September 2005 Archives

I am racing at Ironman Coeur d'Alene this year as part of the Janus Charity Challenge. I am trying to raise money for Noah's Wish.

Noah's Wish is a non-profit that goes into disaster areas to rescue stranded animals. I chose this charity for a couple reasons. Anyone who knows me or reads my blog or has had to listen recently to my incessant ramblings about the Maddie Dog knows how much I love animals. These are the most innocent victims of any tragedy - they have no way to get out, no way to make choices - they rely on us for their care and safety. But what I love most about Noah's Wish is that its not just the animals that it helps. Watching hour upon hour of CNN's Hurricane Katrina coverage it became very apparent how many people stayed on the Gulf Coast for one simple reason - they did not want to leave their beloved pets behind. I saw one tough looking guy who stayed to weather the storm with his ten year old dog that he had had since he was 14 completely break down sobbing when someone offered to take his dog to safety and promised to reunite them. Thats pretty powerful to me. For most of us, our pets are part of the family, and it can mean a helluva lot - when you've lost everything - to know that your family is safe.

I don't meant to pressure ANYONE ... BUT if you feel like you can pitch in any amount of money, OR if you know someone who might want to help, click HERE.

Going to class is a whole lot more enjoyable this semester than it was last year. Of the three required classes I'm taking, two are either inherently interesting or taught by someone who makes the class a blast. I'm really loving the two elective type classes I chose and look forward to going to them every day. But the fifth class .. oh the fifth class ..

Its only once a week, thank god, but that doesn't really make it any less painful. Its late on Thursdays, two hours long, and oh so boring in subject matter. Its my only true lightning strike class this semester, so I can't really daydream too much, and yet I don't feel like I'm learning anything. The guy who teaches it is actually highly entertaining - he's like a cartoon character - big and sort of scary looking with a great accent and terribly dry sense of humor. Unfortunately, I have a helluva time understanding a word he says. I don't know if its his accent, the fact that I sit in the way back of the class, my questionable hearing, or a combination of these that makes him so damn hard to understand, but I really struggle with it. I haven't been called on yet (*knocking furiously on wood*) but when I do I'm afraid I will have to ask him to repeat himself four times.

Part of it is my own fault admittedly. I tend to daydream in this class. I hide behind my laptop, I play spider solitaire. I have no idea what is going on.

Every day that I show up is a huge victory for me because every week just sitting my bum down in that chair is a battle.

The battle commences in two hours.

The Maddie dog has been part of our lives for a week and half now and its already becoming quite clear how she is sort of changing the rhythm and way we live our lives.

She goes to bed early. And she gets up really early. And since we have had her I find myself doing the same. In bed by 10:30, up by 6. She's sort of like a new boyfriend in that, at the moment, my favorite parts of the day are going to bed with her and waking up with her - so I find myself copying her sleep schedule. Is that a bad thing? I'm now getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, am going to bed and getting up at the same time ... funny how much more energy I have during the day!

Another benefit of having a dog is that she's sort of like a people filter. In general, dog people are the kind of people we want to hang out with. I'm really not sure about people who don't like dogs. We love to take her walking downtown and right away we realize who the people we would get along with are - they're the ones who stop and play with her and ask questions about her and then tell us about their own dogs. She is bringing us closer together to friends that we have never really spent much time with, but would like to. A dude from my law school class and his wife, who I've always wanted to hang out with, have invited us over to grill (date yet to be set) and let our dog play with their dog in their fenced in yard. These are the kind of people we like to hang out with.

Having a dog has made my already active and outdoorsy lifestyle even more active and outdoorsy. My dog likes to go for walks, and I like to take her. So I'm now spending an 1+ hours a day just walking outside with the dog. We have a nice walk we do through a sort of woodsy undeveloped area and I love that she gets me out there everyday. Please note that I have also lost no less than 5 lbs since getting the dog - Josh calls it the doggie diet - I'm just so happy that I forget to eat!

More than anything, I've noticed that I wake up in the morning just SO excited to start a new day with the pooch! Not that I wasn't happy before getting her, but this is a whole new level of euphoria. I'm wondering when this is going to wear off. Life just seems so much better with a dog!

Dogs are funny in the morning. My parents have two labs and their morning habits are very different. The black one is up by 7 ... he runs around the house. Not in any manic sort of way, just a nice steady trot. You wouldn't even know he was awake if you didn't hear the bang, bang, bang of that big old otter tail hitting the walls along his path. My parents' yellow dog stays in bed until you show some sign of life. He will lay right next to you, patiently watching, until you open your eyes or yawn or do anything else that could be construed as being awake. And then he pounces. He lays on your chest and licks your face and snorts a lot. Its pretty damn cute.

