"As full of wind as a corn-eating horse..."

Que lastima! It's been three months since I last posted, but I actually started this entry on June 30th. Our newest and most exciting news is we have puppies. Chocolate labs, brothers. Ifit (pronounced I-fit or E-fit) and Teak. Ifit is a dark wood indigenous to Guam, and teak is a lighter wood found in Asia (hence, the darker pup is Ifit and the lighter, Teak). Ifit also has a white streak on his chest..."that's why they call him The Streak." Four months old and 80 combined pounds of awesomeness. As a first-time pet caregiver, this has been quite a learning experience for me...and I'm sooo glad we did dogs before kids.




















The boys at two and four months

In other news, volunteering at the TSA is now going strong. I'd been on a self-administered hiatus because of the pups and a not-so-brief trip to WI to visit family. Now that the dogs are older and I'm so much more comfortable leaving them alone to their own devices (in the comfort of their individual kennels), I can put in more hours at the aquarium. This means a) more dive time, b) more quality time with Hans and the balloonfish and the cow-nosed rays, and 3) a brand spankin' new blue polo shirt, courtesy of the TSA, for 50+ hours of service. Yessssssss.

What else...oh, I'm currently enrolled in my first graduate-level forensic science course. Forensic Analysis of DNA. Completely online, through UF Gainesville. Go Gators (had to put it out there). Quite interesting thus far...helps that I'm doing pretty well with the coursework. I've also applied to the Master's program in Forensic DNA/Serology for Spring 2010 entrance, but I've yet to hear. Fingers crossed.

Still no luck on the job front...not even many irons in the fire. It's somewhat depressing. I'm still hung up on not being able to financially contribute to our relationship, because there aren't any forensics-related jobs here at the moment. I'm going to spread my wings, though, and start looking outside the box that is all of my educational and work experience. Otherwise, I might have to revert back to "volunteering" (gasp!) my time at one of the local crime labs. C'est la vie.