Michael & Liz are Bloggable

I swear I will post about the marathon trip sometime soon but times are busy busy busy.

Tonight for Halloween I am putting on my Chad Johnson Bengals Jersey... you must be thinking "oh so you're dressing up as a Bengals player"... no I am not, I am going to be a Pathetic Loser for Halloween, capital P capital L.

And one more thing, just had a funny conversation with Liz, she is in the other room reading and I am sitting in the kitchen, so we can't see each other right now:

Me: Hey I'm changing a player on your fantasy team for the weekend.
Liz: My team is fine, who are you changing?!?!
Me: Believe me, you want to make this change.
Liz: We play each other, how do I know I can trust you?
Me: I'm putting in a player who is projected to get 17 points and taking out a player who is projected to get 7 points.
Liz: What are the players?
Me: Matt Forte and Dominic Rhodes.
Liz: Ok... fine.
Me: Forte is playing the worst team in the NFL, he'll do well.
Liz: He's playing the Bengals?
Me: NO!! DETROIT!! HEEEEEYYY!!!

She's right though... Detroit/Cincinnati, it'd be a toss up on who's worse.

I don't know how many people know about this, but over the last month, Gryffin has had a bit of a problem. In mid-September, he developed these bumps on his lips. Oddly enough it is only on one side of his mouth but they are on the top and bottom. They are somewhat large and there are only about 5 or 6 of them but they look like mini-cauliflowers. We looked them up and they were almost identical to a description we found online of something called Canine Viral Papilloma. From what we understand, it's something that is common in puppies or dogs with deficient immune systems, and since Gryffin is only 10 months old, that fits. It says that they last between a couple weeks to several months. So up until this week we just let him deal with them and figured they'd go away.

Well as of this week, they havent "gone away", in fact none of them have gotten smaller but then again, none of them have gotten bigger. I guess I'll post a picture of them.

Gryffin with his mouth closed:

Gryffin with his lip up:

So this week Liz and I have been talking and we felt a little irresponsible about how we have approached Gryffin's bumps. They look terrible. They look like little cancerous tumors. But we found pictures online that look like what he has, and we found descriptions online that sound like what he has. We didn't want to pay $50 for the Vet to tell us what we already know. But we sucked it up, and on Thursday I took him to the Vet to find out what they thought. What does Gryffin have? Canine Viral Papilloma. Fantastic. So it is a big relief to know exactly what's going on and we feel better about our responsibilities as his parents.

Back when we first got Gryffin, Daisy had these 3 extremely small white bumps in her mouth and we figured they were really small cold sores that dogs get. They also disappeared in a matter of a week or two. The Vet said that's probably how Gryffin got the bumps in his mouth and seeing as he is young and we just got him from a rescue, his immune system was bad enough that he was vulnerable to getting it. Every dog gets the bumps in different ways, it just depends on the dog. Daisy's were tiny and white, and Gryffins are huge cauliflowers and are black.

For anyone who is going to see him in the next couple months, here are a few facts to quell your fears:

• To be infected, the dog needs to have a deficient immune system or be a young puppy.
  
• There is no treatment other than time and the development of the dog, they go away on their own.
  
• Humans can't get it.
  
• Typically, it takes 1 to 5 months for papillomas to disappear.
  

We think Gryffin knows he's not 100% healthy. He looks at us in the most depressing "love me anyway" type look. Daisy has been super sweet to him too. We'll often times catch her just lying next to him licking his lips and nibbling the papillomas trying to get rid of them. The Vet told us to keep massaging them to force his immune system to address them. I will keep everyone up to date on when they disappear.

I recently promised myself that I wouldn't post or comment on anything else political... ever. So while this post does have to do with politics, it's less controversial and I felt OK to post about.

