Caffeine-addled ramblings, rants, and random thoughts about my life in pursuit of utter awesomeness and general kickassery.


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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Promises

Promises are very important to me. Normally I wake up every morning and instead of goals for the day, I make a list of promises. There's power in that. You make a commitment to yourself. It's the difference between "I want to" and "I must."

As I was looking at my promises for today, I came to the conclusion that they were small and insignificant in my life. The "pay bills," "work on my business plan" stuff is nothing. So I sat down and wrote another set.


To my family:

I PROMISE...

  • to thank you for helping me be the person I am today.
  • to return the love and support you have given me.
  • to forgive the things that hurt me.
  • to recognize the wonderful things about you I see in me.
  • to hug you often.
  • to make you proud.
  • to make you an important part of my life.


To my friends:

I PROMISE...

  • to not lose touch.
  • to appreciate the time we share together.
  • to make time for you.
  • to be there when you need me.
  • to not be there when you don't.
  • to make you laugh when you need it most.
  • to be your shoulder when you need it most.
  • to be the one you can always count on.
  • to not judge you for being who you are.


To my future Love:

I PROMISE...

  • to hold your hand.
  • to always kiss you goodnight.
  • to always kiss you goodbye.
  • to make you feel loved.
  • to forgive you when you hurt me.
  • to apologize when I hurt you.
  • to cherish the moments we share.
  • to Love you completely, without compromise.
  • to remind you how important you are to me.


To my future children:

I PROMISE...

  • to help you experience new things.
  • to play when possible.
  • to support and encourage your dreams.
  • to say yes when needed.
  • to say no when needed.
  • to help you love to learn.
  • to look through your eyes in wonder.
  • to tuck you in at night.
  • to listen to what you have to say.
  • to teach you to give.
  • to be a role model.


To myself:

I PROMISE...

  • to laugh often.
  • to make every day more exceptional than the last.
  • to Love as if I've never been hurt before.
  • to leave the world better than I found it.
  • to make a difference.
  • to question.
  • to learn something about everything.
  • to learn everything about something.
  • to learn something new each day.
  • to live with passion.
  • to cherish those who matter most.
  • to remember the things that matter.
  • to forget things that don't.
  • to Love unconditionally.
  • to forgive constantly.

  • to keep my promises.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Last Minute Halloween Ideas

As usual, I started thinking of costume ideas this weekend. I'm not going to dress up, partly because I have nowhere to go, partly because I'm broke, and the rest because I'm lazy.

But that won't stop me from using my superior intellect to give the rest of ya ideas.

So here we have it. Tenacious B's Top Ten list of totally original ideas (I think).

Costumes with a little more foresight:

10. Darth Vader costume with a cowboy hat and guitar, for an awesome Garth Vader (or Darth Brooks)

9. Aluminum foil Hershey's kiss with a beret (pencil-thin mustache a given) for a French Kiss

8. Dress up like a stick of HeadOn, and carry around a baseball bat with the words "Apply Directly to forehead" written on it.

A Little more obscure...

7. Dress up like Bert from Sesame Street, cover yourself in fake bumblebees, and tell everyone that you're Bert's Bees!

6. Still on the Sesame Street kick, you can dress up like Grover in an afro and Dashiki and go as Groover.

5. For an intellectual party (and one that you wouldn't mind explaining all night), dress up like a Greek God with a dirty toga. You can tell everyone that you're a Protean Stain.

4. Wear a white frame around your head and a black t-shirt that says "PROCRASTINATION: Yeah, I put this together at the last minute." That's right, you can go as a Motivational Poster.

And for the Geeks...

3. For all the Final Fantasy fans out there, dress up like a punker with a lance and flight goggles and go as Cid Vicious (Ask your local nerd to explain this to ya).

2. Dress up your kid in an adult Armor costume and oversized sword, and send them out trick-or-treating as a Twink.

And Finally...

1. Special one for ChaCha and every other Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends fan- Dress up in a blue sheet with a Windows error message written on it, and go as the Bloo Screen of Death.



Feel free to send me your ideas, and I may give out an award or somethin.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Inflatable Animal Husbandry

Just got back from working at the Halloween Carnival for Texas Hearing And Service Dogs.

It was a blast and a huge success. We were planning about 100 people to show up. The final tallies aren't in, but it was closer to 500.

