Update on Jasmine

Well it has been hectic the past week. Monday (10/18) we took Jasmine in to the vet because she had been drinking somewhere around 8 bowls of water a day. Which is quite a bit. We figured it was a liver problem that we were told about at the last vet visit, so we wanted to get the perscription from the vet. Sunday night I had noticed Jasmine hardly touched her food, which she usually inhales like a vacuum. That monday morning as I woke up for work there was still just as much food int he bowl which had me worried because she never skips a meal. She might be a dog but she's a little piggie! Later in the day I sent a text to my girlfriend to see if she had eaten her food yet and still nothing. Luckily I have a girlfriend that loves animals as much as I do and she called the vet and made the appointment for that day.

We get to the vet tell her about the amount of water she's been drinking and how the last couple days she's been eating less and less food. Put her on the scale and she went from 91lbs at her last visit to 80lbs this visit. There was no change in exercise or amount I was feeding her. They wanted to keep her overnight for testing. Jasmine was at the vet from Monday evening to Thursday evening, she was diagnosed with diabetes. She had a blood glucose level of 400 when we brought her in! You never would have guessed by looking at her that she wasn't doing well. I came home from work that monday before the vet visit and there she is with her favorite ball chewing it and throwing it at me and being quite playful. Hard to believe what we heard when the vet told us what the issue was.

Those few days without Jasmine around the house; not there wagging her tail when I got home from work, and not there crunching on her food while I was laying in bed got me pretty depressed. There are no words to describe the void that is filled by having her back. She is the sweetest most loving dog in the world. I mean, look at the face, how could you not love that?

She has to be givin insulin twice a day, once in the morning and once and night, right after a meal which is a special diet given to us by the vet. She seems to really like it. I thought giving her the insulin would be a pain in the butt and that she wouldn't like it at all, I was wrong. She sits right there nice and calm, lets you grab the scruff of her neck and give her the insulin. Such a well behaved dog, even the vets were amazed by how well behaved she is, and how easy it is to give her the injections. I don't think the vets wanted to give her back to me. Not that I can blame them.

So as of now she's back home, and happy, and acting more like her self. It's just great having the happy dog back. Here are some pictures I took with my phone since she's gotten back. Yeah I've gone a bit picture crazy with her. Click pictures for full sized images if the thumbnails aren't cute enough.

The Peace Sign

We all know the peace sign, we've all seen it, especially when there are wars going on. When you see a peace sign your first thought (well mine anyway) is 1960's, Vietnam War, Protests, people speaking out and actually caring for what's going on around them. I've always kind of considered myself a hippie born too late and taken over by today's current technological advances with an urge to try to make a difference but not having what it takes to start that kind of movement. If that makes any sense at all (haha.)

Now what you might not know, which I didn't until I came across this article today, is where the peace sign came from. Who made it, and why? I've always wondered if it was just created as a sign of peace or if there was a deeper meaning behind it. Of course I never really looked into it before or else I wouldn't just now be discovering this today.

The peace sign was designed in 1958 by a London textile designer, Gerald Holtom. He was trying to create a symbol he could put on banners that marchers were going to carry in a "ban the bomb" march which would be Britain's first major demonstration against nuclear weapons. The symbol is actually the letters "N" and "D" taken from flag semaphore signals, which is an alphabet signaling system that was once used for distant communication in the maritime world in the early 19th century. The letters "N" and "D" were used for the words Nuclear and Disarmament, and then put in a circle to create the peace sign we all know and use frequently still today. In 1960 the peace sign was imported into the U.S. via a peace sign button brought from the UK by Philip Altbach, reshman at the University of Chicago.. The symbol was around before but once the Student Peace Union was convinced by Philip Altbach to adopt the symbol it grew rapidly. By the late 1960's the symbol was adopted by anti-war protesters.

No Money

Why is it so hard to make money? I understand having to work in order to make money. Why is it so hard to find a decent job? It's almost impossible to find anything worth while that pays a good amount. Without a college degree or atleast 2 years experience in anything you're pretty much stuck with low paying dead-end factory/warehouse jobs, or a bag boy or cashier at a grocery store.

Sure there are get rich quick scams online everywhere you look, but that's just it, they're a scam. When you do find something that's not a scam it is some small amount of money per ad you click on, or per survey you fill out. Feels like it's worth more than just 32 cents to fill out that survey if you ask me!
How does one live on their own paying rent, electric, insurance, groceries, gas, and other bills/needs, work full time AND go to school? I've thought about doing this numerous times, but at the end of my day at work the last thing I'd want to do is go sit in a class to learn. I'd probably end up falling asleep in class, then it's high school all over again; and I didn't do to well there. I've also looked into online classes, but keep hearing horror stories of how much harder it is to do online classes than it is to actually go to a school and participate in classes. Then again I'm not these people so maybe it wouldn't be as hard for me to do. Filling out financial aid, which I probably won't qualify for seems like such a daunting task. It feels like everything is a dead end or under construction, either I have to turn back around or sit in this long traffic jam waiting to move only a few inches. Seems like every job I'm interested in or think I could get the hang of very quickly, you need a degree and/or atleast two years experience. Nothing that interests me in any way, shape or form offers any on the job training. It really is a bit stressful, and starts to become a bit depressing.

