I'm a Winner!

Duke always sends out these surveys about how they can encourage us to use public transportation to commute or some such thing. They always promise that if we fill out the survey we get entered into a drawing for an assortment of prizes. I never believed the prizes actually existed because to my knowledge, no one seemed to be winning them. However, I dutifully filled out each and every survey because what else am I going to do during the 10 minutes here and there where I have to wait for something to incubate? However, apparently after I filled out the last survey about what would make me use the Recreation Center more, I did get entered into the drawing. I know because I won! The prize was a free car wash called the Ritz at a place near campus. Humm...., maybe now that I'm on a lucky streak I should buy a lotto ticket!

Tender Mercies

If you haven't read this talk about tender mercies from LDS General Conference, you should. Yesterday, I experienced a tender mercy of my very own. I have a friend who works in the lab next to mine who is Greek Orthodox and a very devout Christian. He is probably one of the most spiritual people I know. Anyway, yesterday I was talking with him about something and he told me exactly what I needed to hear. I know this only happened for two reasons: 1. He is spiritually in tune and prepared to do the right thing when prompted by the Spirit 2. God loves me and wanted me to remember something important. I just wanted to say that I am very grateful for the tender mercies that God gives us and I hope I can continue to recognize them when they happen.

Attack!

Cute looking, huh? This is a chow chow. Cuddly, fuzzy looking dog. I was taking care of this kind of dog for a friend who has been in the hospital for several months. At least that was until last Tuesday (Sept 29th) when it attacked me. After looking this dog up on the internet, it looks like it is prone to aggression unless "properly socialized." I guess it hadn't been. Everywhere I looked seemed to indicate that the dog needed some TLC (as I am sure all dogs do, but some more then others) to be properly trained and that they were wary of strangers, etc. Well, my friend was gone a lot and I highly doubt he took the time and energy to "properly socialize" the dog. He may not have even known how to. Now the dog thinks it is abandoned by it's owner and I think he is just going crazy. Anyway, unless you know what you are doing, don't get this breed of dog. Please. Don't go there unless you have a lot of experience. (Which apparently I don't.)

Anyway, getting attacked by a dog is terribly frightening. I'm not talking about getting bit, I mean getting attacked. Getting bit is when the dog chomps down on you once and then runs away or something. Getting attacked is when they come back at you over and over with the intent to draw blood. Frightening. Luckily, I was wearing Doc Martens, we were outside, and I was standing near the door into the house. So I was able to fend him off by kicking him with my honking shoes until I got inside and slammed the door in his face. By then I had been bit on my forearm, hand, and knee (although I didn't even realize my knee was injured until much later) and I was bleeding all over the place. Adam was in class and didn't answer my phone call, so I managed to call my in-laws who only live about 5 miles away. I think all I said was something like, "I was bit by the dog and I think I'm in shock." I continued to bleed all over the house until they got there. All of them. I was just expecting my father-in -law and maybe my mother-in-law too, but the two teenage kids they have at home came as well. It made me feel loved, and they did a great job helping out. So, here is my tribute to Tara and Zac who were especially wonderful:

Tara came into the house and immediately found a job for herself. She became in charge of calling Adam and letting him know I was at the ER. She was on top of it and as soon as she took over that responsibility, I knew that eventually Adam would show up and I didn't worry about it for another instant.

Zac came and was helping out. Happy to be there and offering moral support. It wasn't until the next day that I realized this all happened on his birthday. No complaints, not even a mention of "this is kind of a crappy way to spend a birthday." Just there helping me out, no thought of himself. What a guy.

OK, well I am doing much better now. Some of my tendons are still stiff, but I only notice that because I've just done so much typing. The pain is gone and I am healing. Soon I will have forgotten the whole incident, which is why I decided I better blog about it now!