As soon as I got there, I ran into my sister's family just leaving. Her kids were all dressed in their Halloween regalia, a knight and leopard. You couldn't get more cuteness piled into them without two men and a large dog. They were tired, and I heard the story about their fun from my 4-year-old nephew.

I bid them adieu, went up to my volunteer coordinator and she escorted me to the balloon animals table. Mind you, I have never made a balloon animal in my life, but have never been one to shy away from a challenge, plus there was a line at the table about 20 kids deep, so I took the job.

Armed with a pile of empty balloons, an air pump and two books on the subject, my first two attempts at balloon animals (a dog and a cat) kinda looked like what the animals were supposed to look like, provided they came from a genetic testing lab next to a leaking nuclear plant. The parents were great and patient, so I trudged on. There wasn't really time to follow the books. The kids were waiting patiently, but as I was working on this flower for the longest time, the parents were starting to get twitchy, so I looked at one diagram and put the book away. From here, I decided to myself, I'm going to make it up as I went.

Within an hour I was whipping out bunnies, swords, flowers, dogs, and swans like a professional clown on crack. We were a hit. And then tragedy struck.

We ran out of balloons.

The carnival was going on until 6, we were one of the biggest hits there, and we were out of balloons by 3. I went up to the head of the organization and volunteered to take the trek to Party Pig in Austin to get some more. Did I mention that was about 30 min away from the festival?

That wasn't the worst part. This is 4 days before Halloween, and the Party Pig was PACKED. I'm talking about a line for checkout that snaked around the front, down aisle 1, and across the back of the store. I waited about 45 minutes in line, constantly reminding myself that this was for a great cause; as well as the happy faces of the kids when I handed them their inflated giraffe that appeared to be injured in an industrial accident.

30 minutes back to the carnival. We were back in business.

Luckily, these were almost all kids under 10, so it was easy to steer them towards the easier ones. Swords were a popular choice, so were dogs. When one kid was undecided, I made something easy for another, knowing full well that they'd point at it and say, "Mommy, I want one of THOSE."

I was starting to understand how toy companies make a bundle. They get one kid to get gaga over a toy, and next thing you know all their friends are begging and pleading with their parents for the same thing. Preadolescent drug pushers.

There are still the smartass kids though. I had one towards the end of the day.
"Hi! What can I make for you?"
"A butterfly!" he said, with all the enthusiasm that any kid has when he knows that he one-upped an adult.
"Errr..." I flipped through the book. Nothing. I ran through a couple of ideas in my head on how to pull it off, and came up with nothing that'd look even close.
"Sorry, we don't know how to make one of those," I said. "Anything else you'd like?"
"A ladybug!"
"..."
I actually had a decent idea this time that might worked. I tried it and it looked almost like one, if you closed your eyes and imagined one without actually looking at it. In actuality it looked like a giant inflatable Christmas ornament. Maybe if I drew dots on it I could pull it off. Yeah! The girl working the table with me heard my plight and ran off to grab a marker, which she found fairly quick. I drew one dot on it without incident. The gods of comic irony then decided it was time for action, and during the second dot half the "ladybug" exploded in my hand, sending the marker careening about 10 feet. The kid was now looking a little relieved, I'm assuming because he saw the work in progress and wasn't too happy with it.
He then asked for a scorpion. At this point I wasn't going to let inflated rubber tubes get the better of me. I made one that looked kinda cool, and the little boy skipped off happy, before I saw him trying to feed my masterpiece to a dog. Oh well.

Then it was over. all the kids were gone, the organization made over four times more than they had planned, I learned a new skill, and we all went out for beers and burgers after before going on our merry ways, tired and beat.

It was a good day.

Friday, October 26, 2007

The Doggie Wars- Round 3

I've received several emails over the last couple of weeks asking about my choice for roommate...

And here it is (kinda).

I've decided to adopt.

It's not that I don't want Murphy, not that I don't Love him dearly, not that I wouldn't dig having that little shit around.

But I decided to adopt a new puppy for a few reasons. First of all, as I mentioned before, Murph has a good home already. Secondly, I know for a fact that it's always difficult to get the older dogs adopted, and they deserve a home just as much as the puppies. Also, Murphy would be a constant reminder of my failed marriage (I know that's a shitty reason to admit, but it's there). And finally, my life right now is all about fresh starts, and we can both start anew.

