BOO!

Happy Halloween! Super-Rusty and I are handing out candy, but soon we're going to close the door and turn off the light because it will be too late for the little kids. That's the whole point of Halloween, is seeing the little kids in their cute costumes. So, probably in another half hour, we'll close up the door and take the leftover candy to work tomorrow.

We're having fun, even if I did discover that the dress I made in college is too big. I must have had larger tracts of land (think "Monty Python and the Holy Grail") when I made it. I had to take it off and just wear my cloak over my regular clothes. Oh well. At least Rusty looks cute in his superhero cape. He likes answering the door.

I shouldn't watch scary movies when I'm home alone at night and it's dark outside. I can't help it, though. Most of the time scary movies are funny to me. Like "Scream". It was just campy. "Saw" was suspensful, gory, but still pretty over the top. That always makes me laugh. However, the scariest movie I've ever seen was Disney's "Sleeping Beauty". That was terrifying (okay, I was only 5 or 6, but it still gives me the shivers). Believe me, Disney movies can be more scary than any of the so-called horror films.

Hey, S.S. - Maybe we should have capes for everyone in the club! That'd be fun. :) - AA

Rusty the Superhero

Well. There it is. After a couple hours with the sewing machine, Rusty has a Halloween costume. He'd look more superhero-ish if he wasn't sleeping. Now I just have to decide what I'm going to dress up as.

Rusty spent most of the day at the vet yesterday. I get the feeling they gave him copious amounts of treats, because they were his best friends when we left. He's taking antibiotics for a urinary tract infection, but otherwise he doesn't seem to be any worse for wear after his visit. Even though they did have to use 3 people to trim his toenails. I don't know what they expected, he does weigh 83 pounds. But he doesn't have the layer of fat on him that he used to. Now it's muscle.

And that's the adventure for today. Tomorrow's adventure: Dealing with trick-or-treaters.

Planning for Halloween

Although he doesn't realize it yet, I'm going to make Rusty a superhero cape to wear on Halloween. I worked it all out in my head while I was riding the bus home. So I have my work for tomorrow night.

Tonight is laundry night and "there's nothing on TV" night, so I'll be watching a movie on cable. I think Urban Legend is on some channel starting at 7, so after The Simpsons is over, I'll watch something scary (maybe).

I got Halloween candy for any trick-or-treaters that happen to show up at my door on Monday night. Anything that's left will go to work to be devoured my co-workers. That's what they're for. Especially since Rusty doesn't get to eat chocolate.

I need to stop reading so late into the night. However, I fall into the trap of "one more chapter" and by the time I finally close (or finish) the book, it's well beyond the time I intended to turn off the lights.

Tonight is laundry night, because I chose not to do it last weekend. So now I have to do it. Of course, it could wait until Saturday or Sunday, but I'm afraid of being arrested by the clean underwear police, or having to go to the doctor/emergency room.

I went to Barnes and Noble (my favorite store ever) and got a new book today, and a little mini-bonsai kit. It suggests putting it on my desk at work, but I'm afraid Boris the spider plant would get jealous. And the grass I got from a co-worker for my birthday died a horrible death from neglect in my office. I think the new plant will have to live in the window with my African violets, pepper plant, Christmas cactus, and various other plants. I think the only reason Boris survives the work environment is that here at home he was sitting under George (a big plant) and didn't get any light.

No news on the dating front. But I'm not discouraged. I'm not doing it because I NEED to be in a relationship. I'm doing it to keep me entertained when I'm sitting at home being a hermit with Rusty and my plants.

Tennis balls

When we need toys, we don't buy the fancy dog-toys. We just use tennis balls that we stole from my dad (no, actually, he gave them to us). Rusty chews and rips them until they are destroyed. No one ever wants to play tennis with us. How sad.

I have a new problem with the online dating. People who don't respond. The least someone could do is just a quick note to say "Hey, I got your message". If they aren't interested, just say so. Don't just ignore my message. Have some courtesy, people!

So, the Vikings beat the Packers yesterday. But that doesn't mean they don't still stink. They got too many unnecessary penalties, and their offense was terrible. They allowed too many sacks (poor, Daunte) because the offensive line was allowing guys to sneak right through. Does anyone else think the Vikings should have lost? Even without taking into account their off-field antics? Good thing my dad and I didn't put any money on our pregame guesses as to the outcome. (I was betting against the Vikings, almost a sacrilege here in Minnesota)

That's the adventures for today. I have to go read the books I got from Amazon.com today.

Fun with PSP

I was bored yesterday. Could you tell? I hadn't tried anything like this with Paint Shop Pro (even though I've had it for almost 3 years). I mainly used it to resize pictures and take out red-eye. Now I'm going to be a complete nerd and make crazy-wierd pictures like this just because I can.

Anyway. Nothing to report on the dating scene. I've had a couple responses, but no one that I've approached has written back (how rude!). It's getting a little boring with no conversations going on.

