I'm Back!

Hola! It is me the charming Chihuahua who lives with the Hunts!

I have succeeded once again in outsmarting Alan and that overbearing mate of his Brooke in order to post on the blog. Brooke is always forcing me to cuddle with her and kiss her face and do tricks for crappy chicken flavored treats…yuck. Last time we spoke was shortly after the Hunts moved me from my comfortable home in Minneapolis to this overcrowded NYC. And since the Hunts are at work right now I thought I would sneak on and write to all of you, my followers.

Its spring here and I love it. I hate the cold! I weight around 10 pounds so 5 minutes in 20 degree weather pisses me off. Plus, I have terrible aim and when I squat to pee I sometimes hit one of my feet and then my pee freezes to my paw and my walk is shot from there. I also love the spring because it gives me lots of green to pee and poop on. I hated doing my busi-nasty on snow. I am starting to get better at barking at small children, other dogs and strangers on the street. Alan and Brook do this wonderful thing where they distract me with a treat every time I look like I’m going to bark or try to chase anything. It’s so mean but I love getting the treats.

So there’s this big dog in our apartment building his name is Teo or something stupid like that. Who names their dog Teo? I really don’t like him because one day this past fall I was feeling like a bad ass and I took him on. I was off my leash and I ran right at him, jumped at him and I bit onto his neck and just hung there for a few seconds. Now remember I am 10 pounds and he is like 75 pounds. I lost my grip and fell down. After I hit the ground Teo looked down at me like he was really pissed. So He picked me up in his mouth and shook me a few times and threw me against the tree we were next too. What a jerk right?!?!? I was just playing around and he had to go and get all serious on me. So since then I have hated him. Alan and Brooke hate that I hate him cause we see him almost everyday.

My cousin Penny (Chad and Nicci’s dog) are getting along fine. Penny has showed me how to retrieve underwear from the clothes hamper and I have shown her how to be really disobedient with her parents. We play off of each other and it drives all of them mad. Penny and I still wrestle all the time. Sometimes Penny gets sick of it and starts whining like a little sissy but I still run at her and chew on her face…I know she loves it.

This last week I had to put up with this cat that lived in our house because a friends needed them to take care of it. His name was Avocado and he is a big black cat. He sure as heck didn’t taste like an Avocado. He tasted more like a chunk of fur that smelt like cat. I tried to bully him around but crap are cats fast. It was like one second he was there and the next he was gone! I don’t know what kinda magic they work but it must be the stupid kind cause it was dumb.

Anyway, I have only gotten like 16 hours of sleep today so I think I’m going to get back to my blanket on the couch and rest up for when Alan and Brooke get home and I can act super hyper and excited to see them. Really I just wanna make them feel relevant. They are so easily fooled.

Adios!

Love Sgt

Happy Anniversary!

So I’ve slacked off again and haven’t posted in a while and I apologize. This picture is from Easter.

We are just finishing the worst week of spring weather (7 straight days of cold, clouds and rain) but today is sunny and in the 70’s! Brooke and I have been here for 350 days. In a way this is our anniversary post. Therefore, I will give an update on how things are going right now and review our year.

Brooke is loving “beauty school” and is so ahead of the game she wishes she could be done with classes and work on the solon floor every night. BRAG ALERT! Brooke is the only student in her cohort to be asked numerous time during class to step out onto the solon floor and assist the other students in the program. This displays that here instructors see her talent and trust her on the solon floor months before she’s technically supposed to be working out there. Besides school, Brooke is taking advantage of very weekend since it’s her only free time.

For me, work is going alright but I have continued my quest to find a psychotherapist position. I have interviewed sporadically for therapist positions even after I started this job because I really want to get into one of those positions. I’ve interviewed with half a dozen places, a few of which have offered positions, but none of them have been exactly what I want. So if I make a move it’s got to be for a position I am going to love.

Both of us are looking forward to a full summer here in NYC while both of us have jobs and money to actually experience it. If you recall last year when we moved I didn’t even receive a first pay check until 3 months after we moved (late August) cause it took a while to find a job.

