Back in Grenada

Well, if you don't know already, I've returned to St. George's University in Grenada for the second term of my MPH to MD program. This term I'll have 5 classes again: Health Policy and Management, Social and Behavioral Aspects of Public Health, Chronic Disease Epidemiology, International Public Health Practice, and Methods of Community Health Promotion.

So far I haven't been a very good student. I've missed either the entire first class of every class that's started so far or at least the beginning part where they go over the syllabus. This afternoon, I overslept and missed the bus to campus, so I ended up missing the first 30 min of Health Policy and Management. Not that it turned out to be anything important or meaningful apparently. Same with International Health, I missed the first two classes because I was still in the states. I had initially thought I was only going to miss one class, but they had a make up class on Friday that I wasn't aware of so I ended up missing two. But from what I've heard from my classmates from that class, I really didn't miss much if anything. This evening, I was sure I had a class, but when I talked to some of the other students, they assured me we didn't have class... well, after just coming home around almost 2am, I check my schedule and sure enough, I did have a class, just a different one from the one they were referring to... So I missed that class too. I have really not started off on the right foot this term.

Anywho, my trip down from the States to Grenada was crazy. Initially I was supposed to fly down Sat morning. My flight departed from Atlanta at 6:05am and the ATL airport (typically about a 2-3 hour drive from my home) opened at 4:30, so I need to get there by then. Well, Bruce was going to give me a ride to the airport, but of course I had put off packing until the last few days before I had to leave, so I was still making a mad rush to finish when he arrived. Then my luggage was overweight so we wasted time trying to fix that. We finally left home, but once on the highway we encountered torrential rainfall. It was so bad that at times, Bruce could only see the white line 2 feet in front of him on the road... but the lightning was spectacular. It seemed super close and lit up the sky like noon day only with ultra "white" light rather than the "yellow" of the sun. We had to slow down to about 45mph for a while and that prob set us back 20-30 min. When we finally arrived and got into the airport around 5am, there was a long line waiting to check in. We were in line with all my luggage, my roommate's dog (did I mention, my roommate shipped me her dog so I could bring her down with me?!), and Vasco, but for some reason I didn't think my flight was international (I mean, I was only going to Miami first...) and maybe we could check in faster if we used the self-check in computers. What a bad move. We lost our place and by the time we got back in line and up to the desk... the lady told me I had missed baggage check-in by 10 min. 10 minutes! Oi vey. And since they only flew to St. Kitts (where I was going to make a connecting flight on Liat, one of the local Caribbean puddle jumpers) once a day, I would have to wait til Sunday if I wanted to check in baggage.

I couldn't make an informed decision as to whether or not to take the Sunday flight because I had to make sure that I would be able to catch a flight from Liat to Grenada that day as well, otherwise I'd be stranded in St. Kitts with nothing to do and nowhere to go. So Bruce and I waited for about 1 1/2 hours for Liat's reservation desk to open so I could call and ask them. Bruce was so good about it even though he was tired and hungry. He lent me his phone so that I could use the web browser to check the websites and allowed me to call Liat, long distance, for almost 15-20 minutes which will prob cost him about $30. He's so good to me *smiles*.

Anywho, when I finally got through to Liat, they said I could change my flight; however, it would be an additional $160. Oi vey! That's more than the original cost of my ticket and I had already paid about $80 to get it changed once. This was definitely an expensive trip. And my credit cards were already maxed out from buying misc items for the house and lawn when I was home so I didn't have the available credit to buy the ticket. Once again, Bruce came to the rescue and told me he'd pay for the ticket. I'm not free loading, mind you. I'll pay him back... when my refund check finally arrives, but he's been quite a "trip" saver.

Bruce drove me back home after that. We stopped by the Mall of Georgia and took about a 2 hour nap in the car and had lunch in the Food Court. When I got home I gave Cassie (my new roomie's American Eskimo) a pretty good brushing and ended up with a small mountain of white hair... Her coat had been in quite a bad state with a lot of mats throughout. I also trimmed the hair on her paws so they looked semi neat. Before they were all gross and straggly. I knew that if she soiled herself during the crate, trimming the hairs would at least be a minor help in keeping her paws clean. Then I took about a 6 hour, much needed nap. Upon waking I was able to clean my room (since it had been left in a state of complete disarray) for my mom's use.

