It's a Dog's Life

A day in the life of Reggie Wang, beagle, age 2.

6:45 a.m. Wake up, try to get mom or dad out of bed to feed me. They usually don't, so I have two options. 1. Go back to sleep and pester them in a half hour, or: 2. Start wretching out of hunger. This will get mom out of bed in 0.5 seconds, to get me outside before I throw up.

7:15 a.m. Breakfast with a side of Benadryl - I have seasonal allergies, so I take meds twice a day, or else I chew on/lick my paws all day because they itch (and other gross things I won't go into). I'm a little high-maintenance.

7:45 a.m. Mom and Dad leave for work. They feel guilty, so I get a treat. Score!

8 a.m. to Noon Alternate watching out the window (my reality T.V.) and sleeping.

Noon Mom and/or Dad come home for lunch. I get another treat when they leave because they feel guilty again. Score!

1 to 5 p.m. Alternate watching out the window and sleeping.

5 p.m. Mom and Dad home from work. Take a walk around the park or neighborhood. Smell 5,000 different smells, and poop 4 times. Heaven.

6 p.m. Dinner with a side of Benadryl.

6 to 9 p.m. Sit on top of Mom or Dad while they relax. Who cares if I weigh 50 pounds? I am still a lap dog. That or go crazy trying to get them to play with me.

9-10:30 p.m. Fall asleep while Mom watches T.V. and Dad plays video games.

10:30 p.m. Obediently lie down on my bed (on the floor), but only because they give me a treat. Score!

2:00 a.m. Mom and Dad have fallen asleep and won't really notice that I've gotten up on their bed, burrowed underneath the down comforter, and established my place as the most important family member. Maybe I'll even get a pillow this time. Yes!

Writing withdrawal

Although I'm a mere cheerleading coach now, I do in fact have a journalism degree. When I was in school and being forced to write articles about things I didn't care about, writing felt like a chore. Now that I am four years removed from that and not working in journalism or PR at all, I feel like I do need a creative outlet. I don't keep a journal or diary, because in the past when I've tried, it seems tedious too. However, now that I'm doing this blog, it feels really good to write out my thoughts on different issues (not that anyone cares). I think I've actually missed it.


Maybe my choice of major wasn't so far off after all. :)

Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day, people. Everybody is "going green" it seems like, and I'll admit: I'm a little tired of hearing how "every day should be Earth Day" and we have to "save the planet," because it all seems very obscure and remote. As in: "What can I do about this?"

I've never really done anything about Earth Day besides planting a tree in 6th grade, but I do remember my junior year of high school, a group of friends uprooted a tree and put it on my front porch with a note from "Captain Planet." The height of high-school maturity. Good thing it wasn't one of my dad's yard trees, or else there would have been some serious trouble. I don't think that's the way environmentalists would have us celebrating our planet.

So I thought I would impart 10 of the reasonable and creative ways I've heard to celebrate and honor our planet NOW. Here we go!

1. Recycle - We've heard this all our lives, but it turns out that recycling 1 aluminum can saves enough power to run your TV for three hours, and recycling one 4-foot stack of newspaper can save a fully grown fir tree.

2. Plant deciduous trees in your yard - their leaves shade your home in the summer and the bare branches let sunlight through in the winter - all which saves on your heating/air conditioning bill. Think of raking leaves as "good exercise." :)

3. Cancel unwanted magazine/catalogue subscriptions.

4. Unplug chargers when not in use. The average cell phone charger is only used for 2 hours per day, but plugged in for 24. Consider all that wasted electricity. Did you know that 30-40% of energy used is from household appliances that are plugged in but not in use?

5. GRILL! Grilling is a much more energy-efficient method of cooking, and doesn't heat up your house in the middle of summertime (saves on air conditioning).

6. Use a water-filtration system (like Brita) versus bottled water, and use your Nalgene (you know you have one!)

7. Replace your light bulbs with compact flourescent bulbs.

8. Go to the farmer's market - that way, you'll buy local, save money, and get some fresh air.

9. If, like me, you're too lazy to get reusable grocery bags (the best way to go), reuse your plastic bags in productive ways - like to bring your lunch to work or pick up after your dog.

10. Last, but not least, replace old doors, windows, and appliances with Energy Star ones. This will lower your energy bill and help on your tax refund as well!

Ok, now start thinking green thoughts!

Good things

Today I am happy about some things.

