wedding rings, or travel packages. I shouldn't sound like I am complaining. It is fun to do all the planning and I think we will all have a great time.
This weekend we ran a few wedding related errands, getting new tires (fun), spending quality time with Grady, having dinner with friends, and catching up on Heroes dvds. What a fun show. Last night we finished the episode revealing Horn Rim Glasses guy's back story and sulu's secret past. Corny T just reminded me we have head up north to look at wedding rings and have lunch- mmm Indian.

Update on July

2007-08-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Whew July was busy. I neglected a lot of things such as volunteering, blogging, and bathing...(Ok I took a bath once or twice) due to a visit from my mom and other wedding and work related stuff. After I wrote the last post, Mom drove down and spent my birthday with me. While she was here she helped me paint the entire living room(just what I needed, someone to help and to motivate me), made my wedding dress, and helped furnish some of my empty rooms. She was amazing. We all missed her when she left, she helped so much. Grady was really bummed when she left. He had enjoyed having someone to hang out with during the day and she took him outside for lots of playtime. So my giant living room, den, dining area is now a soft, minty green color that Behr calls Turtle dove. It looks so nice and really adds a lot of light and color to the whole house. When Mom left she said she wanted to see at least two other rooms painted by the time she came back for the wedding. Well I took her seriously, and this weekend I painted the kitchen, celery sprig, (a really bright, almost grass green) and the hallway/alcove Silverado Trail (a warm purple). The alcove counts as a room right? Those rooms are small so I thought it would take me no time at all since mom had taught me to be a master painter. Yeah, it still took me the good part of two days to finish. I think I will take a break for a while before I do the rest. No matter how confident I feel I still am not crazy about painting. Such messy work. Or at least when I do it;). Well at least I had the place all freshly painted for bookclub last night. We discussed the March by E.L Doctorow. I loved it but it got mixed reviews from the others. The writing is great but the narrative is a little inaccesible. Not really plot heavy more moody. For Aug we are reading Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux. I have never read him but I remember the movie leaving a bad impression so we'll see how the book is. In other reads, I am 3/4s through HP7. So far, I am loving it but I think 6 was a little better.The good thing is that nobody ruined it for me this time.
So three more months to go till the wedding. And things seem to be falling into place. We have the invites, and now have to mail them out. Tomorrow we go for a tasting at the cc and will pick our menu for the reception. I think once I get the invites in the mail I will feel like we are almost done. Yay.

Dreading the Holiday

2007-07-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that right. I am actually not looking forward to two days off because I need to finish painting the house and honestly I would rather work than paint. When I was a kid I hated painting with my parents. But when I bought my own house I thought for sure I would love pickign my own paint colors and painting my very own wall. Nope, it still stinks. I painted my tiny little bathroom over the Memorial day weekend and discovered it is still boring, tedious, tiring work. If we weren't buried under wedding bills, I would hire someone to do it. Oh well, I will load up the latest Lincoln biography CornyT has been raving about and put on the old clothes and pretend it's fun. I would take pictures of my efforts but for some reason my digital camera is on the fritz. Something is wrong with its ability to power up. I have put brand new, fresh out of the package batteries in twice now and I am still getting the little out of power symbol (battery with a line through it) and then it immediately powers down. Very depressing turn of events because of the before mentioned wedding bills and the need to have a nice camera for both the wedding and the honeymoon. Anyway, I will quit whining and try to enjoy my raining, boring, back breaking holiday:). PS if anyone coming to visit me in the next couple of months would like me to hold off on the painting and would like to help me, I could probably be convinced to wait. Umm just an idea and you know who you are. Happy Fourth All!

Farewell Alamo

2007-06-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

On occasion, I like to use this space to evangelize about my dear city and in all my gushing I am sure I have brought up the Alamo Drafthouse Theatre at least more than once. How could I not go on and on about this theatre. I had never lived anywhere, where I could get a beer, a burger and watch silent movies while a real band played the sound track or sing along at the top of my lungs to the Buffy musical episode or catch a burlesque act. And I have so many fond memories of meeting my pals underneath the big ass "The Alamo" poster in the lobby. That is where I solidified a lot of my Austin friendships while standing in line with hundreds of other young Austinites waiting to watch the sinus guys goof on Tom Cruise's teeth or the iguana in the Terminator (it's a funny iguana trust me). Now the Alamo is another victim of the gussying up of the Austin down-town. Driven out by inflated rent, the Alamo is finding a new home in another theatre downtown called the Ritz. I don't know much about it but I hear it is nice and will be a fitting replacement and at least the business establishment that considers Joss Whedon's birthday a day worth celebrating is not gone from Austin forever. But it's still sad to know that original location will be a over-priced yuppy bar.
The Alamo is well known for having all night events and the last night was of course no exception. I always thought that being in a theatre all night watching every Buffy episode or all 6 Stars Wars movies sounded like great fun but when I actually got to the point of buying the tickets I always wussed out. I knew deep in my heart that by 1 AM I would be cranky, uncomfortable, and pining for my pillow top mattress. So, we didn't even attempt to get the sought after tix to the last show. However, a couple of my friends are just that crazy and they looked exhausted yesterday but had a blast! They watched the old Earthquake movie with sound equipment that made the whole building shake and wine glasses creep their way to the edge of the tables. That's the kind of fun stuff we will miss. But when one movie reel is removed another is replaced, right?

Wedding Chores

2007-06-27T09:56:00.001-07:00

We recently returned from the first of three weddings we will attend this year. (One of course being our own:). Our friends hosted a beautiful, day-time wedding in Maine on a gorgeous local estate. Their ceremony was outside under a gazebo and incorporated a lot of personal touches that I would love to steal. However, they will be at our wedding so we should probably come up with something of our own. I am thinking a conga line around the terrace would be a blast. Just kidding, I am trying to make wedding planning more manageable and have a little more fun with it. I am assigning one wedding chore to do a day. Chunk the whole process up a bit. Since I have implemented this plan I have felt a lot more in control. I don't what I have really accomplished but I have at least called more people. I did talk to a friend of a friend who arranges wedding flowers and I had SO much fun talking about flowers. I love flowers. Especially bold, dark red flowers and she was just as excited about red stuff as I was. I was going to get wholesale flowers and do it myself and although that would be a lot of fun. I have never done that before and have no idea what the learning curve would be like so this way I don't have to worry about it. Plus, I think they are reasonable and willing to work with my measly budget.

Pup and Circumstance

2007-06-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

After 8 weeks of lessons in sit, down, watch, loose leash walking, leave it and stay our boy successfully completed his first obedience class. Well, like CornyT said he got a pity diploma. Grady definitely needs to return for graduate courses but he kind of got the basics down. He sits and stays pretty well if he isn't too distracted. He does need more work on the leash walking. Today he demonstrated his education by dragging me into the street where I proceeded to trip in a pothole and slide across the street for about 6 inches all while my neighbor looked on in horror and said "that dog is kind of big for you." Yes, that was money well spent:). Well it least it went to the shelter who is now having even more problems. On top of the quarantine scaring away adopters, the air conditioning has broken and it may take months and hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix. Poor shelter, things were going so well at the beginning of the year with a balance sheet in the black and a donation for kitty condos.

Shelter Struggles

2007-06-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, on Saturday May 19th when I was skipping my usual shift at the shelter to take Grady to the Golden Retriever rescue group picnic, the humane socity volunteers found a dead bat in one of the dog runs. The bat tested positive for rabies and the poor shelter has been practically shut down for the last two weeks. Over half the dogs have been placed in a 90 day quarantine and only special volunteers can walk those dogs to the special runs. Other volunteers, like myself can walk pre-adopt dogs and do other little chores around the shelter. If I had been at the shelter that day I would probably been interviewed by the health department but I don't think the volunteers had to get rabie shots. Or at least I hope not that would be horrible. Anyway, the whole thing is really bad for the shelter and all those poor dogs who will have to spend over 3 months in the shelter without a chance of being adopted. All the puppies that were not in the shelter when the scare occurred are placed in kennels out on the patio for people to visit and hopefully adopt. From the emails it sounds like there are still a good amount of adoptions every week so at least people have not been scared away. What an unfortunate thing to happen to the poor shelter.

This just in

2007-05-27T15:05:00.001-07:00

My dog is absolutely adorable, but I have to share this guy with you and my new favorite cute site, the Daily Puppy. Actually, since this is a Golden pup, I am sure my boy looked a lot like this guy only about a year ago. Now he is a big, gangly, 70 pound pup.

Swimfest 2007

2007-05-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

I have finally attached some pictures of our new dog Grady. It is hard to believe we have had him 6 weeks already. Every day life with Grady just gets more and more fun. Last Saturday I took him to the rescue groups semi-annualy swim fest at a farm out side of town. The thirty or more Gold Retrievers in attendance frolicked in the creek while their human companions ate breakfast tacos and fruit salad while discussing their dog rearing experiences with other Golden owners. Grady was in heaven bounding around where ever he wanted off leash and I was also pretty content watching all the cute Golden heads bob up and down in the water. Although, none of those head's were ever Grady's. He was much more comfortable chasing other dogs on the dry ground than diving into that scary, wet pond. I am not sure he had ever seen open water before. He certainly didn't act like he knew what to do with it. It was fine for putting your feet in but going in farther was not a good idea. I also think this was the first time he had ever been around a horse. He barked hysterically at them when we passed a couple on the road. When a couple came near our little gathering all the dogs went nuts and chased after them (of course). The owner of the farm told us to call our dogs and I shouted a little panicky for Grady not seeing him anywhere. I felt a dog by my legs but there were a dozen around me. After a coulple more yells I look down and realize he's been right there by me the whole time:). What a good dog. In fact, he was by my side most of the picnic- like my little pal, people and dog watching with me. Right now he is chomping on a bone by my feet while I write this.

In the company of puppies

2007-05-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

So now that I have my very own big dog to walk every day, I have decided to move my attention at the shelter to puppies. Yeah, I needed a lot convincing to decide to spend two hours cuddling, playing, and petting puppies but after I relented and admitted it was for a cause I took the puppy training and donned my official Puppy Socializer badge. I am not kidding, I really have a badge that says Puppy Socializer.

So, this weekend instead of walking big dogs around the field, I scrubbed down the "real-life" room, gathered an armful of toys, treats, and towels and "socialized" three darling terrier mix puppies. When I took the first puppy out of his kennel, I was sure someone was going to say "hey girl put the dog down". In fact, I was showing my badge to every staff member I walked by just so they knew I was officially allowed to pet puppies. You see, for the last 9 months, the pups have been off limits and marked with big red stickers on the kennels. Don't even look at them the stern looks from the staffers seemed to say as you neared a pup's kennel. However, after lots of convincing from the volunteers and promising to be very careful and use liberal amounts of bleach in the real-life room, the shelter staff has agreed to let volunteers play with puppies. This is a win-win for everyone, the puppies get that all important socialization so they can be good grown ups and not end up back in the shelter and the volunteers will be even more compelled to stick around. And in case you were not aware, a little mopping and sanitizing is well worth a good cuddle with a pup.

