Weekly Poem 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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

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??

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

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

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

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

Have a great birthday Mom!!

Some Louisiana Pictures

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

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.

Giving the Cat the Cold Shoulder

For months now, Livia has been a much better pet. She has slept through the night without bothering us, she has been playful and affectionate and just very low maintenance and sweet. On Saturday however, she reminded us of why we named her Livia in the first place. In fact, I have been reading Robert Graves' I'Claudius for book club and discovering just how duplicitous and untrustworthy the historical Livia really was. So I can say that on Saturday her behavior was true Livian nature. She started out so sweet rubbing her head against my cheek, purring all the while and when I called to CornyT to look at our adorable little head snoggle she suddenly reared back and boom, bit me under the eye. CornyT was furious. I was stunned and disappointed. She didn't break the skin but it did smart a little bit and of course my trust and affection were injured more. For the last 4 days, we have essentially been ignoring her. At first, we just let her in to eat but we are gradually letting her in the house for longer. CornyT was certainly angrier about it than me. I felt guilty, like I must have done something to upset her. But then I came to my senses and realized she is just a cat doing her cat thing. I am convinced that I am much better suited to be a dog owner. I am way too hands on for cats. They are overwhelmed by my constant attention and petting. I remember as a kid our friends' kittens would always run from me and I would spend half my time trying to fish some terrified cat out from under a bed or from behind a sofa. Not a lot has changed, down deep I am still that exuberant 7 year old who just wants to pet the kitty! However, my 32 year old self is going to have to learn to be a little more cautious around her now.

Belated Shelter Update

Now that I have exchanged links with the Bestest Blog people in an attempt to generate more traffic over here, I suppose I better actually write posts on a regular basis now. I am not sure if exchanging the link will actually attract more attention to the blog and most readers will probably be bored to tears by my ramblings (only family will tolerate paragraphs and paragraphs of my swooning over puppies, I am sure) I thought I would see what would happen. Anyway, that being said let me commence with the boring puppy yammering. This Saturday's morning at the shelter was not my most shining moment in volunteerism. If you remember, my training was only a month ago and much to my embarrassment I have already forgotten a lot of it. One key item that slipped my mind was to close the kennel doors after I removed a dog. Much to the chagrine of the hard working staff trying to clean the kennels, I left doors open right and left confusing the hell out of them. From what I can tell an open kennel door means the kennel needs be hosed down. So all my open doors meant they were hosing kennels twice and leaving no dry place for the dog to be returned. I found this all out when I tried to return Shags, a sweet, energetic Bearded Collie (a lot like a sheep dog) and asked the staff member, Emily where I could put him. She sternly told me I had to put him back in the wet cage because of my error and that next time I should bring him in from a closer door to prevent the other dogs from going berserk when I walk him next to their cages. I felt so bad for poor Shags having to sit in a wet kennel. To make matters worse, the next dog I decided to take out for a walk was a wiley Dachsund ( in a kennel with another dog- I should just stay away from dogs sharing kennels) who slipped from my grasp and went running through the kennel. Yep, my second escapee. Unfortunately, this time I wasn't so lucky and my bumblingness was found out. The speedy little dog went tearing through the room with me close behind, turned a corner and ran right into the irritated Emily who picked her up in one fluid motion and handed her to me. She simply shrugged when I explained she had slipped out of her leash and asked me to move out of her path. Ugh, well I was certainly not an exemplarly volunteer this week but there is always next week.

Bestest Blog of All Time

I just put a link here to Bestest Blog of All Time. This site collects tons and tons of blogs and features a blog of the day. I have found some fun blogs in just a few minutes of surfing around the site. Two that stood out for me have been flip this body and Tales from an Animal Shelter. My interest in the latter one is obvious but I was surprised by my interest in the weight loss blog. In reality, the writer's weight loss goals are just a fraction of what she posts about. Mostly the posts are cleverly written tales of her adventures as an actress and cube monkey and it really appeals to my voyeuristic nature. I am also impressed by her lengthy posts and her ability to make so many comments to other people's blogs. Hopefully, you will have as much fun as I have had discovering new blogs and exploring more nooks and crannies of the web.

Nice Day to Walk Your Goat

The other evening, I stepped in the living room to ask CornyT something and framed perfectly in the window was a goat. Yep a goat was in my front yard, and not a cute little pigmy goat but a big Nannny, milking goat. Her owner was loosely leading her by a long rope and strolling on the road. However, he didn't bother stopping her from feasting on my flower bed until I whined from the window, "hey don't eat my flowers." I was flabbergasted. Where did the goat come from? Do goat's get restless if they're not walked? Did he want to enjoy the cool evening (the first in a while) and thought it would be even more pleasant with his goat? Was he trying to save feed money by taking her by everyone's flower gardens? Well, he was definitely doing his part to "Keep Austin Weird."

