Dog Territories

Quigley has been at our place a little bit more often the past few weeks so I, of course, have been a bit snap-happy. (We like to have Q over for play time when the weather's too wet to visit the park. We also just like having two dogs running around the house so it's nice that my parents are willing to loan Quigs out to us!)

Here's a lovely photo of my fajita being double-teamed by the Dog Vultures:



A few nights ago I was the meat in a puppy sandwich on the couch. I had Quigley on my right:

And Funk on my left:



That same night, Robert had some work to do from home. He was having a hard time concentrating in the living room so he went off to work in the bedroom. But he didn't get too far from his fuzzy shadows:


But! Quigley better watch out - there's a new puppy in town lookin' to infringe on his territory. When we brought Garfunkel with us to the McCauleys' for a recent party to celebrate Carmen's birthday, Garfunkel got along smashingly with John (Robert's cousin) and Lali (John's fiancee)'s little chihuahua mix, Rocky.



I think Quigs is still #1 in Funk's book but it's nice to know he's capable of having more than one friend.

Does Anyone Ever Look Good in Scrubs?

Just a quick update since it's Robert's birthday tomorrow and I have been a pitiful wife in putting something SUPER AWESOME together in time! My program scrubs finally came in today so I thought you'd all want to check me out in my Caribbean blue tent-like glory:




I also got all of my midterm results this week and while I'm not blowing anyone away, I am passing and that's a very good thing. :o) I got an 82% on my Anatomy and Physiology exam, an 89% on my Animal Mgmt & Clinical Skills exam and have an A- in Medical Terminology so far (no midterms there, just several quizzes). I can tell my rustiness is showing up in these scores but the first quarter of school is always the worst, I think, insofar as getting your footing and figuring out how instructors ask questions, etc. All in all I'm happy with how I performed and I know what I have to do to improve (even if I don't actually do it...!).

Random Round-Up (It's Been a While!)

As I decompress from my midterm and week o' cramming, I let my brain veg out a bit and enjoy these two delightfully amusing posts. You should, too.


The Oatmeal Presents:

This is what my car needs

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Gawker's "What Your Facebook Profile Photo Says About You:"

Choosing a Facebook profile photo is very serious business. It's the visual that will greet high school acquaintances, jealous exes, and your parents' friends when they search you out. The image you project is entirely determined by your photo choice.

While people think that the photo they choose is some sort of individual statement, they're usually wrong. Here are the 10 most misguided approaches that people take when picking out a profile photo. Each sends out all sorts of information that the person may not have intended. And while there are some sub-genres and lesser known variations, most of the pictures on the social networking behemoth fall into one of these categories.

The Portrait

How to Spot It: A clear photo of the subject from the waist (or higher) up and includes the entire face.
What It Says About You: That you are a normal, well-adjusted adult who is confident in your appearance. Basically, you're pretty boring. However, if it is a headshot, author photo, or other promotional material, it means you are a narcissistic careerist. If it is a self portrait, you are slightly annoying. If the photo is of you in your bathing suit, you are probably hot and insecure.

The Far and Away

How to Spot It: The subject is so far from the camera that you can discern there is a person in the frame, but can't pick out any details of his face or appearance.
What It Says About You: You are a private person who doesn't want any old gawker knowing what the hell you look like. You are probably slightly shy and reserved until people get to know you. Either that or you got fat or had a botched Lasik surgery and you don't want the mean girls from college knowing about your gut/lazy eye.

The Up Close and Impersonal

How to Spot It: The subject is so close to the camera that you can only see part of her face or appearance.
What It Says About You: You want people to think that you don't want to be recognized on Facebook, but you really do and you mask that in pseudo artiness. You had an imperfection when you were younger (lazy eye, acne, stutter, irredeemably bad haircut) and still haven't gotten over being teased. Now you're the kind of person who is alone at parties not because you're shy, but because once people talk to you, they get annoyed.

The Scrapbook Photo

How to Spot It: A picture of the subject when he was in his childhood, whether a candid shot or a school picture he made his mother dig out of a box in her attic.
What It Says About You: You are the type of person who thinks that everything in the past is better than it is now. You still listen to the same music, wear the same clothes, and love the same things you did back in high school/college, and you'll probably never change. You haven't amounted to much, and you looked much better as a child.

