Scary Time

Last Sunday I went in to work, and a guy was there that I know. He was saying that he was having trouble getting used to the time change!

What? I told him I didn't think it had changed yet. He insisted that it had, but no, I'd already gone to a 9:30 game that morning, and I hadn't been late, and I hadn't changed my clocks either. I checked my phone, and he said, "Verizon hasn't changed it yet."

Well I KNEW that was wrong, because I pretty much depend on my phone's time, and it's as right as can be! So I looked online, and sure enough, found that Congress had changed the day (which I knew) to Nov 4th! (which I didn't know)

Later I realized why he thought that the time had changed. When I talked to him, he was on a computer. All week the computer times have been wrong! Because nobody told the computers that Congress had changed the day, so the computers went ahead and changed the time on the usual day.

It's kind of funny, because when I teach the computer class, I look at the computer's time a lot so I can keep on schedule.

It's been wrong all week!!!

Argh!!!!

Hey, where's my dog?

Maybe those shelters were right about me...

A Pet Tale

I can definitely sympathize with Ellen the Generous. Some of these adoption places go overboard, in my opinion. I know they're just trying to do a good job, but sometimes they can make things very difficult. We had quite a few surprises when we tried to adopt a dog.

We started off at the nicest shelter near us, Pasadena, because someone told us they had cute animals there. My kids had been lobbying for a dog for a long time, and altho my husband had finally given in, he really wanted nothing to do with the dog. We'd had a bad experience with a big dog once before, so we compromised by looking for a little dog this time.

So we started in Pasadena, and my son found a cute Datchund he liked. So we went into our interview, and were immediately told that small dogs don't do well with children, so we should get a Labrador. Um, did she even HEAR the part about us looking for a SMALL dog? It wasn't clear that she was going to LET us even try to adopt the dog we'd picked out, but we continued with the interview process. Was our yard fenced? Well, not yet, but will be very soon.
-Is it, or not? Oh, yes, yes, it's fenced.
-Are your cats neutered? Well one is for sure, the second I'm not sure.
-Is it, or not? Oh, yes, yes! They're both neutered!

She told us that first the dog had to clear the waiting period, then the first person on the waiting list gets their crack at adopting the pet. First they have to interact with it, and if that doesn't go well, you can't have it. If it DOES go well, then the dog undergoes further testing to make sure it's adoptable. Excuse me, shouldn't that be done FIRST? Why get people's hopes up if the dog's not adoptable?

Anyway, this dog already had a waiting list, and the first person on it had a positive interaction with it, so we moved on.

Next we visited the Glendale animal shelter, where we'd successfully adopted our youngest cat a few years earlier. I hadn't realized this, but in that time the shelter went from being government-funded to privately-funded and no-kill. Maybe that explains why so many dogs there seemed mean - like they were really picked-over and only the snarling ones remained. Lots of pit bulls. We still found one that was fairly cute, so we went to the office where we were told we'd have to take a class in pet care first. Also, since it's privately funded and no-kill, it cost about $200 to adopt a pet there!

Wow! For that kind of money we could have gone to the pet store! Or maybe a breeder. Luckily they had a sheet there with the names and locations of all the other shelters in the area.

My children pressed me onward, so next we went to the Burbank animal shelter. There we saw a dog my son liked (it could lick it's own eye!), but we had to wait for it to clear its waiting period. On the day it cleared, you had to show up right when the shelter opened to hopefully be the first one there to adopt it. If more than one person showed up, then it went to a lottery system. Also we'd need to bring in the whole family (including pets) to make sure we all got along before we went home.

K was having none of that. No way was he going to the shelter, as he didn't even WANT a dog! And take our cats? We'd have to catch them first. And frankly, we're afraid of the oldest one. I can't imagine he'd take kindly to such a visit.