I was having a conversation with John(and most of the people who read this blog would remember him as one of my groomsmen) at work today and this part of it was just too hilarious not to post here because the topic has been on my mind so often lately. If it doesn't make sense why his nickname is Mathis Jackson, don't worry about it, it's a long story. Here's the short convo:

Mathis Jackson: yeah...and it also has that horrible side effect we're seeing now
Mathis Jackson: BILL 17432: Resolution to give tax breaks to convicted felons
...
...
Amendment 791462: Funding for soldiers shall increase by $100

Mathis Jackson: Candidate bob: i vote no
Mathis Jackson: later, candidate frank: "CANDIDATE BOB VOTED TO DENY FUNDING FOR OUR TROOPS!"
Me: haha!!!
Me: can i put that on the blog?
Mathis Jackson: haha, sure
Me: awesome
Me: im still laughing
Me: that's a perfect example of how assanine advertising is too

This brings me to the topic that's been on my mind. Anyone who hears a political advertisement and actually believes what is being said, is truly being duped. Never before have I been so informed (and by informed I mean I can usually give a brief overview of the plans of both major candidates when it comes to most issues and I am by no means claiming to be an expert) and the advertising lately has just made me sick. The conversation above is a perfect example of why you should not pay attention to advertising when it comes to politics. The goal of a politician is to win no matter what it takes and that's why politics make me sick. It's never about the truth so never assume you're hearing any.

Today I had to run 20 miles for my training, you can read about it on my running blog. But what I am posting here about has more to do with this blog than that one. It is the amazingness that is Liz. That's not a word, as the red squiggly lines are telling me, but it should be, and Webster should use her face as the definition.

20 miles is not an easy run for anyone. 20 miles is not an easy bike ride for anyone either. Today during my run, Liz strapped on a backpack and rode our bike along with me as I did my 20 miles. I say "our" because, she rides it more than I do. At one point she joked and said "you know, you should really get a bike." There are so many reasons why having her there is helpful, that it is the downright truth that I could not have finished the run without her.

First of all, in her backpack was several Gatorades and a bunch of energy gels for me to use while I run. Every few miles she would break away, and set up a mini water station for me as I ran by. She'd hold out my Gatorade and then hand me some gel to fuel up. After a few swigs and some light stretching, I'd take off, she'd pack up our stuff and head back down the trail after me. That help during a 20 mile run is immeasurable. Why couldn't I have finished the run without her? It is a well known fact that your body needs some sort of replacement for your fluids and energy. I am no science guy, but I've been told that your "wall" that you hit is at about 8 miles without any kind of sustanance. After 8 miles, your muscles start to get fatigued from nothing else other than the lack of nurishment. Of course you can keep going but it's nowhere near as easy. Without her by my side on the run, I am 100% certain I would not have been able to run the 20 miles. I'm convinced of it.

A 20 mile bike ride is not easy, especially when you are biking at the speed of 10 minutes per mile. That's crazy slow for a biker and adds to the difficulty level. She didn't complain about it for one second. There were times when I would say "how are you?" and she would say "my butt hurts from this seat, but other than that, i'm good". She kept trucking along without a complaint. That's amazing to me. Even when I started walking at the end, she got off her bike (see... now I say "her" =P ) and walked along with me. If there was a hill, she'd ride to the top and wait for me with Gatorade in hand. So awesome.

Anyone who has run with me, knows I'm a talker. I won't talk your ear off and I hope it's not obnoxious to those I have run with, but I don't necessarily enjoy completely silent runs. Whether it is to chat about our childhood bike experiences or just to talk about how I'm doing with my heart rate and how my legs feel, it is so wonderful to have her there to just chat with. That's 3 hours of bonding and probably more talking than any date we've ever had.

The constant moral support is immensely helpful. When I started walking at mile 17 and negotiating when I was going to run and when I was going to walk, she gave me challenges like "I'm sure you can make it to that street up there". But it's not only during the difficult stretches but also during the good stretches. Saying things like "you don't look tired, how do your legs feel?" It's just nice to have her there for reinforcement.

We went to something at church last weekend called "Married Life Live", where they talk about things you can do to strengthen your marriage. The message was basically, what can you do to nurture the relationship and the romance by listening to your partners needs and reacting to it without being asked. There are tons of things that can apply to that message, but as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing more nurturing than the support she showed me today. She knows these runs are heavy on my mind and nerve-racking to tackle and did everything she could to help me out. I didn't beg her to come with me, she did it because she knew I needed it.

Today, Liz is the one who's bloggable.