My mom came home from work about 45 min before I had to leave. She had no idea I was even home so she was very surprised, but I think happy to see me. For once, she'll be awake when I'm leaving *grins*

Anyway, Bruce came to pick me up around 2am and my mom decided that she wanted to come along to see me off and because she would feel it more appropriate if she came along rather than it just being Bruce and myself in the car. However, honestly, there wasn't much room. We were driving in a Towncar and its nice and roomy... pretty exansive, however, even if we moved things around so that everything was in the back, whoever sat in the middle would have zero room to even put their feet down. They'd have to put a foot in the drivers and a foot in the passengers feet area. Not that that'd be particularly hard to do, since I've done it before... however for a 2-3 hour drive it could not only be uncomfortable, but dangerous.

So I mean, I didn't really mind if my mom came, but Bruce didn't exactly do anything to attempt to make more room (though really it was packed full with 2 intermediate sized dog crates and a large suitcase, there wasn't any room to move anything), or at least voice willingness to have her come with us, so my mom was... let's just put it mildly, very displeased.. Okay, why play around with words, she hates him. *sighs* so I felt really bad and missed having her come with us.

Our trip down to Atlanta this time once again was impeded by weather... only this time it was fog. Thick, rolling fog. Not quite as "obviously" bad as the torrential rainfall, but more subtle. There would be periods when you could see fairly well through the fog but then all of a sudden, we'd be engulfed in a thick cloud of it.

We also got pulled over by the police. I was a bit nervous and asked Bruce if he had been speeding (I had fallen asleep) and he said he'd been going about 80-85 in a 70 mph zone. So yeah, there was reason to worry, but Bruce said there was no way the cop could have known he was speeding because he was going in the opposite direction and there were no other cars around that he could have compared our speed with. Anyway, we waited with sweaty palms and the officer asked where we were going, where Bruce had gotten the car (okay, so two 20 somethingers do look kind of odd in a champagne colored Towncar normally driven by those of an older distinction) and Bruce said it was his parents but they had just gotten it from his grandfather in NY the week before and that's why the plates/tags were still NY tags. He asked Bruce to get out of the car and go to the back with him. I was thinking he was going to get searched or something, but a few minutes later, Bruce came back and we were on our way. Apparently he just wanted to ask a couple more questions and that was that... Odd. Kind of just random. Maybe one of those random police checks, though I had never been involved in one before. But it was cool. We saw the cop driving actually under the speed limit by us when we pulled out behind a van. We wondered if he was going to pull the van over as well, though the van obviously wasn't going past the speed limit and lo and behold, a few minutes later the cop car pulls in front of us and behind the van and blue lights flash, end of story. It was an interesting ride to the airport to say the least.

Things went smoothing at the airport. Both my luggage were overweight, but I was only charged for one! Nice. The flight to Miami went by quickly, then at the Miami airport I walked about 12 min (according to the signs, though it felt much longer) to my terminal to wait for my flight to St. Kitts. Poor Vasco got jostled quite a lot during that walk and got a bit of motion sickness and threw up a bit. But after that he was just fine. He's a very good traveler. Slept the whole way pretty much to Grenada. In St. Kitts I changed flights to Liat and we flew to Antigua, where I got a connecting flight to St. Vincent then finally Grenada. I had a bit of trouble at St. Kitts with getting Vasco approved for travel in cabin, but there was a lady in line behind me who told the travel attendant at the desk that their website said it was allowed, so he allowed it. However when I tried to board the plane, the stewardess told me it wasn't allowed and Vasco had to be placed in his soft-sided carry-on into cargo. I was a bit worried, but they said that they'd secure him away from the rest of the cargo and since the flight was only 20-30 min, it would be too long. In Antigua, I learned my lesson and closed up all the ventilation flaps prior to boarding and pretty much bulled my way past the stewardess and stowed Vasco safely under the seat in front of me. The stewardess had more to worry about anyway since the flight had been overbooked. We had an unruly child aboard that cried, screamed, or whined the whole hour to St. Vincent, most of the 30 minutes we waited in the plane, then most of the 20 minute flight to Grenada. *sighs* I typically try to sleep on my flights because I know I'll be exhausted anyway and it gives me something to "do" so during the flight as I was dozing the little girl's screaming became one of those really annoying drones that you can't quite figure out why you're uncomfortable until you fully awake and your senses reattune to it. Dunno if I explained that clearly enough, but oh well.

Anywho, my new roomie Deann Ashby and a friend of hers came to pick me up from the airport. We got through customs without too much hassle and ended up not having to pay too much for the dogs, only 40EC each which is less than US $16. So that was cool. And so here I am... I'll update on my accommodations and hopefully put up some pics later.

Regression

So yeah, you know how I was all excited and everything by the progress Vasco has made in the past couple of days? Well, today he prob had at least 5-10 accidents in the house. I have gotten too slack and must start restricting his activity once again. One time while I was cleaning up one mess, he comes up to me to investigate and proceeds to pee not more than a foot away! I quickly scooped him up, deposited him outside where he proceeds to run around the yard like mad and not pee a single drop. Bother.

