Has it only been a year?

A year ago today I was flying out to Baltimore to interview for a job at BELL.

Frequently (more frequently than I'd like) I can look back at a year and think that nothing too impressive has happened - no major changes have occurred. But this year... this year there seems to have been a lot! Jobs, cities, living arrangements, relationships, family.

In some ways I can't believe it's only been a year since I was just starting the process of moving to Baltimore and in other ways it feels like a lifetime ago. And I think what really impresses me is nothing bad came of it. It was a total shot in the dark and lots could have gone wrong. But in fact lots of good came of it instead! I didn't totally screw up my professional life - and I think I'm now in a much happier place with my job. I got to spend a lot of quality time with Carl, Kathleen and, of course, Lily. I got to learn that I can happily live somewhere other than Chicago and make new friends. I met a great boy. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful whirl-wind move!

And now I'm about to do it all again. On Thursday I will be moving to St. Louis to start the next phase of life. Ryan will be joining me for the actual moving part, but will be coming back to Baltimore to continue looking for a job for at least a little while longer. We're both hopeful it will be a short lived separation. I think we're both really ready to be living together and taking that next step. I'm definitely ready to feel a bit more settled and back to having my own furniture and more of a sense of permanence!

I was saying to Ryan last night though that I think I'm, in some ways, sadder to move from Baltimore than I was Chicago. I'm excited about moving, but I think when I was leaving Chicago I knew it would always kind of be home and I could always go back to it. I know I won't be coming back to Baltimore. I mean, sure, maybe for vacation here and there, but probably not too frequently and not to live. So saying goodbye to people and things here just feels a little more permanent.

Don't get me wrong - I'm really excited to be moving, it's just a little harder than maybe I thought it would be.

But on that note, I must get back to packing. How I'm going to fit all this stuff into my car, I have no idea. But one way or another it will work out. It always does.

Eureka!

After reviewing hundreds of ads for possible houses in St. Louis, making dozens of phone calls, multiple site visits made by Kathleen and feeling like I was going to pull my hair out daily - we finally have settled on a place to live! And how did we end up finding it? Oh, Kathleen just happened to be driving by and saw a For Rent sign in the yard. Go figure.

It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with a fenced in backyard in Webster Groves. From what Kathleen and Carl say, and the pictures show, it's a really nice place. Seems to be very well kept and has all the features we were looking for. Well, except for including a washer and dryer, but we should be able to get our hands on those pretty easily.

The landlord is very particular, but has approved our application and the signed lease and checks are officially in the mail. I guess it takes a particular landlord to keep a property in tip-top shape!

I'm still trying to figure out my exact process of moving from Baltimore, picking up my stuff in Chicago and Freeport and transporting it all to St. Louis, but I'm working on it. Ryan won't be moving until later in October or November so there are some quirky overlap issues (like a bed) that will also require some thought, but I'm sure it will all work out.

Anyway, I'm mostly just super relieved to have a place to live as of October 1st! And one that I feel good about at that! I can't wait to have a backyard! (And to be closer to almost everyone!)

Welcome to my newest little quasi nephew!

Sarah and Michael added another little boy to their family early this morning! Unfortunately I only have one picture (from a camera phone), so he's a little hard to see, but it's the best I can do at the moment. Congratulations, guys! I can't wait to meet him in person!

Introducing... Preston Michael

And not to be outdone...

Proud big brother, Payton Ray. (In his halloween best!)

My happy place...

On a much happier note, I wanted to share with you all that this past weekend I took Irie to an Ice Cream Social that her doggie daycare was putting on. She got to indulge in peanut butter flavored, doggie approved ice-cream, play in the nearby river and participate in dog games.

She loved every minute of it. Especially the ice cream that she woofed (hehehe) down. But the highlight of the day for me was when she won the "Longest sit" contest.

Granted it was a three way tie, but she was still amazing! She sat by my side without moving through little kids jumping around in front of her, other dogs walking by, a tennis ball being thrown and more. I was super impressed! The other two dogs that also won were being coaxed by owners who had treats in hand, so I consider her the real winner.

We've still got plenty of work to do, but we've come along way from beginning obedience where I couldn't get her to stay for anything. :-)

And so it begins...