My dog gets up even earlier. Yesterday morning she was awake at 4 (despite the fact that she should have been all tuckered out from swimming the night before). This morning she slept in a little later, but not as late as I would have liked. Usually she lays in bed and licks her paws for a while in a sleepy sort of daze. Then she gets up and goes to the living room and looks for some sort of toy, this morning it was her tennis ball and a stuffed animal, which she brought in bed and chewed on until I finally got up. She was actually being pretty patient, not barking or anything, but the constant jingle of her tags prevented any further sleep. Eventually I cave and get up and give her food and let her out and make my coffee. This seems to be becoming a pattern with us ... I have a morning dog, and she's quickly turning me into a morning person.

I was running out of stuff to blog about. The second year of law school is much better than the first, but doesn't provide much in the way of fascinating subject matter. Life had settled into a wonderfully calm rhythm of studying and coffee and riding and hanging with friends.

And then the boyfriend and I's world was turned upside down in the most wonderful of ways.

We have been talking about getting a dog for ... two years now? It had just never been the right time ... our lives were too all over the place, too chaotic. The boyfriend lived 30 minutes away and worked another 30 minutes away from that and I certainly couldn't afford a dog on my own. Then, a couple weeks ago, he found out he got a new job ... very very close to his current apartment ... which meant he could come to Looneyville a whole lot more often. And he would be making a little more money, not a ton more, but a little more. And life seemed more stable than ever ...

On Saturday we were bored and were needing a serious doggie fix so we decided to drive to the Big City to work the pet store circuit. Where there are pet stores there are always dogs to play with ... the operative word here being play, NOT purchase.

So we stopped at PetSmart and they were having an adoption day with a couple local shelters. Josh had run into the store next door for a second and was going to meet me in the pet store. We had no idea our lives were about to change drastically.

I saw her the second I walked in. There may as well have been a spot light on her because my eyes went straight to her. Were there any other dogs there? I didn't even know. I went right to her and sat down. She put her head in my lap and wagged her tail and I was in love. I knew ... I just knew that this was the one.

As much as the boyfriend and I LOVE dogs, we had a lot of specfics in mind for what we wanted our first dog to be. Criteria number one was that she had to be a runner. We wanted a medium-ish size dog who was around a year old. She absolutely had to get along with other dogs and could not be aggressive towards people. She had to be quiet and fairly calm and do ok in an 1100 square foot apartment. She had to be a bed sleeper. She had to not want to kill my guinea pigs.

The dog I saw when I walked into PetSmart was a 60 pound, one-ish year old black lab with amber eyes and a white blaze down her chest. Pure lab. Absolutely gorgeous dog. She was as sweet as could be and amazingly calm despite the madness around her. My parents have two labs, so I know that not all of them like to run. But this one was small and slender and just had that runner look about her.

We sat and played with her for an hour. Totally in love, not thinking we would be taking her home. The adoption people started talking to us more seriously. Are you looking for a dog? Whay makes you say you're "not ready"? Have you had labs before?. We told them about how I live in an apartment and am in law school and don't have a yard and have guinea pigs ... all the things we used as excuses for so long ... and they looked at us and said "umm ... yeah? so?". They asked how much exercise she would get and when we told them we were runners, they practically beamed. For an hour we went back and forth about whether we were ready for this ... and then they made an offer we couldn't refuse.

We NEVER do this, but we just have such a good feeling about you guys and you seem to have such a good connection with her ... why don't you take her tonight and talk about it and just see how she fits in at your place ... see how she reacts to the guinea pigs ... talk about it ... and then we'll come out and do the home check tomorrow and see how things are going ...

And just like that, Miss Madison entered our lives.

I could go on and on about her. And I'm sure I will. Suffice to say, she has proven to be everything we had hoped for. She is very very mellow for a lab and has yet to cause any problems in the apartment. She is quiet and calm and very well behaved. She is the most affectionate dog I have ever met (and I have met a LOT of dogs!) and will lay with her head in your lap for hours. She sleeps in bed snuggled in between Josh and I and snores all night. She loves going for walks and is showing promise as a running companion.

She has already made five trips downtown where she has been extraordinarily well-behaved. She has gotten along with every dog and person she has met. And everyone she meets completely adores her.

We've only had her for four days and I already have tons of stories to tell ... expect MUCH more blogging in the future!

And now, I play with my dog!