IQ

Kelly says I'm just generally unimpressed with things out of principle, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Lately, I've been unimpressed with Pranav Veera, this six-ear-old boy with an alleged IQ of 176. (By the way, each link I'm posting is a different news article about the kid.) I say "alleged" because I've been unable to find who performed his IQ test and which test was done - both of which can make a difference. The only reason this makes a difference to me is because of the "genius" activities he demonstrates in the media: reciting the alphabet backwards, listing presidents by number, stating days of the week by date. I grant you that these are not normal feats for a six-year-old child, but they're not completey abnormal feats for someone who has worked at memorizing such facts - because that's all it is: memorization. I also say "alleged" because news reports claim that he has a photographic memory, which would make something like reciting the alphabet backwards a piece of cake rather than a sign of genius.

Something else that puts me on guard about this kid's story is how so many sources compare him to Einstein, whose IQ was guessed to be around 160. Guessed. That's right, Einstein's IQ was never tested. We think we know it today based on guesses and nothing more. In reality, because of the subjectivity of IQ tests, there's no way we can be sure of Einstein's IQ.

I'm not completely discounting this child's aptitude, nor am I saying he should be treated as a normal, bratty little six-year-old. I'm saying we need to take this with a grain of salt because, until he does something with his intelligence like cure AIDS or put a man on Mars, he's not telling us anything we can't already find in presidential trivia books. And if someone out there actually does want him to accomplish something remarkable with his elevated IQ, they need to stop telling him how smart he is and start encouraging his self efficacy - because just being smart will get him nowhere if he knows nothing more about being smart than cheap parlor tricks on the Today Show.

I'm still alive.

I got in trouble today for not posting for a long time, so I thought I'd leave a brief comment to say that I'm still alive. Around Valentine's Day I got the flu, which stuck around for about three weeks, and then Kelly had a silly-crazy time at work for two weeks (their major, annual, on-air fundraising event) that I helped out with and totally threw off both our schedules. Then I had the last week at school before spring break, during which I tied up all my loose ends and finished grades and cleaned my room just in case I don't go back to work after spring break (you know, cuz of the baby), all of which kept me busy, busy, busy and at times at work for hours after I should've gone home.

But now things are starting to be normal again, which is nice because the baby could literally come any day now and it would be all right. I'll post something witty on here soon, assuming the normalcy continues, that is. If I go another month, assume it's the baby's fault. That way I don't get in trouble again. :-)

Don't hound me.

This morning on my way in to work, I drove next to a police car for a while. Actually, he started out driving behind me, no doubt running my license plate number for a good reason to pull me over on my morning commute, which would have really started my day off on the wrong foot. But, finding nothing, he moved on to the car next to me. And then to another car in our vicinity. He followed - closely - five cars in my little area of the freeway, (my guess is) checking their plates and making sure he didn't have a reason to turn on his stupid red and blue lights. Finding none, he sped off to his next unsuspecting victims...And I do mean "sped." Whereas all of us were going exactly the speed limit, he found it necessary to rush off, probably exceeding the speed limit by an easy ten miles per hour, knowing full well there was no one there to pull him over.

Not fair.

I firmly disagree with police seeking out reasons to punish people. If they want the American people to think of them as benevolent, caring individuals who serve and protect the public, then they should be fair in their practices. Don't hound me, looking for a reason to cite me. Find someone out beating his wife or shooting up a convenience store to harass.

Lucy, the Pup of Many Vet Visits

Yes, folks, we had to take Lucy to the vet again yesterday. She broke another nail off in the bed, leaving it sore and bleeding. She is, again, on pain killers and antibiotics. She is, again, wearing her cone. The people at the vet's office thought it was cute that she not only has her own cone, but that we've started decorating it with punk stickers - bands and the like.

We've started wondering if perhaps friends and family could purchase us credit at the vet's office for Christmas presents from now on. It's a gift that would surely get some use. I don't know if the office does that sort of thing, but it's worth a shot. Gift cards, perhaps? Or, really, I suppose people could just send us more punk stickers.

