Lifestyle Changes, Part I

Okay, where do I begin this post? How about with saying that I was fat for two years. When I tell people that, they normally don't believe me, but it's true. I didn't pack on the "freshman 15" when I attended college, but I did pack on the "junior/senior 40." That's right, I ballooned 40lb between my junior year of college and first year out of college. I was never thin, even in high school, but I was active and "solid," as my pediatrician called it. I lost some weight freshman and sophomore year, but still carried baby fat, especially in my face.

Then I did my semester abroad in Brazil and it all fell apart. I gained so much weight there that my bathing suit was basically see-through from being stretched so far. There were nine of us in my program and we lived with families, but traveled together into the rainforest for our studies. I ate biscoitos (cookies) like they would be denied to me forever and dumped farofa (a manioc flour mixture) on everything I ate. To make matters worse, often times the only vegetables we had access to were smothered in mayo. Gross. And I couldn't resist the pao de quejo (grilled cheese) my family's cook made. So, you want to see pictures of me from the trip?

Here I am near the beginning of the trip with my Brazilian sister, Solange. Certainly fuller than I am now, especially with my baby fat face, but not overweight by any means.

And here is the last photo I took with my amazing Brazilian parents just before I flew home, about four months later.

Now I'm being very brave and showing you a photo of me in a bikini near the end of the trip. I actually find it easier to post this picture of myself in a bikini than a recent one because I almost feel like it's a different person in this shot. After the program ended, four of us took some time to visit Natal and Fortaleza on the coast. I believe this is Fortaleza, but don't quote me on that.

When I returned from Brazil, I had gained about 30lb-in four months. You would think that that number would have encouraged me to eat better and exercise, but it didn't. The summer before senior year, I lived in a house with three friends and drank a lot, ate crap food, and sat around on my ass. Then senior year I lived with my good friend at the time who was also overweight and unhealthy, which just led to move pizzas and chips devoured and more inactivity.

By the time I graduated from college in 2000, I had gained about 10 more pounds. I was so embarrassed by my appearance and lived in sweats. My boyfriend at the time thought I was beautiful, so at least he was supportive, but I hated myself. So many girls around me were seemingly effortlessly thin and I was just this fat blob. My sister got married that summer and I had to buy a size I'd never bought before for my bridesmaid skirt. I wish I had some of those photos on my computer to show you, but I don't. Literally, my face is so fat, you can hardly see my eyes and my arms are so fat, they looked like sausages poking out from my sleeveless top. That was definitely my lowest point and my highest weight. I look thin in the Brazil photos in comparison.

In the fall of 2000, I started my job as a research assistant in a molecular microbiology lab at the Naval Medical Research Center just outside D.C. I started taking 1.5L bottles of water to work and avoided soda. Then I got sick. Really sick. I had the flu (not stomach, just regular) so badly, I would come home from work and go to sleep at 6:00. Having no vacation saved up, I would go to work with a fever and feeling miserable. They took pity on me some days and I would leave early, blasting the heat in my car to stave off the horrible chills. I went to the ER in the hopes that someone could do something, anything, to help me. After about a month in which I was too sick to grocery shop and sometimes subsisted on cereal mixed with yogurt, I realized I had lost weight. The scale revealed a loss of about 15lb. Now, I realize this is not the healthiest way to go about losing weight, but it was the jump start I needed to take more interest in my health.

I became somewhat active, taking advantage of nearby Rock Creek Park and walking some days after work. By the time I moved back to St. Louis in late May of 2001, I had lost about 35lb. So, how did I do it? I changed my lifestyle. I can honestly say that this cookbook changed my life.

Every Sunday, I would make enough soup for the week and that is what I would take to lunch every day. This cookbook is filled with delicious, low-fat soup recipes, and many are vegetarian (I gave up meat upon my return from Brazil). Eating a healthy lunch helped me shed the pounds.

When I moved back to St. Louis, I joined a gym. My sister was kind enough to give me a set of personal training sessions as a thank you for helping her so much with her newborn baby. I learned the importance of weight training and that, combined with cardio, I lost over 15 more pounds. I have maintained my weight at a 45-50 lb (I fluctuate about 5lb) loss for eight years now. No fad diets, just plain old diet and exercise. I admit I have done short-term fad diets for a short-term fix, but in the long run, you have to eat healthier and exercise more. I started running seriously in 2006 and as you know, I've completed several half-marathons, one at a sub-1:50 time. I have also done pilates every week for the last seven years with the same personal trainer I worked out with initially. I love her.

