Puppies are expensive February 2, 2010

We adopted a puppy this afternoon, which was very exciting. We’ve been married for 2.5 years and just recently closed on our house and got a fence built, so it was high time to add a furry companion to the family. Upon bringing him home, he promptly peed on the carpet in one of our guest bedrooms, but that would be the fault of C, who immediately after we said, “Let’s not let him in rooms with carpet for right now,” allowed him to sniff all over the house and didn’t watch him closely enough. Lesson learned: those doors are closed now, and the puppy just has access to rooms with laminate or tiled floors for easy cleanup.

But, let’s talk about the expenses involved in one day for bringing this new cute member of our family home.

Adoption fee: $95. This included the city shelter’s fees, microchipping, prepaying for neutering at a local vet, and the city licensing fee. Which, side note, why must I pay the city $5 per year to license my pet? It’s not like the puppy has rights or voting privileges or pays taxes or anything. Sigh. I know it’s just $5 but it seems like another way to get money out of me, a little bit at a time.

Crate: $55. We plan to crate train the dog because we both work and can’t be home all day, and I’m definitely not letting the dog roam in the house freely for quite a while. Sorry, pup.

Assorted toys/supplies/food: $80 or so. Yeah. This included a decent sized bag of dog food, a plastic tub and scoop, dog bowls, a few toys, dog treats, a towel for the crate, a dog brush, and a new leash. It also included the only dog shampoo I was able to find that did not smell like flowers. I just want my dog to smell clean, not so much like pansies or roses, thank you very much. ‘Tis a dog, dude.

Most of these expenses won’t be recurring – we’ll have to replace the toys eventually, and obviously will buy dog food regularly, and it’s totally worth it, but the $200+ spent today on the pup was kind of surprising.  But then I watch him scamper around the living room and tuck himself between C’s feet every time C stands still, and I think that it was totally worth it to rescue this cute thing from a bad fate at the animal shelter.

The Tipping Point February 1, 2010

5. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (re-read)

I’ve read all three of Gladwell’s books (Outliers, The Tipping Point, and Blink) because they were loaned to me by my boss right after a big move, so I had no books unpacked and was desperate for some reading material. Actually, “loaned” is too nice a word. My boss found out I hadn’t read them and pretty much threw them at me with “I cannot BELIEVE you haven’t read any Gladwell. Please don’t talk to me again until you’re done.” I do love the nerdy nature of my job and coworkers.

I went out of town for work Friday and had a 3.5 hour drive, so the audiobook of The Tipping Point was a perfect companion. If you haven’t read any of Gladwell’s books, I’d recommend Outliers as my favorite, but The Tipping Point is pretty solid stuff about the point in time that certain trends exploded, why that phenomenon happens and the perfect combination of luck and skill it takes to push certain things over that edge. The section about the rise of Airwalk is probably the most intriguing to me.

Still working on a few others so I will have some more to report soon. I am beginning to hit my average of two books per week needed to reach my goal of 100!

Denial? January 25, 2010

We’re currently looking for a dog. I choose to believe that when pets in our area disappear off petfinder.com, it is because they found loving homes with acreage where they can roam and chase rabbits, and a house full of kids who just love to play with them. I firmly choose to believe this because the alternative makes me far too sad, and I would beg C to let us adopt ALL the animals so such a fate wouldn’t befall all these cute puppies.

Denial, perhaps, but it’s all that keeps me from crying when I get to thinking about it.

Stay classy, Whole Foods January 25, 2010

Whole Foods is now offering steeper employee discounts to its workers based on their BMIs and general overall health.

I will say this: It’s no one’s business but mine and my doctor’s what the state of my health is, and I would be screaming “This is none of your fucking business” at the top of my lungs if I worked there. Unbelieveable. There are so many factors that go into your BMI and health that this is an impossible way to judge your employees. What if someone had anorexia or bulimia? What if an employee just returned from having a baby and kept the weight on for a while, as most women say it can take nine months or longer to return to pre-pregnancy weight? What if you just don’t care about having a BMI below a certain number, as many people denounce that as a bullshit standard for judging the state of someone’s health to begin with?

