Surprise! We're Adopting, Too!

Many months before Robert and I found out we were expecting, we had started the process of adopting a baby. We didn't necessarily know that we couldn't have kids, we just knew we hadn't had any yet. And I'd thought about adoption a lot over the years, given my depression and anxiety, and when I broached the topic with Robert, I was pleasantly surprised to discover he was all for it. Unbeknownst to me, Robert had been worrying about the possible adverse effects of pregnancy on my depression, especially considering postpartum depression. Fairly soon after we talked about Robert hopped on the computer and researched several different agencies and options for us - this was probably a little after the beginning of the year. We soon discovered that open adoption, where the baby (and we) will still have contact with the birth mother, is pretty much the only game in town in California; closed adoptions or private adoptions are very few and far between. We attended a couple orientation sessions for different agencies and finally decided on the Independent Adoption Center.

The adoption process is a very long one before you even get put "into circulation" and begin waiting for a baby. It's also a fairly expensive process and different agencies have differing payment structures - some of them charge you for each step, some charge you in tiers, some charge you each time you enter the pool (for example, if we were matched with a baby but the match fell through at some point, we would be charged for getting ourselves matched with another birth mother), etc. Robert and I both felt that IAC had the best, most fair-seeming payment structure and it most definitely does not require us to pay again if our match falls apart because that completely stinks!

In a (somewhat large) nutshell, the adoption process looks something like this:

• fill out the initial application to the agency as well as an autobiography, both of which are several pages long
• attend a two-day intensive orientation session where we are assigned an adoption coordinator as well as a social worker and we get to hear from both a birth mother as well as an adoptive family who have worked with the agency
• fill out a staggering number of forms - health evals from doctors, DMV driving records, employment verifications, proofs of marriage and health insurance, various legal releases, income information - and get fingerprinted
• have a home visit, where a social worker inspects the house for carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, makes sure our running water does not exceed 120 degrees, checks on locations of medications and cleaning products and fire extinguishers, etc.
• take an online training course and complete an accompanying questionnaire
• receive 4 letters of recommendation from non-relatives
• write a "Dear Birthmother" letter which is essentially our resume to prospective birth mothers and for which we have to have professional pictures taken
• purchase a 1-800 number for interested birth mothers to call 
• create a Web page on iheartadoption.com
• potentially create our own personal Web page and/or Facebook page for birth mothers to check out

We aren't considered to be "in circulation" until our Dear Birthmother letter goes out but the average wait-time for a baby is 15 months, which is a lot shorter than either Robert or I expected, quite frankly. It's a very rigorous exercise but extremely informative and helpful because the agency addresses every question you can possibly think of and that's certainly very reassuring for some things (especially concerning paternity if the birth father isn't known or around). The process is also extremely detailed in that everything from how many visits per year with the birth mother to who gets to cut the cord in the delivery room is discussed, decided, and legally recorded. It's pretty crazy. We get to bring the baby home from the hospital and it takes about 6 months for the adoption to be finalized and the baby's birth certificate changed to reflect Robert and me as the legal parents. There is no limit to how long the birth mother can wait to sign off on the adoption but the agency assures everyone that about 3 weeks is the longest any mother has taken. So, of course, the entire process is fraught with possibility that the adoption could stall at various stages but we just have to power through. The amount of stuff birth mothers have to go through with the agency is almost comparable to what we as adoptive parents have to do so by the time a birth mother contacts us, she will have already had a lot of opportunities to back out. In fact, the agency stated that last year they had 3,000 birth mothers contact them and only 200 matches because the counseling that the agency does with the birth mothers is very effective at getting down to those mothers who really are prepared to give their baby up for adoption.


