Jessica's Blog

Word of the Day: Pay Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:21:00 +0000

I was reading an article about paid vs. unpaid content on newspaper websites -- yes, the ominous black clouds thundering above shivering, naked, starving journalists everywhere. Apparently, the choice to leave most content under the paid/member category is called a pay wall. This pay wall typically whittles down the traffic flow, sometimes to the extent that the site shrivels on the vine.

Updated RSS

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:30:00 +0000

I've corrected some errors in the RSS and email subscription links. Please double-check you're receiving the RSS of the blog you were interested in signing up for. This is my Personal (JeDa21) blog.

Black Hawk Park

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:53:00 +0000

I'm so so so sorry I didn't get a chance to see the Black Hawk state historic site and park when I lived just 20 mins away :( It's now being boasted by EnjoyIllinois.com as one of the wonders of the state of Illinois.

Sunny Days and Cloudy Days

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:12:00 +0000

The silver lining when bad things happen is being able to value the good things even more when they come.

When it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel because it's foggy, smells bad, and claustrophobia kicks in, don't give in to the drowning sensation--don't panic.

If feeling jaded and aghast at the things that have happened, sure they should have happened differently, remember free will moves things through different paths.

One day the opportunity will come to glance at the shadows of the past from a sunny outcropping and realize there was a reason.

Learn to let go, and let God.

“...don’t you realize that there are miles of beach and thousands of starfish...You can’t possibly make a difference!” The young man bent down and picked up another starfish, throwing it into the sea “It made a difference for that one.”

Meet My Little Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:33:00 +0000

He's going to help me be smart through the three programs I'm studying. One is a Masters, one is a Certificate with two classes left for completion, one is web programming which I just signed up for.

He reminds me of Orion, the neighborhood owl, which is always a plus.

How is he supposed to help me be smart, you might ask? The owl is a symbol across several cultures representing protection, intelligence, learning, foresight, and sacred knowledge. In ancient Greece they associated the owl with Goddess Athena, who was the Goddess of Learning and Wisdom.

He was designed by Judith Jack, my favorite jewelry designer. He's enameled, silver, and features marcasite stones throughout. He's adorable and about 1" tall.

Content Scrapping Online

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:27:00 +0000

I posted on online content scraping on my jedasinterwebs.blogspot.com blog.

Is your online content being scraped and used without attribution by third parties? Learn how you can turn the tables on scrapers and make it work for you with a few tricks.

What are You Hungry For?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:48:00 +0000

There's this great article on this week's PsychCentral e-newsletter about the http://feeds.feedburner.com/jeda21

Rural Medicine

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Rural medicine, or http://feeds.feedburner.com/jeda21

Gold Digger

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:12:00 +0000

I was reading an article on MSN Autos website, about what car models are popular in which zip codes in the US, when there was a hilarious mention of a billboard the author or someone saw driving: have maid...have money, would love a honey!

Priceless.

Word of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:01:00 +0000

Nihilism - Nihilism is a doctrine. It defends that nothing can be really known or communicated. In other words, it is an extreme skepticism regarding knowledge and reality itself, and it can be equated with nothingness. Nihilism can also mean the rejection of all established religious values and morals. The adjective is nihilistic.

A Note on Customer Service

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:19:00 +0000

There is a fine line between a seamless customer service experience--which is basically immersion marketing--and a total failed attempt that's transparent and disappointing to the customer.

For example, if your customer is ready to pay, don't make it difficult for him to shell out those dollars. This goes for online as well as in brick and mortars. Accept quick payments, don't have hoops for them to go through--such as in the deathly syndrome of excessive screens for online payments.

Another customer service line that's blurring every day is hosting guests in restaurants. Although young girls in uggs may be ok for some casual restaurants, it's hardly the proper attire for a hostess at a medium-price Italian restaurant. And their cooing and ahh-ing over a male customer's accent, in front of his family, is just as close to obscene as it can get. Believe me, in that tone of voice, it was.

