Feeling accomplished

The carpet cleaner my mom lent me decided it didn't want to work for me. So I didn't get to clean my carpets yesterday like I had planned. That was irritating. So I went to work and had a decent day, but when I got off, I went to the grocery store to rent a carpet cleaner. The lady said they don't rent them out after 9... I begged and pleaded but they said, no. Jerks.

I got up this morning, and managed to get back down to the grocery store and rent a cleaner. It worked amazingly well. I can't believe how dirty my carpets were. I took a picture of my carpet in the spot where the exploding ass-doggy left his mark (post cleanup, but there were still stains, so I circled them for ya... I'm sure you were dying to see it.) It looks like they all came out after I finished cleaning the carpet though. It's still wet as I type this, so we'll see!

The water that I dumped was so filthy. I've only lived here for about 8 months, so it makes me wonder if me and Wes are just that dirty or if they even bothered to shampoo this carpet before I moved in.





In other news, I'm going to be puppy sitting one of my student's dogs while she goes to Florida for a week. She's a sweet little Yorkie puppy named Jasmine. She's not a bad dog, just really hyper and the family doesn't have the time to work with her like she needs. They're hoping that I can give her the stringent consistancy she needs while they're away so that it's habit formed by the time they return. I'm going to do my best to calm her down. I'm sure Wesley will love having a little houseguest, he loves the little dogs, and since it's only for a week he won't feel like he's having his territory infringed upon for too long.

It looks like this might turn into a side business, as I've had a couple other students interested in having me watch their dogs as well.

Crappy Day...

Literally.

Last night I went out with Amy and Shauna for girl's night. We went to Devil's Point as Amy's friend Summer had just come back from vacation and was bartending. It's always fun to go to strip clubs with Amy because she knows everyone. We spent most of the time teasing Shauna though because the guy she liked was there and she was all nervous.

I ended up crashing at Amy's last night, and didn't get back to my apartment until around noon. When I walked in, I literally said aloud, "Why does it smell like poop in here?" Then I discovered why...

Apparently Wesley had been very sick last night. :( Eldon called him "exploding ass-doggy" when I told him, as Wes had a very bad case of diarrhea all over my carpet. I wasn't mad at him, I actually felt guilty for leaving him, because I know he wouldn't have done it if I'd been home to let him out. It was everywhere.. There were about 5 POOLS on my carpet. :( Poor doggy. I didn't take pictures, but I did find an amusing pictorial which pretty much sums up my adventure. I went to work, hangover and all, cleaning up my carpet. I had to run to the bathroom twice to avoid adding to the mess on my carpet though, as my gag-reflex kicked in.

While looking for ways to regail this tale, I found some other interesting things. A couple gift ideas, if you will....

If anyone gets this for me, I will laugh hysterically and then be forced to kill you.

However, this little gem is really cool. You dog owners know how it is.. you're walking your dog, and they make a mess, and being the responsible dog owner, you pull out your little bag and pick it up. But then, there's no garbage can in sight.. so you're forced to walk around with your very own bag of shit. This little device takes the embarrassment out of the responsibilty! It attaches to the dog's collar, carries bags for use to to clean up, and then you can put the bag of poop right inside the pouch until you get to the nearest garbage can! How cool is that??

This is a great gift idea for any medium to large dog owner. You can pick up one of these sweet items here.. *hint, hint*

Then I found this story about a scientist who turns dog crap into diamonds... Now THAT's useful! Check it out!

Thankfully, my mom has a steam cleaner, so I get to clean my carpets tomorrow.. weee.

Then I went to work only to discover that they're jacking me around again and want to make me work Sundays again. My onlw weekend day off, and I now have to work them. I've had it with this place. "Working Sundays will only be temporary till we hire a third trainer," they said. They don't even have enough hours to give me and Wendy 40 hours and now they want to hire a third?? I bit my tongue from saying, "How would you like to hire two trainers?" I need a new job. The worst part is that I feel like I'd be letting down my students. They actually like me.

What I need to do is open my own training place. I need a building and some startup capital... anyone want to help me out? :P I even have Wendy willing to join me in the endeavor, and she's a great trainer. I know between her and I we can get the clientele.

Dog about town

I've been more vigilant about walking Wesley lately, and it's really helped him improve both his attitude and my leadership role with him. Today I went downtown to have lunch with Eldon at Pizzacato, they have a nice outdoor area to eat, so I took Wesley with me.
Boy, they weren't kidding on their menu where it says "WOW I hope you like garlic" under the Ceasar Salad choice. I ordered that, and it had the most garlicy taste EVER~!

