I’m leaving at the butt-crack of dawn tomorrow for Rocky Mountain National Park! I’m going on a Women’s Wilderness Outdoor Photography trip. I’ll see you on Monday!
BTW, Zamba’s doing really well. Except I think she’s … stupid. The latency is driving me nuts. So is the “I’m too lazy to walk anywhere” attitude. I’ll have to work on that.
Bye!
I took Zamba to the hospital on Monday! Not the vet — the people hospital. We want to socialize her around wheelchairs, walkers, canes, etc. so that she doesn’t flip out when she visits and somebody can’t walk. Overall, it was a good trip. Zamba got LOTS of attention, from other therapy dogs and their handlers, nurses, and even doctors. The downside? She got tired. And when she gets tired, she lies down wherever she is and won’t budge. We stopped in a couple patients’ rooms to say hello, which was good, except … she was tired. She layed down and wouldn’t move. Well, except for when the patient fed her … she deigned to get up for kibbles. She also didn’t like the elevator; the strip in between the elevator and the ground, the infinite drop, is pretty scary.
I picked up some information about volunteering at the hospital, but finally got the real scoop when I called the lady in charge of the “Canine Corps” this morning. First off, BCH has its OWN “therapy dog” designation — you don’t have to get a certification from Therapy Dogs International or anything like that. Second, there’s a YEAR LONG wait to get into the program. I need to call back when Zamba is 8 months to a year old. Third, if you want to socialize your puppy to be a therapy dog, it’s better to take it to McGuckins than the hospital. They’ve got lots of shopping carts, which look like wheelchairs (really? I’m not so sure about that …), loud acoustics, and plenty of friendly people to say hello; moreover, they don’t want any strange dogs in the hospital without some kind of certification that they won’t bite anyone. I’m excited!
Zamba’s doing well here at home, too. Ben has some very poignant points on his blog specifically that she LOVES water and has a “high latency”. She does indeed love water. I’ve bought her a wading pool which I’ve put on the porch. She LOVES to go out and drink from it, put her front paws in, put ALL her paws in, and lie down. The following picture is one I took this afternoon; I tried to let Zamba play in the sprinkler. She was like, “No way.”
She has a stare that she gives us whenever we tell her to do anything. “Come,” we’ll say. She’ll sit there with her tongue hanging out and stare at us. For about five seconds. Then she’ll slowly get up and come. It’s the strangest thing! It’s kind of cool, though.
Now, I’ve got two interesting links for you. First off, here are some handy things that could replace our collection of newspaper bags if we ever win the lottery: www.poopoobags.com. Second, here’s a guy singing the elements!
Whew, it’s been quite a week! We started off by welcoming seven guests to our house last Friday. (Yes — seven. I know, it’s a lot.) I knew about 2/3 of them from college, but haven’t seen some in quite some time. Craig — well, it hasn’t been very long, JV and Tony, about three years, and Ryan — five, I think? (I haven’t seen you since our wedding, have I? I can’t remember …) The other 1/3 I met for the first time this weekend. There was Corbett, Ben’s colleague from Guidewire, Jen, Corbett’s girlfriend, and Lindsay, Ryan’s girlfriend. They were all EXTREMELY nice!
G.A.S.P. stands for “Games, Activities, and Some Poker.” Which is pretty accurate, except for “Some Poker” … I’d say it was more like “Lots of Poker.” (I guess GALP doesn’t have as nice of a ring to it as GASP, though. We could’ve made it GALoP, I suppose …) I asked Ben if he’d buy me in for a round. I like to play poker occasionally, though not against tough competition like these guys. Ben’s response was, “No, I’m sorry. I’m not going to waste $100 so that you can play for 20 minutes and then get brain tired and then quickly give your money away so you can go watch TV.” Which is a pretty fair assessment of my poker playing. I don’t have the attention to concentrate on it for more than about 20 minutes. After that, I would probably just bet all-in on a couple of hands, lose my money, and go watch TV.
Except that it was too noisy to watch TV. I love our friends, but when they get wrapped up in a game, be it poker, Settlers, Risk, you name it, they do several things: (1) they don’t stop, even if it’s 3am, and (2) they shout. They don’t shout AT each other; it’s more like they’re so excited to be playing, everything just turns into a yell. It must be a guy thing, but … it’s still weird. It’s just a game!
