Thursday, May 28, 2009

Seriously

I had a post all planned out this afternoon. But, since I can't blog at work, I totally forgot what it was that I was going to blog about.

Something, I'm sure about the Typhus Fever that was discovered in downtown Austin this weekend. As they were saying on the radio, "Isn't that the Zombie Disease?" It does have zombie-like symptoms--gangrenous sores and the smell of rotting flesh.

OH! from having to look up the link to the local paper for the Typhus, I remembered what it was that I was going to bitch about: Dog rescue groups. Again.

Okay, this one isn't so much about a breed specific rescue as much as it's about a soldier who was off in Afghanistan when his wife and he decided to get a divorce. The wife moved out of state and in the ensuing divorce settlement, custody of the dog was awarded to the husband. The wife, though, decides she doesn't like this, so she gives the dog to a dog rescue group. When the dog rescue group is contacted and told that the dog was given to them by a person who no longer owned the dog and therefore the dog should have never been given to them in the first place, they have the audacity to tell the rightful owner he can't have the dog because he doesn't meet the requirements that they have for placing a dog with him. BUT IT'S HIS DOG! This isn't like he's coming in to get a new dog, it isn't like the dog is going to be living in squalor, and it isn't like the dog won't be taken care of (in fact it sounds as if the guy meets all the requirements the SPCA would set forth for any dog adopted from any humane society). Hell, they shouldn't have ever seen the dog in the first place if they ex-wife had done the grown up thing instead of acting like a 2-year old. It's just straight up a rescue group who is throwing their weight around because they can. They obviously have their heads up their asses. Of course, since they said they wouldn't give him his dog back, he sued them, and now they won't let him even see the dog unless he agrees to drop the charges. I have an idea--how about they give him the dog back? That would probably get him to drop the charges as well. Another case of people having their heads so far up their asses they can't make a logical decision.

Monday, May 25, 2009

A lazy day at home

So I started and finished a book this weekend. And am already half way through the second in the series. And it all started with a massive rain storm on Saturday.

No. Really. MASSIVE.

It caused the power to go out twice. And according to my rain gauge, we got about 3.25" of rain.

So I read a book for some ungodly amount of time (like 4 hours). And then I went back to researching stuff for the East Coast Vacation.

Then on Sunday we went to Jamie's Birthday Celebration at the Salt Lick. And followed that up with a showing of Star Trek: XI. Both the movie and the BBQ were great!

And then today. Today, I didn't get dressed. Because that's what you do on a holiday, don't you know? I did get some stuff done--like I booked all the hotels for the East Coast Vacation. The deal I'm most proud of is booking two nights at the Westin in DC for $104 per night because hotels in DC are EXPENSIVE. And how sad is it when the B&B you're staying at ends up being the cheapest place for the entire week ($73)?

I remember reading once that the average family took a two-week vacation every year. And the amount of money they spent on that two-week vacation was usually the equivalent of how much they made in two weeks. Ouch.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Lack of Blogging Mojo

Now then, I know what you're thinking--You're thinking that i've lost my blogging mojo. That's not the case, it's just more like I've been busy with all the aforementioned vacation planning.

For example; I just spent the last 3 hours researching what to do for the East Coast Vacation. Which is only silly because I KNOW what i'm going to do, it's just a matter of whether we can do all of it or not. So really it's been more like researching how long different things are estimated to take so I can figure out when we'll be in which cities.

And the sad part is that I've pretty much learned that we likely won't be able to go to a museum while we're in DC because of the desire to go to Mount Vernon, Arlington Cemetery and the Zoo, plus seeing the National Mall Monuments.

It is also unlikely that we'll take a jaunt through Delaware because it would add an hour and a half to that leg of the journey...

But I'm sure Shawn will like this: We'll probably be making a stop in Hershey, PA. If only because I don't think I can spend a ton of time out at Gettysburg...probably because we'll have likely already seen Arlington, and while one is a battlefield, and the other is a cemetery, I figure Gettysburg is probably very similar to Vicksburg in which it's a battlefield that IS a cemetery. meh, maybe, since I've been to Arlington, we should skip that and do something else instead...

Of course, this does bring to mind a funny story about me during my family's East Coast Vacation: We had gone to some cemetery as there were famous people buried there (I want to say Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott maybe). Anyhow, I was in my hockey fan phase and had brought along a sweatshirt that said "Get a life: A hockey life" on it. Of course the "A hockey life" was at the bottom of the shirt while the "Get a life" part was at the top. So, yes, there are pictures of me at a cemetery wearing a shirt that all you can read on it is "Get a life." Yep, that's me. Ms. Sensitivity.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Lack of Updates

Sorry for my horrible lack of updates...it's just that I have an insanely long list of "things to do" none of which I'm currently doing...nor do I think I'm going to do any tonight. that's what the weekend is for. Though I have to be honest, 2 of the items on my to do list have to be done before Saturday at 4 pm. Hmmmm....

And I really need to get a move on for planning of the Vacations. I've decided to put Shawn in charge of the Yellowstone vacation though. Also, he has it easy--Things to do in Yellowstone: See Yellowstone. I guess I should feel bad or something since he has to figure out all the stuff we need to take for the backpacking portion. But I don't. Mostly because I think he likes it. A Lot. I mean he's been surfing SteepandCheap.com for the last month, and he's gone and created the aforementioned penny stove out of 2 beer cans and a soda can. So I guess it's really more like just getting the rest of the stuff we need to take--food, new shoes for me, more clothes that are lightweight and warm, yet keep one cool.

Now the trip back east however, I think that's going to suck. There's just so much to do in Baltimore, DC and Pennsylvania, and we really only have Monday through Friday since we're chillin' with my 'rents for the first weekend and then chillin' with Shawn's East Coast Family for the second.

I do have to ask the neighbor if she'll watch our cats...and then I need to figure out what to do to keep the garden alive for the times that we're gone because as we all know, you can't just leave a garden unwatered for a week in the middle of the Texas summer. Hell, in some cases you can't leave a garden unwatered for a day in the middle of the Texas summer.

Also, you'd think that we'd be done with vacations for the year, but we're not. Shawn was notified a couple of weeks ago that he can only carry over 40 hours of vacation time into next year. And Shawn likes having a ton of extra vacation time on the books. So he's got 160 or so hours on the books right now, and gets like another 80 hours of vacation time for the remainder of the year. So that means he has to take about 3 more weeks of vacation time.

It's like we're single handedly trying to keep the economy going or something with all the money we're spending on vacations.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Officially

Officially I need to get my butt in gear and start working on two new baby projects. One for a baby to be born early October of this year, and one to be born in early/mid December. Thankfully I already know what I'm going to make. :)

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Yellowstone

So we're taking a trip to Yellowstone over the summer and Shawn has decided that we need to do some practice backpacking. Which is only kinda funny because we're still not taking everything that we'd need to take on the Yellowstone trip (like all the long sleeved shirts and everything). So I guess the only thing about this practice backpacking that's actually practice is the fact that we're taking our normal DSLR cameras and hiking 6 miles.

Update: Fail! okay, no, not really, but we did fail in so much as we only hiked about 4.5 miles instead of the 6.5. Shawn says he's totally beat and that WE need to start exercising lest hiking the 6 miles in Yellowstone do us in. I laughed at him. I mean really, the first day kinda sucked and I'm glad that we only hiked 4.5 miles in, but on the way out I think I could have done another 2. Besides, we did the 4.5 miles in about 2.5 hours both days. And it's amazing what a 10 degree difference makes. Besides, if this whole "we need to exercise" thing gets me to continue running 5 k once a week, then I say it has accomplished something.