New Orleans Sunday

The last post ended kind of abruptly I know. I realized it was taking me a while to get the post done (I started Wednesday now its Friday) so I thought I would break up my stories about the weekend. Our trip to New Orleans was fun but a little disappointing. We only went to the French Quarter because it hit CornyT and I that we didn't really want to be tourists to some one else's disaster so in order to be respectful we stayed in the traditional touristy areas. These areas were not that visibly hit by the disaster and it was a little hard to tell what damage was caused by the storm and what was just normal wear and tear. The disapointing part came when we realized the FQ is just really not that interesting during the day, it truly does come alive at night but is a little sleepy and smelly in the day. We planned to have lunch at a famous Bourbon street upscale restaurant but discovered they were closed on Mondays and wanted to check out Jazz at the Preservation Hall which is also closed on Mondays. So we wondered around in the heat, ate an over-priced buffet, and I got a little crabby. After a calming hour or two in some air conditioning with snacks and stuff, we decided to drive around the Garden District and then head back to Baton Rouge for dinner and yet again another movie. The Garden District was beautiful and very confusing. Street signs were messed up (taken down or put in the wrong area) in places and quickly got lost and stuck in a less than great part of town. I did see some evidence of the storm, boarded up houses, the famous spray painted Xs and messages from survivors to workers- we are still here 9/30/05. A little chilling and I just feel so sad that those people had to go through that. It is still so hard to believe that just 9 hours away we were all leading such normal, comfortable lives when there people's homes and livelihoods were being destroyed.
But enough of the sad stuff. That evening we had a really yummy Middle Eastern dinner and watched the over-hyped, camp film Snakes on a Plane. Mamie was more eager to see it than us and I think we ended up liking it better than her. Well, I have to say I liked it better, I think CornyT was pretty disgusted with it too. Don't get me wrong it is a TERRIBLE movie but firmly in the category of so bad I you have to laugh movie. Despite the campy enjoyment I got out of it I am SO glad I only had to see it once. Some folks here in Austin were not so lucky. In an effort to be performance artsy and garner some attention to get on the "SOAP" DVD, a local theatre and theatre group sponsored "Snakes On a Day" where people volunteered to watch the movie 24 hours straight. This blog documents the insanity that ensued during that day. We are a little weird in Austin and that is why I like this town so much.
Well I better get back to work. I will catch up on more blog entries this week.

Louisianan Weekend

This is the weekend where my personal blog and Mame's Americorp blog converge. On Mame's blog I discuss what her living arrangements, Americorp team and duties are like. Here I will just tell you silly stories about what we did and how great it was to see Mame. She looks adorable in her BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform) and her gvt issue combat boots. When we first arrived at her camp the three of us went on a hike around the bayou and made a little buddy. As I was talking to Mame she suddenly gasped and said oh and CornyT said hey little buddy. I thought they were hallucinating. What was in that Ozarka they drank? But sure enough there was a romping little puppy who wanted to go walking with us behind me. He was the cutest thing with a little tan head and a white body. We thought he looked a little like a floating puppy head. He didn't have the best manners though, he barked at other people on the trail and tried to chase cars that passed by. After he attempted to catch two pickups by the bumpers, I finally carried him for the rest of our walk because I didn't feel like starting the weekend with a smashed puppy. When I set him down in front of the place we first saw him we thought for sure he would run off to his campsite and we would be done wih him. But NO he insisted on following us all the way to Mamie's shed. This wasn't such a bad thing because her teammates were thrilled to see him. When we left the shed to go to dinner he was gone and we are just operating on the assumption that he found his people and is now safe back home. We won't think about the 'gator that may have munched on him or the pickup that may have treaded over him.
After walking we joined her entire gang for dinner at a restaurant in Livonia (near the camp) called Not Your Mamma's Place. The food was great and the service was slow. Pretty much like every restaurant in Louisiana. CornyT was intriqued by the funny name and found out from the waiter that there is another restaurant in LA called Your Mamma's Place and the brother of that restaurant's owner opened this one and thought it would be funny to call it Not Your Mamma's Place. Cute.
Out of the kindest of our hearts CornyT and I let Mamie sleep-in on an actual bed until about 10:00 AM on Saturday. We also didn't want her to feel left out so we kept sleeping as well:). After we pried ourselves out of the cool hotel room and braved the Louisiana heat we made both CT and Mame's dream of having a Waffle House breakfast a reality. I have had many a Waffle House hash brown and patty melt so it was old hat to me, but I it was yummilicious, cheap, and oh so bad for you. We spent the rest of the afternoon touring an old colonial Plantation and visiting the Baton Rouge museum. That evening we had a cajun dinner at Parrain's and watched Little Miss Sunshine. Mame and I loved the movie. We really related to the family; first they were from New Mexico (Albuquerque), second they had serious car troubles culminating in a intermintant, involuntary horn honking disaster which was particular poignant to Mame and I cause something very similar happen to the two of us once in my old Dodge Charger. Anyway, I highly recommend the movie- so funny, sweet, and a little sad.

