Mr. President, Have Pity on the Working Man

It's times like these that to be honest, I am grateful we have a democrat president. Democrats are notorious for their desire to help the individual, and although that has been criticized (most people on welfare abuse it, or people who get help from the gov't are lazy, yadda yadda yadda), I think we are starting to appreciate that idea, since even the hardest working people are suffering right now. I love that yesterday Obama met with congressional leaders to discuss a $300 billion tax cut, which would save the average person $500 in taxes ($1000 a couple). As with EVERY decision that President Obama will make, there are obviously supporters and opponents, but I think what he said about it was most important: "The reason we are here today is because the people's business cannot wait". This is evident of how in tune Obama is with the American people. He realizes that something MUST be done, and it cannot be the usual, or what would be done in a normal time. This is a time of struggle that is different from any other we've seen- ever. Even the Great Depression was different, because things have changed so much. We rely a lot more on international products, our economy therefore affecting the entire world. Anyways, I have always loved Paul Newman's song Mr. President; I always thought of Bush every time I heard it over the past 8 years, but I always sighed knowing that he was simply too out of touch with the people. It seemed like such an appropriate song for him. I am just hoping that Obama's start is a sign of what he will do the entire time he is in office, and that that song never reminds me of him. 

A Great Start to the Semester

Ok no offense, but just because you are wearing penny loafers does not mean you actually need to insert a penny into the slot. I saw a GIRL wearing penny loafers with pennies in them today on campus. I get slightly concerned by some of the things I see on that campus, but the scariest thing is when I look in the mirror and realize I am no better than anyone else in my fashion. :)

Anyways today I started school AND found myself a job. Not bad for day 1 of looking right? Well, actually, it is for BYU Vending, I worked for them a couple of years ago, and some-freaking-how, the manager remembered me! I really didn't think he would, particularly without me refreshing his memory since it's been what, 2 1/2 years? Anyways I feel really blessed to have a job. I don't really "need" one perse, since my husband is working this semester (and makes prob 3x what I am) but with only 8 credits on my schedule, I figured a little part-time job would be fun for me. I always enjoyed vending, it's one of those jobs that you never really think about, the vending machine just fills itself, right? Just like billboards change themselves. hehe. But it's really fun to see how things work and I remember how in shape I was from hauling boxes all over campus! I'm definitely looking forward to it.

I am taking 3 classes this semester: My senior english "capstone" course that focuses on mystery and detective literature; The english novel in which we will read a 700 page George Eliot novel, among others; and finally, basic makeup! I am so so excited for this one, b/c I love makeup and now I am going to learn techniques that will hopefully advance me into the field! Oh, and if anyone ever is in town wants to be a model for me, please let me know, as I prefer to work on other people, but I have to bring my own if I want to do that.

So other than nearly peeing my pants in fright coming home in a blizzard tonight, things are going pretty well. Seriously I hate driving in the snow- I never do, since I usually force Trent to drive in those conditions (he is my chauffeur), but since he's out of town, I actually have to do difficult things for myself. Pshhh. 

Happy New Year!

I thought a revamped blog layout would be appropriate for ringing in the new year (even though I'm a few days late in ringing it in, haha). I feel like a schmuck though, because I didn't even come up with any resolutions- not that I would have kept them for very long anyways. Actually, I do hope to come up with a couple, and maybe they don't coincide necessarily with the new year, but they will be things I have planned anyways, such as getting more exercise and eating healthy. Like I say, they probably won't last very long! :)

So just an update on my life: First, I must say I am a little unsure of what direction I'm going to take my blog. I like addressing issues that are important to me, but I also realize that the internet is kind of like the feather analogy - if you rip a pillow open outdoors, and let the feathers float all over, try picking them up again, it will not be possible. Eventually any information on here will be all over the web, and maybe that's not what I want. So we'll see how things go, I still want to address more topics than just the mundane trivialities of life.

Yea so I wrapped up the Fall Semester rather well- I got my best grades ever, which really is not a 4.0 by any means, but I was still pleased with the results. I loved ALL my classes, and it was my last FULL semester of undergrad work. Tomorrow I am starting school; I only have 2 classes (5 credits) this semester, so I plan on getting a part-time job to keep me semi-busy. I don't know where I'll be working yet, but that's something I'm dealing with this week.

