Rabbits In A Tunnel

My Mom bought some play tunnels for my nieces and nephew but the oldest grew out of them and the youngest decided that if the oldest weren't going to use it they weren't either.  So Mom gave one to CJ and I for the rabbits.  They were afraid of it at first but now they love it.  Above is a picture of Locke just hanging out in the tunnel.

New Job (For Real This Time)

I have a job!

I've been working since August 2nd (wow, two full weeks now) as a Jr. Project Manager at Amirsys, Inc.  Yeah, I'd never heard of them before applying either.  They do medical software and I've learned a lot more about pathology than I ever thought I'd need to know.

It was an interesting, and very quick, process to get the job.  I applied on a Tuesday morning and received a phone call from the recruiting HR guy by Tuesday afternoon.  We set up a phone interview for Wednesday morning.  The interview went well enough I guess because by Wednesday afternoon I had a face-to-face interview set up for Friday.

On Friday I went into the office and met with 6 people.  It was a little intimidating at first being there with so many people but it got really comfortable really quick.  I guess they liked me as much as I liked them because later Friday afternoon we'd set up a lunch appointment to talk further for Monday.

Less than an hour after lunch on Monday I received another phone call from the recruiting HR guy to let me know that they were going to send me an offer.  I accepted the offer Tuesday afternoon and started working the following Thursday.

So it took 10 days from application to first day.  Pretty quick and pretty awesome if you ask me.

Even though the software is used by mostly doctors or medical students, I've found it to be very interesting.  Luckily I don't have to know a lot about medicine to understand how the software itself works.  At the base of it, all software is the same - databases and code.

They started me off getting into managing just one project and, from what I've heard, it was their plan to have me up to speed on only that one project for when my boss went out of town (he'll be out for two weeks, starting only 7 business days after I started the job - which is why my first day was so soon after receiving an offer).  But I guess I caught onto that project quick enough that now they have me doing a lot of work on another, much bigger and more complicated, project as well.

I didn't realize how difficult it would be getting back into work mode.  For the first 7 months of the year I had gotten used to being pretty lazy.  Now I have to get back into the mode of getting up early (I'm even using the treadmill before work a few days a week!), running errands on my way home, and being really good at creating and following my personal to do list.

Overall, I'm really happy about working again, I am really happy about the work environment, and I'm really looking forward to staying at Amirsys long-term.

Slip Slip

I had a job interview today with an organization that I can only describe as having an "ultra professional" dress code.  Of course I've only heard via rumor that their dress code is ultra professional but I decided not to take a chance during my interview and I dressed as professionally as I could: a skirt instead and trousers and pantyhose instead of going bare-legged.

Side note: while I was waiting in the lobby I saw an employee walk in wearing bright pink tights and worn, brown riding boots, so I'm questioning the rumors that I heard.

Now, pantyhose are not something I normally wear because, well, I hate them.  In fact, I had to go purchase a pair because I didn't own any that were nude colored.

Side note: the way the pantyhose industry defines the color "nude" is not the way I would.  I purchased the palest, non-white, pantyhose I could find but when I put them on I looked like I had only fake-baked my legs.  I hate that.

So, morning of my interview I get dressed, making sure I don't forget my slip because there is nothing less professional than not wearing a slip when one needs to.  I drive all the way downtown.  I park where I'm told to, which was about a block from the office I'd be interviewing at.  I begin walking toward the office building and when I'm about a quarter of a block away I notice that the waist of my slip is closer to my knees than my actual waist.  This is not good.

There aren't a lot of people around so I just step behind a trash can and try to pull the slip's waist up from the outside of my skirt.  This didn't work very well.  People are starting to cross the street and walk toward me.  So I just go for it.  I stick half of my arm (as discreetly as I could) half way down the back of my skirt and just pull the slip up.  But only the back half of my slip is close to wear it needs to be.  Now people are walking right by me giving me awkward smiles, so I give awkward smiles back.  Next, I go ahead and stick half of my arm part way down the front of my skirt (I'm trying to pretend like I'm tucking my shirt in, I doubt I fooled anyone) and pull up the remainder of my slip.

With my slip close to where it should be I proceeded to the office building, one hand holding my folder with my resume and directions and the other hand trying to hold my slip in place without being obvious.  When I got to the front desk I asked the lady where the closest bathroom was, she told me down the hall and down the stairs.  So I went down the hall and down the stairs to find that the ladies room was closed because it was being cleaned.  There was another receptionist/security type person at the bottom of the stairs so I asked him if he knew where the next closest bathroom was.  He wasn't sure and told me my best bet was out in the parking garage and down a ways.

While in the parking garage wondering if that guy really knew what he was talking about I realized that my slip had slipped again.  So I step between two cars and do it all over again.  I think I got it up a little better this time but I really needed a bathroom to make sure everything was ok.  Suddenly I was really grateful I had been to the interview so early.

I never found the bathroom that was supposedly near-ish the parking garage so I went back to where I came from.  There was a lobby there, a large lobby, that had very few people in it.  So I sat down in an overstuffed chair and took a few good minutes to pull my slip up extra high then stood up and re-tucked my shirt.  I think I'm good now.

The interview itself went pretty well, no complaints.  When it was done, the first thing I did was go back to the ladies room and, luckily, I found that it was open again.  I went it, took the slip off (didn't want to have to deal with it out on the side walk again - and my skirt was a pretty thick material with a lining),stuffed it in the bottom of my purse, and headed home.

I wear this slip pretty often, a few times a month at least, and it has never before slipped past my butt and down too close to my knees.  I can only think that it slipped this time because of the pantyhose - the dumb control top pantyhose that hold everything in too well and give everything from just below my boobs to the tips of my toes an un-natural slickness that can only be described as evil.  Next time I feel the need to wear both a slip and pantyhose, I will safety-pin the slip to my skirt.  Lesson learned.

No Job

Work was hard last year; harder than it needed to be.  I can sum up why in three main reasons:

1. I worked for an MLM.
2. My boss was the biggest drama queen I had ever met (by the way, my boss was a straight male).
3. The switch to a new company.

Let me go into some vague detail.

