Kiwi!

Sometimes I guess our dreams take a lot more work than we expect.

Just for fun

This was able to distract me from studying for a little while.

Good luck to all on their finals!

Deer in the Headlights

The other day I was out early in the morning waiting for one of my co-workers to come out of his apartment so that we could walk up to work as we usually did. (Mind you this is about 4 in the morning, so there usually isn't a lot going on.) This time I was looking out at the street corner when I noticed about 50 yards away a shadow moved.

I watched a little more intently as a the silhouette of a deer emerged under a street light. It slowly looked both ways down the deserted street and then meandered across to drift into the neighborhood on the other side.

Often as I've sat outside my co-workers apartment I've wondered about what people think as they drive by seeing a shadow (everything at 4am is a shadow, silhouette, or some other nameless darkened shape,) standing quietly outside of a person's home and so I was grateful that the first actual incident wasn't involving police.

We began our walk up the hill to work and I mentioned the sighting which started our conversation about odd things that can occur so early in the morning (pretty much if anything happens that early in the morning it's going to be worth mentioning to somebody.)

Due to the snowy/icy sidewalk, we opted to walk out on the side of the road which had been plowed clear of such hindrances, my co-worker out towards the middle of the road and thus myself closest to the sidewalk.

Along our trail there are a number of other apartments and houses. One apartment complex is located behind the houses and has a long driveway coming out to the road. As we came closer to this driveway we noticed some headlights, which upon closer inspection belonged to a slowly approaching gray SUV.

The SUV's rate of travel verses our own speed made for a small debate, we would reach the point of intersection before the SUV would, but we were not on the sidewalk (remember, we'd opted to take the less slippery rout a.k.a. the roadside,) one of us was either going to need to slow down or stop. Now I feel I should make note here; I've been in this college town for long enough to become aware of the idea that pedestrians have the right-of-way. Assuming this I simply continued my pace towards our destination, my co-worker, followed suit. Something else I feel I should mention is that my co-worker and I are around the same size, both are 6'2" I just have a few more pounds on my body than he does, so it is probably safe to say that the two of us together are not invisible.

I'm sure that with all of this set up of the situation you can already determine what happened . . . yep, he HIT us! (Ok, I was actually the one closest to the sidewalk and the SUV didn't even touch my co-worker, so let me rephrase that: He hit ME!)

SUV idling down the driveway. Two tall, noticeable individuals walking up a hill. The pedestrians cross the path and continue onward. Driver continues onward as well, even after the two pedestrians have crossed right in front of his headlight and are now nearing the passenger side of his vehicle!

Luckily we were on the passenger side by the time impact was to take place and so I initiated contact by stiff-arming the hood of the SUV, pushing myself out of the way of the moving vehicle. (Hopefully I did a little bit of damage to his bug deflector.)

After the altercation my co-worker and I stopped to see what was going on with the driver who continued in much the same manner as if we didn't exist down the road. I was too confused by what had just happened to think enough to get the license plate information as the vehicle drove away. But now I'm keeping a sharp eye out for gray SUVs.

The more I ponder on the situation I find it a little ironic that I would happen to see a deer crossing the street and then shortly get hit myself . . .

A Long, Long, Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

I'm really just not in the mood to study and then the realization set in that I haven't posted for years . . . ok, months, but still . . .

The school semester has begun and after a tough first week or so I finally have the classes that I need (I need some to graduate and some for my sanity.) Good news is that my wife is a TA for one of the classes I'm taking, though not for my class specifically, and a good friend of mine is a teaching fellow for another of my classes. So over all things will work out pretty well. The really great news (and the reason why I love college,) is that I have a frisbee class four times a week. Yeah, they actually give you credit for playing frisbee an hour a day :)

Little Bits of Happiness

Pretty much my entire life I've had a pet. My very first memories are of our cat Bootsie and our dog Tippy. (I was so young that I'm certain I didn't choose the names, so don't ask.)

