The FE Exam.

So to become a licensed PE (Professional Engineer) one must take two nasty exams. The first of which should really be completed during the senior year of College but Princeton did a terrible job of relaying that information. As such I will be taking it Halloween weekend. It's an 8 hour multiple choice exam. I haven't really been too concerned about studying for it but today was the day I started to work through the practice questions. So far it's not too bad, but there is some stuff I don't remember because I haven't taken courses like Chemistry since High School... oops. There is also a section on what I can only describe as business ethics, and it's one of those sample questions I would like to share with you today:

You are a student and have an on-site job interview with Company A. Just before you fly to the interview, you get a call from Company B asking you to come for an on-site interview at their offices in the same city. When you inform them of your interview with Company A, they suggest you stop in after that. Company A has already paid for your airfare and, at the conclusion of your interview with them, issues you reimbursement forms for the balance of your trip expenses with instructions to file for all your trip expenses. When you inform them of the added interview stop at Company B, they tell you to go ahead and charge the entire cost of the trip to Company A. You interview with Company B, and at the conclusion, they give you travel reimbursement forms with instructions to file for all your trip expenses. When you inform them of the instructions of Company A, they tell you that the only expenses requiring receipts are airfare and hotel rooms, so you should still file for all the other expenses with them even if Company A is paying for it because students always need a little spending money. What should you do?

A) Try to divide the expenses between both firms as best you can
B) Do as both recruiting officers told you. It is their money and their travel policies.
C) File for travel expenses with only one firm.
D) Tell all your classmates to sign up to interview with these firms for the trips.

Um.... Excuse me? I need to answer these questions to determine whether or not I am qualified to assess mechanical engineering projects? Well.... Ok.... D it is!

(just kidding... as anyone with an ounce of common sense and integrity should guess - the answer is A)

DOGGELGANGER

CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR DOGGELGANGER 

Ok. First things first. I want everyone to try this and then post their match in the comments section or send it to me via email because I am curious. And I think this is awesome.

As all of you know I have a somewhat short attention span and a fairly good sense of humor. In my illustrious pursuit of knowledge (and entertainment) I ran across a blog that discussed research that shows dog owners tend to look like their pets. They also tend to share personality characteristics and all sorts of other interesting stuff. Apparently because of this, the shelter system in NZ has a website where you can FIND YOUR DOG DOPPLEGANGER in the shelters and then go adopt it. Ten Points to New Zealand for coming up with the best system ever to encourage dog adoptions.  OR if you are like me you can find your dog Doppleganger and see how much it looks like Lola. NO JOKE THIS IS THE RESULT.  This is the picture of me and the dog it picked... and then a picture of Lola from a couple of weeks ago. NOTE that the dog has the exact same coloring and white markings on its chest. As well as a white dot on it's nose?! and floppy ears?!?! do I have a white dot on my nose? Anyways I thought this was really funny. So please, go try this at home and then share. Because we all want to know.

Lola = Leia?

Just saw this lovely set of images and as I'm still thinking about Haloween costumes I feel like we should throw a little star wars into the mix! I hope at least Jake appreicates these:

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2011-10-11/50-dogs-in-star-wars-costumes/

OOOOoooo SSSSSsssss UUUuuuuuu

Lola will fight for the Beavers! Or maybe fight the Beavers.... it's unclear. But we're excited for the game either way! Craig is coming to visit from Boston so we're going to come to Corvallis and experience the wonder that is OSU football. Can't wait to see mom and dad this weekend too!

Also while talking on the phone yesterday I realized that Lola and I have very similar tastes.... in food. I have heard of people starting to look like their pets but what about pets starting to eat like their humans? I suspect that Lola will eat pretty much anything so I may be projecting here... but we both do love pumpkin!

I am not alone.

Apparently Olivia Wilde has the same problem as Lola and I !!! For those of you who don't know Olivia Wilde is an extremely gorgeous actress. And apparently her dog also has bad gas!

In other news and updates we had our second to last class of obedience training last night. Lola is getting much better at stay and down. Yes, that's right, she kindof knows sit, down, stay, wait, quiet, and how to ring the bell at the door when she has to go potty outside. Genius. I'm going to keep working with her so hopefully by Christmastime she'll be a pro! Also last weekend she had another fabulous stay at the Scooby Shack while I went down to Palo Alto to see friends and maddie play some awesome soccer. When I went to pick her up from the scooby shack she was, once again, super tired and super stinky. When I got her home I gave her a bath and then she was so worried and nervous running around that we just sat on the couch and snuggled. I think she is back on track this morning.... as evidenced by the fact that she tried to eat my vest, carried my keys around the living room, and waited patiently for me to put peanut butter in her kong. I'm so glad she's back to her ebullient self.

Epitaph for a Shoe

It is with sadness in my closet that today I mark the complete dis-assemblage of dad's old right sandal. A size 10 testament to rubber and leather tasked with the ultimate mission of entertaining a canine possessing jaws of great strength and unflagging energy. With total selflessness this shoe sacrificed its utility for her enjoyment, and ceased to protect feet in the hope that other shoes would be spared to continue to serve. Who can begin to quantify the number of high heels, strappy sandals, and on-trend wedges and booties saved through its ultimate sacrifice. Let the small bits of rubber populating the space between couch cushions serve as a constant reminder of the power of one shoe. Although worn out from miles and miles of walking over lava rocks, golf courses, and who knows what else, I hope to always remember this shoe for the way it helped me distract the ferocious four-legged creature in times when I thought nothing else would take her attention from my silk blouses, flouncy hemlines, and bangle bracelets. RIP shoe. You will not be forgotten.

P.S. Dad.... we need the left one

P.P.S. I'm actually pretty impressed she managed to separate it into two pieces. In the words of Ron Burgandy "How'd you do that? Heck, I'm not even mad. That's amazing!"

How can you say no?

To this beautiful face??

Trick question. You can't. This inability to say no has resulted in a very... privileged pup.... The evidence?

In her mouth are toys from Mom, Sarah, and Me. She is very well loved and has lots of fun toys to play with! Thanks everybody!

So sorry....

I know it's been a whole week since I've updated the blog and I am SO SORRY because I have had some requests to update it more often. Mainly from Mom. But I'm going to assume that I have a flock of ardent followers who are equally upset that I haven't updated.

The thing she was most concerned about was the issue of Lola's gas. So naturally I feel compelled to update on this issue first. Mom told me that because there were no updates she was concerned that Lola still had terrible gas. And then... with her fabulous timing... Lola who was sitting nearby on a leash let out a long. slow. loud. and most likely stinky one. So I would say that we're still working on it... but let's just agree that I may be using a methane derivative to heat my home this winter. And that is the update on that. 

Anyways there are a bunch of other things to talk about, and a lot of cute pictures I've taken of Lola recently, so I promise more updates soon. Last night Mom and Dad came to stay with us so that we could go see Maddie's game today! What a game! It was very stressful but Stanford won in OT and Mads played great. 

While they were visiting us we debated whether or not Lola was being better behaved after training or not. Or rather, Lola argued her case:

And I'm not really sure what happened in the conversation but the next time I looked over this was happening:

So until further notice we're going to go with the theory that she still needs a little more training!