Its been a while, but I have an excuse..

I can't find the cable to connect my camera to my computer, but AC found his card reader today so I am back up and running. (I hope that I didn't use too much technical speak for you - I don't know what the 'card reader's is called... ) Anywho, back on track, to sum up November, we ate a lot of turkey and bullied Jenkins with donated Halloween costumes. (He's a SpacePonkey)

Oh, and I made yams (no cans involved!) for the first time to take to my parents house for Thanksgiving. I think they actually turned out well, too bad Alex told me AFTER I was done cooking them that he doesn't like yams - I should have known, he doesn't like olives, or condiments, or pickles (are they condiments?) or cheese or ....

That's all I've got for now - except for (and most importantly)today is Ponkey's 1st BIRTHDAY!!! Happy Birthday Jenkins, I hope you enjoy the extra treats we gave you tonight. (We were afraid he'd eat the candles.)
In case you're worried, I have already been told by Homer that AC and I are turning into crazy 'dog' people. At least I can't turn into a crazy cat lady - I'm allergic!

Happy Halloween...(is it over yet?)

I wanted to get a Yoda costume for Jenkins this year - but couldn't bring myself to drop $15 on something that would be destroyed within 20 minutes (the plastic ears would be irresistable to Jenks). Maybe next year. If anyone stopped by tonight, I could have just said that he was dressed as a cigar smoking alien.

Don't look into his eyes, look away, look away..

A Venting Vanilla Latte

Dear lady driving the gigantic SUV, talking on her cellphone while in the drive-thru line to purchase 18 drinks:
Next time, please park your rig and walk inside to complete your good deed of the day for your co-workers. It took me about 30 seconds of watching you make your orders (while also on your cell) to note that I would have to wait at least 15 minutes for my coffee. No problem. I pulled my car around, parked and ordered inside. After making my order, I stood across from the drive-thru window and gave you dirty looks while waiting for my coffee. (Which you didn't notice due to your cell phone.) Had you made a 'normal' order or gone inside to order, I would've been halfway back to the office by that point.

Maybe I'm just jealous that I'm the only one addicted to non-folgers coffee in my office and no one else in the office makes 'coffee-runs'.... no, that couldn't be.

Seriously?

This morning, while driving across the bridge I found myself staring at the license plate of a Saturn Ion that read, "EARTHY". Unless the driver of the car likes to take their Saturn Ion off-roading through the mud - I can only guess that they are trying to say that their car is environmentally friendly. Isn't that like saying a low-fat doughnut (do they even exist?) is 'healthy'? Or a child throwing a tantrum 'happy'?
He didn't even have another passenger in the car with him. Put that license on the back seat of your 10-speed buddy and I will give you the thumbs up. Otherwise, you are a gas-guzzler just like the rest of us, leaving your environmental footprint just as large as anyone else.

Mario the Musician

The other day as I was driving home from my soccer game I threw in a Postal Service cd into the car stereo. As music goes, I am a fan of a wide array of genres and like to switch it up depending on what mood I seem to be in. I find listening to TPS calming in a weird way - until I noticed something odd about their music. All of their music sounds like it could be the background music in a Super Mario Brother's video. All of a sudden, while driving home, I couldn't get the idea of Mario and Luigi jumping in and out of gigantic green tubes, flying turtles, that wierd mushroomheaded thing and gold coins. I fear that from now on I will never be able to take TPS seriously - my brain will be too busy trying to get Mario Bros 3 out of my head.

A Near Perfect Weekend in Seattle...

