Mike and Music

I just sent through an online payment to pay off my car.  In late 2003, someone hit my car and rather than getting the damage repaired, I bought a new car.  My Corolla isn’t extravagant by any means– hell, it doesn’t even have power doors or windows!!– but I’ve been steadily making payments for the last almost five years.  The amount I owe has gotten smaller and smaller and in recent months, as I closed within a year of paying it off, I had been thinking about just writing a check and paying it off.  Not that long ago, though, interest rates on savings accounts were at or near 5%, and the interest rate on my car loan was only 2.9.  It made more sense to just keep making the payments.  Now, though, with ING hovering around 3%, it makes more sense to pay the thing off.  When I got my bill today and saw that I only had seven payments left, Mike and I decided to just do it.  So as soon as the bank cashes my check, I will be home free.  Well, until I get a nicer, newer (probably will just be “new to me”) car…

Mike called me today to say that we’d gotten a big package in the mail from bed Bath and Beyond.  That’s the only place we registered for wedding gifts, and I haven’t gotten anything there I’d have mailed to me, so I knew it must be a wedding present.  The package was long and thin, and we brainstormed over the phone about what it could be.  Once I got home, we tore into it and found that my friend from college, Kristina, had gotten the lovely curtain rods we requested.  Woo hoo!  I’d like to send a special internet shout out to Kristina– thanks for the gift!

(Also, this weekend is my bachelorette party, so another special shout out to all the ladies who are taking the time out of their busy lives to travel to Santa Barbara to celebrate with me.  I can’t wait!)

I don’t want it to sound like we live in the ghetto, but…  Our neighborhood is gentrifying.  It’s a constant balancing act between good people and nice homes and not so good people and not so nice homes.  Part of that is reflected in some of the things that happen around our (increasingly nice) home, like last night, when Mike was involved in the reporting and discovery of a stolen car being dumped in front of our house.

At about 3 a.m., a car alarm went off and he got up to see if anyone was out front.  No one was there, and it may have just been triggered by a car going by or who knows what else.  About 30 seconds after the alarm stopped sounding, though, two cars raced down our dead-end street going really, really fast.  By this time, I’d gotten out of bed to see what was going on, too, and we both saw someone get out of the second car, which was following the first.  I went back to bed, but Mike continued to watch, and saw men forming a “bucket brigade,” moving stuff out of the second car and into the first.  Convinced that something was fishy and that he was watching part of an auto theft in progress, he called the police, and while he was on the phone with them, the first car sped off, leaving the second one in front of our house.

A few minutes later, officers arrived on the scene and discovered that Mike was right.  The guys apparently stole the car a few blocks away– it hadn’t even been reported missing yet– and dumped it in front of our house, taking the stereo and whatever contents were inside.  The officers called the owner (now that’s a call I wouldn’t want to get in the middle of the night, although I guess they should be happy the car was found!) and set off to look for the guys who stole the car.

Mike is now two-for-two in his reports (after the graffiti incident), and I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before he is deputized for his crime fighting ways.  Hopefully continuing gentrification will result in fewer opportunities for my eagle-eyed honey to
see stuff to report.

Mike makes fun of me because in my spare time, I take online surveys.  In exchange for a few minutes of your time answering questions about laundry detergent or cell phone use or toilet paper buying habits, the survey company awards you points.  A short survey is generally worth 10 points, longer ones are worth 25 or more points, and when you get 1000 points, you can redeem them for cash ($10) or use them to make a donation to a charity (also $10, I believe– this is “found” money, so it goes into my savings account, not to charity).  So far, I’ve been doing surveys for a few months and have accumulated just under 2000 points.  My first $10 check arrived a few weeks ago, and even my earnings didn’t make Mike change his mind about how stupid, how ridiculous, what a total waste of time taking surveys is.

Today something happened that changed that.

