Tobby

January 24, 2001 (my 16th birthday)

Our family brought Tobby home in February of 1997. The family we got her from couldn't keep her and we agreed to take her for a weekend to see if our family liked her. Being only a few months old at the time, she was very rambunctious and like all puppies, enjoyed to put things in her mouth. Fingers, hands, toes and other associated body parts were no exception. Needless to say, I was afraid of her. My mom tried repeatedly to contact the family to say we just couldn't keep her, but they never answered our phone calls, or returned our messages. We were stuck with her.

Being the hyperactive puppy that she was, Tobby was always eager to play or go for a run. Since my brother, Jason, was significantly more active than I was, he and Tobby bonded early. The two would wrestle in the house and go for sprints up and down the block. They quickly became best friends.

In the summer of 1997 Jason graduated high school and began to work full time. By the fall of that same year, he had begun attending Tacoma Community College. Between work and school, he was now spending most of his days away from home.


As Tobby started to grow out of her "puppy phase" she began to calm down. In 2002 Jason decided to attend Central Washington University in Ellensburg, leaving Tobby with just my parents and me. Because school was out of the summer and Jason spent most of his time in Ellensburg, Tobby and I would spend all day together. As Jason came home from school less and less and Tobby and I spent more and more time together, our bond grew stronger.


Since then, Tobby and I have been almost inseparable. Tobby and I have shared lots of experiences. She's always been there for me when I cried over boys, money, school, friends or almost anything else you can think of. She is my favorite person (yes, person) to talk to because she always listens, never gets mad at anything I say, always keeps my secrets and is there at anytime of the day (or night) that I need her.

About two years ago, I underwent 3 separate foot surgeries, each of which kept me in bed for weeks at a time. During the times I was practically bed ridden, Tobby would lay with me for hours. Mom would need to force her to get up out of my bed just so she would go to the bathroom. Once finished with her business, she would quickly trot back inside to my room and cry to get back on the bed.


When I began working at Lighthouse Diving Center, my new boss, Randy (a dog lover himself) told me it would be alright for me to bring Tobby to work. After a few weeks, going to work became Tobby's favorite part of the day. She learned what "go to work?" meant and would pace excitedly and cry at the door if I wasn't coming fast enough. She hated being left behind. If, for some reason, I needed to leave her home, you could count on finding the contents of the waste paper basket spread throughout the house.



...to be continued...

What I Do @ 2 am PDT?

Most of the time I'm:
In bed watching tv

Sometimes I'm:
Surfing the internet ie blogs, myspace, facebook and assorted other websites (not porn)
and/or
Thinking too hard about the day's (or life's) events or the future (while in bed)

Rarely I:
Sleep

Tonight I:
Drank a Mike's Hard Lime
Applied for a job at REI
Continued writing my story for an upcoming blog series.

100 Day!

Remember 100 Day in elementary school? Where on the 100th day of school everybody brought in 100 of something like barbies, candies, pencils, pennies (my favorite cop-out), etc. Well I'm not going to show you my collection of 100 random items, but this is my 100th blog post! You could make the argument that my blog posts are 100 random things and I will accept that. So happy 100 to me! I think there should be cake.

Warning: Sad Beagle!

Latin Porn Star?

No, it was just Mariner's center fielder Franklin Gutierrez.

Jeremy told me at the beginning of this baseball season that Franklin Gutierrez was his new favorite Mariner. So for our 3rd anniversary I got tickets to go meet him and get his autograph. Julio Cruz (left) was also there signing autographs so of course we got his too. Julio Cruz was one of the original Seattle Mariners (1978-1983).

Anniversary side note: on the actual day, Jeremy took me to the Adriatic Grill in Tacoma for an amazing dinner and drinks (we ate in the bar so we could watch Ryan Rowland-Smith pitch). We split every course, but only left 2 bites of dessert after all was said and done. We started off with Mozzarella Marinara (fried mozzarella balls with marinara sauce), then ate the Five Cheese Pizza (mozzarella, provolone, white cheddar, smoked Gouda and Parmigiano-Reggiano) and for dessert an amazing molten chocolate cake with caramel and amaretto ice cream. I don't know the name of the dessert since it isn't listed on their website, but it was fantastic! You haven't lived until you have eaten all three of those foods.

We clean up well if I do say so myself.

Camping Trip

The weekend after Labor Day is my family's ("from another mother" included) annual camping trip. This year we returned to the North Fork campground (outside of Randle or Rangle if you must) but stayed in the Beaver campsite vs Bear last year. Here are a few of the fond memories:

Just read my shirt

My attempt to get a picture of Jeremy, Tobby and I while on our mini hike.

