Wednesday-Bensday! Special Yard Edition

I think I’ve mentioned once or twice that we’ve been working a lot on our yard lately, yes? Sorry to sound like a broken record, but getting the yard and house ready for Tim’s upcoming graduation party has pretty much been the story of my life for the past week.

Anyway, we’ve been working on the yard. And Ben has been loving all the time outside.

And we have been loving watching that fluffy tail bounce through the yard while we work. Nothing like adorable dogs to make yard work more enjoyable.

Don’t forget to check in with Kaya, Rufus, Ted, Gus, and Zapp this week. And be sure to welcome Bailey to the weekly rotation of puppy love — Bailey and Ben will be sharing Wednesdays from now on, so head over there later today and give Bailey the warm welcome she deserves!

May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Photos & Videos, Puppies, Wednesday-Bensday | 5 Comments

I Blame the University

With something like 4,000 parking spaces for 25,000 students, on-campus parking in college was always a problem. If you drove to class, you had no choice but to be a parking lot vulture, creeping slowly behind someone walking to their car, turning on your blinker to claim dibs on the soon-to-be-vacated spot, and pulling in the instant the person leaving pulled out. Sometimes, after circling the lots until well after class started, you simply had to accept the fact that you’d just driven to campus for no reason; you wouldn’t be attending class that day because there was absolutely nowhere to park.

In my sophomore through senior years, not being able to find a parking space was not a huge deal. As long as I didn’t have a paper due or a test to take, it was usually okay to miss a class here and there. However, freshman year, when I lived in the dorms, finding parking was imperative — not so I could go to class, but so I could go inside and sleep at night. The dorm parking lot was ridiculously small, so I frequently had to find street parking and walk several blocks back to the dorm. With additional complications caused by not being able to park on one side of the street on certain nights due to street cleaning, parking became such a hassle that if I managed to get a spot in the actual dorm parking lot, I went as many days as possible without leaving campus so I wouldn’t have to give up my spot. Sometimes, if I was really desperate, I would park in the staff lot across the street from my dorm, knowing that if I didn’t set my alarm, get up, and move my car before the parking lot police started their rounds at 7am, there would be a ticket flapping on my windshield when I eventually rolled out of bed in time for my first class at 11. (Oh, to go back to the days when 11am was considered early!)

One night I came back to the dorms close to midnight, circled the tiny dorm lot unsuccessfully, decided I wasn’t desperate enough for a close spot to get up at 6:55 the next morning, and resigned myself to prowling the nearby streets in search of a gap wide enough to maneuver my little car into. The street I was on was two lanes in each direction and all but deserted except for the parked cars lining both curbs. As I headed east in the right-hand lane, I spotted a space on the west-bound side of the street that looked big enough to park in. I started to make a U-Turn, something I did nearly every night when looking for parking, and realized mid-turn that I hadn’t checked my blind spot.

I looked over my shoulder and saw a car approaching in the left-hand lane. I quickly turned the wheel the other way and tried to straighten out my car, but I was too late.

The other driver and I collided, the passenger side of his car peeling most of the front bumper off my car.

Everyone was fine; there was nobody riding in the passenger seat of the other car, so nothing but metal had been crunched. Despite the fact that the passenger side of the other guy’s car was concave and half of a bumper was dangling off the front of my car, both cars were driveable. We pulled onto a side street and exchanged information while I apologized profusely, and then we went our separate ways. We both filed police reports the next day and worked with our insurance companies to get the cars fixed.

There was no question about who was at fault. I was the one who had made a U-Turn out of the right-hand lane. I was the one who had made a U-Turn without first checking my blind spot. I was the one who had made a U-Turn directly into another car. I was clearly at fault, and I was the first to admit it.

In hindsight, though, sometimes I wonder who was really at fault that night. Obviously the other driver, who was doing nothing but minding his own business, driving along in the left-hand lane, couldn’t possibly have known that some careless 18-year-old was about to turn and hit his car; there’s no way he was at fault. In a collision between two drivers, if one is not at fault, then the other most likely is, right? But what if neither driver was at fault? What if, just maybe, the university was at fault?

Think about it: Is it my fault that the university failed to provide ample parking for all of its dorm residents? Isn’t it fair to say that if the university had provided enough parking, I wouldn’t have been out on the street looking for a parking spot to begin with? And if I hadn’t been on the street looking for parking, I never would have made that U-Turn out of the wrong lane, never would have forgotten to check my blind spot, never would have used that guy’s car as a bumper-removal device.

So who was really to blame for the collision that fateful night? If you ask the insurance companies, it was me. But if you ask me, it’s clear that the blame should rest squarely on the shoulders of the university.

