Irrigation Ditch Awareness

It has been a while since my beautiful Noki baby was killed.

This is a difficult post to write, but for some reason I felt it was needed to raise any awareness possible.

I always thought if my Noki was taken from me and my family, it would be due to

1. A coyote attack (which he miraculously survived)
2. An owl attack (which happens in my parents neighborhood!)
3. Or him being hit by a car (something common for any neighborhood)

I never ever ever ever ever suspected my Noki baby would drown. 

But that's what happen.  I drove to my parents house and both my mom and step-dad walked up to me... a little less chipper than usual.  I looked at them and rolled my eyes and said, "Whose dog died?!"

Mine, apparently.

I am still devastated.  My mom is heart broken.  Our family friends are shocked.  Why was he taken so early?

What happened was Noki drowned in an irrigation ditch near my parents house.  I'm not sure if it had anything do to with the water levels this year compared to years in the past, however my step-dad was taking Noki for a walk and decided to let Noki play in the water because he LOVELOVELOVES water.  Unfortunately, he was a little too close to the hole-that-goes-under-ground (sorry for my lack of irrigation ditch jargon) and he was sucked under, instantly.

It was a freak accident.

The reason this topic needs awareness is this:
Roughly a week later a little boy decided to play in the water in the same exact spot.  Before he realized, he too got sucked in the ditch-hole-area.  Fortunately for the boy, since he was larger than an 8 pound Yorkie, his head stuck out of the water.  However it took 4 grown men trying to pull this boy out of the water with no success.  They finally had to cut the water supply up the road in order to pull him out.

That's how strong the current was!!!

Please please please, if you have dogs, DO NOT LET THEM PLAY IN AN IRRIGATION DITCH!  Not near the hole where the water goes under ground.  Not if there is a strong current.  Noki has always played in the irrigation ditch - this has never been an issue before so this has caught everyone by surprise.  Our family is devastated that we lost our Noki Baby, Nokermeister, Noki Poki...

 

Sorry the video seems dark!  This is Puppy Noki!

School + Work = Fall 2011

This semester has been INSANE! 

I am 47.89 days away from completing my LAST EVER FINAL EXAM!! 

I am not quite as bitter as I was this time last semester - if you recall some blog posts, I was extremely bitter and here's why:

I WORK AND GO TO SCHOOL FULL TIME!  

I get extremely angry when I hear people complaining who:

1. Only go to school with 4-5 classes.  Good for you.  Now try it with a job simultaneously.
2. Only work and get to go home after work. And work out.  Or put on pajamas.  Whereas I'm in class.  Till 10pm. 
3. Go to school with a few classes.  And work Part Time.  I hate you.  And your life.  Not fair.

I honestly can't believe I am mentally stable this Fall.  I thought I would have had several breakdowns by now, and I've only had ONE (shout out to my mom who sat on the phone with me while I cried and pouted).

With that being said, here is what I have this semester.

• Work (obviously) 40+ hours per week
• BADM 781 - Strategic Management what?
• BADM 791 - Leadership leadership leadership
• BADM 750 - Information Systems rocks
• CEP 613 - My random education/telecommunications class

It's not an ideal schedule.  It's grad student suicide.  But guess who only has 47.89 days left... THIS GIRL!!

So with that being said, these are the things I'm looking forward to in 47.90 days:

• Working out again
• TV
• Sleep
• My family
• TV
• My boyfriend
• My friends/Lou
• Using my weekends to do fun stuff - not homework and preparing meals for the upcoming week
• TV
• SKIING
• Pajamas after work
• Movies
• TV
• Cooking
• Reading for fun, not pain and misery
• Shopping
• Not climbing because it's cold outside and I'm a wuss
• Hanging with Friends
• Words with Friends
• Friends

Yup.  I'll think of more.

Note to self...

It is  October.

Not September.

