Saturday, December 28, 2013

A Summary of the Hobbit/ Fellowship of the Ring by Sean Kienle

I meant to write an entry about our New Zealand trip, and then this happened.  Last night I was having trouble falling asleep (probably because we'd slept 15 hours after our return from New Zealand), and so I asked Sean to tell me a story.  What follows is Sean's late night re-telling of the Hobbit/ Fellowship of the Ring.


Sean: There is this short guy.  He lives in an underground house and is kind of a grouch.  He is perfectly content to live by himself and do nothing.  Then, this tall guy comes and he’s like, “Want to go on an adventure?” and the short guy’s like, “No.”  And then, the tall guy is like, “Are you sure?”, and he’s like “Yes, I’m sure.”  The tall guy is like “Okay!” and when the short guy shuts his door, the tall guy writes something on it.  Later, a medium guy shows up and says, “Hey, I’m here for the adventure”.  Then, more medium guys show up who are ready for the adventure. Then, they eat all of his food and sing a bunch of songs.  The tall guy, oh yeah, he’s there too, is like “Hey, we’re going on an adventure, and you’re coming too!”  And so they go on an adventure.  Later, the short guy, whose name is Bilbo, is back in his underground house, and there’s another short guy there named Frodo.  Bilbo’s like “I’m really old and dying, and you should have this ring.”  I guess the ring is from the first adventure, but I forgot to mention it.  And then, three other short guys join Frodo, not Bilbo, and they’re like “We need to take this ring somewhere.”  I don’t remember where.  Or, why they’re doing this at all. But, they do.  Then, they’re climbing a mountain, and Frodo’s like “Hey, I’m going to put this on”, and he disappears.  Then, grim reapers appear!  [Sarah: Wait, you forgot the part at the inn!  He doesn’t put on for the first time on the mountain. Sean: This is my story.  When do the grim reapers appear?  Sarah: I’m going to make a note.] Then, they run away, and apparently the grim reapers are really slow because they don’t catch them.  Instead of finding Gandalf, who was supposed to be there or something, they say, “Let’s go to the bar.” And the barkeeper is like, “We don’t serve your kind here.”  [Sarah: I think you’re just making things up now.”]  And then Frodo is like, “I’m going to fall off this barstool and become invisible.”  Then Vigo Mortensen is like “Hey short guys, come sleep in my room.”  And they’re all like ‘Definitely!” And they do.  Then the grim reapers show up and are going to stab them in the bed. And they do. But then it turns out they aren’t in the beds; they are on little horses…or something.  I don’t remember what happens.  Then they go to the river place, and all of these different people are arguing about something. The ring!  They are arguing about the ring, but I don’t remember what they are saying. A medium sized guy tries to hit the ring, and it doesn’t work like you think it should.  They have to put a ring in a volcano for some reason.  The short guys say, “We’re short!  So, we should do it!” Everyone else is like “We’ll go too!  It’ll be fun.”  And that’s how they sorted the Ringling Brothers (because of the ring).  But, not everybody went.  Some people were like, “We’re going to stay here because we can see the future.”  And then, because there are no cars, airplanes, or horses of different sizes, they decide to walk forever, like across the country.  And the tall guy, the wizard who is back for some reason, is like “Let’s walk up this snowy mountain.”  Everyone is like “Okay!”  Then, when they are half way up the mountain and its snowy, they say, “This sucks!  Let’s go somewhere else.”  The tall guy says, “It’s this or we can go into a dwarf tomb!”  And everyone says, “Tomb! Tomb!”  So, they go to the tomb and then it’s gross and creepy like you’d expect a tomb to be, and it’s like a maze, which sounds fun but isn’t.  They walk across a really unsafe bridge single file with no guardrails over a deep chasm. At the same time, they have to fight a whip monster that is on fire and has a whip.  The tall wizard decides to break the bridge, and he does.  But the monster gets him, and they fall until they land on top of a tall tower, which doesn’t make sense.  But wait!  You aren’t supposed to know that yet.  He dies.  Then they are sad for a few minutes.  And, come out of the tomb (which apparently is just a tunnel), and come to a giant lake.  One guy says, “You know who should be in charge of this ring?  Boramir.” [Sarah: Nobody says this!]  And Boramir agrees.  Then, I don’t know what happens.  Boramir gets killed, and the short guys sneak away.  Did I mention the short guys are called hobbits?  And that’s the story of the brotherhood of the ring.  The end.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Mac Store Fun

Today we went to the Mac store to replace my computer charger.  While we were there, waiting for it to be replaced, I played with the iPad on the table next to me.  I noticed that the computer-owned iPad had two unread text messages.  Naturally, I looked at them.

