Not Content to Crawl

We came home on Thursday from work to find Nutterbutter dead. He was lying on his side with his eyes open. Poor little guy. He likely had a brain tumor, according to our vet, which is what we think did him in. He had been acting a bit more strange than usual the day before, and his breathing seemed a little labored, but I wasn’t expecting him to die so suddenly. I had just checked on him that morning and he was active, so it came as a shock. We took him to the vet that evening and requested he be cremated.

I’m not sure how much Nutterbutter’s absence has affected Templeton, but I’ve been taking him out of the cage even more since Thursday in order to give him some companionship since the two always slept together. Rats are social creatures so they don’t do as well alone, but I don’t want to get another rat at this time because I don’t want to get caught in a never-ending loop of always owning rats as I’d like to consider something else like a rabbit or ferret (Joe loves the ferrets but I’m not sure about the smell). In addition, all the rats at the pet store are small compared to Templeton, so he’d probably beat them up. He was always the aggressive one as it is.

While I wait for iPhone OS4 to download so I can get the fancy multi-tasking and folders, among other things, on my 3GS, I figure I might as well post an update. If I had been paying attention earlier, I’d already have the new OS installed, but I thought it wasn’t coming out until the 24th so shame on me. Anyway…

On June 6th we finally visited the Shedd Aquarium to check out the “new and improved” Oceanarium. Let me just state for the record that I’m glad we took advantage of Bank of American’s “Museums on Us” program to get in free because I was severely disappointed. I didn’t notice much of a change other than the addition of a few kid play areas in the underwater viewing section and a new snack bar (as if the relatively small Shedd really needed another one). There’s a big section behind the seating area for the Fantasea show that is nearly empty; there’s only one tank with a few sea dragons in it (which are very cool). I just don’t know why they can’t add some cool exhibits in there like they used to have. I think next time we go to that part of the city we’ll visit the Planetarium or Museum of Natural History instead.

Last weekend when Joe and E were at the pool they found a toad stuck in the skimmer and brought it home since they know how much I love toads. I wasn’t planning on keeping it, but after feeding it some mealworms I figured I might as well, so now she has her own little habitat where Oreo’s cage used to be. She’s a pretty cool pet; I wouldn’t mind getting some fire-bellied toads at some point too, but I’m not sure they can be kept together so we’ll see.

This past weekend started on Friday with a drive to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First we stopped in Kenosha for breakfast, then made our way to Milwaukee Zoo where I got some of the best tiger photos I’ve ever taken! Leaving the zoo it suddenly dawned on me that my favorite hoodie was missing. I called the place where we had breakfast, and sure enough I had left it there, 45 minutes away. So instead of heading to Miller Brewery for a tour we had to drive back to Kenosha to get my hoodie before the restaurant staff closed up for the day. We hit some traffic, but luckily they were still there cleaning up when we arrived and I was reunited with my beloved hoodie. I just want to make it clear that I’m losing my mind lately (probably due to work stress) because I never ever ever leave stuff in public places. I mean EVER.

All was not lost with our unintended detour, however, because we stumbled upon a really cute lakeside area of Kenosha complete with a lighthouse and free museum which we plan to explore during a return trip soon. In addition, instead of heading back to the expressway, we followed a route along the Lake Michigan up to Milwaukee, passing through Racine Wisconsin which I found out also has a cute little zoo. Joe’s not keen on the idea of returning to the area (it did seem pretty run-down), but I’ll change his mind. The zoo is right on the lake which is really cool and I definitely want to check it out.

We arrived in Milwaukee after stopping at McDonald’s for ice cream (gotta love those 49¢ cones) around 4 pm and decided to scope out where the Pabst Theater was located and grab our will-call tickets for Aziz Ansari’s show at 7 pm. The original plan was to grab the tickets and then find a place to eat but that crazy storm that was hitting Chicago earlier decided to make an appearance and the wind started whipping around something fierce, so we took shelter in the underground parking garage beneath the theater and waited out the storm inside the lobby area that separates the Pabst from a place called The Rev as well as The InterContinental Hotel. Since the rain wasn’t really letting up we ended up running to the closest restaurant across the street, a little chinese place. The food was pretty good and the service was phenomenal so it worked out in the end.

The Pabst Theater is beautiful inside, by the way. I hear it’s cooler than The Vic in Chicago, although I wouldn’t know from personal experience since I’ve never been there. We weren’t supposed to take pictures, but they didn’t check for cameras, so I had mine on me and grabbed a quick snap of the ceiling once we found our seats. We were pretty close to the stage which was cool, and I got a few pics of Aziz as well. He was really funny. I’ve liked him ever since his brief stint on the “new” Scrubs. His mannerisms are what crack me up the most.

After the show we decided to head back home. We had contemplated staying overnight but it seemed like a waste since we planned on going to Brickworld (Lego convention) the next morning anyway. The drive home wasn’t horrible, but there were some scary parts where the rain was coming down really hard; people were pulling off the highway onto the shoulder at some points. I nearly had an anxiety attack and was so happy to get home. Interestingly enough our cable, phone and internet were all working that night but were completely out the next day until mid afternoon.

