So I got sad today thinking about my old dog Buttons. That may sound like a girly name to you, but he was the coolest pet I ever had, and really the only one that really was mine. We had a Siamese cat, Suki, when I was really young-we're talking like 1-3 years old. She lived to be something like 19 years old. Used to guard my crib by sleeping in it lol, and turn off lightswitches. Funny cat that, I remember some things about her vaguely and some things very clearly. But Buttons was the first pet I had to call my very own. He was such an awesome dog too. He was a Shih Tzu, and his named was because of the fact that his nose looked like a black button. Rather large for his breed, he was over 20 lbs when most Shih Tzus are under, he died in 1997, during the first few weeks of November. He held out for my Halloween party that year and I've got some pictures of him with us. His leashes still hang in the garage on the peg board, and I've got his collar, hat, and comb upstairs. I still have his dog tags too. That had to be one of the worst weeks of my life. Even when my grandmother died about 3 or 4 years earlier, it was a lot easier to bear when he was around and could tell I was upset and that something wasn't right.
I often remember the little things like how he used to get really hyper sometimes and we'd have this kind of "stand-off" where I'd pat the floor with both hands and then he'd do the same with his paws, huff a bit and then go bolting throughout the entire first floor. He'd run a huge lap through the kitchen, dining room, and then skitter on the hallway tiles as he tried to turn around, and then he did it again like 10x lol.
Eventually he began to have this horrible cough, and when he tried these things and couldn't keep them up it pained me to watch. He had too big a heart, literally, and it made it hard for him to breathe when it was doing a lot of work. After what must of been the worst football practice of my life, I called my father to pick me up, and he sounded very distraught on the phone. I knew something wasn't right but he wouldn't tell me then. He waited until I was driving us home and were on our block, not the most opportune time lol, I would have rather not been doing something dangerous at the time! Now that I look back on that I can't imagine how hard that must have been for him to break to me. I'm really starting to see things through the eyes of a father lately. My father is very rarely sad or grief stricken. I can remember maybe 3 or 4 times in my lifetime I've seen him so. But Buttons' death definitely rattled him. He doesn't like to go to the pet store with my mother because it brings back old memories I think. I visited one over break with Jesse, Tara, and Amar on our way back from an expo show. There was only one Shih Tzu there, but that really brought back a lot of memories, like a floodgate ripping open. I really miss that dog and I still get misty eyed when I think about him for more than 3 seconds. That was such a horrible time, and I've not thought about it in a long time. I was horrible when I was at home, because everything reminds you of your pet right after he dies. It could be the floor and you'd just randomly remark he used to sit there. Sometimes the worst was coming home from school and not seeing him sitting at the door or barking his head off when he saw me coming (he'd think everyone was an intruder until he realized who you were lol). I'd go out to the movies, go over a friend's house, and I'd be fine, but the second I was coming down my road my throat would get all tight again. I love dogs too, and I'm glad my sister got one, even if Rocky is an annoying Pomeranian with 1/100th the attention span of a serious ADD afflicted person. There is something calming about the prescence of an animal, and I can't wait until I get a dog one day. It'd be hard to right after college of course, and it limits your options travelwise and workwise. I'm trying to convince my parents to get another Shih Tzu light enough that they can bring with them to and from Fl. I think they need the company. Maybe he'll slow the now visible aging that's hitting my father mentally, or calm my mother's anxiety. Maybe another dog might make things not seem so lonely sometimes.
Maybe I just miss my friend...
Yet time does heal all wounds, and now when I think of him I smile and say to myself "He was a good dog," granting him the highest praise his species can earn.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Ok here are some gems off of our university's class rating website designed by my IST 463 prof last semester, Mark Frantz.
Submitted 12/16/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: Kelley
Comments: This class was more enjoyable than masturbating with baby oil. Really, I would recommend it to anyone, other than the white trash who watches reality TV, Newhouse professors really hate you people.
Overall Rating: 10
Professor Rating: 10
Easiness: 7
Submitted 12/01/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: gorham
Comments: worst class i have taken all semester. since its required you have to take it so try and get anyone except for gorham. he is a ridiculously hard grader and a lame kissass to the school. the lectures are boring enough to make me contemplate stabbing my pen through my eye in the middle of class. its a hard class, dont let anyone fool you, altough you may be able to pull of a C without too much effort. oh and you can tell the kids that want to be broadcast, theyre the ones that CONSTANTLY think they have something to say and it's usually not all that great. avoid this class and gorham like the plague.