This first year in NYC really has been a blast. Nicci and Chad have become more than family, best friends. They have been great support in so many ways. We really experienced the city as “tourists” this last year. Visiting the Rockefeller, Chrysler, and Empire buildings, pending time touring the Metropolitan and Sex museums (ask me about it some time), touring Ellis Island, seeing Ranger and Yankee Games, hanging out at Coney Island and Long Island beaches, seeing a Broadway show at least once every couple of months, exploring Manhattan and Brooklyn and doing whatever else comes to mind.

From here, our plan is to just take things year to year. We have intentions of moving closer to the families in MN because we love them so much and can’t imagine living so far from them. But I will not disclose that tentative date. Yet, you never know what could happen I could become a ground breaking therapist and Brooke could become a stylist to the stars forcing us to purchase a high-rise condo on Park Avenue and we would live here for the rest of our lives. Or we could become victims of this economy and rush home to MN for safety and security. Most likely we will live as we are until life brings us to another place.

We love and miss you all! if ever you want to venture out east you are welcome to visit us with proper notice.

Love Alan and Brooke

Random Update

Good day all!

It's now spring time, the temps are warming and everyone seems a little more positive. Maybe it's just New York. We had a random 75 degree Saturday followed by 65 degree Sunday a week or two ago, it was nuts. Sgt. Pepper does not like to be walked in any temp below 35 degrees so this winter was a little hard on him. He would spite us for making him walk in the cold weather by not taking him "number two" some days and come home to find that he would have a treat waiting for us in the middle of the living room floor. Just a reminder from him letting us know how much he hates being walked in the cold.

Brooke is about to start her 6th and last week of her into classes at Carsten. You can read more about her time there by clicking on the link in the post below this one. She is loving it and building on her natural talent to do hair. Though I have been slightly more lonely since she started as I don't see her until after 10pm every Monday-Friday due to her classes. I look at it as we are paying out dues.

Work is also going fine for me. I had been submitting resumes and cover letters to numerous different places in the last 6 months to see is I could find new work in an out patient mental health clinic but as you all know the job market is bone dry and there is no room to be picky. I have had numerous interviews with multiple employers who have either pass over me after the interview or offered me the position only to find that they could not meet my pay requirements. I am in a very secure position right now being in the 1199 SEIU Union. Unions are a blessing and a curse. For example I have 4 weeks paid vacation to start, I can bank up to around 190 hours of sick time, 40 hours of personal time and other benefits. I pay a Union due of $70 a month and don't have to pay additional for health benefits. I don't pay any deductible for any service including medical treatment, mental health, eye care, or dental care. I also don't pay a single penny out of pocket for prescription meds. The benefits are unheard of. I also have what averages out to be a 6% pay increase every year because I work under contract. So, I was only going to take another job provided it was worth the move. So until the economy starts springing back I will be happy simply to have a job.

I hope all of you are doing well. We miss you all! I will try to have something slightly more entertaining here for you soon.

Love,
Alan and Brooke

Now that Brooke started beauty school, she started her own blog too. Keep up with her on her new blog at http://nycbeautyschoolgirl.blogspot.com/

Stay tuned for a new blog here, coming soon!

Adventures of a New York Beauty School Girl

This blog comes to you from the other half of the Hunt clan today. Normally Alan would be writing to you on our behalf. However, there has been a big change in our lives that I'd like to tell you all about. I have decided to go back to school, but not in the traditional sense. As many of you know, I've wanted to be a hair stylist for a long time and on Tuesday (Feb 17th) I became a student at the Carsten Institute for Cosmetology here in NYC. It's an Aveda concept school, which means they use Aveda products and techniques (for the most part) but they are owned by a family. The owner, Carsten Wilms, is a world-renowned stylist who has developed his own cutting technique, which he created and mastered in France. So let me tell you how I came to make this decision.