We wondered aloud while waiting for her to come out of the surgery room yesterday how we ended up with this accident-prone dog. Kelly blamed me because she picked me to want to come home with. I blame him because I think she got it from his genes (whereas me and Radley are the healthy, non-accident-prone ones in the family).

Fish

I'm half-watching a PBS documentary on fish right now (the TV is still on after watching an excellent documentary on Truman and I just haven't turned it off since I've been typing). I'm not paying any attention to this show, but it's hosted by a guy who used to be on MASH and it has some interestiing up-close pictures of fish. They're kinda gross looking and make me happy not to be a fish monger.

In other fish news, we've been giving Radley fish oil pills on recommendation from our vet. She said it may help his skin rash. I've found that he treats it like a pill - choking and gagging to get it down - if we just give it to him, even though it smells like fish (which we thought would be motivation for him to eat it). However, if I just drop it nonchalantly into his bowl, he eats it with the rest of his food. Lucy, on the other hand, begs for one and acts indignant if she doesn't get one if she notices that he got one and she didn't. Except she won't just eat it - she will even pick it out of her bowl and take it to the carpet to eat it like it's a treat.

Now this documentary is doing surgery on fish to tag them or something. I can't help but think how smelly it must have been to make this film.

The weather outside is frightful...

but I don't seem to mind much. Somehow, I'm stepping out of the norm (for myself) and actually enjoying this cold, cold weather and tons and tons of snow. In fact, I was a little disappointed last Sunday when we stopped at just a few inches rather than collecting the ten inches that the weather forecaster said we'd get. Don't get me wrong, I wish I could take the dogs out for a walk this morning (and won't because it's not worth it to brave the ice) or that I didn't have to factor in at least ten extra minutes to any commute, but at the same time, I think it's fun and pretty and I know other people are really excited about all this white stuff, so that makes it a little more OK.

Conehead Lucy

Every once in a while, our pup Lucy needs to wear a cone...sores, stitches, broken toe nails...you name it. She's rather undaunted by the cone in most circumstances at this point, we think because she's had to wear it so often. (Incidentally, our other dog, Radley, has never had to wear a cone and we've had him for almost two years more than we've had Lucy.)

Here's some pics of the L-dog and me this November.

Ewww

I work with a kid a couple days a week after school. Social skills, life skills, stuff like that. Today was one of those days. And today I noticed that he smelled bad. BO, you know? And since he's fourteen, it was pretty obvious. Also because he's fourteen, and because it's my job, I had a conversation about it with him. It didn't quite go as anticipated.

Me: gently inquiring So...Did you forget to take a shower this morning?
Him: plainly Noooo. I take showers after school so I'll do that today when I get home.
Me: How about deodorant?
Him: slapping his forehead Dang it!
Me: Well, it's not a big deal, but it is something you really shouldn't forget in the mornings.
Him: Yeah...Actually, I don't think it's that I forgot to put on deodorant this morning. I think it's because I've had diarrhea lately.
Me: trying not to let him know that I'm a little shocked at his open admission and trying to not be grossed out at the thought of dried poo slime sticking to his butt So, just having a hard time getting clean, then?
Him: Well, it's just that when I have diarrhea it makes it too sore to wipe really good.
Me: Yeah...That's not something you should skimp on. Making sure you're clean all the time in all areas is very, very important.
Him: distantly Yeah...

Luna Love

I like to post stuff on here for the three and a half people who still faithfully check in on me that gives you tips on things I like because I think you might like it too. And today, it's Luna Bars.

I've had many different kinds of Luna Bars and enjoy most of them, but yesterday I tried something new. I tried the mint chocolate tea cake. And I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I mean, it wasn't earth-shattering or anything, but it was really, really good. I guess what I mean by "I haven't been able to stop thinking about it" is that when I've wanted a snack today, that's what I've wanted. But last night I only bought the one, not knowing just how yummy it would be.

So there's my recommendation for a yummy and fairly healthy snack. I may buy a whole box of them the next time I get a chance.

Skydiving!

Check out Kelly's skydiving video!

Dog Woes

Kelly and I were driving up to Home Depot today when we encountered a bunch of cars stopped along the side of the road and people standing around. I think both of us first thought "Aw, geez" at first, but then we saw why. In the middle of the road - in the center turn lane with two other lanes on either side - was a dog who had obviously been hit by a car.

