This n' that

Sweeney has broken his tail. It actually happened last Tuesday, but I've gotten lazy and haven't blogged much. We have no idea how it happened, R sat on the couch with him Tuesday night, he was on his back, 4 in the air and his tail just waving like a flag. He's not in any pain, never has even shown any discomfort. R is working hard to get it to heal straight.

A guy died here on campus the other day, in the testing center directly across the hall from my office. Very surreal. I'm working on getting our department a group rate at The Red Cross for CPR/First Aid certification. I had to honestly admit that I was afraid to perform CPR on the gentleman for fear that I would hurt him. It's literally been 21 years since I had CPR training. Evidently it didn't matter, but I really do not want to be in that position again.

Just read Matt's blog entry over here. I'm ordering Merle's Door and I'll report.

I haven't been blogging much lately not so much because I'm lazy (see above), but because I've just been busy. We're consolidating a bunch of physical servers here. I'm working on that, but we're missing some key software. We'll have to wait til next FY before we can get that. E (9 yr old step-daughter) is taking riding lessons and has been at riding day camp all week. Running back and forth to these lessons is time consuming. Worth it, but time consuming. We've also been going to the pool as often as possible in the afternoon.

For some reason, R and I have decided that this is the summer for home repair/improvement, even though the bank account is as empty as ever! As background, I bought the house we're in as a foreclosure in 2001. It had been empty for a little over a year. It was in pretty good condition, but beginning to show its age as well as the signs of a years neglect. A couple of years ago I replaced the fascia on the back of the house because the gutters had leaked, allowing the wood to rot. Now I need to replace more fascia on the kitchen side and along the front of the garage. The deck is in need of a couple of coats of paint too. So why not go ahead and tackle painting the house while we're at it!! I spent four hours almost finishing pressure washing the deck last night, contrary to our local water restrictions. I'll make sure to take some pictures of the process of painting the house. It really does need a color update! Hell, it needs a roof and HVAC too, but that's really not in the budget right now!

The dogs are doing well, Sweeney's tail not withstanding. It's too damned hot right now to run them, but they'll be ready come fall.

Finally, I have to post about my friends the Alleys. I love the folks like they're my family. David and Beth, Jennifer, Daniel, Jessi and Christian are about some of the best folks you'll ever, ever meet. They've been through a lot and could really use your thoughts, prayers, whatever. Jenn had a multiple organ transplant a couple of years ago and has just passed an annual physical with flying colors! Congratulations to her. Beth had to have a grapefruit size brain tumor removed late last year and is recovering, but is having a hard time with the surgery site healing. Jenn's doctor in Pittsburgh put Beth in touch with a couple of doctors who are working with her to get this rectified. Unfortunately, for the time being, Beth and David are going to have to stay in Pittsburgh. Please take time to read their story here.

I'll try to do better about posting. If I don't, I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July!

Maybe I'll start buying fuel at Exxon

The silly dictator Chavez down in Venezuela is at it again, demanding that oil companies doing business with pulling the oil out for his "government" submit to being "junior partners". There are a couple of companies willing to stand up for their shareholders and principle.

The joys of driving a Jeep

I've posted a couple of times now about either getting wet or narrowly being missed by showers while driving the Jeep. I left the house this morning knowing that there was a good (60% or 90%, depending on who you listened to) chance that I'd get rained on. Here's what the radar looked like when I left work:

The point of the arrow is where work is. The cross is close to home. See the little clear area? I was able to pretty much thread that and stay dry for the drive home. Didn't get wet until I turned onto our road and only a little bit at that! Lucky lucky!

My first MeMe or to Dan, meme... (edited)

It looks like fun... I saw this on Tam's, Babs, RN among others...


WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yeah...Well, my middle name anyway. There was this bootlegger way back in the day that my Great-Grandfather thought a lot of. So, my Grandfather, my Father and I got his last name as our middle names. It ends with me.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? A few weeks ago I was telling my step-daughter how proud of her I was.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Not really. I'm told it's not legible, but I don't have any problem

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Roast Beef

DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Three "steps". They're great!

IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Probably not. I can be quite the asshole. Actually, maybe... I'm more just straightforward than an asshole. Some people just can't handle that.

DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Not much.

DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yeah.

WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Nah. A lot better ways to get from here to down there.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? I didn't eat cereal for years, til I got remarried. Now, with the kids eating cereal a lot, I've started to again. Pretty much anything w/ Honey in the name. -Bunches of O's, -Nut Cheerios, -Nut Chex.

DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Depends. Most of the time I wear slip-on somethings, boots, sandals, whatever.

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Compared to a lot of 40 year olds, yeah, I guess. I cut trees as a side job and you sort of have to be.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Attitude. Just be yourself and not some blow-hard.

RED OR PINK? Nope. Earth tones

WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I love being fit, but damn it's hard to have the self control.

WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Grandmother and my Father. I didn't get to know my Father well enough. My Grandmother was my best friend for many, many years.

WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Khaki cargo shorts and white New Balance.

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Mmmmm. Slim Fast.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? White Stripes "Icky Thump".

IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Something green, I guess.

FAVORITE SMELLS? Cut grass, pine trees, a cool North Georgia trout stream early in the morning in the Spring, Greyhound feet.

WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My step-daughter. She asked for her mom... :)

FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? College Football, and I have to agree w/ Tam... Baseball, but it's a game, not a sport.

HAIR COLOR[S]? Brown, with a small streak of white and some smatterings of gray.

EYE COLOR? Brown

DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No contacts, no glasses.

FAVORITE FOOD? A nice New York Strip, seared and rare.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Not a big fan of pure horror, but suspense works for me. I like almost any kind of movie.

LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End.

WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Yellow/Navy striped golf shirt.

SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer. I'm getting tired of being cold in the Winter. And it doesn't get that cold where we are.

HUGS OR KISSES? Yes, please.

FAVORITE DESSERT? Cheesecake w/ good strong, black coffee.

MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? No one. Well, Dan might.

LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Anyone.

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Tom Clancy's The Sum of all Fears.

WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Optical mouse don't need no steenkin mouse pad.

WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? The Riches.

FAVORITE SOUND[S]? The sound of my wife's voice.

ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Rolling Stones.

WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Tropic Star Lodge, Pinas Bay, Panama

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I can take stuff apart, fix it, and put it back together. I learned 2/3 of that from my dad and developed the last part myself!!! :)

WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Georgia Baptist Hospital. But I think I was switched at birth.

WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Yeah, anyone.

This is cool

Yeah, geeky, but cool. It's been since the 1880's since the standard for the kilogram was last set. Now scientists are going to get a little more precise in the standard. Thanks to /..

Say it ain't so

I've never been a big boxing fan. Sure, I'd be happy to get together with the guys and toss back a few while watching the big heavyweight fights back in the day, but that was more socializing than fandom. My uncle, however, has always been a boxing fan. I remember as a teenager going to my cousins and listening to his analysis of the latest fights. One of his favorites, thus one fighter that I was exposed to and semi followed some of his career was Hector "Macho" Camacho. Seems he got himself in a bit of a pickle. Too bad. He was a hell of a fighter once.

Justice...

Genarlow Wilson freed.

I don't get what was so hard about this case.

[Edit: 8:10 pm EDT]
What in the hell is my state guvment thinking? Now they're going to spend the taxpayers hard earned money to fight the judges decision to free Wilson? Must be why Sonny vetoed the property tax "rebate" earlier this year.