Shelter Update

I just thought I would share with all of you that the sweet chow, Cole who has been at the shelter a very long time, was adopted yesterday. There is a picture of Cole further down this blog. Apparently, the woman who adopted her was looking for a mellow girl she could "grow old with" (her words exactly). Sounds like a perfect match.
Oh I do love that shelter. In fact, this weekend CornyT and I are driving to Baton Rouge to visit the Mamester, and although I am excited to see her I have been a little sad that I am going to miss my doggie day. Yes, I know I have serious issues. So, I have devised a solution. Today, I have worn some less than perfect jeans (not quite grubby but close) and tennis shoes to work and as soon as they let us out early for the holiday (they typically do) I am going to put in my two hours at the shelter. The funny thing about working with almost all men at a software company is that even in this casual, "weekend-like" I still looked over dressed around the flip-flop, short wearing developers.

Too adorable not to share

Ahh this guy looks like Chester (everyone reading this knows who Chester is right). And I just love how he looks kind of like a seal in the bath towel. Dogs look so precious with stuff on their heads:)!! Why is that? If you don't believe me put a towel or a bed sheet over your dog. Instant cute.

Craiglisters

In my last post, I mentioned I was waiting for someone come by and pay for the privilege of taking away my old loveseats. Well, I waited. To be fair, they did email to tell me they would be late, 1/2 an hour after they were suppose to be here. At about 9:15, CornyT wanted to go to a 9:45 movie and I, in a sad example of girly, scaredy-catness decided I didn't want to be at home by myself when these strange, flaky people came. Anyway, I am not sure if they did come by but the next day she still wanted the loveseats. However, I am not giving my old, uncomfortable furniture to flakes and told her they already sold. I did have a young couple, who didn't look much older than Mame, look at the couches the next night. I don't think they were all that impressed. I also displayed a strange fit of greed wioth them. When they asked me how much for both I upped the price to 30 ffrom 25. Not sure why I did that but they didn't call me on it. They also haven't called back. Guess I am stuck with the ratty old things for a little longer. The guy's need to reassure me was cute though. When the girl said they needed to look at other stuff and would call me later, he piped in "don't worry we will be back." Yeah right. Not that I really care though. I am sure I'll eventually get the sad sacks out of the house if I have to drag them out to the curb. I wonder how long it would take for someone to carry the couches away if I did that? Maybe I could set up a poll and have people bet on how long they will last in front of my house. That would be more fun than actually selling them, I think. That reminds me, the weirdest thing is going on at the house across the street. The house belongs to an old couple who have moved (possibly temporarily/possibly not) to assisted living while she recovers from a broken hip. They have been gone for several months and their kids were taking care of the lawn but in the last week a lot of random junk has started to slowly pile up in the yard; a broken lawn chair, a lamp shade, a collapsed, wire shelf. Every day there seems to be one more thing out there. I have been tempted to throw it in our dumpster but haven't yet.

Weekend

This weekend felt jam packed with activity but as I think about it we didn't really do too much. I started Saturday by talking to Mame and going to the shelter. After the shelter, we ran some errands and stopped for lunch at a local crepe place we had been wanting to try. The crepes were good, very small and very expensive. Although that wasn't by far the worse part. What was even worse was that the "restaurant" is really just an air stream trailer with a few bistro tables for diners out front. This is very charming and cute in October or in Seatlle. However, in Austin in August, especially this dry, apocalyptic version of August, it is just plain mean. After I recovered from heat stroke, we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up for an evening of pizza and movie watching with friends. I have to tell you how sweet these friends are, not only did they bring a bottle of wine over (that I drank a lot of- very yummy Beaujalais (sp?)) they also hauled a mattress we bought from Costco over in their truck for us. What great friends huh? We are so excited to have a Queen size bed and to get such an amazing deal. Less than 500 for both a Sealy mattress and box springs. And even better, now any of you who come to visit me have a place to lay your weary heads! The only drawback is it didn't come with a frame and unbeknowest to me those are really hard to get at a reasonable price. The mattress stores, in my opinion, obsecenly over charge for them and no where else seems to carry them. So, I have done what every person with a laptop and need for crap does...no not ebay, but close. I went to Craigslist and begged for a bed frame. So far I have gotten a couple of offers. In fact, right now I am waiting for someone to buy the old loveseats we had in the apartment. They are ratty and I am shocked someone is willing to pay even 25 bucks for them. But hey, I 'll take the cash - hell I'd pay them to get them out of the house but I like this arrangement better.
Anyway, Sunday was a lot of fun too because we went over to a friends for a waffle brunch - yum yum. The whole occasion for the brunch was to try the homemade maple syrup that one of our friends brought back from his uncle's grove in up-state New York. Very tasty stuff. So light and flavorful. Mmm Mrs. Butterworth's is forever ruined.