So the stamp on my milk that says "Best By 9/30/11" does NOT mean I still have 4 perfectly good days left of my milk.

It means that I just ruined a perfectly good bowl of cereal.

Photo Credit

 

Big Girl

There comes a time where you decide whether or not to hire someone to do something, or just do it yourself.

I was faced with the decision of replacing the locks on my front door.  I could hire a locksmith.  Or do it myself.

I decided that if they sell deadbolt locks at Target that I MUST be able to do it myself.  Right?

SO I INSTALLED IT ALL BY MYSELF!!!!

... AND IT WORKS!!!

Damn straight.

I love fall!!

Photo Credit

Microsoft Excel = TODAY Function

This is for a class, and unfortunately because the application doesn't allow you to share the video easily, I am uploading this to my blog.  For my followers- please disregard.

Microsoft Excel = TODAY Function on PhotoPeach

My Oregon Trip: Number THREE (day 2-3)

After our lovely reunion, Aaron had everything planned for the next day!  I LOVED THIS!

We drove up to Seattle and stayed at a BEAUTIFUL hotel with a view of the ocean.  This room was amazing and I purposely looked away when Aaron paid the bill (I don't even want to know what he paid - ignorance is bliss right?).  We dropped off our bags and played around in Seattle until dinner. 

We had dinner at an adorable place called Poppy.  Aaron researched the location we were staying and the restaurants in the area so we were able to walk to the restaurant from our hotel and not have to worry about the Washington drivers :-)  I can't even describe what Poppy was like - the menu creations were... interesting... BUT DELICIOUS!  I was so impressed with Aarons initiative to make this day a wonderful day for my visit - it was short but definitely sweet.

Dinner!

 

Dessert Menu?

We stayed in our wonderful room then booked it out of Seattle the next day.  Short and sweet :-)

On our way back to Portland, we took a mini-detour and went to the TILLAMOOK CHEESE FACTORY!!  I lovelovelove cheese so I was so excited!!  Apparently - at the Tillamook cheese factory there is epic ice cream so we started off our cheese tour with some yummy ice cream:

Then ended the cheese tour with FREE CHEESE SAMPLES!

Leaving the cheese factory I was a little ready to get back to Portland, but Aaron suggested visiting the coast since the cheese factory is a good 5 minute drive to the coast.  We decided to go to Cannon Beach (boyfriend saw a post card in the cheese factory for this beach and decided this is where we were going to go).

The beach was AMAZING!  I have never seen boyfriend so happy where there weren't any mountains!  There were, of course, two rock-type-of-formations that he was ENTHRALLED by.  Naturally, we had to visit the rock formations.

<3

A REAL LIVE STARFISH!

The view while eating dinner

My Oregon Trip: Number THREE (day 1)

I'm slowly learning to like Oregon.  My very first trip to Oregon I spent one day a few hours in the city, then got so scared that I hid in the hotel room for the rest of the weekend (keep in mind that I was alone).  In the few short hours I spent in the city I had:

• Witnessed a drug deal
• Been followed by a mentally unstable man who pointed at me and said, "I want THAT one."
• A bum follow me to my car

I hated it.

So my next trip to Oregon was to move my boyfriend to his new home.  Again - I hated it.  His apartment hallways smelled like incense (sp??), the actual apartment smelled like fish, and the weather was muggy.  Fail.

So this was my most recent trip - we had a BLAST!  I loved it!  My boyfriend pulled out all of the stops and made sure I had a wonderful time.  We started with a little hike to the top of Multnomah Falls.  It was beautiful!!

 

After the falls we went to the FISH HATCHERY!  I love love love fish!  

 

And on our way back we stopped on the side of the road to view the beautiful Oregon sunsets.

