Post 1000! *horns, whistles, tinsel, and confetti*

I can easily post on all three topics to bring this blog back to it's roots - a few new signings for the Chiefs, some yummy desert at 4 corners last night (or perhaps I could stretch the term cake to include the South Side's stuffed pretzels to cover tonight).

But here is the kicker... I come home today to find Ms. Danika waiting at the top of the stairs. *whaaaa??* Sure, Satin busted free from her crate several times but I never thought I'd find a dog as smart never mind strong as an ox. When Satin escaped the door swung open as though she just squeezed the levers and tada, not Danika... she brute force pulled the door IN... doesn't sound impressive, but it is. I remember watching the ex try to recreate pulling the door open with little success this 41lb soaking wet, scrawny, fuzzy-ball pulled the door in, over the two bumps and strong enough to force the latches out of the notches on the top and bottom. Gratefully she didn't destroy anything in the basement while free but I guess this makes the puppy-proofing of the basement all the more urgent of a need. She is bit extra tired now, and not even interested in her dinner - mayhap the effort wore her out and she'll behave while I'm at SSS.

To get the full effect of this post just imagine me like a small child that has thrust him/herself onto the floor having a tissy because mommy or daddy said no.

Other things to be hated about working in an office take 1032:

• The coffee pot is forever empty, even though you just made the last pot. A similar strange occurence with the ice cube trays takes place. Both of these items lend you to believe your coworkers are either incompetant or lazy, two characteristics I'd rather not have in coworkers.
  
• When you go to retrieve a print out and find the damn thing jammed. Not only is it jammed w/ someone else's print out that now leaves smears of toner all over you but there is at least 10 other items in the queue ahead of you. Are you telling me that NONE of these people came and realized the freaking printer was jammed?
  
• Being asked to follow a "convention" whatever that "convention" may be when the requestor freely admits that they've not, to date, bothered to follow the convention on previous efforts... never mind that the document specifying the convention has not been edited for over a year and still is full of markups and has not gone through the appropriate review/approval channels. So what you're saying is "your shitty opinion" = "convention".
  
• The people who can get up and walk out of the middle of a meeting because they have to [insert bullshit reason here] (example: pick up their kids, wash their hair, pick their nose) and nothing is said to them, but you're stuck in the meeting even when it runs really late (read: into lunch or past 5). I need a volunteer to knock me up so I have a "good" excuse to not perform the job they pay me for.
  
• The people who get to "work" from home but never seem to reply to an instant message or email for hours. Again, I need a volunteer.
  
• The experts who carefully assess technology and make determinations on what directions to move in while carefully filing important user feedback and insight into their deleted mail folder. These are the same people that end up wasting hours of our "personal development time" to fix problems that should have never been. Gee, thanks for keeping me challenged ass-clown.
  

Yes, I am a little frustrated with my job this week.

On a bright note: Happy 2nd Birthday Danika!

The first order of business today was to beat the heat in getting some outside work done, no such luck. I did get the hedges trimmed between the houses however and even removed some of the railroad ties that were rotting away. If I can just get the rest of the materials ripped out of the living room and hauled out front by Wednesday I can call and cough up the cash to have everything hauled away - and let me tell you how badly things are piling up. I also cranked out other odds and ends cleaning and several loads of laundry.

Amusingly I got a desire to cook today, but without free access to my kitchen that is kind of difficult. So I was happy to be awoken from my fresh-smelling sheets and Tom and Jerry DVD induced nap to go grub w/ Beff and Mum M. Do I really have to go back to that place tomorrow?

I love having pieces of my friends around my house... from the Canada postcard I got from Slips and Beff to the dark rich purple heart wine rack handcrafted by the Laws. Yesterday I made my trip home over lunch to find yet another wonderful addition to this collection.

My dearest Joe, down in NC, was featured in Kulture as a local artist - and quite the artist he is. You'll find the link to his Feral Chicken comics off to the side here on my blog, which I read every MWF. I tried my darndest while his work was on display to sneak a purchase of one of the pieces through Kulture, but alas they dropped the ball on me. I would have loved to have gotten this, unbeknownst to Joe, and taken a photo of it hanging on my wall to share w/ him as "a great piece of art I picked up". While Kulture dropped the ball, they also let Joe in on enough of the secret to suss me out... and look what arrived at my house yesterday!

Click to visit Joe's page - this image is HIS... don't steal it.

It is in a beautiful frame and will look fantastic hanging in either my soon to be remodeled living room or in my bedroom. I can't wait to get it on the wall.

Have I mentioned what bitchin friends I have? A bit of sushi provided enough energy to wreak severe havoc on my living room. The remainder of the furniture is out (now I have no kitchen), the last of the gawd-awful wood paneling is gone (!), and most of the horrid wall-carpet is down. The more ripping and tearing that occurs the more of idiots I consider the previous owners to be and trust me, they were already up there. We didn't encounter any additional ants so I am guessing they're coming up from the crawl space.

Danika and Vixen are doing very good together and even frolicked a bit in the back yard as a pair. They were a bit underfoot last evening but everyone understood it as giving them some "freedom-time".

Adjusting is the best way to describe things at this state. Danika is such a sweet girl. She walks wonderfully on leash, but if you don't have a leash and try to grab her by her collar she falls to the ground rolled over like a ball of mud. Little bugger. I screwed up yesterday and she had a bit of Vixen's food which now has her delicate tummy in a tissy. I think I need to use what is left of Vixen's food and ween her over to Iams as well to make life easier in the long run. Vixen, not to be out done, decided to add her own odor and rebel by leaving me a big turd pile last night too. Brat.