The Pet Show

How to Spot It: A photo of the subject's pet, usually without the subject.
What It Says About You: It depends on what kind of animal it is. Cat: You are a woman without a boyfriend. Dog: You are a gay without a boyfriend or Michael Vick. Snake: You are a teenage boy or death metal devotee. Fish: You watch too much The Real World. Dolphin: You have a tramp stamp. Gerbil or Hamster: You are Richard Gere. Unicorn: You are awesome. Rabbit: Who has rabbits as pets? You are a freak!

Family Photo

How to Spot It: A photo of the subject's children and/or baby usually without the subject.
What It Says About You: The only thing you have accomplished in your adult life is having children. You used to be fun and fabulous and have lots of friends, but now all you can talk about is play dates, potty training, and Dora the Explorer. But don't worry, being a mother/father is the most important job there is. No really. We mean that. Yup, totally.

The Wedding Photo

How to Spot It: Man, woman, dress, tux—you know, the usual. Even if it's a gay wedding, you know a wedding picture when you see it.
What It Says About You: You want everyone to think that you are a grown-up. You have settled down to a life of calm normalcy and Family Guy reruns. You're not playing the field and slutting it up anymore. No, you are married! Also, you are entirely defined by your relationship and don't have any friends of your own anymore. You probably spent too much on the ceremony and your mother-in-law hates you.

The Pop Culture Reference

How to Spot It: This comes in many forms: a picture of a fictional character, concert, a movie poster, a book cover, reality star, musical act, or a celebrity. Basically it is anyone who is not the subject. Even if done ironically, it's all the same.
What It Says About You: You have no personality of your own. You define yourself (and others) completely by their entertainment choices, whether they be television, music, sci-fi, literary, or otherwise. Talking to you like reading a list of movie quotes from an IMDb page and you are full of useless knowledge on your favorite subjects. You own at least two T-shirts with stupid slogans on them.

The Art Portfolio

How to Spot It: A photo that somehow tries to be artistic and usually fails. This can contain the subject or not. It is often in black and white.
What It Says About You: You tell people that you are an actor, writer, photographer, or artist, but you are really a waiter, blogger, bartender, Whole Foods checkout person, or trust fund baby. Unless you have a trust fund, you will probably never make more per year than the cost of the liberal arts college you attended. You are also at risk for herpes.

The Party Picture

How to Spot It: The subject, often with someone else, clearly at a party. She may be holding a drink, drinking a drink, smoking a bong, holding a joint, playing beer pong, dancing on a banquette, or giving duck lips and gang signs.
What It Says About You: You are young and stupid and will be fired from at least one job for something you posted on Facebook. You are susceptible to peer pressure and have used a bathroom stall for something other than peeing at least three times in the past year. You will one day regret this picture and replace it with a wedding picture, and then pictures of your children.

[Photo, top, via AP. All other photos via Facebook]

(I am a Portrait person myself. I am pretty boring but the other assumed characteristics don't necessarily fit me so well. But I'm glad I am the most "normal" of the available options.)

Another 'Tails From the Vet Clinic' Video

I was interested in the comments on this post because there were several from similarly frustrated vet techs but you will most likely be the most interested in just the video:

It's true! People (especially those on Grey's Anatomy) really do think vets are sad little pseudo-doctors. Those in the veterinary field are the Rodney Dangerfields of the doctor world. Le sigh.

Every Party Has a Pooper, That's Why I Polled All of You

I can't believe so many of my friends and family are party POOPERS and voted against my fabulous banana costume!!! :o( (Though, as always, I very much appreciate the participation!) Now Robert's never going to go for it. Mew. So, I offer a less-restrictive costume alternative - the spider:

I know you're still against costumes of any variety and I'm 99% sure I won't be buying one. I just thought I'd make one last ditch effort to spice up Funk's life.

Battle Scars

I've been holed up in the office today, doing some homework and studying for my next midterm while Robert screams and frightens the dogs while watching the Giants game. I came across this video while looking through some of the resources posted by my instructor and thought you all would enjoy a peek at angry animals at the vet:

I don't have to start an internship until spring quarter so I have a few months to bulk up and increase my pain threshold...

VT Update - One Month

I keep putting off posting about school until I have more time to invest in crafting an awesome post but today I said "screw it." That time is just never going to come! Even though I'm only on campus three days a week, I feel completely overwhelmed and busy every single day. Of course, I am

I wrote the above sometime last week. I really buckled down and kicked that post's ass, didn't I? Yeah! Now, this post could have been many things depending on when over the past four weeks it was written. However, since I'm writing it now, post- first midterm and pre- second midterm, it's going to be boiled down to a bulleted list of high points and low. Buckle up, Buttercup - here we go.

