Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure - St. Louis

I was lucky enough to be one of almost 64 thousand walker/runners in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in St. Louis. This year's group set a record for fundraising by raising 3.3 million dollars for Breast Cancer Research. I raised $110 dollars. Not very much, but it's good for me since I haven't fundraised since sometime in high school and I don't even remember what for. So a huge thanks goes out to Stacia, Jimmy, Ray, Paula, Mom and Dad. Hopefully, I'll be a better fundraiser next year.



I do want to send a shout out to Anheuser-Busch. A lot of people are asking what the big deal is if A-B gets bought out, but what they don't understand is what an awesome corporate citizen this company is. They are a major sponsor for the Race for the Cure. I can't think of any charity or major community function that didn't receive money from A-B as a sponsor. This company isn't just about the beer, and if Inbev takes over, you will kiss the charity money good-bye, along with the St. Louis Zoo having free admission, Busch Garden's, Sea World, etc. And A-B is a national brand. Their money goes to groups around the country. It is like taking the Arts out of school curriculums. You may see an immediate improvement in bottom line, but your long term loss is immeasurable.





Anyway, I'm getting off my soap box now. The race was a lot of fun. A very festive atmosphere. It was an advertiser's dream. People from every demographic, even a larger percentage of men than I expected. For some reason I just love seeing guys wear pink for a good cause. There was lots of free stuff. I didn't pick much up because I didn't want to carry it during the walk, but my favorite thing was a tube of pink lip stuff from Shane Co.





My favorite T-shirt for the day was one that said "Save Second Base" and had a baseball diamond with a pink ribbon on second base. It may take you a second to get it, but it's super funny. I hope I see it on sale at some point.

Tara's Office Party

My sister had her office party at Forest Park on Friday. Lots of people I didn't know or had met less than 5 times. It was fun, but my official job was papparazi and dog watcher. Isn't Bogey cute in his Cub's bandana. Some people just didn't appreciate his fashion sense.

Flood Pictures at 37.03 feet

This is the Mississippi River on Laclede's Landing in St. Louis at 37.03 feet.

















The River is supposed to crest at 37.5 feet on Wednesday.


















I tried to take the pictures from the same spot as the pictures in the previous post, so you could tell the difference, but that didn't work out so well. I choose to believe it's interesting anyway.

River Rising

This is what the Laclede's Landing looks like right now with all the flooding. The river is at 32.6 feet in this picture and is expected to rise to almost 38 feet next week.



















This is the President Casino. It's currently closed due to the high river level.

















The item sticking out of the water to the right of the riverfront sign is the hand and hat from the Lewis and Clark statue that sits on the bank of the Mississippi. I have a few pictures of the statue when it is only half submerged in the river, but I haven't been able to find them yet. I call it the drowning man statue because when the river rises to Lewis' neck, it looks like a man waving for help as he drowns.

London and his doggie balls!

Poor London! The price of coming home with us was his doggie manhood.

He was a little out of it when I picked him up from the vet. We had to get a halo collar because he kept licking his surgical wound. The cats hate him. We didn't introduce them properly and now he chases them and has a lot of fun doing it. He is the cutest little thing though, and is quite a snuggle bunny.

Already he is showing signs of being too smart for his own good. He has crawled under the doggie gate so he could follow me upstairs. He found a way to get on top of the cat food table so that he could eat the cat food. He is just a joy to have.

The only other new thing for me is that I have gotten myself signed up for the Susan G. Komen walk next Saturday. My company is paying for my entry fee. Those are the only two pieces of information I actually know and I can't seem to find out any more. The web site I found is just for people making donations. I can't find out how long the walk is, how long it will take, where we are meeting, how I'm getting my T-shirt, what if I have to go pee during the walk, what if I get thirsty, etc. But, I need to give back to my community, I need to excersise, and it's going to be fun. So, Yay for breast cancer awareness and research!

I'm going to be adding a new member to the family!

No, I'm not pregnant. Shame on you for thinking that.

Jeff and I are adopting a dog from the Animal Shelter. His name is London and he's been there for two months. Obviously, it's a no kill shelter.

Tara found him online and sent me the link. We went to the shelter last weekend thinking that he and all his doggie friends were on death row. We went late in the day and it was super hot. London was just laying there and wouldn't even come to the cage to greet us or try to be taken home. I started crying because I felt bad for all these little puppies and cats that would just look at you with all this love and just beg you to take them home. Then as we were leaving, my sister was trying to tactfully ask how long London had to live, so that we would know how long we had to get him out. And the very nice lady behind the counter was like, "We don't put animals down unless it's for health or behaviour issues." So, needless to say I stopped crying and felt like an ass because I thought they were all going to die.

On Monday, Jeff and I headed back to the shelter to start the process of adopting London and a woman was turning in her dog. It was the cutest chocolate lab mix. That dog had so much energy, he was very inquisitive, very friendly. He just seemed like a great dog and when he got put in a cage and left. He looked around for a little bit like "Where'd ya go? Are you coming back? Ummm..... hey lady! Why am I left behind?" and then he started pawing the cage and getting upset and then I started crying again. It's been a very emotionally traumatic adoption process for me, and I don't even have possession of the dog yet.

London is getting fixed tomorrow and then he meets the cats. I hope the introduction goes well.

BAT UPDATE: I haven't seen the bat since last Thursday. The cats like playing in the plastic folgers can, though.

CUBS are currently tied and up 3 and a half games in the Central Division. YAYYY, CUBS!!