My Monthly Post

2007-05-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

OK I have been very bad. I am sure you are shocked to actually see a post here since it has been a MONTH since I last posted. Ugh I have to get back into the habit of writing here. I love doing it, it's just after all the wedding planning and trying to train the dog, I don't have energy to get back on the laptop. Whine, whine, whine, huh? Anyway, it has been a busy month. We finally adopted a Golden Retriever boy, named Buddy who we now call Grady. The first week with Grady was fairly hard. The first night he made his way out of the yard and played a "fun" game of chase with me for about a block and a half. When I brought him back home I was livid and in tears, just sure we had made a terrible mistake giving up Sasha and adopting this young Rascal. They say the first 2 weeks of adopting a pet are the honeymoon stage... in our case it was a rocky honeymoon but I now am completely enamoured with his adorable little blonde face. Our biggest complaint about Sasha was that she was so low energy we really couldn't interact with her a problem that Grady does not have. He goes for a good, energetic game of frisbee while still knowing when it is time to lay nicely by our feet while we watch tv or surf the net. We start obedience classes this Tuesday at the Humane Society and I hope we can improve his recall and few other basic manners.
Anyway, as you can tell I could go on and on about the dog but there have been other things keeping me from the blog. This is actually my first weekend at home in over 2 weeks. The weekend before last I drove to New Orleans for a friends steam boat bridal shower and crawfish boil. What a blast that was. New Orleans is such a fun place to spend a weekend and it was a special treat being there with natives who knew all the great "hole in the wall" type restaurants. Last weekend we went to Charleston, South Carolina to watch the Mamester graduate from the Americorp. I cannot express how proud I am of her for sticking with that program. I am sure it didn't always feel like it was worth all the trouble but I think the skills she learned and the people she helped was more the worth the inconviences she had to endure.
Anyway, I have to run for now but I will honestly try to write more I promise.

Sad News

2007-04-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

In October I wrote about a shelter dog named Cole who had touched the lives of her adopter and her adopter's dying father. The adopter had called the shelter to report that Cole was such a wonderful dog and had been her biggest support during a tough time. Unfortunately, this story does not have the happy ending it should have. On Friday, this woman returned Cole to the humane society in a state of obvious neglect and poor health. The volunteers who knew Cole from her previous time in the shelter could barely recognize her she was so gaunt and sickly. As they were walking her to the runs she collapsed and was rushed to the onsite clinic. The clinic staff noticed a festering wound on her leg that they later realized was maggot infested. Sadly, the clinic staff decided that because she was just too sick there was nothing they could do but end her suffering with humane euthanasia. I am just so sad that things ended so terribly for Cole. She was a sweet dog and she didn't deserve to be treated that way. I wish the animal cops could make that woman accountable for what she did to Cole.

Dogless

2007-04-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

So, we decided that Texas was probably not the dog for us and found her a home with a young woman and her parents. At her new home she has two doggie siblings and 4 people to pet her all the time. I think she will be very happy in her new home. The rescue group has found us a boy named Buddy that I think will be a really good match for us. He is lovable, playful, and a little younger. We will meet him this weekend and if we are all in mushy love with him we will bring him home. I have seen pictures and he is a gorgeous boy. I can't wait to meet him.

Mechanical Things Hate Us

2007-03-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

In the week my garage door opener broke, the monitor on the laptop went out, and our front porch light went out (doesn't seem to be the bulb either). Its a little weird that they all happened at once. We must have ticked off some force that controls electrical-type objects. The most annoying thing is the garage door opener because it could be complicated to fix. The little chain thing jumped off the track that strung it through the pulley and got wedged between the pulley and the bracket- yeah it's complicated to explain. We are going to try to replace the chain. CornyT has an idea how to do it and he is becoming more and more handy. Amongst all these broken things we did fix our toilet- FINALLY. Yeah we had been living with it for a while but it runs like a champ now. So that makes it us 1 : Mechanical things 3 - darn!

Trouble in Paradise

2007-03-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

The other night we were taking Sasha for a walk and encountered the bravest little kitty you have every seen. The cat just headed towards Sasha with confidence and not an inkling of fear of this much larger animal in front of her. She must have been a street cat used to encountering dogs and secure in her ability to kick their buts if she needed to. The cat was adorable, Sasha's reaction to her was not. Her ears perked up, she crouched and went in for a lunge. CornyT had to hold her back with the leash and I shooed the cat away who either wanted to play or more or wanted to finish the fight because she kept coming towards the dog. If I hadn't worried so much about her safety I would have let the cat scratch Sasha to teach her a lesson but there was no guarantee Sasha wouldn't get in a lucky bite. Needless, to say this began to give us pause about adding Sasha to our 2 person, one cat household permanently. We have kept Livia and Sasha seperated mostly for the last 3 weeks. In response to this behavior, we have been evaluating her with the cat for the last few nights. We place Livia in the room with Sasha in her crate and let them see eachother and be close without any danger. The first night Sasha banged up against the cage to get at her but last night she just watched her attentively. I don't if it is going to work and I know I wish Sasha was a little more playful. She could careless about tug of war or hide and seek. mmm can you train for that?

Busy Weekend

2007-03-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

Finally, CornyT and I took advantage of Austin's biggest tourist draw and actually went to some SXSW shows. In fact, we went to almost a dozen shows in 3 days. Phew and I am exhausted. I would like to say that we did it on our volition but we in fact needed an excuse to get out. CornyT's friend from college came to town to visit us and we felt we had to show him a good time. The great thing is we didn't buy one of the pricey wristbands and still got into the shows we wanted to and at a lot places didn't even pay cover. Previously, I had thought SXSW was so overwhelming and hard to sort through all the available bands but when you have an old college buddy who is willing to listen to all the myspace pages and find the good bands it really isn't hard:). Along with all the bands I also had my first celebrity sighting in Austin. At the You Am I concert we saw an actor from one of our favorite shows, a man who is never nude.

Showing off

2007-03-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

I have a brief moment at work so I thought I would show off my ring. I just love it and think CornyT did such a nice job of picking it out. I had to educate him about the virtues of patinum over white gold- patinum is harder and therefore better for the diamond, and doesn't scratch as easily. So next we have to pick out bands. UGH I love picking out jewlery as much as I love picking out furniture. Well at least the bands are cheaper:). Am I just killing the romance or what?!

The More to Report the less I do

2007-03-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

I have been guilty of some serious blog neglect. However, lack of things to report certainly has not been the excuse. The big news is two weeks ago on February 25 CornyT and I got engaged. Most of you probably already know this but I want to fill in everyone else. (yeah I am still fooling myself that anyone is reading this:) The proposal was amazingly romantic and touching and I will remember it forever. He is such a fabulous guy! We are absolutely thrilled and are in the thick of wedding planning already. Even though we are going to keep things small there is still a ton to do. And I can't wait till it is all done. But I guess the journey is half the fun right so I shouldn't complain too much abou the planning. We have been to a lot of different type of venues already a couple of super fancy, places and a few kitschy, "backyard" type places. We did find one place that seemed to kind of fall in between those two that I think we are going to go with.

Also, as if getting engaged wasn't going to keep us busy enough we also are fostering and probably adopting the Golden Retriever of our dreams. Yep the rescue group deemed us fit adopters and we are now fostering pending adoption a two year old girl who is absolute sweetie originally named Texas- we are now calling her Sasha. She was a little shy at first but is coming out of her shell. Pictures of her will be posted soon. She is so pretty.

TV Addict

2007-02-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Okay there were three things that I liked about American Idol last night: A) The Keen song and the beat box boy's version of that song B) Ryan Seacrest (funny) C) The adorable parents of the Justin Timberlake looking kid.
There were three things that disappointed me: A)Sanjaya! B)Paul Kim's falsetto (and overall performance C) Chris Sligh's whiny response to Simon's critique
And I though Sanjaya and Chris Sligh were going to steal the show.

I hate to admit but I like the show better when they only sing a little bit of the song. I get bored with all those bad boring songs. I am not a true fan am I?
After Idol we watched the Prestige on DVD. Go rent that movie RIGHT NOW, you won't regret it.

President's Day Weekend 2007 and Happy Chinese New Year

2007-02-19T16:23:00.000-08:00

Kind of a quiet holiday weekend and I spent the day off catching up on my sleep. Work has been pretty busy this last week so it was nice to just relax, read in bed, and snooze. We did a little shopping yesterday at IKEA and spent the evening constructing 4 dining chairs and one loungey type chair for the sun room. The IKEA directions could be a little more efficient (and I know something about directions). On more than one occasion we realized we had made a mistake because the appropriate screws or chair pieces we not correctly marked. The good part was we did this all while watching the season premiere of the Amazing Race All Star show. Yes, I am hopelessly addicted to TV and now becoming more and more addicted to reality TV. But the Amazing Race is all about travel and it is so fun to see all the places around the world that they end up going on their crazy adventure. The wacky relationships and the bickering is fun too. Before we hunkered down in front of the TV we spent the afternoon at a Chinese New Year festival. It was the fairly standard Chinese New Year festivity; lion dancing, fireworks and food. We spent SAturday cleaning the house; sweeping and taking out the garbage because it is good luck to start the Chinese New Year with a clean house (what mom started that tradition;)?) and sweeping, cutting, and throwing out trash is forbidden on the new year day.
I did take advantage of my extra holiday time and went to the shelter today as well as my usual shift on Saturday. Lately, I have been getting some really mouthy puppies who like to go for my whole hand when I play ball with them. I look like I did when I was a kid with scratches on my hand from my very energetic border collie puppy. Every time they get rough I stop the play and we go back to the kennel but it has been 4 dogs in the last 2 weeks to do this. Hopefully, with more training they will get a little less mouthy. My favorite moment with the dogs was when the Schnauzer named Fancy I took out chased after the shadow of a bird flying over head. He was very disappointed when there was no bird on the ground.
Well I have to run and make hamburgers- it's like 75 here and we thought we'd celebrate with an outdoorsy kind of dinner. Hope all you have a great year of the Pig.

Lots to Report Little Time to do so

2007-02-15T10:22:00.000-08:00

These days it so hard to find time to get on the computer if I am not working. The good thing is I am SUPER busy at work and very happy with all the new challenges. The bad thing is I don't feel like getting online at home and blogging as much; tired of looking at the computer screen. So those are my feeble excuses. But I thought I would take these few moments at lunch to report some stuff going on in my little corner of Austin. First, the Gold Ribbon Rescue interview on Sunday was a blast. The interviewer brought over her Golden puppy and the puppies mommy. What a blast it was to watch the momma and the puppy play in our back yard. The neighbor dog Maggie (lab) came over to join in on the fun and it was so good for the soul to watch them chase each other around the trees. As far as the interview goes she told me she will let me know in a couple of weeks what their decision is- so I still don't know if I get a rescued golden but I will keep you posted.
Also, I hope everyone had a great Valentines day. CornyT and I had a quiet night home. I made organic steak, potatoes and zuchini yummy yummy. Better than anything in a restaurant and we exchanged Xmas/v-day presents. Huh you say? Well if you remember I was stressed and cranky at xmas so we decided to give our presents in FEb to give us a little break from shopping and such at that time. I gave him pants, a new shirt and tickets to the Richard Thompson concert coming up in March. He gave me baklava, a puppy calendar, and an adapter to play my ipod in the car. Score.
After dinner we capped our romantic evening by watching American Idol. So I have favorites of the newly picked 24- for the girls I LOVE Lakeesha- that woman is going to make me cry I just know it and I like the woman who made it to Hollywood last year but was cut- can't remember her name but she has personality. For the guys, I LOVE Sanjaya- so cute like a little puppy, all gangly and smiley, the guy who looks like Jack Osbourne, and that HOT guy from LA who was a back-up singer, Brendan I think! CAn't wait to keep watching. Well I need to get back to work so that is my quick and probably full of typo post. I will try to write more late.