1.  MLMs suck.  The business model for Network Marketing companies is ethically gray at best.  I've heard them described as "Legal Pyramid Schemes" and that really is the truth.  You get a couple of people involved at the beginning and those few people end up making a ton of money (emphasis on "ton") because they sit at the top of the pyramid.  They go around preaching about how everyone can make as much money as they do but the simple truth is that if someone doesn't get involved with a successful MLM from the beginning, chances of making a very comfortable living are slim (making a living may still be possible but it won't be the same as the people at the top).  What really bothers me is that the people at the top of the pyramid don't even have to do much once they've built a large enough downline; they just end up earning commissions off of the work of the people below them.

Then, when these individuals on top have gotten themselves being comfortable on top, many of them (certainly not all) become some serious megalomaniacs - running around the corporate office like they own the place, making demands, running projects, making up the rules as they go all so they can make more money.  Side note here, corporate employees are not allowed to be distributors (or "consultants" or whatever the individual MLM calls the people who go out and sell stuff) in part because, and I'm sure this isn't the only reason but it is the only one I know for sure, the employees would have an unfair advantage over distributors who are not employees because the employee would be privy to information that other distributors would not be.  So if we take the reverse, shouldn't distributor's not be allowed to be involved with the workings going on at corporate because that would give them an unfair advantage over distributors who maybe don't live near corporate or who don't have the financial means to travel to the corporate office whenever they have something to *****, I mean "complain", about?

Then there is the way the big wigs manipulate things.  About a year and a half ago at the MLM I worked for we had a distributor set a record for rank advancement (the bigger your downline, the higher rank you are, basically he built a huge downline very fast).  All the non-big wigs were like "Whoa, that's awesome!  If he can do it so can I."  Um, guess what.  You can't.  This particular distributor happens to be one of the big wigs at at least one other MLM (probably more) where he took years to create a world wide downline and then become a big wig.  All he did at our MLM (and probably at others) is to convince his downline from the other MLMs to join this new, shiny MLM and voila, now he's a big wig at yet another MLM and those who don't know the real story are, once again, made to believe that it is possible to be uber-successful in the business.

And that's just a few things I have to say about the distributors, I haven't even gotten to how people are paid yet, so I will.  I was in a meeting not too long ago, November maybe, where a big wig distributor was explaining the new commission structure he came up with (as well as a new program that he created and designed so that he'd be on top, but that's another story).  He said that once you get to X rank, when you sign up a new distributor below you you now earn 105% commission on the sale.  Say what?  Where are we getting the extra 5% of the sale to give to the X ranked distributor?  His response, in short, is that some distributor's fail putting more money into the business than they, or their upline, get out of it leaving extra funds to go to the big wigs.  So here we have a bunch of distributors running around telling people that they can make millions like they do but really they need some distributors to fail in order to make the kind of money they do.  How is this ok?

To sum up, the longer I worked for an MLM the more I understood how MLMs work and the more little pieces of my soul were stolen from me.  But I did work there for over two years so I guess it is my own fault for allowing it to be a part of my life for so long.  Let's move on to the second reason why work was so hard last year.

2. Drama queens are hard to work with.  Drama Queen Boss first joined the department as a consultant, at first no one really knew why or what he was actually doing there but then we found out that it was a trial period before he became our next boss.  We were all pretty neutral about him at first then he started making demands and acting like our boss before he was our boss and slamming the way we did things which made most of us not like him at all and some of us absolutely detested him.  About this time we were told that his trail period wasn't going very well and that at the end of his contract he would no longer be at the company.  Then at the end of his contract he become our boss.  Um, there went any trust we had in the people who told us he'd be gone - but that's another issue I won't be discussing here.

Drama Queen Boss seemed to just love stirring things up.  He'd tell us one thing then tell the executives something else then tell other departments something else which made trying to communicate outside the department a beast.  Most of us saw right through this at first and learned to ignore a lot of what he said and did and learned not to feed into it.

For example, Drama Queen Boss tried to stir up some drama one day when the website went down.  It turns out that the reason it went down was related to the database and was the result of a bug created by Drama Queen Boss's favored programmer.  So Drama Queen Boss goes over the the support department (because they were dealing with customers calling and complaining that the site was down) and he told the leaders of the support department that it was his Least-Favored Developer's fault the site was down.  Well, Least-Favored Developer is a web-developer and didn't even have access to the database so either Drama Queen Boss didn't know what Least-Favored Developer did (which is a real possibility) or he was intentionally stirring up drama.  I'm guessing the latter since Drama Queen Boss knew that one of the leaders of the support department who was a part of the conversation (and the only reason we know the conversation even took place) was Least-Favored Developer's wife.  Who in their right mind goes around telling untruths about his employees to said employees wife?  Answer: Drama Queen Boss was not in his right mind.

That wasn't the only instance of Drama Queen Boss creating drama for the sake of drama.  He would tell employees things about other employees that the employee told really didn't need to know.  We think his intent was that told employee would go tell the dissed employee and drama would ensue.  Luckily we are smarter than that and we'd either keep things to ourselves or when we heard what Drama Queen Boss said about us we'd roll our eyes and carry on.  The least stressful times we had that year were when Drama Queen Boss was out of the office for about a month and a half for medical reasons.  Sure, we had more work to do with him being gone but we had less drama and therefore a better work experience.

3.  When our department was suddenly acquired by a new company Drama Queen Boss was not part of the acquisition and was laid off.  That was a great moment for me and I was so excited to go to Company B.  Unfortunately that excitement didn't last long.  I don't know for sure by I think one of the original people in Company B was a Drama Queen Boss In The Making.  He'd tell us things that sounded pretty official and that some of the developers didn't want to participate in.  So those developers left, then more developers left, and eventually most of the developers were gone and the only reason I stayed through everything that went on in #1 and #2 above went with them (we had such a great team dynamic).

I tried to stay until the end of the project that was failing being worked on but one day I just couldn't bring myself to stay any more.  I'm very organized, very structured in my work, and I thrive on good communication and Company B didn't have much to do with any of that.  One day Company B's CEO asked me to send an email out to a bunch of people telling them about a meeting the next day at 9:30 am.  Finally, some semblance of structure (prior to this all meetings just kind of happened whenever the CEO could find everyone in the same location at the same time).  So I sent out the email.  The next day at 9:30 am, no one who was originally from Company B was in the office.  In fact, CEO didn't get into the office until a little after 10 am and the meeting didn't start until everyone was there at 10:30 am and, what bothered me the most, was that no one seemed to think anything of it.  Personally, I'm pretty disturbed when everyone shows up an hour late for meetings.  Is that just me?