Shelter Ups and Downs

This Saturday I went to the shelter at 8:00 instead of 10:00 AM to get a head start on the day. I soon discovered there are a few pros and cons to coming in as soon as the shelter opens. The good thing was the dogs were so excited to see you and because I was the only "green" volunteer there that early I was able to walk all the green dogs- yes, I am such a dork. The down side is well that's a lot of dogs to walk and clean up after. Although, it did really appeal to my sense of completion to get all 8 of those green dogs walked and cleaned up. There was also a nice sense of celebration at the shelter. A little terrier, named Tommy, who had been at the shelter since January battling various health problems was finally adopted on Friday. Now the fluffy chow, Cole, who has been there since May needs to be adopted.

Book Club and other reads IV

Thursday I had my book club meeting and we discussed Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson. This is the author's first book in twenty-five years and only her second novel of her entire career. That is a long time to wait for a book and not all books are worth it but this one certainly is. I loved this book but I have to tell you it wasn't exactly an immediate love. At first, I wasn't even sure if I liked the book. The pace is extremely slow and there is no real plot and very few characters. It was about 100 pages in when I realized this book is much like listening to an instrumental song for me; I always anticipate the lyrics to start and it takes me a while to realize it is just music. Essentially, the novel is structured as a letter a dying pastor is writing to his young son telling him all the things he will not be around to tell him as the boy grows up. Sounds depressing, I know, but it is actually quite a life-affirming book.
For next month, we are reading I'Claudius by Robert Graves. I thought this book would be very esoteric and dry about Roman history. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it reads a lot like a Mafia story. Those Romans were full of alliances and betrayals and bloody assasinanations. My favorite line so far which I think is very famous is "Augustus ruled the world and Livia ruled Augustus."

OK OK I know I need to get to work

and I will in 5 seconds...but I had to share this t-shirt. As I read on the blog I was browsing, "it is funny because it is so true!" Have a great Wednesday.

Wasting Time

CornyT is out getting his car fixed so I am plopped on the couch wasting a good hour surfing the net. All is not lost though, I found some really fun sites. The best is this blog, HatetoHelp.blogspot.com. The writers divest you of any object that has negative sentimental value, your boyfriend's old t-shirt for example, and pass these items out around the world to people who really need them. If you don't have the item or got rid of it yourself they can still help you. You simply tell them about a creative way you got rid of this object of misery ("fed your med-school rejection to a very large animal"), take a picture and they will blog about it. Pretty cute idea, I think. Right now, I hate these girls though because they are running all around the world without a care seeing fantastic things like the Everest Base Camp, and getting paid to it by travel writing for magazines. What a fantastic job.

Stuff on My Cat

Just when you thought the web sites I go to can not possibly get any sillier, I bring you stuffonmycat.com. This also is taking me dangerously closer to being the crazy dog and cat lady, I know. But putting things on cats is really quite entertaining. We like to drape t-shirts on Livia occasionally and watch her struggle to get them off. Ah our Friday nights are wild!

Home Kevetching

My cousin, aka Shoe Goddess, said that if I am not careful I am going to end-up the crazy, old dog lady! She's probably right, but it is slightly better than cats, isn't it? But while we are talking about dogs, I thought I would share with you that Faith, the timid dog I walked on my first Saturday, was adopted yesterday. She was so sad and skittish at the shelter, poor thing. I am sure she will be much happier in her new home.
Anyway, I spent the rest of the weekend running errands, doing housework, and continuing my the-house-isn't-cute-enough freak out that I started last weekend. Last week, I was fixated on a lack of furniture. The front room in the living area has nothing in it and it looks so tacky. Also, the walls are so dingy and marred. Everytime I look at them I notice a new scratch or smudge. Anyway, it is probably better to paint before I fill the place up with furniture so now there are Behr paint chips decorating all the walls. The problem is now I can't decide what color and the choices are overwhelming. Poor CornyT, I am following him around every room making him look at paint chips and choose the one he likes. Yes, our life has come to this I told him. So far, he isn't crazy about many of them and I am not really either. Also, I want to install crown molding but the more I read about it the more nervous I get. It also seems to require a lot of tools; a mitre saw, a nail gun, a ladder;). Ah the joys of home ownership.

More Doggie Goodness

Cole

It is Saturday and you know what that means. Yep, me boring you to death with my stories of shelter dogs. Today, there were less green volunteers and more green dogs to take for walks. So, I got lots of doggie loving. Also, there were less mishaps today and just pleasant doggie bonding. Although, the last dog I took out, Riley Jane, a shepherd mix almost got into 2 dog fights. She is a little feisty for a green dog. I was pleased that I was able to calm her down with out too much fuss though. Distracting a stressed out dogs with treats seems to work surprisingly well. The first dog I took out was, Dawn an Australian shepherd. She is definitely one of the sweetest dog I have walked so far. She couldn't get enough petting and loved to play fetch. She is going to make someone a great dog. I also spent time with a sweet beagle named Bernard. He had the sweetest droopy ears and weepy hound dog eyes. I also took Butter out again this week and he was much better behaved this time around, no wild escapes this weekend. I also took a very calm and friendly Chow, named Cole out for a walk and petting session. She is one mellow dog, I can't imagine her ever being a feisty Chow. So far the saddest thing about this volunteer gig is putting the dogs back in their kennels. Bernard howled when I put him back in and Riley Jane had to be coaxed with a trail of bacon treats. Poor guys, it must be so miserable in there.
Oh and I can't forget the fluffy pups, Blondie and Tux. We can't touch the pups because they haven't got their shots yet but you can oggle them from their kennels. And boy did I. Oh they were the most adorable, sleeping balls of cuteness. Ah puppies make everything right in the world!!

