Falon’s World

Tonight was Midas’s CGC test, and despite my doubts – HE PASSED!!! He is now a certified Canine Good Citizen. I am sooo excited!!!

(This isn’t his certificate, it’s just the form showing he passed all ten tests, we send it in to get the certificate from the AKC – but I just wanted to show it was true!)

Tonight when we got home from work there was a box of toys waiting for us outside the door. I was really excited. Eric tossed the boys outside to do their duty while I unwrapped and untagged the toys and dumped them into the toy basket. Then we let the boys in. Midas needs something in his mouth when he’s excited, and he was excited to see me, so he raced around like a mad dog looking, looking, looking…and finally went to the basket. There was a pause and then he started doing his happy snorting/grunt noise and grabbed the top toy. Mason on the other hand was so nervous about grabbing another toy that he would stick his head in the basket and then race backwards guiltily and chase Midas. Now their toy box looks satisfactorily full.

After they figured out there was more than one new toy, Midas had to take them all out, one by one.

Midas’s first favorite was the rope ball:

And it showed his loving:

Mason was scared of the ruffian orange fish because of the squeaker…so he chewed very cautiously and carefully.

Then Midas found the tire…

…and LOVED it!

Eric did an artistic photo of a pose that he really likes to do because Midas has a very strong sit/lay down/stay.

The tire is showing wear and tear too. The tire is pretty neat and it doesn’t rip, so they would have to actually chew all the pieces off. The ruffian fish I am disappointed with, they have already ripped the fins off the tail and it is a very floppy rubber. I had been expecting more thick, tough rubber like the Cuz toys are made of. The rope ball is holding up well and Midas is only managing to chew through one little strand at a time. The bone is decent as well. Overall, pretty pleased, especially since they were all cheap and it wore the boys out so much they were exhausted by bed time.

I am at work 8-5 today and I know it’s a little cruel, but I can’t help but laugh at the Freshmen who wander through the office, lost and confused. They look in office doors, down hallways and stairways and have no clue where they are or where they’re headed. Frequently when I offer to help them, I either get a “no that’s alright” or “is this where…is?”. Most often they are in the wrong building, the wrong side of campus or the wrong floor. I’ve even had them argue with me about the existence of a room in this building on this floor only to find (when I finally persuade them to let me see their schedule) that they are misreading LMH for LSH or LOH. Not to say that I did not do the same things when I transferred here (or on a MUCH larger scale at Michigan State), but it is amusing me now. I especially like it when they come to the doors that lead to our hallway of offices and read the sign that says “Please use other building entrances for access to Lecture Halls” at which time I usually see three responses. 1. They turn and walk back out of the building. 2. They turn to HR, see it has the same signs and walk out the building. 3. They hesitate and then walk through anyway, quickly, quietly and with an apology on the way by. Oh the joys of the new school year beginning…

Tonight we planned on going out to dinner and a movie. After looking at the movie schedule we decided to just go out to dinner and head home. Dinner was delicious. We went to Bennigan’s, one of my favorite restaurants, so I already knew what I was ordering before we got there. We got appetizers (mmm potato skins), Eric had the ribs and a humongous baked potato and I got the Asiago Chicken Pasta and a delicious strawberry mango daiquiri.

After dinner we headed to Meijer to pick up some Coke for my dad (who is staying the night tonight) and saw this family chasing two dogs around the parking lot. After talking to them, we came to find out that they weren’t their dogs, they were just trying to prevent them getting hit in the parking lot. Unfortunately (for the dogs), the boy was chasing and grabbing at them which was just scaring the daylights out of them. I got out with a bag of dog treats (which yes, was in the truck…always prepared? No, just don’t clean it out lol) and one of them ran past me and jumped right into the front seat of the truck. Eric wasn’t too pleased. I leashed the dog (again, extra leashes and collars in the backseat) and started around the parking lot hoping to draw the other one to us. It was so scared though that after the boy’s last attempt at catching it, it had bolted across the parking lot to the other road. We couldn’t find it. But, while we were wandering around looking for the lost dog, the dogs’ owner pulled up. He was quite panicky and tore off looking for the other one. We drove around a little bit longer looking, but didn’t see it so we headed home.

Since we had foregone the movie option we decided on having a My Boys marathon. My Boys is one of our favorite shows, right up there with Still Standing. We were several weeks behind though. We watched all of them and ate some ice cream and then I took an allergy pill and crashed. I missed seeing Dad because of this, but I was almost to the point of clawing my eyes out so I had to give in to the call of the Benadryl. All in all, it was a pretty good night.

