Indy has such a tough life...

I initially wanted this blog to be very picture-based, but unfortunately, I get self-conscious of having a camera around all the time. I'm not very bold in making photo-ops happen. Luckily, I'm not that shy about taking pictures of my dog (I don't know if you've noticed the plethora of photos of him on Facebook, that's just the tip of the iceberg folks).

Anyways, here are our adventures from today.

Indy was very excited to leave the apartment because of swarm of landscapers all over my apartment complex. They woke me up at 7. Not pleased.

Then we went to Town Lake and the Zilker Off-Leash area. It's my new favorite dog park because Indy runs around like a beserker (thanks Age of Empires) AND doesn't need a bath afterwards. Indy made friends with a couple of sadly shaven Pomeranians and ran around

After he got tuckered out, I added insult to injury and made him pose in front of the skyline.

He posed epically atop this cliff. And then jumped off it to chase a bird. It scared the living daylight out of me. I thought for sure he had broken a leg, but he was up and chasing the bird before I had even finished saying the curse word out loud.

This is the cliff he jumped off of. Freaking ridiculous. How did my scared little baby puppy turn in to...well... Indiana Jones?

Here he is in front of the cliff in question. That is a big jump for a little dog!

This picture proves I'm still alive and that these pictures/blog posts haven't been made by a robot. I actually really like this picture.

We drove home and Indy promptly drank a LOT of water and then passed out in his favorite spot in my apartment. On the tile in front of his own personal fan. He loves the cool air and will sit in front of it forever. I eventually have to turn it off because my apartment gets freezing!

a random collection of happenings

I'm currently trying Indy on this pre-made raw food for dogs to attempt to, ahem, firm up some bowel movements. It kind of looks like soup and actually smells pretty delicious. Plus all the ingredients are actual ingredients and not sick nasty chemicals. He is doing awesome on it! Right now it's just a couple of spoonfuls with his kibble but he is digging in with gusto and seems to (finally) be putting on some weight. He's actually currently licking his empty bowl.

He lost a pound as a result of diarrhea-gate 2010, which is a lot of weight for his size. The breeder thought he would hit 25 lbs, but at 7 months he is only 13 lbs. I'm guessing he will hit about 20 but won't actually grow that much bigger. He's a bit of a skinny-minny still.

On other Indy-related news, I'm planning on signing him up for a "pre-agility" class at this new facility within walking distance of my apartment. It's called the Zoom Room and is pretty competitively priced as well as insanely convenient. The pre-agility class is only $35 and would give me a taste of: A.) What Indy needs to know before legit agility classes, B.) If agility is actually something I want to try with him and C.) Whether he can handle a group class. I'm pretty excited about the potential of competing. I feel like it might be something really fun for me to do with him that would really challenge him mentally and physically AND make him a better trained dog.

LSAT class is going pretty well. It's kind of hard to sit in one spot for 4 hours and I hate driving downtown in the rush hour traffic, but the instructor is pretty great and I think I really have a chance to do very well on this retest. My diagnostic was a 167 after not looking at anything LSAT related for 8 months. A 167 surpasses where I was hoping to hit and makes me feel pretty good about getting in to some great schools with scholarships. Hopefully I can continue to improve.

My job stinks. I really really hate it. My boss is a nice guy, but not really the best boss. And by not really the best boss, I mean he sucks. I'm discovering I'm a pretty good salesperson and when I actually have things to do it's not that bad. The bad part is just standing...for hours...doing nothing. I get that maybe I should be grateful that I don't have much to do, but the time feels like it's stuck in molasses. I can't wait to get a better job after the LSAT. Currently I'm hoping for either something working with dogs (yeah, yeah I know) or something more related to my sociology degree. There was an advertisement in the paper for an adoption/foster placement position that sounded incredible and I'm actually qualified. We'll see.

The magic of music

I've never really understood the people who don't like music or are ambivalent to it. To me, it's not just something I mangled on a flute in middle school. It's little portable memories of people, events, places, and relationships. There are songs I can hear years later and they remind me of a person or a day.

