Lemme Upgrade ya

You know that Beyonce commercial? Well, I'm about to get upgraded! By the next post (sorry there haven't been that many lately) I will be running Mac OSX Leopard.
If you didn't know already (but I'm assuming if you are reading this-that you do know already) I'm a complete Mac girl. No PC love here... in fact- Zunes are stupid too, just because they are the PC version of iPods.
I'm really excited about this upgrade, however-Our software department "doesn't carry Mac operating systems" so I had to buy it through the bookstore. I really need to upgrade, even though I'm a little bit nervous about it now. I have a ton of re-downloading to do tonight. ArchiCad, Google Earth, I have to reload Adobe Creative Suites, and I might not even have it! CRAP, I have to find out who has my CDs! I hope I don't have to set up my Mail again either. This had better be worth it... The worst is going to be ArchiCad, because not only do I have to download it from online, but it takes a really long time to download, and then I might have to re-register it (pain in the Arse) and because it's the EDU version. This will take approximately a week.
The worst part about this: I don't have iLife :( I would have bought it online, but it costs just as much as Leopard, and right now I can't even really afford that. So I had to restrain myself, and not buy iLife. I seriously don't know what I'll do without ichat, and iphoto.
Nonetheless, I am pumped for this. =I'm going to be running the best operating system in the world now. Not the outdated Tiger one (Though I have much love for you, my friend).
It's kind of weird saying goodbye to it, maybe because I don't know what to expect- sure I've taken the online tutorials, gazed at the new Macs in the windows of stores, coveted Leopard on my sister's new mac. I'm ready. But it's a bit like getting out of that relationship with the clingy, immature-but-still-a-little-cute-in-a-nostalgic-way, boyfriend that you dated in highschool. You think fondly of it, but you are so completely ready for that gorgeous senior guy-who-can-actually-grow-facial-hair. That's Leopard.
So tonight, possibly after I teach zumba, and after I have Demo practice, when I finally get home and (maybe) take a shower... then I will upgrade. First though, I have to back up my music, back up my pictures, decide what files to save, and what files I already have, curse myself for not investing in an external hard drive, and then just wipe it all. I need to also learn how to do some of this. How, exactly, do you wipe a computer. After consideration, I see quite possibly in my future, a call to Daddy as well.
Ah, well...such is life.

So, my dear Tiger... it's not you, it's me. Actually- it's Leopard, he has the most amazing facial hair I've ever seen. So I'ma hafta UPGRADEJYA!

Cracking Up...In A Bad Way

Last week was possibly my worst week ever. Notice I say my worst week ever.
Ever have one of those weeks when you are too all over the place to get anything done, but at the same time- you couldn't care less if you actually get it done, no matter the consequences.
Well, that was me this week. I was in poor form, I barely went to class, I ate a whole package of mint grasshopper cookies in basically one day- I drank a gallon of milk in two days. I was exhausted from studio (which I barely went to), fitness classes, demo team practice, and just overall feeling like shit.
I guess this is just one of those down times- like literally...mood is down. It's not like things are going wrong, and the funny part is I can pinpoint it to two things:
1. I hated my studio project with the burning fire of a thousand suns (that's a lot.)
2. My mom's cancer count is back up, and the Chemo is making a poor showing.

It's probably mostly option number two, seeing as I've hated a couple of my studio projects in the past, but I still actually did them.
Yes, that's right. I, Steph- former goody-two-shoes and excellent student, didn't finish my project. I stopped and couldn't do anymore. I procrastinated to a degree I never have before, thinking about tons and kilotons of other things and never did it. It's O.K. because I explained to my professor what's going on right now with the family and everything, and he gave me as much time as I need. It was really awesome- no grade penalties. That should make me feel fabulous.
The sign that I'm really in a hole here, is that I still don't feel fabulous, in fact- I feel like crying every 20 minutes. I'm not PMS-ing, I'm just emotional.
I think I just had a feeling that this treatment wouldn't go well- I even had my bfitu go do reconnaissance for me to see how the Momz was feeling. The biggest blow was that Yesterday I got an email, from my mom going out to our family mailing list (very personal- me and the other 35 some people on it) saying that the first round of Chemo is going badly. Thanks guys...I love hearing it in an email to our 5,485,634,875,749,587 other relatives. Maybe being pissed off is easier than being hurt and scared.