Now that summer has officially ended I am very happy to welcome having more time on the weekends. My brother's wedding, gorge concerts, camping trips, soccer tournaments have all come and gone and life can now slow down on the weekends to a much more lazy pace.
Friday night started with AC and I going to Endolyne Joe's near the ferry dock. I guess I would describe the food as upscale homestyle cookin'. All in all the experience was pretty good minus having to hear the conversations of a group of young 20 year-old girls that were at the table next to us. I know that I can be a bit loud and rowdy when out with my girlfriends - I would be ashamed though, if we ever resembled these 'ladies'.
Afterwards we headed out to our co-ed team soccer game. I obeyed my doc's orders and did not suit up for the game. Alex and I got there about 10 minutes after the game started, just in time to see our team score a beautiful goal from about 25 yards out. Shortly after that the field's light went out - causing the game to be cancelled. Our team took this opportunity to grab a beer (we're really good at that!).
Saturday morning I was on my feet bright and early (9ish - I'm not a morning person, so that is bright and early for me.) I spent some time cleaning the apartment and playing with Jenkins until I headed out to the Fremont Oktoberfest. My favorite beer that I had was the Georgetown Brewing Co.'s 9lb Porter - EXCELLENT! This was my first year attending Oktoberfest in Fremont and I have to say that I will do my best to attend next year - it still didn't add up to the Father's Day Brewery Festival at St. Edwards State Park.
That evening Alex and I headed to my friends' house for dinner. They moved into a new house about a year ago and this was my first time making the trek to their neck of the woods. We had a great time, had great food and definitely enjoyed every minute of our visit.
This morning AC and I ran a few errands in our neighborhood and made it home in time to catch the Seahawks game - currently we're leading 14-12. I'm nervously watching as I type this. I think that the rest of my day will include laundry, bills and making dinner (something with asparagus) and maybe after that I will find five dollars!
Perhaps its the crisp sunny September air or maybe there is still some beer leftover in my system from yesterday or it could be that the NFL is in full swing, but I am truly enjoying my weekend and I am already looking forward to 5 pm next Friday :)

Perhaps I spoke a bit too soon....

So Wednesday morning I woke up to massive pain in my left shoulder, docs says I can't play soccer until the pain is gone....and perhaps I shouldn't attempt headers anymore.
:(

There is still some play left in me...

My apologies to my college friends, but I am starting this entry with a story about Germany...well, sort of. The other morning I caught the last 15 minutes of Germany/Japan game in the Women's World Cup and was reminded of playing soccer in a small town that had an opening on their roster b/c their star player had just made the German National Team. The best soccer that I have ever played was in Germany, 12 years ago and many pounds earlier. It made me miss those days. It has been a struggle for me in the past few years to participate in a game the I love and enjoy so much. My co-ed team keeps on moving up divisions, which is great, I'm just a bit nervous about playing in that division again. As for the women's team that I started playing with last season - I had a great game tonight playing a position that I usually avoid like the plague: Center-Mid, tonight was an ego booster that I definitely needed. I am a lucky girl to have played on a German-City team way back when - and I'm a lucky girl to still be able to pull out a good game every once in a while!

Ponkey and the Cone

Last week, while visiting the vet, Jenkins had a incident with a Dobermin-Pinscher. I'm not going to go into how it went down as I am a little disturbed at how my precious pitch-pitch could get bitten under a vets supervision. To sum it up, we went to see the vet about a skin condition and left with a small gash in the face with a staple holding it together. It looked as if someone took a paper stapler to his upper lip.
Yesterday, 4 days after the incident, I came home to find that Jenkins had been messing with his face-staple. It was sticking halfway out ready to catch on anything that came in its way. I called the vet and they said to bring him in asap. They took out the staple and informed me that since the wound wasn't finished healing that Jenkins would need a cone. As I waited in the waiting room while they fitted him with one, I kept cracking up laughing, imagining my poor Ponkey with a cone around his head.
I didn't laugh when I saw him though. Jenkins usually is such a happy dog - even after he was bitten, he seemed to just brush it off (as I am told by the vet.) I have never seen my dog more sad than yesterday. When we walked home from the vet he would sit down every 100 feet and have to be coaxed to continue walking again. His tail, which is usually tightly wound in a corkscrew manner was limp and hanging between his legs.
Today his spirits have picked up a bit - he has kept Alex and I company in the den - moping around hoping that we will give him pity and take off the cone.

ANGRY

Recently I got a new cell phone and decided to try it out by taking a picture of Jenkins and sending it to AC. It looked like this.
The next day I receive a carbon-copy of an e-mail that Alex had sent to his co-workers and it contained this picture:

I'm a Pug! Woop - Morphing Pugs

A big thank you to Becca for the laugh....Ponkey is way better looking, but does lack the rapping skills.

Stephen Colbert iPhone review March to Enslavement Steve Job

I love the robots attacking! Pure genius!

UPDATE: Viacomm has put the kabosh (sp?-maybe I shouldn't use the word if I'm not sure how to spell it.) on the youtube link. So I have added the Comedy Central link ... on a side note, I want the viacomm job where all I do is surf the web looking for copyright violations.

Ponkey goes to Portland...

That is Ponkey, which is pronounced like the work Pong, minus the 'g' plus 'key'.