I've been keeping a bit of a low profile surrounding politics lately. Mostly because (and some of you will laugh at this), I don't like to fight about politics. I'm happy to talk to people that share my views, but at the slightest hint that people don't - I would much rather walk away. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but I do know that politics get me heated up quicker than just about anything else. It actually makes me physically ill to hear people say things that I vehemently disagree with.

Anyway, after Sarah Palin's speech last night - I was definitely sick. Not because of anything she really said - there wasn't much substance there in my opinion, but over how people reacted. "Oh what a great speaker she is." "What a good choice McCain made." Seriously ill.

I just don't even understand how people can say it. I didn't find a single thing she said even slightly awe-inspiring. She's governor of a minuscule town in Alaska, she has no real experience in politics, she's completely anti-choice, she's into banning books, and she didn't say ANYTHING except to deliver snide remarks about her opponents. And I'm sure that's not even the worst of what we will come to find out about Mrs. Palin.

Anyway, nothing has been able to make me smile about last night's speech until I watched this clip. I love the Daily Show. I know it's silly, but I do. Anyway, I really hope that people will do a little more research and base their opinions on more than one speech... and maybe see that being a pitbull (I'll be it with lipstick) isn't necessarily what this country needs.

Oh, and by the way, republicans... get your own slogan rather than playing off the democrats. OK, I'm finished... for now.

Rolling down the river

Ryan and I have a list of things we want to do before we leave the east coast. One of the items on our list was tubing, so this past Saturday we decided to drive up to a branch of Gun Powder Falls and do a little tubing.

Because I'm a bit obsessed - I wanted to take Irie with us, so on the way we stopped at a pet store and picked up a doggie life-vest.

The water was FREEZING, but we had a great time floating along. Irie quickly determined the water was really too cold for her, so she spent the majority of the time sitting on either Ryan's or my lap as we drifted down the river. We did occasionally throw her in and she did jump out on her own once or twice - mostly to investigate leaves passing by or other tubers. But mostly she was content to keep an eye out from her perch on our laps.

Unfortunately we didn't have any cameras with us out on the water (I really need to get one of those underwater digital cameras), but I did take a quick shot of Irie in her life-vest when we got home. Just adorable.

The most disgusting thing...

happened yesterday. (I'm not kidding. Don't read this if you've got a weak stomach.)

In the morning, I went into the kitchen to get something and noticed a bad smell. I figured it was some food gone bad or something of the like and didn't think much of it. However, when I went back to the kitchen a few hours later it seemed even worse. I looked through the refrigerator and on the counter and didn't see anything that seemed to be producing that smell. I determined it must be the sink and decided I'd go get some draino or something later to freshen up the sink pipes.

When I came downstairs after work though I noticed the whole lower level of the house was smelly. Shari came home and we set off to the kitchen to investigate. After moving the refrigerator out, we discovered the root of our problem. Somehow, and I have no idea how, a mouse (or maybe two, we're not sure) had gotten squished between the refrigerator and the side of our cabinet. It was truly the most disgusting thing I've seen in a long time. Probably since Dad turned on an old air conditioner and mouse parts came flying out. (Why does it always involve mice?)

I can handle lots of things. Bugs really don't bother me, live animals of pretty much any kind really don't bother me, but dead ones... especially of the mammal variety - yeah, I have problems with that. Luckily Shari has the opposite aversion - she can't handle the live ones - so she got the awesome task of getting rid of the squished mouse. We were hopeful that we'd be able to brush it off the side of the refrigerator with a broom, but ended up having to scrape it off with a knife. I know, I know - probably too graphic. I won't even go into the maggots that came with it.

But the good news is, now that our little friend is gone the house smells much better. I'm still a little grossed out to enter the kitchen, but I'm hopeful that over time the pictures in my head and the smell in my nose will dissipate.

How it happened, or even when it happened I have no idea, but with any luck we won't have any more repeats.

It's tough being a dog

This is how Irie generally spends her days while I'm working....

"zzzzzz"

"Why are you taking pictures of me? Is it time to play yet?"

"I'll just position myself this way so I can keep an eye on you and your camera."

Project IRIS

Ryan and my search for housing in St. Louis (now lovingly referred to as Project IRIS - Ingrid, Ryan, Irie and Sierra) is moving along, but it's mostly frustrating at the moment. I don't think I realized how hard it would be.

