opening my eyes to the wonderful and tragic world of dog rescue

this is a picture of patsy smiling and showing off how clean and white her teeth are.  she is a small american staffordshire terrier, who is very sweet, well behaved.....with all the love in the world to give. this picture doesn't do this girl justice, as she is an absolute beauty.

since adopting gus, much of my free time has been spent at the barking lot, the rescue that saved him.  owner, stacy, nursed gus through parvo, and a handful of other ailments.  the love i feel for gus has made me totally and completely indebted to stacy and her mission.  even though i am just a core volunteer and spend up to 25 hours a week there, i have an official title.  i am the barking fee supervisor. i think that translates into accounts supervisor in normal business speak.  given that it has been a long time since a real job, excluding internships, this stability and work like environment is beneficial.  ofcourse i could go back to serving at bars and restaurants, but that wouldn't help me on my path to the kind of career that i want, and it would certainly not be as fun or fulfilling as saving dogs.

sometimes at the barking lot i feel like a superhero.  when a normally balanced dog acts out, even just once.  he becomes food aggressive and bites his friend over a treat or bowl of kibble.  i insert myself into the situation, pull the dogs apart, clean up their injuries, and tell them that it is okay. that they won't be put to sleep because of one mistake, because of one bite, because they are part pitbull.  i give them a kiss, a bath, and good scratch.  sure enough, they are over the situation.  anyone who has broken up a dog fight, (and who doesn't become hysterical) will notice that the moment the fight is over, a calm comes over the dogs as they realize 1. fighting really sucks, 2. ouch now i have an owie, 3. what was i fighting for.....  dogs live in the moment, as soon as someone stops the fight and demands calm submissive behavior from the dogs, the frantic energy of the fight is gone.  it is pretty amazing, and i have seen stacy do it several times.  despite my lack of experience with dogs growing up, i think i am learning these techniques quickly.

i used to be afraid of large dogs.  i think i was bit through a fence when i was little, near my abuelita's house.  it wasn't hard, but it gave me a scare and became a lasting memory.  it has been so beneficial to work at the barking lot because i am aware of changes in my perceptions of our big dogs.  some dogs we have had since i started volunteering up to a year ago and i used to think they were so big.  just like when you return to your old elementary school, a place that once seemed so big, and is now miniature.  the fear of the big dogs has shrunk in my mind and now it takes an impressively large dog for me to notice their size. 

gus would really like a friend.  i can tell. next time pickle and i are considering getting a bigger dog.  we love labs and golden, but are also considering pittie breeds.  i would love to have a calm, sweet, pittie, that could serve as a ambassador for the breed and illustrate how good they could be with the right family.  ultimately, we will decide as a family, and gus will get his say too.  of the many great things about working at the barking lot, i love the ability to watch the dogs and see their behaviors, whose alpha, dominate, submissive, who is calm, energetic, who listens, who is distracted, who is food motivated....exc.  essentially, i get the pick of the liter. (hahha pun)

well that is all for now, have a dog gone good day!

"The other day a woman wouldn't let me hold her baby because she said I was too drunk...."

"First of all, don't bring your baby into a bar.  Second of all, if I'm drinking malt liquor at a playground, I'm calling it a bar."  -tosh

Two beers and a drop of 600 points in the market later!

If you haven't seen Inside Job yet, go rent it, pay 5 bucks for it on demand....see it immediately.
  
http://www.hulu.com/watch/174282/movie-trailers-inside-job---trailer


Basically the point of this blog is to bring up how rating agencies, specifically standard and poor's, dropped the *&^%ing ball when it came to the banks on the verge of clapse and the buying up of junk mortgages.  All those banks that went bankrupt, were bought out, or received a ridiculous amount of government bailout money had AAA ratings just days or hours before they filed chapter 11.  How did our rating agencies screw up that badly?  They suck that is how.