There were already two women over at the dog, but they didn't appear to be doing much, so Kelly stopped. I stayed in the car because I didn't want to be one more person in the mix blocking traffic. The next thing I knew, Kelly opened the back of the Explorer and started throwing stuff into the backseat. I jumped out and without asking questions started helping clear a space. Thankfully, we travel everywhere with a yucky dog blanket, so I spread that down. One of the women was holding the dog - she looked to be maybe a German shephard mix - on the side of the road. The other woman was hysterical and kept saying over and over again "What do we do?" Kelly had the first woman put the dog in our car and she started talking about taking the dog to some vet office she'd seen up by Fred Meyer next to Pet Co. Well, after my experiences with our pups and our vet's office, I wasn't about to take this poor creature to some place in a strip mall I'd never heard of that may or may not be open on a Sunday. Because I have our vet programmed in my phone (because we've needed it spur-of-the-moment so often with Lucy), I called them to see if they were open and if we could bring in this poor dog. They were indeed open and said to bring the dog right in.

Kelly and I were incredibly worried about this dog because she looked confused and was drooling a lot, but it only took us about five minutes to get her to our vet's office. Three nurses met us at the door when we got there, one of them came out to the car with a stretcher. I think she saw something about this dog that we didn't - that it needed serious and immediate care and that it wasn't going to hurt her - and just left the stretcher in the parking lot, scooped up the dog and ran her inside. We followed her in to talk to the nurse in the lobby, who asked us a bunch of questions. I think they thought we hit the dog at first, but when we told them that we'd just gotten to the accident just after it happened and seemed to be the only ones who knew what to do and were the only ones not driving a sedan (not that being in the Jetta would have stopped us any) then they realized we weren't to blame, that we were just there to help. But then the doctor came out of the exam room with questions and he sounded pretty mad too, until he realized also that we had no real answers. I think Kelly was a little put off by him at first until we realized that he probably thought it was our fault and that if we were vets, something like a dog coming into our office after being hit by a car would upset us, too. Heck, we aren't vets and it still upset us.

They asked us to sit around for a little while in case the doctor had some more questions. While we were waiting, they found that the dog was chipped (thank goodness) and they called the owner to let her know they had her dog and what had happened. I gave them the name and number of the lady who we think hit the dog - the lady who was in hysterics at the scene - because she'd given it to me and asked me to call her when I knew anything.

We came home then and played with our pups, who had no idea the trauma we had just gone through or why we were both so excited to see them. I called the hysterial lady; she said she was at the vet's office, that she'd just gotten there. She still sounded like she was a disaster about the whole thing.

Later this afternoon, our vet's office called to let us know about the dog. They said that the owner had just shown up (this was actually about five hours later) and had refused x-rays, but that the dog was doing well and had really just suffered massive shock. They'd given her an IV for the shock and by the time the owner had gotten there the dog was alert and walking and doing well. Kelly thanked the nurse for calling us and let her know we had been worried all afternoon. I cried a little more when he told me the good news and we toussled the pups a little more.

And just a little while ago, because we haven't had enough puppy trauma for one day, I noticed a large, open sore on Lucy's leg. It's perfectly round like a nasty, popped blister. So, Kelly and I got to play vet for her, shaving her leg, washing the wound, wrapping her up and topping it all off with the cone she should at this point be so fond of (because she wears it so often). We'll keep an eye on it and in the morning if it looks worse we'll take her into our vet's office.

Honestly, I'm surprised we're not on a first-name basis with them at this point.

Just more evidence that Sarah Palin sucks...

Last night, your favorite lame-ass VP candidate and mine, Sarah Palin, was on Saturday Night Live. Here was her chance to do something cool, to speak up and have personality, to make people who despise her and what she stands for think that she's not so bad after all. And how did it go? Well, to put it simply, she merely verified what a big pile of poo I thought she was anyway. Given the chance to be fun and do something creative, she chose instead to stand there and let the SNL cast make fun of her to her face, with the only nice thing said to/about her all night being - from a cameo, mind you, and not even from a usual cast member - "You're hotter in person." No, he didn't say "Hey, you're not as dumb as I thought you were," or even "Wow! You're funny." He commented on the former-beauty queen's hotness. (For a basic run-down of the evening's scenes with SP, click here.)

