Pet Sounds

Due to the difficult economic times, my wife is currently living/working in a different state. She's staying with her mother so all the pets are with me--Nemo the feisty Quaker parrot, Daisy the incredibly noisy Sun Conure, and Emily, our Flat-Coat Retriever. Shauna, my wife, was suffering from a distinct lack of pet love so she decided to get a little dog to keep her company and give her that pet love she so desperately missed.

Enter Peaches, an 11-month old, 7 pound female chihuahua. She came with Shauna this week to spend New Year's with me and the crew. She's just adorable (Peaches, I mean, although Shauna certainly is as well). Emily outweighs Peaches by nearly fifty pounds, but Peaches has Emily pretty thoroughly cowed. Emily isn't the brightest dog I've ever known, but she is definitely the sweetest. They're starting to play together a little better after 2 days, but it's funny to watch. I had to feed Emily by hand yesterday because she was afraid to eat out of her food dish, which Peaches has claimed for her own. New member of the family, it's a process. Anyway, I'm enjoying all the critters and I'm thankful this holiday season that Shauna and her new addition could be here and we get to share some time together.

Hot Topic

Global warming? My wife decided to give me a topic to write about for today, and that's what she came up with. What the heck do I know about global warming? I don't even like leftovers.

A long time ago I heard George Carlin talking about the people who want to "save the planet." He said the planet doesn't need saving, it doesn't care about us. They want to save the planet for themselves. I have to agree with him. Besides, all this stuff about global warming and all that, who's to say it's not just the normal cycle of the weather? Some scientists say one thing, some say another--statistics always tell the truth, but whose truth? Sure, I'm willing to recycle and I'd sure buy a hybrid vehicle if I could freaking afford one, but for the most part I think I'll leave saving the planet to those who can afford the time and money to worry about it. I have my own problems.

Days of Future Passed

I had dinner tonight with an old high school buddy of mine, and I mean old in the sense that he's old and I'm old, lol. Strangely (or perhaps not so strangely), we didn't talk about old times or even much about people we used to know. We talked about the common interests we've developed over 35 years of knowing each other and connecting periodically--sometimes just for a week or two, sometimes for a year or two, and sometimes just for a dinner. There's a certain comfort in spending time with someone you've known for that long. The common history and cultural point of origin you share with someone you've known for that many years bleeds forward into every conversation, even if your lives have diverged significantly over the intervening time. I still see that teenager I used to hang out with, got in trouble with, misspent a goodly portion of my youth with. Maybe he sees me that way too, and even when we talk about getting old we have a chance to feel a little bit of our youth one more time.

Bleeding Blue

The winter meetings are over and the Dodgers have only made minor moves thus far, at least quantity-wise. They've solidified 3rd base with the signing of Casey Blake, and Mark Loretta is an excellent pickup for infield utility. They still need pitching and a shortstop, but I'm glad they aren't going to trade away their youngsters to get it. Martin, Ethier, Loney, and Kemp are a fantastic core to build a team around and all of them will be huge stars as time goes by.

I'd love to see them get Manny back, but only if it's for 2-3, or maybe 4 years. A 6 year deal would be ridiculous--in 3 years he's gonna need to move to DH. If they could get him for those 3 years, though, he could be the piece they need to go all the way. That is, of course, provided they can line up some decent pitching. They have some kids with a lot of potential but they still need a veteran or two to steady the rotation. I'm really eager to see how things fall out over this offseason, so I can cheer my boys on into the fall.

A New Hope

So the semester is winding down, textbook buyback is the current big event in the Bookstore, and we're dead slow in the Computer Den. It's time to think about winter rush, even though it's still a month away, but no one feels like doing anything. The only thing saving me right now is the thought of a week off. The week of New Year's will be my recharge time, get me ready for the full throttle of rush. Since it's winter rush, we don't have all the orientation events to deal with and the whole impact on us isn't nearly as frenetic as fall rush. Still, it can be unpredictable. The difference in our business over the last couple of Februarys was huge so who knows what this year will bring. Economic downturn and recession and all that, but students do need computers. Maybe they'll have Christmas money to spend, lol.

So that's all less than exciting. My life. Wow.