Worn Out

2007-02-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

Whew it has been a busy weekend. Last night we went to a reading of Mike's former classmates in charming Kyle Texas and then went to a fancy wine bar/restaurant down town here in Austin.The wine bar was great a little pricey but amazing food and nice atmosphere for the fancy schmancy "Dallas" district. 2nd street down town has gotten a little uppity and doesn't have a lot of the traditional Austin casual charm but the fancy restaurant did have the most amazing mashed potatoes. Ah nothing is better than cream and lots of butter in a plate of mashed potatoes.
Today, I walked the dogs, took a long walk with a couple of friends and then went to the gym with Mike. Tomorrow is the big day, the home visit by the Golden Retriever rescue group. I cleaned up and am all ready to meet her two dogs and show her we can make good golden parents. It will be weird when we get a dog. I am sure it is going change our routine a lot but it will also be fun to have a buddy to go walking with and take to the river and the dog park. I can't wait!

Guilty Pleasure

2007-02-09T16:03:00.000-08:00

The other morning I awoke and felt the same as any other day, but something had profoundly changed. I am not sure how it happened but I had found myself hooked on American Idol. I have always had a mild interest in the talent show that has stolen America's heart but for some reason this year I am a "we-have-to-record-it-and-I-can't-be-interrupted-while-it-is-on" hooked. Maybe it was all the heart wrenching auditions this year like the older man who fought to get an audition to give his dying wife hope or the 16 year-old, "crack baby" who sang her heart out or maybe it was the really attractive back up singer who wanted to get on Idol to validate his singing career. Whatever it was, I am hooked and I can't wait to watch the upcoming Hollywood auditions!

Golden in My Home

2007-01-31T19:19:00.000-08:00

Today, I scheduled my home visit with the golden retriever rescue group. This is the 2nd step in the application process. The first was the phone interview screen, which went very well. Now they will come to the house, and confirm that I have a fenced yard and I guess look like I am responsible enough to adopt a sweet little golden. The evaluator will also bring two of her own dogs to the house to show me how to properly groom a golden and to give Livia more exposure to dogs. I think the home outings I have been doing with the shelter dogs is also helping her get a little used to dogs. She is not going to love it when I get a dog, I know but I am hoping she will just learn to tolerate him and all will live in peace. I have read everything I can find about how to properly introduce them and I am hoping that will help ensure a successful transition. Oh and did I mention that one of the evaluator's dogs is a 4 month old puppy! I can't wait to see the little pupsterooni!

House Guest

2007-01-30T18:26:00.000-08:00

So, over this weekend we hosted 5 twenty-somethings as mentioned in the post below. And it was a very fun time. After they left I must have been suffering from a variation of the empty nest syndrome because I immediately went to the shelter and brought a dog home for an overnight stay. As CornyT requested, I found a well behaved dog with a good gastro-intestinal trac- last time I brought home a dog as farty as an 80 year-old grandpa. Drake, a one-year old rough-collie mix, was an excellent house guest. He is a great dog who is just a little shy and anxious when confronting new situations. This was first evidenced when we got to the car. He immediately layed down by the open door, refusing to jump inside. It took a LOT of persuading with treats and some gentle pushing to actually get him in the car. In fact, he was reluctant both times we got into the car. Once he was in the car he was ok, although he got out of the seat belt pretty easily and stood up and got jostled around. At home he did not have any potty accidents and enjoyed playing with a stuffed toy and going for a long walk around the neighborhood. He was good on the walk and only showed mild interest in other dogs that passed by. He only barked once when a man on a bike "walking" his dog went by us. When we went to potty in the backyard at night he seemed very fearful of going on the side of the house until I coaxed him in an excited voice to follow me to the side door. He seemed to have little interest in our cat and did not want to walk by the room where she was sleeping. I am not sure if it is because that was down a dark hallway or because he could smell Livia. We thought that was strange behavior. All in all he spent the evening curled up on the floor by the couch next to us. He tried to get up on the couch once or twice but we corrected him and he sat nicely on the floor. The only really naughty behavior I noticed was when I placed a small wallet on an end table he picked it up with his mouth and dropped it on the floor. Though, no counter surfing or interest in food we snacked on. He did get a little anxious with TV and kitchen noises when he first heard them but he would quickly settle down and was calm most of the night. He is so sweet and so people oriented that I think he will be a great dog for someone who is patient and willing to work with him to get over his fears.

Party Like A 21 Year Old

2007-01-30T18:11:00.000-08:00

That's what I did this weekend with my newly legal to drink sister! We had originally planned to go to Vegas for her big birthday but our schedules didn't really allow for it. But we really wanted to spend the day together. So on Friday, her birthday, she rented a car and drove to Austin with 4 of her Americorp team and went to at least 4 or 5 clubs in Austin. We barely skimmed the surface of all the fun places to go in Austin so I can't wait till she comes back so we can do more of those things together. I hope her and her friends had a fun time. I would have liked to have shown them more Austin type stuff but I didn't plan as well as I should have. I should have taken them out to the Oasis for margaritas and sunset viewing but I didn't think of it until about 5:30 Saturday night- a little too late. Oh well there is always another time I guess. I am just glad I got to celebrate with Mame. I also hope she appreciated the giant costco birthday cake I bought her! It is enormous- I don't know what I was thinking by not forcing the gang to take some back to Americorp with them. We are going die of diabetes eating that thing. Does anyone want some chocolate cake?

Spring??

2007-01-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

Right now I am sitting in a coffee shop with the sun beating down on me and I am comtemplating changing into shorts. Hard to believe it is this warm after we spent almost an entire week holed up in the house. On this sunny, warm day we should have been out working in the yard or taking a walk but instead we saw a movie. Silly I know but we have wanted to see Pan's Labyrinth for a while- you might remember from the last post when I whined about the movie being sold out that was the one we were trying to see. Anyway, we finally got there early enough to get in (this show was also sold out) and we both really enjoyed it. It's a little dark and definitely not a children's movie (violent!) but well made and worth seeing on the big screen.
Yesterday, it was more like winter and was a very drizzly and cold dog walking day. Not of course as wet as last week, none of the runs were flooded this time but rainy enough to make field walking a real bummer. I took most of the dogs to the auditorium and let them run around chasing stuffed animals and tennis balls. My favorite time of the day was watching a huge Rottweiler named Bishop chase a cuddly, white teddy bear around the auditorium. He would toss it across the room and scamper after it. Very cute. Kind of like watching a line backer play with kittens:).

The Big Melt

2007-01-17T17:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I am pretty sure today is my last day of working at home and tomorrow I will have have to start showering again and exchange my comfty sweat pants for real clothes. Just kidding I have been showering, um today at least. Oh and I am going to have to find my hairbrush. I haven't had need for that in a couple of days either. We did actually venture out this afternoon and the roads were pretty clear as long as you stayed off the highways. We thought we would catch an early movie after I finished up work and were pretty sure we would have the theatre to ourselves. Ha some original idea. The rest of the city had bravely crawled out of their little holes too and the movie we wanted to see was sold out. We settled for an early dinner and an abbreviated browse through Borders which closed early due to lack of staffing. All the employees must have been watching Pan's Labyrinth. Anyway here is a picture of the ice that brought our brave Texas city to its knees. I thought you northeners would get a kick out of the pictures.

The Big Chill

2007-01-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

Winter has come to Texas and we are hunkering down in the house watching the weather and wallowing around in our pjs. We have been calling the ice storm the STORM of the CENTURY (in dramatic news caster voice) but the news here is actually a little more low key and calling the storm "The Big Chill". The house looks so cute with icicles lining the eaves and frost dotting the front lawn. Any where in the country I think this would be business as usual but in the Hill Country it is shutting down the city. We haven't got our mail today and some places didn't get trash picked up.
Actually, it is kind of fun to have something out of the ordinary break up the routine. Although, it would be a little more fun if I had a job where I couldn't work from home but it is still fun to do all my work in a sweatshirt and puppy slippers plus I am getting paid so I can't complain too much.

Cozy Sunday

2007-01-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

Don't just love days when you feel like you got done everything you wanted to do accomplished. Often the weekend days get away from me and I feel like I only finished a fraction of what I wanted to do. Somehow though today I managed to be fairly productive despite the cold, gloomy weather. I did spend the first 2 hours of the day curled up in the covers but while I was there I finished my book club book so that was the first thing I could scratch off my list for the weekend. I then cleaned up the clutter on my vanity, nightstand, and my desk. Now, I can look over at those places and not feel overwhelmed by all the junk mail, books, and notebooks stacked up; it's a nice feeling. I then did some chores around the house like sweeping, dusting, and all that other boring but necessary stuff. Now that all the household jobs are done I am ready to head back to work. However, we will see if I actually work in the office tomorrow. We are having our yearly bad ice storm and if the roads are bad I might just work from home tomorrow. I hope everyone is staying warm where they are right now. It looks like this bad weather is hitting the entire country. Well, here's to cuddling up with a hot chocolate and a good book; doesn't that sound perfect?!

Rainy Rainy Saturday

2007-01-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

Oooh it is chilly and rainy here. I don't think the rain has abated all day. All this rain, made for a soggy dog walking morning. All three of the dog runs, where we take them to go potty were fully submersed in about 5 inches of water when I got there this morning. Apparently there was one dry spot in a corner where the first two volunteers took one dog at a time to go potty. That of course would not work, so another volunteer brought a shovel and they began digging out the runs and creating a drainage system to evacuate the water. I was so impressed with my fellow volunteers for doing all that hard work to fix the runs. That is dedication.

My first dog of the day, Louisa a Finnish Spitz mix, was not at all into being in the rain or going into the flooded runs. She sweetly would lean against my leg kind of pushing me towards the door. Eventually, I got the message and we went back inside and snuggled in a nice dry, warm visitation room. What a sweet dog she was, she would gently lick my hand and sit nicely for lots of head rubs. Actually, all the dogs I took out today were just super sweet. My new favorite dog at the shelter is Herman a black retriever mix. He has a beautiful full coat and is very calm and very affectionate. I can't understand why someone would give him up. He seems like a great dog who would just quietly lay next to you while you watched TV. If I don't hear back from the gold ribbon rescue soon and Herman is still in shelter I may consider adopting him. But I doubt he will stay at the shelter for very long someone will certainly snatch him up soon.
On Thursday when I last wrote, I was running off to Girl's Night at Cork and Company. This was my first experience at a wine bar and I have to say it was really nice. The atmosphere was elegant yet casual and the selection of wine was amazing. You can sample a variety of wines grouped as tasters or flights. The flights had fun names like my friend's Chardonnay flight Blonde Bombshell or my favorite the Hot Texas Redhead (mmm there was a hair color theme wasn't there). Mmm it was fun to taste those wines and I would love to go back but oh buddy was it expensive. That is one thing beer has over wine it is a lot cheaper.

