Friday, February 20, 2009

Talk about a long haitus, but I'm still running!

Man, it sure has been a long time! I regret not writing for so long, but alas, I am back!

Since I last wrote, quite a bit has happened. The semester kept me insanely busy, which is mostly why I didn't write. I also fell out of the habit of writing, which didn't help. Zack (the black kitten I found while running in June) has since moved to Chris's place (where I will be moving this summer...YAY!), and we adopted another kitten to keep Zack company. Ashe is an adorable kitten we picked up from the humane society. We believe she has Russian Blue in her. She is tall and thin, and I describe her as having "European Features". Her face is beautiful and narrow compared to Zack's cute yet huge round head. When we first got her (3 months of age), she ended up getting very sick. She is now doing great and both her and Zack have lost their "kitten faces". It makes me a little sad. Little Zacky is HUGE now. And I'm sure he's still growing, but he feels very dense when you pick him up. It's amazing that he used to be underweight. Both cats continuously make me laugh, and I can't imagine not having them. The dog puts up with the cats, but he would prefer to be an only child. Syd (my dog) is sadly getting much worse. The past couple of weeks he has hardly walked. I know that the time for me to put him down is very quickly approaching, but it's hard seeing how happy he is to eat, play, and to see me. I am happy that he is not in pain. I love my dog. I'm hoping I will know when the time is right.

In other news, my birthday was back in September, and I got the most amazing Garmin Nuvi 755T!!! It has saved me from getting lost so many times, and I love that it shows 3-D buildings in big cities! I also downloaded the "Dr. Nightmare" and "Elfred" voices for the holidays. Dr. Nightmare is by far my favorite voice! I still use it sometimes. I had a wonderful holiday season. For Halloween, Chris and I dressed up as Jedi. It was fun! Not to mention I was a lot warmer than some other girls I saw downtown that night. lol I spent Thanksgiving with Chris's family again. There was tons of delicious food involved! I also went to my cousin's wedding, where I got to see all of my dad's side of the family. This was especially wonderful since I hadn't seen my grandparents in a few years. Unfortunately my grandfather had a lot of medical problems, but I am happy to report that he is doing wonderful now. Christmas was terrific! I got a new little camera to take pictures when I go out and when I see family. I also borrowed Chris's D70 and took pictures with my mom, sister, and niece. Sadly I didn't know I had to calibrate the lens to the camera, so they are not all perfectly in focus, despite my using auto-focus. I'm still learning, but I'm having fun! Just before Christmas, I got to see my little brother and sister at their chorus concerts. It was a lot of fun. For Christmas, I spent half the day with my mom, sister, and niece (my half siblings were out of town), then the second half of the day with Chris's family. I also got to see my best friends from Texas and my godson for the first time!!!! He is ADORABLE!!! Oh my goodness!!!!

My co-workers and I decided to run a 15K in March (2009), so we started training for that back in November. Since there are a few girls who had either never run before, or had never run long distances, we all decided to run the Disney Princess Marathon in March 2010. This way we would all have plenty of time to train, and it would keep us running for over a year. We are prepared for the 15K (we ran 9 miles this past Tuesday, and it felt great), although my pace is not as great as it used to be. One of my co-workers and I have decided that we are going to run the 15K then start training an additional day or two a week to increase our speed. We both want to run the OUC Half Marathon in December 2009. My goal is try and beat my previous half marathon time for that race, then to run the Disney Princess half marathon more for fun. We plan to dress up and take cameras for that race. I'm really excited with how the training is going. Our speeds have already improved from where they were at the beginning. I am even more excited about trying to get my speed back up to where it used to be, if not faster.

So pretty much life is wonderful! Everything is going well with the exception of a busy semester. This semester is pretty stressful in terms of not having enough time to study and having professors that I feel could teach a little more. But again, the semester will be over soon enough. I am looking forward to having more time for research this summer.

Oh yes! So I am attempting to save another kitten. I was in my apartment complex and passed a momma cat and her two kittens. When I walked by, the mom and one of the kittens ran into the bushes. The other kitten didn't move. At first I thought it was either dead or some kind of stuffed animal. I walked over and sure enough the kitten was alive, but was laying on it's back just looking at me. Then it attempted to roll into the bushes. I thought his legs were broken, and I knew we were supposed to have a freeze over the weekend (yes, Orlando actually got into the low 30s), so I called the vet, who directed me to a local animal shelter. They told me that if I could the kitten, they would come and pick it up to take care of it. After catching the kitten (who was extremely fast for a little guy who can't walk!), an animal shelter woman came out. She felt the kitten and said she didn't feel any broken bones. She thought the problems were neurological, and told me that they would most likely put down the kitten. Chris said he didn't want that to happen, and asked me to take it to the vet (he paid, because he's super amazing!!!). The vet also thought it was neurological problems, but said that they could be caused by a number of different things. We put him on antibiotics and agreed to watch him for a couple of weeks to see how he does. Well he was definitely underweight, and has been eating like a champ. He plays and manages to get around, despite not being able to walk. He definitely tries to walk though and can make it a few steps before falling down. I feel like he is getting a little better at this, but that could be my wishful thinking. The vet did talk to a local vet neurologist, who agreed to look at videos of the kitten for free (very cool!). The neurologist did not think it was "wobbly kitten syndrom" (aka Cerebellar Hypoplasia or CH), and that we shouldn't get our hopes up, but it would be worth it to watch him for a couple of weeks. Well we are already attached to little Kirby. Yes, his name is Kirby after the video game character. And technically both Zack and Ashe are named after Final Fantasy characters. (o:

Well I need to get a bit of studying done before seminar starts. I'm happy to be back, and I hope everyone out in Blog Land is doing well! I am sorry for being absent for so long! I look forward to catching up! Have a wonderful weekend all!

~Jes~

PICTURES



Kitty Pictures


Little Ashe




Big Ashe



Big Zack



Little Kirby




Picture from My Cousin's Wedding


Family Picture



Me and Chris



My Grandparents



With My Aunt and Uncle



Pictures from Christmas


With My Little Brother and Sister at Their Chorus Concerts




Family



My Niece Joy and Syd



My Niece Joy




Chris and I



My Best Friends and Godson, Nick Danger




Me and Chris (o: I love him!


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