Why another Dog?

Well a lot of craziness has happened around here this week and many of you have seen Facebook and Twitter updates saying getting a new dog, not getting a new dog, and now this morning I have a new dog. Here is the Story....

As everyone knows I have struggled with Sly's health since he was about 8 months old. He is a purebred Shih Tzu who was suppose to be 12 pounds, grew to be almost 20 pounds besides that he his health is guaranteed until he is 3. Well I wasn't going to "trade him in" for another puppy ever. Several times the vet has asked me to talk to the breeder to see if there are any know health issues with the parents or litter mates. Every time I get the same answer "all my puppies are healthy nothing wrong at all."

Last week Sly went back on antibiotics after being off them for only 2 months. After about 5 days on the medication I came home from work and fed him dinner. About 20 minutes after that he crawled on my lab and was shaking I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him until I found his dinner on my living room floor all slimy and gross. I call the emergency Vet the night and they wanted to see him that night, but without his detailed history I didn't think there was much they could do for him so I waited to talk to his vet the next morning. After telling her the story she thinks that he may now have esophageal problems from all the digestive issues. I had, had it at this point, so I wrote the breeder a not mean, but not a very kind email stating that not all of her puppies are healthy that Sly has suffered most of his life. After the same old song and dance she was like " I will just give you another puppy" I told her I didn't want a puppy Sly needed to be my first priority I wasn't looking for money, a dog, I just wanted her acknowledge that this had something to do with his breeding. This was the end of about 10 emails that had went back and forth and I was just upset so I went to hang out at a friend's house.

When I got back I had another email asking who Sly's parents were....all this time she had been telling me there was nothing wrong with the litter and she didn't even know who his parents were. I told her and reiterated again that I wasn't trying to cause trouble just needed help trying to figure out this problem. The next morning I had an email from the breed expressing how very sorry she was Sly was from a litter where she used one of her friend's studs and he came from a questionable breeder. Grant it she never use him again, but she could have told me that from the beginning. Not only that but the black female from Sly's litter was just put to sleep due to either complications with pregnancy or a brain tumor....well since they think Sly might have a mass in his stomach don't you think that information might be helpful?

She was horrified that this had happened and offered a toy 1 year old white male to me. She said she would be sad to see him go, but she felt I deserved this after all Sly and I have been through. I told here I couldn't take him from her that was cruel. After saying this throughout a few emails she told me she was going to have to get rid of him anyway eventually, so I said when she was ready I would take time. She said I could have him now if I wanted so I said that I would pick him up on Saturday. So there were a ton of emotions going on now because here I have knowledge that one of Sly's litter mates have had to be put down for a tumor related issue, I am bringing in this new dog and feeling guilty that I am trying to replace Sly....I wasn't really convinced that this was what I was suppose to do. After spending hours on the phone with my cousin Summer and friend Grace they both convinced me that I was doing the best thing for Sly and for me. After that I started getting excited that I was going to pick up this little guy in the morning.

My friend Mark and I woke up early and were trying to get everyone else around. We had kind of planned a day of it since we were driving almost 3 hours to pick him up. I had ran into some neighbors (Carol) telling them how excited I was to go and get my new boy....15 minutes before we got in the car the Breeder emailed me and told me she couldn't give him up. I lost it!!! I was in tears and I felt my heart rip out all over again....I couldn't believe this person was putting me through this. Well the great friends that Mark and Mina are they refused to let me sit around by myself all day being sad so we headed to Santana Row. As we were leaving Carol had seen my status on FB and couldn't believe it!!!

During our retail therapy (window shopping therapy for me) the breeder started emailing pictures of dogs saying that she would buy me another one and ship it to me...it was just too much for me. I told Mark he could talk to her when we got home because I couldn't. He originally wanted to just drive up there and get the dog even though she said I couldn't have it :-) Well we got home from Santana Row and I didn't want Mark to have to deal with this. I went back to my place and I was going to email the breeder, but figured I had my emotions under control enough that I could talk to her.....BOY WAS I Wrong. As soon as she answered the phone I started crying again. We had a good conversation and in the end she told me to come and get the dog I asked her when because I couldn't got through this disappointment again. She said if I could come tonight she would do it, but do it fast. Mark, Mina, and I jumped in the Car at 6pm and headed up to the foothills at 6pm last night. We picked the dog up at 8:45pm and were back in the Bay by 11:45pm. Carol called at 10:30pm and couldn't believe we had the dog....we were getting it, we weren't, then we did...IT WAS TRULY A CRAZY DAY! I wasn't even looking for another dog, but after all is said in done Sly loves him and I guess we have a good story to tell! Welcome to the family Nick!

Belmont Police have nothing to do!