Riley Jane

Celebration and Other Entertainment

The publishing celebration was so much fun. We had been waiting to have that celebratory dinner for a long time. I am not sure of the exact number of rejections CornyT has recieved for all of his stories but I know that one story alone was rejected 29 times. This shows that his perseverance is paying off a little though and I think this is just the affirmation he needed to keep going. I am so proud of him and I can't wait to see his story printed up in a slick, little journal. We dined at a local Cuban restaurant that just reopened after a kitchen fire about a year ago. The fire seems to have been somewhat of a blessing because the food was even yummier than before. Although I think their mojito recipe must have been a victim of the flames because the watered down version they served us was a pretty pathetic. Anyway, it was a wonderful meal and very well deserved on CornyT's part. He has worked so hard and I am glad that he has gotten this accomplishment.
Continuing the theme of literary achievements, last night we stopped by CornyT's favorite coffee shop, the Green Muse, to listen to a fellow writer and Green Muse regular give a reading with a folk band accompanionment. Truly an Austin thing to do. CornyT felt obligated to attend because he knows this guy pretty well and the free beer was enough incentive for me!!:). Also, when I say that Green Muse is CT's favorite coffee shop and that he is a regular it doesn't properly describe his relationship with this establishment. Think Norm on cheers. Yes, the Barrista's often greet him by name when he walks in. And we regularly go to movies with one of the owner's. I tease him a lot about how he should pay the owners rent for the table he sits at all the time but I think it is nice that he has a place he can feel so comfortable in to write.

WOO HOO

CornyT has just been published in the Seatlle Review. We are off to celebrate! I am so excited for him!!

Oh My legs hurt

I spent yesterday afternoon rock climbing with some my BBBS networking group and boy are my limbs sore. Before you get really impressed with me I have to tell you that I was actually in a well air conditioned building, with fake rock walls and a soft, foaming ground. If it were the real thing I would probably have a lot more than sore arms and legs. But honestly just because it is fake doesn't mean it's easy. I still had a hard time summiting anything but the beginner walls. There is always next time though. When I told CornyT (he opted out this time) there were automatic belays (rope and pulley system keeping you up on the wall) and you didn't have to trust some punk kid to hold you up he was all for it. So, next time I will conquer that harder walls.

Doggie Saturday

Shadow
Butter (escapee)

This morning I got up bright and early and headed with great enthusiasm to the Humane Society. Luckily, when I got to the shelter I ran into the volunteer who trained me last week and she reminded me of some of the procedures so I didn't feel too lost. After she gave me a refresher and I had my sanitized leash ready I headed over to my first "green" dog kennel. A green dog is a dog suitable in temperment and behavior for a novice volunteer. Anyway, when I got to the green dog kennel there were two spunky dogs scampering in the kennel, one golden, fluffy collie-mix and a small, black lab. So, how do you get one dog on the leash and keep the other in kennel? Um well I am still working on that. Sure enough as soon as I got the black one, Shadow, on the leash his buddy, Butter, brok free and charged to the end of the hallway riling up every dog in the entire shelter it seemed. After, much coaxing with treats I eventually got Butter back into her kennel before anyone came back into the room to see me struggling to control the dogs. Later, I took a small shepherd mix named Faith who had a freak out in the hallway and refused to move for at least five minutes.

After Faith, I took Amelia, an eight month old dalmation/spaniel mix. She walked on the leash like a dream and I took her to the auditorium area to play ball for a while. She was a blast, she had a set system. We had two balls on the floor and as soon I threw one ball she would catch it, drop it next to the other ball, pick up that ball and bring that one back to me. So funny. After Amelia, I took the escapee, Butter, out for a walk around the auditorium and nice brushing. She looked so fluffy and shiny. Oh it was so much fun hanging out with the dogs and I already can't wait until next week.