Robert and I have kind of stalled out at the Dear Birthmother letter, mainly because with the pregnancy and everything else going on, we've just been swamped and I've been feeling pretty poorly, though that's thankfully improving some. I did ask our counselor if my being pregnant would affect our chances of a birth mother selecting us - I assumed we wouldn't be very desirable because a birth mother would assume we'd give more attention to our "real" baby than an adopted one - and the counselor said no. It's about a 50/50 split between birth mothers who do care and who don't and she said she recently had an adoptive mother and a birth mother who essentially had the same due date and the adoption was very smooth. I think we should probably take pictures before I get too chubs, however, so I think we're going to be moving fairly quickly to that step! :-)

Robert and I talked about the possibility of my getting pregnant while we were trying to adopt and we both decided that we'd want to keep going with the adoption. So we are! We definitely want more than one child, we both still really like adoption, and who knows how long the process will take? We could wind up matched with a birth mother in weeks, months, or years and even if it is weeks, it will still take months for the actual baby to arrive so we feel like moving along with the adoption is the right choice for us. We've discovered that many of our friends and family have lots of questions about the process so I'll probably be posting quite a bit on the subject as we slog through the steps. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Blowing Cobwebs Off the Ol' Blog

Well, this is absolutely depressing. I can't believe it's been OVER A YEAR since my last post and that the grand total of 2013 posts is 14. Fourteen?! Granted, there's been a downward trend from year to year - 410 posts in 2008, 293 in 2009, 144 in 2010, 94 in 2011, 23 in 2012 - but 14??? Oy. That is just too sad for words.

All of this emptiness has not been without thoughts of posting, however. I have written and rewritten posts in my head literally dozens of times while trying (and failing) to fall asleep. This started a long time ago, so at first my posts were about depression, then dementia, then dementia and depression, then isolation... Very uplifting stuff, sure, but very applicable to my life an that moment. Now I'm up to crappy bosses, dog fostering, pregnancy, and adoption. I don't even know where to begin! Wait... yes, I do.

Indeed I do.

Hopefully, I will be able to get the word out that I am trying to be active in my blog posting you guys will start coming back! In the meantime, I will do a quick post on the a recent source excitement at Casa de McCauley - I'm pregnant!!!

Right now, I'm just shy of 4 months and am not due until March 1st. So everything is still very kind of vague-feeling and it still hasn't really sunk in that a baby will be arriving in the new year. I have had an ultrasound so that made things a little more real but I think Robert and I are still not 100% in pregnancy mode. He's mostly just stressed about cleaning out the office and how much childcare will cost and I'm mostly splayed out on the couch feeling sick or tired (or both). :-) We got several photos of the baby a couple of weeks ago via the ultrasound:

This is a front-facing view so the head looks a little alien-y!

3D version 1

3D version 2  (Robert and I had gone to a NIN concert the night before the ultrasound so I think the baby was still covering his/her ears...!)

So now we're just waiting until October when we get to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl. But we already have a spreadsheet of name options (courtesy of Robert, of course) so we're prepared for either eventuality. ;-)

A Peek Into the Clinic

The Web site for my clinic is woefully out of date. And until I bite the bullet and make my blog private (which I'm loathe to do but if I don't, I won't be able to vent at all! ;o) ), all I will say on the subject is that we had new photos taken last week. I'm not sure when the site will be changed or which pictures will be used but I snagged a few so you could get a tiny peek of some of the people with whom I work.

From L to R: Cassie, me, Bethany, and Karolina. Yes, I'm the only one who opted to wear a print scrub top but I don't care! I contemplated wearing a solid color (though I only own 2) top but felt it just wouldn't hold true to my personality so Doodle Cats it was. And I like it.

Here, Dr. Kestler, Bethany and I are giving Sherman (one of the practice owner's dogs and the cutest little Pom/Cairn Terrier mix you'll ever see!) an ultrasound. Aren't we smart?!

If you look reeeeeeally closely you can see Sherman's bladder on the screen. We use ultrasounds to perform cystocenteses, which is a lot nicer than doing blind sticks.