There's just not a lot of fun to be had when you're trying to make a decision about where you're going to live from about 1000 miles away. I've tried every site I can think of that might have housing we'd like, but between not really knowing the area and not being able to physically see places - it's just a pain. In addition there are a slew of people out there that are just monumentally unhelpful in this process. I simply don't understand having your house listed for rent and not being able to answer basic questions about it or have some (ANY) pictures available. I'm being pretty straight forward about what we're looking for and the things I get back... just a waste of time.

It makes it even more fun to try to find places that are dog friendly (both in terms of renting and places that the dogs will be safe and happy.) And, as with any apartment search, there's always that sense of "should we hold out for something better/more/cheaper or just jump on something that seems good." I hate making decisions when I don't feel like I have all the information I need. And I'm also just an extraordinarily impatient person when it comes to big decisions. Where I think Ryan could happily wait to find a place until we actually drive into town, I just can't stand the idea of not knowing where we're going. In truth, it's probably not that as much as I just know I'll just keep looking for places obsessively until we decide on something. :-)

Regardless, I know it will all work out and we'll find something that will be just fine for us all, but in the meantime... it's just frustrating. I do want to send a big thank you Kathleen's way for all the questions she has answered and for going to see one of our potential places. It's soooo helpful to have someone actually in the city we're moving to help us make some decisions.

Much awaited pictures???

I felt like I needed to post pictures from our roadtrip back in June, but as I looked through the few I had, I decided I didn't really have much to post. Guess we just weren't on our picture taking game. But here are a couple I decided I wanted to share for various reasons.

Irie had no interest in sleeping in her bed... until she threw up in it. After I had mostly cleaned it out, I put it in a plastic bag to keep the remaining nastiness from getting on the car. At this point Irie decided it was the best place to sleep. Weird-o.

On our way to Indiana from Kansas City, we stopped at a Sonic for lunch. While we were there we realized just how far away from "city-life" we really were when a tractor pulled in to the drive-in. We had a great time watching the young couple in the tractor exhibit their superior coolness.

This is the results of spending a day on the beach with a certain someone who claimed that sunscreen doesn't work on him. Shockingly, the designs in sunscreen I drew on him were still perfectly white at the end of the day while the rest of him was as red as a lobster. I love to prove people wrong.

This picture is representative of probably my favorite story of late from Ms. Lily. On this lovely evening at the cabin, Lily was introduced to S'mores. She was not remarkably impressed with the combination, but she greatly enjoyed the Hershey's bar. After she had eaten probably one full one, we all decided to claim the chocolate bars were "all gone." She retired to her chair without an issue, until a few minutes later when Kathleen pulled out a candy bar to make a s'more. Lily leaped from her seat, ran to Kathleen, snatched the chocolate out of her hand and gave Kathleen a look that clearly stated her disbelief that her mom had held out on her. It was hands down one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

The elections are coming, the elections are coming

Ryan and I went to see Swing Vote tonight. It was pretty funny and I mostly enjoyed it - except for the occasional moment when I almost had to cover my eyes from offense. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Kevin Costner - what else is new? I've been enjoying watching him since I was 6. And the actress they had playing the daughter did a really good job with the role, I thought.

So why then did I feel - well, let's be honest here - pissy on the way home? On deeper inspection, I think I was really bothered by the way the democratic candidate was portrayed. He was played by Dennis Hopper and I swear it seemed like he was the same character as in Hoosiers. Okay, okay - maybe minus being a big drunk. Just a total push-over, spineless, wimpy guy. And I know the writers were just trying to accentuate the differences between the two candidates and their platforms, but man, they made the democratic platform into a virtual joke. Maybe I'm just more sensitive to that side, but I didn't notice the same gross exaggerations on the republican side. OK, maybe there were a few, but not quite to the same level - or maybe I just think they're more true....

I guess I still want to believe that there are candidates out there that stand by what they believe and have not been totally corrupted. At least initially. I know the majority have, and I know that it is a game in a sense to get the most votes, but I still need to have hope that it's not always the case.

