Run Lola Run!

So now that I'm back home again, there are many interesting and exciting events. One of them is that there are coyotes roaming our windy suburban streets. The mangy curs have eaten a couple of dogs that were blocked in by those electric perimeters. The dogs can't get out or they get shocked while the coyotes are free to get in. So the coyotes saunter on in and eat the dogs, but not before dragging them outside of the electric fence and into the street. It's very insensitive. I actually saw one of the coyotes tonight, it was my first glimpse of wildlife since Dirk. I called the cops to report it, but I think they thought I was drunk, but I was really just tired. Anyways, it's kind of a scandal because some people are afraid of letting their dogs outside. Others think that those people are just being soft. Our faire citye will soon collapse. Regardless, there was a survival article in the Grosse Pointe News today. I am going to quote the entire thing because it is so ridiculous. It sounds like how Don Delillo would have written in high school. Oh yeah, and keep in mind that this article was on the front page.

December 24, 2009
Kathy Rinaldi walked around the corner of her house and into the stare of the coyote that had just tried to eat her dog.

"There he was, standing big as life, bold as can be," Rinaldi said.

"Get the hell out of my yard," she yelled.

The coyote stood a moment longer.

"Not even afraid."

Then he took off.

"They trot like a horse," Rinaldi said.

That is definitely my favorite part of the article. There are American values and chills. There is also some ambiguity as to who is saying "Not even afraid." Is it the woman? Is it the coyote? Who knows. Anyways, the rest of the article is as follows.

She and her husband wrapped their injured dog, a 13-pound, nearly 3-year-old Havanese named Lola, in towels and rushed her to a 24-hour veterinary clinic.

"She has about six puncture wounds and a laceration," said Rinaldi. "She's lucky to be alive. She has to be on antibiotics for two weeks."

The attack happened at about 11:15 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17, in the Rinaldi's illuminated, unfenced backyard on Belle Meade in Grosse Pointe Shores.

Lola had just been let out, hooked to a leash so she couldn't roam, before bedtime. Rinaldi had just sat back down inside the house when the dog cried out.

"It was almost like a human scream," Rinaldi said. "My husband and I flew up. I opened the door. She was scooting around from the backyard to the patio. She was holding her leg up, bleeding and howling."

Rinaldi said the vet who treated Lola was the same one who tended the Cavalier King Charles a coyote killed two weeks ago on Dodge Place in the City of Grosse Pointe.

"The vet said these animals (coyotes) are capable of getting over fences to attack their prey," Rinaldi said. "The vet told me I may have been fortunate to have Lola on a leash because coyotes usually just grab them and run."

She's been seeing coyotes on the street for about 2 1/2 years.

"We have tons of small dogs on this block," Rinaldi said. "The coyotes are ready and waiting."

She also frequently babysits her nearly 2-year-old granddaughter.

"I'm afraid to have her in the backyard," Rinaldi said. "She's little, too. A lot littler than a coyote."

Rinaldi feels guilty for putting Lola at risk.

"My husband's been telling me not to put her out on the leash at night by herself," she said. "That's what I did. She was like bait. My wish is that (people) know they can't leave their animals unattended in the yard."

Rinaldi said her sister-in-law on Oxford near Holiday in Grosse Pointe Woods sees coyotes regularly.

The sister-in-law suspects Holiday has become a coyote corridor linking open spaces at the country club in the Farms and Lochmoor Club in the Woods.

Here is a picture of our little champ:

And to be honest, I don't know why they even bothered to mention 2 year olds. I also didn't really know what a coyote was. Here is a picture:

Vicious, eh?

Source: http://www.grossepointenews.com/Articles-i-2009-12-24-241162.112112_Dog_survives_attack.html

Well, I Guess That's It

So I handed in a whopping 6000 word essay to my professor last night - the first of 5 missed homework assignments that I was planning on handing in this weekend. I woke up this afternoon to this glorious email, informing me that my days of university are over, as these "precises" or "preces" (I'm not sure which is the proper term, it was misspelled on the syllabus) were the only things I had left to write before I started packing for home.

Also, I had managed to get a 25 or so percent on my exam, which was 22%. These precises were a weekly deal and worth 28%. Frankly, I think that the professor's expectations were insane.

Here we are. PHIL498B - Intensive Kant Seminar. Email from Prof. VZ:

Kyle,
you have managed to miss even the absolute deadline for late submission of precises. As a sign of good will, on a basis of rough reading I am giving you 50%. But that is it!
V.Z.