This is the my bio photo, which will be used only if the practice manager decides to post bios for the techs. My gut says she won't so this will probably be the only place you'll see it! The dog is Jasmine, another of the practice owner's dogs. She did very well. :o) I had the option of bringing in Linguini or Funk but somehow I just didn't think that would've worked out so well...

Olivia Quinn

I have a brand new shiny little niece! She was due in October but circumstances dictated that she make her entrance a bit early so she joined us on August 22nd. She's a feisty little gal, weighing in at almost 6 pounds, and is doing well. So is my sister, which is a very good thing. Both are still in the hospital but that's okay because it just means they're getting taken care of very well. :o) Robert and I will make a trek out to Chicago to see her but I think the fam will need a bit of time after Olivia gets home herself so I'm not sure when that will be. Until then, my sister's doing an awesome job keeping us all updated daily with notes and pictures.

Fall 2013 Informational Bonanza!

I know I said I'd post on the Fall 2013 TV shows but in all honesty sifting through week(s)-old EW.com articles on my day off didn't really sound terribly appealing. Until, that is, I realized, two weeks late, that Go On has been canceled. Say que?!! I found out by completely random means and was so bummed I called Robert at work to voice my outrage. His response? "Oh. You didn't know? Even I knew. Wow. Did you know According to Jim also isn't on anymore?" Way to kick a lady when she's down, man. I know I've been painfully out-of-the-loop on entertainment things for a long time now but I do check the EW.com mobile homepage every day and I swear I never saw the cancellation as a headline*. SO not only is the show canceled but apparently it was so unloved that it didn't even warrant a headline! Suckballs! Now I've lost three shows in one season** and if The Mindy Project had been cancelled I may have been tempted to give up on network TV altogether! A person can only handle so much scripted drama, people. But the sadness has motivated to make sure other shows I like are still alive so here's what I've collected thus far. Y'all may already be in the know but I had to do this for me. Sigh.

List of canceled shows:

Deception (NBC): Cancelled.
Animal Practice (NBC): Put down.
Do No Harm (NBC): Harmed.
30 Rock (NBC): Over.

Guys with Kids (NBC): You can’t believe how cancelled this is.
The Office (NBC): Closed.
Smash (NBC): Smushed.
Up All Night (NBC): Christina Applegate quit: This was cancelled … by its own star!
Whitney (NBC): Thankfully.
1600 Penn (NBC): Impeached.
Made in Jersey (CBS): Terminated.
Private Practice (ABC): Spin-off heaven.

Partners (CBS): Dumped
Ben & Kate (Fox): & Cancelled.
Vegas (CBS): Lost.
Go On (NBC): Get out.
Fringe (Fox): R.I.P.
Touch (Fox): Touchable.
The Job (CBS): What?
The Mob Doctor (Fox): Ha! That title. Yeah. Deceased.
Don’t Trust the B– in Apt. 23 (ABC): Speaking of: Did anyone really believe a comedy with “B—-” in the title was going to last?
666 Park Avenue (ABC): Hellbound.

Last Resort (ABC): Indeed.
Rules of Engagement (CBS): Broken.
Golden Boy (CBS): Tarnished.
CSI: NY (CBS): Two down, one to go.
Zero Hour (ABC): Zero something all right.
Emily Owens, M.D. (The CW): Crashed.

How to Live with Your Parents (ABC): Evicted.
Red Widow (ABC): Exterminated.
Body of Proof (ABC): D.O.A.
The New Normal (NBC): Or not.
Family Tools (ABC): Put away.
Malibu Country (ABC): Overthrown.
Happy Endings (ABC): Until this happened.
90210 (The CW): Finished.
Cult (The CW): Unfollowed.

THESE ARE SOME SHOWS STILL ON BUBBLE OR FATE UNCONFIRMED:
Hannibal (NBC)

Synopses of upcoming new shows:

FOX

DRAMAS

GANG RELATED. Follows a gang member who is sent in to infiltrate the San Francisco Police Department As he rises through the ranks, he must balance his obligations to his crime family with an increasing sense of loyalty to his new “family” – the SFPD’s Gang Task Force. Ramon Rodriguez and Terry O’Quinn star.

