I like dogs just a little

I haven't made it to the humane society in a while because I've been wasting my time on crap like finals and being sick. When I first started going to the shelter I would come up with names for every pup I met, but I guess I've gotten lazy, because now I just call them by their breed or some defining characteristic (this method is usually foolproof, but can cause awkward nicknames, like for Cocker spaniels.)

To your right here is Poopy Feet, aka "Poopie." He's a happy fluffy wonderful puppy, but had been slipping around in his kennel in his own diarrhea for the better part of the afternoon. And to make it even yummier, he had bad manners about jumping all over you. My satin evening gown destroyed, des-troy-ed I tell you! (Lab/akita mix)

And below is "Long Jane." If I had to define "athletic" in a video, I would show you one of her in an extended trot. Gor-freakin-or-geous! If this girl was a horse, she'd be worth a million. A wonderful stride, but not very into people and very drooly. Like eww. (Lab/pointer mix)



Below is "Sneaky!" She likes to back out of collars and apparently harnesses too (i'm impressed). Luckily she's boy-crazy, and after escaping she ran over to a group of men and let me catch her while she was flirting. Strangely her official name is Akita, but she doesn't have a drop of akita in her; all pit bull, shar pei and shepherd. She's a great buddy once she figures out you've got a slip lead.










Below is "Weimie." She's a pretty ho-hum, tad chubby, middle-aged girl. She was delighted when I took that gentle leader off. They had it on way too tight, and apparently decided she should wear it 24-7. Ooo, she loved getting that face scratched. She's not even much of a puller (once she gets off some steam).













This yellow lab is Mr. Crazy. you can kinda see it in his eyes. Yeah, total nut ball, but pretty out of shape so it didn't take too long to get him behavin'. He wanted to go swimming! He's one of those leap off the banks regardless of depth types. He was soo proud of himself for fetching an old soda bottle. Just needed a job, this one. Well, and maybe a little bit of tranquilizer.

I cleverly knighted the fellow "Beaglie." He's kinda tubby, but oh so cute. It was hilarious when he'd get on a bunny scent because he'd start yowling. I got some wierd looks running behind a dog who was yowling at mysterious intervals. His sniffing noises brought to mind a very hungry Jabba the Hut eating borscht. This dude has more than a little hound dog in him. Gotta love him. (beagle/dachshund)

You know it's too humid when

...you come in from a run someone takes one look at you and asks if it's raining, and the answer is no.

The Rand computer lab is soooo far away, but it has lots of windows and they're looking out at the gorgeous forest. Good trade off. Also, there are no Apples. You can't right click with Apples. That just pisses me off.

I got an amazing Dust Buster today at Target! 9.6 volts baby! Unfortunately I have to wait for it to charge... I biked all my errands today, because it got perfectly warm and sunny. I always catch myself singing "I want to ride my bicycle" while I ride. I need to put an end to that. Tess is feeling much better with her new shifter, but Ruby's still having some derailer troubles. Alas.

I got really hungry and went ape shit on the banana chips, whoops. Now i feel kinda yucky and I'm gonna have to put off that run for a bit. Banana chips are delicious unless you eat more than 7 of them, and then there's this weird aftertaste. They're the first food I've found that Phil shows more enthusiasm for than Harriet does (she's usually a labrador about food). Maybe I can fatten Phil up a bit.

I've been sleeping waaay too much. Yesterday I woke up at ten after 8 hours, then I took two 3 hour naps, bringing my total sleep up to 14 hours. Didn't have a bit of trouble falling asleep, and then I was planning on getting up "early" this morning, but instead I slept 9 more hours and completely ignored my alarm. Hopefully I'm not doing myself any damage, but it's probably a horrible way to prepare for the upcoming weeks of late nights, early mornings, and lots of homework.

I ate at Perkins last night, where everything is seasoned with butter and comes with a side (or two) of butter. Uff da. One would think that grilled tilapia, rice, and broccoli wouldn't set you too far back in the saturated fats, but Perkins begs to differ. And yes, I know it's disgusting to order fish at a Perkins in the Midwest. It wasn't fishy tasting. Well, I couldn't taste anything except butter, so who knows. Maybe Perkins' refrigerators are broken, and they were trying to get rid of a huge stockpile of butter before it went bad. Or maybe butter's just a great way to disguise the low quality of ingredients. Point being - gross (and a little delicious. shh, don't tell).

I've officially made friends with the previously terrifying parking lady. She's kinda like Claw, purple-hair lady at the cafeteria. Seems evil, bitter, and brooding, but if you reach out to them, this secret Minnesota Nice sunshine comes busting out.

