[CougarGrad]

Hey there... just read this story straight through. It's been a fun read, and mucho congrats to you and Kappa!

I loved the "pet" speculation, and when you revealed that it was a squirrel, I laughed mightily. My alma mater is notorious for its many squirrels who do not fear man or lawnmower. Those little boogers will find someone sitting on a park bench, scamper right up to her, and put their little paws on her feet or thigh or shoulder (as happened to me) in attempts to look cute and earn peanuts, which are sold on campus at several convenience stores for precisely that purpose. In fact, in my foreign language classes, when we got to advanced verb forms, we'd sit outside and practice creating sentences with the squirrels as the subjects... "The squirrels have no pants on." "A squirrel is driving my car to the store." "That squirrel has never voted in a Presidential election."

Yeah, I know. We were nerds. I still am.