What I want for XMas

First, here's what I DON'T want for Christmas (but I appreciate the thought):

1. Pajamas:

Don't get me this.

2. Warm winter clothing- don't get me wrong, there's no one who loves a wool sweater more than myself, but I just don't need any more...

3. Loofas, moisturizer, soap... got some of that, thanks.

So, here's what you can get me for Christmas that I would love:

1. Kitty accoutrements:

2. PDA accessories:

Docking Station

3. Books, books, books (and music)- see my Amazon wishlist, to which there is a convenient link at the side of this page. I would love some nice books on CD (or one long book on CD) to listen to while I waste away in Dublin traffic.

What Have You Done?

Everything I have done is in purple.
Bought everyone in the bar a drink
Swam with wild dolphins
Climbed a mountain
Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
Been inside the Great Pyramid.
Held a tarantula.
Taken a candlelit bath with someone.
Said “I love you’ and meant it. Hugged a tree.
Bungee jumped.
Visited Paris.
Watched a lightning storm at sea.
Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise.
Seen the Northern Lights.
Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards).
Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa.
Grown and eaten your own vegetables.
Touched an iceberg.
Slept under the stars.
Changed a baby’s diaper.
Taken a trip in a hot air balloon.
Watched a meteor shower.
Gotten drunk on champagne.
Given more than you can afford to charity. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope.
Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment.
Had a food fight.
Bet on a winning horse.
Asked out a stranger.
Had a snowball fight
Screamed as loudly as you possibly can.
Held a lamb.
Seen a total eclipse.
Ridden a roller coaster.
Hit a home run.
Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking.
Adopted an accent for an entire day.
Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment.
Had two hard drives for your computer.
Visited all 50 states.
Taken care of someone who was drunk.
Had amazing friends.
Danced with a stranger in a foreign country.
Watched wild whales.
Stolen a sign.
Backpacked in Europe.
Taken a roadtrip-
Gone rock climbing.
Midnight walk on the beach.
Gone sky diving.
Visited Ireland.
Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love.
In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them.
Visited Japan.
Milked a cow.
Alphabetized your CDs.
Pretended to be a superhero.
Sung karaoke.
Lounged around in bed all day.
Posed nude in front of strangers.
Gone scuba diving.
Kissed in the rain.
Played in the mud.
Played in the rain.
Gone to a drive-in theater.
Visited the Great Wall of China.
Started a business.
Fallen in love and not had your heart broken.
Toured ancient sites.
Taken a martial arts class.
Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight.
Gotten married.
Been in a movie.
Crashed a party.
Gotten divorced.
Gone without food for 5 days.
Made cookies from scratch.
Won first prize in a costume contest.
Ridden a gondola in Venice.
Gotten a tattoo.
Rafted the Snake River.
Been on television news programs as an “expert”.
Got flowers for no reason.
Performed on stage.
Been to Las Vegas.
Recorded music.
Eaten shark.
Had a one-night stand.
Gone to Thailand.
Bought a house.
Been in a combat zone.
Buried one/both of your parents.
Been on a cruise ship.
Spoken more than one language fluently.
Performed in Rocky Horror.
Raised children. (Or at least, in the process....)
Followed your favorite band/singer on tour.
Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country.
Picked up and moved to another city to just start over.
Walked the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking.
Had plastic surgery.
Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived.
Wrote articles for a large publication.
Lost over 100 pounds.
Held someone while they were having a flashback.
Piloted an airplane.
Petted a stingray.
Broken someone’s heart.
Helped an animal give birth.
Won money on a T.V. game show.
Broken a bone.
Gone on an African photo safari.
Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced.
Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol.
Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild.
Ridden a horse
.Had major surgery.
Had a snake as a pet.
Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours.
Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states.
Visited all 7 continents.
Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days.
Eaten kangaroo meat.
Eaten sushi.
Had your picture in the newspaper.
Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about.
Gone back to school.
Parasailed.
Petted a cockroach.
Eaten fried green tomatoes.
Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey.
Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read.
Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
Skipped all your school reunions.
Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language.
Been elected to public office.Written your own computer language.
Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream.
Had to put someone you love into hospice care.
Built your own PC from parts.
Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you.
Had a booth at a street fair.Dyed your hair.
Been a DJ.Shaved your head.
Caused a car accident.
Saved someone’s life.

I smell pot and a stork visits the hospital

So, last week Theresa was going through some of her old clothes and she gave me a t-shirt she purchased at the U2 concert in Dublin last summer. I was so excited about this new t-shirt that I wore it the next day under my overalls in the large animal hospital. About the middle of the day I was at my locker taking off my overalls to go to lunch when I noticed the distinct odor of pot! It could be nothing else... I thought it might be all in my head but my friend Emer said she could kind of smell it too. I just assumed it was coming from somewhere in the locker room. A few hours later I smelled it again in the large animal hospital, and then again in the stall with my patient. Soon it dawned on me that I might be generating this eu de marijuana!! My theory: that when Theresa bought this t-shirt at the concert there were people around her smoking pot, which infused the t-shirt with the smell. I can only hope that no one else smelled it and thought "God, Jenni's a pot-head!"
In other news, a stork was brought into the hospital from the Dublin Zoo with a broken leg last week while I was on the Large Animal Surgery rotation. Apparently when zoo animals are admitted to the hospital they fall under the category of "large animals." I question the level of responsibility of some zoo employees because this stork had apparently escaped from his enclosure and flew into a tree, evading capture for two days. When they finally got the stork back he had a broken leg, and the zoo people wanted it fixed (as opposed to amputation) because he was due to get a girlfriend. They want to breed from this stork and I guess he can't really do the job with only one good leg. So they put a plate on the broken bone and hopefully that will get him fixed up for his woman. The stork, by the way, looks just like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons.

