vegan chai

tote-bag full of meat

today we went to a baseball game with a bunch of faculty and grad students from our department. we tailgated for over two hours before the game, which i prepared for by: (a) eating a pb&j before leaving the house, ha ha, and (b) bringing a bunch of hummus, chips, tings, and cookies so i could nosh all afternoon if i felt like it. i also was pleasantly surprised that a couple of people had kept me in mind and purposely brought vegan things (and let me know about them)--i thought that was really sweet.

anyhow, when we finally started wandering from the parking lot to the stadium for game-time, we noticed people frantically handing out small cards and then little parcels that they would pull out from a canvas tote-bag they were wearing. of course we were all wondering about what exciting freebie was within our reach, until i overheard one of the bag-wearers proudly proclaim, "they're brats!"

i was speechless for a moment. random strangers carrying around a bag of meat and handing out bratwurst to anyone who wanted one. the idea just sounds so absurd to me. and perhaps the weirdest part of all? it was a promotion for some national bank i'd never even heard of. i mean, seriously. what will people think of next?

foster home lined up

welp, it looks like the rescue has lined up a foster home for our girl, and coincidentally it will be with the couple who did our home visit. they live only about 20 minutes away from us, which is great. they have two greys and two kitties, so there should be plenty of opportunity for her to practice being around cats, not to mention learn good manners from her foster siblings. she'll probably go to their house on monday, and then if all goes well, she'll be coming to us on the 21st (which is my birthday). we are planning to change her name, so right now we're working on narrowing down the list so we can decide (so that her foster family knows it when they get her). it's hard work!

one reason not to baleet your myspace page

so, i got a myspace page forever ago, and i used it for awhile, but eventually got bored and now i mostly forget about it. i've toyed with deleting it a few times, but was always too lazy to bother--plus, i'm one of those "just in case" people. anyhow, those of you who also have myspace pages probably have been spammed by bands asking to be your friend. i pretty much always ignore them. i just delete the friend requests before even checking the profile. i'm a jerk.

but tonight i got a message (not a friend request) from an artist, which i thought was kind of weird and interesting. i had never heard of him before, and in fact didn't realize he was an artist (rather than a random joe) at first... but when i read his message, it was relatively personal, friendly, on-topic, and not at all misguided. he pointed out something we had in common, told me to check out a cover version of a song he'd done (a song i love), and let me know that he'd be in town tomorrow night for a show. i clicked on his profile, and as soon as his songs started playing i was all, how have i never heard of this guy? he's awesome! seriously right up my alley of music-lovin'. i listened to all the songs on his profile, then went over to iTunes and listened to a bunch of samples, and within a couple of hours i had bought a [mumble mumble] amount of his music. and i'm really bummed that i'm already double-booked for tomorrow evening, because i honestly would have tried to rope my husband into going with me to the show.

well done, gregory douglass!

i likes my job, oh yes i do

today was a good day to be at school (for me, anyway). i learned that i've got $1000 extra money to spend in departmental funds, which is awesome because i want to go to a conference this summer (well, i kind of have to because they accepted my paper) and it's reDONKulously expensive. the registration is $300, the hotel is $200/night, and then there's the airfare. so, yay found money!

in the same meeting that i learned about the money, i learned that i'm going to get a shiny new iMac!!! (i'll spare you the obnoxious exclamation points and just leave it at three.) it's tOtally not my turn to get a new computer (i just got one last year at this time--a dell), but i jokingly offered my barely-touched year-old dell to someone who gets a new computer this year so that i could switch to a mac, and he said fine with him (by the way, this generous individual is the same person i was talking about yesterday. i told you he was nice!). i laughed it off because i really was screwing around, but i found out during the meeting today that he was serious and now it looks like i'm going to be an all-mac girl very soon. woo hoo!

and now i'm capping off my evening by reading a thesis proposal about companion animal bereavement. i love that this is a legitimate topic and that i get to be on the committee. i've already sent the grad student a link to IDA's guardian campaign so she'll understand why i'm removing all mention of the word "owner" from her manuscript, and i'm looking forward to helping with such an animal-friendly project.