Something similar happened on December 28th.  The CEO texted me asking if I'd be available for a meeting.  I responded with "When and where?"  (How would I know if I was available if I didn't know when the meeting was taking place, right?)  He responded by saying he was still figuring it out but we'd try from 10:30 at Said Location.  So, at 10:30 I was at Said Location and no one else was.  Given the short history I'd had with Company B this didn't surprise me much so I waited until 10:40 to text CEO and ask if something had changed.  He called me back, surprised that I had shown up for a meeting at the time and place I was told to.  Then he told me he was 10 minutes away from the office and we'd get the meeting going when he got in, then after the meeting we'd talk about the kind of roles I'd be playing at Company B.  I just said "ok" and ended the conversation but so many things about it really pissed me off.  Ten minutes after he wanted the meeting to start he was still 10 minutes away from even being in the office.  He was surprised that I was punctual and dependable. And I'd already been with the company for 2 1/2 months and he just now wanted to start figuring out what my role was going to be.  That's when I knew I was going to quit that day.

Let's fast forward to almost 2 hours later when CEO finally decided to make a physical appearance to let me know that some people he wanted in the meeting weren't in the office yet so we'll try to do it after lunch. This is when I said "If that meeting isn't happening now can we have our other meeting now?"  He obliged and I quit.  The meeting we had was very interesting and I learned a lot of things, like that one guy might be a Drama Queen Boss In The Making because CEO had been told things about reasons why other developers quit that simply weren't true.  I also learned of all the roles CEO wanted me to play in Company B.  My response to that was that at Company A we had two people doing most of those roles so there was no way I could do both at Company B plus everything Company B specific that he wanted me to eventually take on - which helped make me feel a lot better about quitting.

Long story short, I quit my job out of the blue.  I went into the CEOs office, quit, packed up my things, and never went, or looked, back.  And I feel great about it.  Through most of November and December (as well as occasionally since Drama Queen Boss took over) I had stress related headaches almost every day, pain from some ulcers I'm sure I was breeding, as well as some other annoying, but luckily harmless (as said by my doctor), physical maladies that were stress related.  I haven't had any of that since I quit and now I'm wondering why I didn't quit 15 months ago.  Oh well.  Hopefully I learned something.

Now I'm not working and it has been nice.  I'm casually looking for new work but not necessarily in software or full time or permanent, just whatever comes my way that sounds interesting.

New Job (Kind Of)

On Monday October 10th I worked for Company A and assumed I'd be working there for some time (not necessarily because I liked it there).  That evening after work I got a text from a co-worker: Do you know what the mandatory meeting is about?  I figured that Boss At The Time was freaking out over something small and was calling everyone into a meeting to threaten to replace us all with contractors . . . again.

I checked my work email to see what my co-worker was talking about and noticed that the email came from HR, not Boss At The Time.  I also noticed that Boss At The Time was not included in the people who received this email.  To be honest, my first thought was that Boss At The Time was getting fired (finally!) and I was very, very happy about that.

I got into work the next morning and this mandatory meeting was all anyone could talk about.  Through this talk we also realized that Hearts, another co-worker, wasn't included in the email.  This was a surprise and didn't fit with my theory that Boss At The Time was going to be fired.

We got into the meeting, almost the whole department was there and the COO was there and another guy who I didn't know was there.  Just a few minutes into the meeting I found out (other co-workers already knew) the other guy was the CEO of Company B.  Company B acquired (for lack of a better term) Company A's Programming Department and everyone in it.  Everyone in the meeting automatically had a job with Company B (whew) and everyone not in the meeting was laid off (Boss At The Time = yes!, Guy Who No One Knew What He Did = too bad, he was a nice guy even though no one knew what he did, Hearts = that's the suck).

So on Tuesday October 11th I worked for Company B assuming that this was a great move away from Company A whom I was beginning to loath.

Some background: I'd worked for Company A for just over two years.  I started as a Software Tester and a few months later became the Software Project Manager (which actually entailed everything I had been doing, everything the title implies, plus some - it's a smallish company).  As the Software Project Manager I worked really hard to keep that department organized - a nearly impossible act if you know Company A's Marketing Department.  But I think I succeeded at least a little.  It was a lot of hard work but as of October 10th we were coding more with less bugs and much better communication inside and outside of the department.

All of that seems to have died as of October 11th (RIP sanity).  Company B is a very different situation than what we've been used to.  Communication is horrific, cowboy coding is at an all time high, more bugs are getting through (maybe because we push things without testing?), tension and stress are high, and, once again, I'm exhausted from just thinking about all my hard work that has gone down the drain and the fact that even though I pretty much have the same team as at Company A, I'm going to have to start from scratch to get us where we were on October 10th.

So, if you see me around and notice that I look half dead and my hair is falling out, you'll know it is because I've lost the last year and a half of my life and I get to do it all over again.  Fun.

Bonding Rabbits

Locke (picture on the left) and Samus (picture on the right) are officially bonded!  This is a huge relief to CJ and I because we wondered if Samus would take to Locke since she has an aggressive side and it is also a relief because now we can keep them in the same cage which means we only ever have one cage to clean.

Even though everything seems peachy now, we didn't get off to a great start.

Day 1: The first time Samus and Locke met at Locke's previous owner's apartment he walked right up to her and licked her on the nose.  We thought this was a good sign because he obviously liked her from the beginning and she didn't attack him when he walked up to her.  A few minutes later told a slightly different story.

Locke continued to like Samus and he wanted to be around her and he was very interested in mounted her but it didn't take long for her to realize that she didn't like any of that which is when she started mounting him and growling at him (yes, rabbits kind of growl) and nipping at him.  No long term damage (or even short term damage) was done.  CJ and I knew from all of our bonding research that first meets don't always go well and that is not a sign that the rabbits will never bond so we took Locke home with us.

When we got home that evening we decided to put the rabbits on a "date".  That basically means we put both rabbits in a room that neither are familiar with (so one doesn't feel more territorial than the other) and let them figure each other out.  This first date did not go well.  Hair quickly flew all over the room and we had to quickly separate the two, which ended the date.

That evening we set Locke's cage up in Samus's room but on the complete other side of the room (its the room over the garage, so its a good size room) where she wouldn't be able to see him very well but might be able to start getting used to his sent.

Day 2:  CJ and I went about our normal work day while we left Samus and Locke on their different sides of the room.  I set up vet appointments for both rabbits - Locke needed to be neutered and Samus needed her yearly check-up.  When we got home we let each rabbit out separately to give them some exercise but had to be careful to keep the one that was out away from the other in its cage (Samus tried to nip at Locke when he came close to her cage).