Bad Blogger

2007-01-11T17:06:00.000-08:00

Oh I have been such a bad blogger and I was going to really try to blog more this year. I could make a lot of excuses but instead I will just tell you about my weekend now that is almost time for the next weekend. This was my first week back to the shelter after xmas break and I was so glad to have some quality time with the doggies again. CornyT was busy doing some contract writing so I spent 3 and 1/2 hours with the dogs. Luckily I had that much time to spend there because for most of it there was just me and another volunteer. Sadly, there were at least 3 dogs returned back to the shelter that have been adopted earlier last year. The one I was not surprised to see was a sweet border terrier named Seamus who is just a whirl wind of energy. The first time I took that dog for a walk I knew he was going to have a hard time in a home.- if you've seen the old warner brothers tasmanian devil Taz you would have some idea of what Seamus looks like when he gets out of the kennel. Phew, hopefully we can do some crate training with him and he will be more adoptable because he is a really nice dog. I can however happily report that Casey, the smart and endearing shar-pei mix that I had a soft spot for, was adopted over the weekend. Oh by the way, I never got to take her home for an overnight like I planned. When I went to the shleter to pick her up she had already been taken by another volunteer. It is probably a good thing because I heard she liked to chew on furniture a lot. Hopefully, her new family was warned and will break her of the habit. I did bring a dog home that night though. A Harrier (a lot like a fox hound) named Jack. He was a sweet dog but he did not get along with poor Livia- he really wanted hunt her. There went my plan to get her used to dogs. The funny thing about Jack was that he had a bad case of irritable bowel syndrome. FArty farterson all night long! Hopefully, his new family won't mind that either. WEll I have to run for now to meet a couple friends for girl's night at a local wine bar called Cork & Company. I swear I will try to blog more.

Book club and other stuff

2007-01-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

The other night was the first book club of the year and the third anniversary of our little group. I am so proud we have been keeping it up for three years. Although I have not always finished every book (too many books too little time to read the boring ones) I have only missed one meeting in our three-year history and that was because I was out of town on business. Keep in mind though showing up to the meetings is not really hard work... hmm stay at home or hang out with intelligent women, eat yummy snacks and talk about books boy that's a hard one. Anyway, here is to three more years of good book talk and good snacks. This month's book was Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith and it was well received by everyone. We did spend most of the night talking about the quirks of Mormonism rather than the book itself but it was a lively chat. I highly recommend this book it is a powerful combination of true crime and American history. Krakauer is just a great writer and the fact that this very young, American religion has grown to have such immense global power is fascinating.
We have chosen Limbo by Alfred Lubrano for next month. A collection of essays concerning people from blue collar backgrounds striving to emerge into the white collar class i.e. the American dream, right. Should be an interesting read. I suggested Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell of this American Life and received a few votes but still lost out. Oh well I will try next month.:) Time to run off to work now. Have a great Friday.

Vacation is over

2007-01-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

Finally, we are back from our Christmas tour. We were only gone for a week and a half but it felt a lot longer. We started in northern New Mexico, stopped over in South Dakota, and ended the whole thing in a rented beach house in Port Aranssas with two other couples celebrating 2007. Phew that was fun. Today it was back to work, no more idling away the days. The one good thing about being back was that traffic was so much better. Thank God the holiday season is over. The highlights of the holiday were definitely skiing in Taos and playing the new Nintendo Wii at a relatives house. Who would think that a video game could be as physically exerting as skiing. What a blast though- finally I was able to actually volley in tennis and bowl over 200! Luckily we had secure arm straps. I would felt terrible if I had taken someone's eye out. I think I am going to quit my job and join the pro-bowling circuit. What a great blog that would be - my experiences as a pro-Wii bowler.

It's Done

2006-12-17T12:15:00.000-08:00

Finally, I thought it would never happen but my Christmas shopping is officially finito! Well... kind of I still have to get my grandpa a small gift and get CornyT's present but we always get our presents after the holidays because it is just cheaper and easier. For some reason I was really stressing about Christmas shopping this year. Maybe it was because everything that was going on, getting a new job etc but I just didn't have the energy to look for gifts. In fact, I think I spent more time thinking about how much I didn't want to go shopping than I spent actually shopping. Lots of misspent energy. I think some people have a gift for effortlessly finding the perfect gift and I unfortunately was not bestowed with such a gift. The only thing I hate to shop for more than Christmas presents are souvenirs when I am on a vacation. I can never find the right thing and I always feel so ripped off. but enough whining. The shopping is done and I can enjoy the rest of the season. Mmm bring on the Christmas dinners and treats. Thats my favorite part of the season. The eating!!

Shelter Happenings and Golden App

2006-12-16T14:19:00.000-08:00

Casey

The shelter is closed to the public Saturday mornings so I have had little experience talking with potential adopters and in fact my time at the shelter is usually kind of conversation free. I have gotten to know the other volunteers and we do chat briefly about the dogs on occasion but usually when your in the runs or out in the field with a dog everyone respects your one-on-one time with the dog. This is something I really appreciate about the shelter. I really enjoy connecting with the dog and not feeling obligated to make small talk with people. Don't get me wrong I love chatting and socializing but the dogs need my attention more when we are together. Anyway, today for some reason I encountered so many chatty volunteers and inquisitive members of the public. One volunteer talked my ear off in the run complaining about the numerous rules and regulations at our shelter. I tried to be sympathetic to her complaints but also supportive of the shelter. I think the shelter has valid reasons for limiting what dogs new volunteers can walk. I don't think it is too much to ask that people are really dedicated and at least a little trained before they are asked to walk more energetic and potentially problematic dogs. Anyway, I felt terrible because we spent so much time talking that I didn't notice that her dog Chechi and mine, Mimosa, were getting a little agitated and before I noticed it they started fence fighting. Teeth bare and snarling. Yikes. That was actually the first fence fight I have encountered. I gently draped my leash around my dog's chest and tugged a bit. This distracted her and she came right to me but the other dog was still barking aggresively. Both are incredibly sweet, calm dogs- just not too into eachother. Anyway, after that I took Mimosa out to the field and while we were sitting on the grass a guy came right up to us asking if he could volunteer. I informed him of the new volunteer class every first weekend of the month and told him to go to the website. Just weird. Then I had to lead a couple of girls through the shelter to receiving so they could pick up a cat. It was just kind of odd all the encounters with people. Usually it's just me and the dogs. I did get some really quality one-on-one time with Casey a spunky Sharpei mix who is becoming my favority shelter dog. She is so smart and knows just what she wants. If she doesn't want to go back to her kennel or out to the field, she steps on the leash so you can't go forward or she just sits down and refuses to move. The behavior is of course not what the shelter is trying to promote and I always correct her but I am so taken by her intelligence. She really just wants to spend all day in the auditorium playing with toys. When you take her to the hallway she goes straight to the auditorium door and sits down. She is going to need a really strong leader to adopt her but as long as she knows who is boss I think she will make someone a great dog. In fact, we are going to have her come over for a sleep over Tuesday night so she can get some RR from the shelter and we can see how Livia reacts with a big dog in the house. I can't wait. I also have a phone interview with the Golden rescue group about adopting a dog. Oh I think I may be making the big adoption commitment soon:).

What part of Christmas are you?

2006-12-15T20:22:00.000-08:00

Lately, I would say I am the cranky, crumudgeonly part of Christmas. I have been so stressed by the pressure to buy good gifts and make all the travel arrangements, that I have expressed little Christmas spirit. In fact, I have been trying to convince people that we should only celebrate Christmas once every 2 years. Like the Olympics it would be more special if we had to wait a little while for it. This little test however has proved that underneath my grinch exterior is a little Christmas "angel". ha ha Wings would make it easier to get back from the wild holiday parties. Inspired by Silver's site

Girl's Night again

2006-12-15T19:15:00.000-08:00

This Wednesday I had a much needed girl's night. We had dinner and drinks at a local restaurant and tavern type place called Freddies. The restraunt's centerpiece is it's large outdoor dining area that backs up to a creek. Huge oaks draped in christmas lights line the perimeter giving the whole place a real "back yard" feel. We of course sat inside. It may be Texas but it is still December and it does get a little chilly here on occasion. I did notice on the front door that every Sunday they host a stupid dog trick contest. Oh I am so going to talk CornyT into going there one Suday for that. Especially, after we get a dog. My hope is that will be very soon too. I really have my heart set on a golden. I think as soon as we get back from the holiday tour 2006, I am going to submit an adoption app to the local golden rescue. I feel bad for not adopting from my shelter but I really feel like a golden is the perfect breed for me. Anyway, girl time was great and it gave me a great opportunity to vent about the stress of starting a new job and the holiday season. Ah what would I do without girl friends.

Feeling Down

2006-12-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

It's been a bad day and I needed something to lift my spirits. So, I went out for cheesy texmex (lactaid pills in-hand), watched News Radio, and looked at all the cute animal pictures I could point my browser to.

These pictures especially cheered me up. Hope you enjoy them too. If you need more you can find them at this site www.funnyanimalz.com.

Presents and Holiday Parties

2006-12-08T21:44:00.000-08:00

I just noticed that my last post was my 150th post. Wow I just don't shut up do? I get such a kick out of writing this and I want to thank you all so much for putting up with my blabberings on here. Here's to 150 more, hopefully I can get there and bore you all with more of my yammerings.
Last night, Crishauna and I spent the evening at a local women's shelter wrapping presents for the families living in the shelter. I am not sure if she really enjoyed the present wrapping but I thought it was a nice way to spend our time together. And despite her grumbling I think she did enjoy talking to some of the other little sisters while we wrapped gifts. I was sad to hear from her that she got suspended for fighting again this semester. Her mom forced her to move to another school this year in hopes that she would have a new start and not get into trouble any more. Unfortunately, it looks like it didn't work exactly as her mom had hoped. Hopefully, she will out grow this aggressive behavior. Oh well all I can do as a big sister is to listen and try to show her that fighting is not the answer.
Tonight, CornyT and I went to a holiday party hosted by a local paper he occasionally writes for. Now that was one hell of a holiday party. They had free food, drinks, and a great live band. We ate till our bellies were bulging and danced our booties off. The band played great classic rock hits from bands like Led Zepelin, the Who, Aerosmith etc. So fun. We didn't know a soul at the party but still had a blast sipping our free (yet bad- get what you pay for) cabarnets and singing ourselves horse. Tomorrow, I think we are going to another party and listening to CornyT's students read there work at a city wide reading.
Tomorrow

First day of the new job and other stuff

2006-12-04T19:45:00.000-08:00

The first day went fairly well. Everyone is nice and the office is kind of lively but quiet enough to get some work done. Being new and getting used to the ropes is always a little awkward. I am sure I will feel comfortable soon. The drive wasn't too congested at 7:30 but I am going to have to leave a little earlier in the evening. Thank goodness for books on tape, they make being stuck in traffic bearable. In fact, sometimes I enjoy just sitting listening to the stories. Crazy, huh? Today I started This Much I Know is True by Wally Lamb. So far it is dumb fun and it is 32 hours long. Phew that is a long time in traffic.
This weekend was a great one for the shelter. We had 18 adoptions and a kind, charitable soul dropped off a donation check for $6000! Nice huh? That is true holiday spirit.

