Dave's Good Stuff

This afternoon at about 5:15 I put my puppy, who I’ve had for 15 years, to sleep. I was petting him when he died.

I’m very sad.

He was my most favorite puppy. His first mommy is very sad too.

The trouble with pets is that they don’t use their words. By that, I mean, they don’t talk to us in plain spoken language.

Is it really that hard? Then again, maybe it is. We start learning how to speak around the age of 3, give or take. It’s been said that the average dog’s intelligence is on par with the average 2 year old. Cats are probably fairly similar. That means they missed the speaking boat by about a year, which sucks for them. Or rather… it sucks for us.

See, we’re having pet troubles now, which would be very easy to solve if they could just talk to us about it, instead of just laying around, or meowing all the time.

On the one hand, Elliott the Cat has kept Jami and I up every night this week. It’s not constant, mind you, but every couple of hours, he’ll wander through the room with something very important to say.

“Meow. Meow meow. Merrrrow. Meow meow meow thhrrrbt meow.”

Then he’ll jump on the bed and, because we clearly didn’t hear it, say it all over again right next to our head.

“What, Elliott?! What do you want?! Use your words! Or better yet, don’t! It’s 4:00 in the damn morning!”

“Meow.”

We tried closing the bedroom door last night, and it worked some. He woke me up at 2. Then he woke both of us up at 4, when Jami wanted to let him in. She didn’t hear him start and stop at 2, so thought it would go on longer than it would have, and I was too sleepy to form a coherent sentence stating as much. Once in the room, he rambled on, talking about this and that for what seemed like half an hour, climbing around on both Jami and I before finally settling down. He then woke us up again around 6, but that’s fine, because that’s when the alarm goes off anyway.

We’re going to try the closed door approach again tonight. Cross your fingers, please.

On the other hand is The Squanto. He’s in a pretty bad way right now. He had a worms last month, which we picked up on right away and immediately treated. I don’t know what happened since (or how he got them in the first place), but he’s not been the same since. He’s not had much of an appetite, and has been very lethargic. The blood work performed at the visit to the vet yesterday showed him to be extremely anemic. That explains the appetite and lethargy. Also, There was an odd lump on his back leg that, when poked for a cell sample, actually turned out to be full of blood. Blood completely absent of white blood cells, no less.

Poor little guy is just tired all the time, and has no energy whatsoever. I’ve been feeding him by hand, trying to get him to eat, and will probably go for some of the more expensive and meaty soft foods, if only to get him back going again. If only he’d use his words, we could get him what he wants, and he could tell us where it hurts.

The vet recommended an ultrasound to see what was going on in that leg of his, but I need more information and more thought put into it before I take him back down the rabbit hole of excessively expensive and taxing procedures. I’ll probably get a second opinion.

Until then, we’ll be watching him as closely as time allows (we do have to work, after all), and trying every trick I know to get him to eat…

Wish us luck with both the kitty and the puppy!

I know this. I’ve known this for decades. Now my finger knows it too. Graphic pictures after the cut…
Read the rest of this entry »

Following my recap of Sunday, I move on to Saturday…

09:00: House Showing at the North House

We were up at 7 to give us time for some last minute cleaning for the 09:00 house showing. No feedback on the house showing. This is both relatively common and somewhat disappointing. It’s always good to get feedback, even if it’s just “This just isn’t the house for us…” Oh well… there will be more. There has to be.

11:30: Lunch with Friends at The Legends Cheeseburger in Paradise

Lunch was with friends of mine from St. Louis who couldn’t make it to the wedding. They’re a very nice couple, the female half of which I befriended in college, and have stayed in contact with over the years, albeit infrequent contact. They have two gorgeous children, a boy and a girl in elementary school. Jami could relate quite well to them, as well as the parents. It was a nice lunch, though it wasn’t long enough. The boy is young enough that sitting in a booth in a restaurant for 2 hours left him quite restless, and he was very excited to see the bee hive at the KU Museum of Natural History.