The text messages read:

Random person: Hey!
Random person: Which beach do you want me to pick you up at?

So, again naturally (with some encouragement from Sean), I responded.

Me: Pacific Beach

And, to Sean and my surprise, random person responded.

Random person: Right now?
Random person: ??????
Me: Yes.
Random person: Okay.
Me: Can't wait to see you!

And, then we left the store.  We've been giggling about it ever since.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

George R.R. Martin is EVIL.

At the beginning of June, I (finally) started reading Game of Thrones (specifically Book 1) by George R. R. Martin.  Sean has already read the first three books.  I knew that something big happened at the end of Book 3 since a lot of people had posted about it on Facebook after that particular episode aired, and I figured that someone major had died. 

A couple of weeks ago the following conversation occurred.

me: Who dies at the end of book 3?
Sean: I'm not telling you that!  Why would I tell you that?
me: Is it Character X [i.e., one of my favorite characters]?
Sean: Noooooo.....

[To be fair, he did not do a long drawn out "Noooo", which everyone knows means "yes".  But, since I know him so well, I knew to look at his dimple, and since his dimple showed when he said "No", it meant he was lying.]

me: IT IS CHARACTER X! WHY DID YOU TELL ME?  
Sean: It's not him.  
me: It is.  I saw your dimple.
Sean: Ask me about someone else.
me: Is it Character Y?
Sean: No.  [See, the dimple thing didn't happen this time.  Then, I REALLY knew that Character X had died.]
me: It's Character X.  Your dimple told me.
Sean: Why did you ask?  
me: I can't believe you told me.  Stupid books. I didn't want to know.
Sean: You asked!
me: This is your fault.

Skip forward in time to last night.  Sean had gone to sleep, and I was reading Book 1.  All of a sudden, Character X appears to die, but I didn't think anything of it since I knew he/she survived until Book 3.  However, I wanted to confirm his/her aliveness with Sean. 

me: Sean, did Character X really die?

[Sean is asleep at this point.]

Sean: What?  
me: Is Character X dead?
Sean: Well, what just happened.
me: [Insert me telling him.]
Sean: Yes, Character X died.
me (now tears are welling up in my eyes): BUT YOU SAID HE DIDN'T DIE UNTIL BOOK 3!  
Sean: No, I thought I told you Character X died in this book.
me: NO!  I was prepared for Character X's death in Book 3.  Not NOW!  I thought it was not a real death!  I figured they had a really good look alike.  

[Tears were shed.  Sean had to comfort me.  He also laughed at me.]

Me: WHO WRITES A BOOK WHERE GOOD DOES NOT TRIUMPH OVER EVIL!?!?!?!?  George R.R. Martin is evil.

[More tears were shed.  Sean still had to comfort me. He also was still laughing at me.]

Me: I know that I am crying over a fictional character.
Sean: It's not the first time.  And, it won't be the last.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Christmas Shenanigans

Oh yeah, we have a blog!  Who knew?

Sean and I did our usual hectic traveling over Christmas break.  For me, it wouldn't feel like Christmas without all the traveling since every Christmas since birth, my family has driven the 21 hours up to Illinois (and most years, Michigan) to visit our grandparents and extended family.  Sean, on the other hand, grew up staying in one place, but he is a good sport about all of the traveling (for the most part).

We left on December 17 in the evening.  I remember it was the afternoon because I took the GRE test in the morning, so it really felt like Christmas break when we got on that plane.  This particular test scheduling could have been good (i.e. I did really well) or bad (i.e. I did not do really well); luckily, it turned out well for all involved!  Our first stop of our Christmas traveling was Louisville, Colorado to see our Kienle family.  They promptly got snow, which I appreciate since I only have to deal with it for two weeks every year. 

SNOW!
One of my absolute favorite things about the Kienle house is that I have a pair of slippers that stay there year round (so does Sean), and when we come visit, Lisa (my mother in law) puts them out by the bed.  We also eat VERY well.  Much better than we were eating at home for the previous week since Sean and I had purposely not gone grocery shopping.  A lot of "what can we make out of what is left in the fridge?" meals were had that particular week.