1. Cheer and Dance are officially done for the year. I had a great tryout this last weekend and am very excited for the fall.

2. Even though this is the longest winter EVER it is April and the sun is shining. It's still 32 degrees and snow is falling, but sun nonetheless. It's bound to warm up sometime.

3. Starting next Monday, I basically have 2 1/2 months off of work. I still have things to get done, and I'll be helping my bosses out with their extra work, but this is the time of year my job balances out from the craziness of Sept-March.

4. I bought a new rug for my living room and it makes my whole house feel different (in a good way).

5. I am interviewing new Butches (our mascot, Butch T. Cougar) for next year and they seem very promising.

So that's it! Not bad, huh?

The only thing I'm sad about is that I planted 60 tulips this fall in the planters in front of my house and not a single one of them has started to sprout. This is a bad sign, huh? Or should I give it more time before I completely give up hope?

Golf

I'm a novice golfer. Very novice. I like golf because I can hang out with my husband/girlfriends, have a nice walk in a sunny park, and play a game. What I don't like about golf is that I stink at it. I'm no pro-athlete, but usually when I try different sports (like softball or volleyball) I can be moderately successful. However, golf requires so much accuracy and practice that I just get frustrated. It's only cute to be the crappy girly golfer for so long. This being my second year, I feel like I should have improved. Friends try to give me constructive criticism, but they're no pros themselves, so I don't really get better. Oh, and I'm slow, too. Groups of golfers pass me at least three times while I golf 9 holes.


What I really need is a lesson. My goal is that by the time the amazing new WSU golf course opens up, I can play it without feeling like too much of a doof. So maybe I'll stop my bellyaching and cough up the cash for a lesson. But all in all, I'm excited to golf this year! Now I just need the weather to be a little more consistent...

Dangerous Territory

This is not meant to be a political blog (or religious, or otherwise) but it is my blog, and this new Ben Stein movie is very intruiging to me. When I was at Western, I had to take science "gen ed" courses, and since I was no good at chemistry or physics, I took the Biology series (Bio 101, 102, 201, and 420). Most people know that Western is generally a liberal school, so I knew full well that I would be taught Darwin's Evolution as truth in these classes.

What I did not know (and it was never mentioned) is that Neo-Darwinism is a theory that has not even come close to being proven. Once, in my Bio 102 class, a Christian student stood up at the end of a lecture and mentioned this, and asked that if anyone was interested in a dialogue on the subject, that they were holding a meeting that evening. I didn't go - mostly out of laziness. However, even I paid enough attention in high school science to know about Scientific Method - a theory must be demonstrated by observation and experimentation to prove the hypothesis true!

There is a University of Idaho Microbiology professor who is a member of my church and an outright defender of Intelligent Design. He gets flown all over the country to speak at trials and seminars, and he is openly ostracized at work. The church prays for him a lot, because when he began his career, he did not intend to be a champion of Intelligent Design, but since he has stood up for what he beleives, he has no choice. (He's even on Wikipedia!) Anyway, it's good to be challenger of authority, especially if you beleive in what you're saying. That's what free speech is all about!

Mom's Weekend

I have survived another Mom's Weekend in Pullman. I would never have beleived the insanity of this event until I actually lived here. Thousands of moms from all over come to Pullman to see their kids and generally forget that they are grown-ups so they can get drunk and act insane. They drive like maniacs and rumor has it that condom sales increase by 100% on Mom's Weekend. I'm not sure if I beleive what that implies, but what I do know is that these moms are totally out of control.

The last two years, I escaped Pullman on Mom's Weekend and went to Spokane to avoid the hysteria, but now I have a job that requires me to be here, so I guess I'd better get used to it! Besides, I suppose it's a great boost to the economy and all that.

I did have a lot of fun this year, attending:
* The Cougar Football Women's Huddle on Friday night
* The Cougar Football Spring Scrimmage on Saturday
* Two Cougar baseball games (a win on Saturday and a loss on Sunday)
* The year-end WSU Spirit Banquet
* A fun dinner party, and
* Dinner out (yes, we got into a restaraunt) with a longtime friend from out of town.

All in all, I had a fantastic weekend with temperatures being in the 70's. Got a sunburn but it was totally worth it!!! Hooray for making the best of a crazy weekend!