SLEEPY HOLLOW. Follows Ichabod Crane as he partners with Sleepy Hollow’s local female sheriff to solve the mysteries of a town ravaged by the battle between good and evil. Tom Mison stars.

RAKE. Follows the chaotic and comedic life of criminal defense lawyer. Brilliant, frustratingly charming, and with zero filter, Keegan is one of life’s great addicts. In addition to Keegan’s cases within the justice system, the show follows his personal trials and tribulations, including his ongoing battle against the IRS, his mounting debt to his bookie, overlapping affairs and liaisons with women, a hormonal son, an exhausted ex-wife and the evolving relationship between his two married best friends. Greg Kinnear and Miranda Otto star.

ALMOST HUMAN. An action-packed buddy cop show, set in the near future, when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids. Karl Urban and Michael Ealy stars.

COMEDIES

SURVIVING JACK. Based upon the book I Suck at Girls, by Justin Halpern. A story about a boy becoming a man, and a man becoming a father, in a time before coming of age was something you could Google. Christopher Meloni stars.

US & THEM. Friends and family are the best support and the worst nightmare when two very different lovers meet and try to make a long distance relationship work. Based on the hit BBC series Gavin & Stacey. Jason Ritter stars.

DADS. Two successful guys in their 30s have their world turned upside down when their dads move in with them. Seth Green, Giovanni Ribisi, Brenda Song stars.

ENLISTED. After being in combat for several years, Pete is stationed at a military base in Florida to tackle the toughest job of them all — leading his dysfunctional brothers’ squad. Geoff Stults stars.

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE. A group of detectives form an odd family in their precinct in the outermost neighborhood of New York City. Andy Samberg, Terry Crews, Andre Braugher star.

ABC

DRAMAS

BETRAYAL. A beautiful but unhappily married female photographer begins a torrid affair with a lawyer for a powerful family. When he turns out to be defending a murder suspect who is being prosecuted by her husband, the relationship and the case begin a spiraling series of betrayals with cataclysmic results for everyone involved. Henry Thomas. James Cromwell, Elizabeth McLaughlin, Stuart Townsend star.

KILLER WOMEN:. It’s hard to fit in when you’re the only woman in the notoriously male Texas Rangers, but that doesn’t stop Molly Parker – our ballsy, beautiful badass who knows how to get to the truth and isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers on her way there. Based on the Argentine series “Mujeres Asesinas.” Tricia Helfer, Mark Blucas star.

LUCKY 7. A show about seven employees of a service station in Queens whose lives are changed in many unexpected ways when they win a lottery jackpot. Isiah Whitlock, Jr., Stephen Louis Grush, Matt Long star.

MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Based on the fictional and secret law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Universe. Clark Gregg, Ming-Na, Brett Dalton, Elizabeth Henstridge, Ian De Caestecker, Chloe Bennet.

COMEDIES

BACK IN THE GAME. Single camera. When Terry Gannon, a recently divorced, single mother, temporarily moves in with her estranged father, a beer swilling former baseball player, she reluctantly starts coaching her son’s underdog little league team and is drawn back into the world of sports she vowed to leave behind. James Caan and Ben Koldyke star.

MIXOLOGY. Set in the world of a sexy Manhattan bar, the high-concept comedy from the writers of “The Hangover” chronicles the exploits of singles in search of love– all over the course of one night. Blake Lee; Andrew Santino, ; Kate Simses, Adam Campbell, Craig Frank, Vanessa Lengies star.

SUPER FUN NIGHT. Kimmie and her two best friends since high school have an awesome Friday night tradition of staying home in their pj’s and hanging out with each other, but when Kimmie gets a big promotion at her law firm and is invited to a party by the cute transfer from the London office, she realizes that she needs to step-up her game and convince her friends to take Super Fun Night on the road. Rebel Wilson, Lauren Ash, Liza Lapira, Kelen Coleman and Kevin Bishop star.

