11 November 2006

Oh, yeah, one more thing.


The vet called. The biopsy they did on a lump Rocco has on his face turns out to be a mast cell tumor. He has to go in to have it removed (and lots of surrounding tissue) and to have a chest x-ray to see if it's spread. Once that is known we'll decide what else needs to be done, if anything.

Okay. Can this weekend get any worse?????


This is Mango. I adopted her on August 20th. She was the sweetest little bird. The person who owned her before never really let her personality came out. In the time I had her she was developing a personality that was way bigger than her. She was really cute and incredibly demanding. When she wanted attention watch out.

Thursday morning somehow she got out of her room. There was a screen door and it was latched and there was a footstool in front of it. But still she found a way out. Unfortunately, Nala the pit bull found her before I did. I thought I had got to her in time as she really seemed okay. No blood and after a few minutes she was moving around and seemed really fine. But as sometimes happens with injuries, the worst ones took a couple of days to show up. I came home tonight and found her dead in her cage.

I have so many emotions running around in me I don't know what to do. I'm so sad. She was only 4 years old and really just starting to learn to enjoy her life. I feel horribly guilty. If I hadn't left her out of her cage she never would have gotten out of the room. But it was something I did every morning and she usually ate her breakfast during that time. I don't think her previous owner gave her a lot of fresh foods cause she loved them and would bury her head in bowl to eat. All you would see is her feet gripping the bowl edge and her little butt sticking up in the air.

I'm not mad at Nala. She's just a dog and was doing what dogs do.

I feel so horrible and miss her like crazy. I only had her for 3 months but she was so sweet and loving I got attached to her really quickly.

Okay, I'm crying the ugly cry. I've got to go calm down. I'll have this big cage in my computer room to remind me of her everyday.

10 November 2006

HAPPY VETERANS DAY


Regardless of political affiliation or beliefs no one can argue that we have to thank the veterans or we would not be enjoying the things we have today.

Both my father and grandfather were veterans of WWII and WWI respectively.

My husband is a veteran of Vietnam.

I did a brief stint in the Army but it was during a time of peace so I don't really consider myself a veteran.

If you see a serviceperson or veteran today, be sure to thank them for their service to our country.

09 November 2006

Because it really is all about me.

Today I've decided to entertain you with a little of my life.

First, there are a couple of things I absolutely hate. Grocery shopping. Doing laundry. Doing dishes. Getting gas. To me these things are the biggest waste of time because you have to do them over and over and over and over......... They are never done.

Second, I'm a lab rat. I say that in the most loving way. Anyway who has ever worked in a lab will know what I mean. You feel like a rat sometimes running around in a maze.

In lab work the one seemingly constant is dishes. Easily 1/3 of my day revolves around dishes. Using, washing, moving, putting away, breaking. It truly is never ending. My husband laughs at me cause I hate doing dishes so much yet have a job where that's a large part of my day. Other than the dishes, I love my job.

So what was delivered to the lab this morning???? A dishwasher!!! We got a little portable Kenmore with a cutting board top. It's so cute and so much better than doing dishes by hand. I got it all hooked up and ready to go. Then loaded it with everything I could find and it still wasn't full. Yeah. My endless days of dishes are over. I'm so excited.

Okay, back to work. I have to go unload the dishwasher - ugh!!!!

08 November 2006

I wonder if they get it.

This is a brief political post you may want to avoid.

I've stated before, I consider myself conservative, very conservative. Although, when my views are laid out I'm probably more libertarian then Republican.

Lately I've been pissed off at the republican party. They have been doing all these things to try and appease the Democrats. I have no respect for people that do that. I have tons of respect for people who stand up for what they believe no matter what party they are. Lately the republicans have been folding on their beliefs, especially Bush, and it just pisses me off.

Then we have yesterdays election. The Democrats have taken control of the House and they may well take control of the Senate. Do you think the Republicans will get the message??? You guys are pissing us off. Stand up for what you believe and stick to your guns damn it!!!

The scary part is now Nancy Pelosi will be the speaker of the House. That woman is a freaking nut job. Her, Diane Fienstein, and Barbara Boxer make me embarrassed to be in the same gender as them. They are freaking nut jobs and I don't understand how the people continue to elect them. Okay, I should talk. Here in Hawaii we elect dead people but that's another story.