Faith

Amelia

Return of the Girl's Night

Before my dear friend Aimee ran off to be with her boyfriend in New Hampshire, we would routinely meet for drinks, finger-food, and chatting. These girls-nights would usually take place at her cozy South Austin apartment behind a local wedding reception venue. I can't tell you how fun it was to sip wine and giggle amid the dulcet tones of the chicken dance wafting in through the open window. Needless to say, I cherished these nights a great deal and have been sorely missing them. Don't get me wrong I have had some great girl time this year- girl's day with my cuz is the high-light of the year and the craft night was fabulous- but I have missed the more regular girl bonding. Luckily, I have started to get know a pal's new girlfriend and on Monday we met for a Chile Margarita at El Chile. Yep, you read that correctly, a chile the Chilango is a "Spicy orange infused frozen margarita" with the rim of the glass lined with the most delectable and savory red chile salt concoction. If my sparkling personality is not enough to lure you to Austin, you should make the trip down here just for this amazing Margarita!! My favorite moment of the night was when I saw my gal pal ravenously lick the chile goodness from her forefinger. As I proceeded to the same, I knew I liked her tons:). Hopefully, there will be many more gab sessions with yummilicious margaritas.

You know your sister loves you

when she takes a picture of a dog in a dress just for you!! Don't let the fire ants bite you too much Mame!
For everyone else don't forget to check out how Mame is doing in Americorp at her blog.

Puppies Puppies Puppies

Lately, I have been thinking more and more seriously about adding a puppy to our little household. We have been in the new house and had the cat for almost a year now and are getting very comfortable in our routines. So, I think we need something to shake us up a bit and a frisky, sweet puppy would be just perfect to do that:). To prepare myself for this enormous commitment I have been reading lots of dog training books from the library ( I highly recommend The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell), made CornyT place the Dog Whisperer in the Net Flicks queue, and started volunteering at the local Humane Society. I thought volunteering at the shelter would expose me to a lot of dogs so I can get a feel for the type of dog I want, teach me more about training, and just give me more experience around doggies. The shelter also offers a lot of dog training classes so what better way to supplement my doggie education.

Now, when I start a new volunteer experience I always worry if this will be something I will really enjoy donating my time too or if I will regret my sacrificed Saturdays and feel like it would have been better spent pulling weeds, raking leaves, or spackling. But after the first training class and one hour dog walking stint I had NO doubt I had made a good choice. I was so HAPPY being around all the dogs, walking them, learning how to train them etc. that when I came home I was in the best mood. CornyT suggested I go over on my lunch hours to relax me because work has been so stressful lately- not a bad idea. Also, it really helps that we don't have to do any of the yucky work like clean their cages or their messes. Another set of volunteers who are working off community service have to do that. It is pathetic but I actually am just dying for Saturday to get here so I can spend 10 to 12 in doggie heaven petting, walking and playing with as many sweet pups as I can get my hands on.

Family website

Yesterday, I learned from an out-of-the-blue call by my Mom that a meteor crashed outside of Austin, Dallas and Houston are flooding, and my family has their very own website. All of these tidbits were very interesting to me but none more so than the Besahra family website. And I have to say it is a very nice site, with great old family pictures and a nice contact form I happily filled out this morning. Those of you reading this who have any real interest in the website have undoubtedly seen it and I am sure I sound hopelessly out of touch but I was so excited by it. I am a sentimental dork and really get into family stuff, so I was very excited by the pictures and the possibility of keeping in touch.

Austin Weekend

When I started this blog I meant for it to be a log of all the fun things there are to do here in Austin. Unfortunately, lately we have done very little "Austiny" things. We have been busy with the house and traveling so we haven't really taken advantage of all that Austin has to offer. Last night though we did two very Austiny things. We went to an art opening at a local coffee shop to check out one of the barrister's work and to see if there was anything reasonably priced that we could hang up in the house. The work was stunning and actually really affordable but we are such cheapstakes and didn't get a thing but we are thinking about one or two pieces. On the back patio, a small group of musicians were playing the entire Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack. WE missed the first half of the performance but the second half was really impressive and very professional. Actually, it was surprising how entertaining the whole performance was. After the art show and performance we headed town down to meet friends at a new bar. The bar was nice but we all admitted we are just too old for the loud recorded music. I don't mind if it is loud live music, I expect it to be loud but it is annoying when you go to have a beer and chat with friends and you have to scream at them. Excuses, excuses, I guess it is true if it is too loud you are too old.

2006 Florida Vacation Phase 2: Disney World

Disney, wow where do I start? From the moment we got to the Magic Kingdom on Sunday night I was so taken with all the shiny, prettiness of the park. Everything is clean and dazzling. I thought that I would be bored but really I had a fabulous time at the happiest place on earth. The first night we had a buffet dinner with CornyT's family and all the Winnie the Pooh characters, eyeore, tigger, piglet, they were all there. We then headed to Big Thunder Railroad, then we caught the first of a lot of great 3-D shows, and then we completed the night with a ride on the less than stellar Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland.

With that small taste of Disney we were ready to really get to it the next day at the Disney/MGM studios park. We first hit the Tower of Terror and picked up a Fast Pass for the Rockin' Roller Coaster. Our favorite ride was without a doubt the new Expedition Everest at the Animal Kingdom park. The roller coaster is housed in a replica of Mount Everest which actually looks like a real mountain and creates some beautiful views throughout the park and you actually have to remind yourself that it is not a real mountain. In fact, it is the highest "mountain peak" in Florida. Anyway, the theme of the ride is that you are treking through Mt Everest and run into some local wildlife. I won't give the whole ride away but it is truly Disney at it's best.