We spotted a spawning salmon in the river and almost our entire camp ended up standing on the log (or next to it) to watch it. Pictured from left to right: Talan, Jeremy, Jack (my dad) and Debbie.

While on a hike, Dick found an animal skull. What trip is complete without a picture next to dead animal bones?

I Didn't Get His Name, But I Saw His Dingle

That's right. I saw his dingle and it was dangling.

Jeremy and I went to the Rainiers game Monday and due to weather, the game was delayed an hour. In the hour prior to the game, some guy decided the smartest thing he could do would be to pull his pants down, run around the infield, stop by the pitcher's mound, jump up and down, pull his pants back up and try to run away. So I saw his dingle.
Yes, security did get him and I'm sure the cops won't look to favorably on somebody who has frontal nudity in front of a crowd mixed with small children, can we say sex offender? And who else should "streak" later in the game? Rhubarb, the wacky mascot reindeer. After the man streaker, I told Jeremy that they probably wouldn't have Rhubarb do that, but they did. Another side funny note, Windex was doing a promotional thing at the game and later in the game was "Windex's Streak Free Recap." It indeed contained no streaking of any sort.

On a super awesome note, the Rainiers won the game 11-2 which earned them the title of "Pacific Coast League, Pacific North Division Champions." And it didn't turn into a blowout until the 8th inning.

Jeremy and I ended up at Applebee's for our usual late night dinner. I take the road through Celebration Park to get home. It was 11:40 when we were turning to cut through the park and we saw some sort of animal get up. At first we thought it might be a fox, but it was too big. I said wolf. We stopped and stared at it for a while. Jeremy told me they just caught a cougar in a park in Seattle, I asked what an old lady was doing in a park. I told mom about the "wolf" and she said "coyote." I said "ok fine, a dingo." It was a dingo.

Last Week in Food

Everybody is a little bit different when they have a house to themselves for a week. What do I do? I cook. Here is what I made:

1. Chicken Piccata from the CPK Family Cookbook
2. A checkerboard birthday cake for Wally using the Wilton Checkerboard Pan and the recipe on the box (frosting was Betty Crocker)
3. My Aunt Judy's semi-secret chocolate chip cookies.
4. Peanutty Somen Noodles with Shrimp courtesy of Robin Miller on the Foodnetwork.
5. Overnight Cinnamon Rolls courtesty of Alton Brown on the Foodnetwork.
6. Tacos.
7. My semi-famous sketti.

Honorable mention: Pizza Hut, pot roast from QFC, chinese take out from Peking Wok and a Freschetta frozen pizza.

Didn't cook, but was on list: Thai Chicken Pizza (CPK cookbook) and biscuits & sausage gravy.

Reviews:
1. I worked too hard to make the chicken thin enough and made a big mess while frying. The sauce with the noodles was phenomenal! I grated some asiago over the top and it intensified my taste bud satisfaction.
2. The cake didn't taste as delicious as the first one I made a week ago, but it was still yummy. See my last post for a picture.
3. It's only a semi-secret recipe because you can ask her and I'm sure she would tell you. I didn't think they tasted as delicious as my Aunt Judy's did. Will definitely try again.
4. I substituted chicken for the shrimp because I had chicken. I also tossed edamame in at the end and left out the bell pepper. It was a good recipe overall. Better to eat fresh than reheated.
5. I followed the directions to a T, I even measured by weight (I hope you're happy Alton). I personally didn't like the cinnamon rolls. Jeremy and his coworkers thought they were amazing. To each their own.
6. My tacos are very generic. McCormick taco seasoning & beef, a can of refried beans, Old el Paso Mexican Rice, cheddar cheese, sour cream and tortillas. Just add Mike's Hard Lime and you have a mini fiesta!
7. Ah, my semi-famous sketti (spaghetti if you missed out on my family tradition). It is only semi-famous because those who have eaten it, love it and crave it. It may not be the best recipe out there for spaghetti, but it is family loved!

Wally's Birthday Party

Last night was Wally's 1st birthday party. The night started out with a car ride to Petsmart to pick out some presents (toys), back to my house to play with Tobby and the presents, a walk around my block (new route for him) and back home to Jeremy's to sleep off all of the excitement. Jeremy and I ate people cake.

This was the best picture we could get of all who attended.

Wally gave Tobby one of his bones.

This is the delicious cake I built.

Wally got some good presents for his first birthday. He got a Loofa Dog Toy and Missing Link from grandma (my mom). He got a 4-pack of bones, a Kong Wubba and Mr. Bill. The best part about Mr. Bill is that he says "oh nooooooo" when you squeeze him. Wally squeezed him and tossed him down the stairs, it was HILARIOUS!

Happy Birthday Wally!