So many ways to become embarrassed

It has occurred to me today that there are lots of ways to become embarrassed. Some are obvious (walking out of the bathroom with toilet paper on your shoe, for example), and some are more subtle, but once they hit you they come with some force.

Picture, for instance, that you have a puppy. For the sake of argument, you've called her Lucy. This 'Lucy' is very fond of the ol' belly rub. She gets on her back and squirms around to give you full access to her belly for a nice, good rub. You may say it's one of her favorite things. So one belly rubbing session about a week ago (let's say), as she's all sprawled out for rubbing, you notice a little blister on her bits. You think it is strange but doesn't seem to bother her so you decide to give it some time to heal before having it checked out. A week goes by, and it's still there and perhaps even a little bigger, so you phone the vet. You take her in for it to get checked out, and the vet asks what the problem is. You say there is a blister on her bits, she starts talking to Lucy and examining her, and she says to Lucy that she has a 'very thorough mom (dad, if you, reader, are male).' For a moment you a proud of yourself for being thorough, and you smile politely. The moment passes and you realize with horror that she does not know HOW you discovered the blister, that it had nothing to do with meticulous inspection of her bits for whatever reason, but was instead casually noticed during an innocent belly rub. You see, it's not easy for the vet to see the blister because Lucy is excited and not laying down, and certainly not laying down on her back. The vet has to hold her up by her front paws and bend down to see it, and even then it's not the obvious because her legs are together. But alas, it is too late to explain yourself, and the more seconds that pass without you correcting her 'thoroughness' comment, the odder it would be to bring it up or explain it away. So you're left there, looking guilty and feeling like a doggie pervert.

SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER BOOOOOOOOWL!

The Colts made it into the Superbowl on Sunday! John and I were lucky enough to go to the championship game, where we saw them comeback from a 3 - 21 gap to win the game! Unbelieveable. I had really given up hope in the first half that we weren't going to do it again this year, and it was going to be to New England, just as it has been so many years before. It's the first time the Indianapolis Colts have gone to the Super Bowl (they did win the Super Bowl back when the Colts were in Baltimore), so it's very exciting for the whole city. It's particularly exciting for me and John because we've gone to every home game this season except one, when we were in San Francisco. My mom and stepdad are even going to the actual Super Bowl in Miami! He has been a season ticket holder for years and years (maybe even since the first year they got to Indy), and they have a lottery for offering season ticket holders they chance to buy tickets. Very fun stuff!

And of course the Colts are playing the Bears, so it's quite a rivalry at work since my project is in Chicago. But everyone is having fun with it; it's quite nice actually. It will be a fun Super Bowl since the two cities are so close. I expect all my UK friends to be supporting the Colts in two weeks' time! Go Blue!

Is it spring yet?

Ugh, it's beginning to seem more and more like January. It's snowing today, and cold. It rained all weekend in Indy. I mean, it rained and rained and rained and rained. It didn't stop. I'm in Chicago now, and John tells me that it only stopped in order to start snowing. Roll on spring! It's actually not been too bad of a winter, but Jan and Feb are always the hardest months to get through when you're not in a warm climate (not a word, Faith ;-) ).

So did I mention the Colts are awesome? Yeah, we're hosting the AFC championship this weekend. That's all I'll allow myself to say so I don't run the risk of jinxing anything, except for this: I was driving from the Chicago airport to work this morning, and there is an electronic sign outside of the airport that always says things about road conditions, traffic, welcome to Chicago, etc. Today it said the normal stuff and then said 'Go Bears!' (the Bears are in the NFC championship). It made me smile and I thought that it was fun that they put it on there. But if Chicago and Indy both win this weekend, resulting in a Super Bowl meeting, I will take it as my God given duty to destroy that sign and any others I run across with any non-Colts sentiments on them. :-D Who's with me?

So it was a very football oriented weekend. We watched all four play off games, and didn't do a whole lot else. We had thought about going to my brother's on Sunday, but Lucy was not well all weekend so we had to let her all the time to go to the loo. She has had a poor tummy since Friday night. John says it has continued into today so we are getting the vet involved to see if they can help. We even made her some rice and chicken yesterday hoping that would ease her trouble, and it seemed to help for a while but I guess it was temporary.

Ok this is random, but has anyone been curious about that song that plays in the background for the commercial for this week's CSI? That song has really caught my attention and I just saw the commercial again so I did a little internet investigation. Just to satisfy your curiosity (because I know you were as interested as I), it's Sweet Jane by the Cowboy Junkies. It's good stuff, have a listen. I'm thinking it could be my next iTunes download, although I have been meaning to download that OK Go song with the treadmill video since the summer and it's still not made it onto my iPod.

The only other thing of late is I met up with my cousin Mandy for dinner last week. One good thing about my project being in Chicago (we know it's not the weather) is that I get to meet up with local friends and family fairly frequently. It was great to catch up with her and reminisce. I nearly met her boyfriend too, but he ended up having a conflict with some buddies who were meeting up on the same night. I don't know what kind of a guy would rather go out with his friends than meet his girlfriend's cousin, cuckoo!

Happy New Year!

Been a while since I've managed to make any posts! Hope everyone has had a lovely holiday and new year. I had the week between Christmas and New Year off, and as such tried to stay away from the computer as much as possible (explaining the lack of posts). It was a great week off. John worked a couple of days, but they weren't full days or anything so it wasn't too bad, although I'm sure from his perpective he would have much rather not had to go in. I got plenty of time with the cats and Lucy. Emily and Reena were in town, so I got to hang out with them which was great. Also we got to talk to Jon and Marianne, Rich and Anita, and Helen and Wyn over the webcam which was really fun. Of course, it makes me miss them all the more having seen them face-to-face, but it's worth it.

I'm in my second week back to work. The downside of having a week and a half off is getting used to being home and subsequently missing it all the more when the time comes to leave again. But work has been busy, so the days have gone fairly quickly which makes it not so SO bad.

So without going into the nitty gritty details of everything that's gone on in the last few weeks, that's pretty much it! I'm not going to talk about football until there is no risk of jinxing anything. In fact, I may have just written too much as it is. Anyway, here are some pictures from the holidays.