My Poor Little Girl

My little baby is having back trouble!  About a week and a half ago the heineken start making this horrible squeaking sound anytime you tried to pick her up or when she moved in an akward way.  She's had this problem once before, and since then Nik and I have read a lot about how you have to get to the vet super quick when your dog has a spinal injury in order to avoid paralysis.  So now, anytime there is an indication of problems...the anxious parents that we are... we rush her over to the vet.  Unfortunately it was a Saturday and her normal vet was closed, so we had to bring her into the emergency vet the next city over.  They look at her, say she seems fine, and send her home with a muscle relaxer.  We then brought her to her regular vet a few days later (when she got worse) and they took xrays and gave her steroids. 

Exemplifying the strange timing the world seems to have, we get an email the next day from a friend of Nik's who took another puppy in Heiny's litter, Heiny's "brother".  She explained that her doggie had been paralyzed for some time and that they were going to have to put her down.  OMG!  Heiny is so small and innocent.  It breaks my heart to see her in so much pain and I would feel terrible if something more serious happened to her back, like it did to her brother's.  Daschunds are notorious for having these sorts of serious problems and her genes are apparently really bad.  And she's only five.  <Sigh>  We're really cracking down at the house.  No more jumping of any sort and no more playing with toys.  I feel bad for her to be so bored, but it's better than being paralyzed.

My (Subtle) Femminist Battle

All the men in my school program hate their wives.  Well, maybe they love their wives, but they talk about them in a derrogatory manner.  It annoys me.  I was actually in a conversation yesterday with like 5 straight men and one other women and the guys started talking about how women don't make any sense.  ...like the two of us were supposed to agree to that or that their opinion is an acceptable way to think.  What's more, almost all of my teachers in this program have been men and a good 2/3rds of the class are men.  This, combined with the inequity of gender in the workplace, especially the old old-boy's club type firms that I am familiar with, has led me to a new resolve.  Aside from people I am married to or are otherwise part of my family, I am going to spend my days in the company of women and gay men. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that men are sexist, for the most part.  I think they just tend to like hanging out with each other.  I also don't think that all women fall victim to this problem.  Some are born with a disposition that makes it easier for them or they aren't in a profession where it is particularly hard for women.  Others learn how to compete with the boys.  I'm resolved to learn to fall into this second category.

Home for the Holidays

Why is it that car insurance for a "multi-car" household is sooo sooo much cheaper than individual car insurance?  After putting it off for a while, last night Nik and I consolidated our policy.  Our premium for a six-month period went down by almost half!!!!  I don't understand it.  The same cars are insured with the same coverage as they were before but somehow, because I said I'm associated with Nik, our premium dropped significantly.  Seems inequitable...not that I'm complaining

We were pushed to straighten out the insurance because, come saturday morning, we're packing up my car, dropping the heiny off at "grandma's", and heading down to the OC.  I haven't been there in forever and am really excited about seeing everyone and about showing nik around my hometown for the first time.  Planning on going to Knotts Berry Farm (i went there a lot growing up and it is, by far, the cheapest amusement park in so cal), and hitting up some interesting beer places.  So much fun!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Eve morning and I am at work, but only for a short little half-day today.  Our markets close in about two hours.  The bus driver lady today told us over the intercom that she was sorry we had to come into work today and sang us a little bit of the song "I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas."  She was pretty good too!  I just love when the magic of the season brings out that sort of friendly goofy side in people. 

I have been having quite a merry time myself!!  Yesterday we went to Six Flags in Vallejo for their "holiday in the park" thingy.  The have the biggest christmas tree in the states--it's huge!!  The tree at Rockefeller Center in New York is about 65 feet tall.  This tree is 125 feet high!!!  Oh my goodness!!  I also baked Christmas cookies and watched the South Park Christmas song episode. 

I hope that you are having a wonderful wonderful holiday season and that you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS tomorrow!!!