The university forced me to wreck my car, take all the blame, and deal with higher insurance rates, but do you want to know the real kicker? On top of everything, I still had to get up and move my crumpled car out of the staff lot before 7:00 the next morning.

May 13, 2008 | Filed Under Nostalgia | 9 Comments

Smalls Sunday: Fortress of Solitude

Smalls used to have a Fortress of Solitude in our yard. She would frequently go hide among the weeds and branches overtaking the far corner of the yard whenever she wanted to try to get out of coming inside or needed a break from playing with Ben.

The Fortress of Solitude (behind Ben and Smalls):

Unfortunately for Smalls, Tim and I have been working hard at cleaning up the yard, and the mess of weeds and branches in that far corner were on the list of Things That Must Go. Tim cleared out the corner and I spent the majority of this weekend (with a little help from Tim and Steve) hauling rocks (yes, those rocks; we didn’t finish moving them before fall turned to winter last year) up to Smalls’s former hide-out.

I think the result of all our hard work is a huge improvement on the corner, but Smalls was a little suspicious at first. She approached the Fortress-less corner cautiously and spent some time investigating the new set-up.

Eventually, she decided it was as good a place as any to chew on sticks and play ball. Tim and I breathed a huge sigh of relief, thankful that we’d gotten the Smalls Stamp of Approval. Boy were we going to be upset if she had made us haul all those rocks back down the hill.

Be sure to check in with Kaya, Rufus, Ben, Ted, Gus, and Zapp this week!

May 11, 2008 | Filed Under Photos & Videos, Puppies, Smalls Sunday | 7 Comments

Items of Business

1. Today is my Dad’s birthday! He’s the Best Dad Ever. Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

2. I took the blogroll off my sidebar and made a Links page instead. I finally came up with some categories that make me happy, and I hope they’ll make you happy too. Check it out and let me know if your link doesn’t work or if it’s just plain missing. I’ll fix it up right away.

3. I was going to completely re-vamp my 100 Things list, but instead just decided to bring it up to date. Items 92-100 have been updated, if you’re interested; the rest are pretty much the same.

4. I think I’m pretty much done perfecting this new blog set-up, so this should be the last boring blog business post for a bit.

May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Family, blog | 13 Comments

You can never be too safe, right?

This morning I spent a good amount of time drafting a post that I was pretty proud of. We’ve all written this type of post before: the kind that comes together really well, has a unique and refreshing structure, and gives you a warm feeling of accomplishment when you write the last sentence and fix the last typo. It was a good post. But when I moused over to the Publish button, I paused, unable to click. Afraid to click, really.

The post was about an upcoming trip I’m taking. As I hesitated over the Publish button, my mind raced with thoughts of What if? What if someone has figured out where I live? What if they’re able to piece together information from past posts and figure out exactly when I’ll be gone? What if this post is noting more than a blaring “PLEASE COME ROB MY HOUSE, THIS IS WHEN IT WILL BE EMPTY” sign?

Am I being paranoid? Maybe. The details in the post are vague, and I don’t think it would be possible for someone to figure out the dates of my trip based solely on the information in that single post. However, a long-time reader with a good memory could potentially do some hunting around the internet and figure it out. The possibility is very slim, but it’s still there. And since my house has been broken into before, I think I’m entitled to a little extra paranoia.

In the end, that well-constructed post I worked so hard on is just going to have to remain unpublished. Maybe I’ll be able to tweak a few things and publish it after my trip. Or maybe it’ll sit eternally in the draft folder until someday I decide it’s never going to be published and simply delete it. I don’t know if I’m being too paranoid, but I do know this: If we came back from that trip and something had happened to our house, I’d always wonder if it was my fault. And going through something as horrible as having our house broken into again is a far worse thing to consider than having to leave one little post unpublished.

So maybe I am a little paranoid. But generally I feel that when it comes to posting things on the internet, it never hurts to be a little extra cautious.

What about you guys? Where do you draw the line when it comes to what you will and will not tell the Internet?

May 8, 2008 | Filed Under Random | 15 Comments

Wednesday-Bensday! Special Coffee Table Edition

Since we just talked about how Smalls thinks being on top of the coffee table is A-OK, I thought it would be good to share a little bit about where in relation to the coffee table a well-behaved dog spends his time.

We don’t have many dog rules in our house, but the few we have are non-negotiable: No relieving bodily functions in the house, no dogs on the table, and no dogs on the couch when we’re eating. (Yes, we routinely eat on the couch. Do you use your dining room/kitchen table for something besides mail storage? That’s weird.) Smalls is still learning the rules (luckily she seems to have that first rule down), but Ben mastered them a long time ago. He’s so good at following the rules, in fact, that he usually gets off the couch as soon as he sees that we have food; most days we don’t even have to tell him to get down. He really is a remarkably good dog.