When we lived in MN, I used to get my hair cut and styled by students at the Aveda Institute. I knew that there was an Aveda Institute in NYC so I called to make an apt. but they couldn't get me in so I was researching other beauty schools online and that's when I found Carsten.  I fell in love with the school the moment I walked in the place but at that point I didn't even considered becoming a student. I had sort of given up on that dream. But visiting Carsten stirred something in me and I started to think about becoming a stylist again. When I went to the school to get my hair done, I chatted with a student who was in the part-time night program. She worked full time and went to Carsten every night, Monday through Friday. No way would I EVER be able to have that kind of discipline. But she told me all about her life, and she had a very similar story as mine. When she started the program, her husband had just finished grad school. She worked full time and couldn't afford to quit her job to go to school. When I left that night, I really started to think that it was something I would be able to do. But I honestly couldn't imagine giving up all my free time for a year. When I got home, I talked to Alan, and instead of worrying about how much money it would cost or about how much time it would take, he told he that I should do it. He told me that he had a chance to follow his dream and go to grad school so I should follow mine and go to beauty school. My original plan was to start this fall so that I could enjoy the summer but I was getting so excited to start. There's no time like the present. So that brings us to today.

I just completed my first week and so far I am LOVING it. On the second day we were already doing hands-on work and cutting hair (on mannequins of course). It's very exhausting though, having to work during the day and go straight to school at night. I don't get home until 10:30. I am getting used to it, but it's going to be hard to keep this schedule up for a year. 

So, my plan for the future. Part of the reason why I'm doing this is because I have always wanted to be able to work for myself. I am not a fan of Corporate America and I'm much too antsy to sit in a cubical for the rest of my life. What I really want to do is be a freelance stylist focusing on the wedding industry. I would love to be a personal stylist for weddings. For my wedding, we had our hair and makeup artist come to us. It was such a good experience! I also plan to get my makeup license eventually, and I'd love to learn hair and lash extensions. I want to be a full-service stylist! My goal is to be able to be working but still be able to stay home with our kids. 

So, I'm going to continue to keep you all updated on my own blog, but I haven't set it up yet. Stay tuned for the url! 

xoxo

The Hunts go to Washington

This past weekend (1/30-2/1) we rented a car with Chad and Nicci

 and stayed in Washington DC. This visit was our first and was a wonderful experience. We were blessed to h

ave stayed with some friends of Nicci and Chad for the weekend. They live a short drive and train ride away from down town DC. We did most of our touring on Saturday but went down town on Sunday as well. I just wanted to post and let you guys know about the trip.

On Saturday we started the day off on a light note by touring the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. We didn't get to see everything in it but the exibits we veiwed were extraordinary. The exibit that I thought was intriguing was about Nazi Propaganda. It explained the environment, pysche, visual images that influenced all that happened in Nazi Germany. The other notable exibit was the Hall of Rememberance. Here is a description of this hall from ushmm.org. "Diffused sunlight illuminates the Hall as it passes through the translucent glass of a high, center skylight. The floor is red granite, spattered and cracked by natural fissures. Narrow openings on the side walls let in light." All of this sets a reflective atmosphere for visitors. It was very cool.

After lunch we visited the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Here we saw artifacts ranging from some of the first flying airplains to Neil and Buzz's re-entry capsul in which they returned from the moon in. It was a blast!

In the evening we set out on a mad rush to visit the White House, The Washington Monument, the Reflection Pool, and the Lincoln Memorial. Our visit to the closest point of the front of the White House was stopped short by DC police who were evacuating the area. While we were there we saw a lot of activity around an assembling motorcade in the driveway in front of the house. We are confident we saw one of Obama's cars (the one used in the Inuguration day parade). We can only speculate but we know they wouldn't have evacuated the area for the period of an hour just so the cleaning crew could leave. It was all very exciting.

My favorite part of the entire visit was the Lincoln Memorial. It was breath taking! We walked the length of the Reflection Pool to arrive at the Loncoln Memorial. The grandiosity of the structure was amazing! I was told that one of the big marble tiles on the first tier of the stairs marks the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. Gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. So as I approached that spot I watched for the marker. When I found it I steped onto it, turned around as if I were there to address the masses and said to myself "So this is what Martin Luther King saw that day.", and my eyes teared a little. It was the thought of what it must have been like back on that day in the 1963 combined with the weight of Obama becoming the President that promted to me to feel emotional. I thought of how proud I am of this country, my country, which ascribes to such liberties as Obama said during his Inagural speech, which are the reason ". . .why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

Visiting DC was a wonderful experience. I hope every person who lives in America can experience its beauty, history, and story.