SIDE NOTE: I spoke with the matchmaker at the rescue organization, and Shadow's doing wonderfully. He's in a family with kids, and is happy in his new digs. He's having the time of his life.


Now when I was talking with the matchmaker, we spoke about Buster (the one I mentioned earlier), and she also told me a little about another guy that needs a home. He's ten as well.

So here are the current contestants:
(Click on the name to see the profile. Included are some notes from the foster reports)

Our Returning Champion
"Buster"

Foster notes:

Left Alone Comments: Left free to roam starting 2 days ago-doing really well-even sleeps outside of the crate and still sleeps through the night.
Children Comments: "tested" him on a really active 10 yr old girl and 13 yr old boy-they loved him and he was great with them-they left here wanting to adopt him (they have a 3 yr old female Labradoodle)
Dog Jumps: some-but calms down quickly
Naughty_Funny_Habits: Last night I heard a commotion in the kitchen. When I went to investigate, Buster was laying there with a bag of "high value" treats (Roll-A-Rounds) between his paws and Maggie (our 2 yr old Golden) was trying to get them from him-I'm sure Maggie was upset with herself for not taking the opportunity to shop for treats like Buster had.


The Contender:
"Homer"


Foster Notes:
Cats: Homer is doing much better with the cat, at least the one who is willing to come out. He's reached the point where he'll mostly ignore the cat as long as the cat isn't spooked and starts hissing and lashing out.
Leash: He still likes to take himself for a walk by grabbing the leash. He also barks quite a bit and gets very excited when he knows we're going for a walk. But once we're on the way, he's a good boy.
Swim?: Homer thinks Red Bud Isle is the greatest ! He had his first swim to go after a ball. The problem then became getting him out of the water because he thought that every ball that someone threw was just for him.
Energy/Activity level: He should be called "Happy Homer" because he's so good-natured.
Brags: If you're standing up, he likes to get between your legs so you can scratch his back.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Two Things

I was tagged for this meme by ChaCha a couple of days ago. It's funny cause of a "Two Things" philosophy I've been toying around with lately. Some of you know what I'm talking about.

So without further adieu...

TWO THINGS


Two names you go by:
1. Kevin the Wonder Llama
2. SuperMegaUltraGigaMan, Lord of all he surveys

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. A hot and sexy smirk
2. A sock (guess where)

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Smootching and cuddling
2. Laughing until my sides hurt

Two things you want very badly at the moment.
1. To leave my job
2. Someone to come in, empty a bucketful of money, and clean my kitchen

Name of two pets:
1. Murphy
2. Geraldo, my tapeworm

Name 2 people who will fill this out:
1. Miss Divine
2. Fantastigirl

Two things you did last night:
1. Drew up schematics for a thermonu... Wrote in my journal
2. Came up with a new theory on insects

Two things you ate today:
1. Leftover Chicken Marsala
2. My pride

Two people you last talked to:
1. The receptionist at work
2. Cheri LeBouf

Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Going to work
2. Not working

Two longest car rides
1. Houston to Denver
2. Here to Eternity

Favorite holidays
1. Halloween
2. Labor Day

Two favorite beverages
1. Coffee, with coffee... And oh yeah, coffee on the side
2. Nitric acid