Day 3:  Locke and Samus did not enjoy their car ride to the vet (rabbits notoriously hate car rides, it is one way you can bond them - put them together in a situation they both don't like so that the lean on each other for comfort).  Samus's check-up was quick and Locke spent most of the day at the vet's office having and recovering from his surgery.  Again, for their exercise, we let them out one at a time.

Day 4:  Instead of letting them each out one at a time for their evening exercise we set up the fence in a manner that left a no man's land between the two rabbits.  This way we could let me out at the same time (more exercise for each rabbit) plus they could get close enough to each other to see and smell each other clearly without being able to nip at each other - which was particularly important for Locke because we didn't want him getting hurt while he was still recovering from his neutering.

Day 10:  By this time Samus had progressively gotten used to Locke being on the other side of the fence and Locke was recovered from his surgery, so we moved Locke's cage to be closer to Samus's - right next to Samus's - but just at night.

Our intention was to get them spending more time close at night.  In the morning when I would feed them I'd move Locke's cage back to the other side of the room to give Samus some break time.  We left the no man's land set up up for when both rabbits were out of their cages.

Day 11: This was Samus and Locke's second First Date.  CJ and I were very worried that it would go like their first first date but we were very pleasantly surprised that it went very well.  There was a little trouble at first with Samus still feeling territorial and aggressive for which she got sprayed with water.  She learned pretty quickly and started running away from Locke when he would get close to her for which she received praise (running away is a lot better than being aggressive).

When Locke wasn't annoying Samus they spent a good deal of time ignoring each other, exploring their surroundings and pooping in order to mark their territory.  I think we planned to only have them in the same room as each other for about 20 minutes (which is was we read was recommended) but it went so well I think we were in there for close to 40 minutes.

Spraying with water for discipline was new for all of us when we brought Locke home.  When it was just Samus in the house we would just clap loudly or thump on the floor and say "no" when she did something wrong but we figured with two rabbits in the house, if we did the same thing the one who wasn't being bad might think that they were being bad.  We decided that spraying water at the bad one would keep that distinction for the good rabbit to know that they weren't doing anything wrong.

Day 12: Samus and Locke's second date went even better than their first, I don't think either rabbit was sprayed with water but the territorial pooping continued.  Samus was becoming much more patient with Locke, allowed him to get close to her a few times, and she even laid down and made herself comfortable (a very good sign).  The laying down didn't always last very long though because Locke would come up behind her and start sniffing her butt, which she clearing didn't appreciate (and still doesn't) so she'd get up and move.

She also figured out that there was a box that she could jump on to get away from him because he couldn't quite make it that high.  After a while it seemed like she would jump up there just to say "nanny nanny boo boo I can make it and you can't" which we thought was a good sign that she was being playful with him.

This date was also planned for about 20 minutes but ended up lasted about an hour and 20 minutes.

This was also the night that we decided to keep their cages right next to each other during the day as well as at night.

Day 13:  While I was trying to catch Samus for their third date CJ was teaching Locke that he could jump up on Samus's box.  He's put Locke on the ground, then pick him up and put him on the box then put him on the ground then pick him up and put him on the box.  Locke figured it out quickly and by the time Samus jumped up on the box to tease him, he followed her right up.

The rest of their third date was very similar to their second and they seemed to be doing really well together.

Day 14:  CJ and I decided to stop the official "dates" (which we thought would end up taking a week or two) and just allowed the two rabbits to have their exercise time together in their room while being pretty closely supervised.  They spend a good deal of time in each other's cages eating each other's hay and food but never seemed to both be in the same cage at the same time.  Everything went really well.

Day 16:  We let the rabbits have their exercise time together in their room (and the loft area) with significantly less supervision while CJ and I watched TV.

Day 18:  Samus and Locke spent their first night together.  This was something else that CJ and I were worried about because over the last few days they hadn't spent much time together in the same cage.  We spent the night in the loft area so we could hear if anything went wrong.

This is the best picture I got of their first night together.  When I went in to check on them before I went to bed I found them cuddling but didn't want to take a picture a disturb them.

They only spent the night together, the next morning when we gave them breakfast we put Locke back into his own cage for the day.

Day 22:  Everything was going so well that we decided to leave Locke in Samus's cage with her while we left for work.  When we got home they were both in one piece and didn't appear to have any injuries.  We decided that this would be their regular routine and we considered them officially bonded - about 2 months sooner than we guesstimated.

Meet Locke

On Tuesday July 26th CJ and I adopted another rabbit - we call him Locke.

For quite some time CJ has been browsing the Human Society web-site and KSL for rabbits that are available to adopt while I'd been reading up on bonding multiple rabbits - bonding means making them love each other. Neither of us knew what the other was doing until CJ found Peter on KSL and just had to show me, that was Monday the 25th of July. One look at that precious little rabbit (as seen in the picture to the right) and we had to have him even though he looks so much like Samus and I had kept saying that if we got another rabbit I didn't want a black one because I wanted to be able to tell my rabbits apart from each other - I justified it because he is smaller than Samus and would, therefore, be easy to tell apart. We called up his owners and set up a time to meet the next day.

We'd both been thinking about adopting another rabbit because we felt bad for leaving Samus alone all day while we were at work. We knew that rabbits are social animals and like having another rabbit as a companion. I had also read that having a rabbit companion for a pet rabbit can keep each rabbit happier than it would be by itself and therefore less aggressive and prone to bad behavior (unless, of course, they are both evil, evil rabbits and start working together to fulfill their evil plans).

For our meeting we decided to take Samus with us to see how the two interacted together. There were three ways it could go:

1. Love at first site - they instantly fall in love with each other and decide to live happily ever after.
2. They ignore each other - this is a good sign. If they ignore each other it means they don't hate each other.
3. One tries to dominate the other who also wants to be dominate, a fight ensues - this isn't the end of the world. Given time, most rabbits can come to love each other.

As we drove all the way down to Provo we wondered what would happen. We hoped for love at first site but knew the chances of that were low. I guess our most realistic expectation was to hope that they wouldn't fight.

When we got to Peter's place he was already out and about the apartment, running around and hiding in packed boxes (his original owners were getting ready to move to West Virginia to go to medical school). We immediately noticed that he was a lot smaller than we thought he would be. I set Samus's carrier on the couch and Peter immediately got interested. Samus, on the other hand, was reluctant to come out into the open.