So here is my recommendation; learn which way east is from all the places you go; order a nice prayer rug; ladies - get fitted for a burqa (I have no idea how that is spelled and don't really care) and get ready to give up all the rights you enjoy now. With these people in control there is no doubt we'll all be muslim (please note this is NOT capitalized) before long.

Tirade over.

07 November 2006

A must read.

I read this post over at Rice's and it sparked an excellent exchange between him and I. I don't know the answer anymore than he does but you know what??? Talking about it and exchanging ideas is definitely a way to start. Read it, weigh in, and think.......

On a much more mundane subject, I swam and ran today. I don't have any swimming program just yet. I'm just getting back into it so I'm just swimming 2x a week. I've decided to put off my 30 days of swimming until January. There are a number of reasons for that some of which include some traveling in the next 2 months and not wanting to have to stress about swimming. Besides, I've registered for a 10k, I need to run!!!!

Okay, so swimming was okay. I swam for about 40 minutes then went off to vote. Then on the way home from work I stopped and ran. I do have a running program so tonight was just a 30 minute walk/run. It felt good. No pain in the butt ;)

That's all I have tonight. I'm off to take the remote from my husband so I can watch House.

06 November 2006

I believe.......

I believe in the power of the human mind. I believe that if you can think it you can do it. Okay, within reason. No matter how much I think I can fly, I can't. But you know what I mean. The times when I've had the most faith in my ability is when I've been the best. Those times when I really didn't believe in myself and was just going through the motions are the times when I was not my best (how diplomatic was that???).

I have a fortune cookie fortune that is taped on my monitor at home. It reads: Your worst enemy is inside your head. I believe that so much. No one can bring me down but me.

Okay, so the last few months I've been bouncing around. I didn't really believe I could do anything. I wasn't giving my best effort to anything. I kept switching things up. It just wasn't working. The last time I was really focused on a goal was the Tinman Triathlon and I did great in it (okay, great for me :). After that I just kind of lost it. My efforts were only half hearted and I really didn't have any faith in myself.

That changed over the weekend. I sat down yesterday and really worked on myself. I went over what I really, really want to accomplish the next couple of months and where I want to go. I have big plans for my tris next year but I need to work on them now. I examined what I needed to work on most (my run) and the best way to do that (sign up for a race).

So I have my first race picked out. It's a 10k on New Years Day. I then sat and worked out a comprehensive training schedule for the next 2 months. I have a goal and the training is structured around that goal. I have other things I want to do (swimming, weight training) and I have worked all those factors in.

I was very realistic in my time commitments and tried to be brutally honest in what I thought I could accomplish in 2 months. I think believe I have a good, workable plan that I can stick to.

So for the next 2 months it's all sunshine and flowers. I believe I can do this and I believe I will.

05 November 2006

I blew it.

I blew the posting everyday and I blew the 30 days of swimming. UGH!!!!!

First, yesterday was crazy busy. I had a ton of errands to run and by the time I got a chance to sit down at the computer I had nothing to say - too tired. But that also explains why I didn't swim. Who knew the 2 pools in my area don't open until 1 p.m. How ridiculous is that???

I headed out early to get my swim in before my errands started. The Y is closed. That's okay, there's a community pool. Ummm, yeah, not open either. WTF????? That's okay. I live on an island I can swim in the ocean. Ummmm, yeah, not so much. The rains the past week have turned much of the near shore area brown. As a water chemist I know what's in that brown water and it ain't going to be me!!! I could have traveled to the other side of the island and swam there but that would have made my day just that much longer. So I decided to bail on the swimming and try and get my errands done.

By the time errands were run and chores were done I was exhausted and had nothing intelligent to say. I put on IMFL and watched some of the bloggers finish (love being 5 hours behind :).

So today I have the same issues with the pool/ocean so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Again, I could drive to the other side of the island but driving 45 minutes for a 30 minute swim seems just plain silly. Maybe I'll push off the 30 days of swimming for just a little bit. I should work the logistics out first.

I have also had a very low grade headache for 2 days. It's not enough to be really painful just enough to be annoying. I hate taking any medicine (even aspirin) unless I'm absolutely in agony so I'll suffer through this.

Okay, that's all I have to say. Today is house cleaning - ugh. Luckily it's a very small house.

Oh yeah, I want to send a huge congratulations out to all the folks who did IMFL yesterday. I have now watched IM Kona and IM Florida. I will be doing an Ironman I just don't know when. But a huge congrats to all who toed the line yesterday. Getting there is well over 1/2 the battle.

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...