We have been planning on going to Portland to visit some friends and see another friend's band play for about a month, but didn't decide to take Jenkins with us until the night before we left. Too many logistics were involved in getting him to my parents before leaving Seattle on a Friday.

On the way down, after spending 3 hours in his crate in the car, we decided to take a puppy dinner break. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab Jenkins dishes so we improvised thanks to the help of Starbucks.

Once we finally made it to Portland, Jenkins was introduced to R&J's cat Thomas. Thomas made sounds that I have never heard before and rolled into a ball - not necessarily a cat's way of saying, "please make yourself at home while you are staying here, I'm so glad that you have come."
Jenkins did like Thomas's favorite toy though. Needless to say, Thomas spent the whole weekend in R&J's closet. Now that we have returned back to Seattle, I hope that he has come out to reclaim his territory.

R and J took us on a dog friendly tour of P-town. I have read that Portland has been voted the most dog friendly city in the nation and I truely believe it after seeing it for myself. We took Jenkins on the bus several times on Saturday. I was told in the middle of the day that only service dogs are supposed to be on the bus, but no one else said anything.
He behaved better than we could have asked for and the other riders were very curious about him. One man on the Max even asked if he could hold him. (That is a picture of me holding him here though.)

Our first stop was lunch, where Jenkins had a bowl of water on the house. I noticed that 80% of the passerbyers would comment on Jenkins - he loves the attention.

After lunch we headed to the pet shop to pick up a harness and a portable food/water dish. (I highly recommend.)

After Jenkins was properly accessorized (which took quite a while) we took him to the dog park where Jenkins met J's friends dog Allah (sp?), a french bulldog who quickly showed Jenks the ways of the dog park. Jenkins loved it. Alex and I were a little nervous as we haven't let him off leash in public before and his response to coming when called is lacking a bit. It worked out well though. Jenkins had a great time and met a ton of dogs.

Our next stop was the rose garden. After walking around for a bit we decided to take a load off. A women saw Jenkins and declared, "What is THAT!" When we told her that he is a pug, she proudly declared that he looks like a pig. I was a little taken aback by her declaration that he looked like a pig (even though I am fully aware of it)- she wouldn't stop talking and insulting our poor Jenkins. No wonder why her husband had headphones on. We then decided that I should have told the lady that Jenks is a Ponkey, a hybrid pig and monkey.

Jeremy next to his favorite number while waiting for the Max.


By the time that we were heading back to R&J's house Jenks was pooped.



This morning before leaving Portland, we took Jenks, aka Ponkey, to a nearby park. Anytime he found a patch of grass he decided that it was time to take a break.



Jenkins slept the whole way back home today. I'm sure dreaming of his next trip back to Portland!

My Hands Are Bananas

Props to Becca for directing me to this video...its fabelhoff!

I haven't posted in a while....

...because I can't find the cable to transfer pictures from my camera to a computer. So I'm posting a picture that Alex took of Jenks the other day after he went on a walk - I crack up every time I see this pic.
Jenkins came to watch our soccer game last night. He never barked and was quite content to eat the dirt and chew on pine cones. Looking at this picture it is not surprising that he likes to eat dirt and chew on pine cones!

Speechless

I can't even add words for how....!??! this is. (See, I don't even know what '!??!' means!) You just have to watch it for yourself.

I love my Pug

Okay, TheOnion is known to go a bit overboard with their fake news - but the pug slide show had me in tears. I love the names they give the dogs.

Dog Breeders Issue Massive Recall Of '07 Pugs

BTW, Jenkins doesn't suffer from any of these defects - he IS the perfect dog!

Corn

So every morning on my way to work I drive past this new 'statue' of corn. .... Seriously? The town's parks and rec paid $18,000 for this. Now, I don't have a problem with public art or even funding for art BUT, its next to a freeway offramp, across the street from a gas station in a warehouse area of town. It just seems out of place. (I really don't know where it wouldn't seem out of place, perhaps next to a farm, a farm that grows corn.) The picture speaks for itself.

UPDATE: This morning, the corn was being watered. Apparently, the $18,000 was for a sprinkler system too! My question is, how long until the corn rusts?

That's not how you talk on the phone!

I caught Jenkins trying to make calls today....with my cell phone.

