Days 2-4 with Mag

Well, it's been a good few days. The only thing is that Mag has had a few accidents in the house. Ugh. I hate cleaning up dog messes. It's helped that I've had a couple of days off from work and so I worked on the potty training. I also noticed that the dog had some bites on the inside flaps of his ears. Apparently, he'd been left outside quite a bit during the summer; otherwise, he probably wouldn't have gotten those bites. *shrugs*

Our Husky seems to have accepted him. They haven't fought. They have played together, chasing each other around the dining room table--for an hour at a time. I dragged out the old dog bed and Mag likes to lay on it in the evenings--after I noticed that he was laying on DH's dirty clothes. Hehe.

My MIL came over yesterday to pick up DD, and both dogs were outside. Mag let out a huge bark and my MIL said it stopped her in her tracks. But once we went outside, Mag was a baby. :)

I'm anxious to get him fixed and registered with the city, but that takes money. I'll have to save up. Both dogs also need to be groomed.

So far, so good. I'm glad it's working out, because I'm already in love with him. :)

The Lures of the 'Online Predator'

In this article, a Blogcritic blogger discusses signs of "online psychopaths," and how they lure their victims.

Read it and inform yourself. Stay safe out there. It is very easy to get hooked into believing in someone's online persona.

E Street Radio to Launch on Sirius

From Blogcritics.org: E Street Radio to Launch on Sirius. Kewl--The Boss, 24/7!

Only... I don't have a Sirius radio system. But I see that it is a limited-run station, going through January 2006. Hmmm...

Day 1 with Magnus the Great

It has been six years since we had a puppy. (Our Husky is going on seven years old.) Last night, we brought home Magnus, a ten-month-old brindle Boxer (he looks similar to the one at the top of the AKC breed page). A woman in a nearby town needed to find a home for him because she said she no longer had time for him (she has two other dogs and two cats). Although she got him as a puppy and hated to part with him, she was glad to see him go to a good home.

I was nervous about taking in a new dog. We picked him up last night and didn't get home until almost 9:30pm. (That was rather late for DD to stay up, and be out gallivanting.) Magnus was excited to check out the house and our other dog. I have to say that it's going to be awhile before our Husky gets used to him. She wasn't nearly as territorial as I thought she would be. There was no growling or barking, just some play. However, I think he will try to be the boss--which is not what I wanted to have happen, but apparently, the Husky has no backbone. *shrugs* Time will tell.

Here is a link to the American Boxer Club for more information on this adorable breed. This page discusses the Boxer's temperament.

Magnus needs some training--at least to sit and stay. He is crate-trained, and there were no overnight accidents. Unfortunately, he did have a small accident in the house last night before we put him to bed, and also this morning because I couldn't get him hooked up to the tie-out lead fast enough. He was unsure of the stairs, because his former owner's house didn't have stairs. I'm hopeful that he'll settle in fine once the newness wears off and he gets used to the new routine in our household. After he settles in, I will get him neutered. That should help behaviorally.

DH got home around 11:30pm, after he got off work, and when he came in the house, Magnus barked in warning. DH said it gave him pause. :) Now a Boxer's bark is not like a Husky's bark--it's much deeper and louder. Magnus will definitely let us know if anyone ever tries to break into the house.

Forever Home Seeks Ideal Boxer Dog!

I am looking for a Boxer dog who needs a forever home.

Said Boxer should be either male or female, preferably spayed/neutered, preferably house-trained/crate-trained, and friendly to women, men, and small children, as well as other dogs. Any age is acceptable; between the ages of 1 and 3 would be ideal. A mix of a Boxer and another breed would also be acceptable, except pit bull/Boxer mixes.

As for price, I would prefer to be able to have the animal for free or for less than $100, especially an older dog, or younger dog that has not been fixed. Any supplies (leash, crate, etc.) that come with it would be great, too.

The perfect candidate should enjoy living in an intimate family setting, love to take walks, and hearty playing. The Boxer's siblings will include a sweet little (human) girl, age 5, and a Siberian Husky girl, age 6. We live in a small town and have a fenced-in backyard. As long-time dog owners, we understand what kind of responsibility pet ownership is, and any dog coming into our home would be treated like one of the family. We also understand the negatives associated with different breed characteristics. Once the dog is in our home, s/he's our friend 'til the end. :) We are not the type of family who adopt a puppy and then get rid of it once it has lost its cuteness. Biting is the only unacceptable behavior that would be a deal-breaker for us, because of DD, our 5-year-old daughter.

If you know of any such dog in the East Central Illinois area, especially in the Champaign-Urbana or Mattoon-Charleston areas, please let me know. Email me at the address in the righthand sidebar. I'd be willing to drive two hours in any direction to pick up the animal.

