pets = stress

This week Walter was very sick. I got worried. Thursday night I was worried I would have no puppy the next morning. Here's the whole story. Tuesday morning (2 am-ish) I woke up to Walter whining. Turns out he had vomited in his crate!. It was gross, but I was able to clean it up pretty easily. He continued to throw up throughout the morning and got weaker and weaker as the day wore on. By 9am, he would just lie there forlornly, and no amount of coaxing would help him. I ended up taking him to the vet and they decided they needed to do a very expensive x-ray. That, coupled with blood tests, and the actual visit, meant that I had to shell out a lot of money. I was not pleased, but I figured that if the puppy got better, it would be worth it.

They gave me some antibiotics for him and sent me on my way. I was slightly annoyed, because it seemed like he was already getting better. He kept vomiting (or wommitin...), but seemed to be getting better. The next morning he was excited for his food! That was the last time he ate for two days. Thursday I was a bit freaked and had a pit in my stomach all day. The puppy seemed to have some energy, but he wouldn't eat, and he still threw up a couple of times. Friday morning I finally took him to the vet clinic I had wanted to go to in the first place. They checked him out, gave him some saline and vitamin shots and some special food and sent us on our way (they also didn't charge me much, a little less than 1/4 what the other place charged). By Friday afternoon he was pretty perky. By yesterday evening he was so puppyish he was hard to control. I realize there are perks to a subdued puppy, but I am very happy for energetic Walter to be back!

Compared to practically everywhere else, Utah totally rocks!

As I was driving to California, I thought of three reasons why Utah totally rocks.

Reason number 1: grass. There's nothing like nice, green Kentucky Bluegrass. Walking barefoot in the evening produces the most pleasant sensations.

Reason number 2: crisp bean burritos. There is no Mexican fast food that compares to the fried goodness of the crisp bean burrito from Taco Time. They're so good that my dad craved them each time he had a chemo treatment.

Reason number 3: high speed limits. Huzzah for 80 mph test sections! Forget 65, 70, and 75, it's all about the 80! I love it.

Going to the dark side

Not long ago a friend gave me a mix CD. It was a disc of country songs. Other friends seemed surprised that I had only heard two of the songs before (and those because they were on the only country disc in the whole house when I was growing up). This is not actually surprising, as in the past country music has held little interest for me.

I have listened to the mix a couple of times now, and I find myself liking a few of the songs, and most of them are by the same person. I feel like it's a slippery slope down to actual purchase of a country album. I might be almost there!

Solution: Celebrate? De-Tox?

Grad students - nostalgia?

Watch. Pity. Enjoy.

Defensive

On Monday I had my thesis defense. This is the reason it's been a while since I posted. I was very, very nervous. But thanks to lots of help from my brother Rob and Matt from the lab, my presentation was ready (sorta). After the presentation nobody asked me hard questions. I was shocked. All of the questions were so easy for me to answer or say the scope of the project didn't cover that.

The final exam (the part where everyone else left the room) was a bit more difficult, and I found myself speaking loudly and quickly and maybe babbling a little as I tried to answer the questions my committee threw at me. I think I did ok-ish. They then sent me out of the room and told me to stick around until they came to get me. They made me sweat a little (honestly, how hard is it to say yes or no?) and then brought me back in and said I had passed. During the final exam part, they gave me some things to change, then later they handed back copies of my thesis they had marked up. This has to be fixed before I can leave.

So that's it. I passed, and as soon as I can get things squared away, I'll have that delightful feeling that school's out.