5 Years and Going

Today is our 5th anniversary and I would like to let my wife know that I love her. It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years already and I'm looking forward to the many more to come. (Isn't she beautiful!)

Home Alone

Becky left me for the weekend so she could go back to Utah to visit family. I'm stuck here holding the fort down and keeping myself company. Everything else is going well for us. Riley is just getting so big and is learning new tricks every day. I'll put another post up tomorrow for another event that we are having.

School, Tornadoes, and Booze

It's been a very eventful week. Riley had his first obedience school training session on Monday. It was mostly a crash course for new dog owners. Riley did great and liked playing with the trainer. He knows how to sit and lie down, and we're working on stay and come. He won't have another session until he's six months old.

Tuesday was quite an adventure. A storm warning went into effect around 5pm, right as I was getting ready to bike home. The tornado warning sirens were going off, and being unsure of what to do, I went back inside to find someone who might know what to do. Instead, I found Dave (the guy we moved out here with), and neither of us knew what to do (we're both from the West! What do we know about tornadoes?!). So, we went around asking various people for a ride home, since Kevin was locked in the basement at his work, and we really wanted to go home (it was after 5pm!). We were told there was a tornado to the north of us, and we needed to stay put. After a while, the wind died down, and Dave and I were brave enough to venture outside. It didn't look too bad to us. There were a lot of fallen branches, some of them quite large, but it looked safe to us. We both got our bikes and tried to decide if we could make it home safely. We were warned by the janitors that a major downpour was headed our way fast. When Father Streit came out of the building, hopped on his bike, and took off, Dave and I decided we should make our move. We sped home, trying to beat the rain. At first, our bike ride wasn't too bad. There were fallen branches we had to dodge occasionally, but the storm didn't seem to have hit the area very hard. At least, until we came across a massive tree that had fallen across the road. We tried to cut across a parking lot, since the road was completely blocked but had to dodge an additional tree that had fallen in the parking lot. Along our route, there were two massive fallen marquees in parking lots and many rescue crews out trying to clean things up. I made it home just fine, seven minutes before the rain hit. Our house was still standing, although a large branch fell from our neighbor's tree. It's a miracle it didn't pull down the power line on its way down. Once home, I learned how bad the storm really had been. The winds blew at 60-70 mph and blew a spire off the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. It was also enough to blow down 30 trees around campus. Nobody was hurt, but there was a lot of damage around town.

Later that night, we had another adventure. I was home with Riley when I heard a crash outside. I ran to the window in time to see our next door neighbor driving over the curb and sidewalk into her driveway, dragging a street sign underneath her car. I thought the storm must have blown the sign into her driveway, and she accidentally drove over it. But a few minutes later, another neighbor from across the street came running over to the car yelling, "Are you okay? Are you okay?" I went outside to see what was going on. I caught the neighbor from across the street as she left my next door neighbor's house. Apparently, my next door neighbor was dead drunk and had been driving. She pulled into the wrong driveway and backed up onto the sidewalk and curb and into a "pedestrian" warning sign. She dragged the sign with her as she pulled forward into her own driveway. She managed to pull the entire sign out of the ground (it was buried 4 feet deep), bent it to a 90 degree angle, and dragged the sign 30 feet. She stumbled out of her car and onto her porch where she collapsed. That's when our neighbor across the street ran over. She and her husband had seen the whole incident. Our drunk neighbor's pants also managed to fall off as she stumbled on the porch, and she ran inside to grab a towel. She slurred something to our other neighbor before shutting the door and collapsing in the entryway. We weren't really sure what to do. She was obviously drunk (you could smell her from across the yard), and we were worried she might need medical help (she lives alone). It turned out she was fine but must have had a major hangover the next day. Needless to say, we aren't happy with her behavior. There are lots of children in this neighborhood; she was lucky the storm kept people inside that night. There will likely be a talk with her sometime in the future.

