New Additions; Time Off; Back To School; New Puzzle

Currently Reading: Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

Yes, I know, I've slacked off a bit with the blog lately but I've been a little busy lately. I haven't been busy at work, but rather with a lot of little things that crept up after the holidays. I guess you could say I've been tieing up loose ends.

We've got a few new additions worth mentioning. First up, I got a new phone. For no particular reason (ok I was bored) I was over at the T-Mobile site, checking out wallpaper, ring tones, that sort of thing and I decided to check what sorts of phones I could upgrade to. Turns out I was due an upgrade, if I wanted it. Upgrade to what? Motorola RAZv3. It's a really nice phone and you know, thin as it is, I hear even better on it than I did my old one. It's also got all sorts of really cool features like a camera that shoots both pictures and video. That's pretty handy because these days I tend to use my PDA for so many other things that I'd drain the battery down too low if I used it for pictures. It also allows me to leave the PDA at home when I go shopping or browsing. Normally I'd take it with me because I often come across things that I'd like to get, either for myself or for others, and to make sure I don't forget, I take a picture of it with my PDA or jot down notes. Now I can do that with my phone and use my PDA to back up my brain. That's really what I use it for. Seriously. My PDA is a sort of back-up brain for me. It's the only way I can keep from forgetting the important things.


Next, I've started gathering my gear for grooming school. There really are only two important pieces of equipment: clippers and scissors. You probably figured that part out already. Thing is, if you buy cheap stuff up front, your work won't be nearly as good as it could be so it's the sort of situation where you get the best equipment you can afford. A really good pair of clippers, for example, can make a big difference. They cut smoother and leave fewer tracks in the coat. The dog looks better, the owner is happier and your job is easier. Good scissors are also a must. The cheaper ones don't hold an edge nearly as well and need to be sharpened more often. They also tend to cut rougher than the harder, more expensive kind. Me, I went with Japanese steel. The Japanese brands all get excellent reviews and they've got a better selection of mid-range shears to choose from. I went with two pair Kenchii Scorpion model shears. They both arrived today.




We've also added one more member to our little zoo. Yes, it's another hamster. We've always got a few in the back that we can't sell for one reason or another. Poor guys need a home too. There are a few of us working at the store who are regular adopters. When we have cage space, we give the little guys a good home. Sure beats living in the infirmary that's for sure.

Our latest addition is a male, European hamster. He's black with white feet. Very sweet and very cute. He's got a bit of an overbite which makes him look a bit like a beaver. He's very happy with his new home. Spent the first 20 minutes or so running in his new wheel and scattering his food all over the place. It's important for hamsters to stash food around because you never know when you're going to want a snack and that darn food bowl is so FAR away from where you're sleeping :-) He's a great little guy.


I've taken the week off. I wasn't planning to at first but things went a little weird setting up grooming school. The original plan was for me to start this week on Tuesday. Unfortunately we didn't get the instruction books in and guess what the first week or so of school covers? The stuff in the instruction books. Now, the work schedule had already been made up assuming that I wasn't going to be available for normal duties which means they really didn't have a place for me at the moment. That left two choices. Either I go to work and pretty much just hang out there and pitch in here and there (we're in a slow period at work so there isn't much to do anyway) or I could take some time off. I chose plan B. We'll start grooming school on the 16th.

So now here I am with an unexpected week off. What to do, what to do? Catch up on my reading? Watch some movies? Maybe do a little shopping? Yeah, that sounds like a good plan :-)


I'm assuming you read that last section so you know that I'll be starting grooming school next week. It's a pretty long process actually. On average, it takes about 14 weeks from start to finish. That's the time it takes to go from the very beginning, first day of class, to the very end, last test that proves you can give decent haircuts to dogs.

And when they say they start at the beginning, they're not kidding. After going over the general store policies and company policies and so forth, we move on to BATHING! That's right, I'll be taught how to bathe dogs . . . again. Worse, I actually have to keep a log and successfully bathe TWENTY dogs! The absolute worst part is that nothing I've done up until now counts. We got a chuckle out of that in the salon. Hell I did twenty dogs the week before Christmas. Did twenty the week before that too. Doesn't matter though. I wasn't a groomer's apprentice at the time. You start from scratch :-)

After that, and yes, I will be tested on it, then they'll teach me how to shave and then how to scissor. Actually I know the first parts of the shaving already. I was taught that in the process of becoming a bather. But the company has certain policies, one of which is that baters are not allowed to use scissors so my current knowledge pretty much ends right there. But not for long :-)

I was talking with my boss about it last week and we both agree this should be a lot of fun. It'll be her first time teaching someone so the whole thing will be a learning experience for the both of us. That sort of takes the pressure off of me a little bit too. I mean, I won't be the only one new at this when we start. I WILL be the only one going through grooming school though, which is way cool. Don't have to worry about other students or having a hard time hearing the instructor because of the noise. Nope, I'll be learning from exactly the same people I've been working with for the past year and that's pretty damn great :-)


And finally, I've moved to a new set of puzzle games. As you probably know, I like to do sudoku puzzles. That's the 9x9 block where you have to fill in the numbers in the right order, 1 through 9. Well there's another one that hit the US a few months back that I've been thinking of trying. It's called Kakuro and it's a whole other ballgame. It's really a crossword puzzle but with numbers. Involves math and logic. You're given a number, say 15. to put it in crossword terms, the answer for 1 across is 15, two letters. Ok, two numbers really. The trick is, which two numbers that add up to 15 and in what order. Will it be 9, 6 or perhaps 8, 7? That's where the logic comes in. You've got to figure out which numbers to use and in what order. There are two rules that make this a bit easier though. You can only use 1-9 and no number repeats itself in a clue. That means you can't have 3 set up as 1,1,1. You also can't have 15 done as 10, 5.

I've tried a few of them now, starting with the easy level and I seem to have the hang of it. They're not nearly as difficult as they look. What seems to matter most with me is whether or not the math/logic half of my brain is working. Some of the easy ones I do quickly, no problem. Others I end up making stupid mistakes and have to erase half the damn thing and start over. That can be frustrating but if you like puzzles and if you enjoy sudoku but don't find it as challenging or just want a change, try kakuro.