4 days ago
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Cold coffee means summer is coming
Just strained a batch of cold press coffee. It's delicious, I'm having some now. First math test of the term is tomorrow and I'm about half way to being ready for it. Luckily, it's raining so I'm not working, which means I've got 4 extra hours to study today.
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I was thinking about changing my course of study to Bachelor of Science, rather than art. The difference would be that I'd take science courses rather than language courses. I would need to take 20 credits of lab science in sequence. If I stay on the BA path, I'm looking at 24 credits of Spanish. I think it's really good for the brain and the world to know other languages, but I'm really having a hard time getting excited about the class. I need to buckle down and do the work, then see how I feel about it.
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Leisa and I are taking a whitewater kayaking seminar together. It starts next week. I'm a little bummed that it conflicts with a bronze pour, especially as I just took over responsibilities as "event coordinator" for the sculpture club. I should be there. I'm going to see if I can farm some of the responsibility out for the next couple events. The seminar, however, is guaranteed to be a blast and we get to float two rivers(not sure which).
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Gus is doing great. Better each day, with the occasional thick headed naughtiness that makes him such a good all around dog. Lots of personality, good natured and lots of fun. I took him to Delta Park last week. That place is huge. Just fields and fields and paths and streams for him to explore. He made it as far away as 75 yards, but always made sure I was within eyesight.
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Tiff and I are looking into buying a house here in Portland. We're pre-qualified for whatever that's worth. Been looking at houses in the 160-180 range, which surprisingly offers quite a variety of homes.
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better get to the studying.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
SUNSHINE!!!
The sun is shining and band practice starts in an hour. Gus is in the back yard barking at squirrels. Tiffani is sitting on the couch eating pastries and drinking coffee with our good friend Michelle. Later today I might build a fence. Even later than that, we'll go have cocktails for Tiffani's birthday celebration.
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Dave and Tami are in town. We had cocktails last night for his birthday. I forget that people think it's alright to shout "CHUG CHUG CHUG" at the bar. I mean, really? They had a room at the ACE Hotel. That place is awesome.
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Yesterday I took Gus for a run on my bicycle. He sometimes freaks out about people on their bikes, but he was just fine. Later, we hit up the dog park, where he was a very good boy.
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We weren't able to pour bronze this week after all. I arrived at class on Tuesday to find our investments already poured. Apparently the burnout kiln shut down prematurely and everybody had to scramble to address the situation. We try to pour the bronze when the investments are at our around 500 degrees. If they aren't hot, they'll pop when the hot metal hits them. When the kiln shut down, the investments were in danger of cooling. It's a bad idea to reheat an investment so they just poured them. I was pretty bummed, but they turned out alright.
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My Mom had her gall bladder removed yesterday. Really, it just takes up space. That means that her transplant will be delayed - again.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
A day at the park
Gus and I just walked all over the neighborhood, had coffee and hiked up Mt. Tabor. We also spent 45 minutes at the dog park where he did an excellent job of playing nicely and coming when I called him.
Gus and I are definitely figuring some things out about one another. I know that he hasn't had the opportunity to meet a lot of dogs, and because of this, he tends to freak out when he sees dogs across the street. It's been embarrassing to have to restrain my dog on the side of the road while he barks and jumps and whelps, but I can't just let him go. If I were to let him go when he's like that he would probably be injured by the passing cars. The funny thing is, he isn't aggressive towards other dogs. It's like he just can't believe that he's seeing these dogs and absolutely MUST say hello.
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We got him from a friend of Leisa's. The previous owner didn't have the time to take him for walks or to socialize him. I'm not even sure how long he was with them. On easter, we were sitting at the table having brunch with some friends and Leisa was talking about how they wished he would run away, and about how they kicked him and threw his food on the floor. They had even locked him out of the house hoping he would leave. I couldn't believe it. I called the guy up immediately and said I'd like to meet this poor dog. I picked him up and brought him to the house. He explored the back yard and I introduced him to our home. Next I walked him to Mt. Tabor dog park and met up with Kelly A. and his dog Harlan. Harlan showed Gus the ropes and they ran around the dog park together, saying hello and sniffing a lot of ass. Surprisingly, Gus wasn't timid. I was concerned that his lack of socialization would have made him fearful of other dogs. Not the case, he wasn't aggressive either. He did really well. I was so surprised and concerned when later, he freaked out when a dog across the street walked past.
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He is a bit of a leash puller. I have been pretty serious about making sure he walks beside me and not in front. I bought a gentle leader head harness. It wraps around the base of his skull and has a loop that goes over his nose. When he pulls, it takes all of the pressure off of his chest and places it on his head, which means he stops pulling. I can't believe the difference it makes. Rather than just pulling on the lead, he actually looks around now and seems to enjoy the walks.
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He can sit, lay down and shake now. He's so smart, and a bit naughty. Now if I can just keep him off of the couch at night. . .
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Gus
This is our new pal GUS. Full name is Gustav Jesus Jensen-Davis. He was an easter miracle. He's mostly black lab. Might have some pointer in him. . . He's a good dog that hasn't been in the best situation up 'til now. We're hoping he'll be happy with us, and we're hoping we'll get used to the allergies soon. He doesn't poop or pee in the house! He is a squirrel chaser, but I think we can deal with that. If anybody wants to help me patch holes in the fence out back, lemme know. Cheers!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&TMonday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Spring
We had a great week for spring. Started off by visiting my mom in Seattle. She bought us a really nice hotel room for my birthday. It had a view of Union Lake and the Space Needle. It was really nice. We had a short and very dramatic scare when my mom decided to pass a gall stone. Called 911, watched my mom writhe in pain. . . pretty lame. Luckily she started feeling better within minutes and we played poker. After Seattle, we came back to Portland for a short night in our own bed before driving to Sunriver. Sunriver is a little community that draws predominantly white middle class tourists. It's about 20 minutes outside of Bend and has a golf course and overpriced stores and boating opportunities. It's a pretty nice little place to visit for a couple of days. Sarah and Kelly were our partners in crime along with their awesome dogs. We stayed for two nights and visited some cool caves, rode bikes, ate good food and sat in the hot tub. It was very relaxing despite the fact that Kelly and I pretty much waited hand and foot on the ladies.
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Now Spring Term is one week shorter. I've got a 17 credit load and am dissapointed to be missing out on a Ceramics class. It just wouldn't fit into my schedule. This term it's sculpture, math, spanish, pop culture studies and rock climbing. I'm excited to pour bronze three times! Also I am planning on participating in a kayaking seminar in May. Should be great. Oh! It's 10:30, gotta get a move on. Band practice in half an hour and I've neglected my coffee. . .
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