Time off and Shelter Update Dec 3

2006-12-03T18:11:00.000-08:00

This post is truly my yammerings and catching up with the last week. I had the last week off but I was still bad about blogging. On Tuesday. I drove Mamie back to Lake Charles, which took the whole day. On Wednesday, I volunteered at the shelter, spent the afternoon reading, and went to bookclub. Ah it was a very nice day. The rest of the week I caught a few movies, did some chores around the house and basically lounged around. The party is over now. Although, I am ready to get back to work, I am a little nervous about the new job. All the usual worries before starting something new; will I like it, will it go well... I feel a little like it's the night before the first day of school:). This weekend I did my first one-on-one with new volunteers at the shelter. I probably overwhelmed them with information but there is a checklist of about 15 to 20 things you have to teach them to do. The key things are to open the cages inward and always close the cages when you leave. I hope I reinforce those things enough. Hopefully, they won't feel quite as overwhelmed as I did my first couple of days.

Shelter Updates and Blue BRATT Saturday

2006-11-27T16:43:00.000-08:00

Peaches
Jake
This weekend Jake, our longest resident in the shelter thus far, was adopted. His new family has already sent pictures and an update about how happy they are with him. Jake is a black lab mix with lots of energy and sweetnes. They are a very active family who have already gone hiking and fishing with Jake so it sounds like a great fit. Now the dog that has been at the shelter the longest is Peaches, and she will be our new featured dog. She is a sweet dog but a little lively in the kennel and tends to scare people off when they are looking at her. Hopefully, some extra exposure will get her adopted quickly.
This Saturday I snuck away from the house while CornyT and Mame were sleeping and did my morning shift with the doggies. The shelter was a little light on volunteers and I was the only blue BRATT their. I did feel like I was more helpful as a blue BRATT because there were a lot more blue dogs than green dogs. I tried to get as many dogs out as I could in the short 2 and 1/2 hours I was there. However, by the time I left a lot of dogs still needed to get out of the kennels. The whole time it was pretty obvious I was working with a different level of dogs. The most obvious difficult dog was Gypsy, a blonde, six-month old pitbull. She immediately tried to push her limits in the run, she jumped, nipped and ran around like crazy. She ran so much she kicked up a rock that flew back and went straight down her throat causing her to sputter- kind of funny in a sad way:). She was really getting out of control until I remembered another volunteer had walked in her space- kind of pushed her away without giving her any good attention. The results were amazing, she immediately stopped jumping on me and calmed down enough to get her leash on and get her back to the kennels.
The biting and excessive jumping is more of a yellow behavior and I won't be surprised if they do change her color.

Happy Thanksgiving All!!!

2006-11-27T06:29:00.000-08:00

I took a break from laptopping during the holiday and it was actually quite nice. But now since I can't sleep, I thought I would get up and pretend like I am in the office. Besides the working part and being in my jammies this is just like being in the office.

CornyT, Mamie, and I had a nice Thanksgiving dinner here at the house. The cooking went off without a major incident and we had a nice leisurely day laying around the house watching TV. It is kind of amusing to me how every T-day we spend a good part of the day slaving away in the kitchen then spend probably 15 minutes tops scarfing it down, and then take the rest of the day cleaning it all up. The highlight of our meal was the new sausage stuffing recipe we tried. Ah it was so delicious, the only bad thing about it was we didn't make more. Mmmm I could eat some right now.

The rest of the weekend we spent shopping, watching TV, playing trivial pursuit and trying to get tickets to the IMAX Happy Feet. The movie was sold out every time we went to the museum or tried to buy tickets online. We finally got tickets last night and felt very accomplished. However, it turned out to not be quite worth all the effort. I would like to say it was probably because of all the build up we were giving it but really it wasn't as great as you would think dancing penguins would be.

The theme of the weekend has definitely been eating. Not only did we eat tons of turkey and left overs we also had a huge meal at a Cuban restaurant and gorged our selves with Dim Sum Sunday morning. All weekend you could hear me saying "I am SO FULL" or "Ugh I have eaten SO MUCH." We attempted to burn off all the turkey and leftovers by going for a hike in the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve. The hike was only about an hour long, but every little bit counts right? Hope you all have had a great Thanksgiving and have gorged your selves as well. Did you do anything fun?

Last Day of Work

2006-11-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day at work. After today, the work email will be turned off, so please reach me through my yahoo or gmail accounts. I am a little sad to leave this place. I have had a lot of fun here and learned so much. However, it is just time to move on to something different.

Change can be good and I think I will grow by being challenged in new directions. One of the big changes is the size of the company. I have never worked for a company over 50 employees and my new place has over 12 hundred world wide. Although they have that many people, the office I will be working at here in Austin only has 30 people- a little more my speed. That is one of the reasons I thought the company would be a good fit for me. A big company with a small company feel. They are also planning on growing the office here to at least 100 people by the end of next year. I am hoping that all that growth and new blood will lend the work environment a lot of energy. Currently, the atmosphere I am in is a little anemic. But that being said I know I am giving up working with some great people and I hope I am just as lucky at the new place to work with so many great people.

Pity the Fool

2006-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what Mr. T would look like clean shaven and wearing a hard hat? Oh I know you have. Finally, your curiousity can be satisfied at this website.

Blue BRATT

2006-11-20T14:14:00.000-08:00

After 5 weeks of fairly intense dog training classes, I am now permitted to work with more challenging dogs or in Humane Society speak am a "Blue BRATT." On Saturday morning we had our last class replete with a graded skills test. The skills test made me a little nervous. I didn't practice between classes as much as I should have and I was so worried I would bomb it. They reassured us that we could not fail but I was still sure I would do poorly. I decided to approach it like another learning experience and not be afraid to ask questions if I had to. However, much to my surprise I retained almost all the commands and dog development stages we learned. The only comment my reviewer had was that I needed to be more confident. Well, I am certainly a lot more confident now that I know I know my stuff. Also it helped that the dog I tested with, Wizard, was a brainiac and did all the commands correctly. He made me look good. In all the class taught me hand commands for sit, down, watch, and taught me how to train a dog not to pull on the leash, walk nicely by my side, and get used to me pulling on his/her collar. The nice thing about the class was I also made friends with my fellow volunteers and felt even more involved with the shelter. I love that shelter. They are so fantastic to the volunteers and amazing to the animals. I can't wait till my next shift.

Retainer

2006-11-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

Ugh well the freedom from oral discomfort was a blissfull, shortlived 6 days. I got my fancy new retainer yesterday and the party abruptly ended. The custom-molded, torture device is lodged in my mouth as I write this. Besides the obvious pain from the pressure it puts on my teeth, I am also feeling miserable from the plastic rubbing close to the back of my throat. I guess my straight, almost-movie-star-like teeth are worth feeling as if someone is jamming their fingers down my throat but I wonder. The gagging feeling is worse when I speak so I haven't been saying a lot. My coworkers and CornyT are probably so thankful of this. However, even if it wasn't so unpleasant to talk I don't think people could understand me. I sound like I am talking with a spoonful of peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth. The orthodontist said I will get used to all of this unpleasantness in a few days. God I hope so. Sometimes when I say words that begin with the letter R I really feel like I am going to throw-up. So, no making me sing Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer this Christmas. My gag reflex is just too sensitive for this thing. I hope it toughens up a little bit.

Braces off and Puppies are Gone

2006-11-16T07:41:00.000-08:00

Now it may seem lame but I am going to blame the puppies for my recent blogging lapse. They were so much fun but all my time at home was devoted mostly to attending to them leaving little time for blogging. I took them back to the shelter yesterday. They are on their way towards finding their forever homes and I hope they find great, patient families. I am sad that they are gone and dropping them off was a little hard. I didn't cry but I did feel a little emotional. Yesterday, I spent a lot of time looking at pictures of dogs to console myself. However, with all that being said I am not so sure I will foster puppies again. The restrictions keeping them from coming in contact with our cat or going outside made it kind of hard for them to really participate in our lives. CornyT found them boring because you couldn't take them for walks or run with them out side in the yard. He got a little sick of sitting in the stinky sun room keeping an eye on them. And you certainly had to keep an eye on them. You could not under any circumstance leave them out of the crate unattended for too long or God knows what kind of trouble they would get in to. Next time, I am going to try to foster an older dog to see how the cat reacts to a larger dog in the house. She saw the puppies on only one or two occasions. She didn't like them but she didn't freak out too much. I am hoping if we get a dog they will just ignore each other and live in relative harmony. The good thing about the pups is that CornyT is 100% sure he wants to get a dog and we are going to do it relatively soon too. I know now that am ready too.
The other big thing to go on this week is that I am had my braces removed on Friday. Woo Hoo it is so nice to be brace free. I can eat nuts, caramel, popcorn and apples (not sliced) again. It is so nice. I will send pictures of my metal free smile very soon.

Move Over Dog Whisperer

2006-11-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

Tonight CornyT successfully trained the pups that jumping on us and the door will yield no attention. The jumping, whining, and toe-biting was getting a little out of hand and CornyT decided to do something about it. By the time I got home from work he had them sitting in front of him as sweet as can be patiently waiting their head pats. If they jumped he looked away and paid no attention to them. I am so impressed. Hopefully this training will stick with them. They are already almost 100% paper trained. They very rarely have accident now and usually that is when the paper is too "dirty" for them. They are kind of fastidious little pups. Although, I think that is kind of common for Chows. Who knew such big dogs could be prissies. I just hope they go to good homes that keep working on them. They are such smart pups and with training and patience they will be great dogs.

Falling down on the blogging

2006-11-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

I am definitely not being a good little blogger lately. The pups are wearing me out a little bit and I just haven't had much time to sit in front of the computer. Not too much is going on except that I use a lot of gas these days driving home and back at lunch every day. I have found that is kind of fun to go home for lunch and to just play with the puppies. Usually I make a sandwich but if there is nothing in the house for lunch I succumb to the sweet seduction of the KFC snacker. So yummy and bite sized- KFC is right next to the house so it is hard to avoid the sweet smell of fried chicken. The problem with the snackers are not only are they tasty, they are also so cheap. I can have two little sanmiches and a yummy mashed potato all for 3 dollars. Ah that is what I am getting for lunch right now... that sounds so good. These puppies are going to clog my arteries if they don't kill me from sleep deprivation first.

Happy Halloween - a little late

2006-11-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

I meant to blog along with the trick or treating the other night but with the puppies yelping in the sun-room, CornyT making supper, and the cat having a freak out over the freaky little people parading up our front steps there was no time to live-blog the trick or treaters. This year was a lot slower than last year and to my surprise our neighbors didn't show up with their little guys. Which was a little disappointing. I had hoped to show them the puppies and let the pups have a some kid socialization. There were no stand out costumes this year but a couple darling butterflies and a very polite superman who signed Thank You to me. At first I thought he was blowing a kiss but I am pretty sure he was signing now that I think about it.

