Random Crap

Yo.

Just chilling in front of the Hawks game with the laptop... A bit of a boring game as it really means nothing. The Seahawks position is frozen in the playoffs.

Clyde is busy entertaining himself chasing his tail. He is also doing some weird contortion thing. While laying down, he puts his right hind leg over his shoulder and mouths it on his left side. A welcome break from him annoying me earlier... He unpluggeg the entertainment center. Pain in the neck dog.

I enjoyed watching Josh Brown make a good open field tackle of Atlanta's kick returner. Good fun, but I don't need any of that in the playoffs.

T'was a good Christmas. Spent the morning at home having our family Christmas, the late morning having brunch at my parents, and the evening having dinner with Carrie's. Clyde wasn't much for it as he had to spend most of it in his crate. We did come home between to let him out and play.

He really likes his presents. He got a giant Kong, and a big rubber squirrel. He doesn't rip into presents like Mom's dog does, he was content to just play with the whole package. I think it has to do with his developing Lab soft mouth. I had to help him get it open. Later Carrie and I were exchanging our gifts for each other when he came upstairs, stuck his head in the tree and made off with his other present. He took it downstairs and played with that package too.

The squirrel is a hit. You can stuff treats inside it and it has little spikes on the opening so he can't get them out easily. I actually had to trim them down a bit so I could get the treats out. We put a few carrots in there when we put him to bed and he played with it all night. ALL NIGHT! It sounded like rocks in the dryer. Annoying.

Talking about annoying, now he is banging my knee with the damn ten pound Kong.

One of my presents I got this Christmas was a cold. Bitchin'. It seems that more often than not I am sick this time of the year.

Well it looks like the Hawks are gonna lose. No biggie, they are coasting against a team that probably wants to finish a miserable season on a good note. Ooops, the Hawks just scored a TD and are trying a onside kick.... Got it, but there is a flag.

Dammit, offsides on Burleson, rekick 5 yards back.

Nope the falcons get it. That'll be the game. Holmgrens pissed at someone. The Falcons are now just taking a knee.

Lol, they just doused their interim head coach with the gatorade. Like I said, it looks like the Falcons really needed that win to go into the offseason on a bit of a positive note. As they are not a member of my hated teams (49ers, Rams, Cardinals, Steelers and Broncos*) I am fine with that.

Woo, look at me, live blogging!

Well, now that the game is done it looks like I best be getting something productive done. I have three light bulbs that need to be replaced. One that requires a ladder, one that needs screws removed to do it and one in front of the house that seems to burn out bi-weekly.

*note - Oakland used to be on my list but since their Superbowl appearance they have been so pathetic that they don't matter anymore.

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Red Red Wine

...Didn't make me feel so fine.

Well friends, I sure screwed up and to tell you the truth I saw it coming from a million miles away.

Last night Carrie and I decided to sit down and watch my favorite Christmas movie, "Christmas Vacation". After my 'Wine and Cheese' birthday party we had quite a bit of wine (and cheese) left over, including some bottles that were brought as gifts. I'm not complaining, quite the opposite, just setting up the story. Well I figured I would sit down and watch the movie with a glass of one of the reds that was given to me.

Mistake.

Clark had jus discovered that his tree was a bit 'pitchy' when the land shark struck.

Clyde launched at my glass of wine when I wasn't looking, spraying wine every where. My shirt, hair, face, wall, carpet, and the couch. The carpet isn't a big deal at all as it is the same color as the wine. The couch, however, isn't. There was red wine on half of the cushions and pillows. Being a sectional, that is a lot.

Basically it was time for a freakout (by me). No, we didn't beat the dog, but he got to go to his kennel. It was his wild time and we didn't need to be keeping and eye on him while trying to save the couch. Carrie jumped on the internet and came up with a solution of a cup of hydrogen peroxide and a tablespoon of laundry detergent. We blotted the countless spots with that and then used a diluted solution in our small carpet and upholstery cleaning machine, the Bissell Little Green. This thing is a must have if you have an indoor dog or anyone spill-prone. After all the commotion and a crappy day at work*, I was done for the night. I went to bed and slept for ten hours, a rarity for me.

The good news is after inspecting everything this morning, the only loss is an undershirt that we ignored. I couldn't find a trace of the wine on the couch, thank God.

Lesson learned, no red wine while siting at the couch with the dog during crazy time. If I would have waited a half an hour he would have been curled up on the floor 'not' snoring. (heh- mom, sister, though their dogs would have to work quite a bit harder to cause the damage that Clyde did with a single lunge.) Have I said before that I can't wait for the puppy phase to pass?

Here is the troublemaker watching me write this....


That is jowl slobber on my shirt... He like to share.



* Note- I had a file that I had spent all week working on crash. It would not open. After two hours of trying different things I got it to work, but a few more gray hairs popped out of my head in the process.

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Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday was my birthday and I am now 29 years old (heh).

Being an adult now, Carrie had the great idea to host a wine and cheese party instead of my typical cooler full of beer and see what happens party. She did a great job. Both of our families showed up and some good friends. It was a good time.

This was Clydes second try in a social situation. Age factored (he is 9 months old), I give him a solid B. My biggest concern was if he would be jumping up on people. Being a 75+ pound dog he can take people down. He did great in that respect, I don't recall him jumping up on anyone. There was the typical leaving of 'Clyde trails' of slobber on pants. Because there was good smelling stuff like cheese and prosciutto around, he was doing quite a bit counter cruising occasionally popping up to try and make a snag. Luckily there was always someone there to knock him down.

...Until late in the evening. We had retired to the living room when he sneaked away and downed a bowl of shrimp that was in the middle of the table. I blame it on myself as I had been keeping him by my side and lost track of him. He was yanked off and scolded but I think it was a net win in his mind. He got some tasty shrimp. In fact he asked me this morning if he could have some for breakfast.

Today as I am writing this, there is some brie on the counter that we didn't put away last night. He has been eyeing it all morning popping up every once in awhile. He is getting much better at getting down now without me having to yank him. A sharp 'OFF!' is all it takes. Eventually (duh) we would like to curb this behavior altogether. As frustrating as it is, we are making progress.

Best present, no offense to others, but you had no chance, Mom brought me a pie. I quickly hid it away because I wasn't going to share that! Carrie didn't even know I had it until I showed it to her this morning.

It was a good night

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New Toy II

So me and my new laptop have spent a weekend together and I am in love...

As I said the other day, this is my first laptop. I've used them for work, but this one was purchased to be my toy.

Originally I thought I wanted the biggest, baddest, laptop that I could find, but I soon changed my mind. Around October I decided to go the opposite direction. I wanted a lightweight computer. So I ordered up a Dell XPS M1330. After five excruciating days, I found out that I was denied credit. What!! Come to find out, I had clicked on the 'submit' button too many times so they had received like 5 apps from me in one evening. My bad. I was a bit miffed that they couldn't have contacted me and said.

"Excuse me Mr. Mike, but we got five apps from you in five minutes and were concerned that someone was trying to pull something".

I was a bit miffed and cooled my heels for a week. Come to find out, it was a good thing. The next week, it was leaked that Dell was going to make a 15" version of the M1330. It would have the same good looks, be a bit heavier, but still on the lighter side of the 15" units. Woo Hoo!, this was what I needed (wanted). The wait for them to release the thing was annoyingly long but I persevered, and on November 27, I ordered up a Dell XPS M1530.

So far I am really enjoying the thing. There isn't really anything that I don't like about it. I got both the 6 and 9 cell battery so I can have the best of both worlds, lightweight and longer battery life. To early to give a full review, but so far, so good. I am a horrible reviewer anyways, faults are just character to me. Spice of life.