Monday, October 22, 2007

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Busy Weekend

I spent yesterday shopping with a friend. I was invited to a get-together after, but was beat and the only thing I felt like doing was kicking back. Besides, I wouldn't have known anyone else there and I get kinda chatty when drinking. So I ended up taking a nap and then watching Superfriends. It's odd seeing it on a big tv. Growing up, we had a 25" console with bad reception. You've come a long way, baby.

~~~~~~~~~

Then this morning I went to San Antonio, and spent it with a couple of cuties.

That's right, I saw my folks. They are still one of the cutest couples I've ever seen.

And it was a great visit.

I went down there because my Dad had a birthday this past week, and I HAD to drop off his goodies to him personally. He's getting up there. Or, as he put it, "One day I was 71, the next day I was 72, and this morning I felt like I was 83."

Did I mention he was cute?

Anyway, this was a REALLY good visit. No judging, they were so excited to see me, and we talked a lot about nothing. Oh sure, we talked about religion a bit which is always a tense situation, but they were more relaxed about it this time.

Anyway, I got him some reference books and a nature DVD set. That might not sound like a very personable gift, but trust me, he will get more enjoyment out of those than anything else.

After all, I'm just like him.

It's odd thinking that he was my age when I was born, the last of 3. And I'm still thinking about my first. I suppose I need at least a girlfriend first. :)

Do guys have biological clocks?


Regardless, Happy Birthday Dad.
I am who I am because of you.
I Love you.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Random Funny

For your giggling pleasure...

All About the Ghoul

Yawp, it's that time again...

In honor of undoubtedly the coolest holiday ever (followed closely by Labor Day), here's a magnificent CGI short. Kudos to the creator.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Reflections

It's overcast, muggy and wet this morning, the fog hanging in the trees like a wet blanket. Some might even say dismal and dreary.

And I'm in a great mood.

In two days it will be one year since my divorce. That's NOT why I'm in a great mood, by the way. Just that every time an anniversary of sorts comes up, it triggers a preponderance of memories of that past year, and this one was a doozy.

In it I fell in Love, began to create this life for myself, made some marvelous decisions, made some bad decisions, made some realizations, started this blog, did about 150 hours of volunteer work, survived my job, had my heart shattered, decided to start a business, made some lifelong friends, created, learned that I'm a great guy, wrote about 200 pages in my journal, lost a house, lost all my money, worked hard, and learned a lot about myself.

This was probably the hardest year of my life, and up to now the most important.

Each one of these milestones makes me ask myself the following questions:
Did I learn anything?
Did I teach anything?
Am I closer or farther away from my goals?
How am I doing?
Did I make a difference?
Am I closer to those I Love and care for?
Is the world a better place now?

I like the answers I'm giving myself.

I am a better person than I was, and the universe is responding.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Working Doggies

I just got in from my volunteer orientation at Texas Hearing and Service Dogs.

Yes, another volunteer gig. So sue me.

It was a blast. Not because I was one of only two guys there (and the only one under sixty), but because this is a cause I really believe in. There aren't that many organizations that train service dogs for deaf/hard of hearing, and they also train "special needs" dogs for people that have physical impairments. In addition, they only use dogs rescued from shelters.

They're making a difference, and I really respect what they do.

So on that note, here's a shameless plug...
If you're looking for a worthwhile organization to give to, contact them through their website here.

In addition, if you have kids under 10, and are in Central Texas on Oct 27th, they're having a Halloween festival with fun, games, treats, and you might see some puppies too! I'm signing up to work it, so I'll see you there!


New Wheels on the Block

I'm SO going to hell this time.

Don't laugh. I dare ya. I triple-dog dare ya.

Monday, October 15, 2007

And It Took A Video Game To Teach Me...

Believe it or not, this post has very little to do with World of Warcraft, gaming, or geekdom.

I was playing WoW this weekend (Shocking, I know). I was on my PvP server, on the Alliance side. I had a revelation that blew my mind.

*For the eight people in the world that do not play, there are two factions in WoW, Alliance and Horde. PvP means that anyone on the opposing faction can simply walk up and hand your ass to you, regardless of level. So you could be wandering around, running quests, and a player 30 levels higher could just smack you once upside the head and you die. You spend a lot of times running away, screaming like a little schoolgirl.

On this realm the Horde outnumber the Alliance by at least four to one. This makes us a large minority. Anyway, I was getting extremely frustrated this weekend because I couldn't get anything accomplished. I would be trying to get stuff done, and next thing I know I'm lying in a crumpled heap on the ground, a pool of blood oozing around me. Do they get anything from killing me? Nope. Yet they stand over my corpse laughing.