One morning I woke up and said, "Sean, did you hear something breaking?"  Sean said, "No."  So, I went back to sleep (which is quite typical), and Sean got up (which is also quite typical).  As soon as he stepped out the door, he came back in and said, "Sarah, you need to come see this."  


The giant, hand-axed down Christmas tree had plummeted downward spraying needles EVERYWHERE.  Sean and I therefore answered the age old question: If a tree falls down in the living room, does it make a sound?

Just in case you thought I was lying!

The answer is YES, and it makes a gigantic mess!  In other news, Lisa won this year's Kienle Family Competition.  In order for me to win, I need there to be a lot less bowling and a lot more flexibility-based competitions.

Because we are not yet at the financial point where we can choose flights based on convenience rather than price, the entire Kienle family was up at 4am to take us to our super early flight to Austin, Texas the day after Christmas.  Daniel must love Sean a whole bunch, because I don't think I would get up that early to get on a flight to see my sisters' off....I say that, but I think I did do that for Madison at one point.  But I promptly swore "NEVER AGAIN!" afterwards.

After a fun airport game of what-gate-do-you-actually-want-us-at-and-how-much-longer-are-you-going-to-delay-our-flight, we made it to Texas.  I almost didn't recognize our ride, because the minivan was not (yet) decked out in its holiday attire of Christmas lights and reindeer antlers + nose.  

We celebrated our Stachura Christmas that night, and, most importantly, I got to see my adorable nephew who I hadn't seen in 7 months.  Sean hadn't seen him since the week of his birth, so I guess he wins that particular contest.


Two days later, we did our annual road trip up to Farmer City, Illinois.  I've perfected the art of sleeping in the car, so between sleeping, knitting, reading, and some TV show watching, we made it up to Illinois.  Of course we stopped at Lambert's, Home of the Throwed (yes, I spelled that correctly) Rolls.  A road trip up (and back) would not be complete without it.  

On New Year's Eve we snuck alcohol in to my grandparent's farm house (I'm not too worried they find out, since neither of them are on the Internet.  Don't you dare tell them!).  This was a family effort, and my aunt, uncle, parents, sisters, cousins, and Sean and I were careful to hide all of the evidence!  Because I was sick with a bad cold, as soon as it hit midnight I was in bed.  It was a struggle to stay up that late.  I blame it on being ill, NOT on being old.  

Mom and Dad drove Sean and me to Chicago to catch our respective flights.  Sean flew from Midway back to San Diego, and I flew from O'Hare to San Francisco for a conference.  But that's a whole other story....

The moral of this particular adventure was that my suitcase weighed 49 pounds on the way to Colorado and only 47 on the way back to San Diego.  Therefore, I did not get nearly enough presents this Christmas.   What a bust!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

A Day in the Life of Our Pets: Part 2

Gus did not like that Teddy went first (see Part One).  And he definitely didn't want THE CAT [Zorro] to get any attention, so here it is.  


We don't have a consistent voice we use for Gus.  It's usually an excited boy voice.  Make up your own.  


A Day in the Life of our Pets: Gus's Story


Wake up at 6:15am.  Look at Sean.  Go back to sleep.  Sometimes sleep is more important than pets.


Wake up at 8:05am to alarm.  Ready to get up.  Sarah does not.  Need Sarah to let me out of my cabin [crate] so I can start my day.  Bark at Sarah.  She ignores me.  Bark at Sarah again.  She ignores me.  Bark at Sarah again.  She ignores me.  Alarm goes off at 8:15am.  She gets up.  


Run out of crate.  No time for pets.  Scratch at dog door.  Sarah opens dog door.  Hurl myself out of dog door.  I think a herd of wild animals came through the yard last night.  I must identify all of them by their scent. 


I smell things.  I smell more things.  Sometime when I smell things that are really good, I bark.  Most days there are lots of really good smells.  I re-smell all the good smells, and bark again.


See THE CAT jump over the fence.  Good riddance.  No more THE CAT.


Faintly hear Sarah blabbering.  Decide unimportant.  Ignore Sarah.  Go into house for breakfast.  Look for Sarah.  No Sarah.  More importantly, no breakfast.  Wish instead of blabbering, Sarah had told me it was breakfast time.  See bowl on top of fridge.  Too high to get with jumping.  Must practice more.  Drink water.


Teddy stands beside door.  He stole my spot.  Push him out of the way.  Decide door unexciting.


Sleep on couch.  Wait for sun to hit backyard. 


Once sun in backyard, go outside and sleep in sun.  Must recharge.  Beagles are solar-powered.  