I was pretty tired; it took me forever to fall asleep, partly because I’m just like that and partly because Ben would promise to be in bed by, say, 1am, and he’d come to bed sheepishly at 4am. “I’m sorry, but I just wasn’t tired,” he’d say.
“And that had nothing to do with the fact that your friends are all playing poker,” I’d counter.
“Well, if I’m gonna be up anyway …” So I didn’t have enough sleep. Which makes it all the more annoying not to be able to veg out in front of the TV.
Anyway, we went tubing on Saturday (and had lunch at 3:30pm and dinner at 8:15pm … this wasn’t a great post-stroke schedule!) and hiking on Sunday (with dinner, again, at 8:30pm or so … I usually eat at 5:00pm when I’m home alone). Hiking was especially fun; we went up to Isabelle Lake. It was snowy, but GORGEOUS. Ben, of course, got in …
Here are Lindsay and Ryan …
… and the whole hiking crew!
(There are a couple people missing. Guess where they were …)
The crowd dispersed on Monday, when we were treated to a visit by my parents! It was good to see them. They were really good about going hiking, too, despite the elevation. (My mom especially.) We went up to Miner’s Flats above the Fourth of July trailhead and were treated to some incredible wildflowers!
Here’s Chaco, successfully mooching treats off a really nice lady who’d brought some doggy treats along …
… and here he is playing in the snow …
… and here he is on the Continental Divide!
And here he is again, with Mom and Dad this time. They’re on “the rock”, an outcrop (of granite … it sounds weird to say “outcrop” and not identify it geologically) in the National Forest near our house:
They left on Friday, so Ben and I had Saturday to (partially) recover before our anniversary on Sunday! It’s been five years since we tied the knot, and it wasn’t going to go off without some serious celebration. I’d been planning Ben’s surprise for about two months and was eager to give it to him. “Would you like to go on a picnic?” I proposed nonchallantly on afternoon when my parents were here.
“Sure!” he responded. We made plans to dine on Sunday night, because there was a church potluck on Sunday at lunch. However, I was still recovering from all the excitement the previous week, and the noise of the crowd at the potluck was just too much, so we decided to picnic a earlier than anticipiated. I made Ben an extra-large bandana that would definitely fit around his head and instructed him to cover his eyes. I drove him to my secret picnic spot, down on Ridge Road (WAAY down there), and instructed him to take off the bandana and read his card. Inside the card was a note that read:
It all started at Tech.
February 4, 2000We had fun!
But then you graduated and moved away.
We spent a summer at camp.
We ate at Briken …
… went backpacking …
… and ate barbeque. Sideways.
You stood by me through grad school. Thank you.
And then I dropped out of school,
got a job,
and had three strokes.
You took care of me.We settled into Nederland anyway.
We went to Steamboat Springs,
where they sold cheap t-shirts.YOUR LOVE IS SWEETER THAN ICE CREAM
SWEETER THAN ANYTHING ELSE THAT I’VE KNOWN.
[- Sarah McLaughlin]I LOVE YOU, SWEETIE. THANKS FOR A GREAT 5 YEARS!
Then I told him he could look. I’d laid out our lunch on a quilt that I’d made for him! The quilt blocks are T-shirts that describe places we’ve been or things we’ve done over the years. At the bottom are three squares from ice cream shops we’ve frequented across the United States: Amy’s Ice Cream in Austin, Texas, 21 Choices in Pasadena, California, and Glacier Ice Cream in Boulder, Colorado. On the back, I’ve sewn my note into the fabric. It looks like this:
Ben reciprocated with a letter, the contents of which are private, but which I’ll assure you made my year. He’s such a gifted writer, and his message wasn’t lost on me. Then, he gave me a toy airplane. “Uh … thanks,” I told him. “What is it for?”
“Well, do you remember our failed trip to Bonaire?” he asked. I nodded. “Well, we have a year to rebook our tickets. Continental also flies to Costa Rica. Would you join me on a second honeymoon?” I leaped up and hugged him. What a stupid question! I would LOVE to go to Costa Rica again!