This is a common scenario: I'm wandering around questing. I see a horde player having trouble with some mobs (monsters). He's around the same level, and I help him out. I help him out of what would be a difficult situation. After he's out of danger, I wave and go on my merry way as he's healing himself. Next thing I know, he's attacking me. I've become a fairly decent player, so most of the time I successfully defend myself. THEN, before I know it, I'm lying dead, killed by a MUCH higher level character, that's been called in. I then spend the next thirty minutes running back to my corpse, only to be killed again. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Some might say, oh, he's just a dick. And you'd be right. But in all my encounters with Horde characters, only two or three of them didn't involve me having to die. They attack regardless. For the record, I only attack in self defense. Most of the Alliance players I know are the same way.

So should I say that the opposing faction are one collective herd of assmonkeys? Sure.

But then I asked why. The answer I gave myself shocked me. It's because THEY CAN.

Let's move to real life now. I'm a thirty-something white male American. I'm probably a member of the most advantaged demographic in the world. I used to joke that there should be a government program for those of us that haven't made it yet. [rimshot] We hold such a vast majority of the power in society, the world's wealth, every advantage the world has to offer. VASTLY disproportionate to the segments in our society. Look at our positions of power (don't worry, no pie charts).

According to the US Census, in 2005 the US was 74.7% white, 12.1% black, 14.5% hispanic (Hispanic overlaps other races); 49.2% male, 50.8% female. (and yes, I called them to verify these numbers)

Congress (including Senate) is currently 85.6% white, 7.7% black, 4.9% hispanic; also 83.9% male, 16.1% female.

Out of the top job positions (Management, business, and financial operations occupations), 86.2% are white, 7.3% black, 6.9% Hispanic, and 41.9% are women. (2006 Bureau of Labor and Statistics)

See the disproportion of power? Does this mean that minorities aren't able to succeed? Actually, it kind of does. A guy I work with put it best. "Keepin a brother down." This is sort of what's going on in WoW as well as society. So many that are in positions of authority by force or design, They do whatever they can to maintain that power. That means maintaining control, frustrating those trying to get ahead, and essentially making life more difficult for others. At the same time, on that "side of the wall" they can gain power quite easily and unfettered. Why? Because those in power encourage it, help it, push it along, while suppressing the plight of others to gain power.

Is it intentional? Most likely not. Perhaps those in power don't even realize it. I sure the hell didn't, and I have very little influence on a global scale. This was my mile in their moccasins (or Black Mageweave Boots, for that matter).

It's a form of control. They retain the influence by domination.

Taking a look at the other side, the Alliance "minority" of which I belong, it's interesting to see the sense of community. People willing to help one another, sharing in frustrations, loyal and friendly. I belong to a PvE (no risk at being ganged up on) server as well, and even though there is a more even division and much more people there, there's not as much of a sense of community. It's more like high school with warring cliques, annoying people and drama. You don't really see that on the other one.

It seems that through adversity, we have come together.

Wow. Write that down.

Speaking earlier of loyalty, it got me thinking. Nobody really leaves my server. Instead, we try to recruit people to come over. We are attempting to find our place in this world, regardless of the fact that it's virtual. We want to be left with the opportunity to succeed. Most aren't radicals, just nice people. When I typed that in chat the other night, I realized at that point what it was like to be a minority, to struggle against "The Man." This put all the things I learned in sociology and psychology in perspective.

And all it took for me to understand was to be a geek.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Good News/Bad News

I was on my way back from a business trip today (more about this tomorrow) and I got a call.

Normally I don't answer my cell while driving, but it was a local call, and I didn't recognize the number. It was Gold Ribbon Rescue. She had a very sad tone to her voice, and told me that Shadow was adopted this afternoon.

So YAY for Shadow. He has a happy home now.

And it isn't mine.

She told me that some of the people over there were kind of hoping the match wasn't made so they could proceed with me taking him. Apparently both he and I have a little fan club.

Regardless, I couldn't be happier for him. He deserves the best.

One would think that the decision was made for me on how to now proceed. But it's not. She mentioned there might be another that needs me.

Clicky
WARNING: Do not look at the last picture.


I wonder what the universe is trying to tell me...

Monday, October 8, 2007

Weekend Visitor, Frozen Yogurt, and Strange Odors

I had a guest this weekend. Intimate dinners, we snuggled, we walked in the park together, and I got A LOT of kisses.

And he shed all over my couch.

