Emily's Various Insights - Entertaining me and a handful of others...

Not everything is a copyright....

Emily Haverkamp — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 11:15:47 -0600

Why does no word processor believe that sometimes I just want the letter "C" in parentheses? Trying to say, for example, 216(c) always ends up producing a copyright symbol on both Word and Wordperfect through auto-formatting.

I don't remember what it did on Word, but on Wordperfect it stubbornly persists making the copyright symbol even if you go back and delete it and re-type.

It's so annoying how often auto formatting is more trouble than it's worth.

Leaving Leawood

Emily Haverkamp — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:20:50 -0600

It looks like I will be leaving Leawood for Roeland Park. I made an offer on a house, and the sellers accepted.

I am very excited, and a bit nervous until all the financing and details get ironed out. It's a great house in a great neighborhood, so I am really psyched.

I think psychologists advise against all the major life changes I am undertaking in a short period of time. Let's hope I don't get too much crazier.

Growing Up

Emily Haverkamp — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 08:10:44 -0600

It's kind of a strange life these days. I am beginning to finally feel comfortable in this new life I have, the one that consists of me identifying myself as an "attorney" and wearing suits to work. It's very strange to go from school to the Peace Corps to suddenly being a young professional. Somehow, I almost kind of sort of can accept that I am an adult.

This is a good thing, as I am looking to become a home owner. To feel more strangely grown up and responsible, I would have to get married.

I know most of my friends have crossed so many of these life thresholds long ago, but I seemed to have been holding out, remaining in eternal student/wanderer mode. It's very possible that today I will put down an offer on a house, and it's really pretty amazing to imagine. It's exciting and scary all at the same time.

Also, did I mention I have managed to keep Sasha alive for over a year now? I might even be ready for plants when I buy my house.

Procrastination

Emily Haverkamp — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:32:05 -0600

My typical procrastination may really get me soon.

I received info about health insurance about two weeks ago. I read through it that night, but my parents wanted to help me and said they were too tired to do it then. The plan was to do it the next weekend. Now, two weeks have passed and I have no health insurance.

I have a bit of a cough, and I kept fearing I would trip on some ice. The timing would be most unfortunate.

Valentine's Day

Emily Haverkamp — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:17:40 -0600

We have three employees in my office today. Our legal assistant brought in a huge plate of cookies. Someone else just brought us an incredible looking heart shaped devil's food cake. That is a lot of Valentine's sweets.

It's good that my Valentine's Day date was with the elliptical machine at Prairie Life Center.

Perspective

Emily Haverkamp — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:29:08 -0600

Don't you love how when said with different inflections how one sentence can mean something completely different?

I've been working quite a few hours lately, with several 11 hour days. I knew when chatting with him on AIM that when he said, "Man, you do that for 5 days and you'll have a 55 hour work week" that he was being sarcastic.

Laura, on the other hand, said she would not have read the sarcasm into that. To us Midwestern mortals, a 55 hour work week sounds long.

I'm Back!

Emily Haverkamp — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:19:36 -0600

I have been a terrible, terrible blogger. There is much to update about my life, so here it goes:

I am now back in the U.S., working as an immigration attorney. After much soul searching, I decided to leave Guatemala behind to actually work a real legal job.

Thus far things are going pretty well, though adjusting to being an actual lawyer can be tiring. I've been working somewhat long hours, and been pretty harried during those hours.

All told, it was a good decision and I'm glad to be back. Now that I have this first posting up, I hope to get in the habit again of posting the general random goings on of my life.

In Loving Memory of Mishka

Emily Haverkamp — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 09:45:27 -0500

I wish I did not have to write this in a computer lab in public, because I am tearing up. My mom called me yesterday afternoon to tell me that Mishka, my dog of 11 years, died suddenly on Sunday.

It came as a complete surprise, as she had been seemingly doing well for a dog of her age. We had almost 11 wonderful years with her, but it definitely wasn't enough. She was a truly special dog, and as most of you know, she was much adored in my family.

She and I immediately had a connection-the second I saw her at Wayside Waifs and she walked up to the fence I knew she was the dog I wanted. She was a 55 lb. orange ball of fur at that point, which I think is why she was mistakenly called a chow mix. When she came back from the groomer the first time, that puppy fur was gone and never really came back. She of course could have had some chow in her-as Gregory has said, half the fun of Mishka was trying to guess her origins. The only thing we knew for sure was that there was definitely royal lineage involved, as she was most definitely a princess.

I will always remember how proud and stubborn she was, which was certainly not to be mistaken for her being dumb. She understood everything you said, but she wanted you to be sure that what she did was not because you commanded, but that it was what the Princess decided to do.

If she wanted something, she would talk to you with cries that weren't quite whines. I think it was just frustration that she could not develop the full capacity of speech, and that the people were too dense to know that it was Greenie time, which are basically the dog version of crack. Or Ben & Jerry's, given their expense and high calorie content. You could not even say the word "Greenie" without Mishka sprinting to the drawer, and you knew then you were going to be harrassed for a full evening until you gave in.

When we got Joey, Mishka was less than pleased. She went into quite the funk-she liked Joey well enough when we took her to meet him at the Humane Society, but it was a different story when he was invading her life and her family. About a week later we took her on a trip to Taos, New Mexico, leaving Joey behind. I think those might have been the best four days of Mishka's life. First, she got to ride in the backseat of the Taurus with a person right there to cuddle with and pet her for about 12 hours each way. She also discovered her love of the mountains, as her seven year old self found the puppy in her and started dragging my dad up and down the mountain paths, rejuvenated at all the attention and finding what we believed to be where she was born to be. She acted like a puppy that whole weekend, even completely crashing and sleeping the sleep of the dead that only puppies and small children can pull off after exhausting all their resources.

As anyone who knows me well knows, this tribute could go on and on. She was my dog, and really at many times was my best friend. She brought many wonderful times to my family, and home is just not going to seem right without her.

I missed you before Mishka, and in some way I will probably miss you forever. I hope there is a big path of snow and ice under a replica of your favorite tree that you can sprawl across in Doggie Heaven, as that is what you deserve.

Another Note

Emily Haverkamp — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:08:47 -0500

I have been a bad, bad blogger as of late. However, I want to be better,as part of the point of this was to have my own memories down somewhere as I am even worse at journalling.

Anyhow, I have updated today if you log in. Starting Monday, I am going to update every Monday, and try and have a fairly regular format that is more like a column and post every Monday. I will then post in between as the mood strikes me, but I want to commit myself to at least a weekly post.

Hope everyone out there is doing wonderfully. I just hit one year in country a week ago-can you believe it? I have a hard time believing it.

Note: Updates Added

Emily Haverkamp — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:25:21 -0500

I just wanted to post here on the main page that I have updated a few things. I have changed my contact info to reflect my new site, as well as including that as my shipping address for my Amazon wishlist. I had a request to get info on how to make phone calls as well, which I would suggest just doing an internet search for cheapest phone cards to Guatemala and then purchasing one. Also, you can check to see what your rate is through your own phone company, which might be the most hassle free way, even if costlier.