5K Dog Walk for Monroe County Humane Societies

Meant to be posted June 10th, 2011. (day of the race).

Even though I have stopped running again (mainly due to depression) I decided to run/walk with Elvis on this dog walk. I also managed to convince my friend Becca and her dog Egor to come with us.

So here's the group of about 100-150 people and their dogs waiting for the signal to start. I think Elvis had a crush on that little boxer toward the right in the first picture. He kept looking at her, nudging me and looking at me, then looking back at her... As if to say, " Pretty nice, eh? Why don't we go over there?"



And they're off!!!

Here's my view of Elvis.
To the right of us we see Becca and Egor.


Overall, it was pretty nice, not too hot and it didn't rain until the end. I had some severe certain (monthly) cramps that prevented me from making it to first, so we just brought up the rear, or as
my brother calls it DFL.


The award for biggest dog doesn't go to Elvis as Becca and I thought, but to these two GIGANTIC Great Danes... Like a head taller than Elvis.


Here we are after the race, waiting for the prizes that were being drawn. Becca won a free oil change. I didn't realize this until later, but doesn't Becca look like Elvis is about to eat her?! Classic.


Elvis was fine until I did this.... he was like, "Laurel!! Not in front of the boxer!!!" Even the lady behind us was embarrassed by the PDA.


After the race Becca and I split a pizza and gave some of the crusts to Elvis and Egor.
I also found out that day that Elvis LOVES Corn Nuts and their loud crunching properties.

Laurel

Tidbits of Iowa Culture 2

I have seen some curious things in the past month and here's a few I've taken pics of.


Here we see an Amish cart with horses parked at the local Pamida. When I came back out of the store all that was left was two large steaming piles in the middle of the parking lot.


The Amish strike again in this ridiculous picture! A couple Amish men and their sons pile out of this Lincoln. This alone is hilarious, but why on earth do they have that decal on the grill? These Amish are livin on the edge, and they like their Lincoln grills raunchy. "An Amish with a 'tude, you know that's unheard of!"

















I have seen this common mode of transportation frequently, but only just have managed to capture it. It seems Iowans have decided that riding lawn mowers are the best way to get around in town. I've seen them driven to the post office, the grocery store, Pizza Hut, and my personal favorite, the local tavern. Here's one now on his way back from the gas station at which he filled up and purchased a doughnut.

This next picture is sadly blurry, much like the infamous Sasquatch picture. This photo is of a man with VERY peculiar side burns.... his are not vertical, but horizontal and in the center of the side of his face. He was in Centerville, IA, and was walking while muttering about "the margarine... the margarine..."

I've included another picture of what he would have looked up close to give you a better idea.

Very odd...

Lastly, I wanted to include my Uncle's awesome set up for his wireless headset...
A very clever use of painter's tape and a zip-tie. Just awesome.












Laurel

PERMED

So, on a completely random whim, I permed my hair. When I first looked into the mirror after wards my expression went from this:
to this:

to questioning disgust:
to asking god "Why?":
to attempting to pull it strait:
to using humor to cover up true feelings:


Then this happened.


Yeah, that just happened.


Laurel

P.S. I think I'll keep the curls after all...

I am Ridiculous

Play "Hair" by the Cowsills while reading this blog post.

My mother has recently started a blog about training two horses for a co-worker.
The link is as follows:

http://30dayride.blogspot.com/2011/06/day-one-deliverance.html

READ I command you!

So since we had this giant 46 inch or so matted chunk of tail, I had to be ridiculous with it.

This a progression of me attempting the lift the massive thing.
Double Click to see a larger version.

It was over 4 feet long!!




At this point I just started wagging it around like a sword and then mom happened to get a shot of this:

Me challenging my cat with a sword of hair.

Needless to say I've lost my mind. Also my attire for this entire experience was terribly selected as well, but they are my grunge clothes for work.


Laurel

2 Bulls

This is my new art piece. Hope you like it.


Laurel

Boredom = ?

This is what boredom wields. A poorly drawn Admiral Ackbar on your stomach.

I spent a lot of the rainy afternoon making hilarious comments ending in his catch phrase:

"IT'S A TRAP!!"

and humming the music playing during that scene.

Examples,
"Don't drink that spoiled milk, it's a trap!"
"Don't use the upstairs bathroom, to take a crap!!"
"Don't sit down on that chair, there's a tack!"

Well, I thought it was hilarious....


Laurel


Ohh another thing, look up "Admiral Ackbar" in Google Image Search. You'll find some hilarious photos! Thank me later.

