Greg's Dog is a Supermodel

yDad and I sent in pictures of Buster dressed up for Halloween/PugFest to the Cincinnati Enquirer for thier Spooktacular Pets column. Of the 147 entries, Buster was 2/26 favorites!!

Article: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061031/LIFE/610310303

Buster:

Happy Halloween!!

This is the 2006 pumpkin (grim reeper). I'm mad about it because I carved it on Saturday for our guests and then, by Sunday (when this picture was taken) it had already gone soft!! It did look much better the day before...

This was the scary dragon that visited Jim and I on Thursday! aka Emily G

This little Tigger isn't old enough to be bouncy yet... he's got a good mom to hold him up though! (Jessy & Ben G)

Death-Defying Animals

My office has a huge, 15 X 5 foot window that spans the length of my office. Being on the 7th floor, I get a clear view of I75 traffic or what the weather is doing.

Periodically there are things outside my window that surprise me. Like this 2” bug that kind of looks like a cricket and is currently crawling up my glass. I’ve also seen butterflies, ladybugs and some other insect I couldn't place. How does a little bug get up 7 stories? Why would it want to go up 80 ft? How does it get down??

I've been waiting for today all week...

It’s FINALLY Friday! Yessssss!

ADDED: I'm a brat and forgot to mention my VERY special visitors on Wednesday! Alex & Sarah came down from Dayton to have lunch with me at Cracker Barrel and check out the new office. It was really cool to see them, hear the new news, and to have some good company for lunch! Besides, he is the most adorable baby ever so it's always cute to visit! : )

So, apparently I picked the wrong spam message to use as an illustration- my friends are way too silly to be serious something as electronic litter. I should have used an example like “I'm from some unknown African tribe and I have a lot of money that I need to have kept with someone trustworthy like you, even though I don’t know you. If you keep it for me I’ll give you part of the riches. First though, send me some money to show me that you’re serious about this responsibility” or some crap like that. Then I wouldn’t have gotten harassed about parts I don’t even have!

Anyway… our friend Anjali came into town on Tuesday to pick up some stuff that we were storing for her in our basement. As she came all the way from NC she stayed for a day and a half to visit. Nice time in general. I did miss out on dinner with her last night because I went to Tom’s to see him and hang out with Cincinnati’s newest resident, Jen. Tom put literally hours of effort into cooking her and I this really amazing breadbowl potato & veggie soup that made me forget I was in his kitchen and not Panera. Also nice was that Jen asked me to be one of “her people” at their wedding, which was very touching for me. : )

So, here I am, back at work on a rainy Friday morning. Tonight the family is gathering at Grandma’s for dinner and tomorrow Jim and I are hosting friends of ours for dinner. When we went to their house for the first time a few months ago the metaphorical bar was set pretty high- they have a beautiful “grown up” house, fancy contemporary serving pieces, and Scott made one of the most amazing homemade dinners I’d ever had. So, in retaliation, I solicited help from my chef-in-training friend, Martha, for ideas that would make a good impression but are still in my culinary league. Some of her suggestions I couldn't even pronounce, but all in all I think I picked something that will widen some eyes and not taste too bad either. I’ll keep you posted.

Spam

My company does a good job of blocking spam messages in my e-mail. There are hundreds per day that end up in our Junk Mail boxes that we sift through on a regular basis. What I'm confused about is who is getting a message like this one:

You can see you are getting older: gray hair, wrinkles on your forehead, glasses for reading, worse hearing and NO – the worst thing – Erectile Dysfunction.Maybe your doctor can help you with all these problems but we are sure that our Soft Viagra tabs can help you with the last problem.

and thinking “Wow, this is a great company! I should send them my money!”???
How are these messages really an effective way of advertising? Why are they still coming in droves?

Movies & Friends

I think I'm beginning to portray myself as having no life. Really, you should read these movie reviews and think “man, it must be nice to have free time” and be happy that I can detox with of a flick.

I watched 2 movies recently- one Monday night and one last night while Jim was at softball.