THE GOLDBERGS. A multigenerational, dysfunctional Wonder Years set in simpler times, inspired by Goldberg’s own experience growing up in the ’80s with a highly screwed up but loving family. Wendi McLendon-Covey, Jeff Garlin and George Segel star.

TROPHY WIFE. Reformed party girl Kate finds herself with an insta-family when she falls in love with a man with three manipulative kids and two judgmental ex-wives. Malin Akerman, Bradley Whitford, Marcia Gay Harden, Michaela Watkins and Natalie Morales star.

CBS

DRAMAS

RECKLESS. Sultry legal show set in Charleston, South Carolina, where a gorgeous Yankee litigator and a Southern City Attorney struggle to hide their intense attraction while clashing over a police sex scandal. Cam Gigandet stars.

HOSTAGES. A family is caught in the middle of a grand political conspiracy that will change their lives forever. Stars Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott.

INTELLIGENCE. Centered at the U.S. Cyber Command, which focuses on a unit that has been created around one agent with a very special gift, a microchip that has been implanted in his brain that allows him to access the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Josh Holloway stars.

COMEDIES

CRAZY ONES. Single-camera comedy about a father and daughter who work together in an advertising office. Cast: Robin Williams, Sarah Michelle Gellar.

MOM. A newly sober single mom tries to pull her life together in Napa Valley. Cast: Anna Faris, Sadie Calvano, Matt Jones, Spencer Daniels, Allison Janney.

WE ARE MEN. A young guy finds camaraderie living among the more experienced guys he meets in a short-term rental complex. Cast: Kal Penn, Tony Shalhoub, Jerry O’Connell, Chris Smith.

BAD TEACHER. Based on the film, a sexy, foul-mouthed divorcee becomes a teacher to find her next husband. Cast: Ari Graynor, David Alan Grier.

THE MILLERS: A recently divorced guy’s life gets more complicated when his parents have marital problems of their own. Will Arnett stars.

NBC

DRAMAS

CRISIS. When Washington’s most powerful players are pulled into an international conspiracy, an unlikely puppeteer will bring everyone from CEOs to The President of the United States to their knees by threatening the things they hold most dear. Forced together by dire circumstances these power brokers, the FBI and a rookie secret service agent must unravel the mystery to take back control of their lives. Dermot Mulroney, Rachael Taylor, Gillian Anderson star.

BELIEVE. From producer J.J. Abrams, an unlikely relationship develops between a young girl with a gift and a man sprung from prison who has been tasked with protecting her from the evil elements that hunt her power. Johnny Sequoyah, Jake McLaughlin, Delroy Lindo star.

THE BLACKLIST. The world’s most wanted criminal mysteriously turns himself in and offers to give up everyone he has ever worked with. His only condition is he will only work with a newly minted FBI agent with whom he seemingly has no connection. James Spader, Megan Boone star.

IRONSIDE. From a producing team that includes David Semel and Teri Weinberg, a tough, sexy but acerbic police detective relegated to a wheelchair after a shooting is hardly limited by his disability as he pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases in the city. Remake of the classic series; Blair Underwood to star.

DRACULA. This drama series re-introduces Dracula as he arrives in London, posing as Alexander Grayson, an American entrepreneur who claims that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier. There’s only one circumstance that can potentially thwart his plan: he’s fallen hopelessly in love with a young woman who appears to be the reincarnation of his dead wife. (Cast: Jonathan Rhys Meyers)

COMEDIES

THE FAMILY GUIDE. Single-camera comedy about a son who idolizes his blind father and is bemused by his mother’s new-found adolescence watches his family come closer together post-divorce. Eli Baker, JK Simmons, Parker Posey star.

ABOUT A BOY. Comedy centering on a bachelor whose primary goal in life is avoiding any kind of responsibility until he meets a geeky young boy. David Walton, Minnie Driver star.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY. Cultures collide when a white family and a Latino family are bonded together by their children who fall in love followed quickly by an unplanned pregnancy. Mike O’Malley stars.