 

We decided to go on a movie-date because that is something we both definitely took for granted.  I love love movie dates - I'd rather watch a movie at night than party at a club any day.  So we went to dinner (see my Yelp Review of Broadway Grill and Brewery) then caught a movie down the street.  I was in HOG HEAVEN spending so much time with my honey :-)

Jelly Booger

Cannon Beach, Oregon

August 2011

<3

Bye Bye Boyfriend

As all of my friends and family know, my life has been crazy-whacko-nutso.

Not only am I STILL homeless (and by homeless, I mean I'm paying a mortgage on a home I purchased but can't live in), but my boyfriend took a job up in OREGON.

And I swear - if I hear "When does he come back?" one more time I'm going ape shit.

He's NOT coming back.  He. Took. A. Job. In. Oregon.  What part of that screams "I'M COMING BACK!"  ????

So with that being said, at the beginning of July we got to move all of his stuff up to Oregon.  We packed up a UHaul, sent his dog to his moms, and began our epic 1-way road trip to Portland!  Thank goodness I wasn't moving up there - otherwise we may have needed 3 UHauls for all the CRAP I have apparently accumulated throughout my life.

His mom and Dommy Salami (aka:  One of the brothers) came up the night before to say their goodbyes.  I was the photographer.

 

Unfortunately, Aaron is unable to have his beloved mess-of-an-animal dog in Portland until next spring-ish, so he had to pack up his puppy and send him off with his mom.

 

We then started our road trip the next morning!  We stopped at Crater Lake one day.  Crater Lake is just as beautiful as all of the pictures.  It's a beautiful location - but a ZOO on the 4th of July weekend.  I was also extremely surprised to see that there was SNOW in JULY!  What a crazy year it has been.

 

Then the next day we stopped at Smith Rock.  And rock climbed.  Because it wouldn't be a trip with my boyfriend without rock climbing.

It was a great little trip!  I miss my boyfriend dearly and don't get to talk to him that often, but I am used to him being gone on climbing trips so it's a little easier than I thought it would be.

Favorite Commercial

I love this video!  I watched it for the first time in a class and ever since I just can't get enough of it!

Secret Obsession

I have a secret obsession with looking at RGJ.com (our local newspaper) Engagement and Wedding pictures.

Not because I'm secretly planning my wedding portfolio.

I just secretly love looking at the pictures!  Occasionally I will see people I went to high school with - it excites me!

The secret is out - it's my mini-obsession.

RIP My poor little Noki love

I loved him so so so much

Eastern Sierra Hot Springs?

One thing I have always always always wanted to do is visit one of the MANY hot springs in the Eastern Sierra.  I always hear about them, I always read about them in books, I JUST WANT TO GO!

So one day Aaron and I decided to seek out some of these hot springs.  We visited 1 just to find out we were lost and had no idea where to find it.

1 down.

We visited a second one just to find out it is only filled in the morning so by the evening time the water is cold.

2 down.

We visited the third one just to find out it was PERFECTLY WARM and big enough for several people.  This is great because I love making friends!

Except...

All of these "friends" were naked.  

I didn't make any friends needless to say.  Or take any pictures (is that appropriate to take pictures of yourself with naked people in the background?).  I guess I'm a little modest - but it was awkward looking up and HELLO FULL MOON!!  PUT THAT THING AWAY!!

My boyfriend loves mountains...

Vacation?

I want to go here

Image Source

Porter Potties

So many of you may know that my best little friend is a Bolivian bombshell (ok - I think she's a bombshell). 

Anyhow - because she's from Bolivia, occasionally she mixes up words or doesn't always get words right.  So the other day my little Lou (only I can call her Lou) posts on her facebook:

Emphasis on "Porter Potties."  Now when I see Lina make these little errors I laugh and tell her the correct way to spell or pronounce the word.  In this case, I told her via Facebook Chat why some people were making comments about the "Porter Potties" and here is her response:

 

Ok - so she actually looked it up online!  Well then shame on Google for not telling her.

Except when I googled "porter potties" something completely different popped up.  