But yeah, he's been quite peppy lately. Frisking about chasing nothing. Trying to provoke Faith to play with him by jumping at him and yipping. Faith just either ignores him or gives him a gruff bark, as if to say "Back off, Squirt!" Vasco of course ignores this and continues merrily with his antics. He's also started "barking" if you call his really cute squeaks barks ^_^

I received in the mail today his Sturdi bag carry on bag that I was planning to use in cabin with him. My concern though is that the American Airlines requires him to be able to stand in the bag. While he is able to stand, he isn't able to fully hold his head upright. So he can stand as long as he's looking at the ground. Dunno if this will be a problem. I really really hope not, but it would seem that he will definitely have to return home in his crate. Sooo.... if AA decides that he's too small for the carry on, I'm going to have a prob because there's no way I'm leaving him... but I'm packing, no... stuffing his crate to the max, so... yeah.

I don't know if I've mentioned on here, but my future roomie, Deann, has asked me to bring her dog, Cassie, an American Eskimo dog from the states for her. She'll be shipping Cassie to me on Friday and I'll be bringing her with me back to Grenada on Sat. Not quite sure how that'll work out, but well it'll have to. Should be alright. We've had a lot of correspondence in attempts to work out any kinks, so hopefully we've anticipated most of the potential problems and planned for them.

Oh I never did show any pics of Vasco's sire and dam (parents) so here they are:

Vasco's Mom: Chartin Stonerhaven Designs, CGC - "Chari"

Vasco's Dad: Ch. Stonerhaven Tribunal, U-AGI, CGC - "Judge"

And one of their beautiful boys, Vasco! at 8.5 weeks

Training

This morning at 6:30 when I woke to take Vasco out for his morning potty break he was up and ready to go! He was so excited, bouncing around and running around like mad. It was great to see him with so much puppy energy and took all my fears away :)

We've been working on "Fetch". The breeder said that Shelties are not an instinctively retrieving breed so that's one of the most important things to be working on at this stage in his life, since he'll need to know how to retrieve if he wants to do other more advanced things with show or work or other advanced skills. Also, it'll provide years of enjoyment for me in the future if I can play Fetch with him. Very true. She gave me a bunch of papers on puppy life stages and what happens when and what should be developing and fostered at what point in their lives. It's very interesting.

I'm really working hard with "Come" and "Sit" as well. Vasco's got "Sit" down pretty well. He'll do it usually 2 of 3 times, but "Come" is still in the works. Sometimes he'll come running, other times he'll just pretend he didn't even hear you *grins* cuz he's Vasco the Rascal.

As for housebreaking and potty training... it's been going well. He's only had two small accidents so far, both of which were my fault because I knew the time was coming up when he needed to go soon, but I put off taking him out.

He's been really good though. He's very mild when you pick him up and loves his crate. When he's tired, he'll just walk to my room and go into his crate and falls asleep. My mom thinks he's eerily good and calm for a puppy. He has hardly barked or whined at all. But my mom was put a bit at ease when she saw how frisky he was this morning when he was playing outside.

I've been trying to get him used to car rides and such since it'll be helpful to him when it comes time to fly. He was car sick when we brought him back from the breeder and he threw up in the car, but he's been getting more used to it I think. He rides calmly in either my arms or someone else’s when we're in the car and either sleeps or snuggles under an arm. I'm looking forward to when my Sturdi bag (the carry on that I'll be using with him in flight) comes in, so that I can get him used to using that.

I've also been trying to socialize him with other people, children, things. I took him when my brother and I went to Walmart this morning. He got to see the carts and the many cars in the parking lot as well as people walking to and from the store. (He walked really well on the leash too! Another achievement.) I also brought him to Bruce's home this afternoon so that he could meet Bruce's 2 year old niece. I want him to get used to children and be comfortable around them. But you gotta be cautious when introducing a puppy to children because children have to be instructed that puppy is not a toy and that you have to be gentle with him (ie. don't hit him, pull on his tail, yell and scream, etc :) I hope to bring him to Petsmart sometime so he can get meet some other dogs. Faith and him have a cautious truce going on. They'll both curiously sniff at each other but if one gets too personal, the other will back hastily away. Hope and Vasco though are another story. Hope seems to hate Vasco, or at least see him as an intruder, while Vasco's terrified of him because he's so big and loud compared to what he's used to. Vasco grew up with older shelties so he's got a healthy respect for the bigger dogs, but Hope's huge comparatively.

After the vet

Today was Vasco's first full day with my family... well, part of my family anyway. My dad's in Taiwan til tomorrow and my mom's been working long hours and doing orientation for a new job so she had only glimpsed him through his crate while he was sleeping.