It used to be said that you could show your opinion through your consumer patronage, but, that's a little too passive for the type of reaction that's called for when the customer has really been put out. You can always ask to speak with a higher up, or send a letter/email to headquarters... but wouldn't you wonder if all you may accomplish in doing is blacklisting yourself?

It's tricky business being a customer these days.

Relief!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:03:00 +0000

I had a weekend of relief from my depression, work stress, and other assorted issues.

Saturday night I enjoyed dinner at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, Yerbabuena, in Lisle IL. It's always tricky to choose between their cheese verde enchiladas or their mole cheese enchiladas, they're both soooo good! Although we could have taken the table that was available on the patio, it was still a little chilly--we were expecting the weekend to warm up by the time Labor Day Monday was coming though, and we were right!

Saturday we kick started the day by going to our favorite pancake house, Blueberry Hill, which is just around the corner from our community. When we came home I ordered a carpet cleaning service to come to our house the same day, because Benny's little odoriferous love notes were getting to be a little too much for our sensitive noses. We had already decided we weren't going to get laminate floors to replace our carpeting, due to some hideous bait and switch Home Depot pulled on us, where the cost for the products was quoted, but not the entire installation fees. The total price eventually turned out to be three times what was originally quoted to us!! So carpet cleaning is DEFINITELY the way to go for now. Besides, it's a biatch to match a laminate floor pattern to the wood we already have in the house (coffee tables and kitchen/restroom cabinets) :)

Sunday we went to our local pancake house for bfast, again, and had a blast saying hi to the waiters that recognize us. Then a trip to renowned Phillips Park and Zoo in Aurora, where I finally got a look at the Mastodon Center. Really cool! Loved the wolves at the Zoo, though they are in such a visitor-unfriendly confine that I barely got some pix.

Sunday we then went to Kuiper Farm up in Maple Park, IL. Kuiper farm is renowned for its apple picking and fun family events like live music, tractor shows and tractor rides. When we went they were in the middle of a BBQ under a tent, an antique tractor showing (loved seeing the old John Deere tractors, after having known the Deere history in Moline firsthand!), and lots of apple picking. We bought a caramel apple pie with walnuts, some apple glazed donuts, and a quart of apple cider. MMM. I can't wait what other activities they feature once fall has truly made its presence felt.

Sunday night we went to Naperville's Last Fling. Train, a band that I haven't found all that palatable on the radio, was playing. We usually like to hang out under the liquor tent and listen to those bands, where there is seating. also, because they don't let you take your liquor out of that fenced-in area, so it's kind of a must. One of us stayed under the tent waiting while the other went and grabbed some chow at the nearby Greek delicacies tent. YUM. So I found out the name of the band that was playing in this free-concert booze tent, Steepwater band. These guiys are a little ZZ Top and all good. I'm going to actually purchase their CD. This is earthshaking from me people ^_^ As a matter of fact, the band is playing at a ZZTop event at the Chicago House of Blues soon. Talk about good stuff. They totally pawned Train, every way from Sunday. Oh yea. House of Blues is another place on my to-visit list--I didn't really get to enjoy it much when I went for our company's annual conference committee dinner *bleh* :)

All weekend I got lots of reading in, finishing the biography of Sylvia Plath, the Flow book, and finishing the On Writing book by Stephen King. Not only that, but I also joined Shelfari.com where I can employ my organizational skills as they are applied to my growing collection of books. Though many of them have been donated to charity, in the past few years, there's a solid collection still at hand.