That's right, I got to take Murphy for the weekend.

It was a blast. I spoiled him. Like last night, we ate tater tots and watched kung-fu movies. He passed out during the second one, head in my lap, drooling on my leg. I also made pooter doodles (more about these later) and frozen yogurt. We also spent some time at the park on Saturday, chasing after squirrels and scoping out chicks. He had his eye on this one weimaraner but never had an opening. Doesn't matter anyway, since his more suspicious parts were removed years ago. Other than that, he spent most of the remainder passed out, having puppy dreams. I don't know if it was normal, the pure exhaustion he had, or just the change in scenery. But it seemed like every time he fell asleep he was dreaming up a storm.

My decision hasn't changed, though. And before you ask, I haven't heard back yet about Shadow. I do wish I could have both. But that's not feasible.

The choice did get a little shaky at times, especially when he would look at me with those big brown eyes and goofy grin.


So about the Pooter Doodles. They are treats that I developed when I was training Murphy years ago. He's motivated by his stomach. Anyway, I tried out various recipes (with very enthusiastic test tasters), and came up with one of my own. Not to pat myself on the back, but I have never met a pooch yet that would not voluntarily gnaw off his own leg for one. It's like crack for dogs.

I've posted the recipe below, but before you read it know that it's not very appetizing to make, cook, or even smell. You have been warned. But anyone that makes these will reap the rewards. These are treats made by people that spoil their dogs (or are on a diet and want to lose their appetite). If anyone wants to make these commercially, feel free to, as long as you send me a truckload of money.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
POOTER DOODLES

Ten Things You should Know...
1. They smell. Be prepared.
2. Save yourself the agony and buy cheap disposable baking sheets.
3. If at all possible, make them in someone else's kitchen.
4. Someone you don't like.
5. In another state.
6. Monitor your dog's whereabouts while cooling. They WILL disappear.
7. They smell.
8. Cool completely before storing.
9. Once you make these, you might have to keep making them for the junkies you've created.
10. They smell.

Ingredients
1 lb raw chicken livers
1 6oz can boneless salmon
1 pkg cornbread mix (this is easier than from scratch. I prefer Jiffy)
~2 c quick oats
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c olive oil
1/2 c peanut butter
1/4 c honey
1/2 t garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 375°

Liquefy the liver in a food processor (Not for the faint at heart or weak of stomach). Combine all ingredients except for the oats. Add half the oats, mixing well. Slowly add the rest until you get the consistency of a thick, wet paste.

You have 2 options here:
The best way: using a piping bag, drop about 1/2 t onto an non-greased baking sheet, about an inch apart. Bake for 20-25 min.

The easy way: Spread the mixture evenly onto an non-greased baking sheet. On a standard 11X14, it should only be about 1/4'-1/2' thick. Bake 25-30 min. When you pull them out, cut into 1/2' squares.

They're done when they appear dry and no pink remains. Don't worry too much about overcooking.

Let cool for at least an hour. Makes about 3 million. Light a candle.

They keep for about a week at room temperature, so I separate the batch into 4, freeze 3 of them, and thaw them out as needed.


Now go and treat the doggies!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

The Doggie Wars- Update

See the first installment here.

I made my decision. Shadow needs a good home, and I'm the one to give it to him. Thank you all for helping me realize that.

But sometimes the universe makes other plans.

Every so often, like yesterday, I go to the rescue website for a puppy fix. On the home page, I just happened to notice the "Adoptables" tab, and guess who's handsome mug was on the tab?

I'll give you a hint:

Uh-huh. You guessed it. I'd know that face anywhere.
And if this wasn't a sign, I didn't know what could be.

I clicked on the link, scrolled down to him, and got kicked in the chest by two simple words:

"Adoption Pending"

Just like that. I immediately called my volunteer coordinator, the hotline, the pope, and anyone else I could possibly think of, leaving voicemails all over the planet. And I wait.

I tell Miss Divine and ChaCha, and start playing the "hurry up and wait" game. But no more than 30 seconds later, I get an IM out of the blue from Ginger, a friend I hadn't really spoken to in a while, and didn't think I'd be hearing from again. The IM reads: "Maybe this is the universe's way of telling you to take Murphy." Just like that. And she wasn't even talking about THIS. She sent me that because she had JUST read Monday's post.

Wow.

Got nothin.

So I got her up to speed, she said something clever about being psychic, and we got off shortly after.

Regardless, I'm waiting to hear back from the Rescue, and I'll let you know.

If he DOES get put into a good home, I'll ask for Murphy.


"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." -John Lennon