We went to the vet today and the vet along with the assistants all commented on how well behaved and calm he was. He even fell asleep while waiting for the vet to come back. So we got all the paperwork (vaccination certificate, Interstate certifcate for travel) that hopefully he needs for traveling. He also got 2 vaccinations, including rabies. However both vaccinations usually aren't given for another 2 months so I hope that was okay. They were required though for him to travel...

He's been really... mild ever since the exam. Sleeping a lot. This evening when I was petting him, he yelped and kind of wimpered around one of the injection sites so I'm somewhat concerned. If it still seems to pain him tomorrow morning, I'll call the vet. But yeah, I'm a little worried now, because he doesn't seem to respond to much and just seems to want to sleep. He went into his crate and just lay down. Didn't matter who was walking in and out of the room, or if the vacuum cleaner was on, or even if you stuck your head into his crate and talked to him, there was no response. If it wasn't for the fact that I can see he's breathing I would be afraid he'd died or something. So I hope this is just a mild reversible side effect from the vaccinations. Really hope he's back to his young self in the morning.

Vasco

Hey! Everyone meet Vasco, the new addition to my family! Isn't my baby the cutest ever? I'll try to fill in more later and put up some more pics, but for now feel free to melt at the cutest face with the sweetest expression *smiles* I'm only a little biased...

Vasco at 8 1/2 weeks

Today (12 1/2 weeks)

Today (12 1/2 weeks)

Dave (my bro), Faith (9 1/2 years), Vasco (12 1/2 weeks)

Dear Lappy, Get Well Soon

So I sent in my laptop today to the Dell depot to get all fixed up and what not. It was a chore though just getting that done. I always had given Dell the benefit of the doubt and praised them for their wonderful service, product, blah, blah, blah.. but lately they haven't quite been living up to their standards.

I called them up 2 nights ago and got some foreign guy. I have nothing against foreigners or people who do not speak English good *grins* nor really do I care that Dell outsources their service calls to India after hours. However, this guy I got was rude and unhelpful. He gave me faulty information (told me my AC adapter was not included in my laptop's warenty and only had a 1 year warrenty) and gave me the wrong phone number to call for DHL to pick up my laptop even though I repeated the number back to him. He kept asking me to hold for "just 2 minutes" and near the end of the call kept repeating that he had answered all my questions, only I never said he answered all my questions and I still had other questions. Then at the very end he said to me, "And I have answered all your questions now. Good bye.... ... Grace, you have to hang up now." I was like, um... okay. So yeah, whatever with that...

I called back the next night after having no success at reaching DHL at the number provided. The lady I spoke with also had an accent, but she was very helpfu. She told me that my AC adaptor was under warrenty and that she would have one sent to me (it arrived today - only 1.5 days after my call). She then provided me with the correct phone number and told me that if I had any other problems just to email her and she'd put a note down. So that was cool.

The DHL guy came yesterday and gave me a box to put my laptop in. Since I was in the middle of burning some stuff off of my lappy, I asked if he could come back the next day (today) to pick it up. He was cool with that and came this morning. So.. you may wonder, though you prob don't, how it is possible for me to be updating my blog then without my laptop. Well, the obvious answer is that I have access to other computers in my home... and this is true. But not the case, or not the full explaination anyway. I'm actually typing this up on a very cool, very new Dell Inspiron E1705.

Ultra spiffy cool. It's Bruce's laptop that I spent ever so long ordering but which actually has a faulty video drive making games and DVDs impossible to play/watch (that's the not so cool part). Bruce on his part has spent ever so long (over a month) trying to get Dell to keep up with their end of the bargain when they told him they'd send him a replacement laptop. Finally, he was able to get in touch with the regional supervisor who's giving him a superfine super awesome laptop that isn't even out in market yet. It's their new XPS system. He tried to give Bruce an upgrade to the current XPS system,

but it actually was a downgrade since Bruce ordered pretty much the best system they had out. So.. this guy fixed Bruce up with something nice, and well, while it may not perhaps totally make up for the atrocious service he received, it's definately something . I'm happy. He's... relatively happy. So it's all good. Dunno if he'll be allowed to keep this lappy (it wasn't mentioned) but if he is, I got first dibs! Mwah-ha-ha! Not that it'll do me any good when I want to play games or DVDs but nevertheless, it's sooo cool!

