As I sit here typing this entry, I’m enjoying a fresh cup of Peet’s Guatemala Coffee (thank you Ken, Ken and Chris). I’m enjoying this fantastic coffee in a new Alterra coffee cup (thank you Mike), while I download free songs from Napster (thank you Holly). My new 40GB iPod is currently syncing 18.9GB of music upstairs on my main workstation (thank you Mom) and my new Scott eVest is hanging on the back of my chair (thank you NPUG). I don’t mean to gloat, but a little over a week ago was my birthday and I have to say I made out like a bandit!
For starters, my Mom flew us to Chicago for the weekend. We flew up late Friday evening so that we could get a good start on the day. Saturday morning we drove up to Woodstock, Illinois to pick apples. There was a Canadian cold front that made it breezy and chilly and the temperatures were down in the 40’s for most of the weekend. That didn’t stop us from picking three bags of apples though. 🙂 We picked Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Winesap and some others that I forget the name of. We then made our way further north into Wisconsin and made a stop for some cheese at the Mars Cheese Castle and for some apple pie at the Apple Holler. Before making our way up to Milwaukee, we took a side trip over to Waterford to see Waterford Precision Cycles. There wasn’t much to see since they are located in a business park, not to mention closed, but it was neat to see where these fantastic bicycles are made.
Category / family & friends
Gracie’s Birthday
As I woke up this morning, the alarm on my pa1m0ne Tungsten C was going off in an attempt to remind me of something. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and padded my way over to the chest of drawers on top of which my PDA lay beeping. I picked it up and looked and the white screen with a full screen message in blue text announcing that today is Gracie’s birthday.
My first reaction was that of glee. I was reminded that it was this time last year that Gracie found me and that today was her special day (if only to me). Yet in the next breath, I was reminded that Gracie is no longer a puppy and that made me just a little bit sad. That little tinge of sadness only remained for a moment, but it was palpable. For a fleeting instant I quickly went through the statistics of what a dog’s average life span is and how much longer I have with her in my life. Morbid as that may be, the thought of not having Gracie in my life is a thought I can’t bear to entertain. Hearing how Tyler Hamilton had to put his dog down yesterday perhaps put these thoughts more in the forefront of my mind. Whatever made me dive into these doldrums, I quickly shook my head to knock these thoughts loose, because today is a happy and special day, not a sad one.
My Cup Runneth Over
From time to time my life, like yours I’m sure, gets a little hectic. For me, it’s when everything seems to be happening at the same time that I get a little bit stressed out. There’s big projects that I’m working on for clients that are coming up on deadlines. There’s the NPUG Redesign that’s currently under way and InterPUG isn’t far behind. Then there’s the 4th of July performance at my church, where I have to play the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, which I don’t know, on my trumpet and sing in a men’s southern gospel number, which I also don’t’ know. Oh and did I forget to mention that company is coming up for the weekend and the house is a wreck? :O
It’s times like these where I think to myself, “how did I get into this mess?” I knew I had company coming in, so why did I agree to this 4th of July performance? Well, it’s simple – I don’t know how to say no. 🙂 On top of that, I’m a bad judge of time and as a result, I tend to underestimate the time necessary to get something done. Take this weekend for example, on Saturday I had the following items on my to-do list:
1. Mow the grass.
2. Edge and weed.
3. Re-clean the pool.
4. Clean the kitchen.
5. Clean my office.
6. Do the invitations for Caroline’s party
My Dog Is A Bobble Head
It’s been awhile since Gracie was last groomed and since she’s been playing with Tumini and Vegas (the neighbor’s dog) a lot, her hair became a bit matted in a few places. After dropping her off yesterday, the groomer called to let me know that they would have to cut her very short in order to get out the matted areas. Since it’s now summer, I had planned on getting her cut short, but not quite as short as the groomer had to take it.
Why Louisiana Is Called “Sportsman’s Paradise”
My father-in-law took a fishing trip this past weekend. His firm wrapped up a big case and he treated his associates to a fishing trip in and around the Gulf with Captain Frank Moore (aka Fishing With The King). They had an incredible catch as evidenced by this picture. According to the Captain’s Log…
Things Parents Say That Leave A Legacy
You wouldn’t know it by looking at me today, but I used to be a little kid. I was the smallest, skinniest little kid in school and being at the bottom of the food chain, as it were, had it’s own set of hurdles. As you might imagine, I had issues just like any child growing up would, but my issues centered around my height (or lack thereof) and my weight (or lack thereof) and how being little sucked. There were plenty of people along the way that helped bolster my confidence. Take Coach Newport for example. My 6th grade gym coach made the comment that being the smallest was a good thing because, “You get to be at the top”, whenever we would make a human pyramid. Clearly this made a lasting impression on me, as did other people in my life, since I remember it to this day. However my Mom made the most lasting impressions. Impressions that still have an indention in my psyche today – only I didn’t know they were false.