So that's my quick update: week sucked, life hurts.

On the flip side: I saw a really cute guy whilst driving today...

<---->
You
Decide...

Throw me to the Dogs.

As promised, the lowdown on my animal visiting.

We got to the shelter (which is in the middle of NOWHERE) and told the girl at the desk that we were there to play with the animals, etc.
she gave us the scoop, you tell her which dogs you want to take out, and play with any and all of the cats that you want.
We went and I got morgan to actually touch a cat or two (this is huge because Morgan thinks cats are the creepiest animals ever. --might be an exaggeration) The thing was, all of these cats were so fat. I'm not sure why, but they were all obese. Now I guess I'm just used to seeing skinny shelter cats, so it was a weird shock for me. There weren't even very many cute ones- and not a lot of kittens- I must have missed that section.
So we decided- Onward! to the dogs! First we visited the small dogs/puppies section. and there were two puppies total- little beagles that were ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE. (that's right, all caps.)
We then went to walk some dogs. The first dog I walked "Beaufort" was adorable. Now normally, I love fluffy, slobbery, big dogs. But Beau, as I called him, was a big-ish hound mix thing. not hound enough for me to think him ugly, but not my normal cute. He was fun and playful, and loved to jump and play. he didn't know any directions, like "sit", "heel", or "down", but he was so sweet and energetic. I probably would have got him if I could have. I am definitely walking him again when I go back.

The next dog I walked was "Maggie". She looked all cute and adorable (like a certain flat coated retriever I used to know- except 45 pounds lighter) But she was really all muscle. That dog was crazy- as soon as we got out into the walked area, she grabbed the leash and started growling something serious- at first I was totally scared. I was thinking, "Shit. I took out the dog from hell."
It took me a second to realize she was playing, but I did not want to play that game. So she pulled me all over the yard- being mean and obnoxious. At one point, we did actually play tug of war, and she was pulling at the bottom of the leash, when the chain slipped right off her head. Another Shit. My life flashed before my eyes in the form of visions of Maggie taking off all over the Christiansburg countryside, attacking small children and peeing on rose bushes.
Noticing Maggie was waay to into our game of tug-a-war to care about taking off- I slipped the collar back on and grabbed the base to make it tighter. Maggie then proceeded to try and tug-a-war with my hand. The hellion was trying to rip me apart!
Luckily, Maggie understood two words: her name. and the command "down" at which point she would sit. and then proceed to lay down to have her belly rubbed. Which I did. Several times.
Overall, she was sweet, but so messed up.

It made me think about the kind of people who raise these dogs, and then give them up. People train dogs to be a certain way, then blame the dog when they get a little rambunctious and want to play. Do they not realize that a lot goes into training animals? buy a book! do it right! If you can't afford a book at the bookstore- go to the public library! On second thought- if you can't afford a puppy training book, don't get the damn puppy!!

Animal responsibility is so important. I always have and always will stress this point: When adopting, buying or keeping an animal, you are responsible for it's life.
It's really just like a child. If you raise a child and don't teach the child manners, rules, or morals- the child will most likely grow up without them, unless there are other influences in their life that teach him or her those things.
Animals are exactly like this- they are your children, only they have no other place to learn manners, etc.. They don't have a school, teachers, friends, or other environmental influences.
They. Have. You.

You are an animal's world! If you don't feed it- it starves. If you don't love it- it gets mean. If you beat it- it will defend itself.

So please: Love your animals. Feed them. Keep them Warm. Teach them manners. Give them a healthy home.

