It's a job!

I have a new job.  I have had a new job for like two weeks now.  Just haven't posted about it.  Other things have been happening.

Anyway, I needed a part time job but somehow I ended up with a full time job at Wag N Wash.  I am really happy to be working in the pet world again.  This is retail work, fairly dull but man I'm glad it has to do with dogs because I was going crazy outside of the dog world.

Right now I'm working in the wash which means I run the area that people come to wash their dogs in.  I like it.  I don't like it.  Eh it's a job.  The problem is that it's full time and I will die if I keep up with full time work. It takes a lot of time from training and I REALLY want to bump up my training and take that somewhere.  I can't do it and work full time.  I can barely train and work full time while remaining human.

And... ran out of things to say.  It's a job.  Yay for employment!

A Hard Goodbye

Black Forest Fire

I've put off writing about this because it was upsetting.

Colorado's fire season started a little earlier this year than last year.  This time we had a fire in Black Forest, which is just north of Colorado Springs.  At the moment, I don't think they know what started it though but on June 11th a little over a week ago there was suddenly a fire in Black Forest.  I saw the smoke plume and it just went up so fast.  Less then 24 hours later homes were lost.  Black Forest was such a beautiful area but it was also the perfect storm.  It burned like forests are meant to burn.  Unfortunately, people were living in that forest.

This turned into the worst fire in Colorado history, almost a year to the day of the Waldo Canyon fire.  Once again our community watched in horror as people lost everything they had.  It hurts.  I hurt for them.  Many people living in that area have horses but no trailers.  The fire burned so fast that many people were not able to evacuate their animals.  They had to set them loose and pray that the animals would have the instincts to survive a fire.  I can't imagine ripping down a fence and hoping my horse would survive.  Our whole community watched in horror but I can't imagine being personally effected by that. Through it all we will see a strong community come together after this though.  Colorado will stay strong.

It just terrifies me that we are under the threat of destructive fire year after year.  Please let us have a break from it next year.

My heart goes out to those who lost homes, property and animals.  My heart also goes out to the family of the two people who lost their lives.  Be strong.

• 511 homes lost
• 2 people killed
• 14,280 acres burned
• $8.5 million to fight the fire
• Started on June 11th 2013
• 100% containment June 20th 2013

Here in Colorado, firefighters are true heroes.  I wish I could thank every single one of them that stood in front of the fire to defend homes.

Firefighters found four dogs and a cat dead at this home.  I'm sure they were exhausted but they took the time to bury those beloved pets with honor and love.  I'm sure it meant the world to the family.  Those men deserve metals.

Father's Day for my Dad

It's cliche to say I'm a daddy's girl.  But I am.  Always have been.  My dad is an incredible person and someone I know will always be there for me.

Topo Gigio, you will never know how important and precious you are to me.  Love you!

Happy Father's Day!

Arson Fire

My parents were evacuated from the Waldo Canyon Fire last year.  Although the fire in Black Forest is no where near them everyone is still on their toes because if a fire started in their neighborhood it could go up very past and burn the other side of Woodman Valley.

Well that happened last night.  Luckily it was able to be put out quickly.  Very very very lucky.

At about 10pm last night my dad heard a car turn around in their driveway.  They live on a road that no one drives on if they don't live up there.  It's not a heavily traveled road.  And no one turns around in someone else's driveway.  So it was strange enough for him to look out the window.  He sees this car whip around the driveway and almost hit another car driving up the road as it flies away.  A smallish silver or light colored hatch back like car.  That was all he saw because just then he sees across the street a fire burning.

They live in a fairly wooded area that could burn pretty easily. So a fire, even a small fire, is terrifying.  My mom calls 911 then begins calling all the neighbors to get them out there to fight this fire and put it out.  My dad and the neighbors get out there with shovels, water hoses and buckets as they frantically try to stop this fire from spreading.  They were able to get it under control and the fire department came and hosed everything down but it could have been really really bad.

If my dad hadn't been looking out the window and if our neighbor hadn't had hoses to hand it could have easily burnt down my parents' house and we could have had two bad fires burning in Colorado Springs.  God that would just kill us.

Now the thing is, this fire had to be arson.  No cigarette was found.  And it had been someone tossing a cigarette out the window they would have been on that road because they live near by.  If your house was nearby and you accidentally started a fire by tossing a cigarette, you would stop or at least call 911.  My mom's call to 911 was the first and there was no cigarette found.  Even if it was kids horsing around and being stupid and accidentally having started a fire you would think they'd call 911 considering the community is fully aware of what fire can do once it gets out of control.