Afterwards, Ben had ANOTHER surprise for me! “You’ll have to wear the bandana, though,” he said. I agreed.
“Are we going to a trampoline?” I asked.
“No.”
“Are we going to Elitches [the amusement park]?”
“No.”
“That’s good, because I don’t want to go to an amusement park. They’re really noisy. Are we going to a craft store?” I asked. Ben thought for a minute.
“Yes!”
“Cool … what are we going to do?”
“Yes-No questions only,” he replied.
“Are we going to paint pottery?” I asked, thinking of our second-anniversary date.
“Nope.”
“Are we going to do sewing?”
“Nope.”
“Are you going to make a craft?”
“Nope.”
“So it’s just me?”
“Rephrase your question.”
“Am I going to be the only one making a craft?” I asked.
“Nope.”
“Can I take off this bandana? It’s itchy.”
“Nope.”
We drove down the canyon … and into the Target parking lot. I was disappointed. “I thought we were going to a craft store!” I whined.
“Target is a craft store.” I scowled.
“You just want a Starbucks,” I complained.
“Well, as a matter of fact, I have a two-for-one coupon! I’m thirsty! What would you like?” We visited Starbucks and hung out for about an hour at Target. I got some pickles for a baby shower I’m hosting on Sunday — a pickles ‘n ice cream shower. I read the trashy magazines that they have at the cash registers. I looked at the tiny clothes in the baby section (not for the shower). I browsed the books.
Finally, Ben called me on my cell phone. “You ready?” he asked.
“Yes!” Thank goodness; I was bored out of my gourd!
We hopped back in the car, and Ben had me put the bandana on again. “Are we going to a dog breeder?” I asked.
“I think that’s enough questions,” he told me.
“Can I at least take this bandana off?” I asked.
“Nope.” Yeesh, I grumbled. This had better be good.
An hour later, we FINALLY arrived. “We’re here!” Ben announced. I ripped off the bandana. Immediately (after my eyes adjusted to the light), I was confused.
“We’re … we’re at Claire’s house,” I said, referring to a Newfoundland breeder we’d visited the week before. Suddenly, realizing what that might mean, I got excited. “Can we take home pink girl?” I asked. Pink girl failed the cardiologist’s review last week, which meant that she wouldn’t be going to Alaska; instead, burgundy girl would. Burgundy girl was supposed to be ours, so we were naturally disappointed.
“Nope,” Ben said, matter-of-factly.
“Are we taking home burgundy girl?” I asked, hoping that the folks in Alaska had changed their minds.
“Nope.”
“What are we doing, then?”
“The lady taking home another of the pups — peach girl, I think — had a health issue come up at the last moment and couldn’t take her. That’s the one we’re taking home!” Then, just to tease me, he added, “If it’s OK with you.”
“Yes! Yes, it’s fine with me!” I jumped around the car and gave him a big hug. “Thank you,” I whispered.
Peach Girl was ready and waiting for us inside Claire’s house. “Would you like to pick her up?” Claire offered. I looked at Peach Girl, leaning up against the side of her pen, and gulped. She was HUGE.
“Can I pick her up from inside?” I asked. “I don’t want to drop her.” Claire laughed and gave me permission.
“She’s the chunky one,” Claire explained. “I had to feed her away from her litter-mates because she took all their food.” Oh. That explains a bit, I thought. At this stage in their lives, the puppies are gaining 3 – 5 pounds a week. Peach Girl was already up to 31 pounds, Claire told us.
“How often do you feed her?” I asked, putting her down to run around the living room. She immediately headed behind the couch and started chewing electrical cords. “Stop that!” I said.
“3 times a day, 150 grams a meal,” she answered. Good lord, that’s a lot of food.
Ben filled out the paperwork for us and then took pictures. He asked to take pictures with Gaby, the mom, and Peach Girl’s littermates. Claire was happy to oblige.
Zamba settled down on my lap, but didn’t sleep on the way home. She didn’t bark. She didn’t pee. She didn’t do much of anything. She just sat there. Every once in a while, she’d put her head on my shoulder, which was really sweet. At this point, I was feeling very happy to have her but a little bit worried that she wasn’t DOING anything.