If anyone shared my pain of being little, it was my Mother. She was the one I’d run home to, to share my fears and anxieties over my size. Like any good mother, she would do everything in her power to make me feel better about myself. I remember one instance where she took me to the doctor. I don’t recall if I insisted, or if she thought up this on her own, but we went to him to ask him how tall I would be when I grew up. My Mother is 5′ 10″ and my Dad is 6′ so the doctor told me I would be 6′ 4″. To a kid that is smaller than every single person in his class, this was akin to being told you’re going to pull the sword from the stone, or grow up to be president. It wasn’t until I was in college and my height stalled at 5’10” that I realized that the doctor had just pulled the answer out of the sky. He had no way of knowing for sure. Yet, I always had doubts about his answer. There was no machine, or instrument he used to come up with his answer, he just said “You’re going to be 6’4” “. Although I hoped he was right, when he wasn’t, I didn’t put a lot of weight in it. I mean it wasn’t like he was family or anything.
Learning To Let Go
There’s a dog that was a recent addition to our neighborhood. He lives just two doors down and goes by the name of Vegas. He’s a sweet puppy, but a big puppy although I don’t know what breed he is. He has the coloring of a Doberman, but his ears are a bit floppy. I’ve heard that Dobermans can get their ears trimmed to give them the upright ears they are know for and maybe his haven’t been trimmed. I don’t know, I’m no expert, but whatever breed he is, he’s sweet as can be.
His owner gives him a lot of room to run – the whole neighborhood in fact. Just about any time of the day, I can expect a brief visit from Vegas. He’ll run up, his tale wagging with bright happy eyes that seem to be saying “Hey! What cha doin’? Need any help?” I don’t like how he sometimes tramples our garden in order to come say hello, but he’s just so happy to see people that it’s hard to stay mad at him. Often times, as I see him run back to his own home, I wish that I could give Gracie some room to run and let her off the leash a little bit. I would never give her full run of the neighborhood like Vegas’ owner does, but some freedom would be nice.
Part of my resistance has been due to Gracie’s propensity for running to greet new people and/or animals. When I have her attention, she usually minds me, but when she’s been on the leash and a squirrel darts across our path, I’m thankful that she’s tethered to me. Walking through the neighborhood during our evening walk, I’ve felt the temptation to unhook the leash and let her run free a little bit, but my overwhelming fear that Gracie would tear off and not come back is too strong. I’d like to think that she’d stay close, but it’s such an unknown and if she were to run away, or get hurt, I don’t think I could take it.
S A W E E T!
I just got off the phone with SprintPCS Customer Service and they informed me that Nationwide long distance includes Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and …drum roll please… G U A M. That means that I can call my buddy Dan, who just moved to Guam, for free! So although he’s halfway around the world, across the dateline even, I can still call him because he’s still in the United States. I can’t begin to tell you how thrilled I am to learn this.
She Was Always Grandma To Me
When I was in first grade, the LaFleur family moved in next door. Mary and Chris LaFleur quickly became fast friends and for the period of about a year we were inseparable. Then their family moved to Georgia, but we tried as best as we could to stay in touch. Throughout our childhood years they moved two more times, but we always kept in touch. One of the things that helped us keep our friendship so strong was the fact that they still had family back home in Baton Rouge.
Every summer Mary and Chris would come and stay with their Grandmother and Grandfather. Thinking back on it now, they may have only stayed for a few weeks, or even a month, but in my mind it was the entire summer, because that WAS my summer as far as I was concerned. Spending time at their Grandparents house was like a magical wonderland. We had more fun and did more stuff in that brief period of time than was humanly possible. I practically lived out there while Mary and Chris were in town.
One of the things that made is so special was Mary and Chris’ Grandparents. They gave us such a loving and safe environment in which to just be kids. I didn’t grow up with Grandparents, so this was a unique opportunity for me. My Mother’s parents died when I was too young to remember and my Father’s parents didn’t have much to do with me, especially after my parent’s divorce, but that’s a whole other story. Suffice to say that I loved going to visit Mary and Chris when they were in town.
Spending The Day With Gracie
I love my dog. There’s no two ways about it, when I work from my home office, I get to spend the entire day with Gracie and I can’t describe the joy she bring me. Throughout the day, she’s my little shadow as I work, eat, and relax. I didn’t realize just how much being around her means to me until I had a particularly long day away from the house.
After a long day at work, Holly had a function with an organization she belongs to, so it was almost 10pm when we got home. After going through the usual routines of sorting the mail and shrugging off the gear from the day, I plopped down in the chair to catch the end of ER. Holly made the comment, “You want me to let Gracie out of her crate?” My mother had come by the house around 7pm to tape “Friends” for us and to walk Gracie, so I said “Sure.”
All dogs have quirks and Gracie is no exception. One of her quirks is that when you open her crate, you have to pet her belly before she’ll leave it. She gives you this dog eyed look that says, “Why did you leave me in this cage? Don’t you love me? Prove it to me by rubbing my belly.” Sometimes she’s so ready to get out, all it takes is a quick pass; however some days you could be rubbing that tummy for a good minute before she’s ready.