An added bonus is with this thing being portable, I can use it any where. Which helps a great deal with Clyde the beast. Instead of being upstairs in our office, I can be downstairs at the dining room table. I can keep track of the guy in a large portion of the house. At the moment he is curled up in a ball in the family room. Nose to bottom. To bad I can't do that.....

Later!
Mike

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NFC West Champs

Four in a row!



Ho hum, another year, another NFC West title. With yesterdays thorough drubbing of the hated Arizona Cardinals the Hawks have once again made it to the playoffs for the fifth year in a row. How many other teams can say that? Not many. In fact, the number is two, the Colts with 6 appearances in a row, and the Patriots with 5. Not too shabby!

The game yesterday was a blast, one of the more fun games that I have been too. Hasselbeck was on fire, hitting everyone. Literally. (He hit a TV cameraman throwing the ball away at one point. Kearney has come alive, throwing old man Kurt Warner on the ground three times. I'm really liking Trufant this year, and his three interceptions didn't hurt that. The highlight of the game was his second interception tha the ran back 84 yards. He ran directly down the sideline almost the whole way, running directly at us. Beautiful.




Three more games to go before the playoffs begin and I would like to see them go full throttle the whole time. I overheard someone say that teh think think the Hawks should rest everyone and lose the next three to avoid the hot Vikings. What a load of crap that would be! The goal isn't to win A playoff game, the goal is to win ALL playoff games. You got to play them sometime, Might as well do it in the brutally loud Qwest Field.

Go Hawks!!

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New Toy

Woo hoo, Mike has finally stepped into the 2000's and purchased a laptop!

To be honest I waited all this time because I couldn't find one that did what I wanted for a price that I wanted to pay. Well that day has come folks! No longer am I sitting in front of the same desk that I have always sat at when I am blogging... I am actually at the dinning room table right now!

Yeah, yeah, you've been there, done that, a million times. Don't rain on my parade, this is a first for me, if you don't count my Blackberry. I have written emails while on the toilet at work with that.....

That's all I have to say right now. I have literally been on this thing less than an hour. At the moment I am busily installing all the programs that I love. Google Earth, Google SketchUp, MS VB 2008...

It is an all out geek-fest in my living room at the moment.

Goodnight,
Mike

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Van Halen

Freakin sweet!!!



Last night Van Halen stormed into town with Diamond David Lee Roth (Finally!) and blew me away. The only thing that disappointed was that the night eventually had to end.

It was one of the greatest concerts I have experienced. Yeah, technically, there have been better concerts, but this was Van freaking Halen, the band that weaned me off of my dads music. Before VH it was John Denver, after, rock and roll! The started rocking with 'You Really Got Me' and didn't stop until they walked off the stage before their encore. I stood and sang out loud with the familiar lyrics along with everybody else, occasionally whipping out the old air guitar. Probably one of the most electric crowds I have been apart of. The energy there could have lit the city for a month.

It wasn't the whole Van Halen. Michael Anthony was replaced with Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's son. It was 3/4 Van Halen, but unlike the past two decades, it was the proper 3/4. Yes, I like Michael Anthony on bass, but if made to choose between him or Dave, I'll go with Dave every time. ...and he didn't let me down last night. He is a fantastic front man for a rocking party band. I love the campy Vegas off-the-strip lounge act.

Eddie was Eddie (read: amazing). As a guitar hack, I was mesmerized by the close ups of his fingers. The guy makes it look as easy as breathing. At almost 53 years old he was bounding around the stage like a 30 year old. :) Is there any greater?

Wolfgang was great on the bass. My friend complained that he didn't have much of a stage presence, but what do you expect from a 16 year old? He was like an active John Entwistle. When I was 17 I spent the summer working with my dad (I now work for the same company again..) but it was nothing like that! It was pretty cool seeing him and Eddie singing background vocals into the same mic.

Again, as a huge DLR era Van Halen fan that was in elementary school when their last album together came out, the show was sweet. Sadly I know it will never happen again. If they stick together with Dave (wagers anyone) they'll tour with some new music. This show didn't. It was every song that you could possibly want to hear. there was no playing of Van Hagar songs* and no David Lee Roth solo stuff. Face it, that is what you want when you go see a band that is 30 years (!?!?!?) old.

The highlight of the night for me was 'Ice Cream Man'. Dave came out with an acoustic guitar, and told a story about growing up in the suburbs, "where they cut down all the trees and name streets after them", before getting into the son. If you know the song, they stayed true to it and rocked out at the end. Fantastic!

Set list:

1. You Really Got Me
2. I'm the One
3. Runnin' With the Devil
4. Romeo Delight
5. Beautiful Girls
6. Dance the Night Away
7. Atomic Punk
8. Everybody Wants Some!
9. So This is Love?
10. Mean Street
11. Pretty Woman
Drum Solo
12. Unchained
13. I'll Wait
14. And the Cradle Will Rock...
15. Hot for Teacher
16. Little Dreamer
17. Jamie's Cryin'
18. Ice Cream Man
19. Panama
Guitar Solo
20. Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love
Encore

21. 1984/Jump

*- during his solo he played some 316 but we'll give him a pass on that as it was written for Wolfgang when he was born 3/16/91.

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Clyde's First Snow

Nothing better to get me into a holiday mood then some snow on December 1st...

Here is a quickly thrown together video of Clyde playing in it for the first time with a little holiday music thrown in to set the mood. Money shot at the 1:26 mark. He was having a blast out there. If I didn't drag him in, the dog would have tried to eat the whole yard.

Enjoy!

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Google Reader

Have you subscribed to Google Reader yet?

I have been using it for a while now and love it. It has allowed me to keep up on things that interest me way easier and less obtrusively than ever before. Things like CAD tips, Formula 1 racing, automobile news, NFL news, tech new, airplane news, sailing news... You get the point.

Here is a typical shot of my reader...



It is showing the contents of my 'technology' folder which should probably be called gadgets. On the left under technology you can see all the feeds that I subscribe too that I have tagged with that. The ones in bold such as 'Crave: the gadget blog' have unread items and it shows how many in parenthesis.

Here come the beauty of the reader. If you look on the right side of the screen you can see all the headers of all the articles that are unread by me. Do I read all of these? Hell no! I can quickly scan the list and read just the ones that look interesting. 5 seconds to do what would take 5 minutes the 'old fashioned' way of navigating to a site, scanning through all the stories, then reading the interesting ones. I have 55 subscriptions right now and get around 400 new articles every week day. It typically takes me 30 minutes a day to clear that out. It's not work, it is comparable to newspaper time.

Lets say there is a blog that you enjoy reading, but the writer can be a lazy bum sometimes and won't post for long periods occasionally. Sound familiar? You old-skool peeps would would probably tire of clicking on said blog if it had a long drought. Eventually you would forget about it. Not so with the reader. It tirelessly checks often, I believe even multiple times an hour looking for updates. I have a blog of a fella that is currently sailing around the world. Often hell go weeks without posting because he is in the middle of an ocean. With out the reader I would have lost interest in his site long ago.

The final cool thing about the reader that I will tell you about today is the new 'Discover' button that you see on the left in the green area. It recommends other feeds that you may not have seen that may interest you by taking in account your reading habits, location and such. With the little that I have played with it so far, it does a good job.

Damn, one more thing that is slick. I you have a web enabled mobile phone, you can get to you reader over that and Reader will format it to read on you small screen. I was in Austin, Texas a few weeks ago with out a laptop (I have one on order...) and it was a great way to pass time.

I hope this encouraged you to swing by www.google.com/reader and check it out. As you can tell, I highly recommend it!

