Long time, no blog!

The past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic here for us. A couple of weeks ago, Quintin came down with the flu. He was quarantined in the bedroom while we tried to keep it from spreading through the house. I was the only one who had gotten the flu shot this year, but I got sick anyway. It wasn't as bad as the flu, but of course I felt the worst on a day when I had classes to teach all morning. Luckily I was able to get home right after that, and after a couple of days I felt better. The good thing about it all was that Quintin was feeling better by the time I was sick, so it was then my turn to stay in the bedroom. Abby ended up only getting cold-like symptoms, and for that we were thankful. I think she had to stay home from school one day because she was running a fever, but she didn't have any other major symptoms.

Of course I had two papers due the week I came down with whatever it was. I am such a procrastinator, and I am not sure why. I try to start my papers early, but it is as if the words won't come to me unless I feel that pressure. I was able to finish my 6 page paper right before I got sick, and then I only had the 10-pager left. That paper was for the International Terrorism course I was taking, and it was the last thing I had to turn in. That was the third elective for the Masters program I am in, and I thought it was my final one, but it looks like I might have to take one more. They are trying to change the program, and make it so all three electives that you take must fall into one Area of Study, so that way, once you receive your degree, you can also get a special designator. As I understand it, that could play a part in where I serve my joint shore tour in the future. In my case, two of my electives fell under Counterinsurgency and Terrorism, and the last one was under something else, so this summer I will probably take one more course just to be safe. This May I will be about halfway done, and I should be able to graduate next May. I was looking forward to being done with my electives, but I guess one more in the summer won't be too bad. I won't be teaching, so I will have more time than I do now.

We've also been looking for a puppy. We really like Boston Terriers and also Boxers. Yesterday we went to look at a Boxer, and he was really cute. The only issue was that it looked like he might have had some hip problems. His hind legs were slipping out from under him a lot, and looked pretty weak. It was really sad for Quintin and I, because when we saw him do it for the first time we both looked at each other because it reminded us of the little Boston Terrier we had named Rocko. Quintin bought him for Abby in August of 2005, and after only having him in our lives for 6 weeks he had to be put down because one day he started having seizures. Q took him to the vet and he was seizing for over an hour, so we really had no choice. He was the best dog. He loved to sing when Abby played her little harmonica and he would fall asleep in Q's arms like a little baby. We want another dog, but it is really hard to take that step again after losing a puppy that was so young. We thought we had chosen a reliable breeder, and ended up having to go to small claims court over the issue. We will probably end up waiting a little longer. We did realize that even though Boxers are great family dogs, it might be a little big for us, so we will probably get another Boston. Abby likes to feed the fish at school, so I think we will start there. I know we are ready for the responsibility of having a lifelong pet, but not so sure we are ready for the "what if something happens to our puppy," especially since Abby is older now and would feel the heartbreak too. A fish is much easier to replace....possibly without her even noticing.