Juno

Saw Juno last night (finally) at the cheap theater. I'm happy to say that it lived up to all the hype. The plot was cute and a little predictable but it was originally done, with oddball music and incredible dialogue. I would highly suggest it for anyone who hasn't seen it. I might even buy it next week when it comes out.

Seven Random things About Me

1. I get very creeped out if I try to scuba dive. I just don't like seeing all the muck and slime and trees under the water. Eugh.


2. One of the main reasons I love Spring is because it's artichoke season. I absolutely love them, despite the rigamorole of cooking/eating them. Also, they make the house stink and Jeremy hates them. But it's all worth it.


3. Laundry is the only chore I like.


4. I love to stretch. It's one of those old gymnastics habits that has never worn off. I'd say on average I stretch 5 times per week.


5. I'm a tosser. I hate clutter, so if I haven't used something in a year, it usually gets donated to the Goodwill. I don't get emotionally attached to things, and extra stuff stresses me out. This makes me a bad match with my pack-rat husband.


6. I get really excited about minor things: a new cell phone, Jeremy agreeing to see a movie with me, a sunny day in Winter, etc.


7. I make one mean apple pie.

Count it All Joy

I'm a bit of a worrier. My first anxiety: 1st grade. My teacher, Mrs. Bennett, was a stern woman with a knack for guilt trips. At the start of the year, she evaluated our "acheivement levels," and put the class into ranked groups. I was placed in the highest reading group, with the smart kids and the kids whose parents had done Hooked on Phonics with them at home. I was probably the dumbest (ahem..."lowest achieving") kid in the group.


Each week went as follows: Monday we took a spelling "pre-test" on the words for our group. My group always got the hardest words. One example: giraffe. (**Just now, I went to dictionary.com to make sure "giraffe" doesn't have two r's, and I was 6 years old at the time, and had just learned to read) Anyway, we had Tuesday through Thursday to study our list of 10 words, and on Friday mornings, we took a "final exam." If I didn't get 100% on the this test, the paper frog bearing my name would not hop to the next paper lilypad, and I would be left behind my reading group. The kids used to get so stressed out on Fridays that Mrs. Bennett would play "Don't Worry, Be Happy" on the boombox when we came in from recess.


Since then, my anxiety has covered a range of issues. I've worried about everything from good grades to finances, politics to gardening. Lately I worry about being a good wife and a good mother in the future, and I have irrational fears about Jeremy dying in a car accident on his way home from work (a three-minute drive where he never goes over 30 mph). My anxiety level has never been too extreme - nothing that interrupts my daily life - but I know I should be less worried about little things and more focused on enjoying my incredibly blessed life. I should be "counting it all joy." So that's what I'm working on right now.


Count it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endourance.
James 1: 2-3 (NIV)

Don't worry about tomorrow or get caught up in what might or might not happen. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
Matthew 6:34 (The Message)

BLOOMSDAY!

I have decided to run Bloomsday. For anyone who doesn't know, it's a 10k footrace in Spokane, and last year there were over 50,000 people who ran or walked it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to "run" Bloomsday, but my goal is to not walk it either. I've been trying to work out, but if you know me, you know I really dislike working out because I'd rather be on the couch watching TV, which is probably why I haven't done Bloomsday since 1996 (my freshman year of high school).



However, I now have a husband who has recently lost 30 lbs and done a triathalon, which makes me feel like a huge piece of blubber. I'm not saying this for people to say "you're not a piece of blubbler," I'm actually saying it because it's good for me. There's nothing like competition to get Ivy going right? :)



So I guess I'm officially "Bloomsday Training." Wish me luck.

First Post!

Okay, so March is gone, without my really realizing it had happened! I was on the road for four weeks, and Jeremy for two. Poor Reggie was a little neglected, but thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Plewman, he was well cared for.

Ivy and Crimson Girls at the Sweet 16 in Charlotte

March Madness was certainly "mad," but the Cougs made a fantastic run, and the travelling was eased due to charter planes (the only way to travel, by the way!). Our flight from Lewiston, ID to Charlotte, NC was only 3 1/2 hours! Incredible. We will miss our graduating seniors, but are also hopeful since Coach Bennett seems to be committed to staying at WSU.

Coming up is a month of busyness for me with Mom's Weekend and WSU cheer/dance/Butch tryouts, and then we have a couple months of down time! Hopefully we'll have a few little mini-vacations with trips to the Float House, etc.

That's the update for now. Happy April!