Saturday was interesting because I decided I didn’t feel like going to Brickworld after all (we’ll go next year) so we decided to have a lazy day instead. First we went out for tacos at a local Mexican dive where we got to listen to three twenty-somethings, mostly one guy, just talk and talk and talk at a table near us. The stuff that was coming out of this drunk guy’s mouth was just hilarious. He was complimenting his friend, Katie (he only said her name a million times so how could I forget), regarding how smart she is/was. Her response? “I was the first person hired on the spot at Dairy Queen”. LOL! Way to aim high Katie. Heehee. Seriously, that was the best thing I heard all week.

After lunch we went to the pool for a couple of hours which was at least an hour too long and now I am sun burned like I haven’t been sun burned since I was a kid! I totally blame Joe for that even though I’m an adult and should know better. My legs are so red and it hurts like a bitch but at least my face is ok!

After the pool we went to the store and decided to buy tequila and mix so we could make margaritas. And what goes best with margaritas? Tacos, of course, so we went back to the same Mexican dive and ordered steak tacos to go. We also grabbed a movie at Blockbuster – Shutter Island that wasn’t really all that great until the last fifteen minutes.

Yesterday we picked up Joe’s son for Father’s Day and took him to my parents house to visit. Don’t even get me started on how his daughter wasn’t available because his ex let her sign up for an event without first checking with him that it would be ok because it’s fricking disrespectful, not to mention a violation of their divorce agreement. And what pisses me off the most is he would have let her go anyway, but no one could be bothered to even ask him; they just assumed they could do whatever they want and not even consider his feelings. It’s not nice at all.

What was nice was seeing my family again since it’s been nearly a year, perhaps even longer, since we’ve gone over there because my mom has been too sick for company. We ate, played games, and just visited for awhile before dropping E off at home (the kids have a house now back in the town they grew up in) and coming home ourselves to crash after our very busy, but fun, weekend.

Shedd Aquarium photos @ Perfect Pixels
Milwaukee Zoo photos @ Perfect Pixels

We spent a few days out East earlier this week.

Sunday we drove to Columbus, Ohio, arriving around 3:30 pm at the most beautiful hotel we’ve ever had the pleasure of staying in – a Cambria Suites. Seriously, this place was swank without breaking the bank. After taking pics of the place and settling in, we drove over to the nearby mall to check out our dining options. We finally settled on a restaurant just outside the mall. The food was average but the dessert we shared, something they call Pazookie, was delicious. It’s described as a “freshly baked, hot out of the oven, rich and delicious cookie topped with two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream and served in its own deep dish.” Mmm, mmm, it was very good; the combination of the hot cookie with the cold ice cream was devine.

After our relatively early dinner we decided to hit the local movie theater to see MacGruber. The movie was about as dumb as we expected, but entertaining. I couldn’t stop laughing at the love-making scene; I was nearly crying! After the movie we went back to the hotel and relaxed in the hot tub for awhile before turning in for the night.

Monday we were up early to get donuts for breakfast, then made our way to Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, home of the famous Jack Hanna who is known for bringing animals on Letterman’s Late Night show. The zoo grounds are beautiful and the zoo is laid out nicely, but I found the exhibits often prevented any decent photography. Obviously the number one priority is to contain the wild animals, but I wish they’d use anti-reflective coating on the glass and wipe off the fingerprints once in awhile. I couldn’t get a decent photo of any of the manatees they have at the zoo, or the cool sea turtle that was in the tank with them. :(

The zoo has an interesting collection of animals, including a very nice Lorikeet Garden which I enjoyed, but I thought it was weird that they don’t have any zebras or giraffes. We tried our best to take our time and not rush through the zoo as we unintentionally tend to do, but even wasting time by riding their train and visiting a few sections twice didn’t stop us from being done by 12:30.

We consulted Yelp and found a cute burger joint for lunch and then drove around a bit. We ended up at a dumpy little amusement place to play some miniature golf and skee-ball before deciding to order pizza for dinner and taking it back to the hotel to munch on while watching the season finales of How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement, and The Big Bang Theory (thank goodness for the nice LCD TV in our room and the digital stations).

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Oreo passed away sometime between last night and this morning, so we took her to vet after work to be cremated.

Her passing didn’t come as a surprise as her abdomen had been swelling for weeks. I took her to the vet two weeks ago and she had to be put under anesthesia just to be examined. I warned the vet she didn’t like to be picked up… and I don’t think she took me seriously until Oreo got a hold of her finger and gave her a good bite. She was literally hanging from the vet’s finger she had such a good grip and the vet had to shake her off! The vet’s finger was bleeding pretty good but she took it all in stride. I’m not sure why they don’t have gloves to handle the animals. Heck, I won’t even pick up Nutter Butter without gloves and he doesn’t even bite, but he does hate being picked up and struggles fiercely, scratching the hell out of you with his nails in the process.

Oreo won’t be terribly missed. I know that sounds terrible, but as adorable as she was, and she was quite cute, she wasn’t a sweetheart like Peanut so we didn’t interact very much. It’s true when they say the good die young – Peanut only lived a year and a half whereas Oreo was with us since February 2008 making her over two years old. I did feel kinda sad seeing her all scrunched up in a ball with her eyes tightly shut this morning, though.

For now we’re not getting another hamster. I finally get my decoration space back on my CD case where Oreo’s cage was kept. Plus I’ve got the rats who are far more fun to interact with than any hamster. I even trained Templeton to give me a kiss in exchange for a treat. I need to start taking more photos of him. He can be devious, but he’s got personality.