Profile #8: Ricky Martin Van Buren Raden

Name: Ricky Martin Van Buren Raden


Age: 2 years


Relationship to me: First cat of my own ownership!

Where he lived previously: In some lame-o home where the owner had health problems and couldn't take care of him. So his previous family gave him up to the Humane Society

How I found him: So I've wanted a pet ever since I moved to college but I didn't want to get one until I knew I could take good care of it. Lately I've felt like I reached that milestone in life. So, I started talking to my friends about what pet I should get a few weeks ago.

I was pretty sure I wanted a dog. A smallish dog like a Bichon Frise or a Havanese. But I found out they would be pretty complicated to take care of, and so my mom encouraged me to get a cat. I didn't really want a cat.

If I did get a cat, I wanted to get a female cat. But I didn't really want a cat.

So I went to the Humane Society and Ricky meowed and I got a male cat.

Fame: Ricky was the KAFE 104.3 Pet of the Week the week before I adopted him! He was on the radio! HE IS FAMOUS!

Likes:

• Water in cups
• Tipping cups that have water in them over
• Super-snugging (snugging that involves pushing his fuzzy face up against your face and purring loudly, and then plopping his 13 pound cat body down on your chest and continuing the face snug)
• Sitting in small, enclosed spaces
• Being in my room and not in the laundry room
• Pounce! Kitty Treats
• Kitty hugs
• Being brushed
• Tummy rubs
• Pooping 16 times a day
• Being my pet

Dislikes

• Being outside
• Being in the laundry room
• Not being with people
• Getting neutered
• The size of his current litter box (it is too small and he pulls the plastic liner off EVERY DAY)

Summary: Ricky MBV Raden is the best cat ever.

Profile #7: Rachel Handy

Name: Rachel Handy


Age: 21

Hometown: Ferndale, Washington

Relationship to me: Housemate and next-year apartment-mate

Occupation: Student

Major: Human Services

Nicknames: Roachel, Shredder, Ching, Rachie Roo, Womples, Flip-flop


Fun Facts about Rachel:

She has curl-tastic hair.


She went through a phase when she ate ice cream for three meals a day.

She is the middle of 7 siblings.


She and her family own an espresso stand called "Handy Shots"

She is taller than me.


She is secretly funny. It's like you know her for 2 years and then she says something outrageously funny and then WHAM, every day she gets funnier.

She went on a mission trip to Haiti this past spring.







She was homeschooled.




Activities:

Volunteering at Compass
Reaching things that are very high
Listening to Ace of Base
Saying funny things
Drinking Wild Turkey
Watching America's Next Top Model
Consuming White Chocolate
Wearing mis-matching grey sweatsuits

How Rachel Sees Herself:
"I am not very strong at doing chores or dishes... but I am very strong..... spiritually. If I had to rate myself, I would say that I am a little bit higher than Mother Theresa, but not quite as high as Jesus."


Rachel eats her macaroni and cheese with a fork.

Profile #6: Rachel Handy

Name: Rachel Handy


Age: 21


Hometown: Ferndale, Washington


Relationship to me: Housemate and next-year apartment-mate

Occupation: Student

Major: Human Services



Nicknames: Roachel, Shredder, Ching, Rachie Roo, Womples, Flip-flop

Fun Facts about Rachel:

• She has curl-tastic hair.
• She went through a phase when she ate ice cream for three meals a day.
  
• She is the middle of 7 siblings.
  
• She and her family own an espresso stand called "Handy Shots"


• She is taller than me.


• She is secretly funny. It's like you know her for 2 years and then she says something outrageously funny and then WHAM, every day she gets funnier.


• She went on a mission trip to Haiti this past spring.

She was homeschooled.






Activities:

• Volunteering at Compass
• Reaching things that are very high
• Listening to Ace of Base
• Saying funny things
• Drinking Wild Turkey
• Watching America's Next Top Model
• Consuming White Chocolate
• Wearing mis-matching grey sweatsuits

How Rachel Sees Herself:

"I am not very strong at doing chores or dishes... but I am very strong..... spiritually. If I had to rate myself, I would say that I am a little bit higher than Mother Theresa, but not quite as high as Jesus."

Rachel eats her macaroni and cheese with a fork.

Profile #5: Charles Lewis Jobe

Name: Charles Lewis Jobe

Age: 45

Birthday: October 21st (Although until last year, literally, I thought it was the 23rd)

Hometown: Puyallup, WA

Relationship to me: Dad. Technically, he is my step-father, but I don't think of him that way. He's just my dad.

Nicknames: Noodles, Papa Bear, Papason, Chuck Diesel, Chuckles, Cranky Curls, Chaz (that's a new one I picked for him), Posh, Posh Spice, Vic, Father Dearest, Thor

Quick Summary of life history: Mom was from Germany and dad was in the military; lived in Germany for a few years in his childhood; became an optician, worked at Willows Optical, became co-owner, married my mom Laureen circa 1988.