SEAN SAVES THE WORLD. Comedy centers on Sean, who must figure out how to parent his 14-year-old daughter, who just moved in, while navigating a temperamental new boss at work. Sean Hayes stars.

UNDATEABLE. Multicamera young ensemble comedy centering on a group of friends dubbed the “Undate-ables,” whose lives are altered when a more confident guy enters their world. Chris D’Elia, Brent Morin stars.

CW

DRAMAS

THE TOMORROW PEOPLE. Based on the original UK series, The Tomorrow People is the story of several young people from around the world who represent the next stage in human evolution, possessing special powers, including the ability to teleport and communicate with each other telepathically. Together, they work to defeat the forces of evil. Robbie Amell, Luke Mitchell star.

THE ORIGINALS. Spin-off of The Vampire Diaries and centers on the Original family, as Klaus returns to the supernatural melting pot that is the French Quarter of New Orleans — a town he helped build centuries ago — and is reunited with his diabolical former protégé Marcel. Elijah, intent on helping his self-destructive brother find redemption, must side with Marcel’s enemies in order to keep Klaus in line. Joseph Morgan, Claire Holt, Daniel Gilles star.

THE HUNDRED. 97 years after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, a massive spaceship housing the lone human survivors sends 100 juvenile delinquents with dark secrets back to Earth to investigate the possibility of re-colonizing the planet. Eliza Taylor, Paige Turco, Eli Goree, Bob Morley, Henry Ian Cusick star.

REIGN. The previously unknown and untold story of Mary Queen of Scots rise to power when she arrives in France as a 15-year-old, betrothed to Prince Francis, and with her three best friends as ladies-in-waiting. The secret history of survival at French Court amidst fierce foes, dark forces, and a world of sexual intrigue. Adelaide Kane, Toby Regbo star.

STAR-CROSSED. Passion and politics threaten the peace and an epic romance ignites between a human girl and an alien boy when he and eight others of his kind (The Orion 9) are integrated into a suburban high school ten years after they and hundreds of others landed on Earth and were immediately consigned to an internment camp where they’ve been imprisoned ever since. Aimee Teagarden, Matt Lanter star.

CBS' Fall Schedule: Snap Judgement

ABC's Fall Schedule: Snap Judgement

NBC's Fall Schedule: Snap Judgement

CW's Fall Schedule: Snap Judgement

*That's because the news was hidden inside a "Whitney Is Canceled" headline. No wonder I didn't click on it! Who cares about Whitney?!

**Apparently, if I want to watch the remaining 8 episodes of Don't Trust the B- I have to watch them on ABC.com. Greeeeat. Cause I wanna watch 4 hours of TV on my PC. Plus, they're out of order so I have to look up the correct order in which to watch them somewhere else! ABC is obnoxious.

***Sorry for the crappy formatting. I just don't have the energy to try and fix it anymore.

I Remembered a Cool Thing!

So, I've been meaning to post about the shows greenlit for this fall but it requires me to link from several pages and I'm lazy/busy so I promise I will get to it this week. I get off early Monday and Thursday so I've gotta dedicated some time to the blog!!! In the meantime, here's a moldy oldy that I found languishing in the 'drafts' pile.

