like mother, like daughter-ish

To update you on Mia, our monster is now 4 mo. old and fully formed terror-inspiring 26-lb puppy.

Her favorite activities include digging up mommy, "grandmommy," and the neighbor's plants--her preferred method is to excavate all dirt in the area and then pull plant out by the leaves and run with it, strewing dirt as far as possible--tearing, esp. shoes, socks, and fluffy things, running around like a crazy/possessed thing, and any other possible mischief. possibilities, of course, are limitless.

it's not that she doesn't know what she should be doing--if anybody happens to have food and orders her to do something, it's amazing the number of commands that she knows. but if you don't have food and there's something more interesting around, forget it.

one of the things we do to try to eliminate excess energy (because a sleeping puppy is the cutest puppy) is play fetch, which usually turns into throwing the ball/frisbee/rock/tree limb and then running around trying to get it back from mia. she's very good at bringing it almost back to where you are.

one sunny afternoon this week, we were outside playing with the frisbee. as we're running back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the houses, i finally got the frisbee back, looked at mia--jumping frantically up and down, literally, of course--and said, "Mia, go get it!"

This inspired even more frantic hopping like a rabbit.

I then turned around and chucked the frisbee in the opposite direction.

Unluckily for Mia, however, she was positioned a couple feet behind a lamp post, and when she took off to get the frisbee, she forgot to avoid the obstacle directly in front of her.

THWACK.

Don't worry, she's fine, she has a skull like a rock.

I just think it's funny that we're so definitely not possibly related and yet she seems to have inherited my grace and poise :)

long time no see, friends!

Most of the reason that I don't write (other than my horrific schedule) is because I feel guilty posting if I don't upload any pictures, and I'm absolutely awful at remembering to upload pictures from my camera to my computer.

I don't feel guilty any more!

If you really want to see pictures, most of you can see what I'm tagged in ('cause I'm sure not uploading them) on facebook. Lots of pictures there.

As for an update, lots has gone in my life in the last few months. Mia grew big enough to jump on furniture and get into even more trouble than when she was small, which has pretty much put Brad's and my problem-solving abilities to the test. She's either very smart or just dumb enough to get into all the bizarre stuff (think: used Kleenexes) that we don't want to particularly have her eat and digest. It's totally TMI, but she has the WEIRDEST looking poop. Like seriously, Mia? Where did you find little bright blue balls to eat? What even is that?!

On a less digestive note, I have gone to depressingly bored to overwhelmingly busy--because what's the fun of living somewhere in the middle? School started up at the end of August, and although Grand Valley certainly doesn't expect as much as UM, three classes keeps me pretty busy. I'm taking Econ, Accounting, and Business Ethics, which is so far removed from any of the classes I've taken in the last three years that it isn't even funny. Like, I'm using numbers. Real numbers. Sometimes I add them. Sometimes we even multiply.

I'm also a research assistant in the Marketing department, which means that I am the personal slave of roughly 15 professors who obviously can't grade their own papers, record their own grades, or upload their own quizzes because that would be menial work, and far below them. Of course, they can't do their own research or draw their own conclusions, either, some of them, because that would be my job.

I'm slightly bitter about this position. I do like being there, though. Sometimes I get to do my homework if there's nothing to do and it's nice to be surrounded by students and learning again. I love the academic environment.

I also still have contract work to do for Gale (yay, a job that pays well!!), so that takes up spare moments. But....da da da da!! I also got a real live job, too, which doesn't pay but is very interesting. I'm working as a technical writer (intern) for a start-up IT company, which means that I get to do all sorts of things that I'm absolutely not trained or prepared to do. I get to learn every day and make actual contributions to work. I never planned to work for such a small company, but I really love it.

So to recap: I'm going to school full-time, and I have three jobs: one covers my tuition, one pays well, and one is interesting. Now if only I could find one job that covers all three categories!