A great blogger that I follow posted this yesterday, and I have been thinking about it non-stop since then. If you are a sports fan, go read it and then come back here. The rest of this post will make much more sense then. If you’re not a sports fan, you might be bored or disinterested in this entry. Consider yourselves warned.

I, like every other sports fan I know, have quite a few athletes or teams that I dislike irrationally. The Yankees, for instance. I have no real reason not to like them, but I cannot stand them. To the point that I will not touch their logo, if I can possibly help it. Illogical? Yep. So when my desk was COVERED in Yankee gear by a coworker who thought he was funny, I freaked the hell out, and refused to work at my desk until someone had removed everything. I hate the Yankees.

Some other athletes I can’t stand, and the irrational reason why:

Brett Favre – Retire already. You screwed over a team who loved you for years and years, just to bounce around from team to team, landing at the rivals of the organization that you found your fame with. Please just retire now, so you can be in the HOF and be remembered for being a great player, not the ass who can’t decide whether or not to retire.

Michael Vick – I don’t think I need to explain why I hate you. I also hate the Eagles for hiring you, even if it is for a backup position. You went to jail, therefore should no longer be allowed to play professional sports. End of story.

Eli Manning – You make dirt look intelligent. I cannot stand your postgame interviews, as you make my IQ drop with every word you utter. It amazes me that you and Peyton are so frigging different. Are you adopted?

Alex Rodriguez – You’re a cheater. You should not be allowed to play anymore. The fact that you were never punished for your cheating just makes me hate you more.

Manny Ramirez – You’re a cheater. You should not be allowed to play anymore. The fact that you were punished for your cheating does not make me hate you less.

Francisco Rodriguez – You were a great player when you came out in 2002. You helped us win the World Series. Off the mound, you’re a jerk. You’ll sign baseballs and pictures for the Hispanic kids who ask you, but completely ignore any other kid.

Steve Nash – You might be a great basketball player, but PLEASE get a a haircut that makes you look good. When you play you look like you haven’t showered in a month. It’s disgusting. (Please note: Shawn Germain of my beloved Ontario Reign had the same problem last year. This year he cut his hair and he is HOT. It worked!)

Scott Schoenweis – Whiny little bitch. You complained because the Angel management wouldn’t make you a starter. You bad mouthed your team to the press, so they sent you to Chicago to play with those idiots. You’re one of two traded players that I can recall being booed when you came back to Angel Stadium.

AJ Pierzynski – Speaking of Chicago idiots, hello the king of them! As I learned yesterday, not only are you hated around the league by fans and players alike, you’re hated in your own town! Maybe you should be less of an ass both on and off the field.

Sean Avery – You’re just a jerk. A dirty player on the ice, and a big mouth off of it. I didn’t like you when you played for my Kings, and I don’t like you now.

If I sit and think about it long enough, I could probably come up with a bunch more. But it’s time to move on to more positive things. Like searching for new recipes to try! Or sitting on the couch watching an NCIS marathon. Whichever.

A smattering of things I wanted to share but are too short for their own posts:

- I was driving home after running errands today, and since it was still nice outside, I had my window open. I was stopped at a light when I heard a strange noise. I looked over and there’s a 60+ year old man riding a bike and singing Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” at the top of his lungs. It was too dark to tell if he had an mp3 player that he was accompanying, or if he was just singing by memory. I hope he was as entertained with himself as I was with him.

- For those of you in the colder regions of the country, I thought you’d like to know that the weather here has been the same as it was in July. Meaning 80’s-90’s during the day, and absolutely beautiful out. Apparently no one told California that’s it’s freaking November already.

- Speaking of November, I’m taking an informal poll: When is the appropriate time to put up holiday decorations? (specifically the holidays of Hanukkah or Christmas, as they’re the most popular for decorating) I’m of the opinion that the day after Thanksgiving is the absolute earliest that decor should appear, and really I’d be happier if people waited until December 1st.  My next door neighbors already have a wreath on the house above their garage and a big MERRY CHRISTMAS sign in lights in the front window. Both have been up since the 6th. This displeases me. It is the only house in our entire community that has decorations up already.  I’m hoping they just had a free moment and popped up the only decorations they had, but sadly I think this could be quite the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation disaster house.