The last couple of days have been a blur of puppy tending and fitfull sleeping. Yesterday, the pups spent the day at the shelter being treated for Coccidia (a parasite resulting in diarhea) and their sleep schedule was all out of whack. I was up 3 times with them. At one point, I was startled awake by a nuzzle to my cheek and realized a puppy was in my bed. Oh crap, they are probably wreaking havoc all over the house, I thought. I grabbed the pup and trotted off to return him. When I reached the locked sun-room, I wondered at the pup's ability to turn a door knob. It was at that point, I realized I had a squirming cat in my arms. I headed back to bed but the damage was already done the pups were startled by my fumbling at the door and we were up for another hour. At least, they're so darn cute.

Pupperinos

2006-10-31T08:05:00.000-08:00

Pictures of the pupsters. Click on the image for a much bigger version. Oh they are so cute.

I am a crazy person

2006-10-31T07:43:00.000-08:00

I volunteered this weekend to foster 2 5-week-old Chow puppies for 3 weeks and surprise, surprise they're a lot of work. I love watching and being with them but phew they take a lot of energy. They only sleep about 5 hours a night, which isn't bad but could be better. Work is so kind to let me work from home in the afternoons so I can let them out of the crate after the long morning. Their names are Kia (tan girl) and Mazda (black/grey boy). The shelter woman got a kick out of naming the whole litter after cars. Some of theirlitter mates include Datsun, Nissan, and Mercedes.

So far, they have impressed me with their ability to pick up paper-training but I wish they would enjoy being in their crate more. Every time I put them in they scream bloody murder but slowly I am showing them that going in the crate is not always a bad thing. Right now I feel so bad for not being with them. They are probably miserable. I better get back to work but check back for puppy updates.

Blue BRATT Training Week 2

2006-10-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

The best dog I walked on Saturday

My Saturday at the shelter was fairly eventful. One of my dogs, Domino a beefy Dalmatian mi, refused to go back into his kennel. All the treats and sweet-talking could not convince him the kennel would be an all right place to go. Poor baby. I finally had to just pick him up and lug him into the kennel. After already feeling like a bad dog handler, I took Bono a cute 6-month-old lab mix. I should have just stopped with Domino and waited for my 9:30 class to begin. But oh no I thought I would take one more dog out. Bono was a MESS. First he jumped like crazy and when I turned my back on him he just tore my sweater practically off my body with his teeth. He then thought pulling my sweater was a fun game and tugged and tugged and pulled and shook it. I kept saying I don't know how to correct him I haven't had that class yet! Finally, at the advice of a higher level BRATT, I stepped out of the run until he calmed down. He was visibly bummed that I was no longer in there to "play" with him and that was just the kind of "punishment" he needed to realize that what he was doing was not acceptable. I then took him back to the kennel and the other BRATT followed after me showing me how to hold his leash and collar so he couldn't bite it. Just as we made it to the kennel door she said, "you did a great job" with him and before I could say thank you BONO slipped out of his collar and ran down the hall. What a pain. I had to carry him into his cage as well. I then stumbled into the training class with a hole in my jeans and a bruise to my confidence. The training didn't do a lot to improve my confidence. We were taught the commands for sit, down, and come. Only one of my practice dogs actually did those things. Oh well, mistakes are how you learn right. Hopefully, next week I will do better. One thing I did learn was the "green" dogs really were easier to handle than the blue dogs. The scary thing is that wacky BONO was a green dog.

Book Club and Other Reads VI

2006-10-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

Friday night was book club at my friend and neighbor A's house. She lives only a block and a half away and I love that I can just walk to her house for book club. Her husband is so sweet, he always hangs around and chats with us and he gave me a flash light for my walk back because he was worried I would get hit by a car. Sweet. I didn't really need it though. They live in the cutest little purple house (the only purple house in our neighborhood for that matter) with a gigantic kitchen that I completely covet. When A and her husband moved in to the neighborhood they didn't hit it off very well with the bossy, overbearing neighbors. The neighbors presented them with a litany of things they didn't want them to do with the house but out of the goodness of their hearts said "oh we don't care what color you paint your house as long as you don't paint it a horrible color like purple." The next weekend her house was purple.
Book club was a lot of fun even though it was again a small turn out and I wasn't all that crazy about the book, One Writer's Beginning by Eudora Welty. I thought it was kind of boring and not really about writing but it was only 100 pages so I can't complain too much. I am looking forward to the next book The History of Love by Nicole Krause. Mostly, I am excited about this book because the other suggestions sounded so depressing (a book about racism in Texas and another about food production) that an easy modern fiction piece sounded fantastic!! Right now, I am reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. The recent movie Capote was based on his experiences while writing the book and I really wanted to read the book before I saw the movie and I finally found it in a used book store a couple of months ago. So far it is a real page turner. In fact I am going to rush over to my big hotel bed and read it as soon as I finish this post. I am in Maryland right now and will be here until Friday. I can't wait to get back to Tx though it is an obsece 55 degrees here. Yikes! In Austin it is 70 and I think on Friday it will be 81 ah now that is fall! Ok I do admit the autumn colors here are just breathtaking. I guess a little chilly weather is worth something.

Weekly Poem 2

2006-10-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

I bet you thought I was going to forget to post a new poem this week. (shaking head) What me start something and not continue it...? pshaw Ok so it was close, I know but I did I find another poem. This is from Jane Kenyon a strong, imagistic poet who passed away from cancer in 1995. I have been reading her a lot lately because her voice and themes really resonate with me. really love how effortlessly she paints such tangible scenes that depict the details of life. I hope you enjoy this bold and vivid poem.

The Wash

All day the blanket snapped and swelled
on the line, roused by a hot spring wind.
From there it witnessed the first sparrow,
early flies lifting their sticky feet,
and a green haze on the south-sloping hills.
Clouds rose over the mountain. At dusk
I took the blanket in, and we slept,
restless, under its fragrant weight.

Jane Kenyon

New Recipes

2006-10-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

Oh how did it already become Friday? Whew this week went by fast and I have been so bad about posting too. I don't even have a good excuse. Last week I posted more frequently and I was a lot busier. Well I guess it helps to have something to write about. This week we just stayed at home and watched a lot of TV. Last night, I did make a really involved meal that took up a good junk of the night.

For the last month, CornyT and I have been playing a "game" where one of us makes a brand new recipe a week. So CornyT started the first week by making a Chicken Curry, the following week I made an Indian Chicken dish and CornyT followed up with a very yummy Chicken stew with artichokes. This week it was my turn. Since we had leftover cabbage from CornyT's scrumptious wonton soup I thought I would try my hand at Lebanese cabbage rolls.

Ah how I love the cabbage rolls my Aunt Rosie makes and I have not had them in so long. My version of the dish was merely mediocre. First, my cabbage rolls were more like cabbage pockets. When CornyT made the soup he had cut the head in half across rather than length-wise. This left me with stubby little leaves that I tried to patch together. Not that I am blaming him, how did he know I would need a big leaf. Anyway, this left me with a lot of extra filling that I kind of just shoved into the already overstuffed pockets. However, I cannot blame CornyT for the bland filling. Maybe I just spent too much time in NM and have an exaggerated need for spicy food, but I thought the rice and hamburger was just a little too mild. Next time I am going to add more tomato paste, garlic and onion. Hopefully, that will help. And anyway I don't remember Rosie's cabbage rolls being bland. What I did enjoy was the smell of the rice and meat mixture as I was cooking it. The moment I added cinnamon and cumin it just smelled liked middle eastern food. mmm yum yum.

Dogs are Amazing

2006-10-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

When I first started volunteering at AHS, they had a nine year old chow named Cole who was just a big sweetie. She was at the shelter for four months and a full month after I started before she finally found her new home. Her new "mom" recently called the AHS staff to give them an update on how Cole was doing. The update pasted below is so touching I thought I would share it with all of you.

I received a call from the woman who adopted Cole, the beautiful 9 year old Chow that was with us for 4 months. She had such a sweet story to tell us all.

Her father had been very ill and was dying when she adopted Cole. She said Cole quickly bonded with her father and laid by his bed every day during his last 3 weeks before he passed. She said Cole brought much comfort to her father. She felt that Cole knew her father needed her to watch over him and did not want to leave his side. Now that her father is gone, she and Cole are very close. Cole is helping her during this grieving period in her life. She said she adopted the most wonderful, loving dog and can't imagine her life without her.

Stories like this are what help keep us coming in to do the work that we do as volunteers. What a wonderful success story for a great dog who had a long journey getting home!

Blue BRATT Training

2006-10-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

Today I started my 5 week training to be a more advanced volunteer at the Austin Humane Society. Currently, I am a green volunteer meaning I am responsible for walking well behaved dogs that don't pull on the leash, fight with other dogs, or just exhibit generally bad behavior. As a BLUE volunteer, I will be responsible for walking the more challenging dogs, giving them basic training (sit, down, stay etc.) and spending a little more time handling and socializing the dog. In addition to working with the challenging dogs, I will also be asked to help train new volunteers.

In today's training, we learned how to establish a mark word when training the dogs. AHS promotes using positive training to reward and reinforce good behavior. Two of the techniques we learned today were the before mentioned mark word and the attention game. To establish the mark word you say the word- in this case "yes" - and you immediately give the dog a treat. This tells the dog that when he/she hears this word they should expect something good. Essentially it bridges the action with the treat in the dogs mind making it easier for the dog to learn and replicate the good behavior. The trainer can then give the dog a command, mark it when it is done, and then treat them. We practiced this with the attention game. The attention game rewards the dog for giving you his/her undivided attention because you can't train a dog if they are not looking at you. We start in front of the dog with our hands behind our back and quietly wait for the dog to make eye contact with us. Once the dog makes eye contact we say the mark word and treat them from one hand, we then wait for them to make eye contact again and say the mark word, then treat them from the other hand. Depending on how distracted the dog is this can take a while. Once the dog has it down with hands behind the back, we bring our hands to our sides and wait for them to stop looking at our hands and make eye contact with us. After he/she can do it with your hands to your sides you move them in front of you (closer to him/her). A well trained dog will just look at you and not your hands but that of course takes a while. The rest of the training was devoted to learning breed specific behavior and how to tailor your training around specific breed traits. Next week we cover dog development and more training techniques.

Dinner Party

2006-10-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

Last night CornyT and I hosted a dinner party here at the house for a few of our friends including CornyT's former professor. We had been meaning to invite Debra (CT's prof) to see the new house for a long time and we finally got around to it. The kitchen really seemed small with CornyT and I both trying to cook in it. Actually, I find cooking in that kitchen easier by myself but it was nice to only have to make a couple dishes. I made a roast pork which turned out to be a little too dry and I told every one too, Chinese broccoli, and peach bombs for dessert. The Peach bombs were fairly successful and a good dish to make for Diabetic guests. Take 4 peaches, wrap them each in about half of a deep dish pie crust and bake at about 350 for 45. You can serve drizzled with powdered sugar like I did (for non-diabetics) and I bet they would also be really good with vanilla ice cream. CornyT made a Chinese noodle dish, wonton appetizers, and we bought a premade roast duck - yum yum. Overall, I think it was fairly successful. We had a nice time chatting after the meal and I really enjoyed having a house full of people. That being said though I am kind of looking forward to the rest of the weekend Twin Peaks and Prison Break. A perfect thing to do on a overcast weekend day.

