only sophie

So it took a while to figure out exactly what is wrong with our dog. . . but it's not cancer. Actually they aren't entirely sure what it is but apparently it isn't going to kill her. The black scary mass in her foot that freaked out the surgeon is some sort of bacterial infection in her foot- again not sure how it got there or what caused it but a course of antibiotics should fix it. Still may need to amputate if the joint dislocates again. Just another reason why our dog is "special."


We are still all splinted up- or we were all splinted up. . . until we ate our cast off last night. Now we are wearing a sock and limping.


first trip to the vet: 450
second trip to the vet: 400
watching your dog eat off a very expensive splint in the middle of the night: priceless

No longer worried about losing the toe, as much as losing an arm and a leg

uff da

I am back in the country. My trip to Toronto went very well until the unfortunate re-inactment of planes trains and automobiles on the trip home. I was planning on being back yesterday in the early evening but ended up rolling in much later into the night! In fact, I have been spending some quality time napping today.


I had a great time, but the conference was a lot like going to camp. with booze. One of my teammates presented and did great, which was fun to watch. I was so proud! My projects also got some great feedback so I felt really good about the direction I am going at work. I have lots of great pictures from my trip that I will post soon, including a couple of work type photos and some shots from my 2 hour sightseeing excursion into Toronto. I will get to those posts soon, in the meantime I am going to drink some caffeine and make some plans to detox my liver.

aaargh

says Sophie.

We feel a lot better now that she is home. She is her old goofy self just now with a peg leg. They haven't done anything other than resetting the dislocated toe but the bandaged it with a splint that covers her entire leg. Each step she takes with the splinted leg creates a resounding bang that can be heard across the entire house. I liken it to the sound of a six year old prancing around the house in mom's heels. We are going to keep the splint so that she can dress up as a pirate for Halloween next year.

We will find out on Monday what kind of "mass" popped the joint out of place. We will likely have to either treat the mass- if it is malignant. If it is not, we will probably have to do something to keep the joint from popping out again. Just knowing that we might not have to do anything for a bit makes me feel a LOT better.

We are currently at $900 for vet spending. . . I am trying to find a way to use this fact to guilt her into not using our rugs as a personal 3- ply bathroom site. Only the best for the princess. aaargh says pip.

a pawthetic attempt at a birthday

So let me recap the last day of events.

Brev turned 28. Woo hoo!
Sophie dislocated her paw. Boo hoo!

Puppy is having surgery today to either re-tighten the ligaments in the paw to keep them from popping out again or they are going to just amputate the part that is popped out. (but not the entire paw.)

The funniest part of this journey was how they kept asking if it was okay to take the next step with the dog.
"the x-ray will be $100, is that ok?"
"the x-ray didn't work, we have to sedate her. The quote for that is $70. Is that ok?"
"We forgot to quote you for the blood work for the sedation for the xray. That is $50. Is that ok?"

What did they expect me to say. . . No? The dog can't walk. OF COURSE we will get it fixed!!!

---breaking news---

Surgeon just called. Sophie has a tumor in her foot and they have taken some biopsies throughout her leg and foot to see how much they will have to amputate. Cancer sucks. Sad for Sophie. The surgeon was very nice though and asked us to decide how much financially and emotionally we wanted to invest in the dog. Tough conversations around the cottage today.

Sadly, "shake" was the only trick we did well. Tough for a three legged dog. Updates to come soon.

the downside

As many of you know, I am a bit of a workaholic. Ok. duh. This is by choice and in reality offers me some much needed stability on many fronts. So in reality work is good!

but not today. I get my year end review today and I am fahreeking. Simply put, I don't take criticism very well. For whatever reason, I get very nervous about feedback. I can pretty much guess that my feedback will come back that I am 'too' creative. Shocking for a company of engineers right?

hah.

my day was pretty good, and yours?

a daily conversation.

Julia Effing Child

Step 1: Pick out a lovely 1/2 made dinner from Target. (picture 1)

Step 2: Start dinner to find out that you don't have any milk. Call husband to bring milk home. Restart Recipe.

Step 3: Realize that you have a radically different interpretation of the phrase "cook until sauce slightly thickens" (picture 2- go ahead and click on this picture and blow it up. It's a beauty. )

Step 4: Evaluate options (picture 3)

Step 5: Share the pain (picture 4)

Step 6: Family field

trip to Taco Bell (Picture 5)

and I just said. . .that I was going to start again

Oops. wow, how time flies when you are having fun. . . urr. work. Okay, so I am taking this project to a fair in a couple of weeks and I have been working around the clock to get it done. Essentially it is a 'table' with a nerd board. My feature. . . a working volcano!

stupid jokes aside, there will be no volcano, but I did want to reinforce my 'brand refreshing' theme by serving mojitos. Which further built my reputation for being the corporate eccentric. I thought the mojitos were kind of witty- in the witty/lame kind of way. It would make my booth popuLAR. My boss decided that I could hand out minty gum. Not nearly as sexy as mojitos. Sexy like a Hanes 3 pack.

Perhaps I will offer a practice GRE at my booth:

Mojitos are to frilly pink panties as trident is to______.

big blog to come soon. . . promise. . urr. I'l try.

the year of the adventure

Given that I spent the better part of 2006 in bed, on a couch or near a pillow. . . I have decided to create a much more interesting 2007. That's right. . . 2007 will from this point forward will be 'kick-ass.'


So I am currently in bed *thinking about working out. . . l