She eventually stuck her head out and Peter licked her on her nose then proceeded to try to mount her (could be a sign he wants to be dominant or could be a sign that he's just horny - too soon to tell at this point). We immediately noticed how much smaller Peter was compared to Samus. Samus didn't seem to enjoy being mounted but came out of her carrier anyway, which is when Peter then proceeded to try to mount her again. Samus wasn't going to have any of it so she turned around and mounted him (because she has been spayed, this was a definite sign that she wanted to be dominant).

After a little more of the same behavior we put Samus back in her carrier (she didn't complain, I think she had grown tired of the little boy rabbit) and chatted with Peter's then owners. We decided to take him home and assured the Provo couple that he'd be in good hands.


While driving back home our conversation rested mostly on what to name him because, let's be honest, "Peter" is not a very original name for a rabbit. We didn't come to a conclusion during that car ride or while at home that evening. We came up with a lot of good names but nothing seemed to fit when we actually called him those names. Eventually we settled on "Locke" - a sneaky thief (as rabbits tend to be) from the video game Final Fantasy VI - originally called Final Fantasy III in the US, the nerds know why.

Locke spent his first day and half at our place "squeaking" like a mad man. "Squeaking" equals his horny grunts but since he is so small he just sounded like a little squeak toy. On the second morning we had him I took him to the vet to be neutered - he doesn't squeak as much anymore and he doesn't try to mount Samus as much either.

While at the vet we learned that Locke was 2.1 pounds and Samus, who was at the vet for her yearly check-up, was 5.1 pounds, 2.2 pounds more than she was on her visit last year. We've concluded that Locke needs to put on some weight.


Locke has proven to be a very social rabbit. He likes being around people and Samus (more about how he and Samus have bonded is coming in a later blog post), he doesn't bite or nip, he rarely thumps, he's an excellent jumper and runner, and he enjoys just laying around people and being touched.

He's also turned out to be quite the eater. I think he consumed his body weight in hay every day for the first two weeks we had him, plus eating his vegetables and rabbit food pellets plus he'll steal Samus's vegetables at any chance he gets. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to have gained any weight.

Right now his only downside is that he's having a hard time consistently using his litter box. He'll leave poop almost everywhere in his cage and he tends to pee half in his litter box, half out of his litter box leaving a mess for us to clean up daily. To the right is a picture of Locke just laying around his litter box. He'll also sit in it while he eats which is probably for the best because he often poops while he eats.

Overall, we are very excited to have Locke. Samus is happier and less aggressive and they keep each other entertained. But don't worry, two is enough for us.

I Have Strawberries!

This spring I decided to grow some things that I could later eat. In the past I've successfully grown tomatoes, but then I found out that tomato plants had to be replanted every year and that kind of turned me off to growing them again. I've also semi-successfully grown basil in the past; it took a few attempts but I had a good bit going last fall. I completely failed at trying to grow a raspberry bush in a 5 gallon bucket.

So this spring I decided that I wanted to grow some things that we easy and that I wouldn't have to replant next year. In end I went with basil, cilantro, and strawberries. Since we had a strangely cold spring I had to start my growing indoors. I grew the basil and cilantro from seeds and the strawberry from what appeared to be just roots. The basil and cilantro did really well inside but the strawberries never took off; I'm not convinced that I didn't plant them upside down.

When it finally got consistently warmer outside I put the basil and cilantro on the front steps and eventually planted new strawberries - this time from actual plants. The basil didn't last long, I guess that's what happens when they don't get watered. The cilantro is doing pretty well even though it was touch and go there for a while. The strawberries are doing amazing! I even have a beautiful red one that should be ready to be eaten in a few days (though I won't be able to eat it because I'll be out of town).

I chose strawberries because I read that they are pretty hardy and that they can last about 3 years, even through harsh winters. Since I hate replanting stuff every year and since I'm not great at remembering to water things, they seemed perfect. Hopefully we'll continue to get along nicely through the summer and the next few year.

Dishonest Companies

I would like to start this post off in one way but I don't think that would be wise, so I'm going to skip that part and move on to two experiences CJ and I have had with dishonest companies.

Story 1. Back in January, just after CJ and I purchased our house, we bought a refrigerator. CJ had heard good things about Samsung refrigerators so we decided to take a look. Best Buy sells Samsung fridges and CJ shops for video game stuff at Best Buy all the time so we looked there. We found one that we both liked, black to match the other appliances in our kitchen, but we didn't buy right then because we hadn't closed on the house.

A few days (maybe a week) later, Mom and I were painting the inside of CJ and mine's bran-spankin-new house when CJ was getting really bored (he doesn't paint, but he is pretty good at taping) so I sent him out to purchase the refrigerator. He wasn't gone long, he went straight to the Best Buy in West Jordan at Jordan Landing, knew exactly which refrigerator to purchase, purchased (he got it on sale and ended up with an extra 5% off as well!), and got out of there. He was told that it would be delivered the following Thursday and we'd receive a call on Wednesday to schedule a more exact time for delivery.

We never received a call on Wednesday so I stayed at the new house all day Thursday which meant all I could do on the day I took off was paint and sit around and wait when I had planned on doing some packing at the apartment and moving some things between places. No one came on Thursday to deliver the refrigerator.

On his way home from work on Friday, CJ stopped by the Best Buy to ask what was up. He was told a number of things but the people at Best Buy settled on the refrigerator was discontinued and they could sell him the stainless steal version but he'd have to pay extra for the upgrade. This was not satisfactory to CJ or myself and he refused but offered to take the stainless steal at no extra cost for the inconvenience of being sold a refrigerator that was discontinued, the inconvenience of not having a refrigerator delivered when we were told it would be delivered, the inconvenience of having to go found out why the fridge wasn't delivered instead of Best Buy contacting us to tell us that they wouldn't be delivering the product we already paid them for, and the inconvenience of sitting around waiting for a product we already paid for to be delivered.. Best Buy didn't seem to think that there was anything wrong with them selling a refrigerator that had been discontinued and CJ left after several hours in the store trying to work things out.

Over the next several day CJ spent hours (6ish) on the phone with anyone at the Jordan Landing Best Buy location and corporate office that he could get a hold of. It turns out that the refrigerator we were sold had not been discontinued. Apparently, as I understand it, there was a problem at the warehouse where Best Buy keeps their fridges and they were not able to deliver any of that model of refrigerator that was purchased on that day and, we were told, they were not able to contact the customers who purchased those refrigerators to tell them the fridges couldn't be delivered because they didn't have access to that information.