Miss you all very much and love you all even more!

Love Alan and Brooke

Ba-rock is How I Roll

With Barack Obama (BO) on the verge of being inaugurated as the 44th President of this nation my mind has been wondering of the things I'd like to see result from his election. Now I want to give a disclaimer to start with (this is for you Deb, and those who think like her). I do not expect Barack Obama to rise to become "Savior of America" nor have I ever believed that.

The first time I saw BO was on C-SPAN one night during the spring of 2007. He was encircled by a small crowd in a field in what looked to be a rural area. He was delineating his plans to improve policy in America regarding education, health care, the Iraq war, foreign relations and more. Before I landed on that channel I had never heard his name before. "Barack Obama, D-Senator, IL- Presidential Candidate" was posted on the bottom of the screen. After listening to him speak with passion about these issues I though to myself "I need to keep track of this guy because I have never heard someone relate to me like this". I don't need to provide you with a detailed timeline of how I became a BO supporter. However, All of this to say I have supported him and his ideas for longer than most of the millions who voted for him this last November. This is important because often times BO supporters are accused of "jumping on the Obama band wagon". The fact is I was on the wagon almost a year before BO was well known to the general American public.


This makes me feel special. Its like when you fall in love with a band that isn't well known, then throughout the next year you try to get your friends to listen to the band but nobody cares. All of a sudden your bands "new" single that you memorized a year ago comes on the radio and everyone goes nuts and starts singing along. All the while you feel ripped off cause you discovered the band, but people don't care. Regardless, you are just another band wagon jumper. Once more, all that to say people make me feel like that sometimes concerning my support for BO.


History lesson time! So FRD was the last President to take office during an economic hard time here in America, it was called the Great Depression, you may have heard of it. Throughout his 13 years in office he implemented multiple policies to "stimulate" the economy and stabilize it in the long run. His New Deals included creation of the Social Security System, and the FDIC among others. The other major issue he dealt with during his time in office was the second World War. He was also a major contributor to the creation of the UN which replace the League of Nations. The UN was created to help prevent future world wars. Superficially, that's FDR in a nut shell, no I'm not labeling him a nut.


Now fast forward to the present ZWOOOOOO! We find ourselves in a faltering economy and the Iraq War among many other issues. While its not a world war, its a war that has lasted longer than WWII. This sounds familiar, wait it is familiar! It sounds just like the 30's! Like back then, we now have to bring in a Democrat once to clean up the mess a republican made (you know I had to poke a little fun somewhere in here).


We, 53% of us at least, have placed BO in an extremely rare situation. Only a few presidents have had to deal with an economy like ours combined with a war time. Now I don't expect him to be without fault just as we shouldn't expect any President to be perfect. But I do expect him to keep his word to approach all issues with his administration to maximize effectiveness and efficiency. How long have you been doing your job and still make mistakes? I don't expect him to heal the sick. But I do expect him to provide a reasonable environment in which all Americans have their health care tended to. I don't expect him to make everyone wealthy. But I do expect him to manipulate the economy and taxation policies to be fair. I don't expect him to manage the Iraq war without casualties. But I do expect him to keep his word and manage it in a responsible considerate way that will set a landscape for Iraq to prosper. I don't expect him to cause all students to begin earning A's. But I do expect him to properly amend and fund education policy. I don't expect him to change Washington over night. But I do expect him to set an all inclusive tone and environment in which our policy makers can work together to perfect this union. He changed the way primary and presidential elections managed. So why can't he change the way Washington functions?


BO has bettered the things he has been involved with from a small community up to the way 129,391,711 people voted. I hope Barack keeps his word. I hope Barack will continue to inspire this nation to better places and greater things. I hope Barack sets our nation and as a result our world on a great course for years to come. And I hope I can look back in 40 years and tell my grandchildren that this nation and the world its in is the way it is because Barack Obama was here.


Here's to Barack Obama! We trust you, please don't let us down.