Brandon's been in Santa Clara this week for business, so Koda and I have been boring each other to death keeping each other company. I've been kind of boring in that all I've been doing is reading and practicing building web pages. He's been sort of boring in his chewing of rawhides and trying to get me to play catch with him for the 27th time since Monday.

Speaking of my quirky fuzzy roommate, he's got this sort of random habit of hopping into the bathtub every so often. At first, we couldn't figure out what he was doing, because he hates bath time- and if you've ever had a pet, you'll realize that just like us humans, they have their favorite spaces. Pets (and I suppose, some humans) are very routine-oriented, so to see Koda suddenly going to a new spot- especially a place he normally despises- caught my attention. Since he's done it a few times, we have decided that we think he occasionally hops in the tub as a subtle way of getting our attention. It's not that he goes in there to lay down in a cool spot. When we finally discover him, he's always standing up in the middle of the bathtub, like he's just waiting to be noticed. It happens a lot when we've been been on our respective computers for too long. There are a dozen other ways he gets us to look up from what we're doing: by squeaking his noisy tennis ball toy, placing a stuffed octopus on our lap, running crazy figure-8 formations from the bedroom through the living room over and over. Instead of going the obvious route, Koda somehow silently hoists himself into the bathtub- normally a really noisy task when all 70 pounds hops in there on bath day. The only way I ever realize he's in there is when the squeaking toys are silenced for a period of time, and in the quiet I hear the subtle shuffling of his paws on the floor of the tub. It was quiet tonight, and I heard that familiar shuffling sound. When I went in to investigate, Koda was hangin' in the tub, standing up, looking at me with his big brown eyes.

Remember when you were little and you'd pretend to run away, but instead would go around the corner of the house and hide behind the lilac bush hoping that someone would notice? I wonder if the bathtub is Koda's lilac bush.

These past few weeks have been a refreshing reminder of who Brandon and I are together. We've had quite a few talks about our future wedding, and out of everything we've talked about, we've concluded that it's really important to us to cast away the traditional in order to have a wedding that speaks to who we are. This has made us really sort of ponder who Brandon is as a person, who I am, and most importantly, we're reflecting upon what exactly it is that makes up "us."

How often do you really think about the relationship dynamic you hold with anyone you know and love- friend, love of your life, or family member? You might know you always have so much fun with a certain friend, or that you really have great heart-to-heart talks with someone, or that you can just plain be yourself with someone else, but really thinking and talking about what we are to each other and considering what defines "us" has been an interesting process, in a good way. I think that's what's so great about relationships- just when you think you've known someone for what feels like forever, you realize that we're all constantly evolving.

This is a photo of me and Brandon. Our first photo together, a Polaroid picture taken by my dear friend Sarah. A little over 7 years ago, Sarah and her husband Andy hosted a Christmas party where I introduced my new boyfriend Brandon to all my close friends. As the photo was being taken, I'm pretty sure I was thinking, "Yay! Our first picture together! We are so almost official now."

If I would have known that Brandon and I were going down in history as husband and wife (and that the Kodak company would one day retire Polaroid cameras), I certainly would have taken better care of this picture. The defining characteristic of a Polaroid is the white border around that photo. In a moment of genius, removed that border so I could fit the photo inside a tiny picture frame. I also let this photo get shuffled around in a box multiple times throughout my many moves with who knows what random books or art supplies or other mementos.

Here are some recent photos of us. I think Bran looks the same! My hair is no longer bleach blonde, and the newfangled digital cameras are apparently great for capturing the intricate details of almost 7 years worth of laugh lines.

We just got rear-ended by a Range Rover while stopped at a red light. It was rush hour traffic, so Bran got out of the car and motioned for the guy to pull over to the right. We started merging to the right, and he turned left and clearly sped off.

As illogical as this is going to sound, I somehow I feel like someone who can afford a nice SUV should have better manners.

Note to self for future reference: If you ever get into a car accident and need to pull over, take a moment to memorize the license plate number.

Some people suck. Most are lovely.

I got a new computer this week. I had been out of commission for two days, had something due for my class the following day, so time of was the essence. I essentially threw all research and brand-loyalty out the window and bought the one I could afford without having to finance.

It was the first time I have outright purchased a computer without financing, which a few times has resulted in me making payments long after my computer has rendered itself obsolete. By obsolete, I mean completely died on me. Even though I downgraded in a sense moving from a mobile laptop to a budget-friendly desktop, paying for cash and being able to say an enthusiastic "no way" when offered 6-months interest-free financing was empowering.

My new computer came with a 60-day trial of Office 2007, which has me extremely excited. Subconsciously, I find myself wanting to apply desktop publishing design principles to Excel spreadsheets. In the business world, this often translates to bolding a font and adding color to the background of any header rows. Unfortunately, the older versions of Excel sort of stifle the urge I feel to choose a more contemporary version of robin's egg blue or olive pear green to compliment rows of black text on white background. I use Excel pretty frequently at work, so I'm really excited to see that this newer version of Excel features a custom color palette capability. The result? The new range of eye-pleasing color options is vast. Small things are sometimes really good things.