If my story isn't a testament that anyone can get fit and healthy, I don't know what is. I went from being an overweight (possibly obese), completely inactive person to someone who feels gross if she goes more than two days without exercise and who loves fruit, vegetables, and grains. Am I perfect? Hell no. I am still completely insecure and it can be frustrating when I think that I will have to work at it the rest of my life to be healthy. There will always be a fat person inside of me, no matter what size I wear. Plus, my body shape completely changed after losing all the weight and I constantly struggle with my proportions. But, I try to put everything in perspective and realize how far I've come. I'm never going to be model-thin or have defined abs, but I can run fast and lift heavy weights. I want to be able to enjoy an unfiltered wheat beer and chips and salsa without feeling guilty.

So, why is the title of this post Lifestyle Changes, Part I? Well for one thing, I decided to divide it into two because this one got to be sooooooo long. Is anyone still with me anyway? I have realized recently that in spite of the way I live now, I have a lot of room for improvement. And I'm not talking about my weight or my size. More so the choices I make when I put things into my body. Talking about my goals publicly will hold me accountable and like always, remind me of where I've been. Like many of you, I think of this blog as a journal and now that I am over two years into it, I enjoy going back and seeing my life unfold before me. So, stay tuned for Part II.

Dear AT&T U-verse

I big puffy heart you. Let's run away together, get married, and spend hours bonding over recorded episodes of The Real Housewives, nature shows, and 24.

It seems like I do a lot of complaining on this blog, so I thought I'd somewhat balance the universe (get it?) by singing the praises of U-verse. Before we moved in with my mom, we, um, "had" Charter. We also, um, "had" wireless internet. I'll let you interpret those statement as you wish. We also had (really this time) an old TiVo that only recorded one show at a time (gasp!) and we couldn't watch one show and TiVo another (egads!). While living with my mom, we had basic TV in our bedroom and rarely ventured downstairs to watch cable. You see, we had to have "bird time" and in order to keep the birds separate from my mom's cat, they were confined to our bedroom and the bedroom where their cages resided. We watched very little TV in that six months, opting instead to play Wizard 101.

While living there, I thought it was ridiculous to be paying all that money for a phone line we didn't use and for a TiVo service we didn't use. So, we canceled our phone service. But then we moved back home. We could live without the TiVo, but then the unthinkable happened! We lost the wireless connection we had been using! I can live without a lot of things, but home internet is not one of them. I researched various options, including those little devices you stick in your USB and pay a monthly fee for internet. But there are limits to the amount of internet you can use. What if we wanted to download something from Netflix a few times a month AND play Wizard 101 all day long on a Sunday? That just wouldn't do.

We realized that U-verse was recently available in our area. Since we'd heard nothing but glowing reports on the service, we set up our installation time. This is where my love began. How often is it that someone comes to your house for this type of service and you are extremely satisfied? I sure was. The guy was awesome. He actually brought HDMI cables (those are expensive!), hooked up the PS3 to the internet and to the cable (or something like that, I'm no techie), and did a meticulous job removing and replacing the baseboard to hide the cable coming from the closet. He was so nice, told us to call him personally if we had any questions, and went over how to use the features.

And finally, we could put our fancy TV to good use! Oh, the HD! Wild Russia in HD on Animal Planet left me speechless! Kelly on Real Housewives of New York in HD left me speechless in a different way (especially that last episode, yowza)! And the recording capabilities! I realize this is not new technology, but this sucker records up to FOUR shows at once! No more agonizing over what we will watch and record! Hooray!

But it gets better! I might finally appreciate the PS3. I mean, I appreciated it a lot more when they at long last released Gladiator and the LOTR trilogy on Blu-Ray. But now we can access Hulu or Netflix from the PS3 and it's so easy to just scroll through that little menu and get what we want. It's kind of sad that I'm this excited about TV and internet (and we didn't even get any premiums), but it's no secret that I'm a big time homebody and I might as well enjoy my technology since I'm not spending a bunch of money out at a bar. And really, since we cancelled the phone, I don't feel like the new expense is that much of a burden.