And it also served as a reminder for how close the elections are now. And how out of the loop I'm feeling with all that. I already know who I'm voting for. There's no question in my mind. But I've gotten away from paying any attention. Somehow I want to find a way to balance keeping up-to-date without getting obsessed and increasingly bothered by it all.

It's late, I'm tired and I have a headache. Never a good combination for thinking politics. But sometimes it helps to purge thoughts on the blog - even if it isn't a well thought out entry. :-)

Long trips and big steps

I'm finally getting back into the swing of normal life. The last several weeks have been, well, an experience.

It started way back in the middle of June when Ryan and I embarked on our whirlwind roadtrip back to the midwest, which included visits to Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and Indiana. As soon as we got back to Maryland (the next morning, in fact), we reloaded the car and headed out to Ocean City for a few days of beach fun with some friends. In the midst of that adventure, I got the terrible news that Grandpa Deetz had passed away. The next morning we were in the car headed back to Indiana. I ended up staying there for a week and a half while Ryan came back and got back to work and puppy-sat for me. On the 3rd of July I went out to start my car to take a quick trip down to Logansport to visit Grandma Murphy and found that my car wouldn't start. Fortunately I have well connected relatives (thanks, Uncle Randy!) and was able to have my car towed into a local shop to have it looked at. Unfortunately the shop determined it wasn't something they could fix, so I had to have it towed further down the road to the Saturn dealership. They, of course, were not working on the holiday weekend, so I had to wait until Monday for them to look at it. Thankfully, they were able to get it fixed before noon on Monday and I took off for Baltimore. No sooner had I left Indiana when I developed an awesome chest cold that gave me virtual laryngitis for a few days.

While I tried to work last week, I don't think I was really at full speed until this past Monday. But now, I'm finally feeling like I'm catching up and realized I need to do some updating on this blog.

So, first - the roadtrip with Ryan went great. We had a lot of fun visiting our respective relatives and friends. Our countless hours in the car allowed plenty of time for good conversations and amazingly we didn't get totally sick of each other! Even with no air conditioning on the trip down, Irie throwing up in the car a few times, our very different taste in music, etc. Not a small feat at all! I enjoyed meeting his family and especially enjoyed getting to know his pup, Sierra (aka The Gremlin) who currently lives with Ryan's parents.

Somewhere on the road between.... Kansas City and Waterloo, I think, we started talking about next steps in our relationship and came to the decision that we're going to move to St. Louis together this fall. All the fun details like jobs, housing, etc are still being worked on, but the plan at the moment is I will be relocating to St. Louis October 1st and Ryan will join me at that time or soon after depending on his job situation. I'm really excited and while there are things (and people) in Baltimore I will miss, I can't wait to get back to the midwest and closer to family again.

I know that people think I'm nuts for following my brother and his family around the country, but I've come to accept it and just roll with it. St. Louis is a good in-between spot for both Ryan and me since his family is west of St. Louis and mine is mostly east, roughly at equal distances, it just seemed to make sense. Plus it's still a city and offers many of the things we've both become accustomed to without being as big as Chicago. And it's cheaper! :-) And, I just can't help being obsessed with my niece. I just am. Really what's wrong with wanting to live near people you enjoy? I just wish all my family lived closer to each other. But maybe that's a naive concept!

Having never lived with someone I'm dating before, I'm a bit unsure about all of that, but not nearly as concerned as I thought I would be. Something about Ryan just puts me at ease, I guess. What a nice feeling that is! It gives me more time to worry about things like jobs and housing! :-)

One of these days I'll supplement this post with pictures, but until then, I'll just have to rely on my story telling to inspire pictures in your mind!

What to say

Popcorn popping, juice squeezing, ice-fishing, cubs watching, fun-loving, bowler extraordinaire.

Just a few of the things that I will carry with me always from Grandpa Deetz. I've put off doing a blog entry because I haven't been sure what I wanted to say. Nothing seems to quite live up to what Grandpa meant to me.

He was a tremendous person and one I will miss greatly, yet while I have pangs of sadness here and there, I just can't get passed the feeling that the way he went was just so perfect.

He wasn't ill. We were playing corn-hole and fishing a few days before. He'd been bowling and picking strawberries. Everything was as normal as could be. He went out to mow, apparently started to feel ill, got off the mower, leaned against an apple tree and that was it. I think there's a country/folk song in there somewhere about passing away under an apple tree.