Trent and I spent the holiday in the east coast; half of it in Washington DC, the other half of it in NYC. Unfortunately, I caught this "gastroentronitis" or something like that, which is a sort of flu that has been wiping everyone out! It was horrible, I've never felt so ill before. It was weird though because it would kind of come and go, or at least the effects would lessen for a short time before coming back. It was nice that I could go out and do things during those times, but overall I wasn't able to do a lot, because I was so worn out and tired. I did get to go to the MAC Cosmetics Pro store and grab some hard to find goodies! On one of the last nights of my trip, I woke up at 2:30 am with the worst gas pains I'd ever felt in my life. It felt like my stomach was blowing up like a balloon, but no gas was being released. I definitely panicked, wondering what if I just popped? lol it sounds funny, but really wasn't at the time, so my mom took me to the emergency room. I had to wait an hour in the waiting room and wanted to die, the pain was excruciating. However, by the time they admitted me, the gas had started passing a little, and I was starting to feel better. I was given 2 IV bags worth of fluids because I was quite dehydrated- I was gaunt and weak, but as they gave my fluids, my mom said it was amazing that my face started getting fuller and more color again. They also gave me a few pain meds in the IV- wasn't so sure that I needed them, but what the heck, who's going to reject free pain meds? Those made me feel kind of good, at least relaxed enough to sleep for a while when I got home 4 hours later. The next day, they told me I could only eat clear liquids like broth and jell-o but I'm sorry, I couldn't do that all day. I felt better at that point so I might have eaten a little pasta. :) NOW, I've been plagued with a cold, which totally bites - I just can't get rid of these illnesses it seems!

Trent is in Seattle this week for work; he left today, and I already miss him like the dickens! It's times like these that I'm grateful to be living in such close proximity to my mother in law (hehe), because at least there's someone to talk to. It just stinks b/c last year, at least I had my little sister here with me to hang out with, but while I have friends here, I don't really have any that I hang out with, so that might have to change this week. :)

One thing I am a little concerned about is my one and only living grandmother, "Big G". While vacationing in California, she slipped and fell and broke her arm and leg! At first we thought it was her shoulder and pelvic bone, but it turns out it's her thigh bone or somewhere near the pelvis, and her upper arm near her shoulder. She is expected to be in the hospital for a time before she can return home, so quite possibly she won't return for 6-8 weeks. I am also worried that once she does return, she will not be able to perform simple tasks like climbing the stairs. :( I am hoping I can visit her this weekend, since Trent will be out of town anyways. I hope things work out for her.

So that's my life in review in a "nutshell". There's nothing really exciting obviously, but I am looking forward to the next couple months. 

Ok so after posting I decided the smartest idea was to take our new feline friend to the vet and get him checked out ASAP, in case his leg was indicative of something worse to come. I figured they would have to amputate and that we'd basically just establish this at that appointment. However, the vet told us that what most likely is wrong with his leg is that it got nerve damage, maybe from running from another animal or getting stuck somewhere and having to pull on his leg. He said our kitty could still feel in a couple toes, and so hopefully in the next few weeks, the nerves will heal themselves. That would mean no amputation and our cat would have 4 fully-functioning legs! However, there is a chance that he won't regain the use, and then it would have to be taken off. But for now, no amputation needed! While there, we did get him tested for all sorts of Feline diseases like FIV and Feline Lukemia and AIDs, all of which turned up negative for our sweetie! And we got him de-wormed and treated for a sinus infection, so hopefully within the next 2 weeks we will also get him through his first series of vaccinations. I was surprised to learn he is probably 3-4 months old by now!! Because he's been out on his own, he probably hasn't got the nourishment that he needed so we need to fatten him up! :)

Anyways, with this new kitty in our lives, I am reminded of all the pets we had as children, and I realized that pretty much every one of them were strays: Kato, the crazy cat who followed my oldest sister to and from school in SLC; Maddie, our stray golden retriever my mom found at a Christmas tree lot; Kitten Man, who was maybe not a stray, but we picked him up from the DC Animal Shelter; Bad Thing, beautiful fat tabby who wandered in our yard in VA for a couple days until we adopted her into our home; Lapin, the world's largest grumpy rabbit who was in our yard in PA (and probably wild but somehow we got him into a cage); and Garey, a feral who was abandoned by his mother at just a couple weeks old.

And now, with times being difficult, there are more strays than ever, and the shelters are filled to the brim with animals being brought in. People are even leaving animals at the dump! If I could offer any advice to anyone looking to buy a pet, I would say adopt! There are so so so many great pets available, either through a shelter adoption site like petfinder.org, or through local classifieds. You can get pretty much any kind of cat or dog, large or small, siamese or long hair, etc. through these services- After all, 25% of animals in shelters are purebred! Most of them come with routinized vaccines and spay/neutring, some even come micro-chipped so if you lose your pal, he/she can be returned to you. So it's actually far cheaper to adopt, and you're giving a beautiful animal a life it may not have had if you didn't stop by. Just with all the animals waiting to be adopted, there's no reason to buy from a pet store, who often use mills to churn out the animals in filthy, dangerous environments, often resulting in health complications down the road. The more and more animals that are produced, the more and more strays we have. Thus, neutering/spaying is important, and it's also important to save the animals we already have instead of producing more and more. 