17:00: Wedding in Baldwin City at the same church we were married

The wedding in was very nice… then again I’m a little biased. It was very similar to ours, with only a few minor changes. That is to say, it was beautiful. I think it may have been even shorter, though. The only thing really lacking was all the fun music blasting the sanctuary as the crowd is dismissed by the Bride and Groom.

18:00: Reception at Abe & Jake’s in Lawrence

The reception at Abe & Jake’s Landing was fantastic. I didn’t realize they’re only open to private parties and events. Last I heard it was your standard bar. Of course, that was 6 years ago. Things have, apparently, changed. It was a great location, though, and almost everyone had a really great time. The food was great (same caterer that we had – same MENU, in fact), the drinks were flowing freely, and the dance floor was never without plenty of dancers. It was big and spread out enough that there were places for everyone, regardless of how they wanted to spend the evening. Again… similar to ours, with the only difference being that it was inside instead of out.

Afterwards, we hung around and helped clean up as things were winding down. It was the least we could do, since the bride’s family helped us so much at our wedding, both during set up and during clean up.

24:00: Back home at the North House

A 45 minute drive back into town, and we were back home and in our beds, looking forward to a relaxing Sunday, and the previously mentioned introduction of Elliott the Cat into the South Home…

And indeed it was. I’ll start with Sunday and move backwards, because it’s just easier that way. After a hectic day, I had intended Sunday to be a relaxing day, but as it turned out, I got quite a bit done.

First, Jami brought her kitty, Elliott over from our Southern Home to live with us in the Northern Home. He’d been staying down south since the wedding, and we felt it was time to integrate him. He’s 23lbs of Big Baby, and cried the entire drive, and when the terror of the drive was over, he wedged himself far up underneath a table and boxes in the basement. He did, eventually begin exploring with more confidence, and by this morning, he’d all but settled completely in. However, if his shenanigans of last night are any indication, he’ll be fantastic practice for when we have a baby, and a full night of sleep is but a fond memory.

He. Was. Restless.

It’s possible that my banging around didn’t help him settle in, and served to spook him something good. I can admit that. But I got on a bit of a roll, and didn’t want to stop.

The Squanto didn’t really have much to say about him. I’m sure they saw each other, but beyond a tolerant glance here and there, I don’t think they’re going to have much to do with each other. At 15, he’s up in his years, and just doesn’t have the energy to deal with the young-uns like he used to.

Back to What I Accomplished

• Finally mounted the hose rack, so the hose isn’t laying in the dirt next to the doghouse.
• Finally hung the wheelbarrow on the side of the house next to the hose rack, so it’s not sitting in the dirt and gathering rain next to the hose. It’s a pretty clever mounting system my bro-in-law gave to me before he was my bro-in-law. Just roll the wheelbarrow up to the house, lift up the back end, and snap into place.
• Finally hung the bike rack my bro-in-law gave to me before he was my bro-in-law. It’s in the garage and replaces a simple nail that supported the old Kona Fire Mountain frame, which in turn supported the tires and fenders. Now, it’s a much cleaner look.
• Spread anti-weed and anti-crab grass granules on the driveway, sidewalks, and lawn to try to combat the weeds and crab grass that threaten to take over.
• Spread grass seed in the back yard where the grass is having a hard time staying alive.
• Watered said grass seed.
• Pulled some weeds on the patio.
• Swept the patio of excess sticks and branches, and pushed some of the sand back between the bricks.
• Cleaned the “very dirty” baseboards to make for better house showings (it is up for sale, by the way).

Oh Noes!!

YES!! IT IS BACK!!!

Something will be done about this. I assure you.

And with that horrifying discovery, I think that about covers it for Sunday.

Saturday was a busier and interesting day, but I think I’ll save that for another post.

I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I tried things out over at Blogspot, and while it’s a great service, and I applaud the whole free blogging service idea, I’m too much of a control freak. I want to run my own stuff. I’m just a geek that way, I suppose.

So… posting will resume here.

Thank you.