LAZERfest 2011

The Line-Up: http://www.lazer1033.com/LAZERFEST-2011---Line-Up/9156225

So I originally wasn't going to go, but then I decided that I haven't gotten to do anything really "fun" just for me in a pretty long time. That and I haven't been to a concert/music festival since Cornerstone 2009, so I was jonesing for a live music performance.

The order of bands I was most excited about was this:

1. Queensryche

2. Three Days Grace

3. Black Label Society

4. Seether

I listened to Seether a lot in Jr. High and early High School so I had a few fond memories of them. They played almost all of the songs I wanted to hear from their album "Disclaimer." They also did a cover of Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" which was surprisingly really well done and very close to the original. About 65% of the audience were people my age, and I found it funny that a vast majority sang along to that song... you see, they only know it from Guitar Hero 2. That was a tad lame, but I still liked the performance.

Well for those of you who don't know, Black Label Society was a band formed in the late 90's by Zakk Wylde who was formerly the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. I hadn't listened to them very much myself, but I'd heard them on the radio and such and thought they were pretty decent. That and it would be awesome to see Zakk Wylde live and see his awesome guitar skills in action. (Please note that I DO NOT like Ozzy Osbourne, I liked him in beginning and in Sabbath, but he got.... kooky to be nice.)

I think I've always like several of Three Days Grace's songs, you know I'd turn them up on the radio, but I never "bought" and album or went out of my way to listen to them. I do really like "Pain," "Animal I Have Become," and of course, "Riot." I also like the lead singer's story of how after the first album the band realized he had an addiction to a drug (not sure what.. Oxi-something) anyway they sent him to rehab and while he was getting sober he wrote the lyrics to several of the songs, two of which, "Pain," and "Animal.." were on the album they published after that I believe was called "One X" or something like that. Good story.

They aren't supposed to play "Riot" at concerts anymore, because actually go pretty insane and literally cause a "Riot." It's happened before. So at the concert, people were chanting "Riot" when the lead singer asked for what the crowd wanted to hear and he told us that due to "security disagreements" and "technically difficulties" or some such, they couldn't play it. So then several people said, "Freedbird," and he said they didn't know how to play it. Then someone said, "Stairway to Heaven," and the lead guitarist started playing it, and he just started to sing along to it a little, and then he just said, "Ohh, Fuck This! WE'RE GONNA PLAY RIOTTTTTTT!!!!"

Everyone went INSANE. It was awesome! I was jumping up and down and waving my Satan's Horns around. [If you aren't sure what I mean, I've included a picture of Dio doing it, and for all of you who don't appreciate Dio as you should, HE was the on who started that. That's why he rocked so hard. Rest in Peace Dio!]




Then when they played "Animal..." the lead singer climbed up the side of the stage, which was insane, because it had been raining for like half of the day! He climbed all the way to the top where the tent was and sang from up there, and then after" Animal...." was almost done, we all just chanted until he got down. It was awesome.


Of course the band I wanted to see the most, Queensryche, didn't get to come because the plane they were on had some serious difficulties and such and they couldn't make it in time. Which really sucked.

On a side note, TicketMaster, where I bought my ticket, told me that if I brought my receipt and all the necessary evils (DL and such) then I could get my ticket at the event, but when I got there, there wasn't a TicketMaster booth or what have you. So I was screwed.

I tried to explain it to one of the staff, but they just told me, "No ticket, you can't get in." I thought at that point I would be thrown off of the blimp... but luckily I was on solid ground.
{ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39ZuGNaGVg }
At that point my hair was down, I wasn't wearing my glasses, and I was just wearing my moto. canvas jacket. So I put my hair up, put on my glasses and my trenchie, and went to the other side of the row of event staffers taking tickets. When the ones nearest to me were busy, I just walked in.

You can now tell me how bad-ass I am. :D

I kinda wish I hadn't bought my ticket now, because if I knew the security was so lax, I would have been able to save the $56 I spent on the ticket... but ohh well, I'm just glad I got in!

I think in total it cost me $70 for the gas and ticket, but that's not bad for all the bands I got to see and such. Not as awesome as Cornerstone, but still pretty wicked.

Since it rained so much at the beginning there was about 4 inches of solid mud that was everywhere so by the time it was over, there was mud all over my trench coat, messenger bag, Dr. Marten's, and face/hair.
I've included a picture of my shoes, one after LAZERfest, and one after 30 minutes of scrubbing. I say, "Worth the Cleaning!"

All in all it was fun, and just in case you're wondering where I got the money, my mother gave it to me in advance for replacing the deck.

It's hard earned... or " [It] will be..... [it] will be... (said in a Yoda voice)

Laurel