one downside to working downtown... falling in love with clothes i'll never be able to afford

In honor of the Olympics, Sam decided to recap some of our Vancouver trip.  Honestly, it was simply too long for me to bother with (I think she did it while at work though), but perhaps I'll try to write the second half of this this week...

Living Happy Healthy Lives

How much do you think a dog wheelchair costs?

$50, $100, $200? Try $400 and that's not including shipping and handling. Would you believe that this is actually a competitive price and that there are more than one or two companies out there that make these things.

Poor little Roxie may end up needing one.  Several months ago (give or take 4) Becca showed me some videos on youtube of corgis (who look like Roxie's twin) running around in these crazy wheelchairs.  Becca laughed and said it would be Roxie's luck to end up like that in her old age.

After two holidays in a row where Roxie broke her toenails on my mom's floor from dragging her paw, I was beginnig to wonder if this was to be her fate.  And, I just came from the vet and it seems this really might be the case.  We'll be getting x-rays soon to confirm.

Becca was worried what people might think when she takes Roxie to the dog park.  I told her not to worry about it because quite honestly I don't think dragging a cart around will even phase that dog... so long as she still gets to run around and bark at people.

It all makes sense...

So, me and my new friend go outside and begin chatting about the usual things. You know, where I’m from, what I do, yada, yada, yada. And then, being the good conversationalist that I am, I turned the conversation to him. “So, where are you from? Here?”

“Well, originally I’m from here, but right now I’m living in Surrey. But I still work here some."

“O, really, where do you work?”

“Well, NOW, I’m a chef around here.” Something about the way he said NOW really had me curious. “so, what did you do before?”

“Before? Before I used to sling rock, strapped with an M16, right here on these streets."

“O, you used to sling rock… did you say with an M16?”

“Yeah, I used to sling rock with an M16. These streets are rough around here. It’s a rough life dealing.”  Jesus, where are we right now? Is it even safe for me to be standing outside this bar right now? Am I going to get shot? (Side note: Just to clarify, this guy had a sexy, almost Irish accent, so I still wasn’t completely turned off by this.)

“But, you don’t sell anymore though, right?

“No, no. That was actually why I moved to Surrey. I just had to get out of here, you know. I don’t even know how I ended up in that situation. I think it was the money originally, but then you just kind of get caught up in the life you know.”

“Yes, I could see how that would happen. I’m glad that you don’t do it anymore though.”

“Yeah – I just found myself spiraling downward. And, I guess I didn’t even realize it until I hit rock bottom – I was nearly shot to death.”

“O, my God, that’s terrible! Well, I’m really glad you’re not doing that anymore. So, you’re a chef now? How do you like that?”

“O, I like it. Really, I’m just trying to save enough money to get away from it all. I want to travel – to see the world."


“I looove travelling – I think it’s probably the one thing I love most.”

“Where else have you travelled?”

“O, all over. I’ve been to Europe, Asia, and Canada (smile).”

“Really? I haven’t been anywhere. What was your favorite place?”

“Thailand. It is hands down the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”

“Wow, that sounds awesome. “ there is a long pause “you should travel the world with me.”

“Now that would be awesome. In fact, that is my life goal. But, unfortunately I really don’t have the money for that.”

“You don’t need any money. I will pay for everything. I want you to come with me.”

“That definitely does sound appealing…”

“It’s settled then. In a year or so when I have enough money we’ll travel the world.”

“It’s too bad I don’t live here.”

“Where do you live again?”

“Chicago. It’s a great city.”

“Well that could be nice for awhile… hmm… I wonder how I’ll find you.” (In my head I’m thinking phones are the obvious answer.) “I guess if it’s mean to be, it will be.”

Or that, “Yes, if it’s meant to be it will be.”

“O, and there’s always Face book! Are you on Facebook?”

Ah yes, the old Facebook, “yes, of course I’m on Facebook.”

“Well, it’s settled then. We’ll go to Thailand and travel the world as soon as I have enough money.”

“Perfect.”

And we then went our separate ways. Looking back, my first question is how on earth he would ever save enough money on a chef’s salary – but I suppose if I think about it I can answer my own question. I also love that Facebook was the answer to all our problems – even though I never gave him my name, or at least not my full name. With that being said, I wouldn’t have been overly surprised to find an new friend request waiting in my inbox for me when I got home, I mean it is me we’re talking about.

The Q101 radio guys are doing a 2010 death draft...

Today is the Day

Guess what kids. After a year and a half of bitching and moaning, and literally fighting with the man, I finally get to move... yes, to a window seat. In fact, after weeks of some subtle and not-so-subtle hints, Keith actually let me pick the exact cube I wanted (which is of course the one least in direct eye sight of anyone walking up).

Just goes to show what a little determination will getcha.