Sniff things.  Bark.  Go inside.  Sleep on couch.


Sniff things.  Bark.  Go back outside.  Sleep in sun.  


Sniff things.   Bark.  Look for escape routes.  There are none.  Will check tomorrow.  Bark.  Go inside.  Sleep on couch.


Sean comes home.  He didn't pet me right away.  Barked at Sean.  Got pets.  Sean sat on couch.  Jumped in his lap.  Got pets.  Sean got out computer.  Shoved it with my feet.  Got pets.  


Sarah comes home.  Ran to edge of couch.  Jump on Sarah.  Get pets.  Sarah sits on couch.  Jumped in her lap.  Got pets.  Sarah got out computer.  Shoved it with my feet.  Got laughed at and shoved to floor.


Sarah and Sean put on running clothes.  Get really excited!  Run around their feet to encourage them to go faster.  Try to steal a sock.  No luck.  Push them to the front door.  Sean puts on harness.  Try to make him put it on wrong by moving a lot.  Doesn't work.  


Teddy gets to go out door first.  No fair.  Barked at Sarah and Sean to let them know I'm unhappy.  Teddy gets to smell things on the driveway first.  No fair.  Barked at Sarah and Sean to let them know I'm unhappy.  Teddy gets to pee in the gravel first.  No fair.  Barked at Sarah and Sean to let them know I'm unhappy.  Pee in gravel too.  


Start running.  Yay!  Keep running.  Yay!  Smell things while running.  Yay!  Wait, we're done running?  Thought we had only begun, but Sarah and Sean drag me back into house.  I wasn't done running.  


Drink water.  Get pets from Sean while Sarah showers.


Start barking for food.  Sarah ignores me.  Shove both feet into my empty bowl to indicate no food.  Sarah ignores me.  Turn bowl upside down to indicate no food.  She doesn't understand.  Bang on bowl like drum to indicate no food.  She ignores me.  Go outside in frustration.


Faintly hear Sarah blabbering.  Decide to go inside.  Food time!  Put butt on floor for food.  Run to food.  Eat food as fast as I can.  Check to see if Teddy left anything behind.  He didn't.  Drink water.


Follow Sean around kitchen.  Wait for him to leave something by the edge of the counter.  He does.  Jump once to scout it out.  Jump twice and lunge to grab it.  Run like lightening to dog door and take it outside.  Hear Sean blabbering.  Unimportant.  Butter is good.


Look adorable while Sarah and Sean eat dinner.  Even balance on back two feet.  Sarah and Sean are not properly appreciative.  Don't want pets.  Want food.


THE CAT comes in.  Wait!  I thought THE CAT knew not to come back.  Bark at THE CAT.  Will attack THE CAT if Sarah and Sean want.  Sarah picks up THE CAT.  She must not know that THE CAT is not for petting.  Bark at THE CAT.  Jump at THE CAT.  Get yelled at.  


Go outside.  Bark at neighbor's dogs.  Continue barking.  Go inside.  Check to make sure THE CAT isn't being pet.


Once no food is on counter or table, go to Gus-Chair with Gus-Blanket.  Circle around on blanket several times.  It always gets folded funny.  Make into good bed.  Lay in bed.  


Hear doorbell.  Run to door.  Bark loudly!  Turns out we don't have a doorbell.  Get into Gus-Chair with Gus-Blanket.  


Hear knock on door.  Run to door.  Bark loudly!  Turns out nobody is at the door.  Get into Gus-Chair with Gus-Blanket.  


Sleep.  Check to make sure THE CAT is not being pet.  Continue sleeping.  


Go outside on leash.   Use bathroom.  Go inside and run to my cabin [crate].  Get bedtime snacks.


Lay down.  Bark at neighbor dogs from my cabin [crate] to assert dominance.


Sleep.  Snore.

Good day!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

A Day in the Life of Our Pets: Part One

As you might know, Sean and I have three fuzzy mammals (besides ourselves) running around our house.  Teddy is a five year old cocker spaniel whose favorite activities are....well, you'll see.  Gus is a four year old miniature beagle (meaning he will always look like a puppy).  He's an adorable handful.  Last, but certainly not least, is Zorro, our four year old, rather large cat.  He's a cat.  He behaves cat-like.

Obviously, we know that our animals can't talk, but that doesn't stop us from giving them voices or trying to guess what each of them is thinking on a daily basis.  

Today Teddy volunteered to share his story.