The best part of the whole night, though, was the rap by Amy Poehler. I only hope I can be that cool when I'm that pregnant! She became a little bit of a hero to me last night.



I saw a clip on FOX News (of all places) that the rap had been written for SP, but she didn't want to do it...the cast liked it, though, so they kept it and gave it to Amy the Gem. Incidentally, the people at FOX News (the link didn't wouldn't embed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ya39slPgs) liked Amy Poehler better than Sarah Palin last night, too. Huh.

See Spot Walk

Every year, the Idaho Humane Society puts on See Spot Walk, a fund raiser where dog owners gather at Julia Davis Park downtown and walk together on about a one-mile loop through downtown back to the park.

This is our second year seeing Spot walk and here are a couple pictures of our own Spots walking!




After the walk, back at the park, there's a couple of fun competitions you can choose to participate in. There's a dress-up (your dog) competition and one for the ugliest dogs. Lucy and I decided to participate in the musical chairs competition - the owner had to have a seat and the pup had to sit on the floor when the music stopped too. The best part was that Lucy learned the rules to the game in the first two rounds! I only told her to sit the first two times and after that she had it all figured out when I expected her to sit and she sat on her own! This came in handy when there were only five chairs left...My butt made it to a chair the same time as this old woman, but she totally had more butt in the chair than I did. I was getting ready to walk away when the MC stopped me and announced that I was still in the competition because my dog sat right away, while her dog wandered around the stage before sitting.



It came down to me and a little girl who had been sorta cheating through the game.



But I got the last chair fair and square, with my adorable, champion-sitting pup Lucy plopping down in front of me as soon as the music stopped. We won a $25 gift certificate to Zamzows, which has already come in handy for buying these guys some champion-sitting dog food.

When we got home, me and the spectator-dog, Radley, napped a little on the couch. It was a tiring day for all of us!

Friends

I saw some friends I haven't seen in a long time this weekend at the two little kid birthday parties I went to.

Carrie looks the same, but her baby is quite changed. He is two years old now. Yikes - I didn't realize he'd grown that much...I guess that just means that it's been a long time since I've seen her!

Anna is engaged to a guy she's been dating since March. It was good to see her happy and in love again.

Kim is raising two pretty little girls - one of them a fresh three years old. It was fun to see Kim's artistic abilities being put to use as a loving mother; she made a pretty rockin' panda pinata for the party.

Charity has a bf and an almost seven-year-old daughter, who, like Carrie's son, is still a baby in my memory.

It's nice to catch up and see people doing so well and being so happy.

For my birthday this year...

we went to breakfast at Byways Cafe,



followed by a massage and Phantom of the Opera, then a drive to



Lincoln City for an overnight stay,



the Tillamook cheese factory the next day,



Mo's in Cannon Beach later that afternoon for some clam chowder bread bowls



and finally a walk along Cannon Beach.

It was wonderful!

Does anyone have an answer to this question for me?

Why would you intentionally purchase olives with the pits still inside them? I find them difficult to eat, so I rarely serve them (I bought a jar on accident once - a year ago - and I'm still making my way through it), and sometimes I myself am not up for the hassle they provide. However, they're in grocery stores, so I imagine people buy them regularly. They don't cost less than other olives (at least not to any worth-while degree)...So why do people buy them?

Elk Meadows

This weekend, we went mountain biking with Russ and Tonya here:



We set up camp outside Stanley Friday night and hit the trail Saturday around noon. There were some scary parts, but over all it was a lot of fun. The worst part for me was a downhill rocky part that went for probably a mile and a half. I don't really like doing things that may kill me and I definitely thought that that part could kill me. So I got off my bike and walked it, which was no big deal because none of us were in a hurry. It was nice to be on my first mountain biking trip with people who were so supportive and helpful and patient - and who were all at my relative level of experience.



One of my favorite parts of the trip was going through the meadow.