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NFL Rant

I have to vent....

Have you heard that the NFL 'game of the year' between the Packers and the Cowboys will only be broadcast on the NFL Network? I sure have. People all over are pissed that they can't see the game because they don't have the channel. Knowing what you know about me you may think that I would be one of them....

No so fast!

Am I annoyed that I can't watch the game? Yeah, a little bit. I'll live though.

Why does everyone think that viewing all football games is their God given right? Last I checked, the NFL was a business, not a government provided service. If they wanted to go pay-per-view for EVERY game they could. Remember blackouts? Up to around 2004 here in Seattle they were commonplace. Since the game wasn't sold out the local market couldn't see it. Their business, their call. If they felt that they were losing money because of it, they would have stopped it.

But boy, people are pissed at the NFL Network.

A few years ago, Carrie and I checked out the HBO series, Entourage, after a recommendation by a friend. We got the first season DVD and loved it. We loved it so much we stepped up paid for HBO so we didn't have wait for the next episodes. If this game is such 'must see' you can get it, you just need to pay for it. Simple as that. Comcast around here offers it in a package, or if you live in the boonies, get a dish...

Can you even get Monday Night Football on ESPN anymore if you don't pay for cable? You don't hear a peep about that.

The NFL wants their network on basic cable. The cable companies don't want to pay the higher than usual fee that the NFL is demanding. Both are selling a product. We the consumer are in the middle. In my mind, the only way this will change is if enough people totally cancel their cable and boycott the NFL Network (not going to the dish as Jerry Jones suggests) Then maybe the NFLN would lower their price and Comcast would agree to put them on basic. Will it happen?

Never.

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Weasels!!

Apparently, the provider that was storing my graphics for my blog for free wants money now. As of October..... Bastards!!! How dare they demand money for a service that was previously free from them!

I guess this will inspire me to redesign the look.... If I ever get around to it.

First I need to find a good online storage provider so I can get my title back up there. Until then this blog is unofficially renamed the lime green rectangle, with a smaller orange one with rounded corners underneath it and an even smaller 'sage-ish' rectangle besides the orange one. Or if you are lazy you can still call it 'Zactly, the thinking mans thinking PERSONS blog. (don't want to leave out the sisters... hey MaryJ!)

Maybe then I'll get around to maybe posting again... Meh, too much work.

If you happen to be a loyal reader that I have yet to drive off, here is a little gem for you...

Clark and Michael



I don't know what you get from this picture, but what I get is a good hearty chuckle. A belly laugh if you will. Their site does the same. Check it out.

BTW, If you have been visiting their site for ages now and consider it old news, I don't care. In fact, If you have, why the hell didn't you inform me of it!?! Jerk.

Ciao!

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Playlist A-Gogo

I thought it was about time that I played to my strengths and posted a random blog entry. So here we go!

Over the past few years I have been tweaking my iTune playlists trying to put together some meaningful ones that aren't bloated. To do this I try to limit myself to around 20 tracks. A few of the ones in the works... HAWKtime!, songs that have been played or should have been played at the stadium. Kamiakin, named after my junior high school, reminds me of those three wonderful years of my life. We have every thing from Huey Lewis to Metallica in that one with a bit of Frankie Goes to Hollywood thrown in. Relax.

A new one that I have started is of cover songs that I like. I called it.... wait for it... Covers. I am throwing in both the original and the cover. It is kind of fun to hear them together. Two of my favorite covers that I have right now are Into the Sealth, a cover of Black Sabbaths Into The Void with the lyrics changed to words from a letter by Chief Sealth whom Seattle was named for, and R.A.M.O.N.E.S. by the Ramones, originally by Motorhead.

A favorite project of mine is my playlist Kitch. It has some Manilow, Kenny Rodgers, Toto, Waylon Jennings, and even some Eddie Money. I can't help but laugh out loud as I belt out Seperate Ways along with Steve Perry.



My best playlist, in my opinion, is my Feelin' Good playlist. It makes me feel good! All of the songs have that something special that gives me goosebumps, usually because of a memory associated with them.

Well look at that, here it is now....

• Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns, Mother Love Bone - The summer of '92 was sweet. Beautiful song.


• Breaks, The Black Keys - One of the of the few without a memory behind it. Just a good song, no fluf.


• Judy Is a Punk, The Ramones - Ramones doing their best bubblegum. Perfectly placed in the Royal Tennenbaums


• Message In A Bottle, The Police - One of my favorite songs evah. I love the driving drums.


• Won't Get Fooled Again, The Who - Another favorite. Best scream in a song, the Bass makes me smile.


• Black and Blue, Van Halen - Dunno, it just works for me.


• Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam, Nirvana - I love Nirvana.


• We're Only Gonna Die For Our Arrogance, Sublime - I think of summer when I hear this.


• Pennyroyal Tea, Nirvana - Did I say I love Nirvana?


• What I Got (Reprise), Sublime - Not the crappy version they play on the radio, this is the acoustic one. 10000 times better.


• Birth Ritual, Soundgarden - I was coming home from the CC and swinging into Tower Records in Bellevue to pick this album up. I got rear ended, totaling my Pontiac Phoenix. I took my insurance money and put a down payment on a beautiful red Volkswagon GTI and rocked this.


• Drown, Smashing Pumpkins - See Birth Ritual above.


• All Apologies, Nirvana - Fantastic!


• Queen Bitch, David Bowie - Like Judy is a Punk Rocker, it was featured in a Wes Anderson movie, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Wes has some wonderful eclectic soundtracks to his movies.


• No Rain, Blind Melon - Bee Girl was me...


• No No No, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Rocks.


• Poundcake, Van Halen - Driving with the windows down, sunroof open and the hifi cranked. Priceless


• Superhero, Jane's Addiction - Entorage, why the hell did I not listen to this more before.


• Synchronicity II, The Police - Perfect!


• No Woman No Cry (Live), Bob Marley & The Wailers - this song is like a comfortable blanket on a rainy day.


• Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, B.J. Thomas - Mom must have sung this to me as a baby. Makes me cry happy tears.


• Seasons, Chris Cornell - Singles soundtrack once again (Birth ritual, Drown, Chloe Dancer) I think this may be in my top ten of all time.


• My Life, Billy Joel - Corny, maybe, but it make me feel good. I don't care what you say anymore.... The 'd-ding ding, d-ding ding ding' is fun to play air-piano to.

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Clyde's Mom is a Bitch

Sorry, I couldn't pass up the title... Best yet in my opinion! (Carrie did not approve)



Recently Clyde's mom, Jazz, appeared on the Outdoor Channel competing in the DockDogs event at the Clark County Fair.
If you go to this page and find the icon that looks like this, you should be able to see the video. Last time I checked it was on the top row, second from the right.

Jazz and Cody (the handler) ended up winning the event. Unfortunately this is lost on Clyde as he only understands food, balls, sticks and water.

We are thinking that we are going to try this out with Clyde. We went to an event in Mill Creek this summer and it looked like a good time. There was some good camaraderie between the competitors and it was a blast to watch the dogs jump.

Since it has been a bit, here is a recent picture of Clyde.


He was wearing the cone as he was recently neutered (de-balled). The yellow duct tape is on there because he was pulling his cone apart and killing the corners of my sheetrock. I got a little carried away with it. The guy is now 70 pounds and fairly lean... Hopefully the growing is pretty much done, but at 7 months old, I'm not holding my breath!

Doesn't he look happy? LOL!

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Rocky, leave poor Alex alone...

Out in the parking lot after the game... (walking through the rookie lot)

 

Waiting for a cable car to head to the Buena Vista...