My one teeny-tiny gripe is that I now have no idea what the numbers are for all my favorite channels and I'm having to go back and relearn them. Yeah, yeah, I know there's a Guide, but it's so much work! It's much easier for me to punch in the numbers for Bravo or VH1 or HGTV than to scroll through those endless pages of channels I don't care about. I made a cheat sheet for myself I keep on the end table and I now have probably half a dozen memorized. Impressive!

So, I hope you enjoyed me being positive for once. Don't worry though, I'm sure I'll have some angry tirade about one matter or another sometime soon. And since I hate to do posts without pictures, here are a few from Saturday night. As we know, I usually post pictures of myself looking something like this

So I want to show off a time when I actually put more than 5s of effort into my appearance. We had a wedding to go to and I actually went out and bought a new dress! I'm pretty sure it's the first nice dress I've purchased since the famous Sex and the City dress (as seen here) I bought in Vegas two years ago and every single group of people I've ever known have seen me in. Anyway, I bought the dress at a little boutique in the Central West End called Mary Jane's. They have some really cute stuff so check it out! Oh, and while the word boutique conjures up images of Bentleys and designer handbags, I thought the dress was a good price at $99. Even though one of Jason's coworkers told him I looked like a Southern Belle (!?!?!?!), I felt feminine and pretty.

It's dresses like these that make me happy I have no boobs because I would have looked obscene otherwise.

Celebrity Crushes Then and Now

Justin Bieber. I may be old, but not so old that I am unaware of the downright lunacy the mere mention of his name inspires in young girls. Another reason I'm old? I listen to NPR podcasts instead of music most of the time. But it was by listening to an NPR Culturetopia podcast that I heard a clip of an actual Justin Bieber song. Not exactly what I expected, but I'm also not going to rush to the iTunes store to download any of his music. Have you seen this website? Hilarious. Anyway, the podcast was discussing teen heartthrobs then and now and it got me thinking about my crushes through the years. Upon reflection, I realized that I would not have been onboard with Justin Bieber mania if he were around in my day.

Apparently I've always been boy crazy, even back to my diaper-wearing days when I would flirt shamelessly with men in line behind us at the grocery store. Puberty and the transition to an all-girl environment in middle school only heightened the boy craziness to frenzied new heights. I actually had my walls covered in the pages of Circus and Metal Edge magazine. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

As I listened to the podcast, I tried to remember my first celebrity crush. A-ha! I did have a thing for Sven on Voltron! I mean, he's hot for a cartoon, right?

If you recall, Sven was the original blue lion until Haggar the witch put the smackdown on him and he was sent away to another planet to recover. Apparently he died in the Japanese version of the show. So, shall we see how Sven has aged since I was a child?

Being a cartoon really pays off! Not a wrinkle or age spot in all these years!

Who came next? Well, in 1988 a little film called Willow was released and my 10-year-old self had a new, non-animated man to be obsessed with: Madmartigan (Val Kilmer). I'm pretty sure I actually wore out parts of my owned VHS copy of Willow from all the rewinding and subsequent swooning. Pipe up if you too were obsessed with Willow. There was the part when Madmartigan flipped his sword and offered his winning smile. The part when he was wearing the silly helmet and he looked up to realize all the people ran away, not because of his fighting prowess, but because there was a giant monster behind him. How about when he is charmed and enters Sorsha's tent and spouts his love for her? Really? No one? Well, let me refresh your memory.

You all may love Val Kilmer from his Top Gun days, but he will always be Madmartigan for me. And while only one person reading will get this, "bring on the monkey!" So, how is Val faring these days?

Let's move on, shall we? We Are the Youth Gone WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILD! Who's with me? In middle school I moved into my heavy metal phase. No NKOTB mania for this girl. My first concert was Poison and I sought out bad boys with long hair. I even had a black leather jacket for which I had saved my babysitting money for months. If that isn't badass, I don't know what is. While my friends might have been drooling over Jani Lane's baby blues or Sebastian Bach's flowing mane, I had my sights set on Rachel Bolan. Who's that, you ask? The bassist for Skid Row of course. You know, the one that had a chain that ran from his nose ring to his earring? This guy?

I will never forget when I saw Skid Row play at the Fabulous Fox following opening act Soundgarden (truth!). I'll let that sentence sink in for you St. Louis folk. Anyway, there is this really awesome bass part in "Psycho Love," a song written by Rachel if I'm not mistaken, from their less popular second album "Slave to the Grind." Anyway, Rachel was standing on the big amps with his double (!) bass and he solos away. HOT! I loved him so much my confirmation name is Rachel. Let's see how he looks today:

I think he still looks pretty hot! That is, if you're into tattoos and such.