- Now, Christmas music. December 15th is a fine time to start the carols, don’t you agree? 10 full days of Christmas music should be plenty enough for anyone. Even the full month of December should be satisfactory to hardcore Christmas lovers. So explain to me why on November 10th, Michael’s had Christmas music playing (LOUDLY) throughout their store? I honestly walked in, heard the music, and walked right back out again. Just because of the music. It’s just too early.

- If you’re a friend of mine on Facebook, you might have seen a comment I made about my new shoes. I saved for and bought some Sketchers Shape-Ups and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. They’re extremely comfortable and I immediately felt them pushing my calves to work a little harder. They felt weird at first, almost like I was walking on sand, but now I’m totally used to it. I wear them everywhere, and I find myself wanting to walk more, rather than be lazy. I park further away from the store I’m visiting, I take the long way to the mailbox (which is significant, since the mailbox is 50 feet from my house, and I’m instead walking over half a mile to get there), and I even wear them while at home, rather than scooting around the house in socks. I’ve already lost weight (not just from the shoes, but they’re helping) and I’m completely inspired to keep working out!

Jezzi

I was a sophomore in high school when I found her. I was visiting a friend in the housing tract across from ours, when we saw her wandering around the street. Knowing who her owners were, we took her back to them, thinking maybe she’d escaped on accident.

“We don’t want her” they told us.  At around 8 weeks old, they just put her out and didn’t think twice about it.

I took her home to my parents house and asked if I could keep her. They begrudgingly said yes, after I promised to clean up after her and feed her all by myself. That lasted a month, but I never stopped loving her.

When I left for college, she stayed with my parents. When I moved back up to the area, I was always in a place that didn’t allow dogs, so she could never come live with me. By that time she was more my parent’s dog than mine anyway.

The past year has been rough on her. She lost a lot of weight rather rapidly, as a result of the Leukemia that invaded her body. I saw her a little over a week ago, and she still looked happy to see me. She always pushed her head under your hand so you could pet her, and last week was no exception. The only difference was how skinny she was.

My sister came over tonight and told me that Jezzi wasn’t coming to the door when they came home anymore, and that her energy was non-existent. My mom called me a few hours later and told me they were putting her to sleep.  That she wouldn’t make it through the night.  I knew it was coming, so I managed not to break into tears. I held it together until my sister and her friend went home, and then I lost it.

She was a great dog, and I’ll miss her.

I love you, Jezzi.

About a year ago while taking Mia over to my parent’s house, I noticed that she had a spot on her eye. It was small, and almost looked like a shadow.  She didn’t seem bothered by it, and since I could only see it when the sun was shining directly in her eyes, I forgot about it soon after.

A few months ago I noticed it again, but it was significantly bigger than I remembered. I asked my vet about it, and she referred us to an eye care specialist. I had no idea they had ophthalmologists for dogs, but I’m glad they do. We had an appointment with her yesterday, and she’s a lovely woman. Sadly, it was not a good outcome.

Mia is going blind.

She has what’s called Pigmentary Keratitis, which is extremely common in pugs. It’s basically brown scar tissue that grows over the cornea, effectively rendering the dog blind. The doctor gave me drops to try and thin the scar out, and an ointment to try and stop the scar from spreading.  According to the doctor, there’s no “cure” for this problem, just options to try and deal with what’s there. She wants to start with medication to see if that decreases the problem, before we discuss surgical options. Surgery wouldn’t be to remove the scarring, however, as that’s too deep into her eye. The surgery would be to reshape her bottom eyelid, so her eyes close completely, therefore eliminating the irritation that is speeding up the growth of the scar. It’s just a way to slow the process, it’s not a way to stop it. No matter what happens, Mia will eventually be blind.

I am devastated. I know it doesn’t hurt her, and that it’s actually better for her (comparatively) to go blind gradually, rather than just be born blind. Her sense of sight is only her 3rd most important sense (smell and hearing being 1st and 2nd, respectively), and there are plenty of dogs that are born blind or who go blind that are completely happy and just as fabulous as if they could see. It’s just hard to know that eventually she’s going to lose her sight, and there’s basically nothing I can do to stop it.

Blind or not, I can take you!