I'm not complaining though, things are going smoother already than I had hoped they would. Last night I was letting the cleaned crate dry and allowed Danika to sleep on the floor on the opposite side of the bed as Vix. I was sure to attach a leash so I would feel her move and wake up - to avoid any middle of the night squabbles. Not a peep - they both slept straight through like rocks. I even had them both out back this morning off leash without but a small grumble and even that was a playful one. Danika is just happy to follow me around, which I know is bugging Vix because she can't get near me. Perhaps we'll have to spend some special mummy and be-be time each evening, even if it's just 10-15 minutes. I have two baby girls again! Danika's howl... wow, does it sound like Satin at times.

On to other news, I'm doing well with the stick-shift and can turn my music up again and pay attention to the feel and RPMs instead w/ only a stall here and there.

Not that I hadn't already decided to dust off Ameriserv as my bank already but they gave me two more reasons this morning. I go up there w/ a check that was returned to me. This check was cut from my bill pay - they cut it - but they can't do anything with it... no, I have to go to the place the payment was made to. Are you kidding? Then I close my account and she takes my mac card and won't give it back! My new bank would have paid me cash money for that! Hiss. Adios el-banko-de-keister-pain.

The voting has ended. Many thanks to those of you that tossed in your two cents for the name of my new girl, who we went to visit and pick up this morning. Danika Nicole rode back with us nicely. Since arriving home she's explored the toy boxes, checked out her pillows, tried to play in the back yard (despite being tethered to me by leash), grubbed down her first meal, and... get this, ROLLED for Vixen! Vixen is going to be the alpha dog! I am quite proud of my Vixie as she's done wonderfully so far and is easily kept in check w/ a squirt bottle of water. Her birthday according to her paperwork - go figure - 8/14. So we'll be celebrating her second birthday in a little over a week.

As for last evening, the temps cooled down, but no where near as it has in the past for our evening in Stackhouse park. I did enjoy Othello, but I did have a hard time staying awake and focused as my mind wandered a bit. As I'm learning in my own mind, when you have a little you want a lot and when you have a lot you want a little.

I always feel better after finishing a quick cleaning pass through the downstairs, and at least I accomplished something this evening. I also returned the blinds I bought that were too big for the living room window and picked up additional storage containers to straighten more of the clothes in my closet. Other than that it's been a boring evening that has left me to my ponderings.

Tomorrow is our annual run on Shakespeare in the Park - I'll have a report after we see Othello.

Woohoo!

Look left, look right... fire death ray... but before you move your head from the right, vote in my poll. Yes, Vix and I are going to meet Rosetta this weekend. If the meeting goes well we will need a new name ready to go so help me decide!

So I did a bit of research last night after my previous post and I've come to find that joint aches during withdrawl of the headache meds I stopped earlier last week are a known potential side-effect (6-8 weeks). Upon learning this I figured that coupled with the general stuffy head I was feeling since quiting meant I should pick it back up and I was out of bed popping a pill at 1am.

It's been quite the busy weekend in which I've put a few miles on the road. Gratefully I rested a bit on Friday evening, because it was up and adam on Saturday to head to Greensburg where I took a bit of an insane plunge and bought a car. Not so insane by normal standards, however, if you don't know how to drive a standard you've got to admit it takes balls to buy one. So, out with Dorian Gray, the Stratus, and in with Drake, my new Hyundai Tiburon. That said, don't pull up on the ass end of any little red cars in the Jtown area for a while and if you chose to point and laugh when I stall it out trying to get into first make sure I don't see you.



What better to do with a new car than go out and show it off at the drive in? Granted it's been forever since the Simpsons were something I'd consider going to see in a movie, but there I was. I did have a few laughs out of it, so I can't knock the flick.

Today, back up and out on the road, this time in the opposite direction, towards State College, where I went to meet this lovely lady...



She is a sweet gal with a bit of an air about her that says she'd been taking over an alpha slot, so an application has been completed, and we (Vix and I) will head out to see if a good meeting can take place at a later date. Do I need another dog, no, but I've been looking, it just feels like the right time somehow. If it works it works, that's the best way I can look at it.

Needless to say, I didn't do much else in the living room this weekend, but even if I wasn't running I think I would have been dead in the water. My knees are absolutely killing me today. Honestly, quite a few of my joints are screaming, but the knees are definitely distracting me from all other aches. Not sure what gives, but the icey hot is cooling things down for this evening, hopefully it will pass quickly.

I spotted yet another skunk out across the neighboring lawn this evening, so it's clear we'll have another incident if I'm not more attentive when leaving the fuzzy one out in the evening. There just has to be something that will work long term to keep the little buggers away from my fenceline and yard. I'd rather not spring for skunk-away type products as I'm sure they'd wash away quickly, requiring reapplication... but desperate times might call for such desperate measures.

Oh... and Joe, as I was reminded quite recently... this is so true.

What the FRELL was that? So Vix is outside going insane last night, but it wasn't the "hey I want to bite that" bark it was the "oh crap what the?" bark. So, quicker than the speed of lightning I'm out of the bedroom throwing on the robe and heading out the back door. From my deck I could SWEAR I heard a growl which was a bit of a shocker to me. Vixen is midway down the yard looking out the far side barking barking barking. So I head down through the yard to meet her and she doesn't budge (another sign she's scared and would rather have me next to her than be off investigating something to bite). While I'm there holding her collar I saw a large portion of the apple tree shimmy. OK, that was enough for me - we're going to the house. The truly odd thing was she kept wanting to bark for another good 5 minutes. So I ask you, what the FRELL was in that tree?

For the record, I'm quite glad it was something else knocking on the door at 12:30.