My trip to Philly

I had SO much fun. I got to do so much... Eric and I were running nonstop practically since my plane landed. Friday morning, he gave me a beautiful tanzanite bracelet (I'd take a picture, but my camera's batteries died). He also gave me a collage of sorts that chronicled our argument on bikeforums.net which ultimately led to our relationship. ;) Friday afternoon, he gave me a tour of his office, and we went out for a light lunch with a couple of his coworkers. That night, we got all dressed up, and Eric took me out to the nicest dinner I've had. :) He has a few pictures from the trip, so once he sends them, I'll post them up!

On Saturday morning, we packed up an overnight bag and took a three-hour road trip to D.C. I got to meet a lot of Eric's family--his mom and dad (they've been married for... 41 years if my math is right), his older brother, younger sister, and two of his nieces. One of his nieces is insanely talented on the piano, and the other seems artistic as well. I made mud balls, and, because the grocery store didn't have chocolate almond bark, had to use chocolate chips. They don't set very well. I also had to make them in his mom's kitchen, which made everything else even more stressful. I felt so unprepared, lol. They came out ok in the end, though. His parents took us on a tour of the city of D.C. I got to see the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, part of the White House, and a lot more. I really like it there. I told Eric's mom that I like D.C. more than Philly (just kidding, Eric!), and she goes, "Well, we have a spare bedroom downstairs." Haha... I know she was kidding, but at least she seems to like me!

Eric and I always say the same thing at the same time... so when I was looking at an article on Jessica Simpson, and Eric asked what she's been up to, Eric's dad and I both said, "Gaining weight." Lol... I mean, I feel bad for the girl, and it's not like she's fat or anything, but it WAS funny that we said it at the same time. Then his dad went, "Jinx!" Hahaha. I haven't heard "jinx" in years.

Sunday, we drove back to Philly. We drove through downtown, and we passed by Temple University (the college I'll likely end up going to if/when I move). We went out for lunch with a couple of Eric's friends at a Brazilian restaurant. Basically, it's all-you-can-eat meat. I had probably two ounces worth, but I think Eric had at least 12. The "meat guy" would come around with a different kind of meat every 3-5 minutes or so... sirloin, pork, sausages, chicken, you name it... and Eric said yes to all but one I think--out of about 12. It was hilarious... the guy is a bottomless pit!

So I had a lot of fun. It broke my heart to leave. :( But, hey, at least we have another trip planned... Omaha in two and a half weeks! We can't wait! :) And he also has a trip to Austin planned for March 20th... possibly a one-way trip to help me move? :P Also, I got to pick Jaiden up from the kennel. Apparently he enjoyed himself! One woman said he went "non-stop" every day, and another said he was a sweetie. :) They also noticed how obsessed he is with little dogs, lol. I'm so happy to have my puppy back! He's completely exhausted. And I'm on Cloud 9 after the trip! :)

Happy puppy!

Jaiden had a BLAST. When I went to pick him up, he was wagging his tail, and COVERED in mud--of course, the one day I take him in, it decides to rain... we haven't had a steady rain in months! Jaiden was one happy, tired dog. :)

I'm still traumatized about the fight that happened a few months ago. :( The one image that I think is the most disturbing to me (because it keeps popping into my head) is seeing Harley latch onto Jaiden's neck and watching him shake his head as though he were trying to kill his prey. Ugh. I've always been an advocate of Pit Bulls, but no more. What I saw in Harley that day--and what I had seen inklings of before, and stupidly ignored--was too disturbing. The kennel I took Jaiden had stipulations for boarding Pit Bulls and Pit Bull mixes. Apparently they've seen their share of aggressiveness and fights that involved Pit Bulls.

So anyway, that image keeps popping into my head, and I couldn't help but think it would happen again. Yeah, I know, I'm overprotective. If that fight hadn't happened, I probably wouldn't be worried in the least. But I guess he did pretty well. Apparently he has it out for Brittney Spaniels?? I have no idea what would have caused that, lol. I'm not entirely sure what he did, but I'm assuming he was somewhat aggressive towards them--THREE of them. Every other dog, he was fine with. Weirdo. I told them ahead of time that he plays rough, and I guess they put him with some dogs that won't put up with that, haha. Whenever Jaiden went too far, the dogs would lay into him, and he'd stop--which is exactly what he needs.

