Day Ninety-Six: 101 (+199) Dalmatians

I live very near a Holiday Inn that hosts a lot of conventions.  Most of the time you don't know what sort of convention is happening inside. Sometimes, the type of vehicles (usually RVs) and other pieces of miscellaneous property stationed next to those vehicles will allow you to proffer a guess.  This week, the wire cages with cute little spotted dogs inside them next to the fleet of RVs leave no question: the Dalmatian Club of  America is hosting its annual conference in Lawrence, Kansas.  

I stopped in the Holiday Inn parking lot last night to take what I thought was going to be my picture of the day, but ended up meeting this guy, Teddy, instead.  Teddy's owner said that there were more than 300 purebred Dalmatian wagging their tails at the conference this year.  He and Teddy were just outside for a short break, and then headed back inside for more paw licking fun.

I hope Lucy doesn't get jealous when I say that Teddy is quite adorable. :)  Don't worry Luc, you've still got my heart. :)

Day Ninety-Five: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year- Addendum

Most Catholics know the song "The King of Glory", a song commonly sung around this time of year.

You know...
The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices
Open the gates before him, lift up your voices...

In an attempt to lighten the mood slightly during this trying week, I offer you Stephen Colbert's version of the song.  Click and laugh. :) (Thanks to Pete for enlightening me to this little treasure.)

Day Ninety-Five: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This week, Catholics (including many other Christian traditions) celebrate an emotional roller coaster of a week: Holy Week.  In a period of seven days, we praise Jesus as King, welcoming him into the city of Jerusalem; receive from Him the gift of the Eucharist; deny and condemn Him; scourge Him; crucify Him; mourn his death; and wake on Sunday morning* to find that He has conquered sin and death and won for us the gift of eternal life.

I know the number of hours spent in a pew this week make some people cringe, but for me, it's one of the best times of the year.  Holy Thursday mass-- the mass where Jesus institutes the Eucharist saying that THIS IS my body-- is my favorite mass of the whole year. Plus, the gift of eternal life...with God...hmm...how much better can it get!?

Yesterday was the day where welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem, or more commonly known as Palm Sunday.  This is one of the few days of the liturgical year where the church gives out "party favors", or palms.  We receive these palms again at the beginning of Lent next year -- in another form-- and is other "party favor" given by the church: Ashes on Ash Wednesday.  These palms lead us to the cross, and from the cross, that eternal salvation.

This Lent has been a very fruitful Lent for me, but I'm quite anxious for it to be over.  Before it ends, we must  navigate the waters of this most blessed seven days.  This week will be long and arduous; only by entering fully into the sufferings of Christ can we really understand what he has done and gained for us.** But the reward at the end, or the gift that I hope is at the end for me, is better than any other gift I will ever receive.  Here's to the goodness of the Lord!

*The celebration of Easter actually commences with the Easter Vigil on Saturday night.
** If you're looking for an excellent way to fully experience Easter, check out 'The Passion of the Christ".

Day Ninety-Four: Rock Chalk Chasing a Championship

The KU men's basketball ended their post-season run a week ago in a disheartening loss to Michigan State.  Although not nearly as exciting as the possibility of winning another NCAA championship, the KU women had quite a post-season run in which they landed in the finals of the Women's NIT (National Invitation Tournament).  Unlike the NCAA championship that has a set location for the finals, the championship NIT game is held at one of the schools that is vying for the title. For the first time in history, Allen Fieldhouse hosted a championship game.  The record setting crown of 16,131 fans- both a KU Women's and Big 12 Women's Basketball attendance record- cheered on the Lady Jays in hopes of clinching at least one KU basketball post-season title.

Spirits were high. The crowd was excited.  The band tooted their horns and the cheerleaders yelled and screamed.  Big and Baby Jay danced and cheered.  At moments, a victory seemed so close.  And at other moments, and when the buzzer rang, victory once again slipped through our fingers.

The Lady Jays had quite a season and, just like the men's team, exceeded most expectations.  Hopefully this trip to the not-so-big dance will rase the expectations and excitement surrounding the Lady Jays for years to come.