So, having to wait for that dog anyway, the kids lobbied to go to one more shelter. So finally we went to the dregs-of-LA, under-the-freeway animal shelter (actually the same North LA shelter that Heather ended up at). The no-questions-asked shelter (except for, "Do you want it?" and, "Can you afford the $75 adoption fee?"). The kind of shelter that unfortunately DOES have to kill the unadopted pets.

There, I'm happy to say, we found the cutest dog of all. I stuck my fingers in the cage to see how nice it was, and it gave me a friendly nibble. The kind of dog that knows how to not bite hard! We were told that it would clear its waiting period the next day, and we should try to be the first ones there. If more than one person showed up to adopt the same pet, it went into an auction-type situation where the person willing to pay the most got the pet.

Well, the dog we liked came available the very next day. The Boy was so excited I think he even set his own alarm to wake up early, so we could get there when the shelter opened. I think it was 8am. Somehow we got down there very early, and were the ONLY ones (so far) that wanted "our" dog, and so we got him!

They brought him out to move him, and the kids played with him briefly. After that, an official (dogcatcher?) walked up to me and said that he noticed the Girl moving quickly around the dog, and advised me to watch her and tell her to not make sudden movements around the dog, so that he wouldn't get scared. So even there, they were watching and trying to make sure the dog would work out in our home. But not in an overly bossy way.

Truly, if you really want to save a dog, I say to get it from there. Not only because they make it easier, but you REALLY feel like you're saving an animal there.

I saw a woman outside carrying a pit-bull puppy, and asked her if she got it there. She said no, she was going to drop it off there, but then she found out that the unclaimed dogs get euthanized. I told her to take it to the Glendale Humane Society, as I know they are a no-kill facility.

And I have to say, the dog we got couldn't be any better! (OK, maybe a little less barking...) He's so cute and nice - he was already mostly potty trained. He's a lot like the dog in Garfield though (Ode), pretty clueless when it comes to cats. They gave him a few welcoming swipes, though, so he pretty much steers clear of them now.

ND vs. UCLA

On Friday K called and said he had just found out that Notre Dame was playing at the Rose Bowl against UCLA the next day. His Mom told him he should try to get tickets if he could. He called and there were "plenty" of seats left, he found out, so he bought two for us.

My Dad is a big Notre Dame fan (don't ask me why, but I grew up to his singing of the ND Fight Song), so I told him we were going. He laughed. The team was so bad this year that it took them about 3 games to score an offensive touchdown! They hadn't won a game, and it was their worst season in I don't know how many years. It doesn't help that they play such tough teams, but that's the way it is.

Anyway, if you're a fan, you don't just go to games you think they'll WIN (see last year's game against USC in November.)So my Dad laughed and told me to have a good time anyway.

The Rose Bowl is not that far from us, and we knew at least there would be places to park w/out getting towed!

On Sat, however, I started to doubt the wisdom of going to the game and spending so much money only to get teased by fans of the other team. But I told myself we'd have fun, and we left about 1 hour before game time.

When we got off the highway, we followed the traffic into a residential street that wound it's way to the Rose Bowl. There was a lot of traffic, and it was slow going. Finally we got close, and it was only $10 to park! Yay! Well, after we paid, we followed the path as instructed, and we were being parked on the golf course! Near a sand trap! We went ahead and parked, and tried to look for markers so that we could find our way back. We were parked near a sidewalk, but other than that, there was only a large 8 floating in the air in the general vicinity of our car. I called it "The Ocho." (like in Dodgeball)

We started to walk as fast as we could, but it was about 20 minutes before we even saw the stadium! We missed the kickoff, but only a few minutes of the game.

I'd been to the Rose Bowl before, but not for a game. The colors were impressive, and it was fun seeing the blimp float by. We had seats pretty close to the field (row 13) in the end zone. It was mixed crowd, with mostly ND fans in end zones, but plenty of UCLA fans mixed in. The sides were almost completely blue with UCLA fans. We were sitting right in front of the ND cheerleaders, which was pretty fun, too.

