Happiest (Birthday) Place on Earth

I took advantage of the free birthday admission to Disneyland yesterday. I really hope anyone who can has done this or will if your birth anniversary falls in the latter part of the year. Since we couldn't really swing buying E a ticket when we'll be buying our annual ones for Thanksgiving, I got my friend, Jenn, to agree to brave the heat for a few hours since she has a pass. And since we hadn't hung out in ages and thought it would be a fun way to get together!


Since I go to Disneyland in November every year, I get to experience the wondrous Christmas decor, but had never seen how they do it up for Halloween, which is actually my favorite holiday. It is AMAZING. If you know me at all, you know I love, love, love pumpkins and the color orange. Both were everywhere! I'm going to try to post more photos soon, very soon.


It was lovely spending time with Jenn until she had to go and pick up her kids. She was happy to ride a couple of things that she just can't do with the youngsters. Being a frequent visitor, she also had a lot of insider tips, like a good, shady place with lots of open tables for lunch and what gift shop had G-Force merchandise. I had to splurge on at least one gift for myself! : )

Once Jenn left, I spent several hours there alone, which I thought might be kind of weird. I actually had a great time, riding a couple of rides, such as my favorite Indiana Jones, again and walking around taking photos without making companions wait around for me to get the perfect shot. I stayed for the special Halloween theme pyrotechnics show, which was pretty much the standard high quality Disney fireworks, but with lots more, like projection, actual fire and Zero the ghost dog flying around near the Castle (you may have seen Tinkerbell there!). Amazing!

So, if you do go, make sure you wear your birthday button proudly. All of the cast members say "Happy Birthday" to you (I'm pretty sure it's required of them), as well as lots of strangers, especially others celebrating the day too. There were TONS of October 1st babies in attendance, which makes sense. Count back to New Year's Eve. Uh huh.

May The (G) Force Be With You

So, Disney is promoting the hell out of G-Force, which if you ever open your eyes when you venture outdoors-especially in L.A.-you know.

Gadgets. Gizmos. Guinea Pigs. In 3-D.

A collage of some of the ads I've snapped photos of around L.A.

I just had to ask myself a few questions.

Will it be stupid? Probably.

Will Tracy Morgan annoy the bejeezus out of me: Most likely.

Am I afraid kids will do really stupid, dangerous things with their guinea pigs after seeing it? Unfortunately, yes.

Will I bother seeing it? HELLS YEAH!

They had me at Guinea Pigs. 3-D is a nice, nice bonus.

National Poetry Month: Haiku A Day (Sort Of) #7&8

The season for Peeps®
Love the sugary goodness
And squishy insides



Little Guy smiley
My sweet, sweet baby boy dog
Recovering well

I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run

Last but not least...Rusty. I haven't even blogged about what's been going on with him lately. About three weeks ago, he came in from the back yard not putting any weight on his right hind leg. Same thing as Little Guy, opposite side. I could not believe this could be happening. Again. We went to the vet, who sedated Rusty to check is knee and found what she thought was a torn ligament. (He'd also just been sedated a few days before for a tooth extraction). So, off to the surgeon we went.

Little Guy's surgeon, who was wonderful, was on vacation so we saw someone else at the practice. He felt there was a partial ligament tear* and recommended a far more invasive, i.e. far more expensive, procedure. It's the one they usually do on dogs who weigh over 40 pounds--more than twice Rusty's weight. By the time of the consult, and in fact by the day after the injury, he was bearing full weight on his leg. So I asked about conservative treatment, which basically entails 6-8 weeks of confinement and anti-inflammatory medication. Of course, this was not what the doctor recommended as first course of action. He just wanted to cut.

I tried putting Rusty in his crate. Ha! I knew that wouldn't work as he's always hated the crate and injured a front paw trying to scratch his way out in the past. My next brilliant idea was to put him in with Little Guy. Yeah, right. Rusty kept jumping over the baby gate. We resorted to just leaving him in the hallway with Guy, where he could jump and scratch at the door all he wanted. When home, I'd bring him out and leash him to the dining room table where he'd lie pretty quietly as long as he could see us.

In the past three weeks, Rusty has not shown any signs pain or favored his injured leg at all. I took it into my own hands to decrease the medication dose, which had no ill effect. He's a hard dog to keep down, so I took him to his vet to get her recommendations. Upon examining him, watching him move, and taking into account the full weight bearing he was doing the day after, she thinks that there probably wasn't a tear after all and maybe just a sprain. The only way to truly know would be an MRI and since he is asymptomatic, there's no way I'm paying for that right now.