Monday was a wee bit of a letdown, but I did lots of walking, both downtown Naperville when we decided to lunch at Chipotle since Schmaltz Deli was closed for the holiday (alas, Le Chocolat was also closed so no dessert), and also when we went to the nearby premium outlet mall (where I scored some awesome Timberland sporty hiking sneakers), and finally, when we came home and walked/exercised our darling Benny. ;)

Now, back to Top Gear ;) on BBC-A. Hope this short week turns out to be a joy and not a hemorrhoid ^_^

Perfect Stranger

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:30:00 +0000

I had the opportunity to watch a movie on TV from start to finish (!) last night. Yes, you might wonder why I'm so excited. Well I typically watch movies on my laptop, and rarely turn to the TV unless an already started movie's on (and one that I've already watched innumerable times, I might add), or else, just look to my trusty Top Gear on Monday nights.

I kind of liked Perfect Stranger. It had Bruce Willis, someone I'm interested in seeing working these days to see how far he's come since Moonlighting. His role in Perfect Stranger rang perfectly true to me. He was smarmy, overconfident, prone to bouts of public violence, egomaniacal, and an excellent schmoozer. I wonder if they'll ever portray someone of means who worked his way up, in a more pleasant light! Looks like Hollywood is pointing a tisk-tisk tinged finger onto itself when they frown down on materialistic or opportunistic well-to-do folk, like in Bruce's role here.

Of course, I would be lax to dismiss Halle Berry's role in this movie. She's such a cutie, as always. Though I get the feeling that high energy scenes make her embarassed, as she does scrunge up her face and blush in a somewhat ackward expression at these times.

But whom I truly enjoyed seeing is Giovanni Ribisi. I seldom pay attention to him in movies, and oftentimes take him for granted. Such as I did in Gone in 60 Seconds. He's actually a good supporting actor with a lot of promise (he's young still, at about 3 yrs older than I am). I'm sure he's going to have a bright, solid career in the movie industry.

The storyline was a lovely little mystery/sexy drama/adventure. Those that edge onto the guilty pleasure arena, especially with the lurid photos Giovanni's character took of himself engaged in some intersting interactions with another of the main characters. I disagreed with the "dungeon" look they gave Giovanni's hacker "headquarters" but then again, many of the sets looked a little posed to me, versus real life. For example, Halle's struggling journalist pad was actually quite luxe. While Giovanni's professional hacker pad was in dissarray...individuals who work as professional hackers earn a very good living, so I would expect his pad to be outfitted to the tee with cool techie and otherwise modern elements. And well-to-do IT professionals can afford housecleaners by the way...

All around I liked the movie because it's a little bit guilty pleasure, a little bit mystery, and very lovely to look at. It did keep me guessing where it was going. I felt the twist at the end was somewhat reminiscent of Halle's Gothika in a far-removed sort of way.

The social commentary, or writer's commentary on social interaction online is one of the more relevant elements of this movie. If you listen closely to Halle near the very end, she reads out loud what seems to be her investigative article on the occurrences that took place throughout the movie. I remember something like, although people come together socially online they're alone away from the computer, which is an excellent observation because in 99.9% of the cases it's true. And I can attest to that first hand. It's a little squirmy for me to watch or hear comments like this, but it's useless. After a while, if you keep fighting the current (and the truth) while you swim, something eventually gives out.

I might watch it again to see what I missed on the first go around. But I'll wait a while for that. I'm now beginning to hoard my Autumn and Halloween themed movies for cooler weather enjoyment--gotta do something to keep the vile threat of winter's icy finger at bay, don't I? ;o)

Reading Days

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:54:00 +0000

Reading is fun. Unless I'm editing boring books at work like one on accounting and another one which has a gazillion typos because the authors didn't bother finishing a complete camera-ready draft before sending it in to us for editing and layout.

For my Women in Literature course I did a lot of speed reading. I was very taken by Sylvia Plath, and haven't really been able to shake off my interest in her thus far. I bought a 2009 biography of her (simply Sylvia Plath) which I found brilliant because of the author's foreword, clarifying some major areas in Sylvia Plath's life. I just finished reading it, and I'm very pleased that I ran into this book.