 

Note: DAMN!!! There is a sign for teh BV on the front of the car... I was trying to flaunt my SF knowledge. Had many an Irish Coffee down there for dessert the last time Carrie and I were in town... Sehr gut! Just don't have too many!

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Rainy Sunday

That's more like a Seattle forecast... Four days of showers broken by rain on Tuesday. Is there really much of a difference? Either way I wouldn't be planning a picnic.

Now that we have Clyde and knowing that he needs to be walked no matter what the weather, I bought me a new pair of waterproof boots and some lightweight breathable. The boots I bought were the Keen Targhee Mid II's. ...In walnut... They are nice and light and have a big toe box which gives my smaller toes plenty of room.

This morning I got up and had the perfect opportunity to give them a test. I decided to take the dog for a walk down the Burke-Gilman trail from Kenmore to Wayne Golf Course in the rain. A 5 mile round trip. Funny as it sounds, but I really enjoy being out in the rain... ...as long as I am properly outfitted. I have won Carrie over to this thinking now as she will happily sit in our exposed seats a Qwest field, rain, sleet, and snow. Clyde and I set a brisk pace* and hit every puddle on the way. It rained the whole time. Typically after a walk like that, my feet are the wettest part. Not so today. I purposely wore cotton socks and except for the high ankles (above the boot) they were dry. Bitchin! No blisters either. Double-Bitchin! My legs and chest were a different story but it was more from sweat than anything else. I had the front vents of my Gore Tex jacket open and that let in a bit of water.

We got back in time for me to shower and have lunch before the Hawks game. The real beauty of my plan was that Clyde was zonked for much of the football game and slept through most all of it. Even my yelling.... He doesn't do much more than lift his head and look at me, often not even that.

What a fun game to watch. Sure the offense wasn't great, but who cares when the D is knocking the other 49ers senseless. Rocky Bernard knocked Alex Smith out with a crushing sack in their first possession, and the 49ers O didn't have a drive longer than 6 yards until there was 6 minutes left in the half. To end the half the 49ers actually moved the ball 47 yards which prompted them to attempt an onside kick to start the second half.

They were successful! Was the momentum finally going their way? Didn't have to wait long to find out, Dilfer (ex-hawk), promptly threw a pick on the firs play from scrimmage that the Hawks promptly punched in for a TD.

The game was over right then. It was fun to watch, I found myself wanting the O to get off the field so I could see more D.

My favorite parts of the game.... Peterson (ex 49er) pointing at his name after his sacks, Rocky Bernard crushing (literally) Alex Smith and doing the 'sugar bear'. The best was Trufant intercepting two passes intended for Darrell Jackson (ex hawk).

I have also decided that if I buy a jersey this season it will be a #99. the reasons are three-fold.

1. I like Rocky and his dance, the previously mentioned 'sugar bear'
2. He is a defensive player and you get less grief in the stands for wearing those jerseys.
3. He is a 308lb fella, only three inches taller than me. If I put on a Hasselbeck, I look like a fat QB, if I wear his, I look like a skinny DT.

notes-
* Clyde still pulls like a sled dog, always wanting a higher pace. He would do the same if Alan Webb was running him.

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Mike's Delight

I'm in! Just scored some tickets to Van Halen's upcoming show in Seattle and I am stoked! My desire to see Van Halen live with David Lee Roth is able to legally drink and almost old enough to get procure a rental car.



Now I just have to figure out what I am going to wear...

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Viva My Bed

Hey Everybody!

Looks like Mike has to get in the saddle and start blogging again... (How many times have you heard that from me?)

We'll it has been quite a busy couple of weeks 'round here. Carrie's company closed it's door's, dad has been down and out for a bit now with a bum back, my brother got married, and I spent a few days in Las Vegas. I'm not sure why I am telling y'all this, I believe just about everyone that reads my blog was around (Sara...)

Today it is good news all around. Carrie started her new job last Friday, dad is better, but has a ways to go, my brother's fiance said yes, and I came home from Vegas with my shirt.

The wedding was a good time.



It was an outdoor wedding on a beautiful 80 degree day. It was a bit long to stand in one place in a black monkey suit but we survived. Nobody passed out.... The reception was under cover, thank God, and the beer was cold. By the end of the evening, I was ready for a little air guitar. I started, wondered what the hell was I doing, but decided to push through and finish the thing. I had enough Mannys in me that I wasn't embaressed at all.

By the way, in the above picture, can you tell which ones are my cousins, and who is my sister? Hint, my cousins don't look irritated with me.... LOL!

Vagas was a bit of a breather for me. I was flown down there by my company for a users group meeting for a bit of software that we use. I was in seminars from 8am to 4pm. Didn't do any gambling. I really isn't my cup of tea. I did come back $0.05 up because someone didn't cash out their video poker at the bar. I just printed out the ticket and put it up on the wall at work. It would have been funny to cash the thing. I partook in my first ever Vegas buffet. It was the World buffet at the Rio, and it was surprisingly good. I ate a ton but still didn't touch half of what they offered. They had basically everything. Pretty funny to watch people hoard the crab legs. I was behind some lady stacking her plate high with pourpose. I started laughing at how mu she loaded on there. She was probably from Kansas where they are a little hard to come by.

I was a bit dissapointed at the casino we stayed at, the Rio. The room was nice, really big and with a great view from the 22nd floor. No, I was dissapointed because my told me that the Keno women wore just two stamps and a cork. (his words, not mine). The ticket agents at the airport were wearing less than the Keno ladies. Booo! Oh, that and from 3 to 9:30pm there were Chippendale dancers wandering around in front of the elevator I had to catch to my room. Bow tie, tight pants, and shaved. Meh. A couple of hurricanes and I would have taken my shirt off and let them know what a real man looks like!

It was sure nice to get home Saturday and sleep in my own bed after 4 days of sin city. It would have been more fun if Carrie was there with me.

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More Clyde

More Clyde for y'all tonight! Bonus!

Me and my lap dog...

 

Clyde caught where he isn't supposed to be. Why he was sitting like an old man, I don't know...



Again where he isn't supposed to be, Clyde after a hard night of drinking and chasing tail...



Clyde's Five month birthday (Carries doings, I wasn't home)

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ER!!

Tonight we took Clyde in for his very first emergency room visit! Yea!!

When we came home this evening, we let Clyde out of his crate and he looked like Rocky Balboa after a mix up with Dolph Ljundgren. One eye was almost swollen shut and his jowls were puffy. Poor guy, he must have discovered a bees nest this afternoon in the back yard.

We are lucky enough to have a 24 hour vet hospital just a stone throw from the house. 45 minutes, a Benadryl shot, a steroid shot, and $160 later we took him back home.

He should be fine, other than a face like a football he is acting completely normal. The swelling has already gone down noticeably. The Vet told us that the shots should make him sleepy but we haven't been so lucky....


Here is a picture of him after we brought him home.

 

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It's Now Time!

Ahh, The greatest time of the year.

Football is back in Seattle. As of this moment, SA has just scored a TD to put the Hawks up 16 - 7 and they are playing "Sweet Home Alabama" on the PA. I hope to hear that a few times more this year. Kinda nice that the weather is more late September than late August. I was never much for a game that I sweatrd out a shirt...

All said, I really could do without the preseason. Bring on the 'for real' games already!

LET'S GO BIG BLUE!!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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Crüe!

Soak it up!!

This here video was the pinnacle of coolness for me back in '85. Why I never grew out my bowl cut and broke out the peroxide I'll never know... Oh yea, I also liked Huey Lewis and the News, that's why.


Küng Fü Crüe..



I just kicked a hole in my hollow core door! WOOO!!


