Officially Technological

Friday, June 19, 2009

Props for My Boy, Josh

This is an article written about the children's garden my cousin, Josh, manages. I am insanely proud of his accomplishments, and I especially like the bit about being "slightly grubby and obscenely cheerful."

Bravo, Josh!
posted by Julie at 8:57 AM 4 comments

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Maggie Apologizes, Brian Forgives

Maggie has been blue lately. In the classic reap what you sew scenario, Maggie made a poor decision when she chose to chew up a blue pen on our new lightly colored carpet. Maggie's poor choice has had a ripple effect since our home owner's insurance doesn't cover dog damage with pen (though ironically they cover dog damage with red wine - can you believe it's so specific??), and since we literally couldn't get it out with anything less than slightly diluted bleach. So, we now have a very stern, white spot, in our very soft, creamy carpet.

Brian immediately put Maggie for sale on Facebook and even had some inquiries. I, of course, protected the poor dear. Could she have possibly guessed that this tubular toy-looking thing would squirt permanent blue all over the carpet when gnawed? I reasoned. Brian took Maggie off the market. But no words of forgiveness and/or apology had been uttered between the two in the passing weeks.

It was surprising then, when Brian and I got home last night to see that Maggie had gotten in the trash and had pulled out a couple of empty envelopes. We assumed she must have wanted to conduct a little business. So, Brian told her that if she wanted to write a letter, all she needs to do is ask for an envelope. The ones from the trash aren't very nice any more anyway. She acted very sad, and meek, and it turned out that she wanted to write a letter to the president of the United States. When she was questioned about what business she had with said diplomat, she said that she wanted to write a letter of pardon. She wanted to be pardoned for the heinous crime of staining the carpet with blue ink and she wanted to be restored to her former title of "Good Girl".

You can imagine that Brian was quite heartbroken with her apology, so he hugged her and told her she didn't need to be pardoned by the president because he had forgiven her and that she could go on and be free. So Maggie and Brian are reconciled. All is right again (except, of course, the carpet).
posted by Julie at 12:40 PM 4 comments

Monday, April 20, 2009

Eating Local

So, with eating local foods being a new fad, Brian and I decided to get on the band wagon. We decided to only eat food from Georgetown Square. So, we will be eating a lot at Ziffles Rib Bar, quite a bit at Peking, once and a while at Munchies, and in a pinch, Subway. I'm not exactly sure what "eating local" means, but I think Brian and I have cut to the heart of it.

In other news:

Happy Monday!

posted by Julie at 9:16 AM 4 comments

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Nothing to Report

I'm starting a new quilting project. Don't ask why. As if I'm not busy enough. But I know that Spring Break is coming up, and we're going down to see Beth and Ben, so I thought I should have a project to be working on for the 7 hour car ride.


I also got a new Zune. I accidentally broke the wheel on my last one and Brian found out that if you order them directly from Zune they'll engrave stuff on the back. So, he had mine engraved. I've been learning that I need to have two shots at each electronic thing I get. I had to exchange my computer once, now my Zune.... and I think those are the only two electronics I've ever owned. lol!


Maggie is doing pretty good. She's been really good about being left out while we're gone. She mostly just sleeps on the loveseat in the living room (which she's not allowed on when we're home, but it seems like a bearable evil compared to having accidents and getting into the trash). She sleeps in our room now, on the floor. She likes that. I think she'd be scared to sleep in Sam's room all by her lonesome. How's it going with my grief? Well, I think I'm OK. I washed some of his towels yesterday. :( I still haven't had the heart to clean out his kennel and collapse his cage and put it in the garage. I'm hoping Brian will do it. :) I've been thinking I'd like a new Sam, but I know there's never been a dog quite like him. That's why I want to get a dog from his lineage. :) Brian said he's done with Jack-Rats. But they really are very, very cute. I mean, look at this stinker!... LOL! Who could resist??


posted by Julie at 8:35 PM 2 comments

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Moving On

Not really, I just thought that sounded better than "Not Moving On". I'm still really bummed about Sam, but at least I can look at his kennel without bursting into tears, and Brian gave me a book that he made of pictures we had of Sam. That was really sweet. So, I am doing a little better, but still sad about that.

OK so in other news, my student teaching is getting totally out of control. I'm so frustrated. I think that's all I work on, think about, dream about etc. etc. I think it's driving me nuts. I think part of the problem is that I only have one class, so there's nothing by which to compare them. Am I effective? Don't know. Compared to what? Am I fun? Don't know. Compared to what? Have I made positive relationships? Don't know. Compared to what? Have I taught any math at all?... You get the drift. It seemed like when I had several classes throughout the day I didn't have this particular problem, because a bad day with one class was a good day with another. Ugh. Then, I am being observed literally the rest of this week, which is a lot of pressure and hours and hours of lesson planning (every time you're observed, you have to put your lesson plans in the official lesson plan template). Today and tomorrow, I'm being observed by my cooperating teacher, and Friday I'm being observed by my university supervisor. So, I'm a little stressed out. I also sent mid-terms yesterday, so now I have residual paperwork that accompanies those. Yikes.