You may have noticed a slight dip in the number of posts here. You’ll notice a lot fewer in the future. In an effort to cut costs (no worries, I’m fine financially, I just want to be *better*), I’m dropping my static IP, my connection speed, and shutting off my server at home. Since this site is hosted at home, this site will disappear.

If I post in the future, it’ll be over at dvicci.wordpress.com, or dvicci.blogspot.com. I’m really not sure. Any suggestions? I really don’t expect the number of posts to increase any time soon, but who knows…

I may try to import posts and tags and whatnot. I may not. It’s hard to say!

Until then… this site will stay put until the static IP runs out.

And no, this is not a 4/1 joke.

Last night, I checked the mail and had three Netflix movies waiting for me! Excellent! Except for one small thing… I don’t have a Netflix account.

Huh. Immediately suspicious, I decided to dig in and see what I could find out. My first step, having opened the movies to see what they were (nothing worth watching, and no… no pr0n), I sat down at the laptop and brought up netflix.com. I’m not a member… well… I’m not a knowing member, so I had no idea what my username would be, much less my password. Normally, you can have instructions sent to the e’mail address on file, but I was confident that in my case, my own e’mail address wouldn’t be on file. However, they have a method of logging in if you don’t remember, or have access to the e’mail address you signed up with. It asks for the first name, last name and card number used to sign up with. Using my real first and last name, I started going through my credit cards to see which one had fallen into the wrong hands. I didn’t have far to go… I got a hit on the first try.

I started digging into the account, and while the name and address were mine, the phone number and e’mail address were not. I called the number, on the off chance that I’d find the person responsible, but instead reached a nice couple who (if they can be trusted) don’t have a Netflix account either. We talked for a while, and they’ll be monitoring their credit closely. I then called the credit card company and had the card canceled and a new one reissued. Finally, I called Netflix themselves and appraised them of the situation. They canceled the account and forwarded it to their fraud department, telling me someone would contact me in the next 1 to 3 days. Some scissors to the card and I’m all done.

I can’t help but wonder what kind of completely incompetent idiot steals credit card information to purchase goods online, only to have the goods sent to the rightful owner of the card! The mind, it boggles. It really worked out for me, b/c the proof of fraud was hand delivered to my mailbox, so I’m not complaining… but it begs a few questions… How did they get the card information? When did they get it? Could it be a diversion? Were they drawing my attention away from the real fraud? Or were they truly, just that stupid? There were no charges to any of my cards that I can’t account for, so if they’d planned other acts of theft, they hadn’t gotten to them yet. Still, I’ll be watching very closely.

This morning, I returned the movies I’d been sent in their very handy self addressed no-postage-necessary envelopes. Though it wasn’t necessarily the ideal of first experiences, my experience with Netflix was actually very very good. I might even consider signing up for an account.

In a final bit of humor, I did some searches for quotes about incompetence for the title, and one of the sites had a pop up ad for… you guessed it… Netflix!

I went to bed a few nights ago, as is my habit so that I might wake up the next morning, having slept the night before. This night, last night, was different…

You might recall that all of last year, or most of it, I rode my bike whenever possible to and from work, and many other miles besides. Logistically, this hasn’t worked out since about mid October. Furthermore, I’ve avoided pretty much any riding outdoors on account of the cold. I proved I could do it last year, and I realized I didn’t enjoy doing it (having forgotten that I already realized it back in my college years when I didn’t own a car). So this year, I’ve spent nearly all of my riding on the rollers. While they do make for a fantastic work out (once you start pedaling, you don’t stop until you’re done – there is no coasting downhill, there are no stops at intersections… it’s all on or all off), they’re also fairly boring when compared to the glorious outdoors.

So, my bikes have been been rather neglected, rejected, and ignored. They made this known to me on this night. I don’t know if it was a dream or not. I don’t typically remember dreams with this (or any) level of clarity. This felt real.

