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DRAFT TODAY, POST TOMORROW: Some posts may be in draft status until I (aka procrastinator extraordinaire) get around to posting them.



Monday, May 31, 2010

Happy Memorial Day

My dad is a Marine. Rachel is a Marine. Grandpa was in the Navy. Some of my aunts and uncles served in the military. They may be crazy but they are still heroes. :D Thank you to all the servicemen (women) that protect our freedom.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Bowling

For a pre-Memorial Day party, we went with the westside friends to Sunday morning bowling and then a house party. A lot of fun, good group of silly folks, Taboo was semi-hilarious and I ate too many snacks and sweets. And my scores for bowling, well, I win lowest score: 62 and 71. I will never be a great bowler with my back, plus I haven't played in years and can only play a couple of games at a time, but I'll try to improve when we live out there.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Agility fun run

For the Contact Zonies year-end party, they set up a DOCNA Trigility course. One dog runs a short jumpers course, one dog runs a short Standard course, and one dog runs a short Gambler (distance) course. There were more than 40 dogs expected to run, and it was scheduled the same night as something at the pool, so traffic and parking was not optimal, but our timing was lucky and we got a close spot. I'm not sure what Cassi tripped over (her foot, Teka, a leash?) but she face-planted on the pavement getting out of truck. She was a little banged up but nothing was broken or bothering her, so we let her run and play a little.

I ran Teka on Jumpers and Gamblers and ran Cassi on Standard twice (least amount of jumps after her spill out of the truck.) They both did okay, had fun, always something we can work on. Cassi's course had the tire, her current nemesis, and she tried to go under it but went through it. I should work on wrap with her (and Teka) over the summer. I think we'll do some switch reviews too and work on distance with Teka, although I've been focusing on weaves for her.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

NAWBO Networking

I'm all networked out. I went to a lunch as a guest and the ladies were nice but it was longer than expected and the speaker's topic was not quite what I was expecting. I'm ready to not be social for a while. But that's not going to happen!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

FPA Symposium

It was all day continuing education. I was running early, so I stopped and got a drink at the Coffee Bean. Unfortunately, I was early because I went to the location we used to have our meetings at and that we just had our charity golf tournament at. Oops. So I headed to the correct location and was about 5 minutes late but people were still signing in and finding seats, so it was not horrible that I (the first speaker of the day, just to welcome everyone and thank everyone involved and introduce the next speaker) was LATE.

The day went smoothly but I'm mentally exhausted from trying to remember people's names and speak with people who searched me out (someone I used to work with at Vanguard, someone that interviewed me at another company and is no longer there, etc.) and, of course, listening to all the speakers. I'm learned now. :)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

ASU Alumni Women in Business

I went to a networking event (although I don't like people!, ha-ha) and it wasn't horrible. I met and talked with a few people, including a gal at ICAN, which I recently was looking at for a client who has multiple myloma (sp?) which is a really bad cancer, in case he needed additional support. I finally signed up and paid my dues to be an official Alumni.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Trial update

Today, I saw Dr. M for my 12 month visit. He documented my numbness. It is real! Everything was similar to other visits, until he got to the test where he sticks me with a tiny needle. The outer sides of my feet and legs were numb/dull.

After my visit with Dr. M, we headed to Hope for the long visit, including the peg test, the math test, and the fading eye test. Most noteworthy, I had an MS or senior moment. I went to do my pee test and forgot to pee in the cup, so there was only a little bit (but enough). sigh. Elena got my blood draw just fine, but it was a LOT coming out. Iram gave me all my meds for next week except the prescription I need to get filled. I have to remember that Dr. G's office is moving....

Then, off to Scottsdale Simon Med for my MRI. I waited over an hour but finally got in. It was pretty uneventful. I took a tiny nap until they woke me to add the contrast dye. My arm still hurts.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

We're baaack.

Red Tank was too windy and dirty. The porta potty blew over right before we left the hunt test site. We made it down the mountain, after a long delay for an accident, and poor Teka got car sick.

When we got home, I let the dogs out back, and put Kachina out with them so she'd stop coming into the garage, and then started unloading the truck. Mike tells me that he looked out and a black bird was attacking Cassi, and then he notices she has a black bird. Those birds tease her all the time--I'm so surprised she finally got one. But, eww.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Up North

We spent the day at Red Tank, between Flagstaff and Williams. Mike was judging Master level, which had a bye dog needing a dog to run. They chose Teka, with me to handle. We warned the other handler that she is not polite, keep the dogs separate. We did a delayed launch and all went well. I've never run at a hunt test, but it was a little extra hard because Teka kept checking in with Mike and I was trying to get her to go. The other dog was well ahead, until he went on point in the back course and I got her away. Then he ran past to the water tub and she followed. They were okay when she sniffed him, but then she got in the water tub and snapped at him when he tried to sniff her. It was just that warning snap, nothing that hurt, but.... He failed on his own, but I was disappointed that I wasn't able to find out if I could handle her out there. It is very unlikely we will ever run her in Master unless we can find a solution to her space issue. I was surprised by one of the people that said they had a dog like that and they just never did anything about it. I can't believe with the number of people we know that have been in this situation, no one can tell us how to get out of it. It is so frustrating.