Decisions

So Friday night I was all excited because on Saturday I was going to visit a breeder in Roebuck, SC to look at 3 of her sheltie puppies. Andy Gray (senior chem major and friend from BJ) and I went downtown since we both had nothing to do on a Friday night and went mouse hunting. While driving downtown we saw some really nice fireworks and stopped to ooo-and-ahh... They seemed to be coming from the stadium downtown, though neither of us knew what the occasion was. Anywho, we began at the opposite end of downtown near "Zombieville" (story for another time, if you ask) and walked back into the main part of downtown to begin our hunt.

There are 9 bronze cast mice scattered within a 9 block stretch of Main St. downtown. They were inspired by the book Goodnight Moon and were a project designed to give kids something to do on school trips downtown. Anyway, I had looked up the clues for where to find these elusive mice online before leaving the house, but couldn't remember most of them by the time we got there. So we walked the stretch of Main St. where they were said to be located between the Hyatt and Westin Poinsett Hotel, but could only find the 3 obvious ones (located by the Hyatt fountain, stairwell to Coffee Underground, and the one located at the bottom of the rain drain by the Italian restaurant across from the Westin Poinsett)... only 3 out of 9. Sad I know. But it was dark, and there were a lot of people about and I mean, I could have asked them if they had seen a mouse around somewhere, but had no great desire to cause a general hysteria *grins* But regardless of mice unaccounted for, we still had a good time. Finally did some catching up and whatnot.

Saturday morning, I took my dad to the airport (GSP) at 5:30am so he could catch his flight to Taiwan. He'll be visiting his dad and brother there for a week. However, it began to pour (rain) just as I got home so his flight was delayed. He called Sunday morning and told us he had finally arrived.

Around 1pm, my brother, Arwen Clark (BJ piano perf grad, friend, and oldest sister to Alina), and I headed out to the breeder's home. From the beginning we were lost. Well, in part my fault, and in part the breeder's. She gave me directions to her home, which I read back to her and I was sure she said 385 to Spartanburg. Well, 20 min on 385 and we were pretty sure it wasn't 385. So I called, and sure enough it was supposed to have been 85 to Spartanburg. So we turn around and 40 min later, we're on the right track... then we get off 85 at the correct exit and drive for about 5-7 min and become somewhat nervous that we haven't seen any of the landmarks given on the directions... so we turn around again, only to find out we were actually on the right track but it was supposed to be about 8-10 miles down that road before we were going to get to the landmarks mentioned. (I always did hate following Yard Sale/Garage Sale signs in the country where there was one sign ever 5 miles so that you never knew for sure if you were going in the right direction, following up-to-date signs, or just on a wild goose chase.) Anywho, we ended up in the country where we saw what appeared to be a dairy farm and other farms and finally arrived at Christina Stoner's residence and her puppies (after about an hour more than it should have taken us).

Oh boy the puppies were adorable! Little bundles of furry energy and cuteness. There were 3 of them at 12 weeks old, 2 girls - Lucky and Brownie, and a boy - Vasco (cool name, after the explorer). Brownie was a little bit on the bigger side and seemed somewhat reserved but totally huggable. Mrs. Stoner said she would prob be the most loving of the bunch. Vasco was very cool. He was very friendly, independent, and adventurous. Very fun. Lucky was a sweet little girl who was always off doing her own thing. Arwen and I liked Vasco the best, and my bro really liked Brownie. They would be mahogany colored when they grew out their adult coats (Sable colored with a black overcoat). We also met some of the older shelties including their grandmother. Three of the older shelties we met were Best in Shows and Champions in their own right. One of them was Best in Show, Best of Breed in 1994. She was 15! They were all beautiful. I prob would have gotten Vasco right then and there if I had been sure I could and would bring him back with me to Grenada when I went back after this break. Which is where my dilemma comes in...

*sighs* So, that night after an evening of revelry and fun (j/k) when I came home I did some research into airline approved kennels/crates and carriers (for in cabin use). Found a really good carrier by Sturdi-Bag, but wow, it's more expensive than the crate. But that's the least of my issues. I had to make sure that I had off campus housing ready, had to look up options for changes in my flight itinerary, still have to call the Ministry of Agriculture or the school to get the animal import permit. I spent a lot of time looking around online and making calls both last night and today. And what I've come to realize is that it will cost me about an extra $250-300+ to change my flight itinerary (this has to be done because my original flight is through Barbados which now does not allow pets to come into their airport. boo!). This cost will be on top of the cost of the puppy, crate and carrier, vet fee, regular airline pet fee, and other puppy expenses. The total which would be $1400+. So yeah, expensive. My decision then is should I wait to get a puppy and save this extra $300+ or just go ahead and get the puppy now. The most reasonable, practical, and mature decision seems to be obviously: wait. But... what if I don't want to wait? what if I want my puppy now! lol. Tough, you say. Well, thanks for being so unsympathetic... But I can actually make up for the extra money I'd be spending by living off campus...