Saturday Night at the Movies

This weekend, we rented a few more movies.

"Batman Begins": OMG, this was two hours of my life that I'll never get back! It took an hour just to show Bruce Wayne's training. BORING. I also thought it was predictable. DH liked it, though. I did not care for the movie. I liked the cartoonish style of the first four movies. The best movie is still the first "Batman," with Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

"Kingdom of Heaven": This movie takes place in 1184. Orlando Bloom, as Balian, has to defend Jerusalem from Saladin, the Muslim warrior. DH & I both liked this movie. Not once did we wonder when it was going to end, like we did while watching "Batman Begins." The costumes, scenery, and cinematography were lush and interesting. Bloom certainly beefed up for this role. I did not buy the fact that a blacksmith would know how to defend a walled city like Jerusalem; I also wondered where the Muslim forces got the wood to make siege engines. I felt like Ridley Scott copied the siege towers from the "LotR" movies. Hehe.

There was lots of spraying blood and chopping off of heads. I think this movie reflects upon today's situation in the Middle East without being overly preachy.

The last movie we watched, on Sunday morning, was "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus." DD was enchanted by this computer-animated Barbie movie. She wanted to watch it again and again, but we had to return it. I actually enjoyed the movie also. Princess Annika (Barbie) ice skates and speed skates her way to rescue her family from being turned to stone permanently by an evil wizard. After the movie is over, there are a few "bloopers" scenes, which I thought were hilarious. Unlike other Barbie movies, this emphasized Annika's strength rather than the romantic angle between the male and female characters--thankfully! Little girls will enjoy this film.

Nano Will/Will Not List

(list idea borrowed from here)

I will...write every day, at least 1667 words per day, even if I'm depressed, premenstrual, hating the world, feeling suicidal, ready to jump out the window, or prefer to sleep 24/7.

I will not...spend too much time dwelling in self-pity instead of writing, doing dishes, doing the laundry, or sleeping instead of writing.I will...like my story and characters enough to carry me through 30 days of writing frenzy.I will not... stop after 5,000 words, feeling that it's too much to keep working on.

I will...avoid the "I hate myself and want to die" Nano forum like the plague.

I will not...spend too much time surfing the Nanowrimo forums instead of writing.

I will...remember how Jane Austen wrote in the sitting room among her family members, and despite constant interruptions.

I will not...yell at my family because I am trying to concentrate on the latest wrinkle in my story.

I will...believe in myself.

I will not...think I am the next Charlotte Brontë.

I will...love myself and my writing, no matter how bad the writing seems.

I will not...worry so much about stupid things that don't matter.

Mid-Week Reflection

The weeks are flying by. I can hardly believe that it is the second-to-the-last week in October. My DD is getting revved up for Hallowe'en. My grandmother--who is 84--will be visiting us from Florida and we are all excited that we can see her, since she rarely travels.

We are thinking about getting another dog. I really want a Boxer, so we've been perusing want ads and petfinder.com and shelters. The right dog will turn up at the right time. :)

I hope that we can go to the state park this weekend. I really really really need to reconnect with nature. The backyard just isn't cutting it for me right now. I miss living on a farm, in the wide open spaces, where time seemed to almost stand still. Perhaps I just long for that more innocent time of childhood, when the heaviest burden I had to carry was homework.

Joining Up

DD is joining the Daisy Scouts. The leader finally sent out a notice that the meetings would be starting up. The first meeting is on Tuesday, just a registration meeting, I guess. But we already registered back in August, during the first Girl Scout registration meeting. No one ever contacted us, and I was becoming annoyed at the lack of organization. Perhaps I just take things too seriously. :)

Apparently, the leader just now finished her training. The first regular meeting will be Oct. 25th. DD is excited about meeting new friends and doing crafts and stuff. She was so disappointed at that first meeting in August; she almost cried because she didn't get her uniform. I had to explain to her that it was just a sign-up meeting.

I hope she enjoys it. I was in Brownies one year, but all I remember doing is making something from a Pringles can for my mom. I don't think I ever got any badges or anything. Sigh. Hehe. My sister is all into this Girl Scouting thing. She was an assistant leader last year, and now this year, she's the Brownie leader for her daughter's troop.

Picture Day

Ah, it's that time of year again: faces are freshly scrubbed, hair is curled into ringlets or slicked back, kids are instructed not to look like loons when they smile.