Why didn't our government prosecute our rating agencies for....i don't know...accurately rating our banks.  you know ....their jobs.   And now Standard and Poors downgraded the US GOV to a AA+ rating, sending our stockmarket into the dumps again.  As big a drop as in 2008.... once again you screwed us standard and poor.  Thank you very little.

saturday thoughts

i just clapped for a band on tv.  it felt right, and then weird.

i wish i could make a career doing what i am best at.  unfortunately i don't think i can be a professional avocado picker.

 why do all baseball players look like douches?

isn't whistle blowing just the adult version of tattle telling?

how did the tenacious d movie happen without me noticing, i am making up for lost time now!

procrastination reaches seriously combustable levels

nearly done with my first year of my mba.  i am currently, one finance final, one econ final, one group ids paper, and one econ term paper away from the amazing half way mark in my masters.   i really need to be working on my econ term paper right now, which i am writing on pita chips, (i know how to pick some interesting topics, huh).  i just can't focus.  econ really is the most awful subjects i will ever have to study.  it is a shame too, because it is so applicable in everything you do, that it is just stupid.  it is always about this point in the semester, when crunch time turns into distraction time.  blogs, facebook, and a new smart phone do not help.

but worst of all, knitting.  it seems i only love knitting when it is keeping me from something really unpleasant like econ.  last semester during finals, i knit the beer koozie necklaces, this time i want to make monsters, a lot of monsters. 

here is my inspiration.

i am going to start with some monster chunks...

these look way more fun than econ, huh?

say cheese!

 

www.rescuedcards.com

lil' gus got his photo taken by professional, inspiring, and all-around awesome person, monica hoover.  he was a little camera shy, but she captured his goofy, lovableness, don't you think?  she is working to get her "rescue cards" picked up by a large retailer.  they are beautiful greeting cards that feature rescue doggies, a portion of proceeds from sales will go to the rescues that saved the dogs photographed.  even in her state of extreme hunger and exhaustion she was wonderful.  it is no easy feet to photograph 30 puppies and abut 50 dogs in one day.

if you also love her photos, you can like her on facebook here.

doesn't play well with others

i recall the occasional phrase, "doesn't play well with others" on elementary report cards.  i was always exceedingly bright but would get knocked down to a "satisfactory" on report cards due to this.  i was also the youngest in my grade, started kindergarten at age four, went to college at age 17, will finish grade school at 24. so i am accustomed to being the youngest around but interestingly instead of being complacent and agreeable, i still to this day, get worked up over the stupidity of group projects.  lets just say, mba=a million group projects.  luckily i have formed amazing friendships with easily the smartest gals in my program, but still we wind up with some hangers on in our groups that, don't do shit, and just drive me bonkers.  i tend to get much more upset about these boogers then other people do.  don't get me wrong i am not a type a, perfectionist, will accept nothing but the best....... i am human, i will fall apart, or slack occasionally, or even procrastinate to dangerous levels.... but never, do i not complete my portion on time, when others are counting on me.  be it the magnitude of team sports i played growing up, or learning the worst thing you can do is let your peers down, or perhaps i just like to feel superior.  maybe it is a little of all of it, but i don't let me team down.  i finish my part with due diligence and am ready to get everyone else parts and see them fit together like a puzzle that creates a project that REALLY represents the magnitude of combined brain power of our group.  insightful, witty, creative, thorough, and most importantly complete.  but dummies that are in my group always seem to make this a near impossible task.

i once had a teacher who, during class one day, asked, "who here likes group work?"  about 1/5 of the class raise their hand, "the teacher says, now everyone take a look at these people, remember who they are."  ....."all of those that didn't raise their hand, hate group work more than anything, it is because of you few, with your hands raised, that they hate it."  quickly hands went down. but i felt so great in that moment, that a teacher understood and was empathetic of the struggles to carry the dead weight that is your lazy classmates.

but riddle me this.  why, if teacher know how horrible a struggle it is, do they still assign so much group work?

i know, because in the real world, you will have to deal with lazy, unmotivated, or just bad colleagues.