Classes started today. This was my first ever semester that I wasn’t nervous. I’m not sure why that is but I have a sneaking suspicion it is because not only am I a fifth year student, I am also taking two 100-level courses. Yeah, I’m behind, so what? It might also be that I am now in my program so I don’t need to stress about that anymore. Which is really nice because I tend to get better grades when I’m more relaxed. We rode the bus in and were both early so that I could have time to print off the last syllabus I needed for lecture today. So, my predictions:

BMS 301: Introduction to Research in the Biomedical Sciences

About how it sounds…rather boring. I think the information will be valuable but it seems like you wouldn’t need a whole semester to cover it. Plus, it’s at 8 am and it’s not exactly riveting. I think I should do fairly well in this course because it’s all straight forward and not a lot has been changed in recent years.

HST 101: Introductions to World Civilizations

I think I am going to absolutely loooovvvee this class. The professor has an amazing Australian accent (which is easy to pay attention to) and he is loud and boisterous and engaging. I just realized I might like history last semester and I’m hoping this class will carry on that theme. It seems to be pretty neat and he’s very fair and reasonable (so far), so I’m looking forward to it.

(Then I had an hour break.)

BMS 410: Immunology

This class I was looking forward to when I was reading through the book, but after lecture I am a little nervous. I have a hard time taking notes with this professor because I feel like she is kind of all over the place. I really liked studying the immune system in Micro, Bio and Patho so I’m hoping it will continue to intrigue me. She warned us that it would be a very difficult class though so we’ll see….

(An extremely quick lunch with Eric.)

HPR 110: Introduction to Health Professions

I assumed this would be another simple class and I still think that it will be relatively easy, but the professor is a hard-ass. Well, he kind of flip-flops. He joked around about drinking, bars, being a bachelor, having a big screen tv and leather couches etc etc. Then he went on and on about how “if you’re five minutes early you are on time, if you’re on time, you’re late”…bleck, I hate that attitude, it’s so rigid. He also said that this would be the safest classroom (referring to the shootings last year I believe at Virginia Tech). We will not have to worry because he doesn’t get pushed around by anyone and he will kick some ass if it’s needed (he made a note that he prefers no profanity…and admitted this was to remind him too). I want to see him kick a gun’s ass…not really, I don’t want that at our school. Overall, not sure what to make of him. At this point this class could go either way…

In other news: Mason went from 7:10 to 2:20 without an accident. He was actually sleeping when I came downstairs and was all blinky and yawning when I let them out. He peed for a LONG time when he went outside, but the important bit was that he made it!! So proud of the little dude. Apparently my first day of school exhausted them too, they’re both sleeping beside me…

Today our big plans were to go for a bike ride. Eric got up (at the crack of noon) and made breakfast – mmmm, pancakes. Then he wanted to take off. I, on the other hand, believe in digesting my food before shaking it up so I took a nap (yes, I had just gotten up). Eric mowed the lawn (for the first time in 2 months because it was dead) and the weeds look nice and green and, most importantly, short now. He also attempted to hook up my little speedometer thinger (it does loads of stuff) but unfortunately, I got a malfunctioning one so we have to make time to go for a replacement at K-Mart (which we didn’t even know where the closest one was). That made me really sad. After a couple more delays (all me), we finally headed out to Marne to go for a ride. I have been wanting to take more rides on other trails for awhile now, so I did some research and the Musketawa Trail is one that I found. This is the map of the entire trail (which we did not ride):

It was an extremely nice trail. There was not a whole lot of variety to see, but it was out in the country, which I always enjoy. Lots of orchards, fields and these:

Which for reasons unknown, amused me to no end. There was a boy that was letting his beagle run rampant (off-leash of course) down the bike trail, pooping and trying to trip up small children. I wanted to hit him (the boy, not the beagle) but figured my bike couldn’t handle the damage so soon after being fixed. We discussed how far we wanted to ride (Eric was making me nervous with his complaining so early into the ride) and decided (all me again) on 12 miles total. We hit exactly six (didn’t even make it to the next bench, lazy people) and then stopped so I could (hopefully) regain feeling in my butt, drink some water and head back out. We were quite a bit (it felt like) speedier on the way back and cut 4 minutes off our time, rounding out our bike ride to about 56 minutes. Not bad for a Sunday. It made me feel wonderful.

As we were riding past all these marvelous fields with paths, I couldn’t help but feel…horse-sick (which is like being homesick but for horses). I miss riding so darn much. I was dwelling on it quite awhile during our ride. Then something funny happened. Eric took this photo:

Later I found out one of my horse-loving friend actually did get to fulfill my dream of riding through the beautiful country. This was a photo that Brittany took on her ride.

Crazy huh?

Tonight is my last summer night as school starts tomorrow. I have classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I can’t believe summer is over. It went so incredibly fast. I don’t feel like I got to half the stuff I said I was going to, which makes me sad . I prepared my bag with all the stuff I’m going to need tomorrow because I know I’m not going to leave time in the morning to do it. I’ll post more tomorrow about my classes and first impressions…

Today was Amanda and Mike’s wedding day. Originally, the forecast was to be hot and rainy. Luckily, the day came and it was gorgeous and sunny…and HOT. Everyone was really warm, but Eric was drenched taking photos beforehand with shorts and a tee shirt on. The actual ceremony while being all dressed up was even hotter. I at the last minute decided to wear a dress – a filmy, lightweight dress, thank goodness for that or I would’ve melted. I ended up videotaping the ceremony (and reception) because the bride’s grandparents couldn’t be there. The wedding was short (thankfully) and very nice. I really liked the “unity” sand. They did the same thing as Jennifer’s sister but with different colored sand. I think someday (if I get married), I will want the same thing.