So what to do, what to do....

Reasons I shouldn't get the puppy now:

1. Costs an extra $300+ to change flights
2. Could wait and get things more prepared and organized for his/her coming (papers, permits, essentials)
3. As much as I might want to think otherwise, I don't have to have one now
4. Not as significant, but I'll be jumping ship with my roommate. She just emailed me today and told me she missed me and that it was weird not having me there... so I feel a twinge of guilt (I'm sure the puppy would more than rectify that though :)
5. Wait and save the $160-200 airfare for it's flight this time

Reasons I can:

1. Puppy's available (And he's so wonderfully cute and adorable!)
2. Can probably get all the things needed together in the next 2 weeks
3. Can make up the extra cost by saving with off campus housing
4. Can find housing needed (will know for sure by Tues)

So yeah, any recommendations? Suggestions, comments, criticisms? I'd welcome your thoughts.

The Number Two Pencil Conspiracy

I found this a long time ago online and rediscovered it in my Misc folder of My Documents. There are a lot of good stuff in there! Good memories. Enjoy this one...


Here's something maybe you didn't think about: when you take standardized tests, you always have to use a Number Two pencil. Every single little bubble that is ever filled in must be done so with a good ol' Number Two pencil. That's a lot of bubbles. That's a lot of pencils.

Clearly the makers of Number Two pencils have much to gain from the huge standardized testing trade. I'm sure they sit back and laugh every new testing season, delighting to the sounds of erasers running down and pencil sharpeners grinding away towards pure profit. Such are the mechanisms of this corrupt empire.

The real scary part is what Number Two pencils are made of: wood, obviously, which means trees. These tests, and ultimately these pencils, demand a huge sacrifice from our forests. How many trees must die so that you and I can fit easily into a college acceptance profile? This is just not cool. Test what you want, but don't cut down the great redwoods just to make a buck. Thanks.

And then there is the secret ingredient, that which makes Number Two pencils so special and distinct form the rest: Number Two. What, did you not realize the crucial factor is those deliciously smooth writing, dark colored leads? See, they can't use lead anymore, 'cause it gives you poisoning. Instead, they figured out a way to turn out body's natural waste into pencil stuff. Number Two. Cheap, but sickening.

Number Two pencils: is there any atrocity they will not commit?

Webcam

My Logiteh QuickCam Fusion arrived in the mail today. It's pretty spiffy. My family got a Logitech QuickCam Orbit while I was in school so they could talk to me. They got that one on sale for about $80 something and so when I came back to the states I was looking for one as well so I wouldn't have to always borrow my roomie's (not that I actually used it that often). Anywho, my bro found a great deal on Radioshack.com for the Fusion which is one step down from the Orbit. The only main difference besides style is that the Fusion doesn't have automatic pan and tilt, which I actually prefer not to have. So the Fusion was a good choice for me. Got $40 in rebate, so it'll be "affordable" once I actually get my rebate checks back *grins*
Some of its basic specs include:

• Built-in mic
• High quality ture 1.3 Megapixel sensor
• Up to 640x480 pixels Video capture
• True 1280x960 pixels Still image capture
• Up to 30 frames per second

Me's a like it!

Laptop Issues

So yeah, I've been meaning to call Dell up and have them fix my lappy up. It's got issues:

• Battery dies in less than 15 min (a first today) and I wasn't even doing anything, not even word processing!
• Stupid power cord/brick needs to be taped in place to keep it connected
• My screen's coming apart, screws coming loose, cracked, etc
• My speakers are [enter choice word here] when it comes to WMP and sometimes even other players
• The paint on my bottom panels is almost completely gone now.
• Trackball right-click button doesn't work

Thing is it'll mean no laptop for about a week, maybe more... And not being connected just seems daunting to me. I mean, what am I going to do in the wee hours of the night? Sleep? Preposterous! I will just feel so vulnerable, disconnected, lost. The power of the computer and internet on my everyday life. I'm usually prob on it for at least 4-5 hours a day almost always more. Sad, but true. Maybe it'll be a good time to develop a new hobby or something. heh. right. *sighs* Oh well... we'll see

I'm babysitting Bruce's niece, Cayla tomorrow. Should be fun as long as she stays in a relatively good mood :p Nah, she's cool. A tad spoiled.. no correct that, she's thoroughly spoiled but still ultra cute and sweet. Really funny too. A complete rascal as she calls herself. It'll be fun.

All is well

Yay! Faith's awake and seems to be doing well, according to the vet. The concern with Faith getting neutered at such an "advanced" age is that the risk when putting him under is that he won't wake back up and there are more complications for an older dog undergoing surgery. So they put in an IV line and O2 stat monitor and such so that if anything were to go wrong, they could wake him up. But he's awake now and I'm going to pick him up tomorrow. Can't wait to see him again!