We put Rusty on the same "gradual return to activity" program Little Guy is on and starting with short walks. I've been taking them together and it's not working. After 3/4 of a block, I have to pick Guy up and carry him the rest of the way and Rusty is wanting to zoom along at a fast pace and for a longer distance. We're also putting him in the hallway with LG when we go out so he's not jumping on and off furniture and running a lot in the back yard.
(The squirrels and birds are happy for the reprieve!)

Things are working out, but there were a few days there where I was freaking out. This surgery that Little Guy had has a tough recovery period. Luckily, he's been pretty mellow and was becoming so inactive before that it's been somewhat easy forcing him to rest. I was just imagining Rusty having the surgery and ruining it within the first week. The surgeon was kind enough to suggest we could give him sedatives. For 8 weeks.

Mostly this has all been inconvenient, more so for the dogs than us. Rusty did miss out on a special event he was supposed to attend and we're now officially on a temporary break from therapy dog work. I also know that he very well may injure himself in the future and need more invasive treatment, but it seems like we've dodged the bullet this time, thankfully. While we're still keeping Rusty reigned in for a couple more weeks, he is going to be in his first movie this weekend. It's a friend's short independent film, but exciting nonetheless. Oh, and it'll be in 3D. How cool is that?

*Little Guy had a fully torn ligament, as well as a damaged meniscus.

Update Of The Furry Kind

(No, not THAT kind of furry!)

Here are the updates on four of the four-legged kids that I didn't quite get to in the last post. It was going to include all five, but there's been a lot of stuff going on with Rusty that I haven't shared, so he will get his own chapter.

Little Guy is now 10 weeks out from his knee surgery and continues to do well. We've moved into a new phase of activity. Over the past two weeks, we've been increasing walks, but maintaining strict confinement. Now we are still working on progressing the walks (he can only make it ~3/4 of a block before getting a lot of spasming in his left rear leg), but he is allowed to have a bit more freedom. Running and jumping are both no-nos for 4 more weeks, so he's not allowed in the back yard, off leash and alone yet and he is confined, in the hallway, at night and when we go out. He hangs out in the house when we are home and that makes him extremely happy. He misses the squirrels though.


Cosette continues to be as feisty as she can be at 16 years old. She's been losing weight steadily over the past several months, in spite of a voracious appetite, so we are adjusting some feeding and keeping an eye on it. Otherwise, she's doing fine so we're forgoing any extensive testing at this point. Recent blood work showed a little elevation in some liver values, but that has been going on with her for many, many years and the results aren't as high have they have been in the past. She's going back on a medication for that. Cosette loves veggies and has been enjoying eating some during the nightly preparation of snacks for the guinea pigs. There are a couple of behavioral frustrations, but we're going with the flow (literally) and are just happy to still have her around, enjoying life. She's aging pretty gracefully.


Pepper and Pickle are doing very well. They seem to be fighting less, especially at 2am, which is a relief to me, on work nights especially. I still have the amazing ability to scare the crap out of them (and boy do they crap a lot!), but the girls are getting more used to being handled and have learned where the food and hay come from. Much like Penny used to do, they started squeaking when they hear E's voice as it's usually followed by a special treat of parsley or Romaine. They provide nightly entertainment during floor time. Pickle is quite amusing as she likes to "popcorn" quite a bit, which is supposedly a sign of happiness in a piggie. Pepper occasionally does it too, but she likes being a little more low key, hanging out in her brown paper lunch bag. Well, when she's not picking on Pickle, that is. The pigs both love lettuce, clementines, blueberries, strawberries, parsley, apples, pears, and dandelion leaves. Pickle seems to like carrots better than Pepper does. Neither of them care for tomatoes or peppers. They are good little feeders and growers.

Coming soon: An epic Rusty update. (He's doing just fine, by the way).

I Can't Even Think Of A Title

The lack of posts around these parts is a testament to how crazy and exhausting life has been for the last week or so. My solution is to leave you with photos of a couple my pets. What? How is that different than usual?

Little Guy sniffing the wind while lying in the dirt. He's a dirty dog.


Pickle Piggie after enjoying clementine slices.

You Don't Have To Be A Man-Ho

A few weeks ago, E was browsing the Largo calendar online and noticed an event called The 1st National International New Zealand Day. Knowing that Flight of the Conchords have played the venue quite a few times (none of which I'd been to, dammit!), including the weekend before when we were in San Diego, he had a feeling they might be part of this Kiwi celebration. I immediately called for tickets.