Brownies and the Rest of the Sangria

Wow. I love that life is constantly turning around.
I'm sitting on the couch today, and I couldn't be happier. Well, actually that's wrong- I could have everyone I love squeezed on the couch with me and a dog at my feet and my baby in my lap.
...You can't have it all.

Anyways, Yesterday was awesome. I talked to Bleighton approximately every two hours, and I looked cute (for once), and it started out kind-of bad, and then got soo much better!
First, I knew I would look cute on friday, and I was excited. I actually left my morning class after about 15 minutes, because there weren't enough seats for everyone to sit in (I didn't get a seat) and I've already taken this class once and I still have the notes. I could have done yesterday's lesson with my eyes closed. So I left. I just slunk (slinked?) out the back door and proceeded to run the 154,9w3,846,095,645 (yes, w.) errands I had to run.
I picked up the dry-cleaning (really...not that exciting I promise!)
I stopped by the clubhouse.
I had them come fix out toilet and our kitchen lights.
I cleaned the downstairs.
I cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes.
It was great actually. and just when I thought it would be the worst day EVER, because I couldn't find my drawings that I needed to do this project? I found them! with the help of my ex-desk neighbor (he's now in a different studio, so he doesn't sit beside me anymore). I actually had a good conversation with my professor, and then I found out that the competition we have to do is optional (so I won't be doing it).
I went home right away, well I stopped by FoodLion to get salad stuff for dinner (and saw the cutest puppy ever sitting in a car), and then went home, because Morgan and I were having the boys over for dinner and board games.
We were about to start making dinner (French Chicken with Orange Terragon sauce) when someone knocked on our door. I was actually on the phone with Bleighton at this point (remember approx. every 4 hours) and I opened the door to see our Cute Neighbor standing there... with a plate of brownies. No. Way. Is this guy for real? did he really make us brownies? yes. and he says, "I made these for you because I remembered that you were talking about them (damn, I was talking about brownies?! what a fatass) and I wanted to say thank you for lending me your internet and phone."
That. Is. Adorable. After he left I did remember the brownie part of our conversation---> he was apologizing for not introducing himself or talking to us before (ever), and I was reassuring him saying, 'it's not like we ever brought you brownies or anything'. And that was all. To remember that small a part out of our conversation was really cute. It made him even more cute really. Morg still hasn't really warmed up to him (His mom visits him sometimes, and they always (ALWAYS) take the parking spots in front of our house. She said yesterday his mom was here again and they were delivering a mattress to him and taking up four or five spots (guess where!)
Now, this doesn't really make me that mad (I'm quick to forgive and forget when someone gives me chocolate). Morgan thinks he likes me. I hope so.

Well, after all that excitement, we make dinner and the boys had perfect timing, because I was just dumping the sauce on the chicken when they got there, and we had a great dinner and dessert (I was the only one who ate dessert), then, I took my glass of sangria to the living room and we played board games for the rest of the night. Conversation was great when we weren't shouting answers during Mad Gab, or laughing over definitions in Balderdash. It was so much fun that I finished the sangria and started in on the white zin. (Damn, I love you Bleighton)

After the games, the boys went home and Morg and I promptly went to bed (It was about 2a.m.) I can't even remember falling asleep, I was that tired. The last thing I remember was brushing my teeth.
I love Saturdays, because I really (thankfully) have nothing to do. (actually a lie, but I schedule nothing to do on purpose, or put of what I have to do in order to have nothing to do...)
I woke up at 1, and had Chocolate and Milk for breakfast, and plopped myself on the couch until Morg woke up. Now that she's awake we're off to the Animal Shelter, because I just cannot stay away from animals any longer.
No, I'm not getting one (unfortunately) but since I can't have one, I've decided to volunteer whenever I get a chance to go and exercise the dogs, and socialize the cats. I'm really excited-- this is my first time going, and I can't wait. I'll definitely blog about it (probably tonight or tomorrow) so you'll get all of the fluffy, stinky, slobbery, lovable details.

...Especially since I deliberately have nothing to do!