Hubbard Street Dance

2006-10-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

This evening Crishauna (my BBBS little sister) and I saw a performance of the Hubbard Street Dance Company. One of Crishauna's interests is dance and I thought that even though this might be "good" for her she also may actually like it. While we were waiting for the show to begin I aesked her if she had ever seen a ballet. She had and the symphony too. She fell asleep through all of them though. At the end of this show she was still awake. Score one for modern dance. I say modern dance but don't get me wrong this wasn't a bunch of morose artsy types enacting the mysteries of the human condition through variations of the Robot. No, along with the lush, fluid, and athletic movement this performance mixed the poignancy with a healthy portion of humor. The music was also modern and whimsical making the numbers more engaging than a typical dance troupe piece. Anyway, it was something fun to do with C and now that she is 13 it is getting harder and harder to find things she is interested in doing with me. It was also nice of UT to donate the tickets for the kids.

Weekly Poem 1

2006-10-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

Ever since last week when I was compelled to include a poem here I have been thinking why not try to post a poem every week? So, here it goes. Below is one of my favorite poems of all time from the poet, William Carlos Williams, who truly says so much with so few words.

This Is Just to Say
by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Lennon's Birthday

2006-10-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

In honor of John Lennon's birthday everyone should leave a little time for Watching the Wheels and while you're at Imagine no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man.

Peace

Ahh I love those two songs. I could listen to them all day.

House Fire

2006-10-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

On my way back from lunch today, I noticed a trail of thick black smoke above the hills near my office. As I got to the highway leading to my office I looked to my left and nestled in the trees I witnessed bright orange flames devouring a structure. From my vantage point I couldn't tell if it was a home, an office building, or an apt bldg but I could definitely it was a big bldg. I have never seen a raging structure fire quite that close to me and it was quite an impressive site. Later I found out it was in fact a home and thankfully no one was there at the time of the fire. I feel for those people who have just lost their house and their belongings. How devastating.

Lazy Dogs and Foster Orientation

2006-10-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

Jethro

Yesterday was the first Saturday of the month and as I was quickly reminded by the unusually full parking lot that means new volunteer orientation at the shelter. The volunteer orientation is held in the auditorium so no playing ball with the dogs but at least I could take them out for walks. There were more green volunteers than usual and only about 4 green dogs in the whole shelter. I am not sure why there were so many more volunteers but I had to walk one of the dogs twice because there just weren't a lot of dogs to walk. You would think that would make the dog happy but the one I took out twice, Breun , a little shepherd mix I think was very bored with me. The moment we got to the potty runs she hunkered down and would not get up for a good 15 minutes. I tried coaxing her with treats, calling her excitedly to the gate, and gently pulling on her leash and nothing worked. Everyone who saw her resisting me began to worry she was sick and I have to admit I worried she was sick too. Eventually she got up and we wondered off to the field where she was a little more energetic. I did however write down in the log books that she was so lethargic. The other two dogs I walked were Jethro, a very large and energetic dog that I think will be moved to blue because of his tendency to bite the leash and pull and Crash, a sweet basset hound that I think may also be a little sick though. Poor guy. After my regular volunteer shift I took the foster orientation. Now I will be able to help the shelter by temporarily taking care of dogs that for any reason can not stay in the shelter. I am looking forward to getting to bring a pup home soon and I think it will be good practice for Mike and I and for the cat to get used to pups around.

Breun (lazy bones)

Lost Premiere

2006-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last night was the Lost season premiere and we decided to get off of our couch and really honor the sensation that has swept the nation. And how did we do that you ask? By driving 20 minutes across down to sit on someone else's couch to watch it and play a drinking game:). A drinking game? Yeah I know I have been out of college for over 7 years but I just took little sips on my wine every time Sawyer or Jack got in a fight. Actually having funny things to look for during the show made it even more fun to watch. What was really hysterical is that the first drinking game rule is to drink if the show starts with a close-up of someone's eye and sure enough the first shot was someone's big ole eye. I never noticed they frequently started episodes like that but I guess they do. Also, I should clarify that when I said "we decided" it really was more like I decided and convinced CornyT to come along with me to my coworker's apartment. I think all and all he had a good time and it was good for us to meet some new people. Although, we probably stayed about a half hour to long and he was starting to get a little tired. It was a work night and 10:30 is a little late. My coworker and his friends are a good 5 to 10 years younger than us but they are really sweet and I think we have a lot in common, being avid TV fans being the biggest commonality. Overall, the Lost episode was just ok. I am sure a lot of people disagree with me but other than the revelation of the others living in a suburban type community replete with book clubs and sprinkler systems I don't feel like they really showed us anything new or interesting about the characters. That being said I am still going to watch it although I think I will let CornyT record it so we can fast forward through all the commercials next time.

Reflections and Gratitude

2006-10-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today, I find myself feeling very sad and frustrated about the ephemera of life. All the cliche's are right it really is too short. At the same time, this feelilng gives me an even stronger sense of gratitude for the gifts that are all my friends and family and the little things, like a strong cup of coffee, a good conversation, a bite of dark chocolate etc... What is a little thing you are grateful for? Post in the comments.

While I was taking a break I found this poem that although is not perfect sums up a lot of what I am feeling today. Enjoy.
(PS in an effort to be an organized blog...expect more daily themes to make an appearance here:)

A Man In His Life

A man doesn't have time in his life
to have time for everything.
He doesn't have seasons enough to have
a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes
Was wrong about that.

A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment,
to laugh and cry with the same eyes,
with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them,
to make love in war and war in love.
And to hate and forgive and remember and forget,
to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest
what history
takes years and years to do.

A man doesn't have time.
When he loses he seeks, when he finds
he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves
he begins to forget.

And his soul is seasoned, his soul
is very professional.
Only his body remains forever
an amateur. It tries and it misses,
gets muddled, doesn't learn a thing,
drunk and blind in its pleasures
and its pains.

He will die as figs die in autumn,
Shriveled and full of himself and sweet,
the leaves growing dry on the ground,
the bare branches pointing to the place
where there's time for everything.

Yehuda Amichai

Happy Birthday Aunt Viola

2006-10-03T05:56:00.000-07:00

I would like to wish a very happy birthday to Vi today. They are throwing her a big bbq back in SD tonight and I so wish I could be there. Have a great day Aunt Vi!

Social Saturday

2006-10-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon CornyT and I saw Jet Li's Fearless with a friend. Although I consider myself a passivist and hate violent, gory movies, I love martial arts and boxing movies. The grace and athleticism of hand-to-hand combat can be breathtaking to watch. Fearless didn't fail to provide dazzling, athletic fight scenes. The movie is based on the story of a real Chinese hero named Huo Yuanjia. Huo Yuanjia's father was a master martial artist but did not want to teach him the art because he was sickly and thought he would be better off pursuing academics. Huo Yuanjia learned martial arts in secret by copying his father and later restored national pride to a demoralized China. The movie includes some stunning fight scenes, and although Jet Li is aging he seems as impressive as the first time I saw him in Lethal Weapon almost 10 years ago.
After the movie, we all had dinner at Madam Mam's Thai restaurant. I am pathetic every time I watch and Asian movie I always want to eat Chinese food after. The Thai place was so close so I figured it would satisfy the craving. Ah and it was excellent. It is so fun that we are getting some well established Austin restaurant's in our neighborhood. Madam Mam's original restaurant is across from the University and is a popular student eatery, so I really felt like our area was getting hip when they put in this one just down the road from us a couple of months ago. Soon after that they built a branch of another Austin favorite called Hyde Park grill next to. Yay Go property values!!:) We haven't been to Hyde Park grill yet because it is so crazy busy still but as soon as the hype wears down it will be a nice restaurant option after we watch a movie.
After dinner, we met another group of friends at a new Austin bar called Barton Creek Saloon. Located near some trendy Austin hangouts like Chuys (where the Bush daughter was arrested for MIP years ago) and Shady Grove and just a few blocks south of town down I thought for sure it would be a yuppie haven. Not at all, in fact this converted gas station still felt more like an old 7-11 than a nightspot and with the 90's heavy metal blaring all night we all felt a little like we were in our youth again and were hanging out behind the convenience store guzzling down a six-pack;). I was especially entertained by the giant Moose rack replete with skull holding an American flag in its mouth. Cute. It did actually make for a very relaxed night and we had a good time planning a pie partying and talking about one of our friend's nightmare teaching experiences. All in all it was a really fun day and it was such a nice end to a crazy couple of weeks.

Collar Anxiety

2006-10-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first Saturday I had a twinge of dread about going to the shelter. The thought of getting the tight collars on those squirming dogs and taking them out to the field with the potential of losing one to the busy nearby traffic just horrified me. When I got there my favorite senior volunteer Amy was there and immediately empathized with my field fear confessing to me that she was also horrified the first time she took the dogs out on the leash. The first dog I took out was Elmer, and Amy checked his collar and assured me it was adjust perfectly for him. So I confidently strutted out to the field with pup in towe and the second we stepped out the door he sat down. He was not the least bit interested in going out to the field. "Ah Elmer" I said "your collar is perfect you have to go for a walk." Eventually, I lured him out with treats but our walk consisted mostly of him munching on grass and squirming around on his back begging for belly rubs. I did run into a little trouble when I tried to get his collar off- I couldn't get a good grip on the strap to loosen it up. I was so lucky that he just sat there patiently while I tugged at is neck for what felt like half an hour. Next, I took Ringo a pit-bull corgi mix, named for the adorable black ring- ala-little-rascals dog- around his left eye. This was a completely different experience. He couldn't get out to the field fast enough and we even ran up and down the field a little. All in all the fear of taking the dogs to the field was completely conquered by the end of my 2 hour shift and I am dying to get back out there next weekend.
For a little shelter news, I am happy to report that the two Katrina dogs, Shadow and Beethoven, we're adopted this week by a woman looking specifically for a pair of dogs. Shadow was starting to go a little kennel crazy, pulling on the leash and being a little dog aggresive so this is very good news for him. You may remember from my first shelter day, that Beethoven (aka Butter) was my first escapee. I will always remember him fondly and hope he and his buddy are very happy at their new home. On a slightly sad note, the shelter also had to put down a dog named Martin for excessive aggression and unadoptability. I didn't personally know this dog but I know a lot of the volunteers were very sad this had to happen. I am sure to euthanizations in one week was hard on everybody.

Book Club and other readsV

2006-09-29T11:47:00.001-07:00

Book club went well last night. I was really relieved that I was able to get out of the office in plenty of time to give the house a good sprucing up and to get the frozen party food in the oven. The turnout was a little small. Only three other women but the conversation was still lively and fun and fortunately everyone LOVED the book. Unfortunately we didn't talk about the book itself that much which was a little too bad because I Claudius has a lot of interesting aspects to it; the narrative structure, the greedy and insidious characters of Livia, Tiberious, Sejanus, and Caligula, and the debauched and corrupt government. Oh well, I am really glad I read it and I am planning on reading the follow up book, Claudius the God very soon. Also, I highly recommend the book to anyone who is interested in Roman history it is surprisingly a very entertaining and easy read. Because the topic is kind of academic in nature I thought it would be deep and a little arduous but it is a lot like an ancient version of the Sopranos.
Next month's book is the much shorter "One Writer's Beginning" by Eudora Welty. At only 114 pages it feels almost like cheating since the majority of our books have been well over 300 pages this year. It will give me a chance to finish the Philip K Dick novel I am reading and the whole other stack of novels I have sitting on my bedside table. Also, one of our members has just had a baby so I am sure she will appreciate the shorter book as well. I am looking forward to the book not onl for it's brevity but because I have never read anything by the witty southern writer before and I hear her non-fiction and short stories are inspiring.