The Face of Worship:

This is a rottie pup named Portia. Awww, mushy-squishy-so-freakin-cute!

Merry Merry Merry Christmas

HALL HEAP SHOPPING SPREE!! All my beloved peers have left the premises, leaving in their wake wonderfully FREE rejected crap strewn around the halls! I am now the proud owner of several really cute shirts (two in pink, my god!), a fantastic sweater, a top-notch TYR swim suit, two awesome skirts (one sporty pencil and one flirty denim), a gorgeous pea coat, and a great pair of salmon (fav color) boyshort undies! All washed and ready for a wearin'! Yee Haw! There were tons of nice t-shirts, but I showed great restraint as I already have a butt load. Oh, I got a pair of fuzzy-on-the-inside clogs too, which I was lusting after all winter. And some more coat hangers so I don't have to fold any nice shirts. And THREE great storage tubs. And a trash can for my recycling so I don't have to use that old paper bag. How fun is this?

I definitely drank too much water yesterday. I had to get up four times during the night for pee breaks, and had way too many dreams about bathrooms. The entire day was dedicated to packing, hydration... and nothing else. Which was absolutely awesome, and I loved it, but I'm really glad most of my days have a bit more on the agenda. I went through all my stuff and gleaned out the things I haven't used all year - one of the most spiritually cleansing processes I know of! I have a big box for Good Will of too-short shirts, pants with creepy wax or paint stains, impractical dress shoes, and that lumpy pillow with bubble-lens puppies pictures on it. AHHHH. Satisfaction.

Phil and Har went on their first walk today. Not a total disaster, but pretty stressful nonetheless. I'm covered in fur from their thrashing about, and the buns are sitting under the bed glowering at me. They flip out when i pick them up and harness them; i guess being pinned down and dressed doesn't come naturally to a rabbit : ) Although there were no wild rabbits around to make fun of them in their hot pink and green attire, I'm guessing their pride is deeply wounded regardless. As soon as I get my camera fix-ed, I'll take some pics. It's adorable, yet ridiculous at the same time. Next time I'm gonna walk them one at a time. They don't get that when the leash tightens they can't keep going that direction; instead they just lean against the harness and give me looks filled with malice. Sigh. Hopefully, someday, they'll appreciate outside time.

All the chaos of celebration weekend has driven away, leaving some wonderful peace and quiet. Phew. I walked down to pick some alfalfa this afternoon, and it was perfectly bucolic. I'm sorta gradumuated, sorta not, but definitely feeling tragic anyway.

Bella McHappy

i finished my studying early and was milling around online. found this pic of Bella at the Rice County humane. What a smile!

Make you happy they will

My two favorite undies brands are Patagonia and Tilt. Patagonia's ventilate like nobody's business, and Tilt's hug your bottom oh so sweetly. You should get some too.

Happy B-day Water Lily!

I wanna honor your mother. I wanna learn from your pa. I wanna steal your heart, Like a bad outlaw.
Yes please, Kieth Urban. Yes please.

I was sitting at breakfast today, and the realization came over me! My two favorite junk foods are... powdered sugar mini doughnuts and mac-and-cheese (from a box)! Thank god i finally narrowed that down to two, b/c you never know when you're gonna be desert islanded.

My wonderful pod "helped" me write my artist statement for color design, which is to say they told me to write a hykoo (sp?) and then shouted out phrases to put into it. hehehe. oh, i feel devilish shrugging off the yoke of authority so very blatantly! a beautiful group effort produced the following (in a grueling 2.5 minutes)...

Loose in lucid night

Petals fall the fractured calm

Breathless seasons bend.

Ahhh... Sooo deeply meaningful it brings tears to my eyes! Wendell will love it. The only contribution I made was a little word swapping to improve alliteration. How fantastic is bullshitting? Very fantastic! I whuv you whillwee!

There Was a Fire Fight!

Or there will be if I have to chop up any more paper. Some animals are driven into a rage by the scent of a rival male. Rubber cement now has this effect on me. I hope my distress manifests itself as ingenious artistic angst in these piece-of-shit paper collages. Probably not. I'm feeling super-duper burned out. Thank god I can take bunny-petting breaks. Nothing sweeter.