Day Ninety-Three: Take Me Home Country Road

There are a plethora of shopping opportunities in Lawrence in unique and trendy shops, but surprisingly enough, there are no photography stores (which I know about at least).  Thus you must ignore the cry in your bones to avoid the city that is Topeka, Kansas, and venture there to find the newest and best the photography world has to offer.

Today was one of those days for Pete.  So, after school, he ventured over to the State Capitol to swing by and pick me up. We visited Wolfe's camera, and then made our way back to Lawrence.  But we didn't take the usual corridor of I-70. Instead, we traversed the winding back roads of Highway 40.  In the process, we stumbled upon some delicious scenes ripe for picture taking at sunset.  

This road led to a little housing "complex" (for lack of a better word) about halfway between Topeka and Lawrence.  I'm sure the people who live down this lane enjoy the sparse amount of traffic that comes because of the "No Outlet" sign. It's their country road, taking them home. 

Day Ninety-Two: Getting the Boot

The first couple months I had Lucy, she was a better puppy than I could have ever imagined.  Although we had to work a bit on her piddling in the house, she generally didn't chew things, didn't bark, stayed very nicely in her kennel while I was at work, and was just overall a great dog.  Sure we lost a shoe or two, but she was selective in what she chewed up...only older shoes that neither Jennifer or I would readily choose to wear.

Now in my third month of dog ownership, Lucy has definitely moved from that lovable, docile infant to a reckless toddler.  She has taken to carrying her food and water bowls around the house (spilling all the water if the bowl happens to be full), reverted to going the bathroom in the house when she feels like it, and chewing anything and everything she can get her little paws on.  This usually happens when Jennfier and I, showing a bit of trust in Lucy, leave her out while we're not home.  Pete has been skeptical of my decision to leave Lucy out still so early in her short life.  When we've walked into my house multiple times in the past couple weeks to find Lucy has destroyed something, I immediately realize I should have listened to my wise dog-owning boyfriend.

I often slip on my wellies, my cute white polka-dot rubber rain boots, to take Lucy out to go potty.  Because I used them so often, they sat near the door, ready to use at any moment, and they had gone largely unnoticed by Lucy.  That is, until my terrible toddler dog suddenly decided that they looked tasty and somehow tore the left boot apart.  What you see here is what remains of my beloved wellies.

Lucy has been relegated back to the kennel while Jennifer and I are not at home, and will remain there until it appears her tendency to chew buttons and rubber and bowls and toilet paper and flip flops and get into the trash has largely passed. Despite her oral fixation stage, I still adore my dog and wouldn't trade her for a million dollars. :)

Day Ninety-One: Heart to heart

Over the past couple months, I've been experiencing some symptoms that ultimately resulted in a trip to the cardiologist.  Although the doctor (who went to Simpson College, a rival of Wartburg) was pretty sure that my symptoms were not a result of something being wrong with my heart, he ran several tests just to make sure.  I had an x-ray and some blood work done on Monday (during which I ended up passing out...literally), and today, I had a stress echocardiogram.

A stress echo starts with an ultrasound of your heart at a resting heart rate.  They then hook you up to a bunch of monitors and put you on a treadmill.  Every 3 minutes, the treadmill goes faster and inclines a bit higher.  After that, they rush you back to the table so they can get another ultrasound of your heart now working hard.

I've never really had the stomach to really get involved in the medical field (see the first paragraph where I note how I passed out), I've always 

been fascinated by the human body.  I started talking to the ultrasound operator  and ended up getting this picture of my heart.  In the bottom left hand square, you can clearly see the four chambers of my heart.  The upper right hand square is one of my arteries...completely clear and healthy.  

I didn't actually take this picture, but in talking with Pete, he helped me realize that it was just too cool NOT to be my picture of the day.  But, before that conversation, I had snapped the shot on the left: a stuffed person doll (the girls at the 'bama house affectionately call "faith) who has run into the wall on a unicycle.  It's weird. It's creepy.  It's downright funny.  A shout out to Kristen, Lauren, Shereen, Colleen, Becca, Christina, Kelsey, and the other girls of that always welcoming house.

As you probably guessed by the simply fact that I posted the picture, everything is just fine.  I'm left with a pretty sweet bruise from passing out from a needle in my arm, but if that's the only problem I have, I'll take it. And that's no April Foolin'.