And while I had Teka out, Cassi tore open the mesh in the door of her travel kennel. Of course it's the newest, nicest one we have. Aargh.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Scream like a girl

I came home from work a little early to get packed up for the drive to Flagstaff. I see Cassi standing on the fireplace bench, and she's not interested in me being home. I let Teka out and she joins Cassi. They are looking into a long black tube that's been on the bench for a while. I think, there must be a lizard in there, so I go out and grab the tube to slide the lizard out the side the dogs aren't pointing at. But when I grab and flip, a squirrel jumps out the top end by the dogs. Yep, I screamed like a girl. He jumped onto the wall and scampered off. The dogs went nuts and kept looking for it for quite a while.

Now I know who is digging in my rose garden. I already filled in the whole and it's there again. So I crunched it close again.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Agility class

Last class of the season, so we ran courses. It was a LONG course. They both did very well at parts and had challenges on parts. Teka still struggles on weaves, which Cassi got once but not the other time. There was a distance part for a jump, tunnel, then turn around over a jump to a teeter on the other side of the tunnel. Yep, pretty hard!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Take my $$ and give it to anyone that wants it

When I started at my current company, I was encouraged (by someone no longer at the company) to volunteer with a group called Arizona Saves. I thought it was a great idea--I would be able to practice public speaking by presenting to low income persons about topics like banking and checking, having a budget, buying a house, etc. After going though the initial training, I attended some presentations to get a feel for it. I started getting the list of available times and topics and was not able to make it work for a while due to either my schedule or their need for a Spanish speaker. Eventually, I went to another training. I think I paid more attention to some details I missed the first time around. I did some research and found that all the banks I checked would take a matricular consulate card as ID to open an account. I backed out of volunteering as I wanted to help low income Americans, not illegal immigrants.

So this article talks about certain locations in the US issuing IDs for illegal immigrants so they can access libraries, medical centers and doctors’ offices; seek help from charitable organizations and private social service agencies; and use the city’s public recreation centers and pools.

Why should they be able to access those programs? I pay taxes for those services to be available to Americans, right? I guess not. I understand the health and safety of that population can impact our health and safety, but why are we so scared to enforce our laws and our borders?

Friday, May 14, 2010

Immigration impact on Black Americans

Interesting perspective on how illegal immigration hurts Black America. I would add other low income persons, regardless of skin color, but I understand why this particular article focused where it did.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Guilt

I was reading my Facebook updates and see a post from my mom's friend, G, who has known my mom at least since I was a teenager, if not before. She knows that I haven't lived with my mom since I was 6 years old. The post says: Rachel...your pkg for your Mama came to my house today..she is comin' by after work to get it...thanks from me, Sweetie, for rememberin' your dear Mama on Mother's Day and now with this pkg too. ONE out of her FIVE is better than NONE out of her FIVE...so bless U


(Rachel is my youngest half-sister.) I was very upset by this post, and responded something like I was sending a card but was waiting for a photo so sent it late. Then I made a "joke" about her trying to make me feel guilty but instead just ruining the surprise.

She responded whatever...I ruined nothing..if you feel any guilt, wasn't MY doing...sorry

At this point, I realize she is not someone I want to deal with in my life, so I deleted my comment. As I did so, I realize that she is not my friend on FB (so I'm not sure how I saw her post; did she delete me afterwards or was it something else) AND she is not friends with Rachel on FB--neither is my mom. That lead me to believe that she was being passive aggressive, posting to someone publicly who is not even on FB.

The whole thing (on top of other sh!t I'm dealing with health-wise) really got to me and I ended up bawling for a while. M didn't understand why I let her get to me, and I really didn't either but I think it was because these are the type of comments my mom would make, at least in the past, so it just seemed so WRONG. I mean, who is this "dear Mama" she's referring to and when do I get to meet her? How is it always about her and never about what is good for her kids?

Right after this happened, I ran across this blog of a Christian lady that I found a little interesting. Mom, and presumably G, are very public about their Christianity. In one of the blog posts, the author says:

...one of the things I’ve just learned to take off is the guilt of other people’s anger. It used to be, just the suggestion that I was to blame for something made me assume I was. I’m taking it all off now. It hangs over my drooping shoulders and weighs me down. It’s not mine to wear....