While Smalls has to be repeatedly reminded to stay off the couch and keep her nose away from the coffee table when we’re eating, Ben immediately assumes his position under the table, attentive and ready to pick up any food that falls to the floor, and doesn’t budge until we’ve finished dinner.

He has even learned which of the two of us is more likely to drop food (me) and situates himself at my feet most nights. And, let’s face it, most nights he ends up with a snack or two because I am clumsy.

Do Kaya, Rufus, Ted, Gus, and Zapp follow the rules? Go visit them and find out!

May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Photos & Videos, Puppies, Wednesday-Bensday | 11 Comments

Heads Up

Literally, look up. I’ve been busy editing and adding pages. There’s one new page (Sangria), and I gave my About page a long-overdue update. Be sure to give those pages a look-see and let me know if you think I’ve left out any vital information.

Now, I need you to do me a favor. Look over there at the Links list. Did you look? Okay, good. Now tell me: are you not on that list but think you should be? Let me know! Also: If you were to file a link to your site under a specific category/heading, what would that be? Example: Right now my feeds in Google Reader are separated into categories like “Absolute Favorites,” “Well-Known and Worth Reading,” and “Newbies.” I’m thinking of doing something similar with my links here on this page, and I’m looking for category ideas.

Sorry for the lack of substance in this post. After all the writing I did for the About and Sangria pages, my creativity is about tapped out for the day. Ben and I will try to come up with something extra good for tomorrow’s post to make up for it.

May 6, 2008 | Filed Under blog | 14 Comments

Smalls Sunday: On Having a Real Dog

We always knew we were lucky to have Ben. He is an exceptionally good dog. Since we’ve had Smalls, though, we are about 100% more appreciative of how well-behaved Ben is.

The differences between Ben and Smalls can be summed up in five short words: Smalls is a real dog.

Ben, though technically canine, is not really a dog. Most of his behavior more closely resembles that of a cat, a gazelle, or a frightened child. He is simply too terrified of most things that might get a normal dog into trouble. He is afraid of trash cans and kitchens, so he doesn’t get into the kitchen trash and make a mess. He will gleefully bound across the lawn, but he won’t venture out of the yard unattended because he’s afraid of the unknown, the outside world. He may think about investigating the contents of a plate sitting at nose-level on the coffee table, but as soon as he nudges it and it makes a plate-scraping-against-table noise, he will run and hide. Ben is afraid, therefore he is good.

Smalls, on the other hand, is all dog. She has no fear of noises, trash cans, or unfamiliar situations. She was quick to find all the weak spots in the fence where she could squirm under and greet the neighbors before we filled the gaps with rocks. If she weren’t gated out of the kitchen, I have no doubt that she would be in there making a mess of the trash and anything else she could get her teeth on at every opportunity.

Smalls approaches the world with brave curiosity and the firm belief that stuff exists solely so that she may chew on it. Of course, anything on the floor is fair game, no matter what kind of noise it makes. In fact, if it makes a noise, even better! Smalls will sit and squeak her chew toys endlessly, clearly proud of her ability to produce such a noise. (Ben, in contrast, used to whine whenever a toy he was chewing on squeaked. He kept on chewing, but he was visibly sorry to be causing the stuffed toy such distress.)

If something is not on the floor or otherwise within puppy reach, Smalls is not deterred. On the contrary, she seems to view obstacles as challenges that must be met and overcome. The harder something is to get to, the sweeter it tastes when it is finally grasped in her jaw. More than once I have left the room for a moment and returned to find her walking around on top of the coffee table as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. She gets down immediately upon being scolded, but from the look on her face it’s clear she plans to hop right back up there as soon as my back is turned.

The other day I came downstairs after hearing noises that strongly suggested a puppy was up to No Good, and this is what I found:

Those are Corona bottle caps in her mouth. They had been left squarely in the middle of the coffee table where no dog could possibly reach them without at least 2–if not all 4–paws on the table. Clearly, this puppy is not to be trusted.

Dog ownership was so much easier before we had a real dog.

Are Kaya, Rufus, Ben, Ted, Gus, and Zapp getting into trouble this week, or is Smalls the only naughty one?

May 4, 2008 | Filed Under Photos & Videos, Puppies, Smalls Sunday | 15 Comments

Aleisha Will Surely Shake Her Fist at This Post

Refresh your browsers and venture out of your feed readers, folks, because SangriaLover.com has a fabulous new look!