Nuclear Family - Mom, Guisella; Dad, Charlie Sr; Brothers Leary and Dave, Sisters Linda and Caren, he was #4 of 5 kids in the family


German words I've learned from my dad: (I am making up the spelling of all of these words)

- Machenelle = Hurry up.
- Splikenze Deutch? = nothing, he just always says that when he wants to make noise for no reason
- Guten morgen = Good morning

Things Papa Bear Likes:

- MASH (the TV show)
- Monkeys (they make him laugh)
- Answering the phone in ways that he thinks are funny (ie "Dominos Pizza, how may I help you?" or "Why are you calling again?")
- Chasing my brothers
- Howling so that all the dogs will start howling
- Remodeling the house and building things
- Medical TV shows
- Eyeballs
- The name "Vic"
- Beating my brothers in physical challenges

Comfort Item: His super-gross decaying pillow from like 1965 that he insists is the perfect consistency for sleeping on. Seriously, it's grosser than Snowy.

Claim to Fame: He has several.

1) He starred in plays in high school. This includes playing Edmund in Narnia and Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar.

2) Our house was featured on an episode of Trading Spaces. It was recently voted the #1 Trading Spaces Episode of all time. You can even watch it on DVD.

Fun Facts About Charles Lewis Jobe:

1) He had an afro in high school.

2) Once, I was upstairs sleeping and he didn't know I was home so he thought he was alone. I was awakened by an extremely loud vocal rendition of "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? WOOF, WOOF WOOF-WOOF!"

3) He has always coached my little brothers' sports teams.

4) He pretends not to like the dogs but he really, really does. (He actually doesn't like the cats, however.)

5) He has 2 jokes that he loves to tell over and over to new people. These have been the same 2 jokes that he has told since I was 13.

Love Language: My dad expresses love through Acts of Service. I wouldn't mention this except for that it is so, so true about him. Once, I really, really wanted to go to Ellensburg to see my friend but I there was some complication with me driving my car over there...the pass... something. Anyway, I wasn't going to be able to go and I was absolutely crushed and then my dad was like, "I'll take her." He voluntarily drove for like 4 hours to drop me off in Ellensburg. It was ridiculously generous. It was the nicest thing.

I've got a good dad.

Profile #4: The Llama at Frontier Ranch

Name: Funny Llama

Age: Unknown

Relationship to me: Inspiration.

Fun facts about Funny Llama: I met this llama 2 years ago, once. He stuck his face in the hay and then looked at me. I was laughing so hard I am impressed that I was able to get a picture of him.

He continues to inspire me daily.

Profile #3: Rebecca Barber

Name: Rebecca Barber

Nicknames: Becca, Beaver, Schnoodle, Fartface

Age: 23

Hometown: Shelton, WA

Current home: Bellingham, WA

Education: BA in Sociology from WWU

Occupation: Full-time (and by full-time I mean like 70 hours a week) Inntern at the Inn Ministries


Once.... Becca dressed up like Mrs Beaver from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. She wrapped a scarf around her head to be the fur. We didn't realize that she was going to do this. We laughed and laughed and laughed.


Becca Likes:

• Babies
• Chocolate
• Facebook Photo Albums
• Jesus
• Justin Timberlake
• Heartwarming stories
• Baby Blue

Diseases Named After Becca: Becca-rettes. Becca-rettes can be defined as an "uncontrollable outpouring of inappropriate comments or gestures, often sexual in nature." Becca-rettes was given its name after this event:

Several friends were visiting Tommy Lingbloom's house during the summer. During lunch, there were a few different conversations going on simultaneously. Without warning, Becca interrupted herself, turned towards people that were engaged in another conversation and said very loudly and directly, "COW BALLS." All conversations stopped. What? What did Becca say?

Cow balls.

Becca's Skills:

• Singing
• Taking care of people when they are sick
• Taking pictures
• Pretending to be her butt in slow motion

Great Becca Quotes:

1. "He'll always be Lil Bow-Wow to me." (re: Lil Bow-Wow changing name to Bow Wow)


2. "I like to part my hair down the stairs."


3. "He was dating a 5'2-year-old."


4. "How much smoke did he pot?"

Fun Fact About Becca: She has a larger than ordinary collection of photos she's taken of herself. She very much enjoys snapping several photos of herself in one session.

Evidence:

And that's Becca. I love you!