• Let's go over what, exactly, 'veterinary technology' entails. Because, as the instructors will reiterate many, many times, it is not "pet the kitty." And I don't want you to think I'm stressing out over a course that is teaching me to clip nails and clean teeth. Here's what Wikipedia says about today's vet tech:

  Technical skills include: venipuncture; collecting urine; performing skin scrapings; taking and processing radiographs; and performing routine lab procedures and tests in: hematology, biochemistry, chemistry, microbiology, urinalysis and serology. They assist the veterinarian with physical examinations that help determine the nature of the illness or injury. Veterinary technicians also perform and maintain anesthesia, and administer medications, fluids and blood products as prescribed by the veterinarian. Tasks in patient care include: recording temperature, pulse and respiration, dressing wounds, applying splints and other protective devices, and cleaning teeth. They perform catheterizations - urinary, arterial, and venous; ear flushes; intravenous feedings and tube feedings. Equipment use includes operating electrocardiographic, radiographic and ultrasonographic equipment. Veterinary technicians commonly assist veterinarians in surgery by providing correct equipment and instruments and by assuring that monitoring and support equipment such as anesthetic machines, cardiac monitors, scopes and breathing apparatus are in good working condition. They may also maintain treatment records and inventory of all pharmaceuticals, equipment and supplies, and help with other administrative tasks within a veterinary practice.

  So, it's basically a nursing program... and then some, because we are allowed to do things for animals that human nurses are not allowed to do for humans. The primary focus is companion animals but we do have to learn the basics for horses, sheep, pigs, birds, etc. It's difficult to express just how much there is to learn - it's just a HUGE volume of stuff to absorb and memorize.

• Understandably, then, the first week was frighteningly overwhelming. I am a wee bit of a snob so I think I thought the program would be challenging but ultimately pretty doable. The first week made it seem like a super hard-core program with 4,500 rules, regulations and duties to follow and little to no wiggle room. After the three hour orientation at the end of the first week, I felt like I had one foot out the door. "High school with ashtrays" this community college program was not! I was apparently not the only person who felt that way because one of the instructors made a point of telling the class that she'd received several student e-mails indicating that the students were wigging out. So she asked that we not to run off screaming or skulk off into the night, never to be heard from again without first talking to one of the instructors about what, exactly, seemed so horrible. It made me feel better that I wasn't the only one completely overreacting! Seriously. Geez. I suffered similar crippling anxiety when I started the MLIS program but that didn't (doesn't) make me feel any better at all. I know I have a tendency to make things seem much harder and impossible than they really are but having that knowledge doesn't keep me from doing it or mitigate the effects!

• Another and no less stressful thing causing me stress was (is) my lack of experience. There are about 50 people in my class and during the first week we all had to introduce ourselves to everyone and describe our experience and interests. I am one of about 7 people (and I'm not exaggerating - I counted) who is entering the program with zero clinic experience. That was an immediate stress inducer because everyone already knows a bunch of this crap because they're already doing it! Suckballs. (If you've ever watched Gilmore Girls and you remember the episode where Rory discovered she was sorely lacking in the extracurriculars department and so tried to cram 10 years of volunteer service into one Saturday you'll know how I felt. And still sometimes feel.) So that was one thing.

• The second big thing bumming me out was (is) my lack of friends in the program. Everyone and their brother seems to know someone from work or from volunteering at the same place. I am one of few dorks who sits alone and reads a book between classes. Everyone is chatting and yukking it up with their table mates while I'm scoping out the room frantically trying to count how many other people aren't talking to someone. Seriously. I am a 30-year-old loser trying to make myself feel better by finding other potential losers in the room. It's really pathetic. I still do this now but much less than I did the first couple weeks of school. I was obsessive about it the first couple weeks and came home almost everyone night whining to Robert about my lack of friends and how the window of opportunity to ingratiate myself into a group was rapidly closing. (Robert really got to work out his 'Calming Lauren Down' muscles a LOT this past month. He's a very patient and encouraging man, let me tell you.) There was one girl I sat next to during lecture a few days in a row and she seemed like a possibility... ish. But I was always the one to plunk myself down next to her so I wasn't really sure if she actually enjoyed my company or thought I was a stalker. So I decided to test her out one day and sat a few seats away from where I knew she was sitting but since she wasn't in her seat at the time maybe she didn't know I knew that was her. (You may need to reread that one...) When she returned to her seat, she grabbed her backpack and skooched over a seat and asked me how I was doing. Success! But, in all honesty, she's not really someone I'd want to hang out with a ton. Still, at least I know someone... sort of... so that's a teensy bit reassuring when I start going goon. More often than I should, though, I feel sort of sad that I am a lonely loser. *sigh* I am just not a people person, damn me! It sometimes poses problems.

