Why Buy Expensive Toys?

My friend Erin sent this video to me this morning and it made me laugh so hard I just had to share. Probably everyone in the world has seen this by now, but I think it's still worth saving just for those days when you need a chuckle.


There's something about a baby laughing hysterically that just cracks me up!

Snow Day!!!

It finally happened! With all of the snow we've had in Lawrence this year, you'd think KU would have already had a snow day at some point, but it takes A LOT of bad weather for the Chancellor to close the offices on campus. Today that lot of bad weather finally arrived, and I just couldn't be happier! I'm snuggled in my bed with three adorable pups watching the beautiful snow falling in our backyard. There are at least 5 inches on the ground and it's still coming down, although it looks as though the flakes will be stopping soon. The only thing that could have made this day better would have been about 4 more inches! :)

Oh wait, there is one thing that would make the day better: sledding. I love sledding. I haven't been sledding once all year. I remember the days when Steeler and Celtic were little, when they still allowed dogs off-leash on campus. We would take the dogs and the sleds up to the Campanile and they would chase us down the hill through the snow, barking the entire way. It was so much fun. Since there isn't any hilly, fenced in area around town that I can think of, I'm afraid sledding is going to be out of the question for our current party of five.

So, I guess my plans for the rest of the day include blogging, napping, eating lunch with my hubby (who is actually snowed in as well but is being a good employee and working from home with his mobile office set up in the basement), and napping. Did I mention napping? I might also get around to doing a little laundry and some housecleaning if I feel like it.

I did actually get a couple of things accomplished already this morning, so don't think I'm a complete slacker. I was in the middle of my morning workout when Chad came down to tell me work was canceled, so I had time to do a full hour of cardio instead of my normal half hour. Later on I also took some pictures and video of the snow for your enjoyment, but beware--it sort of turned into a photo session of the dogs. At least I can check a couple of things off of my to-do list for the day! :)

Cold, Chaotic, Congested Caucusing

Tonight Chad and I went to participate in our first ever presidential caucus. When I blogged about the upcoming caucuses a few days ago, I was under the impression that it was the first ever caucus in Kansas, when in fact, it was really just the first ever Super Tuesday caucus in our state. In years past, the parties apparently held caucuses or primary elections, but they were always scheduled so late in the campaign season that the presidential candidates were already nominated. Some years, the primaries were just canceled in order to save the party money. One article said that in 2004, about 1300 people in the state of Kansas actually got together and caucused after John Kerry had already received the nomination. What exactly would be the point of that?

Anyway, tonight we headed over to our caucus location, which was the National Guard Armory building, at about 6:30. The caucus was supposed to begin at 7:00, and anyone not in line by that time would be turned away. When we got close to the location, we could see droves of people walking through the freezing wind and rain towards the building. We parked in the Holiday Inn parking lot across the street and started walking, and when the line actually came into view I literally busted out laughing. There were seriously hundreds of people standing in line outside in the rain. The temperature was in the mid-thirties and the wind-chill was below freezing. People were sloshing around in the mud and the muck in a line that went half way down the block. I was amazed that so many people came out to support their candidate in such amazingly crappy weather!

While we waited, party officials and volunteers came out to tell us that the building was just much too small and the turnout was much too big, so they were having trouble fitting everyone inside and getting everyone signed in. We waited almost 45 minutes outside in the cold, and our hands and feet were frozen by the time we made it into the crowded building. At first, it looked like mass chaos (and I of course took a picture of the chaos with my cell phone). The man in charge was trying to shout instructions over the crowd--they hadn't even rented a microphone or anything. Soon after we got our party affiliation changed (I generally prefer to be a registered independent--I don't ever vote straight down party lines) we were able to talk to a volunteer and figure out where to go. After just a few minutes of waiting for the first group to be counted, we formed orderly little lines and the officials counted our group, and then we were free to leave. Despite the fact that the KDP had grossly underestimated the number of people who would participate (I guess there was no way for them to know since they hadn't done this on Super Tuesday before), it all went relatively smoothly once we made it through the line and crowds. The Lawrence Journal-World has already posted pictures of the event!

While I hadn't been that uncomfortably cold in quite some time, I'm still glad we went and participated. Now I know what caucusing it all about! And thankfully, the temperature didn't drop to below freezing until we were on our way home and it started snowing--again!

Kati Walker Art

A friend of mine from college sent out an email the other day to publicize her new website, which features her customized, hand-painted artwork. Her fun and whimsical paintings are great for decorating a child's room or for adding some color to another room in your house. She'll even do commissioned pieces of work if you have something special already in mind.

Check out all of her fun artwork at Kati Walker Art!

Dogs Are Awesome

The other day Chad and I watched this amazing news story about a Golden Retriever named Hunter who was transplanted with his own stem cells. He had hip dysplasia and arthritis and was having trouble walking, and instead of paying for a very expensive hip replacement for him, his family decided to try this relatively new procedure that was only about $2500. The vet removed a chunk of Hunter's fat from around his shoulder, then sent it off to a lab where it was put into a centrifuge so that the stem cells could be separated from the fat cells. The newly harvested stem cells were then injected directly into his hip socket, where these regenerative cells began healing his damaged hip. Within a couple weeks of the transplant, Hunter was already able to jump onto the bed, which he hadn't been able to do in months. About 70% of dogs (the procedure is also often used in horses) have significant improvement in their mobility within a month of their transplant, and since the stem cells are their own, there are no ethical issues and no possibilities of rejection.

You can read the whole amazing story here. Hopefully within the next couple of years the FDA will approve similar procedures for people, which could help with spinal cord injuries and other damaged organs. The possibilities are very exciting!

While I was searching for this story online, I came across another interesting story about another Golden Retriever. This amazing dog named Jake was the first canine participant of the annual Alcatraz Invitational, swimming the 1.2 miles from the island prison to the San Francisco shore. It's a great story which even includes a video of the super swimmer!