Profile #2: Tucker Jobe

Name: Tucker Jobe

Age: 6 human years... 42 dog years? (Geeze, I didn't realize Tucker was middle-aged)

Home: Puyallup, Washington

Breed: 3/4 ShitZu 1/4 Poodle

Weight: Like 7 pounds

Relationship: My mother's dog / my replacement in her life when I left for college

Comfort Item: Small squeaky frog, deemed "Froggy." Froggy smells like the underside of a dead animal carcus. He has many similar animal toys that also squeak (Ducky, Squirrelly, Beary, Santa Frog) but he doesn't like them as much as he loves Original Froggy. (Note: This is actually a cat toy. No one has told Tucker this.)

Favorite Pastime: Tucker enjoys a variety of activities, but his favorite would be the game "Where's Froggy?" which consists of hiding Froggy under a blanket and squeaking him. Tucker then paws at the blanket until he's tired (usually after about 30 minutes of incessant play) when he will crawl under the blanket, find Froggy, lay down and squeak him in his mouth for awhile. It's a very fun game.

Other Favorite Games:

• "Gimme Dat Frog" (chasing Tucker with Froggy in mouth around the house)


• "I Love Froggy" (holding Froggy tenderly in your hands and squeaking him tantalizingly at Tucker)


• "Fetch Froggy" (just like it sounds)

Occupation: Full-time Neighborhood Patrol. Tucker takes this job very, very, very seriously. If anything goes by the window at all, even if it has gone by the window every day for the past 6 years, Tucker alerts the family through a series of high-pitched, ear-piercing barks. It is very useful. Last time I was home, Tucker alerted me to the fact that one of our neighbors was pulling into his driveway. I wouldn't have realized this essential fact were it not for our Tucker Alert System.

Biggest Pet Peeve: When any other animals get attention of any kind from anyone in the house. Tucker knows that he is the cutest, sweetest, best animal available, and it rightfully bothers him when not everyone is paying attention to this fact.

Most Painful Memory: He actually has 2.

1. When Derek dropped him as a puppy. It took him about 5 years to forgive Derek, and is still fairly agitated towards all teenage boys.
   
2. When my mom put him in a tiny red dog t-shirt that said "Little Devil" and he thought he looked quite handsome until Sassy (our other dog) laughed at him. Now he won't wear tiny dog t-shirts.

Personal Qualities:

Opinionated

Barky

Snugly (when he wants to be)

Perky

Favorite People: My brother's best friend Chris Perez, my grandmother, Monica McLean, me

Food of Choice: Cheese. Tucker loves cheese forever and if you say "Cheese" he will sit by the refrigerator and wait for you to give him some.

Look-Alikes: A Gremlin, The Grinch, a Yeti, occasionally Mickey Mouse (when he gets his ears cut really short)

Poem I wrote in honor of Tucker Jobe This Christmas

Profile #1: Earl Johnson, Grandfather

Name: Earl Johnson
Age: Grandpa-age
Home: Orting, WA
Relationship to me: My grandfather on my mom's side.






Fun Facts about Grandpa Earl:

• He worked as a commercial fisherman.

• He is left-handed, but went to a Catholic school as a child and they taught him that left-handedness was Satanic. So they made him write with his right hand. Now he is right-handed.

• I call him Early Bird sometimes.

• Early Bird does not think that students should use calculators. When I was in high school, I was taking Advanced Placement Calculus and I was doing my homework on the kitchen table. As I was taking an fractional equation to the fourth derivitive and graphing it, my wise grandfather snatched my calculator away and told me, "School's gotten to easy these days. You know, Nicole, when I was in school we didn't have these little machines. You had to use your BRAIN." Thanks Grandpa. I had to do the remainder of my homework without a calculator (which, by the way, is impossible. After he went home, I took the calculator back and finished my homework.)

• He looks very cute in Irish hats.

• He sometimes makes offensive comments about drunk drivers. Not offensive TO the drunk drivers, mind you, but offensive to society. Things like, "Some people drive better drunk because they are more careful."

• One of my favorite pictures ever taken is with him. He's throwing me up in the air when I was like two. I don't remember this, but I look very joyful in the pictures.

• He was locked in a closet for "a long time" as a child and when he came out, he had lost the ability to speak. At his school, Sister Laureen (one of the nun teachers) taught him to talk again and he named my mom after her.

• He was quite the hottie as a young man. I've seen pictures. Yeah, Grandpa.

• He likes the Cougars.

• He goes to Alaska every year and used to bring me back presents. He doesn't so much bring me presents anymore. What's the deal, Grandpa?

• His mother's name was DeMay. I have one of her piano books with Christmas songs in it. I think about her when I use it at Christmastime.

• He has donated a lot of blood in his life. I know because the blood bank he goes to always gave him fuzzy-ball people with sticky feet that said "I Donated Blood" and he would give them to me.

Early Bird is a fantastic grandfather. He always came to my dance recitals and I know they were super boring. Thanks, Grandpa. I love you.