After Bootsie and Tippy we had our two copper spaniels, Cookie and Copper. (I came up with Copper all by myself.) Copper was a pretty wild puppy and started to become too big for me to control and when he almost bit my oldest sister's nose it was decided that it would be better if he were taken care of by someone else with better discipline ability.

I also remember having hamsters and lizards, a rat named Tucker, a chicken named Salt (as a chick he was a very light yellow and one sister had a black and white, so that chick was named Pepper). Salt grew up to become a rooster and we started to get complaints from the neighbors when he would crow at the rise of the sun.

Everyone tells me that when I was really young I had a pet duck (I'm willing to guess that his name was Daffy or something like that).

After my sister just older than me graduated from Jr. high her best friend gave her a kitten. To honor that best friend the kitten was given the same name (this led to a great deal of confusion when we left notes on the door saying "Don't let Heather out!"). It was around this time that I got the dog of my teenage years, Spud.

Many people have memories about their pet being the greatest pet in the world, Spud is my memory.

Spud has been gone for a couple of years now, but just last semester of school I was sitting in a class for my Animal Science major when a graph came up showing how the age of a companion animal compared to that of a human. 1 year equal to 7 dog years is a pretty close generalization, but as I looked at the graph I came to realize that Spud stayed around for a lot longer than he was probably supposed to. (I'd had him for nearly 14 years and he wasn't a puppy when I got him.)

Since then I've been living in student housing where pets aren't allowed. Even still I've had my goldfish (which has brought many dirty looks from the owner). Constantine will celebrate his year-and-a-half mark just after I get married (in almost two months).

I can't throw him a ball or even pet him, but even still, when I come home and he starts swimming excitedly (I think that by now he's figured out that food only shows up when I'm around,) it makes me happy.

You Can Never Go Home

School's out for summer! School's out forever! . . . Wait, never mind, it's only out for summer. Darn.

With the onset of summer comes my annual search for a place to live and I think I finally found one spot that probably has the best rent I've ever seen. $0 a month along with all the food you can eat. Meals are actually cooked for me on a regular basis (I do help a little, just to get the food sooner.) Who knew that it would end up being the same place that I grew up in. (Ok, it's actually across the street from where I grew up, but that's still pretty darn close.)

I'll be working at Hogle Zoo for the summer and even though my fiancé is still up in the Frozen Lands (that aren't really frozen right now,) it makes more sense that I should be close to work.

There are, of coarse, some difficulties about coming down here. Probably the biggest problem is that I don't have a room to call my own. Right now I'm falling asleep with stuffed teddy bears and childrens' books looking over my safety (and my goldfish.) The other problem is the fact that for the past year, all of my free time has been spent with one specific person. Now that person is too far away (if my car could handle it I actually probably would just drive three hours each afternoon and evening to be with her.)

So now I'm here, not quite fitting in the same way I used to.

Apparently when you're off changing, trying to become something more than you were, everything else is doing the same.

Makori Hiton, Cono.

Hazel and I have been working hard to keep schooling as the priority in our free-time, but sometimes it just seems so much easier to sit and make plans for the wedding day. I think we're doing pretty well though. Luckily next week is Spring Break, so we'll pretty much spend the whole time searching around town for the best ideas and prices :D

A number of ideas have been passed around about receptions, luncheons, and anything else that might come up with a marriage. (So far Pappy has had the best idea "How much would it cost for you to elope?") Receptions the night before, short receptions the night of, no reception at all and instead just have a larger group join us in the Wedding Luncheon . . . I don't know.

I realize that I can't ask all of you individually, so I've decided to take a sort of poll, or maybe just suggestions (because this is really in no way shape or form a poll.) I know the traditional way that things are done. Bride and groom get married. Go to lunch with those who were at the wedding along with those family members that weren't able to join. Then in the evening bride and groom stand for 2 hours shaking hands and giving hugs.

While I'm not completely opposed to the traditional way I'm still interested in peoples views of it all. Feel free to share your opinion.