So, on my way back, I decided to take a few pictures of Wesley checking out the sites downtown. I like walking him downtown because there are so many sights and sounds and distractions it's good mental stimulation for him.

He rode in an Elevator for the second time. He jumped a little when it started, but he seemed to enjoy the ride.


He needed to stop and have a drink at one of the water fountains as well. People passing by got a kick out of it too.


He checked out the view from the parking garage,







and then posed in front of some "miniature bike art" by Powells. ]



Then as a reward for behaving so well downtown, we met up with Amy and Paris at the dog park.

He actually played a bit, which was cool, because he doesn't play that much when he goes.



There were two adorable little puppies, Angel, a blue-fawn pit bull (that was about the same color as Paris and Wes), and a little black puppy started playing "king of the mound".


Of course, Paris and Wes had to join in the fun.




It was such a beautiful day, it would have been a shame not to take advantage of it by bringing him to the park.

He's one happy spoiled dog.

Hermitic?

So I haven't posted in over a week. Mostly because I haven't really done much that was blog-worthy. But for those of you who actually care, I've done SOME stuff, but nothing really fascinating. I've mostly been trolling for new jobs. I need a mon-friday job that pays decent... I can do just about anything.. especially clerical. Any suggestions?

I did want to say, that those of you who actually read my blog would get a kick out of this. Eldon and I were talking about the whole working out thing, and he said he'd love to look like Ryan Reynolds. I would NOT complain!

I mean.. umm... yum!

The funny part is, we were discussing this while stuffing our faces last night at Olive Garden. Then he said, "Well, I said I'd like to look like Ryan Reynolds... I guess if I keep eating like this, I'll look like him from Just Friends!" I actually started busting up laughing and other people in the restaurant turned and looked at me because apparently I was pretty loud. We had watched that movie a few days earlier, so it was even more amusing.

Also this week, I've been more vigilant about taking Wesley to the dog park.

He loves it, and although he doesn't play with the other dogs, it is stimulating for him. However, the park next to Eldon's house was REALLY muddy... so I ended up also taking him to Doggie Delight to get cleaned up. He spent more time trying to eat the water than actually enjoying his bath though.

A little laughter....

First off, I have to tell you about the coolest dog. I was at work on Saturday, and this guy comes in with this minature australian shepherd. She's shaking slightly and panting. He said he was here just walking her around because she needs to be socialized. But Holy crap, this dog was amazing! He brought her into the training ring so he could see if she would perform her tricks, which might relax her a bit. She's actually a champion frisbee dog. After being distracted a bit, she finally did some awesome tricks! Check it out!!

Meanwhile, Eldon was hanging out with Wesley all day and decided to treat him. He went to the butcher and bought some fresh cow-knuckles with meat still on them and gave one to Wes. That was really cool of him.

In addition, he also decided to torture him a bit and put peanut butter on his nose.

Sunday I had tickets to Harvey's 7pm show and managed to wrangle a few people into going with me. Eldon was there, Chris and Leanne came, as well as Justin, and I finally got to meet my myspace friend Jenna in person. Her boyfriend Joe came as well, although he spent most of the time leaving and coming back because they had to leave their dog in the car and he was worried. The two comedians were probably the best I've seen at Harvey's so far. The first guy's name was Sadiki Fuller and the headliner was Cain Lopez. We had a great time.

Apparently, you can't bring cameras into Harvey's anymore, so here's a couple pics we took outside after the show.

Joe and Jenna, my new friends!

Leanne and Chris... aren't they cute?

Justin was right...

Portland Chefs suck. They're just downright mean. They stand outside of the culinary institute, smoking their cigarettes and wreaking havoc any way they can for their own amusement. I never understood Justin's hatred of them until today.

I went downtown to have lunch with Eldon, and as I was trolling around looking for a place to park, I saw an opening right in front of the culinary institute. "Wow, just my luck, a great parking space," I thought. I pulled in, and looked around, and asked the ridiculous amount of white clad, smock and big silly hat wearing cloud of smoke (read chefs chain smoking) if I could park here. They actually responded, "yeah, sure." I smiled, and got out of my car and walked over to the meter ticket thing to pay. I put in my money and walked away, thinking h0w lucky I was to get such a great parking spot right across the street from Eldon's work, because it was raining really hard.