I awoke from a deep sleep, and was immediately startled into complete wakefulness by the horrific sight of two angry bikes, leaning threateningly over my bed. Their frames contorted in barely contained outrage, their cables seething with frustration, their chains grinding with resentment, and their brake levers pulsing with indignation, they lorded over me like cobras. My heart racing, I tried to scramble to the opposite side of the bed, but was caught in the sheets unable to move. Their cables, once smooth and lubricated nicely within supple housings, flayed about like the many heads of a hydra, and with evil and deadly purpose wrapped themselves around me, cutting into my flesh, and pulling me towards them. I was helpless against their will.

“WE HAVE WATCHED AS YOU CLIMB INTO THAT MONSTROSITY IN THE GARAGE, IGNORING US, WE WHO HAVE BROUGHT YOU TO NEW HEIGHTS OF GLORY AND FITNESS! WE SAY UNTO YOU NO MORE!!! WE WILL NOT REST UNTIL YOU HONOR US WITH THE MILES WE DESERVE!!!”

With a final tightening of the cables around my arms and legs, they let me go, and walked… yay walked out of the room. All was silent.

I lay there, bathed in the cold sweat of terror for what seemed like hours, but was likely only a few minutes. You know how time stretches in the quiet of night. Anyway, I eventually fell back asleep (or dreamed I was falling back asleep – whatever), and awoke to the normal alarm. The sheets were rather ruffled about, and the area rug near my bed in complete disarray. The bikes, however, were as I’d left them the night before, or should I say, weeks ago…

Let it not be said that I heed not the warnings presented to me so clear! Saturday morning I took the Dew Drop out for nearly 30 miles over some of the better hills northwest Johnson County has to offer. The Drop was happy. I was happy. I expect to sleep well and undisturbed tonight.

I’m not dead. I’m very much alive, in fact. I’ve just had precious little to write about with regards to the primary focus of this blog… cycling. So instead of blurring the focus of the subject matter, I’ve opted to just wait until I had more to write. However, it’s been a while and some of you know nothing about me but what you find out here. So…

Some very positive things happening personally. Since I decided long ago to keep such things off this blog, you’ll just have to wait to meet her. I will say this… she must be pretty special. I’ve not been to church in 20 years, and she’s gotten me there no less than 4 times since late December… and maybe 5. My attitude towards organized religion is perfectly summed up by the Mohandas Gandhi quote “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” That said, I have met quite a few very nice people through her and the friend that set us up together, all of whom go to their church. It’s an interesting change of pace for me… Besides Church, we’ve done quite a few things together, and have quite a few more on the plate for the next few months. I’m quite optimistic.

I’ve been very busy at work lately. In ’08 I was nearly desk bound the whole year working on this and that. In ’09 I will be much more involved in the daily lives of my fellow employees… not sure how well they’ll like that. I am the local representative for Information Security, after all. It’s like the police without the uniform, firearms, or authority. I can’t arrest anyone. I can’t have anyone fired. What I can do is make them feel really bad about what they’ve done. Sometimes, I get baked goods as apologies. I can live with that.

I’ve been playing a lot of pool lately. Monday night, Wednesday night and Thursday nights all see me at various pool halls in leagues the likes of which I’ve never seen. Wednesday is pretty standard in terms of competition, but Monday and Thursday… let’s just say that if I make one mistake, miss one ball, or dry break, I’m done for the game. The competition is fierce. I like it that way. It makes me really focus, though there are nights when it does get tiring.

Cycling has seen a dramatic decline so far this year… without my daily commuting (logistically impossible at this point, unfortunately – at least not without spending a lot of money on another form of motorized transportation to keep either at work or at home so I’m not bike-bound all day), and with the cold, I’m pretty much limited to roller training. While I did keep up with it for a while, I’ve since fallen into a rather “fat and happy” mindset, and haven’t felt the motivation to roll. The weather is looking to warm up soon, though, and I reckon I’ll get my expanding carcass out on that saddle for some long rides here real soon like. I have to, b/c word is that my brother, as well as our hosts in Colorado are training hard for the Triple Bypass… July 11th is fast approaching! I may not be as fast as I was last year, but I’ve no doubt whatsoever that I’ll make it over them there hills just fine and dandy.

That’s enough for now. Later.