Why does it seem like the only time I write on this thing now is when I'm on overnights?  I guess late at night when everyone else is asleep, and there are no emergencies, I have plenty of time to think and contemplate.

A little bit has happened since the last time I wrote.  I got to go back to Knoxville at the end of September to be in one of my friends wedding.  She was a beautiful bride (as expected).  The wedding was great, despite the little bit of rain right before it started.  I got to see a couple of vet school classmates.  It was fun, yet the weekend was not long enough.  I promised to post pictures as soon as I can.

I have gone to a couple of concerts.  The first was Maroon 5 and the Counting Crows.  It was a really good concert.  It was in Phoenix and me and some coworkers sat outside on the soft grass and rocked out.

The most recent concert was this past Monday.  I went to see one of the original boy bands of the 80's/90's... the New Kids on the Block!!!  And yes you can make fun of me as much as you want, but I could care less.  I loved them when I was young and seeing them in concert reverted me into a screaming 12 year old again.  Their new music is just as catchy and fun as before.  And I'll have to say that even in their mid-late 30's, they (especially Jordan) still look hot!!

The final (and I guess most exciting) thing that is new in my life is that I finally broke down and joined Match.com.  I said for the longest time that it's not right that I should have to pay to meet someone.  Well, I guess the way things are nowadays and how busy I get with work, meeting someone in a normal everyday setting is damn near impossible.  So a couple weeks ago, I finally emailed this guy (Travis).  We emailed each other back and forth for a few days and he finally gave me his myspace address.  For the past week and a half, I have talked to him via phone/IM everyday.  We seem to be very comfortable with each other.  We have talked about almost everything (even the religion subject).  He lives in Mesa, AZ which is about 2 hours north of Tucson.  We are planning on meeting this coming up Sunday.  I'm excited yet very nervous at the same time.  Although we have seen pictures of each other and have talked to each other for many hours, I'm still scared that I may be a disappointment to him (such self confidence huh?)  Don't get me wrong, I'm also scared that I'll be disappointed in him.  I gues we'll just have to wait and see.  I'll definitely let everyone know how it goes.  So until then...here's a pic of him.

I'm setting here in the wee hours of the morning on my emergency shift waiting for a dog that is supposed to come in w/ a swollen face (possibly bitten/stung by something).  It is my second emergency shift and I have already removed a bladder stone, removed a pyometra (pus filled uterus), and removed pieces of a boot from a dog's stomach.  I'm starting to think that this won't be so bad (knock on wood).  So far the worst thing that I have seen is that a woman brought her dog in to be cremated because she found it in her back yard half eaten by something (possibly mountain lion).  When she arrived, her dog was wrapped up in a blanket.  The tech brought it to the back treatment area and as I started to slowly unwrap the dog, the smell almost knocks me over.  I hold my breath and continue to remove the blanket.  I start to see red, and more red, then ribs, ripped intestines, and a mangled heart.  Although I have seen the insides of a dog before, there was something disturbing about this one.  Just knowing that it was done so animalistically.  Then I thought to myself, how I would react if I woke up one morning and found my pet ripped to shreds and half eaten?  I honestly don't know.  It's something that I hope to never find out.

On the brighter side of things, I got to see "The Dark Knight" on Monday.  It was awesome!  And that's probably an understatement.  I thought that Heath Ledger brought a whole different side to the Joker's character.  He was much darker and more about anarchy then the playful, whimsical Joker portrayed by Jack Nicholson.  I know that there are speculations that Heath may actually win an Oscar for his performance, but I just hope that it is truly to recognize his great acting skills rather then pity his death.  In my opinion, I thought Heath should have won an Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain".  Some ppl may have a problem w/ that movie, but all in all, it is a love story.  Christian Bale was great, as usual (not to mention gorgeous).  I can see where the "batman voice" can start to get on your nerves, but I just have to tell myself that Bruce Wayne has to disguise his voice in order to keep his identity a secret.  It's a minor thing that you soon look over.

I think that I will take this weekend off from going to the movies.  "X-files" comes out, but I doubt I'll go see it.  I'm debating whether I should do something for myself for my birthday (which is today).  Let's not make a big deal about it.  I've gotten to that age where it just becomes another day.  It does kinda suck tho that I'm working on my b-day.  But what else would I do?  Sit on my ass at home and watch tv?  Yeah, that's a great way to celebrate.  Nope, I rather be at work where I'm saving lives and doing something productive.  My next movies to look forward to are "The Mummy 3" and the great "Star Wars: Clone Wars".  Until then......

So yesterday, I decided to get out of the apartment and go to the movies.  What did I see you ask?  Well I decided not to see The Hulk just because the first one sucked so bad that I was not prepared to waste my money.  So instead, I saw The Happening.  Now I know that most of you are probably rolling your eyes right now and saying that i did waste my money after all.  But I will have to disagree.  Many people say that M. Night Shyamalan bombed his last two movies (Lady in the Water and The Village), but I would have to say that although the acting may not have been Oscar worthy, each movie had an underlying message or simply explores the imagination.  I disagree with the critics and think that The Happening (again, despite the lack of Oscar worthy acting) had a very deep message to it and was something that everyone should think about.  Now I'm not going to give away the story, but I will say that if you do see it, please try to keep an open mind.

There are two issues that I would like to bring up about the movie:
1) Although this really has nothing to do with the movie itself, I thought that it was re-f*%#ng-diculous that I had to pay $9.25 to see a movie at 3:00 in the afternoon.  What happened to matinée prices you ask?  Well, apparently either at this particular theater (which was in the mall) or in all of Tucson matinee on the weekends ends at 2PM.  I couldn't believe it!!  Who goes to the movies that early anyway?  It's not like I'm 85 years old.  I just want to save a few dollars because of the re-f&#@!ng-diculous gas prices these days (which you definitely don't want me to start on).

2) The second issue is one that was brought up in the movie.  Mark Wahlberg plays a high school science teacher and in the first scene, he talks about the mysterious disappearance of the bee population.  Some people may think that this was made up (which in fact it is not) and others who have heard some little tidbit about it in the news may think "Who cares?"  When people think about bees, they mostly think that they are  annoying and don't want to get stung and that all we need them for is to make honey.   Well, I just got finished watching an episode of Nature on PBS that talked about this strange phenomenon.  I won't go into too much detail but I will throw out a few facts that I thought were very interesting.
    - In the year 2006 the population of bees in the United States had dropped so significantly that we had to import bees from Australia (this was the first time we had ever had to import bees).
    - 3/4 of the plant population depend on bees for pollination.  This includes all of the fruits and most of the vegetables we eat.  If the bees don't do their job, the the plants cannot reproduce.  Where does that leave us?
    - A small region in southern Sichuan China has resorted to humans hand pollinating all of their pear trees because years ago the bee population disappeared due to heavy pesticide use.
    - There is a possibility that a new virus is spreading through the bee population causing this CCD (colony collapse disorder), but it is not confirmed.
    - There has been a 13.5% increase in total losses of the managed bee hives from last year.
    - At this rate, all bees will be extinct by the year 2035.

If you want to know more about the program I saw, you can visit the PBS website (www.pbs.org) and search Silence of the Bees.