Harriet makes me laugh every day. She's pretty much a bitch, and I'm loving it. If I stop petting her to pet Phil she growls, and if I don't immediately return to her service she'll glower and bat at my hand with an adorably fluffy paw. When she wants breakfast (seven sharp!), she'll jump on my bed and hop circles on my feet until I feed her. And nothing makes her madder than a fresh litter box, oh boy. Worked all night to get that thing in order, hay bits over here, poopies over there, newspapers shredded just so, and then I have the nerve to dump it out and make her start over... every day! If she's sitting under the desk when I return the litter box she'll shove it back out at me, disgusted. Sometimes I push it back just to get her goat, and oo doggie does that get her grumbling. There's a website called "Disapproving Rabbits" on which this girl has a future. Here's a pic of a bun with a face much like Harriet's disgusted with humans face.

Bunny farts smell like cucumbers

In case any hot dudes are reading this, here's is an excellent summary of my marriageable skills. A preview of the potential amazingness:

A. I am so good at nagging! So good. I'm kinda like a personal nagging assistant. (Areas of expertise: have you eaten your protein today? did you call your mother? did you put away your dishes?)

B. I'm nearly totally socially uninhibited! Give me a couple of beers and every personal detail will become public knowledge! In fact, sometimes this doesn't require beers. The benefit? Everyone will know how awesome you are in bed (or that your ears are smelly, and you talk about waffles in your sleep...)

C. I give fantastic lectures on important life issues like dog food, prostate health, and pus content in American milk. If you spend enough time with me, you can hear these lectures over and over as I inform everyone I meet, and you can revel in the subtle variations.

D. I do great rants, especially when caffeinated. Here's a sample: I hate how some profs get shamelessly nonobjective when grading papers. arbitrary! illogical! harumph! They tell you that attendance will not effect your grade, and so you're like, "well super, now I can skip these horribly organized, waste-of time lectures, and sleep in an extra two hours." But then, oh the reckoning! They give you a crappy grade on a fantabulous paper! Sometimes college makes me want to vomit. Damnit, I only like to suck up to nice people. Argh!

I heart Environmental Enrichment

Walking, dazed
past cage and cage and cage
each contained an emotion
fear, depression and rage

each unique
one aggressive, the next is meek
a thousand lives locked away
with futures bleak

in stainless steel
a world surreal
no friend to touch
or sun to feel

entire lives kept complete
in 4.3 square feet
from birth through life
till last heartbeat.

- written by a lab tech at a primate research facility

If I was gonna get a tattoo...

Where is my Time Machine?!

Senioritis is an agonizing phenomenon. Well, technically I have Early-Grad-Junior-itis. Equally painful, I assure you. Just when you really need to tuck in for finals, the sun comes out and you want nothing more than to grab the social orgy that is college and cling to it with every graduating breath.

Oh, my boy bun has officially been named Phil (Phillip if he's naughty). I'll probably keep calling him BooBoo, but at least I won't have to introduce him as such (humiliating, poor whittle poopsie). I would post more pictures of their rabbity cuteness, but my camera is dead as a hamburger. Also, the buns are often too inappropriate for documentation. Honestly, I don't even want to know what they do when I'm not in the room. On the other hand, bunny foreplay is very romantic, with lots of nuzzling, ear licking, and what looks like chin-administered back massages.

I'm attempting to complete one of those really painful, sum - up - everything - you - learned - in - this - horrible - class - type papers. kill me now? As you can see, I'm taking a "break." Honestly, it probably looks more like I'm taking breaks from everything else to write the paper. But I have to keep my tea mug filled! And snacks are very important. And I really ought to vacuum, again. I love vacuuming! Few things are as satisfying as vacuuming (among the few: cutting doggie toenails, mucking stalls, and lighting Prof Walter on fire -- mmmmm, yes, that knee-length sweater looks much better in little-charred-flakes form.) oop, better take a pee break (lots of tea).

Oh, my hint of sickness has turned into a bacterial party in my lungs. I didn't work out for 3 days to give it a chance to recover, and this is how my body repays me! Ridiculous! I'm tempted to do intervals just to punish it. By the way Mr. disease-ridden person who gave this to me, I know who you are, and this is coming out of your brownie-points account!

PS - Thank you God of Flora for the coffee bean!

BunTastic!

It's the week birthday of my rabbit ownership career. What fantastic pets! Supposedly buns are stinky, but these dudes smell great. (they pretty much smell like hay). The white speckly one is Harriet (after James), and she's the lady, the alpha, and the big one. Her husbun is as yet unnamed (considering Phil, Edwin...). He's an American Sable and she's a Rhinelander, both fur breeds. such a lovely couple. they cuddle all the time, and it's usually adorable but sometimes gets a little R rated. They're both fixed, so I'll be sticking with two, thank god.