AB1643 - California Health Pets Act

SayUncle and Squeaky Wheel Seeks Grease have both picked up on the fact that AB1634 passed the California General Assembly last week. Both blogs are focusing on the fact that if you are a breeder of pure-breds, you are exempt from this bill. Truth is, in order to be exempt you have to be licensed breeder, subjecting yourself to the whims of local and state legislation and regulation. Ok, so you're saying 'So what?'. What if you're a hobby breeder, raising show dogs or as we do, raise performance hounds in order to preserve function? In Sacramento, an intact dog or cat will cost you $150 for a license. Most of these hobby breeders aren't making any money, just doing it to try to preserve and hone function. The vast majority come off the hip for vaccinations, feed, exams, to the tune of thousands. We're supposed to shell out more money for an already losing proposition?

So, just to be fair, this isn't class warfare. It's not pure-bred v. mutt. What it comes down to is we all need to stick together to fight more government intrusion in our lives!

Dept of I shouldn't, but I just can't help it

Spotted in today's AJC:



I just couldn't resist!

Look

Over there.

I've updated the blogroll and links section to include blogs I'm now reading.

Thank you

June 6, 1944.

Cool weather gizmo

I've used weather.com for years, like most people I'm sure. I switched for a while to using weather underground and still use it occasionally. The Weather Channel now uses MS Virtual Earth satellite photos for their mapping. You can see down to street level what the weather is doing (or not). BTW, the rain didn't reach the ground and the Jeep is dry so far! :)

Pass this around

I got the link to this here. I've seen eBay auctions and heard plenty of tales of empty boxes being "mis-represented" as actual merchandise (ie "Apple Ipod-30G-box"), but I never imagined that a brick and mortar could get away with it. Luckily, I don't have to boycott CompUSA since they've closed them all in our area.

Technorati Tags: rip-off

Other than that

Last night, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It was a great movie, full of spectacular effects, but a little confusing at times. I was pretty much able to keep track of what was going on, but the crossing, double-crossing, triple-crossing and even quadruple-crossing got a little convoluted. Overall, it was a fun movie, not quite as fun as the original, better than the second I think.

This morning I got to sleep until about 8:00. Quite a difference from the past three nights when dogs and kids have gotten us up and kept us from getting a real good nights sleep. After getting up, I had a cup of coffee, caught up on a few e-mails and read some blog stuff. I found a link from some post to Windows Live Writer Beta which I'm trying out for blogging. So far, I kind of like it.

Went running this morning too for the first time in about a week and a half. The last time I ran I got this sharp pain in my hip. I went out a couple of days later to give it a shot but the pain was making me alter my stride so that I was actually pulling my back. So, I've rested for a few days and was able to make the full run this morning. The hip feels better so I guess I'll get back on a regular schedule.

Not at the II

I'm sitting at home on Saturday morning, the first day of the II. I can't believe that we're missing our second II in a row. Last year was all about kids and injury. Sweeney was coming off his ligament repair surgery and wasn't ready for 2 days of competition and the kids get out of school right before the II weekend. This year, it's money money money and kids :) . Once again, kids got out of school Friday, so it makes it hard to get away. Gas prices being upwards of $3.00/gallon would make the driving portion almost $350! I drove a motorhome from Cartersville to Taos, New Mexico then up to Colorado Springs and back for around $400 a few years ago. That's the impact of gas prices!

Another factor in not making the trip is the fields. The fields are small. We would not have run our fast Greyhound on that field at all. Whippets might have done well, but there are visual barriers all the way around the field. We just didn't think that we'd get optimum performance out of our Whippets.

Hopefully we'll get a good location, during a good part of the year. I doubt we'll miss another II. The dogs are getting older and next year will be on the east coast. There's a group in Region 8 who have secured what I hear is a very nice field in Leesburg, Virginia for  the 2008 II. The sticking point now is the date since the field is available not only on the first weekend of June, but also during cooler parts of the year.  Although I'm not too bothered/worried about it since my dogs are acclimated and run well in the heat, Virginia can be quite hot in June. So, I guess we'll have to wait a bit to find out where the 2008 II is.

Good luck to everyone in Minnesota this weekend. Wish I was up there with you!!

Maybe Dan will post another update tonight.