Just to recap, Sylvia Plath is considered one of the best poets and prolific writers in American literary history. Alas, Sylvia suffered from bipolar disorder, which was aggravated by associating herself with the wrong type of men, and an overachieving streak, which led her to get into overly complicated situations that emotionally overwhelmed her. She finally took her life just as she entered in her 30th decade.

I find reading about eccentric creative people rewarding in so many ways. It's one of my favorite topics. In this same vein, I recently acquired a book that had been languishing in my Amazon wish list for about a year. It's titled "Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament."

Right. For now, I gotta go back to watching Perfect Stranger on FX -- intriguing, mindless entertainment ;)

Aviator

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:53:00 +0000

I've been trying to watch the movie Aviator for the past three evenings. I've never had any interest in seeing Leonardo DiCaprio movies after I had to go through Titanic back the day it came out and I went with my parents. The last time I liked Leo was when he did Critters 3 *grin* he was a kid and really cute.

So I'm really liking Aviator. I've always been fascinated by Howard Hughes ever since I went to see the Spruce Goose in the mid 1980s. I figured out even as a small kid, that someone who developed something like that plane wasn't your run of the mill person. The Aviator shows me exactly that, though as fictionally and Hollywood-ishly as you can possibly get. Visiting the Spruce Goose while it was still at Longbeach, California (the couple or three times I did), are still among my favorite memories from childhood.

So why did it take me 5 years to see this movie? Sometimes things work out on their own. I'm glad I did give it a chance, though because Leo is so young, he makes Hughes seem too approachable, when in reality, I've a strong feeling that the real Hughes was anything but. Especially with the evolving mental conditions he faced. It's always creepy when I understand the weirdest whys, though it sometimes comes in handy.

Loved the sets, the wardrobes, the planes. Loved the era as a whole, that look is amazing. Fun times.

Benny

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:20:00 +0000

THEN

NOW

Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:57:00 +0000

I've been watching a few episodes of Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC-A and love both his in your face F-off attitude and the nutty "reality TV" stuff that goes on. Very saccharine-y endings, but the hell Gordon makes everyone go through in each episode makes it worth it ;) I'm however finding the formula after a few episodes, and as soon as I begin feeling the formula I start to drop out. I may still have a few episodes to go before I completely switch off though!

Today's episode was on an Indian restaurant in Manhattan. Gordon weaseled his way into getting a hard-ass to quit so the restaurant owner didn't have to do the dirty work. It was interesting to me that he got on a fellow Englishman's ass. It's almost as interesting that the guy who owned the restaurant was named Mohammad (Muslim), and that one of the floor managers was English! Having a little "in the know" myself, some bias exists for Hindu-owned restaurants, though many Muslims do own Indian restaurants. Most Muslim owned restaurants, however, tend to also offer Pakistani food (including Beef which is a huge no-no for Hindus).

One of our favorite Indian restaurants was Muslim-owned, it was called Indus Valley and it was located in Naperville. They had some really awesome food, including some beef kabobs, and a really yummy naan. Alas, after we missed a few months of going there, one last visit shocked us with the surprise that they'd folded up and closed.

Hiking in Illinois

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:21:00 +0000

I've been meaning more intently to research hiking. I've taken up something close to it since Benny's come into our world. Significant other unit refuses to take these sorts of walks, and the couple of times he's come along has been vocal about the difficulty of walking on such terrain *sigh*

So what is there to hiking? Are there any guides? What about trail guides or guides to hiking in Illinois? What about a guide to local flora and fauna? Could I find hidden edibles in the area while hiking? Hmmm all these questions set me thinking and searching.

So my search produced a number of interesting resources, though I'm still not satisfied with what I've found.