In 1995 I saw a relatively unknown band called Bush open for Bad Religion at Mississippi Nights, a tiny venue in St. Louis (and I still have the t-shirt to prove it). My love for Gavin Rossdale was already strong at this point, having seen the "Everything Zen" video over and over again. I loved Gavin so much my senior year of high school that my senior superlative was "most likely to marry Gavin." Who didn't love him with that scratchy voice, sexy eyes, and British accent?

[If Apple fell then, it sure managed to get back up, huh Steve Jobs?]

Gavin went on not to marry me, but Gwen Stefani. And I was okay with that. It's hard to compete with that cool chick. Gavin is still way hot these days, making us ooh and ah when he's playing dad to his adorable kids.

It was easy to move on from Gavin because I had someone new to obsess over: Rob Dickinson. I doubt anyone reading knows who this is, but he was the lead singer of the "shoegazing" British band Catherine Wheel back in the 1990s-early 2000s. To say that I lived and breathed their music in college would be pretty accurate. Favorite band ever. Still to this day because you just can't replace all the nostalgia you feel every time you hear those first chords of "Black Metallic." My crazed obsession only grew when I met the band three times, twice in college and once after. The bonus of liking a relatively obscure band is that they do meet-and-greets after the shows. The guys were always extremely friendly as I tripped over my words and no doubt giggled like an idiot. Here is Rob in the Catherine Wheel days.

Rob is still hot now, I think. I would say my taste improves with time. No offense, Sven.

Photo Credit: www.jenniferbroussardphotographs.com

On we move to the college days-today. My boyfriend my freshman year of college convinced me to go see a movie about heroin addicts in Scotland. Even as a strung-out, skinny addict in Trainspotting, Ewan McGregor stole my heart.

Someone else please admit they thought Renton was super sexy. How about the part in the club when "Atomic" is playing in the background and he's looking for a girl? I might have seen Trainspotting once or twice if you can't tell. And then Christian in Moulin Rouge happened and it was all over for me. You just don't get any better than a hot man singing about love. We all know that Ewan McGregor is still the gorgeous man today that he has always been.

And while all these men will forever hold a special place in my heart, they can't compete with the ultimate hottie:)

Please share with me your most embarrassing celebrity crush, past or present! Real or animated! Or just any past crushes you feel like revisiting because once upon a time, you had a picture of him/her hanging on your wall/locker door/wallet and spent all of math/history/gym class envisioning your life with him/her. Not science class. You paid attention in science class, of course;)

Cha- Cha- Changes

I cut off all my hair yesterday. Well, not all my hair. And people with really short hair will probably think that my hair is not that short. However, I'd had long hair for years now. In fact, Jason has never seen me with short hair and we've been together six years. It had been over four months since my last cut and color and my hair was just so raggedy. I love it after it's been cut, but I was just getting so sick of it being long. My hair is extremely thick and in spite of having layers to thin out the ends, it was just always tangled. Seriously. Even after I had just combed it, it would be immediately tangled again. I dreaded untangling all the snarls after washing it. And when I run in the morning, I don't wash it (too time-consuming), so instead of trying to deal with the tangles, I'd just put it in a bun. I got sick of putting it in a bun, putting it in a ponytail, etc. I'm grateful to have such thick, healthy hair and I take good care of it by not washing it every day, and seldom blow drying/curling/ironing it. But it had to go.

I was pretty nervous about cutting it, which seems silly because it's just hair and hair grows back. But, I was the little girl who wanted to hold onto every inch. Since I practically lived in a pool every summer, my mom would not allow me to keep my hair long because, let's face it, stringy green long hair is just not attractive. I had it short in college, but that's really the last time. I think there's a lot of sexuality, youth, and vitality attached to long, healthy hair. I was afraid of the "mom cut," that by cutting my hair, I would suddenly lose everything that made me attractive. I mean, how many Victoria's Secret or Sports Illustrated models do you see with short hair? Exactly. But then I started looking at pictures of celebs with short hair and realized it's the attitude, not the length of your hair, that makes you sexy. Check out these gorgeous ladies.