We got home, and I gave him a bath immediately. He slept most of the afternoon. ;)

My heart

I received a call back from my physician's office last week, and spoke to a nurse that looked over my file. They have all the information I need to appeal to BCBS. It turns out I don't have palpitations (which is actually just an "awareness" of the heart beating, whether it's a normal or abnormal heartbeat)--I have premature ventricular contractions, which is just a form of irregular heartbeat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premature_ventricular_contraction Go there and listen to the 2-minute clip. It's rather creepy, but it sounds exactly like how it feels, if that makes sense. Regardless, it isn't a big deal. But at least now I know what's up with my heart. ;)

I've been riding the trainer a bit more. It was nice out on Sunday (though a bit windy--wind gusts up to 40!), but I didn't feel like venturing out, so I stayed in. Eric and I are going out for a nice Valentine's Day dinner on Friday... I can't wait!!! I'm also meeting his parents Saturday, hehe. It's going to be a busy weekend. :)

Because I'm going out of town, I had to find somewhere to board Jaiden. I thought about a pet sitter, but I didn't want him at home for so long without a place to relieve himself. I found a place (one of the customers that came into the tack shop owns it) that's a cross between a boarding facility and a doggy daycare place. So he'll get to run around with dogs all day and hopefully have a lot of fun. I had to drop him off today for an "evaluation" to make sure he's not aggressive, etc., and it was sad. :( I'm such a sap. I'm leaving to pick him up in 20 minutes, and I'm antsy.

I hate health insurance!

I'm totally pissed off. Because I moved to Texas, BCBS cut off my insurance (I have individual insurance). No big deal, I'll just get BCBS insurance through BCBS of TX. I applied, and in the application, it asked questions about heart conditions, including heart attacks, heart disease, palpitations, etc. I've had heart palpitations since middle school, and it's never been an issue. I did have it checked out in 2000, and they found nothing. My application was put on hold, and they called me, and asked questions about the palpitations, such as if they found any cause (er, no, a lot of times, a cause can't be found for palpitations), how often they occur, etc. I wasn't really too worried about it. Then I log in yesterday to check the status, and apparently it's been DECLINED. What. The. Hell. I'm a very healthy person, all things considered. I've had BCBS insurance for three years or so, and I've never had a problem. And now they decline me, for a problem that was checked out, and found to be not a problem?! Bastards. I can appeal it, and I intend to, but I don't think it'll be easy, because my physician referred me to someone, and I can't remember where it was. UGH. I called my physician's office and left a message about it... hopefully they'll find something.

I rode on the trainer last night for another 30 minutes. The weather's been warm, but I'm feeling too out of shape to join the guys on a group ride. Maybe Sunday... I need to continue riding on the trainer tonight and tomorrow if I'm doing the Sunday group ride.

Ponies!

Eric and I were talking last night about horses. We went on a trail ride last weekend, and we had a blast. So, we were talking about the different breeds, where horses originated from (I know all this stuff because I was obsessed as a kid and had to know EVERYTHING, haha), how much it costs to own one, etc. Eric said he'd like me to teach him to ride, and even went so far as to suggest that maybe we can buy a horse sometime in the future. (!!!) How cool a guy is he? :) I would absolutely love to own a horse again. And they are so cheap right now--you can easily get a really nice horse for under $1k because so many people have lost their jobs, etc., and can't keep them anymore. While I don't regret giving Baloo up, I've always regretted that I didn't have the means to keep him, send him to training, etc. So if I (we?) get another horse, I want to make damn sure I can keep him/her for the horse's entire life. But anyway, we're just dreaming... ;)

I've been trying to get on the trainer more often lately. I've ridden for at least 30 minutes Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I'm riding Riley tonight, so I'll probably stay off the trainer for today.

Saturday night, I woke up at around 3:30 in the morning, and couldn't go back to sleep. Around 4:30, still laying in bed, I suddenly heard a weird racket on the roof of the apartment building. It creeped me out... Jaiden heard it, and got up to investigate out the front window (his default investigation point, lol). He didn't bark or anything, and I was too tired/creeped out to get up, so I didn't do anything, but I did stay alert for a while.

So, I was on the phone last night with Eric, my sliding door to the balcony open, and suddenly, Jaiden got up and started growling, sniffing the air at the sliding door. He darted back and forth between smelling the air at the door and looking out the window to see if he could see what the smell was coming from. The hair on his back raised to an extent that I'd never seen it. Even with new people, new dogs, etc., his hair has never been raised like that before. (I swear, this dog has no end to the myriad of ways he can creep me out.) So I opened the door, and we both went out there. I was telling Eric about what was going on, and he said maybe he had smelled a raccoon or something. No sooner did Eric say that when something out of my peripheral vision caught my eye, and I looked up. There it was--a raccoon! On the roof of my apartment! The funny thing is, it didn't care about me; it kept looking over the edge of the roof at Jaiden as if Jaiden were the real threat. Jaiden had no clue that it was up there, but I wonder what his reaction would have been if he'd seen it. I'm thinking that's the sound I heard Saturday night...

Anyway, we're getting excited for our trip to Omaha!! :)