When we finally arrived at home, we got her out of the car and were instantly greeted by a barking Chaco. “Hello, boy!” Ben greeted him. He came over and sniffed Zamba. You could almost see what he was thinking. “Well, she’s a girl, at least,” and “Man, she’s *large*.” Then he lost interest in her, which we both expected; Chaco refused to acknowledge Bonzo’s existence for a week after we brought him home.
Zamba seemed instanteously excited by the encounter. She ran after Chaco — for about ten steps. Then she sat down, looked at him (her “thinking stance”, as we’ve come to learn), and layed down in the grass. Her eyes were drooping. “I think she’s tired,” I said, stating the obvious.
I didn’t get much (any?) sleep that night. At first, I was just so excited by Zamba’s arrival that I couldn’t sleep. Plus, Zamba pants. It’s like Chaco, if you’ve ever heard him breathing, but much louder. That kept me up. I was just waiting for her to start crying. Which she did! At 12:30, 1:30, 3:30, and 4:45 — which Ben finally heard and took care of. I didn’t get any sleep until 3:45am, when I was so exhausted that I could’ve slept through ANYTHING.
Yesterday, Ben left for Connecticut at 6:00am. I woke at 9:00am and took Zamba out, then fed her lunch. (Claire is a nurse and has a weird schedule — breakfast for the pups at 3am, lunch at 10am. Thank you for such an EARLY routine!, I thought.) I played with her a bit, then put her in her exercise pen (”ex-pen” for short) to take a break and try to clean up a little. That’s still a pending project. I called the vet and made an appointment for that afternoon. I read some of my blogs, but I was truly exhausted and it didn’t work. Finally, at 1:30, I took the dogs and headed to Mud Lake. Zamba LOVES her water dish. She climbs in it every chance she gets. What would she do with a pond? Would she swim?
Except for stairs. When Chaco learned how to go up and down stairs, he was so ecstatic about it that he wanted to do it ALL the time. We walked home from campus in Pasadena and there wasn’t an apartment whose staircase he didn’t run up and down. Zamba? Couldn’t care less about stairs. She’s happy to be carried. Which is good until you remember that she’s huge and that we have a lot of stairs in our house. So far, she’ll go up (not down!) the three steps on our porch. That’s it. The four steps at the vet’s are too much for her. I tried enticing her with treats; that didn’t work, either. She just didn’t care. She’s going to learn soon, gosh darnit, because it’s getting kind of annoying to carry her around all the time. It’s difficult to pick her up, too! She doesn’t bound out of the crate like Bonzo did; she just stays in it when you open the door. I have some luck with treats, but usually I have to get on my hands and knees and *extract* her from the crate.
Last night’s sleep was a bit better. Zamba got up only twice — once at 1:30 and once at 3:30. When she awoke at 5:30, though, she was UP. For the day. I tried to put her back in the crate; she didn’t want that. She squeezed herself out of my grip and resumed roaming around the room. Finally, I did what you’re NOT supposed to do and put her on the bed. (You’re not supposed to do that because they might pee on the bed. Remember Bonzo? Yeah.) However, she didn’t! She sat quietly with me until 10:30am! She just laid down next to me, her backbone along my leg, and stayed quiet until Ben called at 8:55am! Then, I picked her up and she splayed out her limbs as if to say, “Put me down! I’m comfortable here!” I’m falling in love with her already!
I’ll have more pictures and movies later. But that’s our anniversary! =) (Plus, I’m tired again. I think I know what new moms feel like now …)
Marisa and Jim were in my high school class, and I almost couldn’t believe it when I heard they got married. They’d never dated each other in high school, and they’d had plenty of opportunities, including three weeks in Germany during our exchange program. However, it seems natural that they’d end up together; they’re both very fun, very humorous, really nice people. Congratulations, Marisa and Jim!
I made them a table runner. Mom B gave me the pattern and Kimberly gave me the fabric, and the final product looks pretty good if I do say so myself! (And I finally found the camera and got the pictures off of it!)
We’ve had a VERY busy week, so there’s more coming, but please be patient!
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I heard a short review of a book about the “last lecture” given by a young professor at CMU on NPR. Apparently, last lectures are traditionally given by professors on the last day of their classes, and are generally about “the future of fluid mechanics in your life” or whatever. For Randy Pausch, however, this was indeed his last lecture; he’d just been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. He titled his talk, “How To Achieve Your Childhood Dreams”.
