Excuse me while I deal...

.. with the stupid ostrich that kicked me and broke my ankle.

Bearing in mind...

Ok. Sometimes the news is wierd. And sometimes, Darwin's theory of evolution enters the picture, but it turns out to be the negative.

From CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/23/bear.attack.ap/index.html.

To sum up: 500 lb bear escapes from breeder, sees a 15 year old girl next door, follows her into the house and mauls her mom. Bear is then lured outside the house and shot by breeder. Total time: 20 minutes.

Let's examine this in relation to Darwin. 'Survival of the fittest' is how his theory is summed up.

We have this bear, born and bred in captivity. Used to people, used to people feeding it. So when the cage gets opened, bear decides its time to take a walk, rather than stay for dinner. Must not have been very hungry.

Bear wanders off, moving at a good clip for a bear I suppose, since he didn't want to go back into the cage. Sees an open garage.. thinks either a) "Hey, cave! I didn't know these things still existed!" or b) "Wonder what kind of car I can hijack in here?"

Bear sees 15 year old girl. Again, bear either thinks, "Ohh gurrrrl!" or "Oh yeah, what about my dinner, wench?"

Girl does the stupid horror movie thing: she runs, and fails to shut and lock the door behind her.

Bear whines, "Hey, wait a minute. I was talking here!" and follows her in.

Girl undoubtedly hides at this point, or is screaming her head off. Mom to the rescue! Arms waving, attempting to seem bigger than she is and intimidate the bear, the bear laughs and whaps her a few times, thinking this is a fun new game.

Breeder tracks bear down, and lures the bear out for a real dinner. Bear is all, "Ooh a show and dinner... how much better than this does it get?"

Bear goes outside the house.. BAM. No more bear.

So, the stupid and ineffective kill the smart enough to get out and enjoy life.

Darwin must be rolling in his grave.

Benefits or Challenge?

My job rocks. At least, most of the time it rocks. I set my own hours (within reason of course), and have to put in 80/2 weeks. No weekends unless preauthorized though. I get a ridiculous amount of money for the actual job requirements. Sometimes I even get to travel. But I think I have become spoiled.

I have to stay until 5:30 2 days a week now!!! And I am whining about it. I love the ability to come in at 7, stay until 3, take no lunch and GO HOME. Right now, I feel like I ought to be almost done, not have 3 more hours left. My whole evening is shot!! How can one do anything with that little amount of time left before lights out?

And the travel has disappeared. My job has 2 intense weeks every 4 months. So I thought in the off time, I would get to travel for other contracts. No No No. How Wrong I Was. And we all know how I hate to be wrong.

Apparently I am 'critical personnel' and cannot be gone from my desk for 7-10 days (including weekends) to go to nifty places and support other people. Very Disappointing. If this doesn't clear up by the end of the summer, I will have to go to the boss and tell him I need another billet. I don't think he will care, but even if it means a paycut I will take it. I don't know how much longer I can take this desk.....

Wrong!! BZZZZT!!

I swore to myself, and to anyone who would listen, I would never get a divorce. For years, I waited to 'meet the right person', to make sure that I was making the right choice. A good part of that was the issue I had (and still do!) with being wrong. I hate being wrong, especially on a major issue.

Well, I was wrong. And the sad part about it, is I ought to have known that before I got married.

In retrospect, I can see every point along the way where a little green man should have stood with a big sign warning me. There, where he wanted his mother to go shopping for my dress with me. And behind that tree, where he never like to 'play' much. And under the bench, where he insisted on a Catholic wedding.... despite the fact he hadn't been to church in years. And waaaaay off over there.. where he was always complaining about work, and never could quite manage to take time off.

But no, I couldn't be wrong. After all, I had made up my mind.

Maybe the problem is I didn't know what I wanted. Maybe I still don't. But at least now, I know more of what I don't want. And, while the learning curve was steep, there aren't any sudden sharp corners. The whole thing seems to be fizzling out, with no fireworks anywhere to be seen. I feel relieved... and yet oddly disappointed.

The CDC wants my dog!

Yes, the Center for Disease Control is after my dog. The luckiest dog in Sicily is a wanted basset. Fortunately, her defense is being planned as we speak.

Little Girl has leishmaniasis, a common complaint among canids in the Mediterranean region, which means she develops subcutaneous lesions, which then swell and burst, and get infected etc.. Also, she looks like a binge and purge teenybopper when the protozoa are on the rise. Massive weight loss, and so forth. Took them over 18 months to figure this out... although I have to grant that they have tested her a few times with no luck.

She's a small basset... only about 26 lbs when on the upswing, and very personable, but I hadn't realized bassets are such drama queens before acquiring this one. Long, silly stories on that, I might relate later. Right now though, the CDC is hounding us.

Turns out, they think she is the only dog in the US with this disease. To which I snicker... I know at least one other person with a dog shipped back from Sicily that has it. I believe he is out in CA, but apparently, the US Navy failed to report this vital information on a communicable disease to the proper authorities. Not that the vector for it exists in the US- it can be transmitted directly from dog to dog, or dog to human, but the likelihood of that is on the low end. Like, aliens taking her for testing low end.

So she got tested for the 4th time 2 weeks ago... and came back positive. So now the CDC wants her for testing, because she is such a novelty. It isn't to the "Give us your dog now!" stage, but they have been inquiring politely so far.... oh and so has Auburn, who ran the test in the first place. I think maybe we should just sell blood samples, might pay for the treatment:)