Um, no. You sold the refrigerators, you have information on the sale of the refrigerators, you just aren't willing to man up and take responsibility for your mistake. Typical of so much that goes on in America these days.

We were told that it would still be a while (a week if I recall correctly) before the fridge we ordered could be delivered and we were offered a temporary refrigerator in the mean time. We accepted this offer because we needed somewhere to put our food for the week since our lease was up in a day or so. And that was all Best Buy offered. CJ found this unacceptable considering all the inconveniences listed above plus the inconvenience of having to be around for two deliveries instead of one. When he detailed these inconveniences the Jordan Landing Best Buy manager seemed clue-less as to why we were so inconvenienced (duh, 6 hours on the phone trying sort out your mistakes and lies is a huge inconvenience). In the end we were given another 10%-ish off the price of the refrigerator.

It was quite the process and a very frustrating time for us. The worst part of the whole thing was knowing that people at Best Buy lied to us. They didn't accidentally give us wrong information, they lied and they didn't understand that that was a bad thing. CJ still buys video game stuff there but I will be going to Target instead of Best Buy for my movie, music, and video gaming needs.

Story 2. Back in February, just after CJ and I purchased our house, CJ decided to go with DirecTV for our television, cable, and movie needs (well, wants). The offer at the time for new customers was 3 free months of HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and Starz. Since CJ had been a customer a while ago he couldn't get this offer. But doing what CJ does best he was able to get the sales guy to give us 6 free months of Starz and Showtime.

Fast forward 3 months later and we are now being billed for Starz and Showtime. CJ calls up DirecTV and all they tell him is that they didn't have an offer like that at the time so they can't give us those channels for free for an additional 3 months. CJ kept trying to explain that that was the offer he was promised by a DirecTV sales person and that since we didn't get it we were lied to and lying to customer to get a sale is not Ok. The customer support guy didn't seem to care. To emphasize: A representative of DirecTV did not care that another representative of the same organization knowingly lied to potential customers just to get a sale. Not ok.

What ended up happening is that we canceled those movie channels, got a credit back for the one month we did pay for those channels and now we have Netflix for our movie needs.

The next step is to send a written letter via snail mail (they didn't have any other options for this kind of resolution) about the situation and try to resolve it that way. I think CJ's plan for that letter is to request we drop our contract with DirecTV with no fee. We figure they lied to us to get us in a contract, therefore we should not have to wait out the contract to drop the service. We'll see how that goes.

Re-usable Shopping Bags

Plastic shopping bags serve a purpose. They are cheap, easy to manufacture, convenient, re-usable as trash bags, and recyclable. The main problems I have with them is they don't biodegrade and if they are not on the top of a landfill they can't photo-degrade, they don't often get recycled, and they can be seen strewn all over the world.

It's that last part that really got me thinking. I just hate driving down the street seeing plastic shopping bags stuck in tree, fences, bushes and sage brush. I decided that I was going to try to not be part of that problem - not because I was throwing my plastic bags out of my window to be carried by the wind to the nearest tree but because I was supporting the problem by using plastic shopping bags.

Plus, most the bags I was using were also advertising where I shopped, which isn't a problem because I don't want people knowing where I shop but because I was a walking billboard that wasn't being paid to be a billboard. In fact, I was paying money to purchase items and be an advertisement; I'm not OK with that. (I also try not to wear cloths that adversise the brand name on them.)

This is when I started doing research on how I could not use plastic shopping bags. I had hear the term "re-usable shopping bag" and my first thought was to just take the plastic bags that I already had laying around (and I had a very large collection) and just re-use them at the checkout. Once I started looking through the bags I had I realized that that wasn't going to work because of the condition that the bags were in; with just one use, the plastic re-usable shopping bags probably were no longer strong enough to carry another load.

I next moved to canvas bags but the ones I saw in the stores weren't meant to be shopping bags: they were either really big (like a beach tote), really small (like a children's book tote), really expensive ($14 ish), or really ugly (plain canvas).

I knew that some stores sold re-usable shopping bags for pretty cheap but that goes back to the fact that I don't want to do any free advertisement because the inexpensive bags sold by retailers had their store name and/or logo all over them. Plus they weren't exactly convenient for carrying around.

After doing some internet research I found Baggus. The first thing that drew me in about Baggus is that they were really colorful. I love color. The second is that the brand name was not advertised all over the bag (there is a small tag on each that says "Baggu" but it isn't front and center, so I can live with it). The third is that they got cheaper the more you purchased.

I decided to try them out. I purchased the minimum I could at the lowest price (6 for $6.50 each) and they were delivered in about 4 days. I gave one to each of my two room mates and I took the others shopping.

Now, this was several years ago, back before using re-usable shopping bags was very widely practiced. On my first several grocery shopping trips (probably for the first several months) I got really crazy looks from the cashiers, even though they sold re-usable shopping bags, and most wouldn't bag my groceries for me, which was a little infuriating. However, I've found that now that using re-usable bags in more popular, cashiers don't even think twice when I hand them a re-usable bag or when the first item on the counter is a re-usable bag.

Here are some other things I like about Baggus:

• light weight
• fold up small enough that I can fit several in my purse
• washable
• can hold up to 25 - 35 pounds
• have long handles that can be carried via shoulder instead of just carried by hand
• have a huge color variety (I have about 20 - 25 different colors)
• have varied uses (all kinds of shopping, carrying my lunch to work, carrying items to potlucks and other event, moving, gym bag, etc)
• make great gifts

Back when I started purchasing and sing Baggus there was only one size, a little bigger than a regular plastic shopping bag from a grocery store, but now there are three sizes of the original and all kinds of other types of bags.

I'm certainly not in any position to be judging anyone who uses plastic shopping bags, I still do if I forget to bring a Baggu with me, but if you do use plastic shopping bags, please re-use them for other purposes and/or recycle them - most grocery stores have a place to collect plastic bags and most recycling programs accept them.

I Love French Fries

One of my favorite foods in the whole world is french fries. I find them nearly irresistible. There is something about a salty, crunchy potato product that makes me salivate. Here are some of my favorites.