I wouldn’t want to tell my boss how much I weigh or what my BMI was. I certainly wouldn’t want my coworkers to know it every time I came through the checkout line and they saw exactly how much of a discount I got. I don’t need a steeper discount on my organic Cheese Puffs that badly, thank you very much.

Breaking Dawn January 25, 2010

4. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

$1.60 in library fines later, I had some new books on Thursday afternoon. By Sunday morning, I had finished the 800-something-page tome that is Breaking Dawn. Yep. I’m an unashamed Twilight fan, and I’d been waiting forever to read this book. I own the first in the series, but the rest I had to borrow from friends or the library, so it’s taken some time to read all four. I had read a little about the fourth book online, but not enough to really spoil too much. The reviews were pretty poor, so I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. The book really delivered – it was great.

One criticism I read a lot about Meyer’s series is that Bella really has little personality – she allows the personality of whichever guy she’s currently infatuated with (either Edward or Jacob) to really overwhelm her. However, in Breaking Dawn, she really comes into her own. When she becomes a vampire, she finally feels comfortable in her own skin and embraces the woman she’s become. Granted, she had to make a major life change in order to do so, and there’s commentary to be made either way on what she had to give up to be with Edward forever, but the end result for me was that she was much less whiny in Breaking Dawn, for which I was very grateful. The relationship that forms with Edward once they are married and she goes over to the cold side (heh) is much healthier as well – she finally views herself as an equal in the relationship and embraces him fully, as well as finally believing that she is worth Edward’s love and devotion. But, mostly, again, there’s just a lot less angst and “Why does he even love me at all?” and a lot more normalcy. Hard to believe that becoming a vampire could actually make Bella more likeable but that’s the case.

Not to mention that honestly, the chemistry between Bella and Edward really adds something to the book. Meyer is a devout Mormon and her values are definitely at play in her books. Bella and Edward don’t have sex until after they are married, and even then, Bella gets pregnant like, immediately. It’s after she makes the change to immortality that their intimacy really goes to another level. The new element of their relationship was really interesting and I’m pretty sure all the fans of Meyer’s series said it with me – “FINALLY, DUDE, I’ve read like 2,000 pages waiting for this.”

The one complaint I had was that Meyer really left the book open for a future series. I know it’s made her gobs of money and all, but if you say it will be four books, make it four books. Don’t leave all kinds of openings for a series about Bella and Edward’s kid or whatever. Just end it. Move on and write something else. You know folks will buy it. Don’t cop out on us that way. Just fade to black and end it.

Also, the name “Renesmee” is the dumbest name I’ve ever heard. It’s stupid. “Nessie” is not much better. Thumbs down on the name. But, thumbs up for what will hopefully remain the final book in the Twilight series. I know Meyer is writing the book that’s a revisit of Twilight from Edward’s perspective, but that’s different than continuing the story beyond the ending pages of Breaking Dawn.

Up next in the 2010 challenge: Can a book about the Puritans who came over after the inaugural Mayflower be both fascinating and hilarious? Yep, but only when the amazing and unparalleled Sarah Vowell is involved.

Shameful secret January 21, 2010

I’m only on book 3 in my 2010 challenge – sadly not on schedule for completion already! My biggest hurdle? I have library fines. Sad but true. I think I’ll suck it up and head over there after work today to see what the damage is. I just hate handing the money over because I feel stupid for having accrued the fines in the first place, even if it’s only a couple of dollars and I know the cash is going to help the overhead at the library. It’s just such an avoidable thing.

After picking up Anne Frank again, I’m thinking about revisiting some other books I read in high school to see how my perspective on them has changed. I’m thinking about starting with Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles – I was the only one in my sophomore English class who liked this book! This method is free, as I still own most of the books we had to read.