• As I mentioned, Robert has just been a super trooper since school started. Aside from all his encouraging and calming and support duties, he gets up with me every morning and made my lunch and snacks so that I don't have to wake up freakishly early or go without, and also so I'll have a little company in the morning. This may not sound like a huge thing but...

• You must understand that my schedule is kind of wicked. Although I only have class three days a week, I start very early two of those days. Very. On Tuesdays, I have class from 8 to 4; I have to wake up at 5:30 in order to be out of the house by 6:30 in order to be on campus by 8. (One Tuesday a month I have a SCNAVTA meeting from 5-6 and a seminar from 6-9 so those Tuesdays are loooooooooooooooong.) Wednesdays I have Animal Care from 6 to 8 and class from 12 to 5; I have to wake up at 4:15 to be out of the house by 5:15 to be on campus before 6. Thursdays are the best - I only have class from 12 to 4 so I can sleep in a hair those mornings. Robert, of course, would normally not ever have to wake up so early so he's really a very nice man. :o) A life saver and a time saver, all in one hot little package. I'm not sure how many weeks he'll do this but I'm taking it while it's offered!

• What is this Animal Care, you ask? Well, it's something each student has to enroll in every quarter during the program. Foothill has 1 horse (Charcey), 2 sheep (Alvin and Theodore), 1 goat (Bonnie), 5 dogs (Radar, Rodney, Foxy, Ludo and Popcorn), 6 cats (Moo Moo, Miss M, Carbon, Cleopatra, Meitzi and Selma), 4 rabbits (Maggie, Margie, Zoe and... the other one), several rats and several more mice. Of course, these guys all have to be cared for 365 days a year and it's the students' responsibility to do so. There are two shifts - 6 to 8AM and 4 to 6 PM - and you have to fill out a little preference sheet at the beginning of the quarter indicating when you would like to work, when you can work but would prefer not to, and when you absolutely cannot (which requires supporting info to verify). It just so happens that I got assigned to the AM shift every Wednesday for this quarter; that will change every quarter hereafter, of course, but for now I'm happy with my shift. Yes, it's a drag getting up so early on Wednesdays (which is also when I have tap so it's a loooong day and I'm completely pooped when it's over!) but it affords me 4 "what else am I going to do but study?" hours every week and that's exactly what a procrastinator like me needs. Plus, you really wake up when you have to clean cat cages, shovel manure, brush a horse, wash towels, scrub rabbit cages, walk dogs, parse out hay... Seriously. I am going to be thinner and more in shape after this program, it's ridiculous. I have such spaghetti arms that I was very sore after shoveling manure the first day. It's sad. I am just happy that I have my shift on a day that I have to be on campus, anyway. Trekking out to Los Altos Hills for a two hour poop fest on what would normally be a day off would truly suck.

• I had my first midterm last week and it has very rudely brought my lack of focus thus far painfully home. My brain is just as rusty as it was when I started the MLIS program and I have just not put my non-school days time to good use! At. All. I am not a good time budgeter or multi-tasker, apparently. (I think the exam was a rude awakening for several of us, though, and I was invited to a post-test Happy Hour at Chevy's on Thursday. I'm not a drinker, as you know, so I didn't really want to go but was encouraged by a fellow student and also by Robert that it would be a good way to meet people and it was. I am feeling a bit better on the friends front after Happy Hour so I think it was a good decision.) So, this weekend I am going to try and kick my ass into gear to study for my next midterm, which is on Thursday and covers everything from a clinic's Material Data Safety Sheets to identifying types of abnormal heart sounds. It's gonna be a doozy. Bleh.
  

And that is my first month in the veterinary technology program in a (rather large) nutshell! As overwhelming and sometimes soul-deflating as it has been, I can tell I truly do find the material interesting and that gives me hope (as I stare down the barrel of much more difficult quarters to come). And please understand that I know I'm completely neurotic and making things much more scary and intimidating than they are and that most of you would not be quite so goony while pursuing an A.S. But that's just how I work. I'll adapt... eventually. I hope. I'm pretty sure. I think.