The food was too expensive, though. A kabab with rice cost $10, a soda $4.25, and a water $3.50! I decided to wait and hopefully get nachos and a margarita after the game.

The game started pretty much as expected - UCLA scored first, with a field goal. By halfway through the 3rd quarter, they were tied 6-6 with 2 field goals each. I was pretty happy, as ND wasn't getting creamed, so I even called my Dad to give him the good news. It was so tight that one of ND's kicks actually was low and hit the goal - but luckily bounced the right way - into the goal.

After that, though, the improbable began to happen. ND was able to intercept a pass and pick up a fumble, and next thing you know they acctually scored a touchdown! It was 13-6! Then, somehow they actually scored again! UCLA only had about 5 minutes left, which is a lot of time in football - but luckily ND held them off!

On of the best moments, though, was after a rumor started going around that Stanford was beating USC with about 1 minute left. A few minutes later, they flashed the final score on the big screen, and the whole staduim cheered USC's loss together. It was the one thing both team's fans could agree on. The whole staduim was unanimously happy for a few minutes.

After awhile, though, time started to run out. ND was doing their best to use up clock time, and finally seconds ticked toward the end of the game. ND ran onto the field, and then over to our section to celebrate. The team was jumping up and down and yelling along with the fans. Some players even started throwing arm bands and things into the crowd. We were all so happy together, and that was honestly one of the best times I've ever had. There was just so much joy from the fans and team!

I'd just bought a little gadget for my camera, and I had fun taking lots of pictures of everything. Eventually we started the walk back to our car. We headed in the direction of the Ocho, and we were VERY lucky we even had that marker! It was a REALLY long walk back, and luckily we were able to find our car because it was near a walkway. Then it took about an hour to get out of the parking area. I'm not kidding! We saw an older couple standing and looking for their car, and I felt bad for them. Another time a group of guys came running in front of us, shouting "Victory!" because they'd found their car.

On the way home we stopped at a local Mexican restaurant. We had wondered if they would still be open at 10:30, but it was still going strong. The street was closed for an Octoberfest celebration, so we parked in the back. We ordered Margaritas and nachos and ate chips and toppings to our heart's content.

When we finally got home, it wasn't that late (11:30?), but we were exhausted. That walk really did us in! Our legs were dead tired, and for some reason the next day our shoulders hurt!

Maybe I'm getting too old to have this much fun.

Other things

I forgot to mention:

1 - I got a new camera! Yay! I was torn between the cute 6 mgpxl blue Nikon and paying more for the 7 mgpxl, but someone told me I didn't really need more than 6, and hey, I got it for a VERY good price! ($119 + tax) Blue, my favorite color! Yay!

If there's anything I love more than getting something I want, it's getting it for a very good price.

3 - Then the washing machine quit working. It stopped pumping the water out. Very important, that emptying the water. This is about the 7th major appliance (I'm including the cameras and car) that have gone out on us this year. Why?

4- - Last week when I picked up the class with the cute little boy, he told me, "I like your hair!" and then he exclaimed, "You're beautiful!" Isn't that the sweetest? I reminded him, "We're ALL beautiful!" I guess I've still got it, even if it's only with age-inappropriate males.

5 - I found out that my boss from my "main" job is now sending out questionnaires to our clients after the deal has closed, to evaluate how we did. Very long and detailed questionnaires that even our clients protest about filling out. Our job is hard enough as it is, and he supports us little enough as it is. It's also hard to come out of a transaction having your client feeling completely happy with everything that transpired. Mostly, it's a pet peeve of mine to have a boss that checks up on me. Especially behind my back. It makes me feel like less of a professional. The coworker that told me this knew her client as a friend - so it was embarrassing!

In every job I've ever had, things deteriorate. Things that the company gave me when I started gradually diminish through cut-backs, over-management, or whatever. Bosses change, and are hardly ever better than the previous one. And honestly, I try anew with every one, to not prejudge them and have an open mind to their being a great boss.