The Sawtooths surrounded us on one side and trees surrounded us on the other, while hundreds of grasshoppers jumped across the path in front of us. Another favorite part was seeing how high up we were; we had parked down next to Stanley Lake, but we were looking down at it from the top of the mountain! It definitely gave me a sense of accomplishment.



After five hours on the trail (which included a lunch stop, water breaks, walking from time to time and plenty of pauses for pictures), we were finally back at the parking lot. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a parking lot before in my life! We loaded up our gear and headed down to Stanley Lake to cool off. It was a cold swim, but it felt really good after a full day sweating in the sun and getting covered in dust from the trail.



All in all, it was a great, although exhausting, day. I don't know that mountain biking is the sport for me, but I would like to try more in the future - just perhaps without the patches of scary, downhill rocks.

School Days

This morning, I helped out with school registration. Which means it's really happening: summer is ending. There's a part of me that's looking forward to getting back on a grown-up schedule with a time to get up and a time to eat and a time to go to bed, but there's also a part of me that really enjoys all the alone time, fluidity of time, and silence. I was able to see some of my old students today, which was fun, and to reconnect with some of my teacher friends from last year, but it was definitely nice afterward to come back home to my empty house and not think about it for a while. I know it's inevitable, but I really would like one, maybe two more weeks of vacation. I'm pretty sure the kids wouldn't mind if we asked them to delay some.

Radley's Obsession

Friday, a woman Kelly works with brought some zucchini in to the office to share because she had received an abundance from her garden. When Kelly came home, he sat them on the coffee table.

Friday evening, we were enjoying each other's company in the comfort of our living room when Radley started acting strangely. We can set any number of things on the coffee table - within easy reach of our pups' noses - steak, sausage, hotdogs, and other things that encourage lesser pups to disobediently snag said items from the table. Friday evening, Radley was trying to do just that - only without the temptation of smelly, meaty foods. All that was up there was said zucchini.

Kelly picked up one of the large, green vegetables and held it toward Radley's face so he could smell it and see how silly and confused he was acting - disobediently trying to climb onto the table and all. Rather than sniffing it and walking away dejected as anticipated, however, Radley lunged at the zucchini, aiming to make it his snack.

We were surprised at this, to say the least. We laughed and decided to cut a piece off for our crazed pup...which drove him mad. He couldn't wait to get a piece of that zucchini in his mouth! He was dancing all over, doing every trick he knows, trying to impress us into giving him more and more zucchini! We thought he was just hungry, so after feeding him (and Lucy, who, usually our fruit-and-vegetable-lover, was only mildly impressed) a couple of zucchini rounds, so we gave each pup a fresh cup of dog food. Nay! said the ravenous Radley. He only wanted zucchini. We had to put both the zucchini up on the kitchen counter and distract him from pacing the kitchen floor. I honestly think he was depressed we wouldn't just give him the whole thing.

The next day I tried tempting him with the succulent squash once again, thinking that perhaps Friday night was just a fluke. Nope. He did the same song-and-dance numer again on Saturday, almost more excited than Friday at the possibility of having more delicious zucchini. I've never seen him like this before, even for aforementioned smelly meats and definitely never for vegetables. Now that he has the taste for zucchini, I think I should warn all my neighbors to carefully guard their gardens and to put up electrical fencing around their zucchini patches, lest my dog devour all unprotected zucchini under the cloak of night.

More Germany Photos...Because You Asked For Them

This is the castle in Ludwigsburg. It was built to look like the palace at Versailles. We learned in Germany that a lot of castles were built to look like the palace at Versailles. Evidently, it's the coolest palace ever.

This is me and Ethan going down the stairs in the Ulmer Munster. It was a little dizzy-making to walk in that tight spiral for so long. I couldn't help but think of the centuries worth of germs I was picking up by holding on to that center post. Ugh.

This is the entire American family in Germany. Here we are in front of the oldest house in Ulm - dating from somewhere in the 1400s, I think.

Here's me and Kelly on the other side of the Danube River with the Ulmer Munster sticking up behind us.

These bears were all over Ulm. Except I don't think they were bears. Large jungle cats of some kind, maybe? I don't remember. Pumas? I just thought they looked like oddly posed, skinny bears. They're part of a city project that raises money for the Munster.