A little depressed today -- I've not been sleeping well, plus it is so damn hot. The house managed to stay fairly cool all week but it's starting to heat up and I'm sweating just sitting here. Like they tell you to do in all of the job search books and trainings, I did my follow up calls for a couple of part-time jobs I sent in resumes for earlier in the week. I really thought one was a great fit, although I could see them thinking I was over qualified. Both are in the interviewing stage of things. While I still might get a call, it's not as likely, I guess. In small breaks between loads of laundry and washing wood floors, I've been watching soccer and then a Gina Lollobrigida and Rock Hudson movie, Come September, a little confection of a movie. I've enjoyed looking at the clothes and beautiful scenery and dreaming about being Lollobrigida and having her clothes. I have a very stinky dog dreaming beside me on the couch and sleeping kitties at various elevations throughout the living room. I can't give the dog a bath for a few days because I just gave him his monthly dose of anti-tick stuff. Next time, I'll remember: bath first, then medicine. We're headed up to my parent's cabin for the first time with Gambit along. Between the woods and the lake, he'll be in dog heaven. In the past, it's been the only time my dogs have been able to run around off-leash outside of a fenced in yard. With the dog park so close by, the off-leash part won't be as big a deal but the never-endingness of the off-leashness will be novel. If he's like other dogs we've had, he'll run and swim his butt off the first day and crash the rest of the weekend. Eventually, he'll learn to pace himself so the wiped out part comes after we get home.

Being only partially employed is not the end of the world. A friend called today to say they have surgery scheduled after a quick diagnosis of breast cancer. It looks to be an easy tumor to remove and we're hoping that's what they find. It kind of puts things into perspective, though.

I've been busy sending out resumes and doing a few interviews. Ever since my hours were cut because of seasonal slow down, I've been trying to decide whether to get a part-time job or full-time job. I've been applying for both and I guess I'll wait to see what comes up. I was feeling so lost that last week that I attended a three day job search boot camp at the Workforce Center. It was overwhelming but incredibly helpful. I've retooled my resume and started looking at my "portfolio." They really stressed that I needed a navy blue or black suit for interviewing. I'd been at my old nonprofit for so long that I didn't have anything that fit the bill. After buying and returning two different suits, I finally found one on sale yesterday at Marshall Fields that I love and that fits like glove. I also scored matching designer shoes on sale for cheap, cheap, cheap. (They said plain pumps would be best for interviewing but really, they're just shoes, right? Can't I have a little style?) I usually try on suits with skirts since they tend to fit better than suits with pants -- unless I can mix and match sizes. Last night, I tried it on for Alan and he got a strange look in his eyes and said it made me look very tall. I have to admit that it made me feel powerful. I guess that's where the whole power suit thing came from.

Jumping off from Gwenda and Jackie's comments to the post below, I've put up our first topic of conversation on 1 Tough Puppy: Cost of Pet Ownership.

We've officially joined Gwenda in the "leave your pet behind with the pet sitter guilt club." Our fabulous pet sitter, Lynn, left us a note saying that hyper puppy Gambit had caught his dew claw on the couch cover that day and it had bled a bit. She recommended checking it and seeing if it warranted a vet visit to have the nail clipped or removed. I checked it that night and the next day and it seemed to be getting better and wasn't causing him any discomfort. Then we went to the dog park yesterday. A pained yelp and a little blood later I decided it was time to head home and make that vet appointment. Another pet owner warned that the toe could be broken, which was quite painful, and recommended that I keep some pain stuff like Demerol on hand for pet emergencies. Luckily, the pain wasn't bad once he settled in and they got us in this morning - thank goodness for Saturday morning office hours. I was hoping for just a nail trim and bandage. It was that but also a sedative, local anesthesia, antibiotics and three days of E. collar. $200 worth of stuff. Ouch, especially so close on the heels of Wiscon. Of course, I hadn't gotten around to completing the pet insurance policy, yet.

So, we've instituted the BIG PLAN - 1 Tough Puppy - a blog dedicated to pet issues of all kinds. I'm hoping to provide a forum for advice and discussion and a place for recommendations and reviews of pet products. I'm hoping it will generate a little bit of Adsense revenue to help us pay down the surgery debt. It will definitely keep me from posting my long pet rants on this blog. If you are interested in joining in, let me know. Some of you have been so helpful here with support and advice and I know others would benefit from your wisdom, too.

Thanks everyone for your support. I thought I'd lighten things up a bit with the best news I've heard all week (other than personal visits by bears.)

Meerkat Manor

Oh Yeah! (Picture Alan's falsetto here.)

I won't be able to fly out to California for my uncle's funeral, although it sounds like we will probably have a memorial service here in the Twin Cities, too. I didn't get to see my uncle very often when I was growing up but I have great memories from two family trips out to Davis to see him. My uncle, Robert Price, was a marine biologist who taught for years at UC Davis and specialized in seafood technology. When I was ten, we borrowed my aunt's parent's RV and drove down the coast on Highway 1 ending up at Disneyland. We spent an amazing, magical time on that trip exploring the tide pools on one of the rocky, northern beaches. I remember looking into a tidepool and seeing nothing. Then, my uncle brought me closer and it was teeming with life. It was just like Pagoo and, at that moment, I couldn't think of anything better than having an uncle who was a marine biologist.