Jack

Jack is the new puppy.

He's a 9 week old Weimaraner with a silver coat and blue eyes. His likes are pooping, eating, tennis balls, things that squeak, napping on me or with my favorite blanket, and attacking house plants and door springs (you know, those things that go "bong" that keep the door/doorknob from putting a hole in the wall behind it). His dislikes include kennel time, being told no, and stairs.

Pictures are coming soon.

I'm home!

... and I'm exhausted. Still.

Instead of jet lag I just got kinda sick. The A's (asthma and allergies) again so I'm drinking alka seltzer like it's going out of style. Anyway... I am home... I still have the same cell phone number and e-mail so give me a call if you're in Lincoln or simply if you feel like chatting. I'm not doing any paid work right now (i.e. I'm unemployed) but I am working. I have a lot of paperwork/administrative things that I have to do before school starts up again. In addition I'm looking at grad schools and options I may or may not have after graduation and trying to get my transcripts from Germany... which would expedite half of what I have to do.

Again... (or perhaps for the first time if I haven't seen you yet) I'm glad to be home.

T - 24 hours

Soon enough I'll be on a plane...

... and this time it'll be a plane home. Crazy, huh?

Just a few tidbits...

• I come home in less than a week thereby proving Josh wrong. (He made some offhand comment to mom about the fact that I'd bought a one-way ticket and following it with , "You remember what happened to Uncle Bruce?"... I guess "Uncle Bruce?" took a trip to Europe to "look around" and came home 25 years later. Sounds like a cool guy.)
  
• I will have spent 329 days in Germany (or at least out of the U.S.)
  
• I've decided to keep my blog. I don't know how many of my close friends and family members actually read this, but what I do know is that without the blog Aunt Julie could not live through me vicariously. I don't want to take that away from her.
  
• Another reason I'd decided to keep updating this thing is because I'm seriously considering graduate school. The downside is that there really aren't any programs that interest me in the U.S. central time zone. Which is my ultra-nice way of saying TOO MUCH CORN! Kidding! You can never have enough corn... or cows... or tractors, silos, grain bins, barbed wire, men in overhauls, trucks with gun racks, or politically incorrect mascot names (Go Indians! I mean, Miners! Seriously people?). Anyway, I love the Midwest and it will always be "home"... but it probably won't always coincide with my address.
  

You should read this...

Here's another article about the "Rabbit Ripper"...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1033701/Rabbit-ripper-Ruhr-leaves-German-detectives-baffled-spate-beheaded-pet-bunnies.html

Speaking of bunnies...

... here's a picture of mine.

Crunch Time

It's past midnight here, making it Monday, meaning that I have exactly a week left before I start the trek home. I was trying to make a list of all the things I have to do (administratively speaking) before I go... and it's overwhelming. For the last few years I've had to move immediately after finals were over, but this is the first time that I'll be moving to a different continent immediately after.

___________________

I've been here for close to a year now and am happy to report that I continue to learn new things. Yesterday I heard German rap for the first time. With lyrics like, "bring den Tune zuruck" and "spiel den Shit nochmal" I must say it's pretty similar to American rap... just goofier because it's sprinkled with English words. I also learned the word for goblet this morning (which is every bit as useful as hearing German rap... oh well).

Changing subjects...

• Tammy and baked cookies today and then fed them to birds. You know, helping the hungry.
• One of my houseplants blew out of my window and into my apartment (my fluffy three that's a bout four feet tall) about two weeks ago. It's pot broke and my solution was just to sit it in another pot. So far I haven't replaced any of the dirt but I continue to water it... which of course just washes away whatever dirt was left sticking to the roots. Surprisingly, the thing's never looked better.
• There's a 2,500 Euro reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest of the "Rabbit Ripper." For the last year someone in my area has been killing pet rabbits in Dortmund and Witten by decapitation. Apparently this individual is also draining all of the blood from the rabbit taking it with them... at least they're not finding it at the scene. Check it out (the article, not the headless bunnies)... ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7494184.stm ) The article states 30, but I read forty from another source..

So I'm packing...

It's 3:35 a.m. right now and I'm packing. Here's what I've decided...

I want to become a minimalist.

I went to the post office to weigh one of my suitcases today and was shocked to find out that it was 59 pounds... which believe it or not is 11 pounds lighter than it was when I originally packed it a year ago (I've been throwing shoes away). My second suitcase (which I've just packed) is lighter than first (which is encouraging)... unfortunately I keep finding shoes.

See you all soon

Error

I was going to upload some pictures... but apparently blogspot's not allowing that today.