Favorite Chain Restaurant French Fries: Chili's. It is nearly impossible for me to let Chili's french fries go uneaten when leaving the restaurant. I'm pretty good at leaving stranger's plates alone but you will never find my plate or CJ's plate have french fries on it when we're leaving. Another chain restaurant with excellent french fries is Ruby River.

Least Favorite Chain Restaurant French Fries: Red Robin. I really don't like Red Robin's fries. In fact, when I go to Red Robin and get a burger, I replace the fries with cantaloupe or salad. Red Robin's fries aren't crispy enough for me and they are so big (in general I don't like steak fries) that the middle is mushy.

Favorite Fast Food French Fries: McDonald's. McDonald's fries have such a distinct and infectious flavor and smell that I can tell when my co-workers have been to McDonald's vs Burger King or Wendy's. They are delicious. I almost hate to admit it but I also like Wienerschnitzel's chili cheese fries. Maybe that's because it is difficult to find chili cheese fries (especially bean-less chili) at fast food places. However, when CJ and I were in the Seattle airport we ate some chili cheese fries from a place there that were amazing.

Favorite Frozen Store-Bought French Fries: Great Value Brand Seasoned French Fries. These are the fries that I probably eat most often because CJ and I can make them at home. They are about the same thickness as Chili's fries and have really good flavor. I love making french fries at home because I can bake them instead of deep-fry them (of course the were lightly deep-fried before being frozen but whatever) and I can put whatever I want or have around on them: ketchup, BBQ sauce, cheese, chili, etc.

Favorite Sweet Potato Fries: Rumbi Island Grill. Rumbi sells a mix of thinly cut regular french fries (which are good but not great) with crinkled sweet potato fries that are amazing. I think sweet potato fries are hard to get right because they usually end up being thick cut and awkwardly mushy in the middle but Rumbi seems to have gotten them right. I especially like dipping them in the teriyaki sauce that comes with the teriyaki flavored Grilled Chicken Sandwhich that I usually get (pictured is Rumbi's Kahuna Burger with Thousand Island sauce and a side of french fries).

What are your favorite french fries?

Pop Quiz: Email Etiquette

1. When you receive an email, how much of it should you read?

a. Just the subject line.
b. The first paragraph.
c. Until I get bored.
d. The whole thing.

2. When you receive an email where the sender requests answers to questions, how many of the questions should you answer?

a. Just the first one.
b. The subject line didn't have any questions so there are no questions to answer.
c. Only the ones I want to answer.
d. All that I can answer and explain why I can't answer the others.

3. True or False: Using all caps (upper-case) means that I really enjoyed writing the email.

4. When replying to an email, what is the difference between Reply and Reply-to-all?

a. Reply means I only read part of the email and Reply-to-all means I read the whole email.
b. There is no difference.
c. My email only has a Reply-to-all.
d. Reply replies to just the sender when Reply-to-all replies to everyone the sender sent the email to.

5. True or False: Email is a casual form of communication so there is no need to spell-check or proof read before sending an email.

Answers:
1. The answer to #1 is obviously d. If someone is going to take the time to send you information in an email, you probably need to read the whole thing.

2. The answer to #2 is most definitely d. People don't ask questions via email just because they like to type. If someone is asking a question, they probably need the answer.

3. #3 is False. Caps (upper-case letters) are used for emphasis. When an entire email, or a section of an email (or any other internet-type of communication) means that you are yelling; it is rude.

4. The answer to #4 is d. If everyone that the email was sent to needs to see your response (like in a collaborate group discussion), use the Reply-to-all. If only the sender needs to see your response (like a request for your address or other personal information), use the Reply option.

5. The answer to #5 is always False. Email can be a casual form of communication but it is still important to proof-read in order to make sure that you are sending exactly what you intend to send to your recipients.

I don't know if there is anything more frustrating when trying to convey information to a person when that person is not paying attention or doesn't seem to care. This can happen with email too.

When trying to communicate in a non-vocal way (text message, email, social networking, etc.), it is important to be clear, thorough, and keep a level tone because the reader of the message can't hear your voice to determine the type of non-vocal communication you are using. For example, sarcasm can be difficult to convey in writing because writing doesn't have the vocal fluctuations that you'd hear when talking to someone using sarcasm.

Please be smart when emailing in both casual and professional settings. Thanks.

Our Water Usage Issues

CJ and I have had an interesting experience with our water since moving into our house in January.

Our first bill charged us for 2000 gallons of water. We figure that since we hadn't lived in the house for a full month that our water bill would be higher the following month.

We were right. It was much higher the following month. On our second water bill we were charged for 11,000 gallons of water. After doing some research I found that there was probably no way that CJ and I were using more than 5,000 gallons a month considering that we didn't have any leaks that we knew of (and I'm pretty sure we would have noticed a 6,000 + gallon leak). CJ decided to sit on this bill and just see what the next was like.

Our third water bill charged us for 14,000 gallons of water. Ok, now there is something seriously wrong here. There is no way we are using that much water and we wouldn't be able to miss a 9,000 + gallon leak. So CJ called in. The lady he talked to said she'd send someone to check the meter and we'd need to call back in a few days.

The first time we called back they hadn't actually looked at the meter even though they said it would have been looked at by then.

The second time CJ called back he was told that there was nothing wrong with the meter, it was functioning perfectly.

(The following dialogue is paraphrased and based on what CJ told me, I wasn't actually part of the conversation.)
CJ: Then why are we being charged for 14,000 gallons of water?
Water Company (WC): It can be surprising how much water a household uses.
CJ: Sure, but 14,000 gallons?
WC: It appears that that is about the same amount that was billed this time last year.
CJ: Really? 14,000 gallons of water in one month? Our neighbors only used 4,000 gallons last month.
WC: Well, you can't compare different households because everyone's water consumption is different.
CJ: 10,000 gallons different? What else can I do to get this resolved?
WC: If you don't think you are using that much water you probably have a leak, you should call a plumber.
CJ: I'm pretty sure I would have noticed a 10,000 gallon leak. There has to be something else that the water company can do to look into this.
WC: All we can do is send a technician over and explain to you that the meter is working.
CJ: Fine, let's do that. How about tomorrow around 4:30?
WC: 4:30 doesn't work because we make our last appointment for the day at 4pm.
CJ: How about during the day on Saturday?
WC: Our offices aren't open on Saturday.
CJ: So you are saying that I have to take time off of work to do this?
WC: Yes, you could do it on your lunch break.
CJ: Fine, then tomorrow at noon?
WC: We'll have a technician at your house tomorrow at noon.