Life of Luxory

I've had a down comforter since I was about 14 or so. I visited my gay uncles in New York and had the best night's sleep ever, thanks in large part to their wonderful down comforter and fabulous sheets. It was then that I decided that if they could live in luxory, why couldn't I. I managed to bug my mom enough that she did indeed buy a new comforter for me that very winter (now if only I had convinced her to get rid of the hard as rock twin bed I was sleeping on).

My only complaint with down comforters is how lopsided they can become within their cover. As I was just now placing my new pretty blue duvet on my bed, I realized that their are strings within the covers to actually keep them in place. What a brilliant idea! Makes me wonder if they've always been there and I just never paid attention or if this is the first duvet cover I've had that's been of high enough quality to contain strings. Perhaps I've actually been missing out on more of the luxory quality than I realized.

Excellent Commercials

Only My Holiday...

My last trip home to Springfield went incredibly smoothly and I made both trips in 3 hours and 10 minutes. I should’ve known that streak couldn’t last.

The plan for Thanksgiving was for Becca to head home after her early dismissal to pick up the babies, and then to head over to my work around 3:30/4:00. Unfortunately the plan started off poorly thanks to the rain and some random road closures so Becca didn’t even make it home until 4. Nevertheless we packed up the babies and all are stuff and made our way home.

The first 20 minutes or so were rather peaceful. But, then little Ares became restless and started whining, which continued for the next 45 minutes. Becca thought he was lonely in the back seat so she put Roxie in the back and let him sit on her lap instead. This still didn't really calm him down, and he continued to whine and fuss in the front seat. To make matters worse, little Roxie had become fed up with Ares's antics and began barking to express her frustration.

So here I am driving 2 mph in the rain with one whining dog and one barking dog. I threatened to pull the car over (and in hindsight I wish I had).

All of a sudden Ares launched into the backseat, choking Becca in the process with her seat belt. So now Roxie is barking even more ferociously at Ares who has landed on top of her and Becca is now cussing at her annoyance and frustration at the whole thing. And, I am simply trying to concentrate on driving. Now Ares has managed to climb up into the back windshield and is trying to get out. The next thing I know Becca is screaming, "did you shit! did you shit!" and then I smell the most foul thing I think I have ever smelled. Apparently the smell also startled the dogs because Roxie immediately jumped in her cage, followed 2 seconds later by Ares. How those two dogs (who really don't care for each other) managed to squeeze into Roxie's tiny little cage I'll never know.

So now I find myself driving in the rain with the windows completely down, struggling to keep myself from vomiting while Becca yells at me to pull over. And while getting out of the car sounded very appealing at this exact moment, my fear of being hit on the side of the road during rush hour was still much greater, so I proceeded to drive the 2 miles to the next exact, which seemed to take an eternity.

Eventually though we do make it to a gas station and we all burst out of the car gasping for are.  I tie little Roxie up and then go look for something to clean the car, meanwhile Becca walks Ares who craps 3 more times.

Cleaning supplies were limited but I managed to find a $6 can of Lysol spray and $4 roll of paper towels.  As I'm checking out, the cashier asks,  "will that be all?"  I say, "actually, no, that isn't all... I really need to borrow one of your cleaning bottles you have over there... we sort of had a mishap."  He let me borrow them with the promise that I would return them.

Amazingly enough, Ares managaed to miss all of the random stuff we had in the backseat (like my clothes) and made the bulk of his accident on his bed and Becca's leather backseat.  So, she was actually able to get it  clean.  I had to make one more request from the gas station employee and that was for some garbage bags to wrap up Ares's bed in.  The employee dropped what he was doing and left the place unattended for a couple of minutes to grab me some bags from in back - and he still hadn't asked what happened.

While this whole incident was pretty bad, it could have been worse.  As we're cleaning up this big van rolls into the gas station with a completely flat tire, followed closely by a squad car.  When the driver gets out, the cop immediately asks if he has a drivers license.  The hispanic drivers shakes his head no, to which the cop promptly asks if he has citizenship.  Again, the poor driver shakes his head no.  "Oooh, so that's why you didn't stop and kept driving on your rim, you didn't want to meet ME!"  I'm not sure what ended up happening here.  I saw the driver later inside the store and the cop left, so maybe he wrote him a ticket.  Or, maybe the cop decided to spread some Holiday cheer and let the guy go.  Eitherway, I think his evening was probably quite a bit worse than ours.

Anyways, the rest of our trip went pretty smoothly (except the fact that it took us a full 5 hours). We stopped 2 more times to let the dogs go to the bathroom.  Ares went both times and we eventually learned that he apparently ate a whole box of kleenexes at some point that day.


Moral of the story, if your dog is incessantly whining in a car, pull over just in case.

The World According to Americans