I took a survey about laundry detergent a while back, and at the end of the survey was the option to receive some detergent to try out and then do another survey on.  I love free stuff, so I said yes, and pretty much forgot all about it.  Imagine my surprise today when I came home to a big, heavy box on the stoop that, when opened, revealed two big containers of Tide HE detergent!  Mike was home, too, and when he saw the detergent, he was very excited (What can I say?  We lead small, boring lives).  Joyously noting his excitement, I explained the origins of the detergent and he was forced to admit that maybe taking surveys does have a couple of cool benefits.

See!  Taking surveys is cool!

Today, Rey and I took our first trip to a dog park. On the recommendation of my friend Libby, we ventured to the large, fenced in area at Balboa Park that is set aside especially for four legged friends. Rey seemed to enjoy walking through the park– he even tried to chase a squirrel up a tree (really! he climbed part of the tree after the little fellow)– but when we got to the dog park’s gate, he was a little apprehensive. To get in, you need to pass through multiple gates, and at each one, Rey paused and looked wistfully back, as if indicating he didn’t want to enter.

Once we went in, Rey was a really good boy. I took him off his leash and he stayed close to me, seemingly content to sniff the grass and ignore the other dogs. I walked further into the park so that we’d be closer to some of the other animals; after all, the whole point of the visit was for Rey to socialize. There were big and small dogs, excited ones and calm ones, and eventually, Rey ventured away from me a bit. Some of the dog owners chatted me up as our the dogs played together, and several of them gave me tips for training Rey, which was nice.

There was a big bulldog who found a large puddle of mud and started rooting around in it like a pig. His owner wasn’t paying attention, and the dog just wallowed and splashed and made a huge mess of himself. All the other owners who were nearby were watching and laughing, me included, and when the owner finally realized what was going on, he couldn’t get the bulldog to leave the puddle. Finally he gave up and the dog continued to cover himself in mud. It was hilarious.
My little guy seems to be pretty shy around other dogs. The big dogs dominates him (it turns out that Rey will pretty much roll over onto his back for anyone, human or dog, provided they rub or lick his belly), and I’m slightly embarrassed to say that a big dog (not sure what kind) kept trying to hump Rey. The little dogs were better, probably because they were more evenly matched, and there were several other terriers at the park (though none as cute as Rey).

All in all, it was a great morning. We spent probably an hour, and he definitely got more loose as time went by. Everyone I talked to said it takes dogs a while to get used to being there, so I’m hopeful that after continued visits, Rey will be romping freely– and coming back to me when I call him, of course!

I know you’re not supposed to want to have a tax refund, because it means you’ve made an interest-free loan to Uncle Sam, but boy was I excited to check our bank balance today and find that our state tax refunds have been deposited.  Once the feds get on top of it and give us that money back, I’ll be on Cloud 9.  Hello, kitchen remodel!

I’ve been sick for the last two weeks, and since I’ve mostly been in bed at home, I’ve been spending a lot of time at home with the dog. As such, I have come up with a list of things he does that are adorable:

1) He learns so much, so fast! I watched him climb a step ladder the other day to get into another section of the house (we took out the stairs and haven’t replaced them yet, so we’re using a step ladder. Yes, we’re ghetto.). He put his little paws up on the upper step and heaved himself up, like dogs always climb ladders.

2) He catches a ball in his mouth off of one bounce. Mike or I will bounce the ball once, aiming for the bounce to go just over his head, and he’ll jump and catch it in his mouth. We get really excited and praise him for it, and I think he likes the adulation.

3) When he sleeps, he looks like a little angel! He curls up in a ball and tucks his face into his body and it’s just so cute. I especially love it when I’m laying on the couch taking a nap and he takes a nap with me.

4) He is always so excited to see us when we come home. It’s a great feeling to hear his little tail wagging against the side of his crate and know that when I let him out, he will run into my arms and sit on my lap and try to lick my face.

There are, of course, MANY other things Rey does that I love, or that are cute or smart or fun, and this list is neither complete nor in any particular order. I never thought I’d be so crazy about a dog, but here I am!