Funk Got Skunked!

This post is a sort of an addendum to the Hanson post because, unfortunately for us, Garfunkel tangled with the black-and-white demon on the same night. Actually, I blame Hanson; Funk got skunked literally only 5 minutes before Robert walked in my parents' door to pick him up. Had Hanson had only ONE opening act and not TWO, Robert and I would have been home in time to grab him before the skunk ever appeared. Just sayin'.

But, as luck would have it, Hanson did have two opening acts and Garfunkel was able to get himself good and sprayed right before Robert arrived. Why wasn't I with him, you ask? Well, it was about 12:30 or so by the time we made it back from the city and we were in separate cars so I headed home to get a jump on the showering, tooth brushing, lunch making, etc. I was in the midst of doing just that when Robert came running into the house reeking of skunk and telling me that Funk had been sprayed. I immediately hopped on the Web to look up stink remedies and Robert changed into something grubby before heading out to the store to procure all the goodies. Fast-forward to 3 AM and Garfunkel had been bathed, scrubbed, soaked and rubbed too many times to count with a hydrogen peroxide/baking soda/soap concoction as well as his regular dog shampoo. Robert did the bulk of the washing; I came in at the end to do a final inspection and some touch-ups. After finally deciding we'd done the best we could, we headed home and stumbled into bed at 4:30. Robert went to work at his usual time, poor guy; I didn't have to be on campus until 11 so I got a couple more hours sleep. It was just so nice that Garfunkel decided to christen himself in skunk funk on the one night we were out late... and not on, y'know, one of those pesky nights in the 4 months prior when only one of us had to wake up early. Excellent timing.

The BEST part of the whole thing is that Funk got sprayed right in the face. Yay. In fact, according to my Robert, Funk actually had a white, foamy goatee of skunk stink. His muzzle and chest smelled so strongly that I think it singed our nose hairs, I'm not joking. It was awful!!! And even though my parents heard the rustling and so never let Funk in their house after he was sprayed, the incident occurred so close to their house that the entire thing just stunk. It was bad. Luckily, Quigley did his business and then ran back into my parents' house so he avoided being hit. Garfunkel, on the other hand, decided that messing around with a big, fluffy, stinky black-and-white 'cat' would be a lot of fun. I really, really, really hope Garfunkel is smart enough to realize that those kinds of 'kitties' are no fun at all and that he stays away from them in the future!!! (Just as an aside, my childhood dog, Ziggy, lived his entire life outside in our backyard and NEVER got sprayed by a skunk. Ever. He chased raccoons from time to time but never got bitten, scratched or sprayed by any of the various wildlife trolling around the BART tracks behind my parents' yard. He was either incredibly lucky, incredibly intelligent or a little bit of both.)

It is now about three weeks post-skunk'd Funk and while my parents will dispute me on this, both Robert and I think - nay, we KNOW - he still carries some residual funk. (His breath was the WORST for the first few days after he got sprayed but thankfully that died down more quickly than the fur stink did.) I did a bit more research on the topic the day following the incident and Robert wound up buying some Tecnu and giving Funk another rubdown and bath that night. That actually seemed to help a lot. I managed to salvage Robert's clothes and all but one of the towels used to wash Funk down after several soakings and washings in the hydrogen peroxide mix. Garfunkel's collar took the brunt of the hit, I think, and was subsequently the hardest item to de-skunk. I soaked it. I washed it. I rubbed it down with Tecnu. I soaked it again. I washed it some more. I scrubbed it with even more Tecnu. Finally, I decided to rub some Goo Gone on it and that seemed to do the trick. Something about the orange oil... I don't know and I don't care. I'm just glad Funk doesn't have to wear his birthday collar with the Christmas ornament tag anymore! He got his hot dog collar back just a couple days ago. :o)

Let me just reiterate that I really, really, really hope Garfunkel has learned NEVER to do this again. Ever.

My Musical Skeleton in the Closet

All righty! Here's the first of my new posts, as promised. Here we go.

Now, I'm about to confess something that, up until now, I haven't shared with anyone. But Robert decided to blurt it out at the last McCauley BBQ so now my hands are tied. So here it is: I like Hanson. There. I've said it. BUT! Before you judge me, do me the courtesy of at least checking out the videos below so you can see what they sound like now. And it's not like this. I swear.