i maybe optimistic, or naive, but i hope to work in an atmosphere someday with people who care about the quality of their work, that can meet a deadline, that have a sense of time urgency, and are intelligent and decent people.  (oh, and team-players too!)

of all the lies that one could put on a resume....to lie and put you are a team player, when you actually are not, just because it is one of the BUZZ phrases that managers like to see, has got to put you in one of the deepest rings of dante's hell.

and that is why ladies and gents, i don't play well with others.

traffic from interesting sources

so as anyone who blogs would know, you can see where traffic to you your blog comes from.  the stats page tells you various cool information like keyword searches that brought your blog up in google, among other things.  interestingly i saw more than usual traffic coming from certain keyword searches, that were, surprising, and well ummmmm....disturbing. 

now think of what someone might search, that would accidentally bring up a blog called amateur's corner.  if you were thinking along the lines of pornography, you would be correct.  i can't believe, that it took me two years to realize that my title had a dirty innuendo.  i am usually so good with clever innuendo, i guess this one just slipped by. 

anyway, for the internet community that stumble upon my amateurs corner by uhmm...accident, i apologize for the mix up.  let me just say,  it is pretty unlikely that any risque photos will be posted here.

how hilarious that i received way more traffic to my blog than i would've under a less ambiguous title.  as a marketing professional in training, i wonder how useful a tactic that is for seo.  give links or web pages potentially dirty names, in order to get more keyword hits.  one unconfirmed stat that i always hear is that the web is 70% porn, so someone could strategically use that to their advantage......right?

:)

Goodwill Pub Crawl

pub crawls are pretty frequent happenings in  pacific beach area of san diego, so the need to distinguish themselves through t-shirts, mustaches, and common themes is needed.  pickle and i have been on a hand full of them, and they are always fun.  for some reason, walking with a group of friends, or soon to be friends, down by the beach, drunk, leaving one bar before it gets old or stale, only to stumble to the next new place, it's just so exciting.

last weekend, we were lucky enough to join a group for a dual birthday fiesta.  we didn't know more than a few people, but we liked the theme and like meeting new people so, we went.  the theme was "dress to embarrass."  the idea was that everyone met a bar, wearing clothes they planned to donate to goodwill, they names are pulled, and the name that you pull, is the person you will be dressing at goodwill.  at goodwill, it is a free for all-  the craziest items that anyone can find, are put on and then starts the pub crawl.

i must stop to mention, how this idea also supports goodwill, we may have left the store looking a little bit like a tornado hit it, but i bet the group spent about 300 + dollars there.   plus we donated our clothes. ....well, most of us did.   i decided to wear leggings that were jeans, or jeggings as they are commonly referred to.  when it came to drop them in the donate bin, something in me didn't want to part with the jeggings.  they made it back to the trunk of my car, and they will be worn again, probably as another joke.

anyway, here is a photo of me and pickle in the glorious outfits that were chosen for us. pickles was a women's- set and very tight on him, he looked like he was going to bust out of it, like the incredible hulk. 

random pics and movie reviews

 since when is this jimi hendrix song called "Voodoo Chile".....i dunno, but i think i like it.

dyl pickle schooled me in "apple" scrabble today w/ "roved"  i challenged it too, what an idiot.  worst part is he gave me a decent definition that turned out to be right.  i will think twice before i question dyls knowledge of the english language.

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movie reviews;

the social network,

well i certainly don't understand what all the hoopla was about.  i found the story interesting, but i felt like i could've edited 45 minuted out.  but those winkelman twins, that were rowing the whole time, ....babes.  45 minutes of lawyering up should get cut, and 45 more minutes of the crew team should be added.  just a suggestion.



the fighter;
excellent.  can't believe mark wahlberg was pretty much the sole person not nominated for an academy award in that cast.  well, what does the academy know?  so he plays pretty much the same character every movie he is in... so what!  you can't help it if you have been type-casted as a bad-ass, with an amazing six pack.  loved this movie, and amy adams, and christian bale too.


that is all for now, unless you want to watch this snl short "mark wahlberg talks to animals"