To anyone going to Disney, I recommend grabbing fast passes for the popular rides first. The fast pass is an ingenious system that allows you to make a reservation to ride the attraction at a specific time and go through the fast line. This can often cut as much as an hour or two off of your wait. And while I am giving recommendations, I also highly recommend staying at a Disney Resort because you get access to early and after hours access to certain parks on certain days. Also, if you go get the Disney meal plan. Disney food is notoriously over-priced and the quality is only about mediocre. The meal plan however makes eating at Disney a lot more affordable. For 38 dollars a day you get a huge lunch, a snack, and a sit-down dinner. The dinners alone were typically 30 dollars a person if you didn't have the meal plan so it was quite a bargain. Plus you didn't have to carry any money around, just your Disney room key. They certainly have extracting money from the guest down to an art. If you are staying at a resort and purchase a souvenir, they will deliver that souvenir to your room so you don't have carry it around with you all day. What better way to convince you to buy even more things. The one thing I found actually a little creepy about the whole Disney experience was the biometric/fingerprint reading they take as you enter the park. That's right, Mickey has your fingerprints on file. Feels a little creepy and big brotherly to me and I am not really sure what purpose it serves but it is written on your ticket that you cannot enter the park without a providing a biometric reading. Strange. But the park is so much fun and everyone is so happy that you forget all about the potential invasion of privacy;). I also learned that it really is actually a lot of fun to go as a couple without kids. I am sure going with school-aged kids is a lot of fun but with really young ones it just looks like more work than fun. Their scared of all the creepy dancing animals and the loud noises, heat and crowds just make them tired and cranky.

The Princess dinner was probably the time the little kids in our group were the happiest. Five Disney Princess, Belle, Alice, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Jasmine, walk around the dining room and stop at every table to meet you and take numerous pictures with you. It really was a lot of fun to watch CornyT's 3 year old niece become overwhelmed with excitement and absolutely starstruck by each Princess. Although, she I am not sure she was completely fooled by it all because later she said "they looked different." Smarty pants.

2006 Florida Vacation Phase 1: The Wedding

OK I know it has been a long time since I have posted but I have a good excuse: Disney World has very limited internet access. I was a little frustrated by that but also kind of liked being cut off from reality. This post and the next will fill you all in on what I have been up to for the last week, because I am sure you have just been dying to know:). Unfortunately, there are no photos of the wedding because I was too lazy to pull my camera out while we were there but I did get lots of shots of Disney.

On Thursday July 13, CornyT and I arrived in Orlando Florida to begin our week-long Florida vacation. We rented a car at the Orlando (MCO) airport and drove to Jacksonville for our friends’ wedding celebration. We flew to Orlando because following the wedding we are meeting his family back in Orlando for a madcap four days in Disney.

Unfortunately, before we even got on the plane the trip was already a little stressful. The night before the flight, as we were packing, CornyT and I had a small disagreement about his wedding attire. The disagreement was the same squabble that couples have had for time immemorial, I am sure; I thought he should wear a suit, he thought he should wear khakis and a sports jacket. After a lot of bickering and phone calls to other wedding attendees, he decided to wear a suite that was not as fancy as his business pin-stripe suit (which I wanted him to wear) but appropriate for the occasion. This particular grey suit will forever be known as the compromise suit. And by the way at the reception he conceded and said that I was 100% right he would have been out of place in the more casual wear. Woo Hoo 1 for women everywhere;).

Once we got to Jacksonvilleand went to the wedding all the stress of the wardrobe war dissipated and we had a wonderful time with our friends. As soon as we got to town, we had dinner with the bride and groom and our little gang of buddies at a fabulous Thai restaurant and then spent the rest of the evening strolling along the beach and chatting.

The next day I spent the WHOLE day with my dear friend Aimee. That day alone was worth the price of the plane ticket. We bobbed in the Ocean and chatted, we lounged in the pool and hot tub with a few fruity drinks and chatted, and we concluded the whole day with a Heineken on her balcony while, yes you guessed it chatting. All the while our significant others were off writing and chatting at a café (Starbucks). In the evening, we attended a “beach themed” dinner hosted by the groom’s family. The highlight of this event was the interpretive dance the groom’s sister performed to express the couple’s long relationship. When asked earlier in the evening if she were giving a toast, the sister replied “no I am doing an interpretive dance. We, of course, all thought she was joking. She wasn’t. She really did perform an interpretive dance depicting the major events in their relationship. Yes, very strange indeed but kind of oddly sweet as well.