Rusty is now the only dog in the house again. Cinnamon and Sugar went home with their family, but I kind of miss the little boys. There was more energy in the house with them here. And they liked to snuggle. Rusty likes to snuggle, but he's a little bigger so it's harder to let him sit on my lap. At least he isn't as big as Willard, the mastiff next door. My neighbor was taking Willard out for a walk this morning when I had Rusty out in the backyard for his morning potty. She was having to bribe Willard to walk with her. Good thing Rusty isn't like that.

Crazy House

I told my boss that I'd take care of her dogs while she went to a conference this week. So, she and her daughter dropped them off Wednesday after work. Right now I have 3 dogs living here. It's a bit of a madhouse at my house. Rusty's relatively calm, but Cinnamon and Sugar are two wild and crazy guys. That's ok, though. They're fun dogs, and tomorrow everyone will get a bath, but - shhhhhhhhhhhhh, it's a secret.
Aren't they cute? Sugar is on the left, Cinnamon is on the right.

Kind of an interesting adventure having other dogs in our house. I wasn't sure how Rusty would be able to handle it. He's been doing pretty well, all things considered. The little boys play together, Rusty plays with me. I think I would probably do it again, in the hopes that it wasn't so wet outside. I like rain, but the dogs make a big mess with wet paws.

Anyway, I've been scrolling through profiles in my online dating adventure. There are just a few things I've noticed that are turn-offs for me at least.

1. Writing in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.
2. Misspelling words. There's a spellcheck function, for heaven's sake. Use it!
3. Profiles with no pictures, or poor quality pictures. This isn't as shallow as it might seem. You can tell a lot about a person by the picture they choose, and whether they are smiling in the picture. Makes me feel like I'm dealing with a real person.
4. Requesting only "hot" people/being choosy about who responds/basically being bratty about who will be "allowed" to even start a conversation.
5. Poor grammar (sorry, I was an English major in college).

I need a moment to indulge in sorrow about the sorry state of the English language. Talk amongst yourselves...

All right, I feel better again. I can get over the poor grammar and spelling. The other things are pretty important though. And I have two major rules. First, I'm not giving my phone number out. Second, no meeting in person until we've at least spoken over the phone. And when we do meet in person, it'll be during the day and in a public place. I've also had offers from my co-workers (Beautiful Becky, Countess Kari and S.S.) to be date spies.

****Side note: We have a club at our office, and we all have secret names. I'm Awesome Abby. It came from some guys asking our boss, Supercalifragilistikexpialidocious Cheryl, to join a club for lonely CEOs. S.S. and I decided that we would start a club so S.C. wouldn't be lonely.****

I don't think I'll be meeting anyone in person anytime soon. Not even the guy I messaged with most of the day today (he seems pretty nice, and he has an awesome looking motorcycle). I've also sent some little notes to a couple guys that seemed interesting/compatible/cute/etc. We'll see how that pans out. If nothing, there's always someone else.

One last thing: S.S. didn't think I would actually write about him. He was dramatically surprised when I showed him that I actually had written about him. That'll teach him to disbelieve the things I say to him.

A Quick Note

I just need to say this: Asking to meet in person within the first 24 hours of contact is a no-no with me. Moving a little too fast. Even if Superlative Steve (henceforth known as S.S.) hadn't warned me, I'd still be uncomfortable with meeting in person so soon. Coming up with a way to say "Not yet" without it sounding like a brush off is terribly difficult.

More adventures tonight.

New Beginnings

Rusty and I are beginning a new adventure. Since our housemate (read: ex-boyfriend) moved out in July, we've started to become hermits. Not like it bothers Rusty much. His life consists of sleeping on the couch, drinking out of the toilet, begging for food (and then eating that food), sleeping on the bed, sleeping on the floor, peeing in the basement/bathroom/kennel/yard/etc., yelling at me when I don't wake up in time, and sleeping on the futon.

I, however, have to go to work during the day (so he can eat the food he begs for). So my social circle has included my coworkers, my family and Rusty. So I signed up for online dating. Honestly, I must have lost my mind.

My best friend at work (Superlative Steve), upon hearing that I signed up for online dating, immediately began to worry. Apparently, he read this book about some guy in Kansas who met women online and then lured them to visit him, killed them and put them in barrels around his property. I wasn't able to convince S.S. that I would be all right. If I do plan on meeting any one of the guys I meet, it will be during the day and in a public place. S.S. is still worried though, which is sweet. I hope he didn't go home and tell his wife.

I was planning on signing up with an online dating/matchmaking service (that I won't name, but they have all sorts of commercials on the TV promising amazing results), but they didn't have their pricing anywhere readily accessible on the website. Not unless I wanted to take the personality profile (which is free, but they tell you it has an outrageous value to make you feel like you're getting a bargain) first.

So I found one that was honest enough to put the prices up front, and created a profile. I don't fit well into a couple short paragraphs. I don't know how anyone can even begin to describe themself in a little short blurb. I know there's stuff I left out, like my extreme geekiness, but I figure it won't take long for someone to find out about it after a couple conversations. And the only digital pictures I have of me are fishing pictures, or pictures of me with my boa constrictor. I have tons of pictures of Rusty and zoo animals.

This promises to be an interesting ride. Stay tuned.