I've complained about this boss before. One thing, two things, that's not so bad - but they're starting to really ad up now! So gradually I've been feeling that I should investigate changing companies. If I do, it will be around February.

6 - Day before yesterday The Boy asked to stay home from school, as he had a bad cold. So I let him. That night he asked if I could wake him up at 6am so he could go to basketball practice at 6:30! This early practice is for the JV team, and his going early was his attempt to make up for missing practice for being sick!

This has NEVER happened before - his initiative to a)get up EARLY, and b)try to make his coach happy or improve his game or whatever. Now that we've pulled out of trying to make him do things, it seems he's finally stepping up and showing his old enthusiasm for the game. I hope it continues!

Soccer SunDays

The Girl's soccer season got off to a rough start this year. The first game was away (far away) at 8am, and some of the players couldn't make it. We had the bare minimum of players, and no substitutes. We also had no goalie, as the team hadn't been able to line one up all summer. By the end of the game the girls were really tired, so they ended up losing that game. Plus the girl who played goalie in the second half was really needed out on the field.

The mother of this second girl who played goalie was SO horrified (it's hard to be a goalie's parent), that she got on the phone immediately after the game and called a friend who has a girl this age, and got them to come to our team's pizza party that very day. We told this girl that she could play with us and see if she liked it, but she'd have to sign up for the team THAT DAY! So she did, and now we have a goalie!

The next game we won, scoring the only goal in the entire game.

The next Saturday there was another game scheduled in a town 1 hour from here at 8am. That wouldn't have been SO bad, but it rained like crazy all night! At 5am we were calling Coach to make sure we had to get up and drive, and we couldn't believe it, but he said the game was on!

They played in drizzle, but seemed OK with that as we parents huddled under umbrellas. The other team looked really good and we were looking pretty bad the entire first half. They scored one in the first half, and I thought we were goners. It seemed like we couldn't do anything that we usually do. Even The Girl on defense was having problems.

At halftime I heard Coach yelling at the girls, and I was hoping it wasn't going to be another one of those games where we get up really early and drive a long way to get yelled at by the Coach. But he seemed to get the girls energized, and they came back out with new energy.

In the second half he took The Girl out for a few minutes, then put her back in at midfield. Yay! (we've been wanting her to have the opportunity to play forward more often) On the first play she broke loose and was dribbling upfield with the ball. Three players from the other team converged on her, including the goalie! I remember hearing the coach yell, "There's no goalie!" Well, The Girl went down in a dogpile, but meanwhile, another player from our team went ahead and kicked the ball (which was sitting in front of the goal) into the goal. Yay!

Later, the Girl crossed the ball in front of the goal, and another teammate kicked it in. Yay! So they ended up winning 2-1. The second half was completely different, and we looked like the better team, managing to keep the pressure on the other team's goal for most of the second half.

Everyone was so happy that we took the girls out to breakfast afterward.

Yesterday's game was very similar, with coach putting The Girl forward for maybe a quarter of the game, helping the team to score 3 goals within about 10 minutes.

We are very happy, as we'd been lobbying the coach to allow her to score more this year. And of course it's more fun to win. So right now her team is #1 in the standings with a 3-1 record. Wow!

The Girl is in 5th grade this year, and seems to LOVE doing her homework! She comes home and gets on the computer, and does research and writes little papers for hours! I hope she stays this motivated in the years to come. She's got so much energy, that my challenge will be to keep it focused in a good direction.

I think The Boy is getting ready to grow again. He's already around 6'4". The other day I had some steaks in the refrigerator that I had to cook even though the Husband wasn't home to help eat them. Well, the Boy ate 3 of them that very night! I had to hide the 2 remaining, or he would have eaten them too! He took one for lunch the next day.

Well, at least the rest of us got to eat one or two of them. I think the hardest thing is the running commentary that K provides me almost constantly. The Boy isn't doing this and he should be doing that. People, I can only take so much negativity! I love them all, I just hope we can all make it through the next school year without anybody (me) having a nervous breakdown!