In honor of our new pets for the week....

In case you haven't read below, Tricia and I are house sitting this week for a family with two dogs, both affectionately named after obscure Lord of the Rings characters. Andrea Smith, my undergraduate student worker, friend, and Lord of the Ring extrodinaire informed me that their names are Deagal and Balin, with Deagal being S'meagal cousin (DUH!) and Balin being Gimli's cousin (OF COURSE!).

In order to gain insight into our rental pets, I checked out these characters on the Interweb. Obviously, the place to search to learn about them is to go to Google and type in "Lord of the Rings characters". Luckily, I also found this: a way to find out what character you would be if Tolkien had written about you...or something.

So I begin taking the quiz to find out who I am: Merry.

What LoTR Character Are You?

"You are most like Merry. Hooray for you! You have no problems fitting in with a crowd, and you are often the life of the party. Good thing you're really smart too. Although many people like you, you are very serious about life. Go ahead and make the best of it. Just remember that those who are closest to you will be lost forever if you forget them."

After contemplating the whole situation, I decided that I might have cheated and answered questions because of how I feel at work or how I want to be perceived or some other biasing event. For example, would I really go to battle with long-handled sword? Wouldn't I much more prefer a battle axe (they are more fun, but in all honesty, I might pick a bow and arrow because then I would avoid hand-to-hand combat entirely, but not punk out like those that pick "I'd use magic"--Andrea, I'm looking at you). And besides that great question, there's the equally insightful question about where I would visit first at the mall? Just because I'm 22 now, would I really go straight to the clothing store? Isn't that just the choice that is born out of my current financial situation (I mean, why else would I go to the mall, besides to see the arcade (just kidding)). After more careful contemplation, I found out that I'm actually a touch more like Gimli, the aforementioned cousin of Balin.

What LoTR Character Are You?

You are most like Gimli. Most people think you're pretty rough, but you're actually rather sophisticated. Unlike others, you don't need everything to be perfect. You're flexible. When problems come your way, you face them head-on and get whatever help you need. You also stick to your morals very closely, and you are unlikely to compromise. You are very loyal to your friends, but don't be so controlling!

So there you have it. I want all of you to know that I'm not the tough exterior that I portray. I am actually very smart and flexible.

Ok, I can't go on. I just referred to a short hairy dwarf-man as flexible.