I know everyone wishes we could have been with him. Could've heard his last words. Could've done a few more things with him. But overall, I think it was about as perfect as death can ever be.

I think I may be a little more sad when I leave the farm this weekend. While I'm here I still feel physically close to him. Just to be surrounded by all the things he loved, took care of, etc. Going out to pick strawberries this morning I felt like he was around. It's comforting.

Like Kathleen and Carl, I'm one to carry on tradition and do things in honor of people I've lost, so yesterday I gave blood at Red Cross as that's something that Grandpa always did. Giving blood is not my favorite thing to do - I have little veins and tend to always feel sick at some point in the process, but it's something I feel like I can do to continue to honor Grandpa's legacy. I will probably not continue the oyster stew on New Years, but I doubt I'll ever squeeze an orange or make popcorn without thinking of grandpa. And I think once I get settled somewhere a little more permanent, I will try my hand at some gardening. I think that's an activity I will always feel close to grandpa (and dad) doing.

I will be forever grateful for the time I got to spend with him right before he passed away and for those humorous little memories from that time. Like when he pulled me aside at the cottage and said, "I didn't think I'd live to see the day you'd bring a boy home." Or how he shook Ryan's hand as we left and said, "Well, Ryan... good luck." Or how he was pacing around the house anxiously waiting for all the slow-pokes to get ready to go bowling, looking at me and shaking his head.

I think Grandpa truly believed in life going on, no matter what. And not just continuing to live, but enjoying it. So that's what I will focus on - taking pieces of him with me wherever I go.

There's a first time for everything

Since I moved in to my new place I've had my eye on our back patio. It wasn't anything great to start with, but over the past month it has morphed into an even more un-attractive place.

Yesterday I decided that since I was off work today, I would made the plunge. First I logged a call to Dad to get some helpful hints on best weed killers and best low care plants. Then this morning I stopped by Lowes and picked up some basic gardening tools, potting soil, and a couple of flats of flowers.

I should point out that I have never really done any gardening before. I mean, sure, I've done a little weed pulling here and there and we planted seeds now and again, but true gardening - not really. And certainly not on my own.

I wouldn't say that I did the most fabulous job ever, but I think I made a vast improvement! Here are some before and after pictures so you can judge for yourself.

At least now I won't be too embarassed to invite people over for a BBQ!

BEFORE...




AFTER...

Weekend Getaway

I've been attempting to round-up pictures from this past weekend's adventure before I posted about it and I think I have finally collected the ones I want.

Since last weekend was a long one for us (and it also just happened to be our 6 month anniversary), Ryan and I decided to go up to Bushkill Falls, PA for a little getaway. As a kid during our New Jersey summers, Dad, Carl and I would occasionally make the trip to the Delaware Water Gap for some hiking but I think we always were on the New Jersey side. Bushkill Falls is on the other side of the water gap, technically in the Poconos. I honestly had never heard of it, but during his research, Ryan found it and discovered it is considered the "Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania". It's only about a three hour trip from here so we hit the road early Sunday morning and spent the rest of the weekend there.

We spent Sunday drinking white Sangria at a local winery, kayaking on the Delaware water gap (which neither of us had ever done), checking out the local attractions, and wandering aimlessly around looking for a place to have dinner. It was GREAT! Monday morning we went to the actual Bushkill Falls area and made the ~ 2 hour hike to see the eight waterfalls in the area. It was a perfect mix of a relaxing weekend with some fun outdoor activities and beautiful scenery thrown in.

Here are some pictures of our adventures..

Kayaking on the river

One of the falls.

A little rapids action.

On the trail.

One of the smaller falls.

A strange little gator farm that we hit on our way out of town.

Cuteness Quotient

I think I have met my cuteness quotient for the week.

The first is due to my adorable puppy who had me bent over in laughter the other day. During my lunch hour Irie and I often go across the street to the park to play fetch and let her blow off some pent up energy. On this particular day we were doing our thing when a young boy and his dad showed up, waiting for baseball practice to start. The boy got a little bored and headed over to home-plate to practice his swing. Irie was instantaneously intrigued. She stood and watched him from a safe distance for a bit and then slowly worked her way over to a few feet in front of him. Each time he swung the bat (at nothing mind you), she'd take off running as if he'd just hit a ball for her to go fetch. It was hands down one of the cutest interactions I've seen in a long time. Before long I wandered over and begin pitching Irie's fetch ball to the boy who would gleefully hit it into the field for Irie to go retrieve. Absolutely adorable.