$20 souvenir mug. Proceeds went to charity. I got the last one too, suckas!

There's something you should know about E and that's the fact that he is usually right. I'm not just saying that-it's a fact. So, yes, the Flight of the Conchords were absolutely part of the Largo show and in fact were the hosts. They were on stage several times and treated us to many new songs that I can already picture as hilarious vignettes in the upcoming season of their HBO show. Let's just say that Jemaine may need to prostitute himself for some creme brulee.

Other acts included Bo Runga, Bic Runga, and Greg Johnson. We've seen Bic perform a few times and her sister, Bo, is just as talented. Greg was great too. One of the best parts of the show was Rhys Darby in his dual role of stand-up comedian (himself) and band manager (Murray). He played Murray off stage and did such things as call the guys in for an "emergency band meeting," complete with roll call. It was hilarious! He also did a small portion of his stand-up act, which is pretty side splitting.

All in all, we had a blast and are still talking about the show.

Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone

Life is getting super hectic. I'm hoping to make it through July relatively sane. I haven't been posting with any sort of regular frequency lately and that may taper off even more for awhile. There may be more short blurbs from the dogs in the near future. They're whining lately about the vet.

In the meantime, check out my adorable garden gnome:

The Face Of The Future

I was inspired by my friend Helen to put my face through various ethnic, age, and gender transformations. It's where I got the manga-fied me that I recently posted. You can do the same by going to this site.

Jodi (before transformation)
I started with this photo, taken after a long and tiring day.



East Asian Jodi
E likes this one and said something like, "You look cute Chinese."



West Asian Jodi



Old Jodi
Truly frightening. I may print this one out and tape it on my mirror to remind me to use daily moisturizers and sunscreen.



Man Jodi
I find this one quite hideous. Besides the fact that I would've been called "Jim Bob," there are other obvious reasons that it's a good thing I'm a girl.



Boticelli Jodi
This is my second favorite, behind the manga one. I guess I prefer myself looking a bit more abstract and artsy.

There are a couple more in the flickr set, if you are interested.

The Week (So Far)

• Cosette had one vet appointment and ended up getting scheduled for surgery the very next day! It's always stressful, but especially for a geriatric dog. She will go for a bandage change this weekend and endure the hilarious cone for about ten more days.

• We saw Death Cab For Cutie in concert for the first time at the newish Nokia Theatre. The venue is pretty cool, even if the sound was a bit wonky. The band was fantastic, but I was somewhat put off by their open expression of distaste for L.A. Especially when the crowd was giving them an amazing reception. Seattle folks must be jealous of our sunshine, as many seem to hate this city.
  

• I've been under the weather myself and slept Wednesday away.
  

• The Los Angeles Film Festival continues. One of the highlights this week was a screening of three episodes of Spaced followed by a Q&A with director Edgar Wright, moderated by Matt Stone, of South Park fame. It was a tremendously good time.
  

Edgar and Me

• I've been working on the Craft Hamster 2.0 and may be at a point where I can post a photo or two soon.

What Has Been And What Can Never Be

I saw the world premiere of the documentary Largo this past Sunday night at the L.A. Film Festival. It was really enjoyable for me, as one of the people who loved the club's original incarnation on Fairfax. Also, I'm a fan of many of the musicians and comedians who performed there. The film is black and white and performance based. There is no narrative and minimal subtitling. Featured performers include Grant-Lee Phillips, Aimee Mann, Michael Penn, Andrew Bird, Colin Hay, Jon Brion, Davíd Garza, Tom Brousseau, Sarah Silverman, Greg Proops, Zach Galifinakis, Louis CK, John C. Reilly, Bic Runga, Flight of the Conchords (how did I miss that?!?), Nickel Creek, Jackson Brown and a couple of others I'm sure I'm forgetting.

It actually made me quite sad knowing I can't ever go back there for such an intimate show. I haven't been to Largo 2.0 at the Coronet Theatre yet, but hope to check it out soon. Have you?

The Cute

Hooking Lessons

No, I wasnt' hanging out on Sunset Blvd. this weekend learning about the oldest profession. It was quite a busy weekend with the highlight being the Basic Crochet & Amigurumi workshop I took. I recently bought a kit to make this cute little chipmunk (lower left of photo) and then realized I needed to learn hooking basics first. I've been trying to teach myself to crochet with an old school book and it just wasn't working out. I'm either a bad student or a bad teacher! Probably a bit of both.