Just a few examples:

Calli and Matt on the bus on BISP --Open Your Eyes (and rocking out)

Josh Cleveland -- Be Ok (Carousels) and Closing Time (backpacking)

Dani -- I'm On A Boat --that one time we jammed in the car

Mom --Walkaway Joe --she used to sing it to me when I was little

Callie -- There Goes My Life --from that time you said "I wish I knew how to quit you" to me after our Senior Celebration

Scott and Kirsten --You Belong With Me -- from that time we lost the Intramural Championship game unfairly and had to eat Panda and scream this to feel better.

A song comes on my iPod and I'm right back there. It doesn't seem to really work for negative memories, though "Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne brings me back to a rough break up in high school. Soundtracks and movies have almost the same power. Sometimes a song will just click with me and it will always mean something to me.

The right music can make me run faster, study harder, and score higher on the LSAT. It's incredible and not quantifiable and I love it.

This morning

I woke up.

Indy had pooped everywhere.

I threw up.

Indy vomited.

Indy got the poop/vomit rinsed off in the shower.

I gagged but surprisingly did not vomit.

I tried to clean Indy's crate.

I threw up.

Now we have a vet appointment at 10, one very sick and sad puppy, and one exhausted and puked out Devin. Awesomeawesomeawesome.

life as I know it.

Today I wanted to take Indy to the Shoal Creek dog park. I was like "hey, there is no water there, that means I won't have to bath him in my shower.

This was false. Indy found the sickest, nastiest puddle I have ever seen and literally submerged himself in it. Granted, he was warm, but still. He smelled like poop and algae. To make things worse, I was running late so there wasn't even a chance of him getting a rinse off. I returned from a 5 hour shift to find that now my whole freaking apartment smelled like poop and algae. Yay dog ownership...

LSAT prep class started on Monday. It's 4 hours a night on Monday and Wednesdays with a few Saturday and Sundays sprinkled in. I'm taking it through Powerscore. So far it's wonderful. The instructor got a 176 (that's really freaking good) AND I got a 167 on my first prep test in 8 months! (this is 7 points higher than my actual score and puts me in contention for just about every school I could possibly want) To further elaborate, with a 167, I would have a shot at Stanford ( a slim one, but nonetheless...)

Work has been eh. I've pretty much decided I'm going to find a full-time job doing something (anything) with dogs. I don't mind the work at Shoeboxes, it's more the lack of work. 5-7 hours takes a long time to go by when you have nothing to do. I shouldn't complain, I'm thankful for the work and for the paycheck and convenience.

I have so much I need to decide about my life in the near future. Where am I going to go to church? How do I make friends here in Austin? Do I want to try agility with Indy? Do I want another dog? Where do I want to go to law school? How does post-grad life look (with a puppy)?

(hence the name of the blog; post-grad doodles)

EDIT: Turns out my apartment smelled like poop because the algae made Indy poop all over his crate. I couldn't be mad because the poor guy had been stuck in it for a long time while I was at work. Cleaned it out (hopefully not with toxic stuff) and he's back in for the night. Hopefully makes it through without another accident.

I wish I had left on an adventure anyways.

That darn hierarchy

As a sociology major, I heard a lot about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs over my time at Whitworth. (I know it's technically psych, but we definitely borrow from all the disciplines...our bad). When I learned about it, I got that feeling of "oh sure, that makes sense" and moved on.

Now in my post-grad life I'm seeing how it is very true for me. I've been so worried about getting a place to live, a job, and some stability in my life that a lot of things have fallen on the backburner. And not just silly stuff like dressing nice (yes, I count that as silly for me), but big stuff like my faith, my health, and being intellectually challenged.

When I look back over these past few months, I haven't actually DONE much and that's frustrating. I know that when I get in these big self-improvement stages, I don't always accomplish everything I need to....but this is just embarrassing.

I have so many questions about how my life should look or go and I haven't really faced any of them. I have a tendency to avoid, but I'm hoping that I can actually do stuff now.

I need a small group badly. Austin is great, but Covenant doesn't have very many people my age and I'm going a little stir-crazy on the friendship front. How do you even meet people?! Whitworth was so easy like that, and I miss being in close proximity to my closest friends. I need faith and fellowship in my life right now but I'm struggling on how to achieve it. I don't want to desert my church, but I'm not even going to church right now. I may not know much about what my life will look like, but seeking Christ is the one thing that is clear to me.

Ugh, I have to go to work. I will finish this tonight.