It all started back in the summer of 2001. I was still a college student, living at home during the break and house-sitting for my parents who'd gone... somewhere to do something for a week. I can't remember. Anyway, the point is, while they were gone, I stumbled upon DirecTV's Channel 101. I can't recall why or how I came across the channel, but at the time it was showing a bunch of different concerts. I always like having music on in the background when I'm doing chores so it's possible that I flipped it on while washing dishes or something. The point is that I found the channel and watched "Hanson: Live at the Fillmore." And not just once. The concert was shown every three hours or so for an entire month so I saw that concert a LOT. A lot a lot. (Just ask Robert.) Because the more I watched, the more I learned the songs, the more I liked the songs and the more I enjoyed watching. It was a vicious cycle. But one that led me to buy that CD (This Time Around) and each CD released since then. I watched and listened to it so much even Robert began to like them and now he and I share in our enjoyment of Hanson.

Do I enjoy their earlier stuff, like "MMMBop" and "Where's the Love?" Not really. But it's also been 13 years since those songs came out and, unsurprisingly, the now 30-, 27- and 25-year old guys in the band don't make music like that anymore. They're much more... rock n' roll. Less overtly pop. But they were SO hugely popular with their teenybopper music that people still associated them with that style of music, even all these years later. Which is why fans like me have to hide our like of the band for fear of being mocked. It's a sad, sad story, people. The guys themselves are not unaware of their predicament; check out this clip from their 2005 documentary Strong Enough to Break*:

(Fast-forward to the 4:11 mark.)

Robert and I have actually been to two of their concerts previous to the one we attended last month** but you've never read about it here, have you? That's right. Because as soon as anyone finds out I like Hanson, I get odd looks. And it's just too tiring having to defend myself and them all the time! (It's really a sad story here, people. Can you see the pain I've been in? I know!) But, and I'm not exaggerating, every time we've been to a Hanson concert, we've encountered THE longest line outside the venue. We see a lot of bands at the smaller venues - the Fillmore, the Warfield, The Great American Music Hall - and Hanson always has the most fans queuing up to get in early than any other band we've seen. And their fans are very enthusiastic; there were several cars decorated in the parking garage for the show. One car even had an "I'd rather be listening to Hanson" license plate frame. Are there a lot of girls? (*sigh*) Yes, there are. But there are at least a few guys there, even if it they are just accompanying their girlfriends. Are there a lot of parents there? No. (People always assume the crowd is comprised of a bunch of 10-year-old girls but I promise you it's not!) The crowd is mostly a bunch of early 20-somethings but there are other people our age there. I will admit to still feeling a bit out of place because I'm not squee-ing over one of the guys (sadly, Hanson men are not Hot Men), but since the band was playing at GAMH, Robert and I did our youzhe and sat in the reserved seats above the stage so it wasn't quite so bad this time. (Actually, it's too bad I don't find Taylor attractive since, with the way the stage was set up, I had a clear shot of his buns (or, at least, the place where a butt would've been if he actually had one) for the entire show. I'm sure someone would've given their eye teeth for the Butt Seat).

Are ALL their songs fantabulastic? No. There is no band I like that I unquestionably love each and every song - it's not possible. But Hanson is good and much, much better than you think they are. I swear! Give'em a try. C'mon.

"And I Waited" (the song I like best from their current album) performed in L.A. last month:

"Thinkin' 'Bout Somethin'" (the first single from their current CD) as performed on Conan's "Legally Prohibited..." tour. See? Conan likes'em.

The videos from the night we saw them (September 21st) are not so hot, but this is an acceptable snippet from their a cappella segment:

* I watched the documentary on our trip to Hawaii back in '07. At the time, it was offered as a podcast on iTunes so I loaded it up onto Robert's iPod and watched it on the plane. It's actually a very interesting documentary about how Hanson was affected by the merger of their label with Island Def Jam and how, afterward, IDJ sort of poo-pooed their music. So, after fighting the label for 3 years, they got out and started their own label. It really is an interesting movie about the music business. Honestly! I'm not a huge, Hanson-obsessed dork, I swear.

** Several months ago, I'd mentioned in passing to my parents that both Keane and Hanson were going to be in town but that Robert and I didn't have the budget to buy tickets like we normally would. So my parents did a little investigating and wound up buying us the concert tickets as an anniversary gift.