Oh Wally!

Imagine a 6 month old beagle puppy named Wally. Now visualize him in a puppy training class held at Petsmart. The instructor has Wally in front of the class demonstrating the “sit” command. In order to best teach Wally, the instructor is on his knees with the bag of treats attached to his belt. After showing how to teach the command, he proceeds to talk to the class, redirecting his attention to the people and not the dog next to him. A few seconds later he realizes Wally’s face is inside the treat bag, feverishly eating all of the treats he can.

Picture this incident happening not once, but twice, within 2 minutes!

Product Endorsement

Cuisinart Griddler

$129.00

The Christmas before last I received the Griddler from my mom. It wasn't until a few days ago that I actually took it out of the package to use it, though I had thought about using it many times before.

The Cuisinart Griddler is a "table top" grilling system. It can be used as an open grill, open griddle, closed grill (good for panini making) or a closed griddle. The cooking plates are remove able and dishwasher safe. The front dials can be set for using the grill plate or the griddle plate and temperatures for each. It has a floating hinge which allows for even cooking when the lid is down. There is a hinge release button which allows the griddler to lay flat, doubling the cooking surface.

Pros: Multifunction gadget, cooks from top and bottom at same time (if you want it to), dishwasher safe plates, has a place for grease to run-off (not in your food), opens flat, heats up fairly quickly and has a floating hinge which is perfect for grilling a sandwich or burgers.

Cons: Stainless steel (collects finger prints), fairly large if you are space limited, both sides of the grill/griddle heat up whether or not you use both sides and takes a while to cool down.

Like any gadget, how expensive it is depends on how much you are going to use it. If you only plan to use it a few times a year, a less expensive item would make more sense. If you use it multiple times a week, for multiple applications, it will quickly pay for itself.

I highly recommend this item.

Food That Makes Me Happy

In no particular order:

1. A good steak
2. Pizza
3. Homemade spaghetti
4. Alfredo sauce on some sort of pasta
5. Bread from It's Greek To Me
6. Macaroni and Cheese (made with 1/3 less noodles so it is very cheesy)
7. Gonzo
8. Lisa's Cheesy Bread
9. "Church Potatoes"
10. Homemade drumsticks
11. Yakisoba noodles
12. Teriyaki
13. Ice cream
14. Cake
15. Cereal
16. Eggs Benedict
16a. Toasted English muffin dipped in hollandaise sauce
17. Lobster
18. Fresh shrimp (shirmp if in Mexico)
19. BLT without lettuce
20. Quesadillas-generic and/or mom's Italian style
21. Shake and Bake
22. Chicken fried steak and gravy-from the Pinecone!!!
23. Some fruits
24. Assorted pies
25. Country Griddle Cakes

...More to come later...

*Certain foods may be cooked in different styles or delicious from different eating establishments

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression...

I've cycled through them multiple times, I have not yet felt acceptance for the situation.

We've Filled The Position...

Its been 5 years since I graduated high school and I have a 2 year degree, I work part time in a dive shop and I had 3 foot surgeries in a 6 month period. I've been looking for a real (full-time) job since August of 2007. I've sent out at least 10 resumes/cover letters or applications a week. I've had 6 interviews and only 1 place offered me a job, but the location wouldn't have worked for me.
Almost all employment ads say they want "3+ years of experience" or some form of that. I don't have experience in that setting, but I'm proficient on 90% of the qualifications (computer programs). I learn new systems fast, crap, I'm in charge of teaching other employees the point of sale system! I learned about the point of sale system by reading the manual. None of this matters to potential employers though. It doesn't matter how smart I am, how quickly I learn, I don't know their system and they are too lazy to teach me. I'm a firm believer that experience is overrated. By the way, how the hell am I supposed to get experience if I can't get hired? I'm trying to find a clerical/data entry type job because I can't stand on my feet for more than 20 minutes and I can't lift much weight, oh, and I actually enjoy sitting at a desk all day typing.
In a nutshell, I have a 2 year degree (which doesn't mean crap anymore), I have a part-time job that doesn't even pay my bills (I live at home, so I have no rent either!) and I can't get hired because I don't have the experience, but I have knowledge (including common sense) and the desire to work hard, but that doesn't matter to potential employers.

Oso Nervous

So I'm still a little riled up from yesterday's incident and I have a job interview today. This will be my first job interview since...oh boy, um...May I think. Honestly, I can't even remember the last place I interviewed. I did a delightful search using The Google for interview questions and suggested answers. About an hour after I read them, I forgot most of it. I'm OSO nervous!

I also found out last night that It's Greek To Me in Federal Way is closed. There is some sort of pizza place there now. That added more sadness to my day. Oh and while cleaning out the glass in my car I cut my finger. It was a little pin prick, but it bled like no other! I'm glad Kristin knows CPR otherwise I might have died from the gangrene. (It was a joke)

Angry Doesn't Begin to Explain...