Emasculated

My dog, Faith, is getting neutered today.

My brother and I took our two dogs to the vet yesterday for their much overdue annual checkup. Faith is a 9 year old, Shetland Sheepdog and Hope is a 3-4 year old, Lab-Shepherd mix. Hope had to be muzzled because he absolutely hates shots and anything that is vet related. He was so mad! Faith's just old and usually nervous. They both got violated during the fecal exam which showed that Hope has whipworm so they're both going to be on treatment for that for 5 days then monthly. Otherwise, they're fine. Faith's enlarged testical is going to be removed today as well as his other "normal" one. My poor baby's getting emasculated! But yeah, it should have been done years ago. Though all they got was just a physical exam, rabies and DHLP boosters, heartworm exam, and fecal exam plus the dewormer meds and Faith's bloodwork for the surgery the cost was over $300! Whew! Expensive! Add another $100+ for Faith's surgery and wow... almost $500. I mean, I knew it would be expensive, but still... heh.

Now I've been in contact with a couple Sheltie breeders in my area and hopefully one of them will be willing to let me adopt one of their puppies. I don't know for sure if I'm getting on for right now (to bring back when I go to Grenada this time) or next time. But it's expensive bringing pets down. Around $700 for the puppy, another maybe $50 for the vet exam, $100 for the airline, and dunno how much it'll cost to actually bring in to Grenada. But the procedure for bringing dogs into Grenada is actually pretty easy and straightforward. Apparently just get the dog vaccinated and fill out a form and you're done.

More to come... I'll try to add pics later.

The Long Way Home

Okay, so I've been really really really slack on updating my blog. Kind of been just blah about it, though I keep thinking I should update, but then I remember how behind I am and how long my next blog's going to be so I just put it off another day. Great way to get even more behind, eh? :p

So, I figured I'd just add things in piecemeal style. So if things aren't in chronological order or whatnot, my apologies.

I don't remember too much of anything leading up to my departure from Grenada. I did study the morning of my Substance Abuse final on the Black Sand beach. As you can see from the pics, I was only mildly distracted at times ^_~

JuMp!

Go little crabs, go!

I've gotta find out how to put color into these b/w pics...

I did find out that I got an A in that class.. though not due to my spectacular work on the final.. heh. Dr. Amuleru-Marshall even told me to take my exam back and look it over after I turned it in. That was nice of him, but I don't think I really made any changes that helped my grade any. It was my Ecstasy presentation that gave me just what I needed to get that A. Yay! So that was cool. Made me happy :)

Hmm.. So yeah, my departure from Grenada was fraught with danger, deceit, and foul play. Okay, not really, but that makes it sound a bit more interesting than what really happened. Well, I had called the night before my departure to arrange for a taxi to pick me up at 9:30AM to take me to the airport (my flight was at 10:55am). Dexter (the taxi driver) said that would be fine, so it was all good. Thursday morning came and I woke early, wolfed down some food and double checked everything, then went downstairs to wait for the taxi. 9:45... no taxi. So I give Dexter a call, just to make sure he hadn't forgotten me, and he tells me that he just found out that his eldest daughter had died of leukemia in Miami the night before so he was presently at the airport trying to find a flight out of Grenada to Miami. He apologized for forgetting and gave me the number of another taxi driver who came about 15 min later and transported me and my single Pullman to the doors of the airport.

Flew on Liat with no difficulties. Arrived in Barbados and was stuck in the check out line for over an hour, though I was second in line. Apparently they were having computer problems so hence the delay. Funny thing was that the security dude, Michael, who checked my bag, gave me his number and told me to call him when I come back to Barbados and had time, he'd take me on a tour... Considering his offer... yeah, I prob lost his number already. He was nice and kind of cute, but alas somewhat young (20, okay, so not really that bad :p) and though innocent looking, perhaps treachery was afoot! Ahem. Pardon my dramatics. But yeah, it wasn't really all that big of a deal with that wait since I had almost 2 hours anyway even after that hour wait before my flight with American Airlines to Miami left, during which I napped, albeit uncomfortably.. .I have got to remember not to sit in front of the A/C vent...

I had awesome seats on my Barbados to Miami flight. A whole row all to myself, of which I proceeded to sprawl across and sleep. Let me tell you, it was great *contented sigh*. Must try to arrange for a repeat of that experience on the flight back...