The Family Stone is one that Jim’s mom gave us and is a holiday movie about a woman (SJP) meeting the potential in-law family for Christmas. While the acting was fine, the first hour and a half of the movie wasn’t all that interesting and was very predictable. The last half hour picked up a lot and all the things that you guessed would happen came to life and did make you laugh out loud at times. There is no question why the whole trailer for the movie seems to come from the last 30 minutes. RATING: C

Last night I watched In Her Shoes because I didn’t think Jim would be interested. Total girl movie. Two sisters, wildly opposite, get into a big fight and one (Cameron Diaz) moves to FL with her maternal grandmother. The first sister (Toni Collette) says in PA pining after the friendship they once had and meanwhile meeting a great guy and getting in a relationship which makes her pine for her sister all the more. They eventually get back together and make up. RATING: B

Some other notes- I had lunch with Andy Martini yesterday to celebrate/mourn the fact that he got a new job and is moving his family to Memphis. Congrats again on the job, Andy, and a big “you suck” for leaving Cincinnati. ; )

I also had a fantastic conversation with Sarah F that made me feel much better about life in general. THANKS Sarah.

Weekend of 10/20/06

I am FREEZING! It is so cold in my office I had to borrow a blanket from Megan to put on my lap. We think the heater’s broken as it’s 66 degrees in here. Ugh!

This weekend was really full. Friday night Jim and I went to “our” Mexican restaurant that we hadn’t been to in a while (Casa Tequila). Turns out that in our hiatus they renovated and are turning the place into a Mexican club. They tore out the fountain in the center to clear space for a dance floor and have a speaker set-up the size of my office. I do not think we will be returning.

Saturday Jim went to help Dale with his shed and I spent 5, yes 5, solid hours grading midterm exams. Jim thinks I need to do scantron from here on out. We had dinner (tilapia) and then got all dolled up to go to the FireBall. This was an event that the historic Cincinnati Firehouse put on to celebrate Cincinnati’s firefighting history. I learned that Cincinnati had the first professional firefighting squad in the world. Pretty cool. We had our pictures taken in front of an antique fire truck and everything. I’ll admit that even though we didn’t pay (the $50/per tickets were donated to P&G via the Vice Mayor) I felt very “in” to be going to the event.

After the fireball we hung out at Mom & Dad’s for a while. Mike & Lindsay came home shortly after and she was wearing her first maternity top. Kinda scary to see. Mike back-handed complimented her and said “that thing’s a tent. It makes you look much fatter than you are.” He didn’t fully understand why we thought that was funny.

Yesterday I bowled out (124-180-135) early and hung out with Jim before I left to give a student the midterm orally. Following that I met the Jeanmougins and Cloppert for dinner (more Mexican! That made 5X last week). After dinner Mike and I hit up a bar where I drank way more than I should have and stayed out way later than I should have for a work-night. Yeeeeeeeeeahhhh. Sluggish this morning. He dropped me off at 1:20am and I fell asleep VERY promptly. He had to be up at 4:30 to catch a 7am flight- I have no idea how he did that. Anyway, as always, I had a great time with him. We actually talked about all kinds of things we should have talked about years ago. Conversation was definitely worth $82.50.

New Cult Member

Hooray for our newest blogger, Megan!

Follow this if you can… Megan is my first cousin’s ex-girlfriend who’s “not” dating him again. Further, she’s my co-worker and pricing/quote master!

Blog well and blog often, Megan!

Teeth & Queens

I went to the dentist this morning and am happy to report that I have no cavities! : ) I do get frustrated though because I feel guilty eating after getting my teeth cleaned and polished. Like I just ruined all the hygienist’s good work…

On a more fun note, Lori got sneak preview tickets to Marie Antoinette at the Newport AMC last night. We had Dewey’s pizza and headed upstairs to see the show. We had excellent seats mid-way up the theatre and center) and the place was full.

About the movie: Marie Antoinette apparently didn’t do much in her life. At least not according to Sofia Coppola. The movie goes like this: Antoinette of Austria gets married off to Louis XVI of France, Louie is a dud in the bedroom causing Antoinette and her family much shame and grief that she’s not knocked up, Antoinette gets cozy as the queen at the ripe age of 17, has an affair with a really hot general and walks around in gardens and hallways for about “an hour”, French citizens riot over the poverty in the country and the support of the American Revolution, royal family goes into protective custody.

Literally, nothing happened in the entire movie. Half way through you began to wonder when the movie will end because there was no plot - the flick doesn't lead up to anything so the movie could have gone on forever.