DD's kindergarten picture day is tomorrow. We've had the outfit chosen for weeks. I made sure it was clean so she could wear it tomorrow. The only thing I'm a little worried about is her hair. She has long, curly hair and usually wears it in a pony tail. Tomorrow before I leave to go to work, I think I will braid it, but will it stay? She doesn't go to school until the afternoon. Four hours is a long time for her hair to stay put. We've practiced smiling normally.

I guess I worry about stupid things.

However, there are some horrifying pictures of myself from grade school. I especially remember this one photo--I think I was in fifth grade--already in an awkward phase. I had a terrible bowl haircut (thanks, Mom!), glasses, and I was wearing a pink plaid shirt, untucked. (Thankfully, you couldn't see that part.) I had my chin pointed downward for some reason, and smiled too big.

Let's just say I never handed any of those photos out to my classmates because they were so awful.

I hated picture day.

Covered Bridge Fest 2005

This past Saturday, my mom and sister and I went to the Parke Co. Covered Bridge Festival. We headed to Bridgeton, IN, where we like to buy things from the same vendors, and where it's generally less crowded. I brought $60 and spent it all. :) We had lovely weather, and the place did get crowded as the day wore on. We got there around 9:30am, and left around 3pm. It was a long day.

The sad thing to see (or not see, since all the debris was removed) was the Bridgeton covered bridge, next to the mill. Some idiot burned it down--but it's going to be rebuilt.

People travel from all over to go to this festival. We met a family from Joliet, IL, while we were eating a blackberry dumpling. The festival runs from the second Friday in October through the following weekend (Oct. 15--23 this year).

Movie Reviews

"Sahara": Is it possible for Matthew McConaughey's teeth to be much whiter? Hehe. This movie was fun to watch, but quite predictable. I had read the book by Clive Cussler years ago. Generally, I like Cussler, even if his books are pretty formulaic. I don't think they travel well to the screen, though. His characters are a little too unbelievable, almost too campy. Cussler's books are filled with tons of description and minutiae that just can't really translate into a movie.

One thing I did not like about this movie was the length--it was almost an hour too long. Again, in a book, the impossibility of each and every crazy scenario works, but not so much in a movie.

Cussler apparently campaigned against the movie:

"A battle over the film's release persists, however, with Cussler saying
that he never approved the movie script - a violation of his contract with
Paramount."

"Cussler recently remarked, 'It's no secret that I sued the producers
because they went right ahead without my approval. All I can say is I don't know
whose book they adapted, but it wasn't mine.' " (quotes from here)

"To End All Wars": This gut-wrenching movie is the story of POWs who are forced to build the Thailand-India railway during WWII. I caught this movie on Starz! and although I knew it would depress me, I watched it anyway. The movie has an uplifting ending, though. It's not just a tale of brutality--it's a tale of forgiveness and redemption, and how if we cannot forgive those who wrong us, we are destined to become just like them.

"Saw": Expecting gore? Expecting horror? Lose your expectations! This movie is really a mystery thriller, much of it told in flashback. Will the two prisoners of the psycho escape their prison, or will they turn on one another? I found this movie to raise some very interesting--and disturbing--questions about how far you would go to keep on living. There are a few freaky scary bits, but nothing that is too gross-out. (DH had been told by a coworker that it was the goriest horror film he'd ever seen--it's not, not by a long shot. I've seen ickier things on the Sci-Fi channel.)

DH & I both enjoyed it, and we plan to go see "Saw II" in the theater.

X-Stitch project

Here is a picture of the Golden Bee Lady Mime kit I'm working on currently. This is an ongoing project; I started it over ten years ago, but started working on it in earnest this year. When I picked it back up, I had only the mask and arm done.

I wish I'd kept track of how much time I've spent on it. I spent 8 hours on it Saturday, while we watched tv all afternoon and evening. I would say I'm over halfway done, but I still have all the hair and head, top border, half of the side borders and all of the backstitching left to do. I really want to get this finished so that I can start something new.

I don't start a new project until the one I'm working on is finished--otherwise, nothing would ever get done!

The Insanity has Begun!

As regular readers of my blog may recall, last year was the first year I succeeded in "winning" Nanowrimo. (You can read most of the story here.) I made it to the 50,000 words, but alas, my story wasn't finished--and I haven't touched it since. :(

I didn't burn out on writing; I had made my goal and was content with that, especially since I tried to make the goal in both 2002 and 2003, but didn't even come close. In fact, it was quite uplifting to have completed that goal. My goal for 2005 is to not only make the 50,000 word count, but to FINISH the story I start writing (which looks to be in the fantasy genre at this point). So far, I have a first line and a character and a vague idea of the society the character lives in. Before Nov. 1, I want to know the ending, so all I have to do is write to get there. We'll see. Last year, I had a title and a character and an opening scene.