getting a rise out of vegans

okay, i know i've talked about this before, many times, but it never ceases to amaze me. why is it that some people just can't restrain themselves when they're around me?

tonight i left my office to go to the restroom at the end of the hall. while washing my hands, i heard one of my colleagues (who had just arrived) talking to another colleague (whose office is across the hall from me). as i came out of the bathroom and started walking toward them, i realized that hallway guy was telling office guy about how he had been dealing with some mice in his basement(?), and i also realized that it would be best for me to get back into my office and close the door as soon as possible, because hallway guy has a problem with blurting out inappropriate things just to irritate me. i quickly but quietly got within a foot of my office door before hallway guy noticed me, at which point he said loudly and with gusto, "but thank god i killed all the damn things! i killed them all!"

w. t. f?

he managed to (almost maniacally) blurt these sentences out just as i was getting into my office, at which point i was so frustrated at his obvious goading that i just yelled, "fantastic timing!" and let the door shut behind me. once i was inside my office, i heard him return to his conversation with office guy, wherein he explained the lovely and humane (by which i mean torturous and cruel) method he used to kill the mice: glue traps.

HATERY.

okay, but back to my original question: why does he do this?! he's like a third-grader. this is the same person who likes to tell me how he prepares lamb on holidays, and who used to joke about eating my pet rabbit. and the weirdest part about it all? seriously, i kid you not, he likes me. he cares about my well-being, he has been helpful and generous to me, and he has been a big advocate for me. so what the flipping hell?

senioritis

i'm so close to the end of the semester, and so close to sabbatical, that i think i have senioritis. all i want to do is sit on the couch and help clean off my DVR, seriously. that pretty much describes the majority of my past two days. yikes. good thing i have to go to school tomorrow!

some basic details

thanks for all of the congrats and well-wishing, everyone. i'm still pretty overwhelmed and a lot nervous and a little freaked out, but since i didn't give any details about her last night, i thought i'd better give some now. heidi (we will probably change her name, but haven't decided to what) is two years old, and her birthday was in march (two days after avery's). she only ran two races, both in february of this year, and she placed pretty badly in both. here's hoping that means she has a terrible prey drive! heh. she's pretty small, about 60 pounds, and she's very sweet. she's really well-behaved on a leash, and when we took her to the big fenced area to run, she took off like a goofy crazy galloping silly. she's extremely cute. she definitely seems like an amazing dog and a great match for us, and yet i'm terrified. so that's probably all i'll be saying for a little while, until i start feeling less insane.

guess what?

i'm still too overwhelmed to say anything else! today was an emotional roller coaster and i feel a bit like a crazy person. well maybe a LOT like a crazy person. but this is heidi, tuckered out after a LONG day and ready to go to sleep in her kennel. look at her face! she's got a great face. this face is going to be living with us in a few weeks.

kennel day appointment update

we got a phone call this morning asking if we'd be interested in/able to come to kennel day earlier than planned. our original appointment was supposed to be tomorrow at 1pm, but evidently the 10am family has chosen a dog who's currently in a foster home, so they no longer need to go to kennel day tomorrow. we were offered their spot (which is the first appointment of the day), so we took it! i had made my peace with being the last appointment of the day, and now it's all topsy-turvy. i'm kind of excited because it means we get "first picks," but like i said the other day, i believe that if there's a dog who's meant to be with us, we'll meet him or her regardless of when we show up.

i also found out who will be there showing us dogs (i.e., which volunteers from the rescue organization), and they both seem extremely nice and helpful, so that makes me happy. the only thing that's bumming me out is the weather. it's totally crappy today, rainy and gross, and it's looking like tomorrow won't be much better. i was really hoping for a mild, sunny day. oh wells, you can't have everything!

wish me luck, and i'll report back tomorrow!

albie's new leg

let it be known: i love jenny brown (longtime readers may recall that i once propositioned her, heh) and i love the woodstock farm animal sanctuary, but this article made my heart even more mushy for everyone involved. what a pile of awesome people, for serious. and hooray for albie!

if you'd like to read more about albie, or find out how you can help support him and the farm, you can do so here. enjoy!