When the movie did end (quite abruptly) several people simultaneously said “What??” and then griping about how bad the movie ensued by everyone in the theatre all the way to their cars. Lori’s comment sums it up: “No wonder it was booed at the Cannes.”

Only redeeming factor – really cool costumes. RATING: C-

Skip Slevin

Jim and I bought a Movie on Demand last night per my co-workers recommendation, Lucky Number Slevin. Not so good – solid C. I felt like I’d seen the plot before once the whole thing unraveled so really I wasn’t impressed come an hour and a half later.

I will say that the directing was very interesting. It was done in Pulp Fiction style so it was kind of “artsy” in nature. Not that I think this improved the movie, mind you, but it was creative at least.

Racing at the Movies

Last night Jim and I went on a date to the movies and saw Talladega Nights (A-) at the dollar cinema. WOW was this a ridiculous movie.

First, it REALLY funny (I'm sure provided the southern part of our country 1-liners for the next 6 years) and it is impossible theatre not smiling.

Second, there were so many things that happened that were crazy you just look at the person you’re watching it with and shake your head. How crazy it got is what lost it a partial rating point, but overall your belief is suspended right from the beginning so you just sit back and enjoy the flick for what it is.

There was this guy to our right who was seriously going to bust a gut he was laughing so hard. Everything that came out of Will Ferrell’s mouth had this man in fits of near hysterical laughter. I think watching him enjoy the show so much made us enjoy it even more.

Looking Back

Jim was mean today and made me help him clean out a closet (which, I'll admit looks much better thanks to his efforts). One of my tasks was to go through some boxes of old stuff, one of which contained a whole photo album covering my senior year of HS. The epicture above was from Christmas Dance (I think?), December 1996.

How many of these folks do you know/still see?? I'm happy to report that though this picture was taken 10 years ago, I have spoken to 6 of the 10 people (including myself) within the last two months. Kathy, Angie and Joe have been off the radar for over a year, unfortunately, and 1 person, Kathy's date, I don't remember.

I think it is also kind of funny that though this picture was taken while I was at McAuley, many of my college friends can probably identify several of these people too! In fact, an interesting count would be how many of my college friends have crushed on/dated one (or more?) of these HS friends...ha!

Did you notice? Apparently nagging, guilt trips, and trying to look pitifully sad works! I’ve successfully gotten not 1 but 2 more people on the blogging bandwagon this week!! Please see the links for life updates from Martha (HS friend) and Jessica (Grade School friend)!!! Yeah!!!

If only these efforts would work when I try to convince people to move to Cincinnati. Perhaps I need to get more nagging, guilty and pitiful...

Sad News

Last night, at 6:45pm, Jim’s maternal grandmother passed away. She had 6 surgeries in the last 2 weeks so this wasn’t totally unexpected but unfortunate nonetheless. We’ll be headed back to Van Wert this weekend for services. Please keep Jim and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Fun Holiday Game

Weekend of 10/7/06

What a weekend. Jim went to Spencerville to help his uncle remodel the living room so I took the opportunity to help my parents out by dog-sitting all weekend (they went to the Biltmore House and Mike & Lindsay went camping, otherwise leaving the dogs alone).

Remember that I mentioned Buster was diabetic and in the hospital? Well, the final recommendation was 13cc’s of insulin 2X/day and a very strict diet of diabetic dog food. I picked Buster up from Aunt Mary’s on Friday afternoon after work and he seemed very lethargic. Aunt Mary was worried about him since he had no pep and didn’t even greet my uncle when he came home.

When I took him home he stayed like that through his shot and dinner. I took him upstairs for bed around midnight and shortly after I turned off the light he fell off the bed. Right after I put him back up he jumped off again to urinate on the carpet – very unlike him. I rushed him outside and watched him as he couldn't walk or even hold himself up. He’d wobble like a drunkard and then crash on his face. The emergency vet line said to feed him and give him some sugar, which I did, and that worked almost immediately.

The next day when he didn’t improve I took him into the vet. After a blood test they recommended I cut his insulin dosage in half! That dosage change made me feel justified for being concerned and like less of an idiot for worrying about him so much and wondering if I was overreacting. Anyway, he’s doing really well now, that alteration seems to have made a big difference.