Overall Rating: 2
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 3
Submitted 01/09/2004
Took the course: As a graduate, fall 2003
Professor: whole ist dept
Comments: i hate u ,,for starting my masters with such a crap course and a useless book...no doubt ist whole course is waste of money and i left the univ this spring..coz i cannot tolerate wasting money on such a course..ist 601, 621,,etc.. and 6 credits of payed internship..what greed!!!!!!!!!!!!!u have IST dept
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/16/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2001
Professor: Rozensweig
Comments: This is all I should have to say: Professor Rozensweig had scheduled a test for Tuesday, September 11, 2001 for his class at 1pm. I was one of the many people who was worried about the safety of my family (in both DC and NYC) and so I obviously did not go to class to take my test that day. Well, Professor Rozensweig told all of us who missed class that day that that could be the ONE test that we dropped for the entire semester. Honestly, that should tell you what kind of man he is and what kind of class this was. WORST CLASS and WORST PROFESSOR EVER.
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
***I was in this class and that call was such bullshit***
Submitted 01/04/2004
Took the course: As a sophomore, fall 2003
Professor: Mooney
Comments: For everyone who has nothing but praise for this dick-- let me tell you about the final.... We were not suppose to have this prewritten, so those of us who followed that, needed the full two hours for the test... At 8:55, twenty minutes before the end of the test, he tells us we have five minutes... Then, in a huge rush to leave, the ass actually takes off without a kids test, a full fifteen minutes ahead of schedule... Yeah, hes a great teacher who cuts off designated test time and has more important things to do then take a kid's test... He sucks as a teacher and heaven forbid he ever finish a sentence before stuttering a new one...
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/01/2003
Took the course: As a sophomore, fall 2003
Professor: grodner
Comments: I'd rather sit on a rake then go to this class...it's dull, boring, uninteresting, and the tests are hard. However, I did learn one thing in this class: I'm pretty freakin good at the Daily Orange crossword puzzles!
Overall Rating: 2
Professor Rating: 2
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/07/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: Vincow
Comments: This class was horrible. For the amount of pain involved, you're much better off just trying an alternative method to learning chemistry, like doing every drug known to mankind and hope that you hallucinate up some chemistry info. Hell, you're better off trying to learn chemistry through vewdoo; you won't learn much about chemistry, but maybe you'll learn enough about vewdoo to put this naive son of a bitch thorugh as much pain as you would experience sitting through one of his lectures. To sum up, if you're serious about learning chemistry and you end up in this guy's class, save yourself a semester of agony and drop out to run a crystal meth lab...you'll get real-world experience and you'll deal with more friendly people than this assclown.
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 11/18/2003
Took the course: As a sophomore, spring 2002
Professor: Morrisey
Comments: If u want to fail out of school and work at CVS on Marshall Street take this class! I still have nightmares. I did study..actually worked my A$$ off.. it just didn't work with this prof. WORST class I ever took in my lifetime!
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/15/2003
Took the course: As a senior, fall 2003
Professor: dr mansouri
Comments: Dr. Mansouri is a cold hearted bitch.
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/03/2003
Took the course: As a sophomore, fall 2000
Professor: Druger
Comments: Okay. Forget about rating Druger. Can we say something about the obsessed student in Bio 121. Let's be realistic. Biology is a hard ass subject as it is. When there is no one to explain things to you, how are you supposed to grasp the information. Are you boning Druger.
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
(There were like 20 posts like the following which is what the previous one was in reference to)
Submitted 11/14/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: Druger
Comments: It's really great how Dr. Druger is such a happy man. he definitely gets the most out of life, or so it appears. seeing a happy person like me, makes me happy as well. aside from academics, he's just a great person to be around at least once a week. so enthusiastic about what he does. hopefully, one day, i can also be like him.
Overall Rating: 10
Professor Rating: 10
Easiness: 10
Submitted 11/14/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: Druger
Comments: I strongly recommend this course to anyone who is interested in learning about LIFE. Druger makes it impossible not to like. Heck, he's so busy that he has a waiting list of students wanting to meet with him for a Bio-Lunch. I adore the Bio-news...it's pretty exciting sometimes too :-)
Overall Rating: 10
Professor Rating: 10
Easiness: 9
LOL...some of these were great eh?
Submitted 12/16/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: Kelley
Comments: This class was more enjoyable than masturbating with baby oil. Really, I would recommend it to anyone, other than the white trash who watches reality TV, Newhouse professors really hate you people.
Overall Rating: 10
Professor Rating: 10
Easiness: 7
Submitted 12/01/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: gorham
Comments: worst class i have taken all semester. since its required you have to take it so try and get anyone except for gorham. he is a ridiculously hard grader and a lame kissass to the school. the lectures are boring enough to make me contemplate stabbing my pen through my eye in the middle of class. its a hard class, dont let anyone fool you, altough you may be able to pull of a C without too much effort. oh and you can tell the kids that want to be broadcast, theyre the ones that CONSTANTLY think they have something to say and it's usually not all that great. avoid this class and gorham like the plague.