Anne Hathaway (I'd kill for her luminous skin, by the way)

Thandie Newton (easily one of the most beautiful women on the planet)

Charlize Theron

Heidi Klum (the Victoria's Secret exception)

Diane Kruger (if it's good enough for Pacey's woman, it's good enough for me)

Britta (Gillian Jacobs) from Community has THE cutest hair. Every week I comment on it. I realize that it's been styled and I almost never style my hair, but it's nice to know that I have cute options like this if I feel inclined to put some effort into it.

I also decided to go blonde. Really blonde. Actually, seeing myself with such blonde hair is more jarring than seeing myself with short hair. The upkeep on blonde hair is such a PITA, so I don't know how long I'll keep it this light. But it's fun for now with the weather getting warmer. I love being able to run my fingers through my hair without them getting stuck; I can't stop touching it! And it's like Jason has a whole new wife! Okay, so enough talk, here are some pictures, 8 inches of hair later. I don't know why my skin is acting up so much, but I had not yet applied all of my 8,302 creams and serums, so maybe that has something to do with it. In fact, I look so scary in the last shot, I had to resort to some liberal use of the magical airbrush tool on Picnik. I admit it. And while I got a perfect blow-out from my awesome stylist, I then walked Levi for 80 minutes, so it's a little more "windblown" than before.

Guess who I saw?

Thanks for the kind comments regarding Keegan. Jason and I are still very sad about the whole situation; it's easy to become attached, especially when the dog is as wonderful as Keegan. He's officially up for adoption, though visiting that page is hard for me.

On a happier note, I got to see someone very special last Sunday. Anyone remember Cletus? Cletus was my favorite shelter dog ever. He was adopted last summer and I was so happy for him, but sad too because I selfishly wanted to see him every week. Well, that face is unforgettable and unmistakable. When I saw him at the Stray Rescue fundraiser last weekend, I went right up to him, gave him a big kiss and some pets. He looks great, don't you think?

Apparently everyone was going up to him because I am evidently not the only volunteer who counts Cletus as a favorite. I always hope to see shelter dogs at events like these, so I was doubly excited to see the most awesome shelter dog ever at this one! I had the chance to talk to his mom and it sounds like Cletus has a great life. He lives with a pug and is obviously very well-loved. Hooray for a happy ending for Cletus!

I have a busy week ahead, so I might be quiet this week. NSF final report on my grant is due (in which I'll have to justify changing projects, gulp), I'm finalizing my sperm analysis technique after a successful visit to the zoo on Friday, and I will be working on manuscript #2. Getting started is the hardest part. Manuscript #1 has not been outright rejected yet, so hopefully they're choosing reviewers. Hope all you moms out there had a great Mother's Day yesterday!

Lola is one fierce bitch

This turned out to be very long once I wrote it. Sorry about that.

I have to joke about it or else I would dwell on what might have happened. Basically, my worst nightmare came true Monday: I came home from work to find that Keegan had escaped from his crate. Lola's cage was upside down on the floor, but miraculously, she was unscathed on the top of Monty's cage. I found three of her tail feathers in a pile across the room. There are only two ways they could have come out: she flew into something and they dislodged (unlikely) or Keegan was thisclose to having Lola as a meal. I can only assume that Lola summoned all the powers in the bitchy universe (she is laying eggs and is hormonal, after all) and scared the crap out of that pit bull because she was happy as a clam when I got home. Not only that, Monty's cage was completely intact. I mean, it's a freaking miracle that it was Lola and not Monty because a) Monty is not flighted for his own safety; b) Monty does not have the bitch gene whereas Lola is nothing but bitch genes. Either that or Lola has one helluva guardian angel watching over her.

I just cannot believe he escaped from his crate. Because I am (apparently rightfully so) paranoid, we even clipped a leash to the front door of the crate so that even if he opened the latches, he would be unable to get out. But my paranoia didn't get me far enough-he somehow undid one of the latches on the side door and squeezed out. The crate looked completely intact when I got home. Aside from traumatizing Lola, he didn't get into much. He chewed up my headphones, but not my iPod and he rearranged a few things, but nothing else was destroyed. He didn't even get into the trash.

I know you all are thinking, "hey dumbass, why didn't you put the birds or the dog in a different room?" Well, I have an answer for that and don't call me dumbass. You might recall that our lovely neighbors complained about our very unhappy dog. We share a wall with them in both bedrooms, and there is no other room for everyone to go into. So, the dogs were in the dining room and the birds in the living room. And you may also recall that the birds are in their "camp" cages as opposed to their birdie mansions, which are very large and heavy and would be significantly more difficult to knock over.