Enough about the dog and sad things… On Sunday night Jim and I performed our civic duty as west-siders and went bowling for our league. My first week of bowling was really really good for me – mid-150’s- but overall jacked my average to a 119 after 3 weeks of competition. My previous high-ever score was a 170 which I bowled last year in our league. Check out the results of our Sunday night efforts (Carole was sick and took the blind of 10 pins below average):


We had a Bye which means we have to score at no less than 40 pins below our team average for the game. Blew that away! : )

Particularly fun Thursday

Yesterday was a full, non-stressful day. I taught yesterday and that went well. Several students had problems downloading the case study from the website which lead to all of my procrastinators not able to read the case and therefore not able to write their case study review. I was nice and granted them a 24 hour extension for which they were all grateful. Even though I feel like I might be too easy on them and let them have the extra day, it’s hard for my to be hypocritical as I would have probably been in their same boat- starting it the night before and finding myself screwed when the file was blocked. Ah well…

As soon as I came back from teaching I left to go downtown and walk the Purple People Bridge. For those of you not familiar with the Cl!mb, you walk across the top of the bridge above the girders. At it’s highest point you’re 150 feet above the Ohio River. They market it as thrilling as surfing, bungee jumping, etc. but let me tell you, it is not. While fun, I think it’s barely worth the $40 they charge you to do it. Probably would have been better if our climb guide was more informative with information. Folks in our group changed the channel on thier headsets to listen to another group that was getting more information about what we were looking at and the history of the river/cities/etc.

After the Cl!mb, a bunch of us went over to the Hofbrauhaus for pint-sized beers, or shall I say biers, and appetizers. I hear that they get pretty wild and fun on the weekends with German dancing and singing. Next time Viki’s in town I think we should go in her honor.

After biers we hustled back across the bridge to the Cincinnati side where we took a 3 hour Tall Stacks dinner cruise aboard the Harriet Bishop. It was a cool experience to be able to say I’ve done it. We saw lots of cool houses, restaurants, shops, condos, etc. along the riverbanks. Very pretty overall. I gave one of my students tickets to Tall Stacks and he said that he and his buddies had a really good time. Last night wasn’t the true experience of the festival because of the cold weather and non-weekend timing. Glad he had fun regardless.

GEEZ

I read three things this morning that have me blown away:
1) Greg, my little brother, is in a Beer Pong league… for money! OH MY GOSH. Viki, why in the world aren’t we in a Flip Cup league??? We should start one-

The International Flip Cup Society

Founded: University of Dayton, 1997-2006

Seriously, a Beer Pong League… wow. I'm jealous and want to be 21 again.

2) What in the world is going on with the horribly rude STRANGER at the grocery store that asked Carol to consider a 4-some?! What is this world coming to!?

3) This weekend I wrote Karen C. a check for the Playhouse in the Park ticket that she bought for me to the show The Catholic Girl's Guide to Losing Her Virginity. I couldn't help myself and on the memo line for the $30 check wrote FOR: Her Virginity

Karen sent me this little story this morning via email about her trip to the bank to deposit my check:

Oh, I stopped by the bank yesterday to find that the atm was out of service which meant I had to go inside the bank to deposit your check. The teller stopped in the middle of her sentence to another coworker. She just looked at the check until she finally looked up at me. We both started laughing at the same time. I explained and she had me write "Playhouse" a little bit above your handwriting. I think it's one that will make the rounds at the bank. :)

mmmmmmm... sugar seeds

Remember a few months back when I expounded on my love for marshmallow peeps? Well, now that it’s fall, my second seasonal sweets love is back in vogue: Candy Corn. Really, how much more wonderful could a treat get? The consistency is good, they aren’t messy at all (no sugar crystals, no melting chocolate, or stringy caramel to deal with), they take forever to get stale, and they’re oh so portable.

The only real problem with them seems to be that they are everywhere come October. There’s a bag at work, a bowl at Mom and Dad’s and on every end-cap at Meijer’s it seems. And they’re so frickin’ addictive! I can’t help but eat 40 at a time!

Shed Revival

All in the name of selling our house next year, Jim and I resurfaced the shed out back. Here are our results!