Overall Rating: 2
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 3
Submitted 01/09/2004
Took the course: As a graduate, fall 2003
Professor: whole ist dept
Comments: i hate u ,,for starting my masters with such a crap course and a useless book...no doubt ist whole course is waste of money and i left the univ this spring..coz i cannot tolerate wasting money on such a course..ist 601, 621,,etc.. and 6 credits of payed internship..what greed!!!!!!!!!!!!!u have IST dept
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/16/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2001
Professor: Rozensweig
Comments: This is all I should have to say: Professor Rozensweig had scheduled a test for Tuesday, September 11, 2001 for his class at 1pm. I was one of the many people who was worried about the safety of my family (in both DC and NYC) and so I obviously did not go to class to take my test that day. Well, Professor Rozensweig told all of us who missed class that day that that could be the ONE test that we dropped for the entire semester. Honestly, that should tell you what kind of man he is and what kind of class this was. WORST CLASS and WORST PROFESSOR EVER.
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
***I was in this class and that call was such bullshit***
Submitted 01/04/2004
Took the course: As a sophomore, fall 2003
Professor: Mooney
Comments: For everyone who has nothing but praise for this dick-- let me tell you about the final.... We were not suppose to have this prewritten, so those of us who followed that, needed the full two hours for the test... At 8:55, twenty minutes before the end of the test, he tells us we have five minutes... Then, in a huge rush to leave, the ass actually takes off without a kids test, a full fifteen minutes ahead of schedule... Yeah, hes a great teacher who cuts off designated test time and has more important things to do then take a kid's test... He sucks as a teacher and heaven forbid he ever finish a sentence before stuttering a new one...
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/01/2003
Took the course: As a sophomore, fall 2003
Professor: grodner
Comments: I'd rather sit on a rake then go to this class...it's dull, boring, uninteresting, and the tests are hard. However, I did learn one thing in this class: I'm pretty freakin good at the Daily Orange crossword puzzles!
Overall Rating: 2
Professor Rating: 2
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/07/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: Vincow
Comments: This class was horrible. For the amount of pain involved, you're much better off just trying an alternative method to learning chemistry, like doing every drug known to mankind and hope that you hallucinate up some chemistry info. Hell, you're better off trying to learn chemistry through vewdoo; you won't learn much about chemistry, but maybe you'll learn enough about vewdoo to put this naive son of a bitch thorugh as much pain as you would experience sitting through one of his lectures. To sum up, if you're serious about learning chemistry and you end up in this guy's class, save yourself a semester of agony and drop out to run a crystal meth lab...you'll get real-world experience and you'll deal with more friendly people than this assclown.
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 11/18/2003
Took the course: As a sophomore, spring 2002
Professor: Morrisey
Comments: If u want to fail out of school and work at CVS on Marshall Street take this class! I still have nightmares. I did study..actually worked my A$$ off.. it just didn't work with this prof. WORST class I ever took in my lifetime!
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/15/2003
Took the course: As a senior, fall 2003
Professor: dr mansouri
Comments: Dr. Mansouri is a cold hearted bitch.
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
Submitted 12/03/2003
Took the course: As a sophomore, fall 2000
Professor: Druger
Comments: Okay. Forget about rating Druger. Can we say something about the obsessed student in Bio 121. Let's be realistic. Biology is a hard ass subject as it is. When there is no one to explain things to you, how are you supposed to grasp the information. Are you boning Druger.
Overall Rating: 1
Professor Rating: 1
Easiness: 1
(There were like 20 posts like the following which is what the previous one was in reference to)
Submitted 11/14/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: Druger
Comments: It's really great how Dr. Druger is such a happy man. he definitely gets the most out of life, or so it appears. seeing a happy person like me, makes me happy as well. aside from academics, he's just a great person to be around at least once a week. so enthusiastic about what he does. hopefully, one day, i can also be like him.
Overall Rating: 10
Professor Rating: 10
Easiness: 10
Submitted 11/14/2003
Took the course: As a freshman, fall 2003
Professor: Druger
Comments: I strongly recommend this course to anyone who is interested in learning about LIFE. Druger makes it impossible not to like. Heck, he's so busy that he has a waiting list of students wanting to meet with him for a Bio-Lunch. I adore the Bio-news...it's pretty exciting sometimes too :-)
Overall Rating: 10
Professor Rating: 10
Easiness: 9
LOL...some of these were great eh?
Accept Jesus Christ and Get a Free Playstation 2
Ok go check that out. It's funny as all hell. I know I haven't blogged much lately but things have been super busy over break. A lot has happened, and there's a lot still going on. Suffice for now that I'm back at Syracuse, classes started today, (except for me hahaha!), and I'll try to update whilst at work like I usually did. Good luck to everyone in their first week of senior year hell. Unless your final semester of senior year is easy, then forget you. No luck to you I take it back.
Ok go check that out. It's funny as all hell. I know I haven't blogged much lately but things have been super busy over break. A lot has happened, and there's a lot still going on. Suffice for now that I'm back at Syracuse, classes started today, (except for me hahaha!), and I'll try to update whilst at work like I usually did. Good luck to everyone in their first week of senior year hell. Unless your final semester of senior year is easy, then forget you. No luck to you I take it back.