I was going to write my mildly lighthearted post for OTR today, but something happened and I have nothing but pure anger running through my veins. Sometime last night between 2 am and whenever my dad woke up this morning (before 9 am), delinquents vandalized my car. A large rock was thrown at the back window of my car shattering the window into itty bitty pieces and denting part of the frame around the window. My dad was talking to another guy and his car was hit by a rock too. They threw a rock at his car and it bounced off the door and took off his side view mirror. Dad reported the incident to the police, but I'm sure the vandals will never be caught, or at least won't be connected to this incident.
Not a great way to wake up. So much for washing my car inside and out, changing the oil and bringing Jeremy a milkshake. I just hope that someone will take a rock, the same size that was thrown at my car, and smash their face(s) in with it and see how they like their body vandalized.
Oh and USA network kept losing signal while I was trying to recover the day by watching the all day NCIS marathon. Maybe next month I'll do my post about the gym that I wanted to do in January.

I love him to pieces, but...

Valentines Day made me realize how badly Jeremy and/or I need to move out (and Jeremy needs a working car).* I woke up at 8am to get ready for work. Yes, I had to work even though I requested the day off. About 5 people came into work and I had 3 phone calls. I spent the majority of the day looking at pictures and watching videos on failblog.org, which is an AWESOME website. Jeremy was unable to come to my work due to his dad doing other things which meant that I had a diet shake for lunch. I was anticipating him bringing me lunch, but brought the diet shake in case of emergency.
I got done with work and dropped Tobby off at home and Jeremy told me to come over because he was making dinner for me. When I got to his house I got many kisses from Wally and when he was done, Jeremy too. We exchanged cards and he felt a little bad because Fred Meyer didn't have a good selection of cards (this has been confirmed by 2 other people). He got me the Madagascar 2 movie, but he wasn't able to find the one with the Penguin 2 movie. I felt terrible because I wasn't as excited as I should have been (we went to Target Sunday night and he bought me the correct movie). Back to dinner. He made me fettuccine alfredo and garlic bread. The fettuccine was a garlic flavored, delicious, and the garlic bread was phenomenal, Fred Meyer uses a delicious spread. The sauce however, well, I love Jeremy. He wanted to make it from scratch and didn't notice the comments on the recipe that said use fresh grated cheese so he used the prepackaged cheese. The cheese never melted down which didn't assist in the thickening of the sauce. The flavor was good though, we'll make it again, but with good cheese. We ate our dinner on tv trays in the living room while we watched tv with his parents. This is when I realized we needed to move out and Jeremy needs a vehicle.
Oh, I told Jeremy that his gift was tickets to Mariners opening day, but the tickets aren't on sale yet. He said while at the game, he'll pay for my food and buy me an opening day t-shirt.

*That sentence was grammatically difficult for me and I still don't know if I should have used "me" or "I" in that situation.

Oh Wally!

Wally seems like he is finally starting to settle in. He still isn't a fan of eating his food (unless some canned food is mixed in with it) or eating dog treats, though he did eat Beggin Strips the first day. I took him to the vet on Monday so he could get his shots and they also had to take a stool sample from him. They took him out of the room to do it, but I heard him yelp from across the hall. My poor baby. We learned yesterday that he has roundworms AND hookworms. He got one dose of medicine the day before so we just have to bring him back in 2 weeks for another dose and in 3 weeks (which is his appointment for the second set of shots) I have to bring in a sample of poo. They gave me a little specimen cup for the poo, but it is really small (has a fork like thing inside of it for getting some poo) and I'm wondering how I'm going to get the poo into the cup without getting it all over my hand.

We have noticed a behavioral problem that will, hopefully, be corrected in approximately 3 weeks. He wants to hump everything!!! He enjoys humping and or biting anything rather fuzzy such as blankets and fleece. Last night I wanted to buy him a Wall-E throw blanket because he just looked so chilly the other night. I didn't because it was $17 and he would rather hump it than stay warm. Jeremy suggested that I just leave it rolled up to make it easier for him.

Jeremy made an accurate observation "Wally is a really good dog when he isn't biting, barking or humping."

Note: as long as you don't play in his poo, you won't get worms from him. Wally will also be starting obedience school on the 19th.

Welcome Home Wally!

Wally-5 month old beagle (the guy said purebred, but we think he's mixed). We got him Friday evening from a guy who couldn't keep him any longer because he was moving to a place that doesn't allow dogs. Lucky for us he is already house trained. Now I have to work on Jeremy.

Happy Birf-Day Jeremy!!

They say with age comes wisdom.