And if you find a stray, do anything you can to NOT take it to a shelter, because as I mentioned, there's really never room for them, especially now, and a perfectly good animal will be put down because of it. Our kitty is a good example of this, because they'd probably see the leg and think "no one wants this cat" and it would be on the top of the list for euthanasia. However, he is still so vital, loving and perfectly fine, given some time to heal. He is such a darling, how could he be put down? So if you can, find a responsible friend to take it, keep it yourself or even an animal sanctuary, though not ideal is better than a shelter.

And may I also mention don't declaw your cat? Declawing is like cutting off the tips of your fingers. It's intrusive, it's de-feline-ating (like demasculating but for cats) and this whole conquering of a species with us thinking we are superior and can just take its limbs to convenience us is gross. And what if it goes outside accidentally and can't defend itself? Eww, just read the article.

Ok enough of my animal rights rant, but I don't see anything unreasonable with treating the animals we have with respect. Next time, we will be talking about wild animals and farm animals! :) 

Meow Meow!

Well, the semester is finally over! It seems like it just flew by! 

Anyways, so last night, we found a cute orange kitten in our garage- he just showed up somehow, we have no idea where it came from! We called all the neighbors and no one is aware of it, so we assume it's been dumped off by someone, as evidenced by a couple naps in his fur and his dead leg! It is like broken or something, just snapped in half, except that there's no evidence of an actual break, as in there's no bone sticking out, and he doesn't act like it's painful- in fact, he uses it as a crutch as he walks! It's starting to worry me though, because at first I thought he'd adapted fine to it, but now we think eventually it will wear through to the bone or start to decay or SOMETHING gross. I must admit I'm not very educated about these things, but we are taking it to the vet soon (we are leaving for holiday in like 2 days!) but in the meantime I'm kinda concerned.

It is the sweetest kitten though! It climbs up on us and licks our faces, and plays with my pony tail, and is fun to pack around b/c it's so light and agreeable! I love it already! We're trying to think of a good name, maybe like Gimpy? :)

See the leg, it's hard to get a photo of it in action, but it's totally dead.

Cuteeee!

Home Sickness?

Towards the Confluence, Yukon & Klondike Rivers, Dawson City

Overlooking Dawson

Not really, as I don't have a home, but what else to call it?

As most of you know, I have spent the past two summers living in Alaska -and part of last summer in the Yukon, but really there's little difference between the two (other than they are in different countries, lol) - both are vast, chilly and ill-populated (with humans at least). Even though I think I've enjoyed those summers, my memories of both of them seem overcast with a lot of stress - the first summer, I had packed up and moved 4,000 miles from one of the largest cities in the world (NYC), to the secluded town of Skagway with a population of 850- give or take. The second summer, I dealt with the new responsibility of not only driving a 45-foot-long motor coach, but also composing a convincing  and entertaining tour for the folks on board. Let's face it, driving and talking at the same time is not really a challenge for me, but learning all the new information and balancing the conflicts that sometimes arose along the way were tricky and certainly a bit stressful. 

At the end of both summers, I wasn't sad to say good bye to Skagway, or the Yukon. I confess, I'm a city girl at heart, and I love having all the stores and conveniences of populated life at my beck and call. I'm your typical, everyday instant gratification lover- I hate waiting for packages via snail mail- and yes, I'm probably a 7 or 8(1/2) on the materialist scale. The same old food also gets old, as do the lumpy beds- they're not quite like home. 

British Columbia, between Skagway, AK and Carcross, YT.

Well, the past couple of nights, I've dreamt of being in Alaska again. The first night, I dreamt of being on a barge, heading to Anchorage - don't know if it's possible, but so I was - and the scenery, though it was the dead of the dark winter- was gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking. Then, last night, I had a dream that Trent and I were starting the season early- once again in the middle of winter- and we were taking Vladimir Putin's family on a land tour. Yea, weird, why would we do that, when he could just swim over to Alaska himself (according to Palin at least). And the craziest thing about that dream, is even though I know nothing about Putin or what he looks like, he really does look like what I dreamt! I looked it up on wikipedia. Creepy!

It's not really weird for me to dream of being there, as I've had these dreams periodically since we left in September, but it is funny how my dreams portray the winter weather and all. 

Anyways, although I'm quite relieved that I don't have to start touring right now in the icy winter, I am starting to yearn for the place - something that occurred about the same time last year- there's just something fascinating about Alaska being all quiet and dark and cold. I've never been there in the winter (although you'd think it was winter sometimes in July!), yet I really desire it. I just picture our hole-in-the-wall rooms in the Westie and think of them being abandoned, the wind howling outside. I really just want to spend a winter there, doing absolutely nothing but watching television and looking for the Northern Lights - and maybe a little booze to get me through it- oh wait, it will never work out for me, will it? :)

I'm excited about going back this summer, and I feel like I appreciate Dawson City a little bit more. Even though it's really in the middle of nowhere, and they don't sell blue cheese anywhere in town (that's what happens to you when you start getting nostalgic), it's such a beautiful, peaceful place. The distance from the law and from the crowds is actually therapeutic in many ways.