After the dinner, all the “kids” hung out around the beach, drinking and talking and finally found our way back to the hotel at about 2 AM.The next morning I took part in a 10 AM Yoga class the bride arranged for all the guests. It was a really good class and a nice way to start my birthday. Yoga was followed by yummy omelets with all our friends and then swimming in the ocean and sipping margaritas. We then went to the reception where the bride’s father surprised me by announcing my birthday and another guest’s birthday at the beginning of the dinner. I thought it was so sweet of him to mention it and I was so surprised and touched that I didn’t know how to react so I stood up and did a silly little princess wave. I didn’t even realize I was doing it until CornyT whispered, “I like the wave.” Later the bride told me that her father was so relieved he could announce our birthdays because he didn't know what to say when he was handed the mic and he really didn't want to give a speech.

The reception was a blast. Lots of dancing and eating; actually I have to recommend having your birthday the same day as someone else’s wedding because it is such a good excuse to get all dressed up, eat great food, hang out with people in a festive mood, and dance the night away. Of course, that is if you like to do those things. Luckily, those are all some of my favorite things to do.

The next morning we all said our goodbyes at the brunch and CornyT and I headed off to Orlando to meet his parents at Mickey’s house.

GIDDY, GIDDY

Tomorrow, CornyT and I head to Florida for our close friends' wedding followed by a few days in Disney with his siblings and their kiddoes. Right now, I seriously feel like a kid before Christmas. Mostly, I am so excited to hang out with all of our friends at the wedding. Some of these folks we haven't seen in months since they moved away on us and they are just such great people I can't wait to hang out with them. Many pictures and accounts of our exploits will be forthcoming!!

Polka dotted Pug

Yes, I know that a pug theme is developing on my blog. But omigod a pug in a couture dress. She is ready to go to tea. This web site, that I honestly just happened upon, has pages and pages of little dogs in dresses. These poor dogs. The indignity that they suffer. What would really be funny is a picture of a pitbull or a doberman in a little dress.
Vicious, vicious dogs. Beware the dog in a sun dress and ribbons.

Happy Friday

This pup has the right idea!

New Blog

To celebrate the one year anniversary of this blog, I am going with a new look here (as you have probably noticed- what do you think?) and starting a new blog with my sis. You can find this new blog at mamiecorp.blogspot.com. This is of course Mame's blog to record her Americorp experiences that she will be beginning next Tuesday, but as the bossy older sister I insisted that I help her with it.

I am looking forward to helping her share this exciting new phase of her life with her friends and our family. And I can guarantee that her blog will have a lot more substance than my yammering about cute men and web fads.

Adventures in Baltimore

My trip to Maryland was fairly uneventful. The first night the rain was unrelenting and I was very pleased with myself for remembering an umbrella. However, that was the only rainy day and the rest of the week was beautiful and sunny and the umbrella and raincoat took a lot of precious baggage space. The training went very well and everyone was just as nice in person as they have been on the phone. One evening the took me out for drinks and fresh crab. I was so excited to learn how to shell my own crab and to clobber the suckers with the hammer. However, I did not get half-way through my first crab before one of the ladies said "Give me that thing, you are demolishing it" and she subsequently removed all the meat in about 5 seconds. From then on I got all the crab meat I could eat from her and a couple other native Marylanders at the table. The crab meat itself was not a disappointment; it truly was better than any crab I have had before. YUM YUM.
On Saturday, I had some time to kill before my plane left at 5 that afternoon so I tooled around Baltimore proper for a while. Finding Babe Ruth's birthplace and the nearby sports museum was no problem and I was really impressed with the quaint narrow streets and the turn of the century architecture in that area. Once, I had gone through the Babe Ruth House and the Sports Museum (YAWN), I was ready for a little adventure. I was determined to find Edgar Allan Poe's House Museum. I was told it was on a less than desirable part of town but it looked so close to the down town area that I was sure it couldn't be that bad. I was so proud of myself for being able to maneuver the narrow, one way, down town streets and find the street that the museum was on but once I got to the stree I could not find the house at all. All I could find was a couple official looking signs that said "E.A. House this way" with an arrow pointing to an empty lot with a couple dillapidated buildings. The museum was probably amongst that mess of derelict homes but I wasn't sure where I could park and the area didn't really seem friendly. So I just drove on. What a wimp huh? If anyone reading this as ever actually been to the museum leave a comment because I spoke to one of my friends who had the same experience trying to find the place. Poor Poe he died peeniless and his legacy isn't doing too much better in that rough part of Baltimore.

Happy 4th!!

Hope all of you are having a good Independence Day? Apparently I liken independence to pure laziness because I slept REALLY late and now I am just laying around the bed in my pjs, surfing the net, reading and doing nothing really all that productive. Our holiday is going to be kind of quiet. We don't have any plans and just having one day off in the middle of the week makes any travel plans hard. I think we are just going to continue the big lazy-fest and maybe venture outside to see Superman and make some hamburgers. We probably should have hosted a bbq here at the house but sometimes a low key holiday isn't bad too. Sunday the neighbors had us over for a bbq and beers, so we have done some socializing in celebration of the good ole' US. It was very fun to go to a party right next door- WE could just jump over the fence when we were ready to go home.