Pictures were difficult because it was so sunny. I was Eric’s “assistant” and helped with anything I could. Dinner was delicious and the reception was short. We had originally planned on going out afterwards but were too tired and too far away so we decided to go right home and go to bed.

Jennifer said that I looked tiny in the dress, even though I felt like a cow, but it was really comfortable and no one knew/would be looking at me anyway. Eric said I “looked different”. I didn’t know what to make of that…

I love hanging out with Jennifer, I always have so much fun with her and I feel so comfortable around her.

Actually, I love hanging out with both Jason and Jennifer. I wished they lived closer to us so that we could get together more often. I think I would hang out with Jennifer quite a bit. I can’t wait to get out and start buying baby stuff for her (especially cute little shoes!) .

We were visiting with the other two people at our table for dinner and come to find out that they are the parents of three of the bridesmaids and one of the groomsmen. To further complicate things, that groomsman was dating one of their daughters (also a bridesmaid). I really liked all of them, although Ryan was my favorite when we were taking photos. I think they make the most adorable couple (and they asked Eric if someday he would take their wedding photos, which was really neat ).

I should of course have a photo of the newlyweds, so here they are:

They are both really nice and I think they’re both pretty funny. They line-danced together at the reception, which was really neat; I desperately want to learn…

I didn’t do a ton today, I was feeling pretty lazy. I did finish up Midas’s bed though, so I felt semi-accomplished. After Eric got out of work we hung around for a little while and then Frank (from Branded) and Kristen (his girlfriend) came over. We headed out to Lansing to a bar called Macs to see some Dirt Road Logic (originally from Lansing) and Rockit King (from GR). Eric is a HUGE fan of DRL and Frank of Rockit King so Eric really wanted to go see them. We were both happy that Frank and Kristen were also planning on going so we could all go together. We always say we’re going to do more stuff together but we never find the time.

We went out to dinner at Tripper’s in East Lansing. It was fairly busy (and really loud), but the food was spectacular. After dinner we headed out to Macs. We had a hard time finding the “front” door at first but finally made it inside. The place was…interesting. Some may call it “a hole”. There was some confusion (on our part) of what order the bands were planning. We were under the impression that DRL and Rockit King were going to be bands number 2 and 3…but they ended up being bands 3 and 4. This was a real bummer because the first two were possibly the most horrible bands ever. The music was harder than my taste to begin with, but these two were really bad. The lead singer of one of the bands came off really cocky, which was a little aggravating. They each had three “fans” during their sets.

Eric listens to his DRL CD all the time so I am quite familiar with their music now. I really like Paul (in the red) from the band, he’s a super nice guy.

After the first two, it was definitely refreshing to listen to some music that I recognize, and very enjoyable as well. The Rockit King are energetic and entertaining as well. The lead singer, Jesse, is a friend of Frank’s and has a tendency of standing in the perfect Peter Pan pose. Kristen and I loved it, unfortunately Eric didn’t get a photo of that, so this one will have to do

There was an extremely old man there that kept insisting that he “stage dive”. After awhile there was no one out there to catch him, so Frank went out there and caught him all by himself (his name was Joe, and he’s wearing Frank’s hat…). It was hilarious!

We stuck it out until the very end and headed home. Bed felt so amazing (so did my allergy pill, the smoke was NOT helping my allergies at all)!

Today was really slow at work, and my hip, head, eyes and nose were all aching so to distract myself (reading was semi-painful) I shopped for dog stuff (after I updated and caught up on all my blogs ).

I found a carpet cleaning product that my Lab Forum says will work great and I can’t wait to get the stains out of the carpet (a vast majority of which is due to dirt…). I don’t know what I would do without that forum now that I’ve found it. I’m also seriously getting a dremel to do the boys’ toenails with. I don’t have any problem seeing through Midas’s, but Mason’s are dark and I’ve already quicked him once , it really upset me. I watched a movie and read two different tutorials on this and all the reviews say this will work great. Still going to think about it a bit first though.

The toys that I’ve ordered consist of:

One of the largest bones

The 10″ diameter tire

The big fish:

And the largest knot (I am excited to see how they handle this as Midas has always managed to untie and then completely unravel the rope “bones”):

I am going to order in the future (maybe Christmas?):

I know it seems like they are spoiled…ok, they are. But, I really enjoy buying toys for them, it’s fun for me . That will probably shift when I have children…or nieces and nephews , but by then, they’ll have so many toys I will just be able to rotate them and they’ll be like brand new haha.