A "Hiking Website" tells you what there is to hiking and what to look for when starting it up. Here you learn that hiking's about being conscious of 1) your body, and 2) your surroundings. Make sure you don't go beyond your limits, and that you're always aware what situation you're in (yes that means no texting while hiking!). So what goes with these two main elements to hiking? Well you should always hike with someone, make sure you have the appropriate gear (#1 is appropriate footgear and apparel), make sure you ask questions, and above all watch and learn. Be a walking sponge. And whatever you do, don't go to the grand canyon and climb dangerous rocks thousands of feet above sea level in wedgey/platformy slipons like I did Dec 31 last year. Scary. Then again, the adrenaline rush was thoroughly enjoyable ^_^ I live for stuff like that ;)

Then there's Gorp.Away.com which is an awesome links resource for all hiking related stuff, like
what to look for in hiking gear. The Get Started link is quite useful, in a "make a list, plan, then hit the road" kinda way. I also liked their Illinois hiking guide.

So what's the resources arena like for Illinois in particular? Any forest preserves or other govt-type agencies educating people out there? Eh...not so much apparently.

I first searched the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website and didn't find much, with the exception of a list of trails in my particular area (there's different pages for different areas within Illinois). Eh. Maybe I'll take a look if I ever want to venture out of my back yard. There's lots to do right here for now.

The DuPage and Kane counties forest preserve websites are interesting too. DuPage has had more resources it seems, and their websites are uber friendly to use. Their recreation section has a page personalized to hiking interests, including maps and other info of particular areas of interest. I actually found Kane County Forest Preserve's Twitter account to be FAR better than its website. Its Facebook page isn't that bad either.

I'll keep checking this and Enjoyillinois.com out. I have had on my to-do list Starved Rock State Park for what seems forever. I was almost interested in going to the Mississippi Palisades a long time ago, but any interest never quite materialized.

I'll keep checking all these resources out to broaden my knowledge and maybe, one day, take a peek at some of these cool hiking trails and places. But for now, I enjoy my 45min-1hr long hikes with Benny the Baying Hound. We have our very own favorite places and our own way of communicating silently with each other, as we explore together.

Happy trails y'all ;)

Where Are You From?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:21:00 +0000

Such a simple-minded question. And yet, as most things in life, answering the question of where you are from can be complex, paradoxical, and mysterious.

In my case, I'm from at least 12 places across the globe. Those 12 are places where my family and I have rented or owned homes/apartments. There's a couple more places in Italy, but I can't find them and will need to get my mom to help me figure where they're at exactly.

View Places I've Lived in a larger map

I've also been trying to track down my scholastic years, for particulars of where and when. I sometimes blank on early life due to who knows why. Here's what I've been able to put together:

98 NIU
97 NIU
96 NIU
95 NIU
94 MAA - NIU
93 MAA
92 MAA
91 MAA
90 Our Lady of Peace, Darien - MAA
89 7-8 Instituto Rougier, Veracruz - Our Lady of Peace, Darien
88 6-7 Instituto Rougier, Veracruz
87 5-6 Instituto Rougier, Veracruz
86 4-5 Instituto Rougier, Veracruz
85 3-4 Instituto Rougier, Veracruz
84 2-3 Instituto America, Veracruz - Ada Negri, Pegli - Instituto Rougier, Veracruz
83 1-2 Scarabocchio, Nervi - Instituto America, Veracruz - Ada Negri, Pegli
82 kind - 1
81 kind
80 ?
79 ?
78 ?
77 April

Antisocial/Emo Playlist

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:25:00 +0000

My antisocial/emo playlist from my iTunes dungeon:

Marilyn Manson - Tainted Love cover
Nickelback - Figured You Out
Orgy - Blue Monday
Radiohead - Creep
Garbage - Only Happy When it Rains
The Offspring - Pretty Fly for a White Guy
Blink 182 - What's My Age Again?
Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People
Lenny Kravitz - American Woman
Cake - Never There
Chris Cornell - You Know My Name
Nickelback - Never Again
Rage Against the Machine - Wake Up
Depeche Mode - Precious
Garbage (Todd Terry remix) - Stupid Girl
Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy
The Offspring - Why Don't You Get a Job?
Marilyn Manson - Rock is Dead
Steelers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle With You
Nickelback - Something in Your Mouth
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
SmashMouth - All Star
Sheryl Crow - My Favorite Mistake
Sheryl Crow - A Change Would Do You Good
Sheryl Crow - First Cut is the Deepest
Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams cover
Marilyn Manson - Personal Jesus cover
Depeche Mode - Wrong