Oh how I wish money wasn't the ruler of everything around us. Seems you can't do anything without money. With making so little money I have barely any at the end of a month to even call worth it. Making it much harder to repair my car, making it impossible to take a taxi everywhere I need/want to go. I'm sitting here trying to remember which class throughout my 12 years of school was preparing me for this part of life. If I was smarter or just less of a teenager and more of a grown up then, maybe I would have participated in a BOCES class like my mom always suggested. I should have known the magnet on her fridge was true (House Rules #1 Mom is always right #2 If Mom is wrong, see rule number 1) and I should have listened to her. I look into taking classes like that now, almost 10 years after being out of school, and it's kind of frightening. Still I worry if I'll be able to do my best if I take these classes and continue on working where I'm at. I don't want to pay for these classes only to end up with grades like I had in high school.

Looking at my options at the local Adult Education Programs there's a small few classes that interest me and I'm not even sure just how much they interest me.

Computer Tech, learn networking in one year and web design in the next year. After two years and pass the necessary exams you'll become certified CIW Associate design Specialist. I don't even know what I'd do with that kind of certification.

Environmental Conservation/Forestry, learn forest logging and heavy equipment operations at the local Miner Institute. Experience maple season, produce maple syrup or work in a greenhouse to seed and grow bedding plant crops, participate in wildlife management or fruit orchard operation. What do I do with this after though? News over the summer was talking about local parks shutting down due to not enough money to keep them open and maintain them. I also have a friend who's area was shut down and he had to search for another place to work which is further, pays less, and he doesn't enjoy it as much as his previous station.

Graphic Design and Communications, learn the basics of photography, layout and design, desktop publishing and computer graphics work as a team to create holiday cards, booklets and posters. Learn print operations, sophisticated four-color separations, darkroom procedures and bindery operations. Description isn't quite what I want from graphic design.

Those are about my only options that I find interesting enough to do. Then what after that though? Everyone that works in the factory I work in now have degrees in things and they're all doing the same thing I'm doing with just my high school diploma. Looking around for jobs gets more and more depressing the more you look. I guess the best I could do is go to the Adult Education School and talk to someone. Maybe they can help me out a bit more.

I'm an Uncle!

It's official. On August 4, 2010 my brother and his wife had a baby boy 7lbs 9oz, named Cai. I haven't been able to make my way down there yet to visit, but I can't wait to see him! Not a lot on this topic, I just wanted to share with everyone.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I'm always late on these updates, either way here it is. On August 27th, at Saratoga Performing Arts Center here in New York, I went to see; Crospy, Stills & Nash, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Tom Petty was on tour for his new album MOJO. If you haven't heard it yet I suggest checking it. I'm figuring if you've read this far into this then you like Tom Petty.

The show was great. The bands sounded amazing. Tom Petty does his little dances like I've seen him do in other live performances I've seen on the web. I will say however the crowd at the show was HUGE. Massive! I've never been to a concert with that many people there. I can't even begin to give an estimate. At one point in time me and my girlfriend went to the bathroom's and to grab a beer. We got there after about 10 minutes, should have been about a minute walk. Once we got there the crowd of people rushing to the bathrooms (CSN had just finished their set) was enormous. We attempted walking to the beer area but it was packed full of people, no room to breathe. We stopped near a sign or something on the ground, figuring they're going to be going around it anyway. Every now and then the crowd would let up and you could start to feel fresh air again, and just when you are finally getting the air you need, the crowd would close in around you.
The spot we had on the lawn for the show wasn't in the best spot, but you could just see Tom Petty at his microphone where I was standing. The bonus of the spot was the giant screen right in front of us so we could see up close shots the band performing. The sound was good, although I could hear more bass than guitar, and the vocals seemed low. Maybe just because of where I was, I'm not sure.

I can't remember the setlist off the top of my head. Such a horrible memory. So thankfully we are on the internet, and a quick google search brings it right up from Setlist.fm:

1. Listen to Her Heart
2. You Don't Know How It Feels
3. I Won't Back Dow
4. Free Fallin
5. Oh Well (Fleetwood Mac cover)
6. Mary Jane's Last Dance
7. Carol (Chuck Berry cover)
8. Breakdown
9. Jefferson Jericho Blues
10. Good Enough
11. Running Man's Bible
12. I Should Have Known It
13. Learning to Fly
14. Don't Come Around Here No More
15. Refugee

Encore:

16. Runnin' Down a Dream
17. American Girl

And of course here is Crosby, Stills & Nash's setlist:

1. Woodstock (Joni Mitchell cover)
2. Military Madness (Graham Nash cover)
3. Long Time Gone
4. Bluebird (Buffalo Springfield cover)
5. Déjà vu
6. Long May You Run (Neil Young cover)
7. Ruby Tuesday (The Rolling Stones cover)
8. Our House
9. Southern Cross
10. Chicago
11. Almost Cut My Hair
12. Wooden Ships

Encore:

13. Love the One You're With (Stephen Stills cover)
14. For What It's Worth (Buffalo Springfield cover)

Encore 2:

15. Teach Your Children

I was hoping to hear a guest appearance from Neil Young, especially when Long May You Run came on. I wasn't anywhere near finding a place yet to sit yet, was still looking for a few friends I was meeting there. We finally met up with each other after grabbing a beer. Then we all wondered around. Didn't really sit down until around Southern Cross started.

Here are some pictures and a few videos I took at the show. Some of the pictures were taken of the screen because zooming in 32x makes for a blurry picture when people bump into you.

And here are the three videos I got of the show: