[Resolution] #29 Enter and Win a Sweepstakes

So, someone with knowledge and wisdom help me out here.  I’m getting all sorts of mixed responses on the legitimacy of this resolution, because…. well, here’s the story.

You know these?

The car sitting in the middle of the shopping mall luring in to try your luck by dropping your name into a box and hoping you get to take it home?

Well, sometime around December I think, in the midst of all of my last minute holiday shopping, I decided “why the heck not” and threw my entry into that little box.  I don’t even remember what car it was anymore, a Mercedes I think.

Well, just a couple of weeks ago I get a letter in the mail addressed to me–in my own handwriting.  I ripped it open, curious to find out when I had possibly addressed a letter to myself.  I honestly thought it was one of those “to my future self” letters that we wrote back in the 5th grade.  Not so secretly, that would have been just as exciting to me as what I actually got.  But, I digress.

It was actually the entry that I had filled out 3 months ago in the middle of that shopping mall.  Attached was a typewritten letter, no letter head, that said something to effect of “Congratulations!  You won!”  …then something about being guaranteed a prize of either $500 cash, an island getaway vacation, a $1500 shopping spree–or that car that I really wanted in the first place.

Then, I had to call to redeem it.  This is where it starts to sound like a very familiar Family Guy episode.

“You’re already guaranteed to win one of the 4 prizes, but if you stay for a 90 minute presentation you can also win…”

Oooh, I know what this is.  The mother of all scams that mothers warn their children about as soon as they’re able to even say the words “timeshare.”

But you know what, a vacation sounded pretty good.  And so did a chance at a new car.  So off I went, to spend 90 minutes in San Antonio in order to walk away with at the very least, a free vacation.  Luckily I had friends to warn me of what lay ahead, because here’s the bulleted list version of how it went.

• Receive phone call saying that a representative will be waiting for me at the resort.  Makes me feel like I’m the only one showing up.
• Actually arrive, I am NOT the only one.  Probably 50 other people with the same appt slot. Representative is NOT waiting.  Arrive at 2:25 for 2:30 appointment, representative arrives at 3:10.
• Woman seems nice enough, thanks me for waiting.  Sits me down and starts the stereotypical “I’m not gonna hard sell ya, but can you at least tell me that you can say ‘yes’ to a good deal” speech.
• I say yes.  Commence to learn all about Silver Leaf Resorts and all of the great things they can offer me, how much money they can save me, and how much better my life will be if I become an owner today.
• Interrupted 4 times by other salesmen loudly announcing the people that just bought from them. They call it a ‘tradition.’
• Go on a tour of the facilities, nice enough, but not stunning.  I can see how it would be good for lots of kids.  Or old people.
• Come back, the big finale is that you can use your ownership to stay at hundreds of resorts around the world for a ridiculously low price.  Pretty cool, until you find out that total it will cost you $15,000, with almost $4,000 down.
• I am not buying a new car’s worth of vacations today.
• Call in financials guy, “We can work with you.” “You can afford this.”
• I say no.
• Representative suddenly not so nice.  Talks about the huge mistake I’m making.  Walks away and leaves me alone to wait for someone else.
• Final boss man comes in, says he’s from corporate.  “We’re not gonna beat you over the head with it, but what if…” and makes me another deal.
• I say no.
• Alright, head to the other building for your prizes.

15 more minutes of waiting in a DMV-esque room with screaming children (who no doubt had to wait through the same BS I did for way more than 90 minutes), and here’s what I walked away with:

1) A cruise to Cozumel

2) A lovely island getaway to either Hawaii, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico or Aruba (airfare not included)

I can’t prove it but I’m pretty confident that everyone who’s gullible enough to put their name in those boxes “wins.” It may not technically be winning a sweepstakes in that case, I guess.  But…in my own defense, I THOUGHT I was entering a legitimate sweepstakes, the letter in the mail DID say that I “won,” and I did walk away with a cruise and a free island vacation. …So…I’d call that a win. Check!

But, seriously, if anyone knows for sure, let me know?

Would I recommend that other people do it?  Sure, if you’re good at saying no, I’d say the two and half hours were worth a free cruise later.  Then again, I haven’t gone on it yet, nor gone through the process of booking it, so I’ll let you know.

[Resolution] #28 Foster a Shelter Animal

This is Luca.

She is not a foster dog.

We just flat out adopted her.  Because we can’t do anything that involves giving back something (someone) we love.

Also, before I get ahead of myself, yes that’s Resolution #1 there on my arm, but I have one sitting to go before it’s done so I’m waiting until then to post about it.

So, let me tell you about Luca, because I still can NOT believe how life works out sometimes and puts you exactly where you need to be, with exactly who you need to be with, for exactly the right reasons.  First, the back story.

Nick and I knew going in that we weren’t just going to be able to foster a dog.  When I made that resolution we were in a very different position, with uncertainty around jobs and futures and all that, so fostering seemed like a good way to do something good without the 12+ year commitment.  But, things have changed since then and we felt far more confident about giving a dog a forever home.

So, last weekend we went out to “Austin Pets Alive!” We adopted our cat Mana from them about a year ago, love what they do and what they stand for (they’re a no-kill shelter that takes in animals bound for euthanasia) so we decided to go back.  Long story short, we found a dog that we fell in love with.  Personality, size, affection level, all perfect for us, but we couldn’t take her home that night since we still had preparations to make in the apartment.  So, we thought that with only an hour and a half left before they closed we’d be able to come back first thing in the morning and get her.  But she was gone, adopted just moments after we drove off the lot.

The rest of the day was spent sulkily searching other shelters for an equally awesome dog, but to no avail.  The rest of the week was about the same.  We searched shelter sites, craigslist, more shelter sites….some more craigslist.  We put in an application on a puppy at the Central Texas SPCA but were passed up for another family who’d applied for the same puppy a few days earlier.  Just. Awful. Luck.

Even Friday night Nick and I agreed to go back to the SPCA to look again (since we were already approved by then) but due to a miscommunication we both went to two different shelters, opposites sides of town, in rush hour.

So Saturday, with a whole day at our disposal to search the shelters of Austin, TX, we set out again.  Austin Pets Alive! was our second stop.  We walked Manny, the rambunctious lab puppy.  Gazed longingly at Sally the Catahoula Leopard Dog who was beautiful but a little too high energy for our 750 square feet.  Then we came to “Bonnie.” A shy, remarkably quiet Blue Heeler mix who, despite being just 6 months old, was sitting completely still, gazing at us from her crate.  Kind of sounds like every “I found the one” story, but actually this was the reason we were afraid she wouldn’t be the one.  Nick really wanted a playful pup to wrestle and play frisbee with.  But, something about her spoke to us so were took her into the play pen to get to know each other.

Nick was apprehensive.  She was a little calmer than he’d hoped and he wasn’t a huge fan of the blue merle coloring, but after about 10 or 15 minutes of her following him around the pen, leaning into him for snuggling and staring at him with the most precious-can’t-say-no-to-it face, he was in love, and so was I.

We went through the adoption process.  We got the lecture about Blue Heelers being high energy, highly intelligent dogs, got advice on how to keep her happy, went through recommendations for trainers, etc.  (On top of doing good deeds, they are VERY knowledgeable and helped make sure we were more than equipped to be good parents.)  But they left out one BIG detail….

We got her home and of course she was pretty scared. She was slow to walk around but very curious, sniffing, she found her crate, had some dinner. While we followed her around there was plenty of baby talk and “good girl,” but after a while we started to realized that she wasn’t responding quite like we were used to dogs responding to voice, calls, or noise.  “She’s just tired,” we guessed.  She was also on medication for Kennel Cough so we were sure she was just lethargic.

“Gee, I hope she’s not deaf.”  Nick joked.

…Not a joke.

It actually got me thinking.  Wow, yeah…we’re calling, clapping, clicking, and she doesn’t even flinch.  ….Is she deaf?

I slept on it, and when there was no reaction in my sleeping dog when I entered the kitchen and turned on the faucet in the morning, it prompted me to go through the take-home folder they gave us that had her full history inside.  Sure enough, there in her history, clear as day, was a previous observation (from either shelter or vet) noting that she was indeed deaf, or at least VERY hard of hearing.

I panicked.  I won’t lie.  We now had a special needs dog.  One that could never be off leash, one that would never know her name, one that would be far more challenging to train and care for. There was a bit of anger at APA about preparing us for everything but arguably the most important detail about this puppy.

But, after talking it through with Nick, taking the dog (who we’d now changed from ‘Bonnie’ to ‘Luca’ since she did not know nor answer to ‘Bonnie’) on her morning walk, loving on her, and of course getting some advice from our parents, we soon discovered that not only were we okay with it…we almost loved her even more because of it.  She was special, and despite her deafness was undeniably the most gracious, sweet and affectionate dog we’d ever encountered.  It was like we’d saved her, and she knew it, and thanked us with every wag of her tail.

I hate to say it, but if I’d known up front that she was deaf, I would have turned her away.  I’m just being honest… I would have been too scared to take that leap, but now that she’s ours I can’t imagine having ANY other dog!

We’ve been getting advice up and down about training deaf dogs, finding resources in our friends and in recommendations for professionals.  And, in the meantime Luca continues to make huge progress in warming up to her new home.  (Example: She was terrified of stairs when we brought her in, and now handles them like a champ).  We love her more than thought we could love any animal and are so happy to have this beautiful and special new addition to our family.

Life works in mysterious was, but I’m sure as hell glad it does.

Update: As of writing this post, we also received an e-mail from Jen at APA! (I e-mailed them about the situation this morning) who reminded us that it should NOT have happened that we were not notified of Luca’s deafness, has notified the adoption team so that it won’t happen in the future, and also gave us a great set of information on training with hand signals as well as some recommendations for trainers in Austin with experience with deaf dogs.  Despite the fact that her condition was not mentioned to us, I continue to be pleased with APA! and the way they do business.  Thanks again to them for another perfect addition to our family!

[Resolution] #47 Eat an Exotic Food

First of all, wow, it’s been a while.  It’s just been a whirlwind of action and adventure for the past couple of weeks. The infamous SXSW blew through Austin over the last couple of weeks and for the first time in a couple of years I was actually right in the middle of it with a badge for SXSW Interactive from my company, and braved the crowds to check out the music festival over the weekend.   By the way, Anthony Bourdain is just as badass in real life as he is on TV, and the singer for Counting Crows does not age…really.  Also, in the spirit of the insane meal I’m about to describe, I got to see my food-idols (this may erase my rapport as a foodie), the cast of Epic Meal Time.

The best thing that has come out of this ‘resolution’ adventure is how supportive my friends have been.  They make recommendations and send me groupons, and then the lovely Jake and Jenn (whom you may remember from the themed party post) went all out and offered to treat me to an exotic dinner, the likes of which I’ve never seen.

So, rather than eating one exotic food, in one meal I consumed:

• Elk
• Wild Boar
• Rattlesnake
• Alligator
• Frog

Hudson’s on the Bend is a gorgeous upscale restaurant…in the middle of nowhere.  Okay, not quite in the middle of nowhere, but way out in the hill country in a tiny converted house.

Like so.  Would you know this was a restaurant?  Nope, me neither.  But it’s a nationally acclaimed Austin gem, and for good reason.

By the way, in case we’ve fooled you with how much expensive food we’ve been eating in the first few months of the year.  We really aren’t snobby rich kids.  See?

We’re budget foodies, who like to add things to canned soup and pretend its fancy, and will sometimes shop the grocery store for ONLY things we can find with in-store coupons attached.  But, this resolution list somehow makes us okay with blowing up our credit card debt to eat food like this:

How was it?  Well, I do believe Nick’s previous hypothesis about anything tasting good if you have to break the bank to eat it might very well be correct.  I’m not sure if elk and alligator would taste quite this good if caught and cooked over a campfire or something, but at Hudson’s on the Bend even something named “The Swamp Platter” had our eyes rolling in the back of our heads.

I’ve always been told that frog legs taste like chicken.  That is now a confirmed fact.  Same taste, texture, everything. The only thing that convinced us we were eating amphibian was the slightly more translucent color and the big blue veins throughout.

Rattlesnake, somehow, tasted just like rattlesnake. (You know I’m really starting to admire Andrew Zimmerman for being able to describe food on television.) I don’t know how to describe it other than when I ate it I thought “Yep, I can tell that’s snake.”  It was probably one of the items that felt the most exotic.

Alligator is a tough cut of meat, and a little chewy, with a slightly fishy taste. Elk is full of flavor, and as you can see a very dark red meat (we weren’t fully convince it was cooked, but it was). It’s tender, melt in your mouth, delicious. And, wild boar is actually a lot lighter than I thought, light cut, light flavor, light meat, but went wonderfully on a cracker with some pate.

Overall, I’m now a believer in wild game meats, amphibian, and reptile as the new ‘white meat’. I am also left wishing that going back wouldn’t cost half a week’s pay!

Thanks again Jake and Jenn for this amazing and way-too-generous gift, it was an experience I won’t forget.