Playing Catchup

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:29:00 +0000

It's been beyond hectic lately. I wanted to keep busy, and that's exactly what I got! Beware what you wish for ;)

The summer term course I'm taking, Women's Lives in Literature, is over this Wednesday. I'm relieved but have to finish my creative piece tomorrow so that I'll have something I can be proud of for my assignment. This class features a lot of reading aloud, and thus, it's important to have something worth sharing. I also have an ambitious list of books to finish reading. The first one I'm finishing is Lillian Hellman's Pentimento, which I'm almost finished with. This is a jewel I found via the homework assignments for my course. I also have tons of other books I've been acquiring in relation to suggestions my professor has offered, and which I've researched and found to be must-reads.

Benny's doing ok lately. Though we got some bad news from the vet. I'm going to be taking him to a new vet starting Thursday. They will be giving him a blood test and probably, some strong medication to make him all better. The vet I'm taking him to on Thursday is the same vet we used to take Dixie and Kelly, our Cocker Spaniels, back in the mid 1990s. They're great and we know they do as much as possible to help pets get better. I'm confident we'll have Benny in perfect health in no time.

Work is as hectic as hectic can be. Conference is a month away, and I'm working on four publications: two books, and two periodicals. Plus the biannual journal, of course ;) as if I could forget that. Not to mention all the sessions and track stuff and speakers...and...and, well all that stuff.

Here's hoping health and work keep us in good spirits as autumn arrives. Always a tentative time for me, personally.

The Full Drive-In Theater Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:43:00 +0000

After talking about our nearby drive-in theather with our neighbors about two weeks ago on Friday (too much info, I realize), significant-other unit and I decided to go to experience this wonderful and almost dying bit of Americana.

We've been to two showings, one a week from last Saturday (Ice Age 3 *giggle*, and part of the double feature Orphan *nausea*), and the last visit was this past Friday (GIJoe *err...*, we skipped the second feature of Transformers 2 *shiver*).

One of the best part of the drive-in experience, was this past Saturday, when the movie stopped at one point due to technical difficulties, and everyone honked. This so totally traditional! It was cool even though we missed about 20 minutes of the movie LOL. Nearby young people stopped honking, and instead started blasting some really good techno and dance tunes and started free-style grinding and dancing. Two more young ppl came over from a nearby car and joined in the fun. It was hilarious...and free entertainment, while we waited for the management to fix the movie.

The other really good part about going to the drive-in, is that we get to take young Master Benny the Baying Hound. He was a really good boy, staying on my lap and developing a little more experience riding in cars. He wasn't as shaky and worried as usual, and he definitely loves his blue fleece blanket to snuggle on either on my lap or on the rear seat. Since he was such a good boy, we gave him some treats and a hamburger (no bun, nor toppings), and he really loved it.

On the other hand, I didn't love GIJoe as much as I thought I would. I think that it deserves a fair shake tho, and will be downloading it in the near future to see what I missed when the film broke down at the drive-in...though I doubt enough happened to redeem the movie...they were right about the CGI overruling plot and common sense. Actors really have it too easy these days, they just need to react to a blue screen. My favorite character, I must say, was Snake Eyes. He reminded me of the a more martial arts and good-guy version of Karl Ruprecht Kroenen from Hellboy.

We will have to see if anything interesting is coming up this weekend to go again to our lovely drive-in. It seriously is tons of fun.