After Nano, my writing slacked off. I fell into depression again, mostly because I wasn't writing. It was a vicious circle. But that's all over now--it's that time of year again! The Nano forums are open, and people are getting ready to start writing their brains out on Nov. 1. I don't know if I'll be publicly posting my writing this year. Last year, I did it as a backup more than anything.

You can read what I learned from Nano here. Wish me luck!

Earthquake Relief

Read this wikipedia article for info on the world's latest natural disaster.

Help UNICEF or another charity of your choice.

"seriously sick individuals" and freedom of expression

Do you think that people have the right to express whatever they want in their personal blog or website, no matter how "offensive" it may seem to some other people?

I think that the poster should abide by the terms and conditions of the site s/he's posting on, but other than that, I think that the person can write whatever they want.

For instance, maybe I would like to write a novel for National Novel Writing Month and post it online for people to read. Perhaps I would choose to write about a serial killer, who does especially grisly things to corpses, or children. (Now, if I *were* writing such a story, I would probably post a disclaimer, saying that the blog was fictional and written for NaNoWriMo.) But what if someone who missed the disclaimer came across the site and read the entries, and then decided to track down the author?

As readers, we can hit the back button or close the browser if we don't want to read something that we don't like or agree with.

Yes, some people might be posting blog entries because they are "psychos" with the intent of doing whatever they've said in their blog entries. Yes, there are cases of criminals who have blog entries as evidence, but there are many more cases of criminals who don't make their thoughts public. Look at BTK, John Wayne Gacy, or Ted Bundy. They were "normal" in most respects.

My personal motto is: I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend your right to say it.

It's easy to get addicted

Video games are fun, especially playing massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs), but they have a dark side, too.

Virtual reality should never take the place of real reality.

Behind

I'm behind on everything.

One good thing is that I feel my depression has really, truly lifted for the time being. I am gearing up to write for Nanowrimo, and I think that's helping. The days fly by so fast I hardly have time to think ahead, let alone dwell on past mistakes.

They know they save lives

The police officer hurt (and who subsequently died) in this accident was not wearing her seatbelt, according to an earlier tv news story. Strange--if you search for police seatbelt usage, you can find a lot of articles on how police are enforcing seatbelt laws.

But did you know that some officers ARE EXEMPT from wearing seatbelts when on duty, supposedly because of the gear they must wear? (I wish I could find a link online, but my search is failing me; I heard the statistic on the tv news story.)

The officer who died was at a complete stop, getting ready to go through a green light, when she was broadsided by someone running the red light in the opposite direction. That person died at the scene.

Additional searches on seatbelt usage show that there are exemptions for people who have medical conditions, or for other reasons as well (laws vary from state to state, I would imagine).

But seatbelts save lives. Perhaps the officer would have died anyway, but you never know.

A Survey

1. What is your occupation? Mom, writer; my day job is immaterial.
2. What color are your eyes? blue
3. What are you listening to right now? clicking of keys
4. What was the last thing you ate? Snickers bar
5. Do you wish on stars? always
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? green
7. How is the weather right now? partly sunny and humid
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? my Mom
9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes
10. Favorite drink? Diet Mt. Dew, water
11. Favorite sport to watch? I hate sports
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes, since I was in high school
13. Do you wear contacts or glasses? contacts
14. Pets? 1 dog
15. Favorite month? June
16. What was the last movie you watched? "Darkness" (with Anna Paquin)
17. Favorite day of the year? July 4
18. What do you do to vent anger? clean
19. What was your favorite toy as a child? a special baby doll
20. Fall or Spring? both
21. Hugs or kisses? hugs
22. Cherry or Blueberry? blueberry
23. Living arrangements? married with child
24. When was the last time you cried? Saturday
25. What is on the floor of your closet? shoes, linens
26. What did you do last night? watch TV and read
27. Favorite smell? apple
28. Who inspires you? Natalie Goldberg, Julia Cameron, Anne Frank
29. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? plain
30. Favorite car? whatever gets me where I need to go without breaking down
31. Favorite dog breed? Siberian Husky
32. Number of keys on your key ring? ???
33. How many years at your current job? day job = 10 years; mom = 5 years; writer = as long as I've been able to write
34. Favorite day of the week? Friday
35. How many states have you lived in?4
36. How many cities have you lived in? 6

Petty Annoyances

Ugh! On Friday, I was going to post, but both Blogger and diary-x were down. Blogger was down for maintenance, but I don't know what was wrong with d-x. Without access to my favorite writing outlets, I felt claustrophobic!

UGHGHGH! Browser timed out!!!

UGUGUGHHH! Nanowrimo forums are down due to heavy traffic!!!

Sigh.