A woman of a certain age

Among other happenings this year, I turned 30. I made sure to completely overload my schedule so that I wouldn't have the time or emotional energy to freak out about it. My PhD defense was the day after, I had a play the night of, and my final draft of my written dissertation was due that next Monday. However, in the not so busy moments that have followed turning 30, I've begun to realize I am doing things that women of a certain begin to do. For instance, to satiate the loneliness, and potentially the baby lust, I got a dog, or more appropriately, my parents got me a dog.

I frequently get these looks of reproach

 She's totally hilarious and with a ton of personality, but I don't think she quite has the effect my mother was hoping for when she sent my dad on an 800 mile errand to pick up the dog. She is not a guy magnent. Rather, she attracts small children and old ladies, which is not entirely bad, but doesn't do much for my dating life. 

She is constantly laughing at my silly human ways

It's also been interesting to see where my friends stand on the whole dog versus cat issue. One friend who I thought would be exclusively dog, is pretty luke warm to her. Another who I thought would be all cat, totally loves her. She is a bit feline-like.

Otherwise, it's nice to have a buddy for Zissou and she generally is very well behaved and has only destroyed non-essential items (so far) in her evenings of destruction.

What has been perhaps the most interesting experience of dog-ownership is the dog-park dynamic. Now, maybe you all knew this, but dog park people are a very strange, but very tight clique. Autumn immediately ingratiated herself because she's gorgeous. But I'm a bit awkward and apprehensive about the whole thing. I hate it when the 90lb lab humps her, and I'm not a fan of the pit mix that runs her down and bights her face. She's just a baby! And I almost went apeshit when someone said guinea pigs were stupid pets. Zissou is awesome and anyone who says otherwise is a gerbil lover.

So, hopefully I can stave off the weird middle-agedness for a few more decades. But in the meanwhile, the collie and the guinea pig are keeping my PhD company.

He may look like a dust bunny, but he's adorable!

Why depression can actually make you more outgoing

In keeping with the theme of carpe diem, I've been saying yes to things I never would have before. For instance, I visited an iris farm with my advisor's wife.  Although not something I would have said yes to in the past, I had a great time. The sky was beautiful. The irises were in fine form and I got a great dinner and time with my dog out of it. And so I made a deal with myself that I would start to say yes more than no. Because of this new philosophy, I just got invited to a Russian hot-pot party on Saturday. I have no idea what this will entail, but I'm up for it because the alternative is sitting at home with the dog, drinking cheap wine, playing tug-o-war and watching some awful movie.

Irises against the rolling Palouse hills

Really, anything is better than sitting at home and having that dog stare at me wondering how she ended up with such a sad sack. Other things I've said yes to lately: 

Glacier Vacation

Hawaii Collecting trip

Dog sitting

Designing a humorous post-doc blog

Giving blood

Climbing a mountain

Preparing songs for an open mic night

Mountain biking

Warrior Race

Flowers and clouds on a lovely summer evening

And that's all I can remember right now.
Spasibo.

Carpe diem dammit

Today my heart breaks for my dear friend, Laura. I met Laura in 2004 when we were both education rangers in the Everglades. Laura has a contagious laugh and an uncanny capability to make me smile when I totally feel like shit. Every night, I could hear laughter emitting from Laura's room as she spoke to her boyfriend, Will, another ranger. The awful thing about Park Service romance is that you so rarely are in the same place at the same time all the time. Will was still in Yellowstone while Laura was fightin' gators, but it was completely obvious that they were totally in love. Fast forward and Will and Laura tie the knot in a small, but gorgeous ceremony in Hawaii (with their adorable beagle, Hobart as a witness). I only saw pictures, but love exuded from them. And like truly good people, they took their vows completely to heart. Will was diagnosed with cancer, to which our response was, WTF? Cancer? Who gets cancer at 30? Ok, let's do this. And they did. Chemo, surgery, flights to Huston, missed vacations and work. I've never seen two people so committed to one another. And yet, the cancer prevailed. Despite the faith and commitment and love to one another, Will passed-on yesterday. The death of someone so young is heartbreaking. The pain caused to his wife and best friend is heartbreaking. The only saving grace is that Will did exactly what he wanted to do. He lived the life he wanted to live, married the girl he loved, and fought hard to do it all. This should be a lesson for all of us. Life really is too short to leave things unsaid or undone. To suffer through work or life is doing a disservice to yourself and to anyone who didn't have the opportunity to live theirs. So, in honor of Will, I will seize this day and those that come after it.