some update...

Hair tip-

I have some serious "new growth", but I am busier than ever this semester and what free time I have, I've decided to use it to sleep and blog. Yay. The consultant I was planning on going with is out of the picture. After not calling me back for the second time, I decided to not to go to her. However, I met a SLer (with gorgeous hair) on the subway and asked about her consultant, and bam, I have an appt with her next week. I am so anxious, but so far so great! She is very responsive & professional yet down to earth. I can't wait to meet her in person. I've been getting really good vibes about her...I think she's the one. lol. I will let you all know how things go next week.

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Life-

Like I said earlier, things are so busy. Really, this is the worst semester ever- in terms of time. I am taking a course at another school (yay to the consortium). While that course is kicking my left butt cheek, the other at my school is kicking my right. Both courses have elements of cognitive psych and I can live without so much cognitive theory. Each week I look forward to Friday. However, on the weekend, I am still reading a good bit, but I work on other projects that I really love.

My little goblin is still trying to adjust to a new life of structure. I saw Marley & Me and she could give him a run for the money. Let's go through the list of misbehaviors:

1) They Nina & Stormy fight all day and night. I'm sure my neighbors are sick of hearing grrrr bark bark all the time. she is way too feisty.

2) She's an over eater. I feed her 3x day, but she manages to gobble her portions within 4 mins and challenge Stormy (my timid, friendly baby) for hers. On special days (usually Sundays), I feed them Beneful's prepared meals, which are actual meals with lamb, oats, peas, carrots. They go crazy over that stuff and I don't blame them (trust, the look & smell great). When they both wolfed down their portions, Nina went to Stormy's bowl and actually licked it clean!

3) She tears up everything! Her bed, any paper within her grasp, luggage, sweaters, training pads, toys, everything. Her oral fixation is unbelievable. It has calmed a little, but that's only because I've bought a lot of toys that I don't mind her ripping apart.

4)Her potty training is coming along slowly (but surely?). We typically take bathroom breaks about 6x a day and that still isn't enough. I often wonder if she gets some sort of enjoyment pooing in my shoes or in her wired home (cage doesn't seem to fit her home right). I thought dogs weren't supposed to like to do that, but she has no problem with pooing in there and then sleeping right next to it. She's a yucky one.

Stormy has been trying to show her the ropes, but she has a mind of her own.

Despite all the negatives, she is actually lovable: She like to cuddle at night, she loves to jog with me, she actually plays fetch (the 1st dog that I've played that with), she fearless, and quite spunky. She has definitely challenged my idea of what love is, but ironically, she is sooo lovable.

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Travel-

I am currently in NYC (Sogent's on business) and we've chosen to stay at the legendary Algonquin. This is a boutique hotel that boasts serving famous late 19th century, early 20th century American writers and theatrical (The Barrymores, William Faulkner, Gertrude Stein, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford). The interesting thing for me (what gets more interesting than these writers you ask) is Matilda the cat. They've kept a cat/mascot over the past couple of decades in the lobby. I read this tradition started because the manager found a stray cat strolling inside the lobby looking for food and shelter, so he took it in. I wonder how many humans he did that for? At any rate, I think it's cute and sad at the same time. The animal lover in me says aww and the human welfare advocate in me says WTF.

The true charm of the hotel is how it's built. Sure the rooms are a bit on the petite side (Sogent & I were originally placed in a 100 sq ft room with a full size bed), but the decorating is vintage fab juxtaposed with modern flat screen tvs & super comfy beds. The real scale tipper is the customer service. Easy and fast checkin, staff is very knowledgeable about the hotel, and are very helpful. The manager upgraded us to a super sweet suite with a king bed (yay) when we expressed discomfort in the small room. In fact, Sogent and I went to have a round last night on him! The only sort of downside is that we got quite a few jeers from the other patrons. I must mention that we were the only Blacks that were dining in the lounge. From the moment we walked down, there were quite a few eyes on us. We looked normal, had only smiled at that point (hey, we were getting free drinks), and took our seat. If there hadn't been pre-recorded jazz playing, the music might have stopped. One guy in particular, was particularly "intrigued" with us. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our beverages and talked. We had soo much fun. So far so great at this hotel. I think we may be back next time I have to come to NY (in 2 weeks).