(4:00 UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Sandy, one of the adoption coordinators. She told me that the meet with the applicants is this weekend, and she'll let me know. ALSO, she told me that Shadow is now heartworm negative!! YAY SHADOW!!! Anyway, she sounded extremely sad that I was a couple of days too late on the Application, and said that she was crossing her fingers that it wasn't a match. I told her no. I'm crossing my fingers FOR the match. It's not important that I wanted him. What was more important than anything was that Shadow has a great home, because he deserves one. She almost cried.

I won't know anything until this weekend, so I'll post as soon as I find out anything. Who knows, they have a lot of "Gems" (seniors), and I'm still in their system as a foster dad. Time will tell)

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Taking My Mood Back

Yesterday didn't get much better after I went home. So I woke up this morning, took a deep breath, and told the Universe, "Screw you! I'm taking my world back."

I had no idea what I meant by that, but it felt good to say.

Funny how when you decide on something you notice/think about things that would normally miss.

I got ready for work and had a few minutes, so I decided to start things out right by getting me coffee and breakfast. I went to the Church of St. Arbucks, and as I was walking across the parking lot, a lady got out of her car and not gracefully dropped a stack of papers on the ground. It was this point that the wind chose to pick up and almost immediately the lot became a flurry of white. This was obviously not her day either. We spent the next 5 minutes running after the impromptu kites, dodging traffic and other people walking in oblivious to our task like a warped version of Frogger. By the time we got the last recoverable scrap (some had blown into the street after all) we were sweating, disheveled, and laughing. She thanked me and she set about the task of resorting the clusterfuck of papers in her arms.

Ok, NOW I needed coffee. Good thing I still had $5 on a gift card I got for my birthday. I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to coffee. Never got the whole Skinny-doubleshot-mocha-nofoam-caramel-mocchiato thing. For me: Large Drip. Black. Period. Best part about it is I can usually get out of there for about two bucks. Anyway, after swiping my card and doing a bit of mental math, I told the cashier to put the balance of the card on the latte of the lady behind me in line. And no, never saw her before. I just felt like making someone's morning a little better. The lady gave me a look like I was going to pull out an assault rifle at any time and start busting caps all over the place. Instead, I gave her a smile and told her to have a great morning.

At this point I'm now late for work due to my tangents. Ah well, as long as I'm already late I'll grab breakfast. I got me a breakfast sammich and an OJ, and headed off to my WONDERFUL job. But at the first light, I saw a homeless guy holding a sign. I'm a huge advocate for the homeless, but still rarely give handouts (that's a convo for another time). Still, he seemed really sad. Not the "woe is me" face that most of the homeless in Austin give you to bump their take. This was a genuine sadness that you can feel. I rolled down my window and he walked over, a bit slower than you'd expect. I handed him my breakfast. A slow smile crept across his face and he thanked me, the sadness waning a bit, before walking back to his post. As the light changed, he waved as I drove past, his mouth already full.

So here I sit at work, late, sweaty, and hungry...

and much happier than yesterday.

Monday, October 1, 2007

10° Off

I'm off today.

Not in a bad mood, not depressed, not wonderful, not angry...

Just off.

Ever have one of those days?

(And anyone that makes a "case of the Mondays" remark shall be strung up by their ears and given a stern talking to)

It started before I woke up, actually. I had a couple of dreams which I think started the whole snowball. One was okay, and the other one was so out in left field I'm STILL wondering where that came from.

In any aspect, I woke up a bit early, plodded around for a bit. I could've made it to work on time (for once) but I decided to go grab coffee first, and sauntered into work at about 8:30.

Then the fun began. Here are the highlights...

First I get a visit from T, one of the few coworkers I get along with. He tells me that his apartment complex just called to let him know that the locks on his door were changed, as requested. He got the call by accident. He's living with his girlfriend, and apparently she broke up with him. Kinda subtle, if you ask me. Anyway, he's not on the lease, but is listed as a secondary contact. When they couldn't get hold of her, they called him. So I got to listen to this harrowing tale...

Then I get a text from ChaCha, telling me "Happy October" and reminding me it has been almost a year since my divorce was final.

Then as if today was scripted by the Gods of Bathos, Jean called. She let me know that she (and Murphy) were in a bad car accident Sunday. They're fine, but she wanted to know if I wanted to take Murphy for a bit. Now, I had made my decision (see here for the Doggie Wars), but because of the situation, it wasn't the right time to bring it up.

Mind you, all of this happened BEFORE LUNCH.

In all this I've tried to work. Really. But no matter how long I stare at a column of numbers, nothing sinks in. I attempted to work on my resume, but in 45 minutes added two words. See a trend?

I started this day three weeks ago, so these last 30 minutes should get me out of here by, oh, Thursday.

Some days I want a takeback. Where's the damn reset button when you need it?