Finally some old stuff (older...)




LOL - best comment on YouTube ever!!

WOW! These chicks are kinda hot!

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Right About Now, You Are About to be Possessed...

Hit it!

Just wanted to let you know of an accomplishment I achieved today that I am very proud of.

I hit every woo and yea while Rob Base's 'It Takes Two' was on the radio this evening...

Carrie was a reluctant witness.

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Summer

Mike here, on the deck with a Pacifico in hand. (way better than Corona IMHO).

Just wanted to let you know of my goal for the summer. I am going to walk on my crushed rock path until my feet can handle it. Why? Because I can. :)

MikeD OUT!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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New Profile Photo and Rant

In honor of the Seahawks training camp starting up within the month, I decided to change my profile picture. It is a self-portrait of myself in the 'Bronco Barn' in Denver. I wasn't worried for my safety, I had my cousin watching my back in his '55' Bosworth jersey.

My rant has to do with the 4th of July. I hereby declare personal fireworks as an annoyance! What the hell! Seriously people, it is no different than me standing out in front of my house at 7pm with an air horn. Sure I'd find it entertaining, even funny, but other than my friend Jeff, everyone within earshot would be seriously irritated.

My proposal? Personal fireworks would be allowed to be shot off for three hours centered on your local sunset time on the 4th only. For example, here in Seattle, the sun sets at approximately 9pm on the 4th. You could light you money on fire to your hearts content from 7:30 to 10:30. If caught lighting stuff off outside of those time you would be forced to watch Celine Dion perform AC/DC's smash hit "You Shook Me All Night Long" on a loop for 12 hours straight.



Try it, I can't make it through watching it once!

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A Boy and His Dog

...and his wife too!

 

Carrie and I decided to take Clyde to the dog park for the first time today. We planned to go down there to check it out, but keep him on the leash as 'coming' isn't his strong suit yet. We went to the park in Edmonds.

First of all, what a cool place! For me it just a runway short of utopia. You park right by a marina, with all kinds of cool boats to see. There is a railroad track that carries just about everything in and out of Seattle. Two big BNSF trains went by while we were there, one in each direction. You are on the Puget Sound.

We got there and Clyde was on cloud nine. Exciting scents, nice people, and nice dogs everywhere. He didn't know what to do with himself. This was pretty much Clydes first time socializing with dogs that were bigger than him. We met a great dane that was a week younger, but 90 pounds heavier and tall enough that I could sit on it horse style and my feet probably wouldn't touch... Good lord that dog was big!

After we had been there a bit I was more comfortable and took Clyde off the leash as you can see from the picture above. He did great. For the most part he stayed close to me and came when called. We tossed the bumper and did a bit of swimming. (the dog, not me) Good fun, I will be back, sooner than later.

Something I noticed about the dog park was that everyone was very social. Everybody there had one thing in common, their love for dogs, and they were very friendly. I talked with people that if the dogs weren't there we probably wouldn't have even acknowledged each other. Very cool, I'd compare it to a bar where everybody knows your name. A place where you can see everybodies troubles are the same...

Here are a couple videos that we shot...

Clyde likes to swim between my legs for some reason. Listen for Carries "heh" at the beginning.




Here is Clyde retrieving his bumper. As you can see, he is now a card carrying Labrador. Half dog, half otter.



BTW, did you catch the dog dropping a deuce in the picture? I don't know why but I find it funny. I know, juvenile. :) Check the lady looking the other way, she is so trying to pretend that she doesn't know her dog is doing that...

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Back in the younger days I used to pound the miles out on the pavement. Later I discovered the joys of dirt and put in quite a few miles there. Then I got married and discovered beer.

I used to be pretty fit...

But I digress.

I am getting a big hankerin' to start riding the trails again. And I found the bike to do it on... A Yeti 575. Spectacular! I always dreamed of having a Yeti in my younger years watching Tomac, Jaurez, Giove, Rockwell, Deaton, and Furtado rip it up with them... They were the Ferrari of the mountain bike world to me. Now luckily, I am old enough to have a mid-life crisis, and young enough to still ride. This may be my E-ticket ride!

Yeah, Yeah, $3k+ for a bike, that's ludacris! (Luda!)

What-ever. Some guys have a midlife and spend 20 times that for a drop top Corvette and a toupe. Bad combo BTW. This bike costs about the same as checking the boxes next to navigation and automatic on just about any car. Save for a broken collarbone here and there it is much better for me too...

Stay tuned!

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Hey Everybody!

H-H-H-Hey Everybody!!!

I figured I better write something before all two of you that read my blog forget about me (if you haven't already).

A lot has happened since my last post, new job, the dog has doubled in size, the beerfest came through town, went on a baby crawl....

Baby crawl? What the hell is that?!?

Well it all started when two of my friends that shall remain nameless (one is pictured...) decided to have 'couples' baby showers, which are just an excuse to for people with kids to make fun of guys that don't (read: me) to make them feel better about what they got themselves into. :-)

Cooler heads came together and we realized, rather than having beers and laughing at the guy that doesn't know how to secure a linen diaper to a teddy bear, (again, me) our time would be better spent having beers and then having more beers. It is a good time! In six tries we have come up with some good stories that will live on for quite awhile. Unfortunately, I can't share any with you here. Let's just say, that now body has been harmed (almost nobody) and nothing has been done that will break up a marriage...

That's all I got to say about that!

On to the dog. We heard from Clyde's breeders that pretty much all the dogs except one, not including Clyde, are swimming. Other than playing in a kiddie pool, which he loves, Clyde has never been in a body of water bigger than his water dish. So we went to the lake to see how he would take to it.

Clyde likes the water only slightly less than fish....

He marched into the water with absolutely no hesitation. I didn't have to do a thing. We tossed his bumper gradually farther and farther out, not too far as I'd have to get it if he gave up, but he got it every time. The other cool thing that happened is that 'retrieving' finally seemed to click for him. We have been trying for weeks in the backyard, but there is too much to sidetrack. Sticks, leaves, shrubs, dogs barking, blades of grass, the retaining wall, etc, etc, etc. We were lucky to get him to bring something back half the time. Not so in the lake. I tossed his bumper out and he would tear after it, bounding over the waves, grabbing it, and heading back for me. Hopefully we will get a hot weekend soon and I'll wear the speedo and throw the thing out farther. Hopefully we'll get some pictures.



O.K. I'm back now, though you probably didn't know I was away. In the last 10 minutes, the dog got too rambunctious, put a hole in Carries new pants and arm (she's had the arm for awhile), I intervened and got clawed under the eye and nose. My nose is bleeding slightly and I just noticed that so is my knuckle... Ahhh, the joys of a Labrador puppy. Anybody want one? We start obedience training in two weeks or so and it can't come soon enough. No worries, he isn't like this all the time, it is just about 30 minutes a night where he gets super-amped up. Much like a kid that has had way too much cotton candy.

 

Except Clyde has pointy fangs and claws.

Anyhoo, I have lost my track of thought now so I guess that I'll shut 'er down.

Goodnight!

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Canadian Grand Prix

Check out this wreck during todays Canadian Grand Prix. Robert Kubica got off the track and went airborne at a high rate of speed, the BMW-Sauber was shredded.



Miraculously, the current word is that he has a slight concussion and a sprained ankle. I got choked up a bit when I saw it happened live, sick to my stomach. I thought that I had just witnessed his death.

Motor racing as a whole is inherently dangerous but there have been tremendous advances in safety. Back in the day, the drivers didn't even have seatbelt, believing that it was better to be thrown than to stick with the car. They were probably right, the cars were gas cans with engines and a driver on top. Quite a few lost their lives back then.

