Give and Take

Today has been a bit of a rough one.

Ozzie and I had a tough morning on account that he wanted to potty on my carpet and I wanted him to potty outside. After three separate incidents of naughtiness I just gave up and cleaned up after him, then began the day with some job searching.

But alas! The day was not a bust. After a few hours of puppy dreams, chases, and toy snatching I put the harness on our little man and took him out for a little leash training and, with any luck, potty training. It was a bit of slow going at first, but with a little treat coaxing he was following politely behind (kind of a nice change from Mirabelle, who runs and tugs with no avail when she's out on a leash). After about 5 minutes, and approximately 20 feet outside our door, he sat in the grass and sniffed vigorously, then spun in a circle and TA-DA! The little man marked the yard as his own and received treats and praise fit for a king.

About 10 minutes later we had, like the Tortoise, slowly but surely arrived at the front of our building among the grass and bushes. I was just about to turn back and lead him inside when, feeling resistance on the lead, turned to find him diligently doing #2. As TMI as it is, I don't think I've ever been so excited to see dog poo. Hopefully today's events mean Ozzie is on his way to being potty-trained. Other things on the agenda of "Ozzie's Big Day" include a trip to the vet this evening.

I applied for a sales administrative assistant job last night at The Curtis Hotel, a hip establishment downtown across from the Denver Center Performing Arts Complex, and I am both excited and hopeful about it. When I was job searching in early 2008 (which I found much less stressful considering I was working full-time and searching part-time, as opposed to searching full-time) I'd applied for and was offered the same position at the Crowne Plaza downtown. I took instead a job that, while I left it with some good friendships, the job made me insanely miserable and drove me to drink... for real, I would get off work at 5:30, drive by the liquor store, and have four beers down by 7:30. I've often wondered how things would have been different had I taken that job. I remember in my second interview at the Crowne Plaza finding that nearly every person in the sales department had started as an admin assistant, and I'd been excited by that prospect. Maybe this opportunity at The Curtis would be a way to make up for a retrospectively large misstep in my career path.

Brief Intermission/Puppy Snuggle Break...

I suppose the last few days have been an exercise in Give and Take. It's been really rough, that's for sure. I always used to joke that I need to constantly be doing something in order to be happy... it's one of those "funny because it is true" jokes. Not having a job, not having obligations for my days, has been trying. I've felt pretty worthless the last few days, and have felt guilty that my days consist of internet-ing, TV-ing, and lying around with two dogs. But in a crude way I compare it to Ozzie's training. I've been trying for three days now to force Ozzie to potty train the same way Mirabelle did, and this morning I was angry and frustrated and not sure what else to do to make him get it. But on a whim this morning I decided to work on leash training with him and now I'm hopeful he'll get the potty training. It'll be a bumpy road, and he won't get it right away, but with patience and diligence we'll make him successful. As for me, I've been thinking so hard the last couple days about what I need and want that I've been building roadblocks and thinking that all I'll do is continue to fail. I just need to get up, brush myself off, and get out there and see what happens. It'll be hard, but I have to stay positive as I always have and hope that I will someday be successful too.

And now I've successfully compared unemployment to dog poop. You're welcome.