I just had to share this fun story of how my day started out. Sly and I were on our morning walk as we are every morning and he was off his leash. This is against the law in Belmont. A kind lady told me to grab my dog, but at the time I thought it was because her dog wasn't friendly. She got close enough to tell me a police officer was headed our direction, so Sly Man went on the leash. Sly would have to do his business later because it is a $100 dollar fine. Well out comes our neighbor Chris with his dog Cooper and the police officer. The officer asks if we knew him and we respond yes he lives 2 houses around the corner. Let me add that Chris has lived in that house for 28 years and I see him every morning at the same time and place walking Cooper. The officer in a not so nice voice tells him to sit down. This kind of confused me, but I went on with my business. Chris told the officer he needed to get to work and the officer said he needed to talk to him...but after a long time went by (0k maybe a minute) he was not speaking to him. I finally asked the officer "Are you waiting for us to leave?" and he replied yes. I was kind of taken back by this because here this guy needs to get to work and he wants us to leave a public place so he can "talk" to him. I asked the officer if he was serious and the other lady joined in with me in stating that the officer was harassing Chris. After I asked for the officer's name and he refused to give it to me we were both forced to take a set along side Chris as the officer stared at us not saying a word. Chris and I both again acknowledged the fact that we needed to get to work and the officer said he was "trying to get control of himself" When he "got control of himself" we were lectured like 5 year old children and told the reason we had to sit and listen to him was he was concerned that our dogs were going to bite him....All three of them were on leashes sitting next to their owners not doing a thing. After he told us he was responding to an alarm at the community center he finally let us go. He did give us a card and of course I called his supervisor when I got home. The best part was his supervisor is an idiot too as he suggested that I could have been a female drug user trying to break into the studios to get money which was the reason I was forced to stay and listen to Officer Lewis in the first place. I am even smarter then that if I was a drug user (which I am not, making the excuse more offensive) I would break into some place that actually had cash so I could buy drugs....doesn't take a rocket scientist. Also if I was a drug addict looking for money would I have a chubby Shih Tzu puppy with a Coach collar for crying in the night? I didn't buy the stupid thing, but it is Coach and I am sure it is worth some money that I could buy drugs with. Then the supervisor proceeded to tell me that Chris tried to run from the officer which wasn't the case since I was there for the entire scene to play out. Trust me if Chris had tried to run he could have out ran that Fattie officer very easy (Go get another donut Officer Lewis). It's good to know that my tax dollars are being put to good use here in Belmont California in a State that is so far in debt it isn't even funny. To make the story even better I know a lot of the artist that work in the building and the reason the alarm went off in the first place was when they opened the studio up for the day the person forgot to turn off the alarm. Don't you think that might be the first place you check instead of Harassing three innocent people walking their dogs who live it the neighborhood? Officer Donald Lewis you give Police Officers a bad name!

Reminders!

I love when I tell someone I grew up in Rural Idaho....they can't even imagine what that means. Usually it means you have about 600 people that have your back regardless if you are right or wrong. I miss that! It means driving 72 miles (a hour and a half) to the closest McDonald's, health care, and grocery shopping.....I have friends that complain that they have to drive 20 miles from the city to visit me. Really 20 miles is nothing....it doesn't phase me!

Sitting back reflecting tonight I realize how much I get caught up in "the rat race" and I think even more so in the bigger cities. I tend to get down on myself or sadly enough even forget who I really am because I am so caught up in the go go go life style that is around me. We are always trying to be bigger, better, faster, more successful, or whatever. When I am in those situations I dream of home....tonight the phones went out on "the hill" I couldn't reach my Mom and as I posted the status on Facebook childhood friends commented and assisted the best they could in the technical world to let me know what was going on "on the hill." On the same note I was having a bad day and I posted that I wanted to run away from life today on Facebook. As nice as that sounds one of my High School Teachers reminded me that the statement I made was not the girl he knew. I don't want to lose that girl and I don't want to run away from life I want to face it head on and whatever challenges may come I will face it. I may not always win, but I will always give it "the old college try" (whatever that may mean).

Chuck Moody, Cindy P, John Townsend, Kira Rolstad, Jeff Wright, Laurie Smith, Mrs. Henrich, Mr. Price and every other teacher and friend out there thank you for shaping me into the person I am today....you touch my life every day and I thank you for that!

Time goes by Quickly!