So, with very, very heavy hearts, we returned Keegan to his foster mom Monday night. That is the beauty of the Rent-a-Pet program, finding out if a dog truly fits in your family. We have made commitments to ALL of our animals that we will care for them for the rest of their lives. Period. They are members of the family. I don't want to bring a new family member into the pack/flock/boozefest if I don't feel 100% certain that I can make that commitment. What would happen if Keegan killed one of the birds in the future? Would I be able to keep him?

I just want to commend Keegan's foster mom, Andrea, for being so supportive the last few days. We've exchanged countless emails and text messages as she's been coaching me through the addition of a second dog. We even got to hang out with her Sunday at a Stray Rescue fundraiser. I know Stray Rescue is not alone in the rescue world in this respect, but having the support of the organization and foster parents is priceless. Their goal is to find permanent homes for their animals and that may involve trial and error and no judgement is given if your Rent-a-Pet doesn't work out. Better that than you dump your dog down the road. We were sad driving Keegan to Andrea's house in Illinois, but the goodbye was made easier when he was greeted by Andrea's large pack of dogs and fosters on her sizable property. What dog wouldn't love that environment?

But I want to talk about how awesome Keegan is in case anyone is looking for the perfect dog (as long as you don't have birds). Let's list his attributes, shall we?

1. Handsome (duh)
2. Listens very well. Knows his name and "sit," as well as "no." Listens much better than Levi, in fact
3. Playful, but not overly energetic for such a young dog, settles in at night
4. Walks pretty well on a leash, but does get excited (in a good way) when he sees other dogs
   
5. Likes other dogs (obviously)
6. LOVES people, giving kisses, and getting attention. But he's not annoying about it like some dogs are-you know the ones. He was also good with Andrea's nephews.
7. Rides well in the car
8. Would be a great running buddy! We jogged twice and he was fantastic
9. Is not annoying about sniffing everything in sight like Levi is on walks
10. Does not get you up early in the morning. I had to get him up at 6:00 the other day for our run
11. Gave me very good attention on our walks once he knew I was carrying yummy treats. He would be a dream to train and as long as his temperament doesn't change, I think he would be a good candidate for a therapy dog.
12. Like all Stray Rescue dogs, he is neutered, up-to-date on his vaccinations, and is microchipped.
13. Did I mention handsome?

As for the crate issue, all it would take is a few carbiners and he wouldn't be able to escape. He probably needs more exposure to a crate as well. He wasn't in it much over the weekend, so it might have been a shock to him when he was in it for five hours yesterday in spite of his previous crate training. When I did put him in it over the weekend, he cried for about five min. and then went to sleep, even with me in the room.

Which brings me to the very ugly part of this post. I have been very laid back about our condo situation lately, but this event just pushed me over the edge. We've had 0 showings in three weeks. Jason called our agent yesterday to discuss what more we/she could be doing. We've reduced our price twice, moved out for six months, what more can we do? This is the time of year when the market is supposed to be "good." I realize this is not a typical year, but my frustration is growing. If we were in a house, this event with Keegan and Lola would not have happened because we would be able to put them in different rooms. We would have been able to adopt him. I'm running out of patience. I feel like we're going to head into the fall and then it will have been a year (it's been seven months if you're keeping track) and we'll probably take it off the market for winter. And then what? Put it back on in spring 2011 and hope things are better? I feel completely trapped, I haven't seen my fucking personal pictures in 16 months, and I'm tired of having my life on hold. Thank god we don't want a baby. Sorry for the tirade.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures from the weekend. We had a little photoshoot at Forest Park before we drove him to Andrea's house. I admit that looking at these pictures makes my heart ache a little bit:(

As for Lola? I'll take that bitch into battle anytime in Wizard101.

This is Keegan

We haven't yet decided if we are batshit crazy enough to adopt another dog, but we are doing a trial period with Keegan through Stray Rescue's Rent-a-Pet program. I will give more details later, but wish us luck. We've had him since Friday night and so far, no birds have been harmed, but it has taken constant management. He's interested, but not obsessed. We're not sure if we can all coexist, but we're tired of waiting for our condo to sell to see what happens. It's something we've wanted for a long time. Other than the bird issue, he's perfect. He's young, but is relatively mellow and is absolutely as sweet as can be. And Levi of course loves him. I'll let you know whether "Keegan" becomes a permanent tag on the blog.