Anyway, I would love to teach non-freshmen some time and see how it is with other classes. Better? Worse? The same? It would be fun to be a fly on other people's walls. Just so I'd have something to measure by. Although teaching is not really the type of field where comparing serves you well, it would just be nice to know that others are in the same boat as me.

Well, enough ranting. I promise to try to be much more cheerful the next time I post. Until then... :)
posted by Julie at 8:52 AM 5 comments

Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Streets Are Paved With Bacon

Sam and a "hat". It's actually a rubber ball that he chewed until it was half gone.
Sammers sleeping in the sun on the back of our Transformations chair

Sam and his fifty pound minion, Maggie



We had to put Sam to sleep this morning. It was really peaceful and the vet said we did the right thing by him. He had what the vet called a non-regenerative anemia. Basically, his body was no longer producing red blood cells. What happened was, he was bleeding someplace (the vet thought partially through his tumors, but also someplace internally), and his body stopped replacing his red blood cells. So, we had to say good-bye. It was terrible. My eyes are so swollen I can hardly see. But, regardless of how I feel, Sam is God's creature and now he's in God's place. I'm sure where Sam is, the streets are paved with bacon, and fenced with rawhides. And I'm willing to bet there's lots of places for adventures. Because a dog like Sam would like a good adventure. Preferably one that ends in a wild chase where his ears lay flat back against his little head to give him better aerodynamics (I'm sure he's thought that through). Yup, that's where Sam is. So, in loving memory of Sam, I'm going to end this post with a few Sammisms that I'm going to miss (some maybe more than others - lol).


Sammism #1: Howling at the sound of sirens (he will still practicing this the other night, so no matter how little energy he had, he could still muster up enough to howl at sirens).

Sammism #2: Sitting on everyone's lap (Sam knew no strangers. I really admired that about him. He was the most social creature I had ever met).


Sammism #3: Being bossy (let's just say... Sam typically got what Sam wanted)


Sammism #4: Sunbathing (Sam was known to sleep for hours out in the hot summer sun, belly up)

Sammism #5: Getting the squeakers out (even until he started getting really sick, Sam was ferocious and did NOT put up with squeaking toys. He could tear the squeaker out of a toy in 30 seconds flat - no joke)

Sammism #6: Out-smarting us (I mean, he was a Jack Russel after all, of COURSE he can out-smart several humans at a time)


Sammism #7: Out-smarting his Kong (somehow Sam learned that if he licked all the gooey stuff out of his Kong, he could put it on a hard surface, spin it, and use centrifugal force to get all the hard treats to come flying out)


Sammism #8: Two things Sam hated, squeakers and being cold (Sam would wrap himself up like a mummy in his blankets until he nearly died of heat exhaustion, he especially like fur blankets)


Sammism #9: He liked music (sometimes I would play the piano or put on opera music and Sam would lay there completely mesmerized)


Sammism #10: He was sweet (every time I was going through something, he curl up in a ball and snuggle with me)


Good night, Sam. Eat lots of bacon. I'll see you later.
posted by Julie at 9:50 AM 7 comments

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Sammers

Well, the dreaded day is coming. As probably all of you know, Sam has a couple of growths on his tummy that look like (for the lack of better comparison) huge blood blisters. Well, this weekend, his growths started bleeding. A lot. Not a great combination with the new carpet. So, we keep him bandaged up (which he's pretty good about), but it's still kind of a bummer because we have to take off his bandages to let him go potty, etc. etc. So, kinda a nightmare. So, yesterday we took him to the vet and found out how much it would cost to get the spots removed. Not only is a chunk of change, but the vet isn't sure if he is well enough survive a surgery. She said his gums are really pale and that concerned her a lot, and he's lost a pound since his last vet visit (for a Jack Russel that's a bit). So, she's worried that he isn't really up for a surgery. What she doesn't know is that this is Sam. He's a free spirit. He doesn't let little things like age get in the way of his spirit. :) But anyway, she said if his spots are melanoma, they would metastasize to his lungs first. She listened to his lungs and she said they were great but they were decent. So, that was hopeful. She said the same for his heart. So, it sounds like Sammy has aged quite a bit in the last year and a half (since he's been to the vet last). And he will likely not be around forever (believe it or not, when you have a dog like Sam, you do kinda get it stuck in your head that he's immortal). So, you can pray for Sam (if you like) that we can make him comfortable, and that we will have a better idea of what to do with his surgery. But most importantly that we can make him comfortable, because he's given us... well, a lot of laughs for one. So, we really want him to be able to enjoy the rest of his life.

In brighter news: He got a peticure while at the vet. His nails look splendid. I think he's really happy with them. LOL
posted by Julie at 11:02 AM 4 comments