Swollen Face and a Crazy Life

Well last time I wrote I was so excited that I had finally gone out and treated myself to some long over due girly treatment...I should have been more careful about where I got my eyebrows waxed though. I let the nail lady do it instead of taking the time to make an appointment with my regular girl...Well let's just say I learned my lesson. Twelve hours after having it done you can see in this picture with my friend Bristol that between my eyes is already starting to become red and inflamed. Well the fun didn't stop there a few days later I thought it was a pimple and it really hurt. I had joked with a friend of mine that I had a horn coming out between my eyes. We talked about how pimples always show up at the worst times like when you are meeting up with old friends. I woke up the next morning and to my horror my eyes were super swollen. I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something so I took allergy medicine and went back to sleep. When I got up at there wasn't much of a change so I called the advice nurse and she advised me to seek medical attention soon. I saw my doctor and he gave me a topical antibiotic. That afternoon I took a nap and watched a movie, by the time I sat up and looked in the mirror my face looked like this....(which is not as bad as it was the next morning believe it or not).
By this time people are getting a bit curious due to my Facebook posts so I put this up mainly so people wouldn't think that I was cutting work and making up some lame excuse. Within about ten minutes my friend Karen who is a RN is on me to go to Urgent Care that night because of the swelling. It was late and by the time I found out where urgent care was it was closed and in California unless you are dying it is about a 4 hour wait in the ER. I figured it was easier and probably faster to email my Md and let him know the swelling had gotten worse. By the next morning finding my eyes was my biggest challenge and I was in a lot of pain since I spent most of the night rotating ice packs on my face. The doctor put me on Oral antibiotic that morning and about 24 hours later my face looked like the picture on the right which isn't great, but a great improvement over the picture on the left. It was two more days until my face returned to normal and I must say I will never return to that nail shop ever again even for a pedicure. I have an appointment with my regular girl Kimberly on Aug 15th and will continue to keep on schedule with her so that this may never happen again. I feel very lucky, it could have been much worse if my friend Karen wouldn't have scared me into getting medical attention because I would have waited longer then I did to go back to the doctor.

Lovely Weekend

I can't remember the last time I had a weekend and didn't think about work AT ALL!! I was so amazing to just "have a life" and hang out with friends enjoying life! IT WAS AMAZING! I don't even dread going back to work tomorrow, so what did I do to make all this happen??? I went out with some friends to the city on Friday night...not something I would usually do, but my friend Mark is an expert at giving me a guilt trip. Going out with Mark isn't like going out with normal people...one night we drove to this restaurant in Oakland and when we got there were told that we were going to have to wait an hour and a half for a table. Well Mark went outside made a phone call (he knew the owner) and we had a table in like 2 minutes later. The funny thing is when you meet Mark you wouldn't think this of him in fact he is really down to earth and a super nice guy who grew up in Oakland and worked very hard to make something of himself. He has an amazing amount of contacts from growing up mainly because he is just a GREAT person. I don't know why expected anything less on Friday night....as we approached the club with a long line I thought to myself "what am I doing out after 9pm on a Friday night", but in true Mark fashion we walked to the front of the line and were immediately escorted the VIP section of the club. It never ceases to amaze this small town girl from Idaho the lengths that city folk go to or the amount of money they will spend.

Saturday I paid for going out all night on Friday, but it really was worth it. I ended up taking care of myself by getting my nails, toes, and eyebrows done. I hadn't done that in FOREVER either so I was looking a bit tore up! Then hung out with some friends...I was suppose to go to San Jose for a coworker Birthday party, but I didn't have the energy to do that. So dualing pianos it was and it was fabulous...again not enough sleep but the time with friends was much needed. I really need to get out more....

Sunday was left to clean up this apartment which was much overdue. Now that it is done I feel I can face the week head on. Tomorrow morning is up and at them early so I can workout before heading to the office. If I can get through the end of the month sticking to the workout schedule I might just be tempeted to sign up for a Marathon again...we will see how the foot holds up, but so far so good!!!

Insanity...

Webster definition:
1: a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia)
2: such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility
3 a: extreme folly or unreasonableness b: something utterly foolish or unreasonable

I have heard a definition that I like better though:
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

I have several times over the past months said this and felt like I am doing this at work. I am trying to figure a way to break the cycle without completely losing my cool at work and trust me I am right on the edge most days. The funny thing is I go into these meetings expecting to get some kind of resolution and actually move forward, but we end up having the same circular conversation over and over again. What a waste of time...and with the economy in the state that it is now is not the time to be looking for a new job. To top it all off I am going to be eligible for my sabbatical Dec 08 and will be entitled to 6 weeks off with pay. I can also add my vacation time on to that so I will end up being over 2 months off....I think I can stick it out until then. Besides I keep telling myself I can use the time to look for another job.

So where am I going with this...sticking it out and collecting a pay check is really hard for me because I was raised with this crazy thing called a work ethic. I guess I am actually throwing out the question when is enough, enough and when do you just throw in the towel. I was also taught never to quit so in a way I feel like a failure for not making this work, but in the same sentence I am not sure it will ever work.