Well, there was some bad weather with rain and lightening in the Miami area so our flight was delayed landing. We circled NASA for a bit and entered into some "holding pattern" while waiting. When we finally landed we waited yet another 45-50 min on the runway for our dock to be cleared. I wasn't too worried at this time since my flight from Miami to Atlanta was still an hour away.

Passport control was a mess, which was of course where I had to go through next before I could actually enter the heart of the airport. I was stuck in line for almost, or at least what seemed like 2 hours. Not moving. The story was that the guy in the front didn't have his papers in order so hence the standstill. I kept thinking that if I just changed lines... but I've watched Office Space and I was also convinced that knowing my "luck" I'd end up worse off than I was before. I was prob wrong about that oh well *sighs*. Anyway, I got all my fruit I had hoped to bring back home confiscated because I was stupid enough to declare them. Stupid, stupid. Ah well. Guava and Wax Apples. Great stuff. Don’t' have Wax Apples in the States but I used to love getting them when in Taiwan. Some of my fav fruit.

Anywho, because of the manifold delays encountered I missed my flight to Atlanta. And that was the last flight out to Atlanta. I waited in yet another line with other disgruntled passengers of other flights who had also missed their flights to see what the airline was going to do to rectify the situation. Well, apparently not too much. They "couldn't" provide me with accommodation at any of the Miami hotels because supposedly they were all booked up due to Spring Break. I also didn't receive any food vouchers, though I saw other passengers who did get them. The attendant though was nice, Marlon, I think his name was. He let me use his cell phone when mine ran out of minutes so I was able to call Bruce and let him know I wouldn't be needing that ride, and my bro to let him know I'd be spending the night at the airport. I was able to book a flight for 6:25am to Charlotte which actually is closer to Greenville than Atlanta.

Thence began my occupation of the airport.... I was actually getting quite tired by this point (around 10-11pm EST, but 11pm-12am ATL) and hungry so I found the floor that I needed to be on, got some food (some sort of Cuban or other with too much meat not enough anything else) and after walking back and forth towing my Pullman behind me to find the gate terminal area I needed to be to check out later that morning I found myself a niche and set my things in order...

Looks comfy, no? See that little hollow space in the middle of all my things? That's me pad...

I, along with about 800 other passengers, spent that night on the barely-softened-by-carpeting concrete floor of the Miami airport. They passed out blankets and pillows they took from incoming flights, but somehow I never managed to get my hands on any. I had fortunately packed my pillow because I wanted to change it for another at home and was able to have at least that comfort along with my squishy pillow! (yay!) I laid it across my suitcase and attempted to find that illusive sleep. And illusive it was. I woke almost every 30-45 min and each time, there would be more people on huddled on the floor. Families huddled around columns, couples leaning against each other against the counters. And then there were people like me, by ourselves who were so exhausted we didn't care where we slept, or who was watching or around us and found any open area and plopped ourselves and belongs down upon our temporarily claimed territory.

I must say that while I did not "enjoy" per se the experience, it's not one that I look back on with disgust or cringe at. I rather think I found it intriguing and not really too upset at it but took it for the new experience it was. Weird perhaps, but I'm kind of glad I've had the opportunity so now I can say that I know what it's like to sleep in an airport on the floor surrounded by hundreds of strangers *grins*. Others have it so much worse, so how can I be so prudish or pompous as to complain all that much, money paid or not?

So about 5 hours later, around 4am, people begin to stir. The check-in counters opened at 5, so I got up and went to wait in line. Lo and behold there was already a decently sized lined formed. Don't these people sleep?! Anywho, the airline was kind enough to open at 4:30 and once they had more personnel working the counters, things began moving right along. I checked-in, went and located my gate and sat down for another wait. The bus arrived to take us to our little plane and we boarded. I sat next to a woman who had just flown in on an all night flight from Chile. We then sat in the plane for another hour. Our flight out was delayed because the plane did not have the proper decals and paperwork so we would be flying illegally. After the paperwork was filed, we then had to wait for the plane to be refueled. You'd think they'd have done that before we boarded, but apparently not. Our plane was quite chilly and the lady next to me kept bugging the attendant about it so she finally turned on the heat (thank goodness). I don't know what it is about flight attendants, but you kind of think they're supposed to be these nice and friendly people who at least appear to like their job and like people, but I've come across some very nasty attendants. Dunno what their problem is *shrugs*.

But well, I arrived in Charlotte about an hour late. The weather was dismal and oh my word it was COLD!!! I know, I know, it's still winter, but after being used to the Caribbean weather it was a bit mm... chill. Here's me walking out of the airport in sandals and short-sleeves and it's like 30 degrees out. Heh. On the car ride back, Bruce had to put up with me bemoaning how much I missed Grenada *laughs*.

Blog of Epic Proportions, To be continued...