Back in August 2001, I started this journal. I called it a journal ever since because I hated the word blog. This journal has seen a lot of changes in my life and that of the world itself. Like a starter home, I have outgrown it and ready for a bigger step ( Read more... )

It is a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. The October sunshine is mild, a gentle breeze makes the mid-60s temperature quite nice. Perfect weather to find a pumpkin (or better still, pumpkins) for my front porch. The trees barely have any color to them with all the leaves still green from summer. Every single time I see leaves falling in the wind, I ( Read more... )

In discovering the joy of owning land in the Southeast, there are a lot of biting, venomous, dangerous creatures here I get to meet. When I moved my stuff out of my apartment storage, I came face to ugly face with a black widow spider and proceeded to stomp it over and over. Living in Northern Indiana, there are no creepy crawlies to be scared of. ( Read more... )

A week and a half now in the new house and it has been awesome. I love, love, love, it there! The dogs are happy and have adjusted very well to their new digs. They seem so happy to run in the big backyard. Earlier this week, I cleaned the last of the apartment and closed it up for good. Another chapter done. I lived there for two years and it was ( Read more... )

So much has happened in the last week, it's hard to believe tomorrow will be Monday again. Last Sunday, I made an offer on a house and in no time, the contract was accepted. At the end of August, I should have a new house again. Today I realized that I will be moving for the third time in three years. It's been a heck of ride these past three years ( Read more... )

Vanity plates and sticker decals. Now that my commute to work is more than 2 minutes and is spent on the highway of many traffic lights, I get the pleasure of observing all sort of random people and their vehicles. Such as the Lexus with the "Liquid Ice" license plate (seriously, it's just water). Or "Fun2Sing". Saw "Prince$$" today too. It seems ( Read more... )

Quick update on Cricket. It's been two weeks now and she's back to normal. Her unsteadiness is gone and she walks sure-footed. The steroid treatment has done wonders and I am very thankful. She finally shakes again with gusto (you know, the shake dogs do when they wake up and stretch). At first she could barely manage a flop of her ears. Funny how ( Read more... )

To keep a dachshund from regular, everyday mischief, you either have to crate it all 24 hours (and ignore the pitiful whining) or you bring the world down to its level. That is why my apartment looks like a reenactment of Troy and Abed's famous blanket fort. Cricket is doing better today. I see improvement but there is still some pain. She plays an ( Read more... )

Currently enroute to Albuquerque.  A week long Sales Summit for work, a mash-up of suppliers and salesmen. Schedule is jammed until Thursday afternoon, when we all get to have a bit of outdoor fun. I have been working on planning this trip for months and now that it is here, yes, I am excited. I want it to go well and I pray that my shoes do not ( Read more... )

There is an small old man that lives in a nearby apartment building. Several times he has come up to me as I walked my dogs to tell me his one story about dachshunds. His mother used to have a dachshund, he has repeatedly said. One day a pack of wild dogs came after her and she grabbed her dog. The wild dogs pulled it from her arms and then ripped ( Read more... )