Sometime during my senior year in the VT program, the need arose for Boone, our resident horse, to have his sheath cleaned. Apparently, this is something that happens all the time in the horse business but since Charcy was a girl, we students had never really been confronted with it. But it was a learning opportunity so when Dr. Mac asked if anyone wanted to join her on such-and-such day and time to clean Boone's junk, I decided I'd help out. Now, I had Animal Care immediately preceding the cleaning so it's not like I made a special trip to campus or hung around excessively; I don't think I'd have done either of those things had I been forced to make the choice. But since I was already there I decided to go for it. Besides, when else would I ever get the chance to do such a thing?! Robert absolutely did not understand or agree with that philosophy since it involved sticking my hand up a horse's penile sheath but that's why he's a writer and I'm a tech. :o) The process essentially consisted of filling a bucket with warm water and soap and then getting a bunch of gauze, soaping it up and inserting it into the sheath to scrub away debris. We wore gloves, don't worry. Dr. Mac had the displeasure of reaching waaaay up and retrieving the "bean" of smegma (sorry, guys) so we students just had to scrub and rinse. There were only about 4 of us (excluding Dr. Mac) and you wouldn't really believe how dirty it gets up there! It only took about a half-hour total and I'm glad I did it. Something to tell the grandkids.

Here's an informational video on the process if you're at all interested in real visuals to go along with your mental pictures:

Biji, 5 Months In

UPDATE: I know most of you have seen these pics on Facebook but for those who haven't, Biji has posted a couple photos of himself over the past month that I thought I should share.

in a STRYKER on [his] way back from Maiwand

160th SIG BDE CDR and 1/1 AD BCT CDR — at At Camp Nathan Smith, AFG 2013

I have been a terrible friend this tour - I haven't e-mailed Biji once since he left in December. He called us at Christmas but we hadn't heard from him since then. He does check in on Facebook every once in a long while so at least we know he's still out there. Luckily for us, though, he called us Sunday morning and we actually heard and answered the phone! :o) He actually sounded pretty good, all things considered, and we found out he's finished his Major schooling. (The Army wouldn't let him wait until he got back from Afghanistan so they made him do it online while deployed. :o/) That means he has more time for patrols, unfortunately, but because he is a Major, he only does about 2 per week. So that's a very thin silver lining. That's pretty much all we were allowed to know but we were thrilled to get to talk to him and I just wanted to pass along that he's still hanging in there.

The Boys Being Cute

Wow! It's been longer than I thought since my last post... Sorry about that. I worked 10-7:30 last week and it totally wore me out!!! My manager doesn't give out the next week's schedule until the weekend before so it makes planning things difficult. For example, I still don't have my schedule for the upcoming week so I have no idea how many hours I'll be working or on which days. It's more than a little frustrating. But I digress. This is supposed to be a cute post, dammit! So here goes.*

First, we have Funk. Many mornings when I wake up, I see a big, black puppy laying in his bed. Notice I said laying, not sleeping. Funk's bed is on my side of the bed and when he thinks I'm awake but isn't sure I'm going to get all the way up, he just wags his tail. He doesn't commit to actually getting out of his bed until he's sure I'm really, truly going to get up (and pet him). One morning I teased him by whispering to test his commitment to the stay-down and he didn't disappoint:

He's so cute I can barely stand it! And even though Linguini is generally a butthead he, too, has a cute habit that I caught on film. Those of you that have visited Casa de Mac may have noticed that our doors all look like crap. But our bathroom door is especially sad, and for some reason the previous owners shortened it so the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor is abnormally large. (Not creepy Peeping Tom large but larger than normal.) Every night, Linguini likes to thrust his paw through the gap and try and nab my feet. I think he plays the game with Robert, too, but he really likes socks and Robert rarely wears socks so my feet are way more tempting. :o) It is TOO CUTE to see the little pink-padded paw reach out and try to grab my toes, I love it! My nighttime routine has gotten a bit longer to include ample play time but since Gweenz doesn't have much that he seems to enjoy with his people, I will play as long as he wants. (If he gets a good grip on my sock, I'll slip it down to about mid-foot and let him pull it off. He still likes to play after he conquers the sock but he definitely doesn't play as long with bare feet.)

* Clearly, I suffer from VVS. I'll try to work on that in the future.

Today, I Liked My Job

Today was a very good day at work - the type of day that makes me happy I sucked it up and made the change. So I thought I'd share.

