Wednesday, December 21, 2011


My friend Shannon found a dog about a month ago. He was wandering around her neighborhood for some time so she decided to take him in and try to find his family. He was malnourished and skiddish but she did a good job of making him friendly again. She called Animal Control to see if anyone had reported him and decided not to turn him in because she didn't want to risk having him being put down. Animal control told her to post on craigslist to search for the owner.

She posted on Craigslist and around the neighborhood looking for the possible owners but nobody responded. After about a month of searching she made the decision to go ahead and just keep him. He's a nice guy and makes a good playmate for her other dog.

Yesterday Shannon got a call that her dog was out. Apparently the UPS man didn't close the gate fully after he left a package. Someone read his tag and called her, she was at work so by the time she called back they had called Animal Control to come get him. The animal control person was actually at the house when she called and told her that it was required that he take the dog even though she's on the phone saying she's coming to get him right now.

Upset, she called the police station to see if there was any way they would talk the animal control guy into just letting her have the dog. They agreed and gave an address to meet him at. When she arrived he asked for her ID and when she gave it to him, he refused to hand over the dog because the address on her ID didn't match the address on his tag. Whats worse, is he actually said "didn't you call me a month ago trying to see if someone lost this dog?". He knew she had been taking care of him yet still wouldn't let her have the dog. He also threatened to give her tickets for keeping the dog and for letting it get loose again. He was condescending and very rude about the whole thing. In the end, he took the dog, refused to give her the address of where he'd be and just kept repeating "he'll be at county". "Where is county?" "Maricopa County". Seriously dude?

Anyway. So she's gonna have to pay tickets, fees and fines to get this dog now. A dog she took off the street, tried to find a home for and fed and cared for.

***UPDATE***
Though she had to pay the fines and overnight fees from the pound, they spayed and microchipped him as well. So it ended up being cheaper than a vet visit. A little light for a very upsetting situation..

Also, upon research of the Maricopa County Animal control she found that there was a lot of issues of not giving pets back, putting pets down and just bad customer service all around.

Story about a guy that raised a stray kitten and brought it in for medical help. tl;dr: The humane society took it, wouldn't give it back and put it down within hours of having it.

I seriously have the coolest little brother.

I love having lots of brothers and sisters. I love being the oldest because I got to see each of them grow up and turn into different and interesting people. The youngest of my family is Jacob. He's 11 right now and really starting to take interest in some fun things. I wish I lived closer so that I could be there to show him cool things and see what he does, lucky for us, our dad is a bit of a geek too so he encourages Jake in all his interests.

They were a little disappointed that he didn't fall in love with sports because his older brothers seemed to enjoy them. Dad hoped he would be a boy scout like he was but Jake didn't really like that either. He likes puzzles and creating things, he likes seeing things grow and change, he likes trying things nobody else would. He's going to be something great someday.

Jake started making videos of the things that he did and sending them to me. Dad recorded him on his old Nextel phone from work so the quality is always low. Don't worry, I got Jake something really special for Christmas so we don't have to worry about bad video anymore.

Here are a few of his videos. I've been posting them to YouTube, I think I'm going to make him his own channel.





Wednesday, December 14, 2011

We've been getting a lot of packages lately! Christmas gifts for each other, for others, from others and things we just order for everyday life. If you know me, you know how much I LOVE boxes. So Nick gets a box from his Reddit Secret Santa. he has me come sit down next to him and see what it is! Oh the excitement!! He opens up Portal Kombat for the game Munchkin Quest.

At first I was like omg what a cool gift I LOVE Munchkin Quest!! But then I realized...wait...I love Munchkin Quest.

The look on Nick's face was priceless. He just opened one of my Christmas gifts right in front of me!!

Needless to say we pulled out the game and he thought he was going to beat me in it so I had to wipe the floor with him. I was an Elf Theif with 4 arms (one coming off my head) wielding (among others) the Sword of Slaying Everything Except Squid! Have I mentioned how much fun that game is?

Wednesday, December 07, 2011



I have been spending a massive amount of time playing Skyrim lately. I can't get enough of this game. I know this will shock many other players, but I wasn't a huge fan of the previous games. Yes the stories were amazing but the gameplay was just not what I liked. Not to mention archery, one of my favorite skills in games like this, was difficult to use and just not powerful enough. Skyrim does a great job with my fav set of talents: archery, sneaking, one handed, pickpocket and lockpick.

I seriously find myself gossiping about what happened in game. Especially right now, I am in the middle of the thieves guild questlines and its a twisty turny web of secrets and lies! SO much fun.

I like that Nick plays too because we have different playstyles, so I get to see all the ways the game works. I like to talk to every person, do every side quest and really immerse myself in the role playing asepct of the game. I really like that my talent trees are all built off skills I use a lot. Because of this, I level slower and spend more time exploring than killing and pillaging. Nick is on his third playthrough, still looking for the perfect combination of talents to be uber powerful. He spends more time crafting, sticking to quests that reap big rewards and leveling up skill trees.
This game is great for any type of player and its one you'll be playing for a long time. Definitely worth the time and cost.



Another game I've spent a lot of time on lately is Dungeon Defenders. This is the first tower defense game that I've ever played (aside from mini ones on my phone like fieldrunners) so I have no other comparison but this game is SO much fun. The characters are funny little kids that were left alone in a castle and they unleashed an evil they must put back! The montsters are all after a crystal that you have to protect. The original game had a huntress (traps and explosives), monk (auras), squire (spikes and barriers), and an apprentice (missile towers). You can play co-op or alone and if you play alone and have several characters you can switch them out in game. For example, you can have your squire set up the initial blockades, switch to apprentice and get some missile towers behind them and play the course on your huntress. Its really great.

They have had several expansions, adding new maps and characters. Skyrim has distracted me so I haven't spent a lot of time on the more recent stuff :P

Going to bed has become an adventure.

Nick and I moved in together October 1. So far so good except one thing. One of us has to be an adult when it comes to going to bed and neither of us are willing to do it. Here's a typical night:
-We spend about 15-30 minutes talking ourselves out of whatever we're currently doing (playing a game, watching a show, browsing the internet)
-play with the puppies and put them to bed
-get in bed
-talk about what we're going to do when we wake up again
-talk about whatever stems from that
-talk some more
-feet fight, covers war or some other form of silliness
-add 10 more minutes to this if someone farts so we can endlessly giggle about it

seriously. the. worst. :P

Actually things have been going great. We are working hard at making our lil place a home, especially for the holidays. My sister Cyndi came over from Cali to do Thanksgiving with us. Cyndi and I did the sides and Nick cooked his first turkey. It turned out really well. We spent the rest of the weekend shopping, drinking and playing Rock Band.
The Christmas tree is up and we're working on setting up some traditions we can do every year. Its really nice to be able to not only enjoy our current time together but set ourselves up for a great future too.

We went to Illinois for a baby shower in September, that was a lot of fun. My sister Lindsy is having a baby in a couple more months and my other sister Michelle is expecting twins shortly after. I'm going to have 2 nephews and a niece soon!



Aside from visiting family I would say the highlight of the trip was going to Chicago. We spent the entire day exploring the Museum of Science and Industry, walking through Navy Pier and riding the Gondola and getting some delicious food. I miss the food back home.