His lecture consists of three parts: achieving your childhood dreams, enabling others to reach their dreams, and lessons learned. My favorite part is the first: he enumerates his dreams, and tells you how he accomplished (or almost accomplished them) each of them. He wanted to be in zero gravity, play in the NFL, write an article for the World Book Encyclopedia, become Captain Kirk, and win stuffed animals at the fair.
Zero gravity he experienced in the Vomit Comet; his students won a contest to do an experiment up there, and Randy accompanied them as their advisor the team’s journalist. (He found out that advisors weren’t welcome and promptly got a press pass on the internet.)
He never got to play in the NFL, but he learned a LOT from his childhood football coach. On the first day of practice, his coach didn’t bring any footballs. “Um … where are the footballs?” one of Randy’s friends asked.
“How many players are on the field at a time?” Coach asked. Eleven per team … 22. “And how many of those have the football?” One! “We’re going to practice what the majority of the players are doing.”
Randy’s parents had a copy of the complete set of encyclopedias, so as a kid he had lots of exposure to the books. Every year they’d get a new volume to update the information contained in the set. And Randy read them all. Gee, I really like to write an article in one of these, he thought. (”You can really tell the nerds early,” he joked in the talk.)
Years later, after Pausch became a professor, World Book contacted him to write an article about virtual reality. He accepted.
Randy didn’t ever get to become Captain Kirk, but he DID get to meet him. William Shatner (who played Captain Kirk on Star Trek) visited CMU’s virtual reality lab, and Randy worked for weeks to make a virtual Star Trek world. (Like, you put on the VR goggles and boom! You’re on the Enterprise!) William was duly impressed.
And the animals? Randy wanted them. I don’t know why. Randy practiced, and perfected, his carnival game skills, and soon he was winning animals left and right. You want proof? He brought them to his talk!
I enjoyed the book very much. It’s a quick read, but enjoyable — despite the sobering premise on which it’s based. However, after I finished all 200 pages, I discovered that you can watch the entire lecture on YouTube! Doh. So, enjoy …
So that’s what I’ve been doing for the past week. Well, really about three hours, but I spread it out. I’ve been attending pottery class — quite an accomplishment, as it’s at nine in the morning! in Boulder! — and have decided that throwing stuff on the wheel is too much work. However, I’ve discovered hand-throwing. It’s much easier and makes just as cool stuff!Today at pottery class I accidentally cut my finger on one of my tools. It was just a small scratch, but it was bleeding fairly profusely because of all the drugs I’m on. It didn’t hurt, and I just kept cleaning up until the instructor caught a glimpse of it. “You cut yourself!” she exclaimed.
“Yep. It’ll stop eventually. I’m on blood thinners, so I tend to bleed for a long time.”
“What are you on blood thinners for?” she asked me. I explained my situation and discovered that Andrea has also suffered a stroke! I assume she’s also a young stroke survivor — there’s no way she’s 65 — and it’s very cool to meet another silent survivor. She’s got no aphasia or paralysis. I’d like to ask her about her symptoms; is she as chronically tired as I am? Is she bothered by noise? How’s her handwriting? Maybe next time I’ll broach the subject with her. =)
Speaking of tiredness, I’m trying new medications, and I must say that Concerta FAILS. Concerta is time-released Ritalin, which I like because it wears off quickly and allows me to sleep. The Concerta doesn’t wear off. 17 hours later, it’s still got me wired, and I’m sick of it. I quit!
I’m tired of fidgeting. When I lie down to go to sleep, I feel a need to move. I’ll lie down on my left side, scratch my right foot, and then decide that my arm would be more comfortable if I layed on my right side. However, aware that fidgeting will keep me awake, I won’t turn over until I HAVE to — which is in about ten seconds. Once comfortably situated on my right side, I’ll decide that maybe I would be more comfortable on my back, and I’ll turn over AGAIN. This goes on for HOURS. I’ve listened to two episodes of This American Life, and have now written a blog entry, read Facebook, caught up on my blogs, and written email. I’m about to try going to sleep again, so wish me luck … I’m going to need it! =(