Oh Lou

Enough said

Public Pool in Yerington, NV - Don't waste your time

I have never been so frustrated with a business establishment.  

Background:  Every year for A Night in the Country my friends and I go to the Public Swimming Pool on Saturday to escape the heat.  We discovered last year that it would be a good idea to also utilize the pool's facilities to shower, do our hair, and put on makeup in the women's locker room.  There were TONS of people doing the same thing last year (hence the brilliant idea).  We are a bunch of girls who basically put our feet in the water.  The pool is always packed with tons of people from A Night in the Country - this consists of rowdy hungover groups who could make the pool an unpleasant place for children and families.  Understandable.

This year - my friends and I arrive at the pool and are told that there is lap swimming until 1pm, only people swimming laps are allowed in the facilities.  So we wait at the park just to see two women wading in the pool with dry hair and no intentions of swimming laps.  When I asked the two women at the front desk, they explained "Well they're regulars."

Note to self #1:  rules only apply to non-regulars

When the doors finally opened to non-lap-swimmers, we found that they are charging an additional $5 if you plan on using the showers.  There was a sign on the outside of the door saying "Electricity not working."  CRAP CRAP CRAP for my hair dryer!  So when I considered paying the $5 I asked, "Well is the electricity still out, or is it working?"  The extremely-rude-girl at the front desk looks at me stupidly and says, "Yeah... the electricity is working."  So I pay the $5 for a shower under the assumption that I would be able to do my hair.

Note to self #2:  Test the electricity first - because extremely-rude-front-desk-girl is a liar.

We use the pool then decide it's time to start getting ready.  Are you ready for this - THERE'S NO HOT WATER.  There's no warm water.  There's only ice-cold-freezing-not-worth-$5 water!!

Note to self #3:  Never pay $5 ever again for a cold shower.  Not worth it.

So at this point we are dripping wet and freezing cold.  Oh well - just needed to get my hair done at this point.  I plug in my hair dryer to find that THERE'S NO ELECTRICITY.  Here's where this blog post gets fun.

I walked out and spoke with the lady at the counter.  I told her:

Me:  "There's no electricity in there - when I came in the other girl (see: extremely-rude-front-desk-girl) told me there was."  I described the girl and here was her response:
Girl #2:  "I know for a fact that isn't true, because she is my team lead and she knows that there's no electricity in the locker rooms."
Me:  I tell her that I have 3 friends who all heard the same thing.  She responds with:
Girl #2:  "Well there are a lot of girls who don't like her (see:  extremely-rude-front-desk-girl) so I can't take the chances that your friends have a vendetta against her"
Me:  "Well can you at least ask her - I'm sure she remembered telling me this."
Girl #2 gets Girl #1 (aka extremely-rude-front-desk-girl)
Me:  "You told me that there was electricity in the bathrooms when I asked you."
Girl #1:  "Well I thought there was."
Me:  "Well I was just told that you were well aware there was no electricity in the bathrooms."
Girl #1:  "Well you should have noticed there was no electricity when you walked in there - wasn't it obvious???"
NO IT WASN'T OBVIOUS!!  I don't walk into a bathroom and test out the outlets - dumbass.
Girl #2:  "I don't understand what you want."
I want a flipping apology.
Me:  "I bought the shower because I was told there was electricity - I wouldn't have showered if I knew there wasn't electricity."
Girl #1:  "You already took your shower - we can't take that water off your body and put it back.  You bought the shower, not the electricity."

I have no idea how an establishment can get away treating paying customers this way.  Absolutely no idea.

It was obvious that the pool turned off the power to the locker rooms to prevent people from using the pool to get ready (since last year was a zoo).  What a coincidence that the power worked EVERYWHERE ELSE except the women's locker room.  I have never been treated so poorly - ever.  These two women had no intentions of trying to apologize that they blatantly lied.

Happy Birthday Baby!!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday boyfriend!!  

I miss you very very much and can't wait until we can see each other next!!