There was also a card she posted that said: May the Lord repay you for what you have done. She goes on: Candy coated hostility steeped in sunshine, smothered in syrupy sweet insincerity and strung taut between the teeth of seething animosity–it’s the Christian way.

How appropriate.

Monday, May 10, 2010

What is love? (4-8 year olds)

Our twelve year anniversary is in a couple of weeks and I found this funny article called Love and Boogers, so I HAD to read it! There are some funny ones, but this was the best:

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is
different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.”
Billy – age 4

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Immigration Update

So the invaders and their supporters can wear and carry Mexico's flag, but American students at an American school are sent home for wearing the American flag?! Check out what happens to illegals in Mexico. We're not so bad after all...

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Agility class

Tonight's class was a jumpers course, with a side exercise for weave practice (2 sets of 6, with a jump). I was able to run it 3x with each dog. They did really well, and I improved on each run. The course had a good lead out, lots of "out" practice, a couple of good switches, and a serpentine type thing that had to be sent out at an odd angle. I did weave practice with Cassi before her run and with Teka after her run. Cassi did well after the first time and we practiced odd entries. Teka really started to pick up speed once she figured out that I had cheese and she wasn't going to get it for slow or incomplete. I didn't do anything too hard with her except off-side entry and she really seemed to get it. I should try the sticker on the left shoulder and a marker (like a ribbon or something) on the first pole to help them on entries for a short time.

Neurologist

I reported my numbness last week to my doctor's office, which told me to report it to the trial study group, which called me on Monday (my contact, Iram, was out of office last week) and told me to call the doctor--I guess they had already talked. So I saw Dr G today. He documented it and said all my tests he did were normal for sensation. He had a student doctor sitting in and explained that most of my symptoms have been sensory. Since I'm getting my 3 day infusion in June, and that process includes steroids, he didn't feel it necessary to do anything now. (I wasn't expecting anything to be done now.) I did ask about MRI since my last one was done sometime before I started the trial last June. He actually called Iram while I was there and they rescheduled my infusion for the first week in June (so I have to defer my jury duty) and then he informed me that the MRI has to be within 2 weeks of the infusion and he would prefer beforehand. I talked to Iram when I got home and we're scheduling it the last week of May.

Dr. G said I'm the first of his 4 patients in this trial to have symptoms. He kept telling me how he's not worried, I'm doing well, etc. Well, my fingers and toes are numb and I AM worried that I'm having progression. I appreciate that he's trying to ease my worry, but I don't think it's working!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Immigration Bill

As I've said before (here and on FB), I support the AZ effort to protect out state's citizens, even if I don't agree with every word of the bill itself. The intent and most likely interpretation and implementation of the bill is sound, in my opinion. Here are the ten dumbest things said about the AZ Immigration Bill (I'm sure there are more to be said) and the May Day mob you won't see in the mainstream media. Those of us in the Southwest are "used" to seeing these types of things, so we're not surprised--this is why we object to ignoring the problem or pushing amnesty (again).

Monday, May 3, 2010

Weave Seminar

I took Teka to a Weave Seminar. I think that was the right choice since Cassi is more advanced, but I did pick something up to practice with her for her issue of popping out at the #10 pole. We used the 2x2 method, and part of it was putting the 2 poles at a bit of an angle at the beginning (for entry) or end (for Cassi's issue) of a long set of weaves. Teka and I worked on the 2x2 with 2 sets of 2 at a good angle and reducing the angle but also starting her in different positions. For weave training, it was important to not treat from the hand, so I threw hot dogs or cheese on the ground for her. (Targets work also if you have a second person.) Anabel also had the channel method (starts "open" so they run through and then close them until they are normal weaves) and the gate method, which is great for increasing speed and improving footwork. We got to do that a few times. It's important to finish on a good note, so we quit while she was still going fast. Then she ate a whole bully stick while class finished up with a demo. I have a lot to practice!

Do Nothing!

This article reminds me that I should take time to do nothing.

Not in front of the TV, not going through my to-do list, but just nothing. Right now, the closest I get is walking the dogs or trimming the roses--that's my nothing. Although I love a nap!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Sophisticated investors

This article does a good job of explaining why the financial crisis is not about the "sophisticated investor" as Goldman Sachs tries to claim.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Recycling Cosmetic Containers

I knew about the MAC program (thanks, M, my fave shoe shopping friend) that will give a free lipstick for returning 6 containers. Here are a few more.

And Origins will take containers from any company, which is great for me since I am a Clinique fan. But maybe I can be persuaded to change to one of these companies.