Back when I installed BlogHer ads, I saw how the ad didn’t quite fit in the sidebar of my old design and decided enough was enough. I was going to have my very own blog design — personalized just for me — once and for all. Of course, I wasn’t about to pay for an expensive blog design service, so I sent out a plea for help from anyone who knew anything about customizing a template and might be willing to pass some tips along. And boy, did you guys ever come through for me! I got more offers than I knew what to do with, some from people who had never before commented here, and I have to tell you, it was great. While I couldn’t figure out a way to accept each and every offer of assistance, I am very grateful to everyone who extended an offer.

In the end, three people were instrumental in making this site look the way it does today. Janet pointed me in the direction of a website where I could find and download the perfect font for my new header, and she informed me of the name of that cool category set up you see over there (it’s called a “category cloud” — who knew?) and then sent me in the direction of the plugin I needed so that I could have a category cloud of my very own.

Lindsey’s fiance, Edgar, took a not-too-fancy photo I snapped of a batch of Sangria made specifically for the header* and transformed it into the gorgeous image you see today. All I had to do was send him the picture, the font, and the general concept I was going for, and he nailed it. That header up there is exactly what I had in mind when I vaguely described the very general concept to him in an email that was filled with highly technical phrases like “kinda-sorta thing” and “a highlight or shadowy type deal.”

When Edgar’s computer crashed, rendering him unable to finish meeting my template-customization demands (what? It might have caused even more serious problems for him than that? No way!), I turned to our good friend Steve for assistance.

(This is the part where Aleisha shakes her fist while uttering a menacing “Steeeve!” You see, Tim and Steve spend a lot of time together, and lately whenever Aleisha calls Tim about hanging out, he seems to already have plans with Steve. Aleisha is understandably jealous and has decided to take a firm stance of loathing Steve [in a joking, loving way, of course] for hogging Tim.)

When I emailed Steve on Wednesday asking for help, I knew that it was pretty good timing for him since he and Tim (they student teach at the same school) are wrapping up the semester about now. I did not expect, however, an email from Steve the very next day saying that he’d gotten everything done and just needed me to give him an idea of a color scheme.

I wrote back, “Holy crap you’re fast!” followed by more very-specific color ideas like “merlot-y-ish?” and “lime-y, but not Christmassy with the red and the green.” I am awesome at descriptive adjectives, y’all.

Steve, being the smart, talented, and amazingly fast worker that he is, selected the perfect colors and had a test-ready template to me Thursday evening.

Of course, anyone who’s ever tried to manipulate a website before knows that these things never go quite as planned. Suffice to say things were a little off in that first test-run. Luckily, Steve had Friday afternoon and evening free and graciously spent several hours tweaking the layout until everything was in its place. And then he very graciously spent several more hours making adjustments in response to what probably felt like endless “I have a teeny little question”s and “um, would it be possible to …”s from me.

(Mad props to Tim, by the way, for grilling up an awesome dinner while Steve and I geeked out on the couch with our laptops.)

Finally, around 10:00 last night (oh yes, we know how to live it up on Friday nights!) everything was perfect. Absolutely, beautifully, merlot-and-lime-y perfect.

And then of course my hosting service’s server had issues, like it always does, and I couldn’t access my blog to upload the perfection for the rest of the night. Thanks a lot, hosting service.

This morning, though, we were back in business. I uploaded the last of the changes and marveled at the beauty. I may have even kept my blog up on my monitor all day so I could gaze at it lovingly from time to time while I was working on a freelance assignment.

I am seriously in love with my new design. I cannot thank Janet, Edgar, and Steve enough for everything they did to help me out with their amazing design tips and talents.

Now that the new look is in place, I’ve got even more great plans in store for this little blog. Check back in the coming weeks for exciting new things like: Updated “About,” “100 Things,” and “Links” pages! Sangria recipe reviews! A whole series of Spain-themed posts! (It’s about time I blog about the experiences that were the inspiration for the title of this blog, don’t you think?) And more!

In the meantime, enjoy the nice new view and the return of a reasonable-sized comment-leaving field thingy! (The technical terms, I rock them.)

*No sangria was wasted in the re-design of this blog. I promptly helped myself to a glass (or three) from that pitcher as soon as the photo shoot wrapped.

May 3, 2008 | Filed Under General Happiness, blog | 15 Comments

Wednesday-Bensday! Special Two-Dogs-on-a-Couch Edition

After a big day of helping their dad out in the yard and playing frisbee, our dogs were pooped! So they settled in to the cutest sleeping arrangement ever: Smalls in her preferred spot on the back of the couch, and Ben snuggled up to his favorite parent.