The next day at about 10am I got a call from CJ. The water company called him to tell him that he didn't need to be there to talk to the technician because a technician looked at the meter in the morning and noticed that it had the wrong kind of valve so it was calculating water consumption on a different scale (something about how many rotations of the dial = how many gallons of water; we were being charged for 14 rotations on a valve that calculated 1 rotation as 1,000 gallons of water when there should have been a valve that calculated 1 rotation as more like 250 gallons of water). This means that the first 2,000 gallons we were charged for was actually only for 4 -5 days of water usage and not half a month like we thought.

My thought was "Really? And you first technician didn't notice this?" Apparently CJ had the same question and was told that it was something that wasn't very noticeable.

This is when he brought up that the previous owners of the house had been charged for a lot more water than they actually used. The water company said that if they contacted them they would be refunded for their water usage. CJ called the selling agent from when we bought the house. He didn't answer so CJ just left a message. Hopefully the previous owners call up to get their refund and also complain profusely that this even happened in the first place.

Long story longer: it is all worked out now and we should no longer be charged for an outrageous amount of water usage; which is a huge relief.

Meet Samus

On August 17, 2010, CJ and I adopted a rabbit from the Humane Society. We named her Samus, after a video game character.

At the time we adopted Samus we lived in an apartment that only allowed caged pets. CJ and I also both work full time and aren't home during the day most days. These two factors led us to a rabbit instead of a dog - a rabbit can stay in a cage during the day with no problem.

Right away I knew I wanted a young black female rabbit. Young so that she'd be around for a while, black because the white rabbits tend to get all the attention and I don't know why a female. While searching the Utah Humane Society's website for animals they had available we found two 2-year old black females and one 3 month old black male. Since rabbits only live for about 10 years, 2 seemed a little old so I got my heart set on the male.

When we actually went to the Humane Society we found that one of the black females was actually 3 months old instead of 2 years. She hid from us at first when we tried to pick her up but once I had her and she started licking my arm (a sign of affection from rabbits) I was taken. We also found out that she was much smaller that then other available black rabbits and that she was likely from the same liter as the male (there was a gray rabbit and a caramel rabbit from the same liter as well). Samus (at the time she was called "Tiny") was much smaller than her siblings and she was missing a patch of hair on the back of her neck so we figure she was the runt of the liter and was beat up a bit by her much bigger siblings.

We hadn't planned on adopting on our first trip to the Humane Society but they don't hold animals or keep them at their location after they are adopted, so they put her in a cardboard carrying box and we headed to the pet store for a cage, food, litter box, litter, food bowl, bedding, hay, water bottle, play pen, and some toys.


Samus is a total cutie but also a typical rabbit. She sleeps a lot during the day and night and is most active in the mornings and evenings. When she is awake she does a lot of pooping, exploring, eating, and chewing. (As I wrote this blog entry she chewed right through the only cord I have that connects my camera to my computer and she took a chunk out of the scroller on my mouse; I should have been paying better attention to her.) Some of her favorite vegetables are basil, radicchio, and dandelion greens; she does not like chard or mustard greens. She also likes all the fruits that we've tried to give her: apples, bananas, watermelon, frozen peaches, frozen blueberries, and frozen raspberries. But, her favorite treat ever is almonds. She goes crazy if she smells them near her and she'll even eat them when she is stressed out and won't eat any other treats.

Like most rabbits, Samus is a total diva. She has to have everything her way or she gets very upset. She's constantly moving her food and hay bowls in her cage because CJ and I don't always put them where she likes them. She doesn't like to be picked up, cuddled with, or have her toe nails clipped and CJ and I have the scars to prove it. Once I was moving something out of her way that I didn't want her to chew on and she bit a nice chunk of skin off my finger.

But she is also very nice. Samus is often quite content just sitting in her favorite spots or licking CJ's head or my eyebrows. It's really precious. Once I was half asleep on the couch and she jumped on my chest and started licking my face. It was really funny. CJ got a video on his phone but it isn't very good quality so I can't put it here.

We are very grateful to have Samus with us. Even though she can be a handful, she's a lot of fun to have around.

Pop Quiz

Today's Pop Quiz is on work-place meetings. The better you do on the quiz the more you understand the dynamics of work-place meetings.



1. Why do meetings that are scheduled at 10am start at 11:40am?

a) Because people are incredibly irresponsible and can't seem to get themselves to work on time.
b) Because people don't respect their co-workers and superiors enough to be able to get to the meeting on time.
c) Because people choose not to read emails that they get from their superiors or coworkers.
d) Because the person scheduling the meeting is a push-over and will change the meeting time just because one person can't seem to make in to work on time.

2. Why do meetings that should be in a conference room happen in the department room where there are people who aren't involved in the meeting working on other things?

a) Because someone is too lazy to move a portable white board to a conference room.
b) Because someone forgot to schedule the conference room.
c) Because people didn't show up on time and won't know which conference room to go to.
d) Because those who are meeting don't respect the time and/or quiet atmosphere of those who aren't in the meeting.

3. Why are meetings scheduled for around lunch time, especially when lunch isn't provided?

a) Because those scheduling the meeting never get hungry.
b) Because those scheduling the meeting can't manage their time very well and the only time they've left available for such a critical meeting is lunch time.
c) Because those scheduling the meeting don't care whether or not the people attending the meeting will be hungry during the meeting.
d) Because the conference room has candy dishes and those scheduling the meeting think that candy will suffice when those attending the meeting get hungry.

4. True or False: It is rude to schedule a lunch meeting and provide lunch for only half of the people in the meeting.

5. Why are meetings scheduled and notices sent out only one day/ a few hours/ just minutes before the meeting?

a) Because those scheduling the meeting are too self absorbed to understand that those who need to attend the meeting may have over things scheduled.
b) Because those scheduling the meeting aren't prepared enough for the meeting to schedule it in a timely manner.
c) Because those scheduling the meeting don't respect other people's time.
d) Because those scheduling the meeting know that those attending the meeting won't read the email or show up on time anyway?

Answers: Ok, so there isn't a right or wrong answer to these questions for every situation with the exception of question #4. The correct answer to #4 is obviously "True", but that doesn't mean everyone gets this question right in the real world. For the other questions any answer could be correct depending on the situation. The real point of the quiz is to ask ourselves whether or not we are the cause of the questions.