Jenkins' New Pastime

I noticed the other day that Jenkins likes to watch his poop flush down the toilet. Any time we find a 'present' in his litter box, we pick it up with toilet paper and flush it - Jenkins always seems to be on our heels, excited to see what happens. It is pretty amusing to watch (Jenkins that is, not the poop.) Now if we could only train him to just use the toilet himself!

I didn't get the chance to wink at the Queen...

What a trip. On Monday we met for meetings all day with governmental agencies - not very exciting, but beneficial none the less. I don't want to bore anyone too much so I will move on.... Tuesday we went to the hill to meet with Congressmen and/or their staff from Washington State. Since there were four of us, we had to split up for a few of the meetings, but all in all, together we met with at least a staff member of each district and both Senators.

I have to mention that when I found out that I was going to meet with Congressman Rick Larson, I immediately told the others that would be in the meeting that I wanted to ask him about his experience on the Colbert Report's 'Better Know a District'. Due to others in the meeting trying to cram in as much information into our 20 minute meeting as possible, I didn't really see mentioning it to have good timing. However, the president of the association I was with brought it up as we were leaving Larson's office. Larson said that he continuously hears comments on it since it aired last July. I mumbled that he did a great job. What a knob I am! If I was on my game I would have left his office with cheering, "The fightin 2nd!"

The last meeting on the hill was with Senator Cantwell and a few of her staff members. After sitting through so many meetings I was over my nervousness and was more comfortable with chiming in throughout the meeting. Senator Cantwell was only in the meeting for a portion of the time. Her staff was quite attentive and requested that I contact them with additional information. To have the ability to sit down with members of Congress, or at least members of their staff improves my attitude towards our government. Name a country that has such a direct access for the people to reach their government. Granted, a few of the meetings were not as positive as one would wish, BUT we can walk into a congressman's office and talk with them about what we want changed in our district. After making this trip two years in a row I can say that when we only met with the staff of a congressman they remembered us when we returned.

Yes, there is a lot that goes on on the Hill that ticks me off, but a trip to D.C. will remind anyone some of the bright ideas that our country was built on - along with some of the not so bright.

During our last night we rented a bus, bought some beer and toured around the momuments. Along with snapping shots of where the Queen stayed while she visited, we saw the Lincoln Memoriable and the statue of Albert Einstein (my two favorites), walked through the Vietnam and Korean War Memorial , World War II Memorial and visited the National Cathedral.

So that prety much covers my trip to D.C. not too wild and crazy, but eh, at least I didn't wink at the Queen.

Pennsylvania Ave

I write this from Washington DC. I flew in last night and this morning at 90 am I ran a 5k for Race for Hope...I had to get up at 7 for this (4am my time) and am paying for it tonight. I have never been so tired at 10pm! (not because it was 5k, but because it was so early in the morning!)
I love Washington D.C. I have been here two years in a row lobbying Congress for my industry, we also meet with the governmental industries in our agency. Opportunities like this is why I love what I do. Sure, the day to day gets a bit mundain, but the opportunity to talk to my state's Congressmen give me the hope that my voice can actually be heard.
Last year was my first time to the east coast and I brought my parents with me, because my mom has been telling me my whole life that if I was ever to go to DC she was to go with me to show me all the sights. I won't be doing too much sightseeing this trip (although we do have a limo night tour planned) but I am going to New York City after to this to visit one of my good

friends.

Almost finished moving...

So all of our stuff has been transferred. We had 10 friends and family help us out, they were life savers. AC and have a lot of stuff that we have to get rid of...I know, it should have been done before we moved, but we wanted to make sure that we had enough stuff that everyone would have a few hundred thousand pounds to carry. Our couch almost didn't make the transfer - I think that the next time that we move, we will have to take an axe to it!

I've taken the day off to get some errands done - but have found myself at the local-coffee shop enjoying my latte and free wi-fi. I have to run back to the old place and finish cleaning the downstairs..something that I am dreading.

Jenkins is enjoying the new place, since we haven't set up his gate yet to keep him contained when we can't keep an eye on him, he has had the run of the place. He is doing a great job of only chewing his own toys and using his box. (No accidents as of yet, I will keep my fingers crossed!)

Back to throwing stuff away...new pics of Jenkins coming soon.

Two weeks.....