Funny, right? It makes me think of a movie about high school in the 80's.

I better get those old AP scores ready to send to the university.

Baby, It's Cold Both Inside and Out

I woke up late this afternoon after finally watching Duck, You Sucker! which was so good, I kind of want to watch it again even though the movie is almost three hours long. But I also downloaded The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, so I should probably just watch that instead.

But anyways, I woke up this morning, right, and it was pretty cold outside. My sister told me that it was 0 degrees Fahrenheit here. I wasn't able to verify this, as I was still in bed. So I was lying there cold and unwilling to get out of bed even though it was dark already, and I was lying there, right, just lying there in bed kind of cold, right? And you know when you're lying there in bed, just lying there like everyone does every once in a while, and you start to get hungry, and then you have to pee, but you're lying there, and you just want to keep lying there, so you don't get out. Well let me tell you, among other things, I started thinking about food. So I asked myself: "Kyle, what do you want for dinner?" And I answered myself: "Why, Kyle, a big pot of chili sounds right delicious." So I kept laying there for a little while going over the ingredients that I might need, and then I got my computer and brought it into bed with me, and then I went on facebook and checked my email, gmail, and Reader. And then I thought: Jenny's blog has a delicious looking chili recipe, made even more delicious by the fact that she put some coffee in it. So I called for Dirk to help me out of bed, and he brought me my pants and helped me put them on and told me to dress warm on my way to the grocery store.

So...that's the chili down below. I pretty much used Jenny's recipe except I think I put in a lot more tomato than she did, using a large can of whole tomatoes and a large can of diced tomatoes. I also only used one onion. And I added some cumin and spicy red pepper flakes and sour cream. Oh yeah, and I also threw in some ground beef. Medium lean.

It was pretty delicious, but maybe a little too sweet? I'm also not sure if I'd put in all of that cinnamon again. But delicious. I even tried her suggestion of making some cornbread (from Matt's leftover Trader Joe mix) and that was delicious too. Delicious. Delicious.

In one of these pictures you can see how my burner has a hat.

On Sonneteers

YO SHAKESPEARE SHOULDA WRITTN SOME SONNETZ BOUT SHORTYS, 40'S N BLUNTZ.

Montreal Brick Glass

In response to my roomie of the heart Lee Fiorio's blog, Chicago Brick Glass, I am posting this picture. Since Lee started his blog, I have started to notice brick glass around Montreal. I hope that it isn't more prevalent across the rest of North America or, god forbid, the world.

I think that this is the Chinese Presbyterian Church on St. Viateur and Hutchinson - right on the Outremont side of the Plateau border.

The New Trend in Temperatures

Yesterday was the first time this season where temperatures during the day were consistently below zero, as opposed to just happening at night.

Lord save us.

Duck You Sucker Clip

Oh man, related to the ears of christ posting, this movie looks awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49z2lDvelQQ&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVS6NQr0YP8&NR=1

I wish I knew how to embed.

This reasoning given is thusly: "Irish terrorist James Coburn confuses the hell out of Rod Steiger and the audience for a second time with his insane catchphrase.

Apparently Sergio Leone was utterly convinced that "Duck, you sucker" was a ubiquitous American saying and insisted on its prominent inclusion in this film (Fistful Of Dynamite/Duck, You Sucker) to help it at the US box office. No amount of people telling him that nobody in America actually knew what the hell he was going on about could change his mind. This is the glorious result."

J-STOR

I've had the urge to stock up on any JSTOR article that I might possibly be interested in for when I'm a graduate, but I can't decide whether or not they'll actually come in handy. Geez.

The Last 2 Weeks

I just got Google Wave and it's kind of exciting. If you want to add me, do kylevalade@googlewave.com. And, some fool gave me an invite after I had already been invited, so I have an extra, as well as a couple on the side if anyone wants one.

I added the Lonely Planet Trip Planner app and it's a lot of fun. Megan and I are planning a huge road trip on it that's even more epic than the one that failed this summer. We're sitting right next to each other, though, so it's more for fun. I'm going to see if I can find any other cool "apps".

Looking forward to writing this take-home test for Ulysses and then graduating. Actually, I don't even officially graduate until May, so I don't think that I'll be able to get a real job ever.

And thanks to Lee's Blog I've been noticing Chicago Brick Glass all around Montreal.

Oh yeah, and Pushap was delicious. It's the Indian place right near the Namur Metro. Dirk hated it, though.