YAY!!

2006-09-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

I am as happy as a puppy in an empty house with a pillow to shake around! We got the contract! We got the contract! Things are going to work out for the ole company. All that hard work was worth it and now I can fully enjoy book club tonight and have a glass or two of wine to celebrate. Woo Hoo

I am back

2006-09-28T08:10:00.001-07:00

I have had that last post halfway drafted since Monday but have not had a chance to finish it because I have been buried by work. On Friday we got a request for a proposal that was due Tuesday. So, we have been working practically around the clock to get it finished. I thought we were free and clear Tuesday at noon but yesterday they sent a counter offer so we had to spend another 12 hours redrafting the original proposal. Phew I am tired. Although, as sick as this is going to sound, I really got a kick out digging down and doing some serious writing, it was kind of fun. It wasn't fun though to miss my friend's birthday party on Monday though. And it wasn't any easier when CornyT and the gang kept calling to see when I would be done before 9:30 or if I could take a break and run over for an hour or so. The answer to all of those questions was unfortunately no and I didn't end up leaving until 1:00 AM that night. ugh. Luckily the final proposal has now been sent off which is just in time because I have to host book club tonight. I am looking forward to book club because I loved the book, I, Claudius, but I am worried that I will be too tired to articulate anything very interesting to say about the book. I also have 60 more pages of the book left so I am going to try to cram them in at lunch today. Well I better get back to work. More posts to come soon.

Busy Weekend at the Shelter

2006-09-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was an extra devoted shelter volunteer and came in on Sunday for "field walking" training in addition to my regular shift on Saturday. Saturday was a typical day at the shelter. I walked most of the usual dogs; Otter (aka Mr. Bitey) who was a little calmer, Bianca, and some new dogs Zoro, a feisty yet fun pup, and Elmer an extremely laid back shepherd mix pup. I did learn something interesting about the auditorium where we are allowed to take the dogs off leash and play with them. The auditorium is a large gym like room that is divided in half by a wooden divider on wheels, one-half is our play area and the other is an open space that has been converted into an office area for all shelter volunteers. During my play session with Zoro, the feisty pup, the ball bounced in the corner of the room where the divider meets the wall and as he approached the corner he vanished. Huh...how is that possible!? The corner swallowed the puppy? From my bewildered stupor, I heard a surprised giggle and someone say "Hey how did you get over here?" On more careful inspection, I noticed the divider wall was a good 6 to 7 inches from the wall- a huge chasm for a small and wily puppy like Zorro. When I came in on Sunday for the field walking class I noticed they had a folding chair leaned up against that gap in divider.
The field walking class was fairly dry; here's a collar, adjust the collar, put the collar on your dog, and walk your dog outside. Although those collars do make me a little nervous because they are really hard to adjust especially on a squirming dog, they will take me a little time to get used to. Unfortunately, there was some drama at the beginning of class. We were each given a dog to practice walking with and adjusting collars for. One woman noticed her dog, Bianca, (a real sweetie I had walked before) was shaking and coughing and thought she should go to the in-house clinic. About 10 minutes later a volunteer came running in telling the woman not to touch her new dog and to immediately go home and wash her clothes. Bianca had distemper, an extremely contagious and serious dog virus. They immediately scrubbed the halls and kennels with bleach and sent most of the volunteers home. Fortunately, we were able to finish our class and I received my little sun sticker indicating I am now a field walking volunteer. Sadly, an email was sent Monday informing all the volunteers that Bianca had to be euthanized due to a severe case of distemper. The shelter tries so hard to be careful with diseases but it is hard to keep all those viruses out. Oh on a much happier note, Otter was adopted over the weekend by a family with kids which I think will be perfect for his activeness as long as the mouthiness doesn’t become an issue.

Four Things That Made Me Smile Today

2006-09-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

1.This morning 0ur office manager left a post-it on my monitor that said "Happy Friday Angella, Have a great day!"

2. CornyT giggled at a movie and his laugh always makes me smile. Ah sappy huh?:)

3. Mamie sent me three very cute postcards just to say hi!

4.Livia jumped on my lap and snuggled down without me having to coerce her.

OK now it is your turn. What three things made all of you smile today. Leave me a comment and let me know.
:) :) :)

I am Firmly Convinced the Farm Animals are Taking Over

2006-09-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

Now this is getting ridiculous. First, a goat strolls in my yard like she owns the place and now a Donkey has tried to car jack my Dad. What's next? Oh... I don't even want to think about it.

Fall Blooms??

2006-09-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

I am sure you all have missed hearing me whine about my yard lately and are dying to know how it is doing? Thanks, for asking, it is doing great. The flowers in the center flower bed are blooming like crazy, the grass is as green as a golf course, and new growth is popping up all over the place. Yeah, I am an expert gardener. All I have to do is walk around the yard once or twice a week and I get amazing results. This morning at about 5 I got even more insight into the source of my new found green-thumb when I was awaken by the familiar clip, clip, clip noise of the sprinkler system. In my half-asleep stupor, I thought to myself, didn't the sprinkler come on yesterday, and then flashes of the bright flowers came to my mind and I jumped up and ran to the garage to look at the sprinkler controller. Yep, for about 2 weeks the yard as been watered every day. Some conservationist I am. Well I can sit in my beautiful yard as I write the check for that obscenely high water bill.

Lazy Sunday and Babysitting

2006-09-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it was a little overcast and dreary, so I did what I love doing most on a cloudy day and curled up in bed and read for a few hours. After I finally decided to get out of bed, we watched some TV and ate lunch at about 2. There are a ton of things I should have done around the house but it was so NICE to just read and relax. Next weekend, I will fix the caulking in the sun room and help CornyT chop down the thorny bushes growing on the side of the house. I wasn't completely lazy though, I did vacuum the house and I baby sat my friends 1 and 1/2 year old in the evening. A couple of weeks ago, while chatting with our friends with the little girl, it came up how little they get to watch movies much so I offered to babysit their adorable little girl when they needed someone. And boy did they take me up on the offer. Surprise, surprise:). It has been fun though cause the little girl is really easy to watch and we all had dinner together before they went out so it is a win-win for everybody. The baby is a big Momma's-girl and she was a little stressed about Momma leaving. Everytime she would go into a crying jag about Momma I would try to offer something to distract her like a popsicle or a her baby-doll but she would push it away and say "NO! Momma" once or twice. Eventually, I would do something really silly, like sing a song or do a little dance and she would forget about Momma for a while.

It is amazing how TV can be the best distractor though. I turned on the TV and she was immediately transfixed by the screen. Some reality show was on and she watched it like it was a Disney movie. I soon put on a Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp, because I didn't want her mind to be corrupted by reality TV:). Lady and the Tramp is cute but it gets a little old when you watch it twice in a row. Oh well it put her to sleep. Poor kid though, while she was sleeping CornyT came by - he had to do some work on his class, so he wasn't there for most of the babysitting- and I took the opportunity to use the restroom. While I was in the restroom she woke up and was apparently horrified to just see CornyT smiling down on her because she started screaming. It took another viewing of Lady and the Tramp to calm her down. CornyT felt kind of inept.

Austin Happenings

2006-09-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

Since I claim that this blog is partly about Austin, I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the major events that have been going on. First of all this weekend is the Austin City Limits music festival. The festival is only about 6 months old but is already quite a big event. Thousands of people from all over the country flock down here and bake in the Zilker park heat after being coated with a layer of dust from the nearby soccer fields. CornyT and I went to the first year but the prices increased with the popularity and we have been less and less interested in dehydrating ourselves in the name of music. However, it is still an Austin phenomenon. Not quite as crazy as the SXSW but getting there I think. They probably started this festival because it is impossible to go to the actual ACL tapings. Apparently, they announce when the tickets will be distributed on a local station and if you are lucky to hear when and where the tickets will be given out and you actually get one it is still unlikely you will get in because they give more tickets than they have room and it is a first come, first serve thing.
The other event this weekend is much sadder. The former governor Anne Richards passed away this week and her memorial service is being held at a city park and she is laying in state in the capitol. Regardless of politics this woman's life long goal to empower minorities and women is inspiring to me. She has started a young woman's leadership school here in Austin and was one of the first leaders in Texas to appoint women and minorities to government positions. She once said that she didn't not want her tombstone to read (I may not have the quote completely right) "She kept a clean house" but instead to read "She gave people opportunity in government." I greatly admire the nerve it must have taken to enter politics during a time when women were not as welcome in politics. Especially, in a state like Texas. I am sure it would have been a lot easier to take the easy path of "keeping the clean house."

Shelter Update 9 16 06

2006-09-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

This week was not quite as chaotic as last and I followed all the rules this Saturday. Every one of my cages were closed today. However, I did have one close call with last week's escapee, Bertie, today she almost jumped out of her kennel while I tried to keep her kennel mate from escaping. Yikes, that would have had been bad news because she is about 5 lbs and recovery from surgery, poor thing.

Bertie (Escapee 2)

I did have a great session with her kennel mate, Boyd. First, he snuggled in my lap for the longest time and then we played with a chew toy in auditorium. OH he was fun, I love playing keep away from dogs, they're so cute when they're determined. He was a little mouthy but not nearly as biting as the lab mix Otter who I played with today. I have walked him before and he has been energetic but not quite as wound up as he was today. After we left the potty runs he went straight to the first toy bucket he saw and started pulling toy after toy out of the bucket and throwing them around the dog volunteer office area. I then gathered up all the toys he had thrown around and we went for a play session in the auditorium. He was pretty good at first but then he became really bitey and scratched my arms up a little. He didn't respond to my loud squeals of complaint. During our training we were told to squeal like you are hurt when a dog "mouths" you. Usually they stop and even seem a little alarmed by your reaction. Boyd reacted in that way but otter just kept jumping around. At that point, I took Otter back to kennel and wrote up a recommendation for him to be reevaluated to a higher color so they can work on improving this behavior.

Otter (Mr.Bitey)

Before I began volunteering with the Humane Society, I never thought I would worry about the bowel movements of a dog. But today I found myself fretting about such things. The first dog I walked today, a border collie mix named Domanique, did not go at all yesterday and she didn't this morning either. That can't be good. Although, she seemed healthy- runinng around and barking like crazy. That is weird though. I think I will send an email this week checking up on her.

Domanique

Happy Birthday Mom

2006-09-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

Have a great birthday Mom!!

Some Louisiana Pictures

2006-09-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

The following posts are some pictures I took on our trip to Baton Rouge. I have been lazy about getting them off my camera and onto the laptop.
This is the little puppy that followed us around on our walk.

Congratulations

2006-09-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

Friday night I had a nutty dream that my friend Aimee and I had to transport RVs across the country for some kind of weird job.
She called me Saturday afternoon while we were out and I thought it was so cute we were thinking of each other around the same time. Today, I found out she was calling to tell me that her and her boyfriend had just gotten engaged that day! I am so excited for them. And excited there will be another fun wedding to go to next summer.