So AC, AAJ and I are moving in the next two weeks. This stinks. I hate moving. Even better, we are losing about 175 sq feet and paying more, the upside is that we are moving to a better location. We haven't started putting things in boxes yet, which makes me a bit nervous. We are planning on selling, donating and throwing away a lot of our crap - anyone need a desk that is shaped like a kidney bean? I plan on replacing it with our current 'ikea' kitchen table (we're also getting ride of 4 'ikea' chairs). Furniture aside, I don't know how I have acquired all this stuff, but it needs to go. Especially, college notebooks covering subjects that I will never stop and think to myself - 'Hmm, I remember studying that in school, let me just look that up again.' I WILL NOT get rid of my notes from Liberal Physics though - best doodles EVER, seriously, I need to laminate those pictures and put them in a vault. I took that class with two very good friends and another friend of our happened to be the TA, all I remember learning was that our prof liked to wear bright colored ties and Birkenstocks with socks - oh and now I know the definition of inertia.
So, to end this late night babble I will attach a pic of Jenkins with his Uncle Bo (my parents Boston Terrier). Bo is generally more interested in his toys and the people around him than Jenkins - but Jenkins has gotten his attention by nipping at Bo's back legs (in a playful manner). Usually, Bo will give in after a while and chase Jenkins around the room (even allowing Jenkins to carry Bo's coveted ball), but if Jenkins becomes too feisty Bo calmly puts him in his place with a short growl. Jenkins definitely listens to Bo more than me. :)

Jenkins goes to work..

So, I've decided that Jenkins needs to start earning some of the rent money around here. I don't think that he handled the phone or computers very well, but he definitely did win the hearts of anyone who stopped by my office. We also have a pit bull (who is the sweetest dog that I have met) and a jack russel (who isn't the sweetest dog that I met) who are in the office everyday. Jenkins has only been in the office twice. It is quite difficult to get done what I need to get done throughout the day - I found that every time he would finally settle down into his box someone would come around and want to play with him. I don't think that I am too much of an overbearing pet parent, but I found that everyone wants to encourage behavior in Jenkins that AC and I don't approve of...IE chewing on cardboard, climbing the makeshift fence I made to keep him in my office. I hope to bring him in more often when I can worry less about what he might be chewing on and what my co-workers are trying to coerce Jenkins into doing.

I Stink at This

So - AC and I have been enjoying every minute that we have with Jenkins, even though he poops a lot and wants to chew on everything that he is not supposed to. I know that I need to post more pictures and will do so as soon as I find a moment to sit down and empty the photos off my camera.

More to follow....

Yoda

I think this picture speaks for itself.

Try, try not, there is no try.

Arthur Ale Jenkins - the poop machine

It's been a while since my last post - but then again, I know that my audience isn't very large so I'm sure there aren't too many to disappoint. I've been quite busy in the last week because last Sunday my boyfriend, Alex, and I brought home an 11 week old black male pug. He's adorable and has quite the character to match. I have wanted a pug for at least the past 7 years, I have just needed the right living situation to bring him home to. The week after Alex agreed to getting a dog I found Jenkins. Alex has been a bit skeptical up until the moment we met Jenkins. I was very pleased to hear Alex say that we couldn't of found a better dog on the ride home - a week later he still feels the same way.
The first major adjustment that we have come across, other having an adorable poop machine live with us, is that our schedules now are much more structured than they were a week ago. In the past, both of us have been used to getting up before work for just enough time to get ready and get out the door. It is very evident that the both of us are not morning people. Now we have to get up early enough to feed Jenkins, wait for him to poop (he poops a lot) and then give him an hour's worth of attention before we go to work.
Whomever is the first one home from work has the job of feeding him, waiting for him to poop and then spending as much time as possible playing with him. This is by no means a task for either one of us and we can't get enough of him.


Jenkins is litter box trained and spends his unmonitored time in our kitchen with his crate, litter box, toys and food. When he is able to roam around the downstairs when we are home he will walk into the kitchen without hesitence so I don't think that he views the kitchen as a jail cell.


Right now, Jenkins is putting us to the test with our 'no chewing on anything that isn't your's' policy. I'm pretty sure that this is a stage and he will grow out of it, it's just trying because we know we're not supposed to shout "NO" at him all the time. Alex has come up with the brilliant idea of yelping like a crow whenever Jenkins seems to get his teeth on us. It seems to work well, although, guests who are over visiting Jenkins aren't quite sure what to make of the noise.
As for the litterbox, my co-workers say that I am demasculating my dog by letting him use such a feline item. I disagree, this way he doesn't have to poop in front of all the neighbor dogs!