Today the drivers are encased in a carbon fiber monocoque 'tub' that houses the driver and a fuel tank made out of a flexible kevlar balloon. The car can shred up to the tub, absorbing energy, but the driver should be protected. The gas tank, being flexible, can distort without bursting, preventing dangerous fires.

As you can seen in the video, these things did their jobs. He came out of that shunt better than many quarterbacks did versus Lawrence Taylor. Way better than Theisman...

Thank God.

Nice to see Lewis Hamilton get his first win. At age 22 he has a long was to go, but he has the makings of something special. Third place in his first race, second in the next four, and a win today. Not too shabby.

Ten years from now we may be saying "Michael who?".

***Update***
It looks like F1 management is pulling videos off of YouTube so the video no longer works. Here is one shot by a spectator, even more spectacular.



I am still in awe that he was barely nicked up. He walked out today with just a slight limp, got in a X5 and drove himself away.

Here is a shot of the accident.... I believe you see his foot sticking out the front. Chilling.

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What's Not Weak This Week...

I'm really digging Silversun Pickups right now. I hear "Lazy Eye" all the time on XM and have been meaning to look it up on iTunes for awhile so I finally got to it. Ended up downloading the whole album and some iTunes exclusive live tracks.

Good stuff!

They take me back to the early 90's when music was good. (wink, wink) I think of bads like the Gish/Siamese Dream era Smashing Pumpkins and Hum. Oooo, and Engine Kid... A great sound that you can sink your teeth into.

I was starting to think that music had passed me up, but this has given me hope!

BTW, here is Hum live... LOL, I had glasses like that for a bit around the same time.

More. I love it!

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RC Cars

Anybody that knows me knows that I am interested in just about everything except baseball. Especially mechanical things... As a kid, I was fascinated by what made things work, so I would take them apart. My Tyco HO scale Burlington Northern train, slot cars, radios, hair dryers, mom's hot air popcorn popper (got jolted by that one), etc, etc, etc. They never went back together again. My problem was that I used excessive force to get things apart which broke many parts.

Today and I still enjoy taking thins apart to see how they work. Recently I gutted an old computer hard drive, and a car oil filter. Why? Because I could. I have an old VCR (remember those?) and a DVR player that are on cue for a rainy day on the work bench...

Now, I pretty much know how and why thing work, I take them apart because I like to see how they were put together. A well engineered mechanical item is as beautiful to me as anything in the Louvre. This is why I am fascinated with F1. Many people look at all the the little wings and fins that the cars have sprouted and think they are ugly. For example, the BMW "twin towers" on the F1.06...

I find them fascinating! I was very disappointed when they were banned.

All this brings me to why I titled this post "RC Cars". I bought a Team Associated RC18MT a couple years ago. That summer I drove it quite a bit, which was cool, but the real joy for me was taking it apart and rebuilding it. I have spent more house standing over it's pieces on the work bench than I have driving it. It is a blast!

Take a look at this exploded view of the thing...

Seriously, this is as exciting to me as any Playboy centerfold. It has working differentials, 4 wheel drive, independent suspension and it is all made to come apart and be put back together. I dream about this in my sleep!

One of these days I'll pick up a 1:10 scale nitro truck. I have been eying this one for a few years now. It would triple the wrenching that I can do on it over my current truck. I just need to find someone and somewhere to go bashing with me.

Why don't I get into wrenching on my 'real' truck? Simple. Because it has to get me to work and home every day. That, and many parts cost as much or more than a whole RC car...

Hopefully soon I'll have my third garage bay and a little sports car to wrench on, but for now, I am more than satisfied with my RC car.

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Clyde vs Jenkins

Today Clyde met his buddy Jenkins for the first time. After a slow start, he had been napping, he started playing with Jenks. Where Jenkins trumps Clyde in energy, quickness, speed and agility, Clyde learned quick to play his only card, weight. The few times that Jenkins would slow down, Clyde would try to pin him. After around an hour of this Clyde was definitely tiring but Jenkins had a ton of energy in reserve. We had to separate them so he could chill. He slept like a rock afterwards!

Check the video...



The best part him trying to pounce from above at the 2:30 mark... Later you can see his coordination issues when he tries twice to jump the retaining wall.

Kinda fun throwing together the video. Looks like it is time for me to get a decent video recorder... Shhh, don't tell Carrie!

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New Clyde Photos

Sir Ludaclyde Donnagan of Skye

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Thinning of the Herd

My friend Jeff brought this news story to my attention today... Teen hurt whacking bullets with hammer.

Basically an eighteen year old was clamping bullets in a vise and setting them off so he could collect money for the brass casings. One ended hitting him in the gut, just a minor flesh wound.

This reminds me of my theory of the downfall of modern civilization...

We have, with science and legislation, all but made natural selection non-existent. Before we harnessed fire, made planes, trains and automobiles (those aren't pillows!), we were located on the food chain somewhere between rabbits and coyotes. Many creatures were faster, bigger, and stronger than us. Our only advantage was smarts. Back then, young Mr. Mosher, instead of 'whacking bullets', would have probably been taken down by a sabre-toothed tiger after waking it with a swat to its behind with a willow branch. Most likely many years before he was of legal voting age. Back then the smart survived and future generations benefited.

Today, with our air-bag equipped automobiles, helmet laws, speed limits, modern medicine, medi-vac helicopters, and zoos, the stupid thrive!

But alas, there are a select few that are able to buck the trend and bring back natural selection. My favorite example comes from right here, beautiful Seattle.

From the Seattle Times

A man fell from a Seattle overpass early this morning onto Interstate 5 where he was hit by two vehicles and killed, police said.

The man, who has not been identified by investigators, and another man, age 31, had been drinking and were trying to see who could hang above the interstate from the Olive Way overpass the longest, Seattle police spokeswoman Debra Brown said.

The unidentified man struggled and could not pull himself up, Brown said. The other man tried to help him, but he slipped and fell to the traffic below.

The man was hit by a semi-truck, then another vehicle, both going 60 mph, Brown said.

It is unlikely there will be any further investigation, Brown said.

Now, I have been known to toss a few back every now and then, but I have never had the urge to hang from an overpass. I typically just laugh more. ...And sleep in the garage.

This is a classic example of what I call 'thinning of the herd'. There were no innocent victims. This fella died because he was stupid, and thank God, didn't take anyone with him. Nothing makes me more angry than when an idiot ruins others lives, injuring or killing someone else in their stupidity. That is a tragedy and I find nothing humorous about that.

Let me know if you have any good examples of a 'thinning of the herd' story. Post them in the comments. Please, no Darwin Awards links. I want actual newspaper stories.

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Dog Tag

We just received Clyde's custom dog tag in the mail today and couldn't be more excited. (that is how you know life is good, you get excited over the simplest of things!)

Carrie came across it while browsing fancy collars and leashes at 3 Dirty Dawgs. I was sold on it when I saw you could get, "squirrel patrol" put on it!

 

It is made by Tuff Tagz out of an irregular shaped piece of aluminum diamond plate. My only disappointment is that we ordered a large tag which is too big for the fella right now. We'll have to store it away for a month or two until he is big enough. Boo!

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Silence!

Woo hoo! A full nights rest with no interruptions. Clyde slept the whole night without crying or whining to go out. At least not loud enough to wake us up... He has yet to have an accident in his crate too. Boy was it nice.

Right now we are working on his mouth. As a puppy he mouths everything. He has picked up every leaf on the back lawn. No big deal with that stuff but when he plays he is being a bit rough with it. The other day while I was cleaning up an 'accident' on my hands and knees, he grabbed me by my achilles... My God that hurt! He actually drew blood. It is hard because your natural reaction is to pull away from him when he does that, but when you do he sees it as play. We are yelping a 'OW!' and ignoring him for a moment. It is working for hands, but not so much for the feet...