My dad is convinced it was arson.  Arson is a huge huge concern and it does happen.  It's just terrifying.  I told my mom that if something does happen I want her to just run and get out of there.  Everything can be replaced but she just needs to get out of there.  Sending thoughts for the safety of my parents and their home.

Here are some pictures:

My parent's house is very close.  

Scary stuff.  Stupid and cruel people out there.  Please everyone be careful and keep your eyes out!

Run like a zombie survivor

I needed that last post to rant in.  Not being a huge people person sometimes I just need to rant about them. But I feel better now.  Either rant or punch someone in the face.  Figure I wouldn't like jail much so no assaulting people.

Anyway, here's the real update on life.

I've started exercising.  I know I make a stab at it every so often but I'm going to make this one stick.  I am sick of being out of shape.  I haven't been truly in shape since high school when I could really kick some ass with my muscle tone.  Course I was playing sports and had the benefit of that good old teenage metabolism on my side.  Then I went to college and worked way way too much.  That's generally the theme in my life.  I work too much and don't have time or energy enough to get my ass exercising. Course I didn't really didn't gain weight or get curvy until college.

Then the next time I felt like I was in shape was in Europe.  Walking everywhere and carrying a very heavy backpack on your back will get you into shape.  Which is a good thing because otherwise I would have gained like 200 pounds in bread and cheese I'm sure.  Oh bread...  Oh cheese...  Yeah definitely would have gained a lot of weight.  Instead I was in shape.  Maybe that and the time change was what really helped me cure my insomnia and conquer my depression.

I know I want to feel better in my life and I figure that starts with feeling better in my own skin.  I want to be able to move around like I used to and FEEL good.  Exercise generally doesn't feel good to me but if you do it enough you can do a lot more cool things like climb a mountain.  Caitlin and I have a goal that we'll climb Pikes Peak at the end of this summer.  And I am running a race later this summer.  The Color Run was a lot of fun this past year but I'm determined not bungle into it and punish myself like I did last time.  It's actually going to be fun this year.

So my mistake in the past has been just going out there and running first thing.  Which sucks because my body hates me and I hate me and it's all just a massive ball of misery.  I did that because I was never able to pace myself and start slow.  I wasn't sure how.

That's where Zombie 5k comes in.  It's an app on my phone that gets you ready to run a 5K in 8 weeks.  There are several workout sessions in a week.  You can set it up to play your music so you can run but it talks to you too and each run is a mission in the zombie apocalypse.  You're a survivor and you're running from zombies.  How much fun is that?  I'm enjoying it although I only just finished the first week and haven't gotten into the "action" yet.  It has started me out slow and it gives me something to focus on rather than "man this sucks."

So I haven't yet figured out how to get it to use my GPS on my phone yet but at least I figured out the music.  I'm happy with it.  I'm over the hump of running where I do want to die and I'm sore all the time.  I can't say that I look forward to going for my daily run but at least I'm not dying on the inside at the thought of it haha.  Progress.  I don't have a goal to how much weight I want to loose or anything.  I just want to be able to FEEL good.  It'd be awesome if I could get around without feeling out of shape.  That's the goal.  I'm on my way.

Oh and I've decided that if you want to be in my zombie survival party you should have to complete Zombie 5K.  Otherwise you're on your own.

Put in the effort

There's no excuse not to be happy in life.  If you want a change, make a change.  If you want to be a different person, then make strides to be a different person.  None of us knows truly what we want 100% of the time nor how to get from point A to point B without tripping a couple of times.

What really pisses me off is when people won't get out of their own way and do the work to be the change they want to see.  Quit bitching and griping until you actually try to do something.  If you're not willing to do something yourself then you can't really expect someone else to do it for you.  Or listen to you complain about how things aren't changing.

And it's not like you have to change who you are or completely take a different path overnight.  Do something small.  I just, arg.  It's been something I've wanted to say for a long time.

I try to live up to that as much as possible in my own life.  I don't expect handouts.  I don't expect people to put up with me if I'm not doing something for myself.  I do things my own way.  Maybe that's not always the best way and maybe that doesn't mesh well with others all the time but that's the only way I know how to do things.

I'm making an effort in my life.  Maybe not the way you would but it's the way I am.