Teddy's voice is usually a cross between Dug (from Pixar's Up) and Mr. Narwhale in Elf.  


A Day In The Life of our Pets: Teddy's Story


Wake up at 4am.  Pooped in the bathroom.  Itched myself to sleep.

Woke up again at 6:15am with Sean when he went to shower.  Stared at the wall outside the bathroom.  Checked to see if I would get any dog food.  I didn't.  Went back to bed.

Woke up at 8:05am with Sarah.  Hoped she would snooze the alarm.  She did.  Woke up at 8:25am with Sarah.  Stared at her until she pet me.  

Followed Gus to the dog door.  Didn't realize he was going outside.  Didn't need to poop.  Made an abrupt U-turn, tripped Sarah.  

Followed Sarah to bathroom.  Whined when Zorro came out of the cat room.  Went into the bathroom.  Stared at wall.  Whined when Zorro came into the bathroom.  Stopped whining when he left.  Followed Sarah to the bedroom.  Followed Sarah to the bathroom.  Followed Sarah to the kitchen.  

Sat down, and got breakfast.  Checked to make sure Gus didn't leave any food behind.  He didn't.

Followed Sarah to the bedroom.  Followed Sarah to the bathroom.  Followed Sarah to the front door.  Watched her leave.  Whined.  Looked sad.

Laid on couch.  

Avoided eye-contact with Gus.  Followed rules of absolutely no touching.

Laid on tile.

Itched.

Laid on wood floor.

Itched.

Laid on couch.

Got up when Sean came home.  Wagged my tail a lot. Tried to get on couch.  Slipped.  Will try again later.

Tried to jump on couch.  Made it.  Stared at Sean.  Got pets.  Laid on couch.

Sarah came home.  Fell off couch in excitement.  Wagged my tail a lot.  Tried to get on couch.  Front legs made it, back legs didn't. Tried again.  Made it.  Stared at Sarah.  Got pets.  Laid on couch.

Got really excited because Gus was really excited.  Got excited to go outside.  Did NOT realize we were going running.  Pooped in the driveway to show displeasure.  We went running anyway.  Barked at a dog.  Have to protect the family.  There are lots of threatening dogs-dangerous dogs.  Barked at another dog.  Barked at a lizard.  Ran really fast.  Then, ran really slow.  Then, Sarah had to pull me.  Did not realize how far we were going.  To get a break, pooped again.  

Laid down on tile in house to cool my belly.  Too tired to get water.

Got up for dinner.  Ate dinner.  Checked to make sure Gus didn't leave any food behind.  He didn't.  Drank some water.  Ears got wet again.

Stood by Sean while he was cooking.  Stared at the floor.  Ate things that fell on floor.

Laid down by table.

Laid down on couch.  Gus stole my spot.  Didn't want to violate no touching rule.  Laid on floor.

Forced to go outside.  Pooped on the sidewalk.  

Got bedtime snacks.  Waited for Sean outside the bathroom.  Stared at wall.

Laid down on dog bed.  Itched.  Decided not comfortable enough.  Grabbed Sarah's clothes from closet floor.  Much better.  

Went to sleep on dog bed/ Sarah's clothes.  Snored.

Good day.


Friday, April 20, 2012

Life Lessons

1.  Do not smash your head on the dryer door.  It will make you cry.

2.  If the TSA officer asks, "Are those shoes?" don't think she is asking because she thinks they are cute [which they are] and respond, "Yes!  They're Tom's!"  She's asking because you went through the metal detector with them on and will make you go back through security.  [Also, your husband will laugh at you for months and months]

3.  When you say, "I hate getting new phones and having to get used to them" it makes you sound like an old person.  Even if they do have all sorts of new fangled buttons, commands, and make it impossible to find your text messages....

4.  If your father-in-law's motto is "the project is not complete until you bleed on it", have band-aids and first aid supplies ready when your husband works on projects.  It turns out that motto can be genetic.  [Stuff on our Etsy site, however, is guaranteed blood-free]

5.  Don't let your husband watch emotionally charged dog food/ insurance commercials on his own.  A lot of dog-cuddling will ensue.

[SIDE NOTE: Here's the top two Sean tear-inducing dog commercials in recent memory.  This excludes ALL animal shelter commercials playing songs about angels.]

1) Play.  It's Good For You.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNUdeXKd6QU&feature=relmfu
2) Travel Insurance.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk2B8988ws0

Gus cuddling post-commercial