That's it for now. Things are starting to wind down. I finished my GLOBES module this week and am now done with courses for the summer. I'll be focusing on lab work from now on. Kevin bought a new Canon Rebel and has enjoyed taking pictures of everything. Stay safe! There are lots of crazy people out there!

Thank You, Auntie Gail!!

Riley would like to thank Auntie Gail for sending him the wonderful care package. He enjoys the treats and toys, but liked the box even more. Thanks for the warm welcome! Riley is still a handful but is definitely maturing. He had a veterinary appointment last Friday, and we found out he now weighs thirty pounds! He doubled his weight in four weeks! His baby fat is almost all gone now, and he is starting to gain muscle. He jumps higher and now runs around everywhere he goes. He hasn't liked the heat lately (neither have I), and refuses to go on walks if it's too warm. We've already started using the air conditioning because of him; he won't overheat so much once he stops growing and his metabolism slows.

In other news, I'll be heading to Utah later this month to celebrate Natalie and Ulli and their new home. It'll be a short trip since I have so much lab work to do, but I'm excited to see family even if it's for a short period of time. I just finished my final and paper today. It doesn't feel like that big of an accomplishment since I have a summer module to complete next week. It never ends. Not much else is new here, so we'll just fill in the space with Riley pics. Have a great week!

Riley's First Month

It has now been one month since Riley joined our family. We're all doing great. Riley had a real breakthrough this morning- he went out of the house by himself, went to the bathroom in the backyard, and came right back into the house without us even calling to him! We're so proud of our big boy. He's now 12 weeks old and is growing up fast. It doesn't feel like he's only been with us for one month. The time has flown by, and it's hard to imagine a time we didn't have to visit the backyard every hour. Riley is now going on walks twice a day and can walk around four blocks. I think we've met most of the neighbors on our block. Everyone loves puppies and Riley loves the attention. We've even found potential playmates for him. It's really hard to walk him anytime on the weekends; we always end up stuck talking to various neighbors, making our walks take hours! We love our neighbors and our neighborhood. It's a great place to be.

Kevin's parents came out to visit us a couple of weeks ago. They flew into Chicago on a Wednesday and we met them there. We went to a great restaurant in the loop and went to Wicked at the Oriental Theater. It was fantastic! It's a must see for everyone. Kevin and his parents stayed overnight in Chicago while I drove home to take care of the puppy. Our neighbor took care of Riley that evening, but I didn't want to make them get up at 2:30am and 5:30am to take him out for a bathroom break. I drove all night and got back to South Bend at 2:30am. I got three hours of sleep before Riley woke up again to start his morning routine. It was a rough day- I had classes and meetings plus had to rush home twice during the day to take care of Riley. I was able to speed to and from school the 2.8 miles on my bike in 8 minutes! I was dead tired that night though when Kevin and his parents arrived. We all went out for dinner (I was too tired to cook) that night and relaxed at home.

Kevin showed Diane and Dennis around South Bend the next day. They went downtown and explored a bit. That evening I took them on a tour of the Notre Dame campus and to the bookstore (which is 70% ND paraphernalia, 10% school supplies, and 20% books- most are textbooks). On the weekend, we had breakfast at the Farmer's Market and drove to Amish country for an Amish style dinner. We barbecued on Kevin's new grill on Sunday and invited some friends too. Monday was the day they were flying out and had to drive back to Chicago. It was a great visit, although I didn't get to see them much since I had school (it was hectic time of the semester too- one week before classes end). Having Riley around also made things difficult, but Diane actually liked him.

Classes are finally over with. I have a paper to write and one take home final before I can leave this semester behind. Lab work isn't going too great, but all my labmates are super supportive and helpful. Stupid Plasmodium falciparium and it's 80% A-T richness! Not much else going on. We're going to see Flock of Dodos tonight with some friends, and Riley has his next veterinary appointment tomorrow. Funny little side note: my parents are now thinking of getting a dog. My dad says it's because there are too many wild cats eating his song birds. I have other theories.

Take care!