I was supposed to work at reception all day today (bleh) but upon clocking in Stephs hurriedly told me I was working in the back instead, as Bethany had called in sick. I was stoked; I'd much rather work in the back anyway but today there was a particular surgery I wanted to see and now I was going to be able to! Plus, I much prefer being busy, busy, busy and with one person down, I was actually going to get to do tech stuff (instead of being the new person who has to do the more peripheral stuff). I got to monitor anesthesia on the first procedure and got to watch a bit of the surgery I was interested in*, a chinchilla came in (and you KNOW how much I love chinchillas!!!) and I got to help out with its exam, and I got to x-ray a guinea pig. It was awesome! :o) I had to work an extra 90 minutes past the end of my shift and I didn't really care. I may still be in the honeymoon phase of my job but even if that's the case, it's nice to have days on the job that make you feel so fulfilled.

And because I didn't get to take any pictures of the chinchilla, here are some other photos of animals from the clinic. And a picture of me holding my first chinchilla while interning at MVVC. ;o)

Today's chin was only my second so I expect to squee every time I see one for quite some time to come.

I was almost as excited for this guy, a very handsome panther chameleon. LOVE. He bit me and pooped on me while I restrained him and it was totally worth it.

This little guy is just one of the many Petco bearded dragons. He's enjoying his heat lamp. (Never, ever, ever under any circumstances buy an animal from Petco.)

These are two of our three clinic cats, Logan (male, top) and Trinity (female). They're just hangin' out in the break room. They're both super sweet and friendly and I spend lots of time pestering them.

And THIS is Lola, the third clinic kitty. She's my favorite because she's a huge purr machine and she looooves love and...

she makes biscuits on your neck!!!!!!!!! Or your arm. Or your chest. But mostly your neck. (She's declawed up front, don't worry.) She's my surrogate cat since Linguini sucks so badly. We're BFFs.

* The surgery was a partial ear amputation. It sounds gross, I know, but amputations always kind of fascinate me and I was indeed fascinated. I almost took a picture of the sutured ear but figured I would be the only person who found it cool so decided against it. You're welcome.

Is Weird Al a Jerk?

A cloud of sadness has hovered over me for the past three days and there are no signs of it clearing up anytime soon. You see, it was three days ago that Dr. V (from Pawcurious) responded to a comment I left on one of her posts and with that response a little piece of my Weird Al-loving heart was shattered. Why, you ask? Because apparently he's a dick. I don't know what he did. I don't know when he did it. But he did something that caused Dr. V, a woman I don't know at all but who seems very normal on her blog, to cease being a fan altogether. I am crushed, people! CRUSHED!

Several days ago, Dr. V posted about a negative experience she had at Disneyland. (It acutally kinda surprised me - Disneyland is usually super awesome at customer service! In my experience, anyway.) As she's starting off the post, fifth paragraph in, she says:

Now I know Disneyland and I have had our moments in the past- the Splash Mountain debacle, for one, and a heartbreaking encounter with an accordion playing D-list celebrity I used to be a fan of, but still, I figured how could they screw this one up? All you have to do is make some reasonable accommodation for a disabled guest, blah blah Magic of Disney etc, right?

Say que?  A heartbreaking encounter, you say? That's a strong word. :o(  An accordion-playing D-list celeb, you say? To whom else could she be referring but my beloved Al?! (I fervently hoped she was talking about Judy Tenuta but I strongly suspected that was not the case.) I couldn't let it rest. I had to find out. So, I posted the following:

To which Dr. V replied:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Say it ain't so!!!!! I'm glad Dr. V was kind enough to reply to me but this is one of those cases where what you have seen cannot be unseen. What you have learned cannot be unlearned. I really, really, really want to message her and see if she'll spill the beans because I Google'd "Weird Al + rude" and "Weird Al + negative fan encounter" and "Weird Al + mean" but came up with bupkis! And since my previously undying love is sullied now anyway, I may as well know the truth. But I don't want to appear a wackadoodle so I probably won't. Still, I'll always know someone I like is out there thinking badly of Al and that will always make me sad. Boo.