Well, I certainly know more than I did before my class. I'm by no means an expert, but I can at least understand the patterns and have high hopes for crafting "Chippy Chip." I do tend to be a slow learner when it comes to motor skills (which makes it hilarious that I'm in the profession I'm in!), so I got a lot of individual attention. Most of the students finished their bats by the end of the workshop yesterday. I had to complete mine at home, but I was determined to finish. His bottom half is tapered because of some difficulty I initially had with the counting and placing the stitch marker. I got the hang of it though and am pleased with the upper two-thirds.

Once I had the finished product, I was indeed a happy hooker!

Foreign Debts, Homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz, Hypodermics On The Shore...

The recent Universal Studios fire was all over the news, so you probably heard about it. I live very close to Universal City and unlike most Sundays, I was up pretty early to go downtown and meet up with a friend. I immediately smelled something funny and heard helicopters. Once I went outside, my throat was burning and I started coughing. Yay asthma. Also, there were bits of ash all over our cars.

View looking down my street.


View from the North Hollywood Metro stop.

While I was driving over to the North Hollywood Metro station to catch the subway, I listened to KNX news radio. They had a reporter "on the scene" who insisted that "the air is fine." What? I got aggravated by that and decided to call. I'm not the type of person who calls into radio stations, but I wanted the right information to get out there. I certainly did not call to be on the air, but that is exactly where they put me. Luckily, it was so early I assumed no one heard me. They even asked if I'd talked to friends in the area and I said no one was up yet!

And then I got this email from my friend W:

I heard you on the radio. B and I had gone up to Mulholland lookout to watch the fire, and we heard you on the radio on the way down the hill. You were very dignified. And some of your friends were up just as early as you.

At least I was "dignified." Ha!

Unfortunately, this is not the first Universal Studios fire. If you want to see some cool footage of both the 1990 and 2008 fires, check out this video shot by my friend and neighbor Erik.

All I've Got Is A Photograph

I'm finally uploading some photos. I've put up a set from Maker Faire, which includes a subset of Craft Hamsters @ Maker Faire. I was really impressed by people's creativity. You also might want to check out the Elephant Seals of San Simeon. We took a detour on the way home from San Mateo just to see them. They're loud and stinky, but so cute!

Up next: Photos from our weekend in the desert for the Scion United event.

If I Should Stumble, Catch My Fall

I didn't even realize Memorial Day was approaching until this past weekend. As I try to play catch up, 2008 is whizzing by and I keep piling more on my plate. Granted, I've been dragging my feet on several things, so it makes the to-do list ever so much more daunting. I do it to myself.

In the meantime, 75% of my pets are being neurotic and E is working hard, and hardly sleeping, to finish a film with our neighbor in time for a submission deadline this weekend. We still haven't unpacked from our trip last weekend, which I haven't gotten around to writing about. Maybe I will after I say something about my Maker Faire experience.

I'm also in the process of uploading a ton of photos starting from the end of last month. Here's one from the private photo tour we took with the Stereo Club of Southern California at The Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Aerial Pathway

Would you catch me if I fall?

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words...

...or at least 50 or so, in my case. The look on this dog's face says it all.

Don't bother clicking to see this pooch bigger.
I haven't made it public on flickr yet. Sorry.

I'm skipping town tomorrow...well, in a few hours. I should probably sleep. So, another weekend will go by without me catching up on life. And when I get back, I should have even more to share. I'll just add it to the queue.

Happy weekend!

Maker Faire '08-Day 1

Before:

During:

After:

I ran out of almost all of my supplies over the course of the day. So, I had to go to Michaels when the show ended.

SuperHam!

Long day of setting up for the start of Maker Faire in...oh crap!...a few hours! I'm excited, but a bit nervous about how it will go. I've made some specialty hamsters recently and really like this one from today:

Live From San Mateo!

I'd hoped to do a proper post tonight, since it's been a few days and I have material. Oh well, it's not happening. We made it to the Bay Area safely, got a little sleep and had a very eventful Maker Day. We've been rendering, printing, and doing other various tasks to get ready for Set Up Day, which starts in less than 7 hours! So, I'll leave you with a crappy camera phone picture of one of the awesome outdoor displays that is already in place at Maker Faire. It's made out of steel cables and is ginormous (check out the humans in the photo for comparison).

More later. Sooner than later, I hope. And for those of you coming to the event, my booth is #290 in Expo Hall (Orange).