Kicky McKickerson

That's my new name for the foal who was brought in the other day with a swelling on her hind leg and whose case I took. She's five months old and apparently she hasn't been handled much because when I tried to listen to her heart and lungs she belted me with her hind leg and got me in the knee. When we decided to take her in for surgery to de-bulk the wound she kicked another student, Juline, who was holding her for sedation. She also kicked out the other day as I was leaving the stall, but I was well out of her way when she did that. She also tries to bite. A real darling, our little foal.
Other than that the week is going well. I'm enjoying Large Animal Surgery rotation. I've seen some cool surgeries and got to put in a catheter (into the foal- and I did it!) and do a nerve block on a big draft horse. Pretty good stuff.

The Poll

Can chickens fly? Don't over-analyze it- just answer the question!

http://www.1001-votes.com/vote/mvoteres11.php" target='_blank'> Yes No results »

I galloped a Clydesdale!!

I would have posted this last weekend except I was hoping to scan some pictures of me and my horse, but the scanner refuses to work. I'm not bitter. Anyway, last Saturday my friend Sinead and I went horse back riding in Enniskerry, about 15 minutes from Churchtown. It was really pretty countryside (if the scanner ever works you can see it along with my pictures from seeing practice in Kildare). At first I was put on a pinto horse named "Apache" and he was nice, but when we got out to the field all the horses took off at a gallop (my first gallop!!) and one of the riders was uncomfortable with his horse. So they asked if I would switch horses with him, and suddenly I was on a Clydesdale. He was so big- probably 17 hands. I was a little nervous but he was actually a really nice horse as well, and he had a problems with his airway, so he would get a little winded and slow down before most of the other horses (the guy probably should have stayed on him). The horses pretty much knew when we were at a place where they would supposed to gallop, and they would go from a stand-still to a gallop in a few seconds! It was so much fun! We jumped a little bit as well, and that was fun too. I can't wait to do it again- why didn't I start doing this in 1st year??

They're On To Us

Well, it's finally happened. After nearly two years of free cable, we've finally been cut off. Last weekend our cable went out, leaving us with just two television channels on the downstairs tv- three if you count the channel that you can see but not hear. Somehow when Kurt, Jon and Cathy left last year requested that the billing be switched over to my account, they just stopped billing us entirely. We didn't really notice at first, since we get 3 or 4 other bills a month and some every other month. But soon we realized that they weren't billing us at all. I knew we wouldn't get away with it forever. The odd thing is, I get about five channels upstairs in my room, including the one that shows Dr. Phil early in the mornings. But downstairs that channel barely comes in at all. I guess I'll have to put a ghetto clothes hanger antenna on it and see if it comes in any better. Oh well, on the plus side, at least I'll get more reading done this year. It's hard enough to keep up with all the reading they expect from us with tv to distract.

Only in Ireland...

So this afternoon I drove out to Kildare to watch the 2nd Annual Charity Sheep Steeple Chase Races. It was pretty funny. There were 6 "heats" with names like "The Ewetopia Classic" and "The Rams Ramble." Some of the sheeps' names were "Cheeky Chops", "Go Dolly Go," "Mint Sauce," and (no joke) "Ewe Bitch." There were also booths with merchants from Kildare selling thinks like jewelry and books, and kiddie stuff like those big bouncy things and small rides. I didn't really do any of that stuff, mainly just watched the sheep. As it turns out, you could actually bet on the sheep, and they even had tips. Before one heat, the announcer could be heard saying "We have a tip that number 6 has been sick for a few days and has been on some antibiotics..." All in all, a good laugh.

Still think I should be Jan...

You Are Bobby Brainy

Ultra competitive, you will do almost anything to win. From pull ups to pool sharking, you're very talented.And while everyone is aware of your victories, they still (affectionately) consider you to be a little brat!

What Brady Are You?

The Goat Story

My roommate Anna told me this true tale of caprine mischief the other day:
Apparently while home in Edinburgh for the weekend, Anna was up in her room when she heard a huge crashing sound. She thought it might be her mother dropping some pans in the kitchen or something, but then she heard her brother shout "F*#@ OFF!!" She went downstairs to find a goat had broken in to the house (if you can say that about a goat). The goat proceeded to run around the house, pee and crap on her brother's bed, resist capture and head-butt anyone who came too close. Anna also noted that the goat smelled horrendous, even for a goat. A local farmer who came by to help even commented on the smelliness of the goat, which is pretty impressive for a farmer to call something smelly. Anna's dad eventually had to get the goat out by luring it out the gate (apparently the goat would follow people around) and shutting and locking it behind the goat. All this was a lot funnier with Anna telling it, especially with her Scottish accent, but I thought it was hilarious!!

Classic...

Saw the freakin' funniest bumper sticker in Naas the other day:
"Grow your own dope- plant a man." I love it!
Sorry no pictures from Kildare yet- I used a disposable camera in case I dropped it in slurry (cow poop- not nice) so I haven't used up all the film yet. May take some shots of Flush just to finish the role.

Hiding from cows in Kildare/Wicklow/Dublin

Hi friends, family, etc. I figured since Katie's blog was such a good way to keep up with what was going on the daily lives of the Moellerings, I'd do the same in case anyone is bored at work/interested. I don't have that much to say just yet. This week I'm seeing cattle and some small animal practice in Counties Kildare, Wicklow and Dublin with Mr. John Fitzgerald. We mostly spend our days going out to beef herds to test their cattle for TB and Brucellosis. When the farmers start to move their cows into the races for us to test them, Mr. Fitzgerald always tells me to stay out of their field of vision so they don't feel nervous about going into the race (they don't like the sight of strangers- it makes them nervous). Hence we spend a lot of our time hiding behind hay bales.