The second happened this evening when I received a call from Carl saying that Lily wanted to talk to me. Apparently she was requesting that she go to Baltimore so she could dance with me. When he put her on the phone, my heart just melted. There's something about this little voice saying "baldemore" that does it for me, I guess. :-) I asked her about the new house which she assured me she liked and gave me a run down on some of the new toys she's acquired. I also asked how Terra was enjoying the backyard. In true Lily fashion she told me that "Yes, Terra likes it. She likes to pee out there. And poop." Well, of course she does. Nothing compares to a two-year-old requesting a visit. I just want to give her a big squeeze and kiss.

I'm definitely starting Lily withdrawal this week, I think. I knew I'd miss all of them, and of course her in particular, but I wasn't sure how it was really going to go. But I think now that I'm on day 11, I know it's not going to be an easy transition. I guess I should have known that - considering I had to make a trip out to Baltimore at least every other month to see her prior to moving here. I'm still enjoying Baltimore, but every day I'm a little more anxious to get back to the midwest. I can't wait for Ryan and my roadtrip back next month!

Doctor Doctor

Well, after all these years, Carl finally graduated from med school. And because that wasn't enough activity for one weekend, Carl and Kathleen decided that they should move to St. Louis at the same time. Needless to say it was a bit of a whirlwind weekend, but we all survived.

Last Thursday the moving truck (a huge semi) showed up at the house to load everything up. Carl had an awards ceremony that morning, so I came over to babysit and over see the moving process while he and Kathleen were gone. Lily and I had a great time watching all their stuff get loaded in. We watched the guys carry four huge boxes on their backs, move furniture and stack everything carefully in the truck. Amazingly everything in the entire house fit in the first quarter of the truck. Lily and I had a picnic on the sidewalk and when she got tired she opted for laying down on furniture pads outside so she could still keep her eyes on the activity.

Thursday night Mom, Dad and Zander arrived in Baltimore and Friday morning kicked off the big graduation day. We were up and cruising downtown Baltimore for parking by 7:30am. The med school hooding ceremony was first and other than being a little long, it was actually pretty neat. Then we had a few hours to kill until the actual graduation ceremony so we grabbed lunch at a local indian restaurant and then came back to my place to walk the dogs and try to get Lily to nap. That didn't exactly happen. Lily was much more interested in jumping on my bed than sleeping on it. Needless to say, by halfway through the graduation ceremony, Lily was done with sitting around listening to speakers, so we spent the last 1/2 out in the hallway running and playing on the payphone.

Saturday morning Dad, Zander and I took Lily to the great and amazing IKEA. It's one of Zander's favorite stores and we only had a little time to kill anyway. Lily was particularly impressed with everything IKEA had. She loved running from chair to couch to bed announcing how "Comfy!" each one was. I was impressed with how into it she seemed until I remembered she didn't have any furniture at the house. I think she was just totally psyched to have so many places to sit and lay.

Then in the afternoon, Mom and I took Lily to the park while Carl and Kathleen tried to finish up cleaning the house. Lily was quite the little daredevil and very impressed with her own skills.

We stopped at Target for a quick dinner (and gummies) and then headed back to the house. An hour later Carl, Kathleen, Lily and Terra were on the road to St. Louis. There were a few tears on mom and my parts, but all in all, it went fine and now, a week later, we are all in our appropriate locations.

I miss them already and can't wait for next month's roadtrip to get to see them again! It's certainly odd to not have family in the area, but I keep myself pretty busy and have a lot to do and see this summer so I'm sure that will help.

Bark Busters to the rescue

Many of you who know Irie, know that she has a few... neuroses. I know I'm biased, but I really do think she's a good dog - she just has some bad habits. In an effort to get some help breaking these habits, I hired a trainer from Bark Busters.