Anyone have any tips?

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Clyde and His Water Dish

Carrie was quick with the camera when Clyde started hamming it up with his water dish.

Ahh, the carefree life of a puppy!

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Brutal!

We are still having a blast with Clyde, BUT...

I haven't had a full night sleep since he has come home. ...or a third night sleep.

Saturday night wasn't too bad. We tired him out before bed and he was out. At around 2 am he started whining so I got up and took him out. We went out to the backyard and he promptly curled up into a ball on my feet and went back to sleep outside in the light rain. I picked him up and put him back in the crate and he didn't even stir. At 4:30 am he started whining again so I took him out. This time he relieved himself. When done I could tell that he wasn't going to go down so easy this time. When back in the crate he cried, LOUD. He sounds like a cross between Luciano Pavarotti and a seagull caught in a bear trap with a bullhorn. It is amazing that a 13 lb puppy can belt it like that. Knowing that he would be fine bathroom-wise we put in earplugs. It was still loud. 10-15 of it and he tired out. I was able to sleep until 7:30 am.

Sunday when we put him to bed he cried again. For an hour, maybe longer... 2 am came around and he whined so we went out. This time he relieved himself. As in the night before after he did his 'duty', he was put back in his crate and belted a tune for us. Maybe 15 minutes again, but at 2 am when you have to be up at 5:30 for work, that may as well be an eternity. Uggghh. The good news is I slept until my alarm went off which is easily a third of Clyde volume. I can't remember if Carrie took him out between.

I was beat this morning...

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Sir Ludaclyde Donnagan of Skye

 

Here he is, our new puppy. Sir Ludaclyde Donnagan of Skye, though we will just call him Clyde. He was born March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, and came home with us today, May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. A dog of many nationalities.

I bet you are asking, "How in hell did they come up with that name?"

Very simple, I will explain...

We have known since our wedding six years ago that we wanted a dog named Clyde. This was cemented on our honeymoon while on Captain Andy's dinner cruise. We were tossing back 'Sneaky Tikis' when we met a Hawaiian crew member names Clyde. He was one cool fella. I think we have a picture somewhere of us with him. Anyways, we decided that night that we were going to name a dog after him.

The 'Luda', as in Ludacris, was tacked on to be different. Luda!

The 'Donnagan' was added to honor his being born on St. Patrick's day. It apparently means 'brown one of the hound packs'.

The 'of Skye' is in regards to the Scottish isle of Skye of where I can trace some ancestry to the MacLeod clan. That and Mom named her Sheltie 'Lady Piper of Skye' (for the same reason) and I always thought it sounded good. I wanted to continue the tradition.

Click here for the pictures! Check back for updates.

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Hand Wistle

So yesterday while I was grinding away on a drawing at work, I stopped for a second to think and blew on my fist like my hand was cold. I startled myself when it made a loud whistle.

So what did I do? I did it again! and again, and again, and again... That's the way I roll.

After a minute or two playing with my "hand whistle" decided to open my fist and try to repeat it. No such luck. I wasted another five minutes of my day blowing on my fist getting nothing. ( I tried a few time's while typing this, no luck)

Good thing I was alone that morning...

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A Little Culture for You

I haven't posted anything auto in a bit so here you go... A jazzy little French film from Pikes Peak, Colorado.




Bellisimo! (Yes, I realize that is Italian not French)

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Puppy! Pt. Zwei

If you haven't yet read my original Puppy post, read it here first.



I forgot to bring up what finally put Carrie and I over the top to get a dog...

Jealousy!

We were fine with not having a dog right up to the day that my sister brought home her dog Jenkins a little over a month ago. After watching him and Bo play at my parents house on Easter, we could take no more! I believe that Carrie found the litter that we eventually decided on that evening.

Here are the fellas hanging out, waiting for another buddy to play with...



I am sure Bo (the Boston) will put him in his place quickly. It will be interesting to see how Jenks and the new puppy react. I am guessing that it will result in many laughs!

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Puppy!

EDIT- fooled with the photos...

Carrie and I have decided to add a new member to our family. We are getting a puppy!

After long deliberation we have decided that the time is right to get a dog. We couldn't be more excited!

Ever since we knew we were getting married we wanted a dog. Now seven years later, we are going to take the plunge. Over that time we have gone back and forth over what breed we wanted. At first we were big on Boxers, then Boston Terriers. Both are great dog but I shot them down for being short nosed dog that snore like 327 pound men. We've taken care of mom's Boston Bo enough to know that he'd keep me up all night.

We finally settled on a Chocolate Labrador Retriever. In my mind, the perfect dog. There are many reasons we have decided on a Lab. We liked that they have great personalities, and are good with children. The short coat, size, and the fact that they love water played a part in it too. We wanted a chocolate one because you seem to see less of them and I love how they look.

Last weekend, we visited a litter of four week old pups and put down a deposit. Oh my God, were they cute. I could have stood there and watched them for hours, wrestling, sleeping... We haven't picked the guy that will come home with us yet, but since they are going home in 3 weeks that will happen soon. Next weekend we will hopefully get to play out in the yard with them to figure which one it will be. I can't wait 'till the puppy gets to come home. It will be a lot of work, but I look forward to it.

Blah, blah, blah... Shut it, Mike, and show us the pictures!

Here you go...

This is the dad.

 

Here are a few of the puppies, I am not sure who the kids are...

3-4 weeks old

 

 

5 weeks old

 

 

 

the runt of the litter with the biggest one.

 

How can you not fall in love with these guys! I cannot wait until we get to bring the fella home. Hopefully next week I have some more pictures to show you.

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Gun Control

Is the 'gun culture' of the US to blame for incidents such as the VT shootings and Columbine?

Read This.


Virginia Tech was a gun free campus. This insured that there was nobody there that MAY have been able stop this atrocity earlier because they had a legal concealed firearm.

I saw an interesting slogan the other day.

"People don't stop killers, people with guns do"


Please comment!

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Don't call the shooter Asian

Mike is gonna try serious today...

Brought to my attention here.


AAJS Media Advisory: Coverage on Virginia Tech Shooting Incident.

There is no evidence at this early point that the race or ethnicity of the suspected gunman has anything to do with the incident, and to include such mention serves only to unfairly portray an entire people.

Quite frankly I don't see what the sex of the gunman, I mean gunperson had to do with it either. (Eyes rolling)


The fact that the gunman was Asian, from South Korea, and male had nothing to do with this atrocious event. But it does. Why? Because he was an Asian male originally from South Korea. They have released his name and photo. Should we not see those either? I'm sure that people will guess as much...

The effect of mentioning race can be powerfully harmful. It can subject people to unfair treatment based simply on skin color and heritage.

Only an idiot would look at this event and conclude that Asians are 'bad'. This was the work of a pathetic individual. He could have as easily been white, black or anything. His name could have been John. If it was, tell me. Not mentioning race to keep knuckle-dragging Neanderthals (no offense to Neanderthals meant...) from getting that information isn't doing anything to solve the problem, I believe it makes it worse.


Some classmates talk...

"When we read Cho's plays, it was like something out of a nightmare. The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of," former classmate Ian McFarlane, now an AOL employee, wrote in a blog posted on an AOL Web site. He said he and other students "were talking to each other with serious worry about whether he could be a school shooter."

"We always joked we were just waiting for him to do something, waiting to hear about something he did," said another classmate, Stephanie Derry. "But when I got the call it was Cho who had done this, I started crying, bawling."