Gavage January 21, 2010

This series of clips (via Jezebel) from National Geographic’s show Taboo explore the practice of “gavage” in Mauritania, where women are valued based on their size (bigger is better) so many women gorge themselves and force-feed their daughters. This force-feeding is called gavage – the mothers use sticks to hurt the child’s feet, distracting them from the focus on swallowing and allowing them to eat more without realizing it. The clip says estimates are that 1 in 5 women in Mauritania have undergone gavage.

We have such a focus here in America on thinness that it’s easy to forget how other cultures can take the exact opposite view, and it is just as sad as the “thin=beauty” idea that prevails here.

Your lips are moving, but I just see the mustache January 20, 2010

A particularly funny post from Danny at Dad Gone Mad. He only says what many of us have thought upon encountering truly awful human beings.

Anne Frank January 20, 2010

3. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Miep Gies died recently. Her name probably won’t mean anything to you unless you’ve ever read what’s commonly called The Diary of Anne Frank. Gies was one of the people who protected Anne Frank and her family during their 25-month stint in hiding from the Nazis during World War II. She was the last surviving person from the group of protectors. I was reading commentary on her passing and came across a familiar theme – that people who read the book in middle or high school and then reread it as adults viewed it very differently. When you’re young (especially if you’re a girl) you tend to highly focus on and sympathize with Anne for obvious reasons. However, these commenters said that as they got older, they tended to focus on/feel for the parents and people who helped hide the family, often wondering about what they would have done in a similar situation and how they would have gotten their family through such a traumatic and trying ordeal.

So, I picked it up off my bookshelf and read the book again for the first time in a decade, and it did not disappoint. It’s fascinating to read about what they went through, and you find yourself wishing desperately that the story had a different end. You know that none of Anne’s dreams will be realized, so it makes the story heartbreaking, but there is also a rush of hope, because she never lost hope during her ordeal, and continued to make plans and dream about what certainly would have been a bright future. The Nazis may have succeeded in finding someone willing to give the Franks up, and Anne ultimately dies in a concentration camp, but it’s doubtful that even at the worst of it, she ever lost her will to live, the spirit that made her such a special girl.

But, upon rereading it, I found myself wondering about what Anne’s parents were truly like, as we are limited in our view of them because we see them through the lens of a young girl, who was 13 upon entering the “Secret Annexe” and 15 when she was taken away by Nazis. She’s not hugely disparaging, but she struggles with her relationship with her mother and is not particularly kind in her descriptions of her. Had someone pulled my diary pages from when I was Anne’s age, they would not have read much differently. But, it’s not an accurate reflection of who my mother is – just my personal take on her at the time. Were I to detail her in a journal or diary now, the picture would be much more flattering and honest. She’s not perfect, but time allows me perspective. Reading this book again has made me want to read the book Miep Gies helped write in her later years, Anne Frank Remembered. Gies was an employee in the office building where Anne Frank’s father was a partner – the site of their “Secret Annexe” hideout. She was in her early 20s when they hid there, and it’s likely her perspective on the Frank parents will provide me with a better picture. It would also be really interesting to know more about the people who risked so much to do the right thing for a family singled out by their religion and heritage.

Grateful January 9, 2010

There are times I am very glad to be off the dating market. Reading things like this makes me eternally grateful for my partner in life.

I think I’m a pretty smart person – I have a bachelor’s and master’s, both with above a 3.8 GPA. I read books and blogs on a series of divergent subjects all the time. I maintain an open mind to new ideas, experiences and people.

Unfortunately, if you can’t meet a man who is appreciative of an intelligent partner, it can be really tough to find someone to date when you’re a smart woman. There are a lot of men out there who want to be the smartest in the relationship and don’t like it when women exhibit intelligence. I’ve even come across this in my family and to an extent in some workplaces. For some reason women are seen by some to be the less intelligent sex, and by God, if you’re smart, you’d better not flaunt it if you want to catch a man!

I’m very grateful for my partner, who is extremely intelligent, but appreciates and encourages my brain power as well. He’s not intimidated by me – he likes to listen to what I have to say. It’s a rare find and you’d better believe that I consider myself lucky.