Bark Busters is a world-wide company that travels to your home and helps you with your specific problems. Their services are guaranteed for the life of the dog, regardless of where you live, and they just keep coming back until you're satisfied with the results.

I won't say that the results have been utterly magical (as they appear to be for some people) and it's definitely taking a lot of work on my (and Irie's) parts, but we're certainly making progress. She's MUCH better in the house and we're making big strides outside. There's still the occassional lunge at dogs walking by (especially if they're barking or being crazy), but she's much better around cars, people and squirrels. I think it will probably take another few months before she's really got it and understands that it's never ok to do these things, but she's definitely better. Meanwhile, I'm still having trouble juggling the sports bottle I'm supposed to use to squirt her if she starts to get aggressive, holding the leash properly, walking with a purpose, growling and praising appropriately, etc.

I've definitely run across my fair share of people that most likely think I'm crazy - and that I'm undoubtly mean to my dog. And it's certainly embarassing to be growling at my dog and squirting her with water - but I guess it's an improvement over having her lunge at them!

It's a process, but one that I think will really pay off in the long-run.

Here's a picture of Irie in utter bliss playing with my roommate's friend's dog, Lou. Isn't it funny how much they look alike?

New yet old

Today is day #4 in my new place. I moved in this past Saturday and have spent the last few days unpacking, organizing and trying to settle in - well, and working of course. And mostly everything is going well. I'm 99% unpacked, about 75% organized (the desk is still lacking) and I'd say 50% "settled".

I'm enjoying having a roommate, even though we haven't had much of a chance to spend time together. I think I would have been very lonely to go from a full household to just me. Irie is enjoying her new digs as well and we both love having the park across the street from us. Today, during lunch we walked over and played catch for a 1/2 hour.

In terms of settling in, I think I'm pretty much settled in my room. There are a few things that are missing - I haven't really hung anything on the walls yet, I don't have a frame for my bed yet, and I have a makeshift desk for the moment, but otherwise, I feel good in it. The rest of the house I haven't spent much time in. In part that's because I've been trying to get my room set up and in part that's because I can (for a reason I don't even want to try to explain) only access my remote connection to work when I'm hard-wired into the modem in my room. I can get internet anywhere - but not remote access. Weird. Anyway, that has kept me in my room primarily.

The rest of the house is also taking some adjusting for me because it's one of those places that's old and even when it's clean (which it's really not at the moment), it just doesn't necessarily look it. I generally like to live in places that are newer, have fresh coats of paint, etc because it just makes me feel cleaner. I think I'll get there in this place - just like my last apartment in Chicago, it will just take some time - and some serious cleaning! The kitchen is my other area of concern. I generally really like to cook, but I just don't like this kitchen. It's small and cramped, and the appliances are old, and while functional - again food and a lack of feeling clean just don't mix for me. That will probably be the hardest room for me to settle in, but it will happen - mostly because it's a totally necessary room! All these moves are definitely helping me determine what I like in a living space though - specifically I think I've determined that I really prefer kitchens that have seating areas. Screw the dining room idea - I like to have social time in the kitchen!

But all in all, I think it'll be a good move for me. I'm really enjoying working full-time from home, even if it has been a bit of an adjustment to not have as much downtime. Work is keeping me extremely busy at the moment and there are lots of times I glance at the clock and can't figure out how that much time has passed.

The neighbors here are really nice and I've already met several of them and attended a neighborhood party the same day I moved in. I don't think I've ever lived anywhere that people have been quite this outgoing.

I love the area and the proximity to things. I hate the closest grocery store - again, feels old and cramped. I miss having a Target very close. Ahhh, there are always pluses and minuses to everything!

Anyway, I'll post pictures soon. :-)

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day. And in addition, April is National Poetry Month. So, my office in Chicago (which can be a very silly place) decided to have a poetry contest. The only rule of the contest was that our poems had to be about trees. So, here is my submission, written from the perspective of Irie.

Irie's Ode to Trees

Oh, how I love to bark at thee
I attack your trunk and growl ferociously

I know you harbor those squirrels I see
And one of these days they will fall down to me

Though my owner yells, “Stop it, I-rie!”
I vow to continue my assault on the tree.

We didn't win any awards, but we did illicit a lot of laughs which is what we were after. Happy Earth Day everyone! Do something good for the world today!