Do you think that there could have been people who were genuinely concerned about this guy, but were afraid to bring it up to any authorities for fear of being considered 'racist'? Could this have turned out different if more had expressed their concerns? Maybe, maybe not. We'll never know.


The other thing that angers me is all the anti-gun people that latch on to these horrible events. Do you really think that making guns illegal would have stopped this? I mean, drugs like heroine, crack, and pot are illegal, yet we see it everywhere. Imagine the common burglar that got a hold of a gun when possession is illegal. Isn't the possibility there that he just might be that much more brazen knowing that the most he needs to worry about is someone with a aluminum bat or a bedside table?


Read this part again...

The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of.

If guns didn't exist, he would have come up with something...

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Weird

So... I share a birthday with Don Johnson, December 15th.

Don Johnson was married to Melanie Griffith...

Melanie Griffith's birthday is August 9th...

Carrie's birthday is August 9th...

Coincidence?

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Bedside Table Defense and Other...

Here are a few goodies that I came across this morning....


Safe Bedside Table

A good idea that had me on the floor laughing. Check the picture of guy with bed hair ready to roll. Imagine the terror in the eyes of punk kids stealing your Xbox games when you come charging down the stairs looking like a night in briefs.


April Fool's Pranks For Nerds

My favorite is a play on the "Nice Wallpaper" on the second page. I did it to someone at work awhile back but I had an error message open when I took the screenshot. I then replaced the wallpaper with the screenshot and sat back and laughed as I heard frantic clicking and eventually obscenities towards the message that wouldn't go away.

The other fun one is to go into Word and set the auto-correct to change a common word to something funny. For Carrie I made it change every instance that she typed 'the' to 'toot'. Lots of fun, but be careful, this can get you or your target in trouble if you pick the wrong word...

I like the "Remove the Mouse Ball" prank, that could fun!

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Grenade

Dumbass!

I am pretty sure this guy had 'blacked out' and woke up in the drivers seat with a monster hangover wondering why all the warning lights are on and the engine rattles (if it even started, check the pool of fluids underneath). Replacing an Audi V8 will cost you a pretty penny!

Being Audi A8, and apparently a college aged guy, there is a good chance that this is his parents car. If so, I bet he had a good time explaining this...

Since the guys that recorded this seemed to have no ties to the fella and there was nobody with him, I bet the only way he will ever know what happened to his car is if he is lucky enough to come across this video on YouTube.

In all seriousness, this guy got off lucky. There is a good chance that if he had managed to get that thing rolling he could have easily killed someone with all the pedestrians that would be milling around after a ballgame.

BTW, If you click through to YouTube, is it me or does the lowest common denominator seem to write comments on these videos.

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"Turbocharged" Blogging!

Anybody who has spent a bit of time hanging around me knows that I have many pet peeves. No, I a not an angry person, I jut say it like it is....

My pet peeve for today is the use of the term "turbocharged" instead of just saying "faster" or "more powerful". Yes, Websters now recognizes that as a proper use. That just irritates me more.

The true, and in my mind the only, meaning of turbocharged is the thankfully first definition on Websters. Broken down, something that is "turbocharged" is "equipped with a centrifugal blower driven by exhaust gas turbines and used to supercharge an engine".

Basically if it doesn't have an internal combustion engine, it cannot be turbocharged.

What brought this on this morning was this story that I came across in my travels with Google Reader.

Forced Induction PC Cooling

He used a turbocharger from a Mitsubishi Eclipse as a case fan for his PC. His inspiration was the misuse of the terms "supercharging" and "turbocharging" by computer manufacturers.

I really don't have a problem with "supercharging" because "super" is pretty generic. It can apply to anything.

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The Boys

"The boys took a beating on that one..."

I have no idea if the audio on this was dubbed in or if it was live, but no matter. I was on the floor laughing!

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My "Can't Sleep So I Will Post on the Blog" Post

Do you know what word I find odd?

"Both"

Seriously, that is one strange word. Say it over and over a few times.

What the hell!

Isn't it the noise that Snots made when he was 'yakking on a bone' in Christmas Vacation?


There we go, I have now bored myself.... Now I can go to sleep, only to be awakened in five hours by the same horrid alarm that I have had since I was twelve. My alarm clock can legally drink!

Good night!

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It's Been Awhile

Boy, have I been slacking! Unfortunately I have no excuses. I'm lazy and never put in the effort to think of something to say. But not today!

Today was the first day that I have been able to get outside and do a little much needed yard work. I got the lawns cut and did some pruning on some shrubbery. It was nice to get out there. Hopefully we can string some good weather together so I can reel in control of the yard soon.

Moss is now my sworn enemy!

Yesterday was the first Formula 1 race of the season... Woohoo! My buddy Steve came over and watched the race with me last night and brought over some Foster's 24oz cans as it is the official beer of F1 AND Australia (that's what the commercials say...) where the race was held. These things are ridiculous! I feel like a 6 year old holding one of dad's Oly's when I pick it up.

Yep, that's all I got for now. I promise to get back on the horse!

Toodles!

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Dirty Car Art

I came across this while reading my Car & Driver magazine today...

Scott Wade's Dirty Car Art

He draws images in the dust that collects on the back window of his Mini Cooper and his wifes Mazda 3. Not you typical 'wash me', smiley face, or 'flash Friday'... We're talking Poker Dogs, the Mona Lisa and much more. Fascinatingly cool, it is amazing how much detail is in these.

The mile and a half dirt road kicks up a bunch of dust so he constantly has a 'clean' canvas to work with.

I sure wish I had a bit of artistic ability... It would be a great excuse to get out of cleaning Carries RDX which collects a ton of grime on the back window.

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Parasitic Song of the Day

"Islands in the Stream" with Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.

Why the hell is this song in my brain?

Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in-between
How can we be wrong
Sail away with me to another world
And we rely on each other, ah-ah
From one lover to another, ah-ah

From the moment I put my feet on the floor this morning it has been on repeat in my head.

It's only a matter of time before I get my own pink padded room.


Update: march 06, 2007 7:14am

Pantera came through with "Cowboys from Hell" to chase Kenny, Dolly and the Bee Gees from my head.

Thanks Dimebag Darrell! RIP

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Stranger than Fiction

Carrie and I don't go out to movies together much. Don't be sad for us, we have a comfortable sectional sofa and a beautiful big HDTV. Every so often we will swing into the local Best Buy for something else and walk out with a movie that we haven't seen. Today we picked up 'Stranger than Fiction' on a whim.

We watched it this evening.

Boy, this movie sucked me in. Without spoiling the movie for you, it is the story of Harold Crick (Will Ferrel), an IRS agent that lives a bland and ordered life. He brushes his teeth 38 times up and down, 38 times side to side. He counts his steps. His favorite word is integer. One day he hears a voice narrating his life. The narrator lets him know that he will soon die. The movie is about him figuring out what the hell is going on and averting that imminent death.

This is now my favorite movie, replacing the quirky 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'. Both movies grab me because they are, shall I say, adult children's movies, if that makes any sense. They are comfortable... In some weird way I had an overwhelming feeling of happiness after watching this movie. I really connected with Harold Crick, maybe even felt that he was a bit of me... Not that I hear voices, I only hear music. Constantly.

Do you want to know the best part of watching movies at home instead of at the theater? By the end of this movie I was pumping tears like I was putting out a fire! Yes, I got emotional, and I am man enough to admit it. If I saw this in public at the local multi-plex I would have been embaressed. My sleeves were soaked! I haven't cried like that since that kid and yellow dog were reunited... Damn.

I you haven't caught this one I recommend you check it out. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as me.

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