A Hiking We Will Go

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:35:00 +0000

Bought new hiking shoes from the nearby Timberland store so I can trek with young Master Benny, the 2-time runaway hound. Got good use out of them yesterday when we took a 45 minute walk in rough field terrain. He definitely loves breathing in the new smells and checking out the rabbit population.

He was super well behaved over the weekend, even when our niece dropped by to meet him. He really enjoyed taking dog biscuits from her and he definitely enjoys the petting and cuddles he's getting from everyone!

Needless to say, we're all holding on to his leash unusually strongly lately, and securing any open doorways leading to the outside world whenever he's nearby.

Last night was the first night he didn't use our cream carpeting as his restroom, instead waiting until this morning to do his business like the wonderful boy he is.

Stay tuned for more updates as they become available ;)

Catching Up on Movies

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:25:00 +0000

We got to go to my first ever drive-in movie last weekend, and we saw Ice Age 3. The second features was the Orphan, and the birthing scene at the beginning was so cliched and phoney looking (a la Freddy Krueger) that I totally gave up on it and decided to leave while we were still ahead of the game.

I didn't know what to expect at the drive-in, since most movies I've seen dealing with them are either horror movies or something like Twister lol, what with the car-ride fearing dog on my lap and all...but it turned out to be a memorable experience that I definitely want to repeat.

There's a ton of movies I've been lapsing on, such as Harry Potter, and the upcoming GI Joe. I just saw the commercial (again) for Inglorious Basterds, and thats' another one on my list. I hope I get to see all these and more! I live for good movies ;)

Benny's Been Back a While

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica D'Amico (JeDa)) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:14:00 +0000

Benny found his way into one of the large, racoon traps (coon trap) that we had out in front of our house Monday night at 11 pm CT.

The cage was well hidden under loose greens the significant other unit had placed around and on top, among the tall and weedy trees, bushes, and grasses. We set chicken, dog food, cat food, and water inside the cage, and hoped for the best.

Since his dissappearance on Wednesday evening, plenty of people called us via the numerous lost dog flyers or findtoto.com voice mail messages, letting us know they had spotted our dog but he was running too fast away to catch him. We ourselves had ran into him numerous times but he had vanished just as fast as he had appeared.

And I wondered what he had been eating, and drinking, what may have attacked him in the night. Whether the mosquito bites were bothering his irritated skin as much as they were me and mine.

I cried when it rained Friday night because it was also lighting and thundering.

But on Monday night we finally caught him and he hadno idea why we were saying "ha-ha" and pointing at him as we lifted the heavy, huge metal box out of its hidden greenery home and up the steps into our front door. Neither why we barricaded the kitchen entrance as we let him out and continued to laugh at "stupid dog."

The very next day he got a bath as soon as I came home, and his ears cleaned with a special liquid I had bought at the veterinarian. He would need another veterinarian visit now to make sure he was ok. It wouldn't be the same vet I'd taken him to on Tuesday, because they didn't inspire much professionalism. I'd have to find another one.

I eventually took Benny to the vet our next-door neighbor suggested, since they take their three cats there, and it was also open on the day I wanted to take Benny. These guys are much better. They gave me some deworming pills to give Benny on a full stomach, and a stool sample container that I need to bring back in about a week, with stool that is no older than 3-4 hours.

Benny's getting his coat brushed about once or twice a week, and he's getting chopped cooked chicken mixed in with vegetables and his dry and wet dog food. Plus snacks such as sweet potato and venison mini dog biscuits and fake meat treats. As soon as the fake meat treats are finished I wont' be buying new ones since the product contains too many artificial ingredients and corn syrup. Why on earth are there still businesses selling crap like that? All the other products I'm buying are much more wholesome with clearly understandable ingredients. You can tell if a product's good or not by what ingredients are at the beginning of the ingredients list. If it's filler or "meal" or "byproduct" run screaming the opposite way as fast as you can.

Here's hoping Benny gets used to indoor life with us and we find a good, trustworthy obedience training program that can get us both talking the same language.