We went and had lunch at Pico de Gallo, a little mexican restaurant nearby. They have really good inexpensive, food, and thier burritos are HUGE! I headed back to my car, and as I was about to get in, I noticed a little yellow envelope on my windshield. I pulled it out, and this was what was inside! "What the? A parking ticket!" I got out of the car and looked around after reading the bottom portion of the ticket where it says, "2 signs clearly marked, parked in a loading zone." Just then, one of the smoking chefs moved slightly to the side, and I realized that the damn chefs had been standing in front of the signs marked loading zone!!! When I asked if I could park there, they said yes, as they were covering the sign that said it was a loading zone. I think the bastards did it on purpose. They really are mean!

Here's why Justin hates them:
"had another run in with the Portland Chefs. If anyone isn't aware of my hatred of chefs, it stems from a horrible childhood experience that happened a few years ago and scarred me forever. I was walking back from a huge dinner with mutliple bottles of very expensive wine in my gullet, when Ben and I happened across a number of chef's smoking cigarettes. Feeling friendly and cantankorous, I belted out a splendorific "hello!" to the grouping of five or six men wearing shmocks and gigantic chef's hats that we happened to be passing by. I was completely snubbed by ALL of them. In fact, I was given six simultaneous stink-eyes. Not a single nod or hearty hello. I was absolutely crestfallen.
So, Sunday I decided to give it one more shot and on our way back from a filling breakfast of whiskey and coffee drinks at the Roxy I was once more faced with a shmock wearing hat laden group of 4-6 chefs on a smoke break. Much more timidly this time I forced out a warbling "hallo!" and was greeted with nothing more than a look of pure disgust and ill-will. Due to this I have decided that all Chef's in Portland need to CHOKE ON THEIR OWN INTESTINES AND DIE IN A BATH OF THEIR OWN STINKING PUKE."

So after that ordeal and working, I went to Ash St. Saloon to see Son of Rust . I couldn't wait to tell Justin about my run-in with the chefs. He was one of the few who would understand.

Thanks Staci and Katie for coming out to show support!

Chris also showed up.

Eldon said he wasn't going to make it because it was past his bedtime, but as we were sitting there, he walked in! YAY! That made me really happy. Here's him giving some love to Tad.

The other usual suspects were there, Melissa and Bekka seen here.

Eldon, with Jason and Allie deeply enthralled in conversation.

The best part of the night was that they played their new song Violator. I effing love that song. I begged Justin to sing it and he was skeptical at first. He claimed he couldn't sing it live. I could tell he was a bit nervous at first when he started, but by the end, he totally rocked it and the crowd absolutely loved it too! Here's some pics from the show:

I also finally got my very own Son of Rust T shirt! Woo hoo! I'm so gonna be the "guy who wears the shirt of the band I'm going to see to their show." on April 29th. You must go! And you too can have your very own Son of Rust T-shirt. Click here to get one!

The gauntlet has been thrown... and I'm so gonna win.
Eldon has a challenge with Warren, to see who can get their 6 pack back first. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this challenge. However, I decided I wanted in. I don't know if I want a 6 pack per-se but I would like to get in better shape. So I've decided I'm going to beat Eldon to getting into shape.


Wesley however, seems to be on Eldon's side. I tried to do Pilates yesterday, and I'm laying on the floor doing the leg-lifts and he decides he needs to come over and lay directly in front of me, (spoon position) and chew his bone! I took his bone, threw it on the couch and continued working out. Not a minute later, he comes back and lays down in front of me again! He's making it very difficult for me to work out. I of course did nothing to help the situation, because as he did this over and over, it caused me to go into a fit of laughter, and that just encouraged him. *smacks forehead*

After work, Amy and Shauna picked me up and we went down to Bettie Ford. I'd never been there before. It was kind of a neat place, but it was sorta dead. According to the reviews though it's an interesting place to go on the weekends if you can afford it. We had a few drinks, and then decided to get some fries. When we ordered, the waitress, who was having a difficult time walking in her stiletto boots, asked us if we wanted garlic. We were all thinking, "yeah, some garlic salt on it might be good." WOW. They put real chunks of garlic on the fries. They were really yummy, but we ended up burping garlic for the rest of the night. Good thing none of us were looking to "hook up" with anyone. Our dragon breath would have been a real deal breaker!


The most amusing part of the night was Shauna having to give directions to her friend Tyler who was meeting up with us, every 10 minutes for about an hour! When he finally arrived, we ended up leaving and going to Sassy's. What is it with my friends and strip clubs? I always end up at one when I go out! We had a great time though, and I stayed up way too late... again.

Shauna, munching on some garlic fries

Amy, attempting poorly to hide from the camera

Tyler, laughing as we teased him about not having reverse in his car.