Laddie

I'm pretty sure it was 1996 that I adopted Laddie. I had just come back from Pensacola to live with my parents after being burned out working at Lakeview Center. It's frustrating to me that I can't remember 'why' I adopted him. Did I go to Paws on a whim? or was I actively seeking another dog. I remember seeing his advert in the paper. Paws called him Scamp. I remember visiting with him at Paws and actually adopting him at the BX on base. I think I paid 35 dollars. I was pretty down when I came back home, so perhaps I was seeking something.

My other dog had died a year or two before. He also lived at my parents house. It was a weekend morning that I happened to be home. It was around noon when I looked out the back window, and I noticed he was lying in the grass still. It looked odd, so I went outside and knelt down, and when I touched him, it was as if he let out his last breath. Max had lived a long 15 yrs.

Max had a mother named Snoopy. She was my first dog essentially. My parents got her from someone when I was very young. She was a fat ,black, dachsund mix. She gave birth to about 3 litters of puppies. I recall waking up one morning and seeing the new born puppies. I was so fascinated. I tried to keep a puppy from each litter, but the first two died shortly after from worms. One of them I had named Koenig! lol Max made it tho.

Snoopy lived a long time too, perhaps close to 10yrs. She developed a heart murmur in the last few months of her life. It would cause her these wretched spasms. I don't even remember how old I was, maybe 9th grade. I do remember debating on whether to get her euthanized, and I just couldn't do it. I took her out in the yard one night and sat with her for a long time. I held her head and told her how much I loved her, and that I would miss her when she was gone. She died shortly after. And like Max , and the other puppies I buried her.

Laddie died this past Saturday morning in his sleep. He was right around 15yrs of age as well. Like I said it's kind of frustrating that some of my earlier memories of him are not so vivid. I think one of the nicest days I can remember was taking him and Laurie's dog Sookie ( who has also passed) out to Panama City and some small towns. The dogs got to ride around in Laurie's CRV for hours and explore several parks that day. It was a nice day for Laurie and I as well.

Laddie loved his walks, and loved riding in the car. It would always crack me up when we would be walking and he would get a sand spur in his foot. Max was a complete wimp, but Laddie would just pick it out with his teeth and a small wimper. He was a tough dog, dealing with some sort of nervous system spasms every few months for the last few years. He killed a squirrel not but a few months ago. He inhaled his food and escaped the yard more than once. He would also howl whenever I left Fort Walton. He could sense I was leaving for a long time perhaps. Now that it's too late, I very much regret not being able to say goodbye to him or take him for one last walk. It is a thought that I will have to process for a while I think.

I want to thank my parents so much for doing their best to take care of him and for laying him to rest. RIP Laddie.

Cold is gettin old

I think I'm finally ready for spring. It's really hard to get motivated to start all the cleaning I need to get done when it's so cold outside. I really miss riding my bike too. I know I said I was going to ride in the cold, but that Nebraska wind just burns the face. A balaclava just makes my mouth and nose feel weird. Unfortunately, I overhead the weatherman saying more frigid cold was on its way.

My daughter has began the act of being a real consumer. Her current favorite cartoon is Kid vs Kat on Disney XD. She never really saw commercials on Noggin or Nick, so now she sees a commercial for magic beans or pokeman cards and declares "I want that! Let's get that, Dad!" I laugh and say "Yooouuu don't need that!" And she says, "Sure we do!"

There's a commercial they play a lot for a small hover saucer. It looks kinda fun really. Always fun to make my dog more crazy than he already is right?!! Remote control stuff is so cheap these days. I think it's only 24.95. Pfft prolly break the minute it lands on something hard.

Eparg TrebliG

Whose idea was this anyway?



Oh and I just had to add this because this is just too cool!

FREAKY MONKEY PEOPLE!

Diamonds!!

I can't stop laughing at this goofy ad from Old Spice!

I'm On a Horse!!

Dan O'Bannon

I was revisiting some scenes from Dark Star on youtube and saw in the commentary that actor/writer Dan O'Bannon had passed in Dec 09. This information made me pause for a few minutes. I find that I have these moments of reflection when someone in the media dies , more so these days I guess. When Patrick Swayze died, it was more than just a passing thought for the day. I mean how many movies did I see growing up with him in it?

Dan O'Bannon had a list of creative efforts : from wiki

• 1974 Dark Star – writer, special fx, editor, prod design, co-star
• 1977 Star Wars – special computer effects
• 1979 Alien – writer
• 1981 Dead & Buried – writer
• 1981 Heavy Metal – writer of two segments, Soft Landing and B-17
• 1983 Blue Thunder – writer
• 1985 Lifeforce – writer
• 1985 The Return of the Living Dead – writer, director, voice
• 1986 Invaders from Mars – writer
• 1990 Total Recall – writer
• 1992 The Resurrected – director
• 1995 Screamers – writer
• 2010 Silvaticus 3015 – co-screenplay writer

One of my favorite movies ever has been and prolly always will be Alien. To this day 31 years later I can still watch this movie from beginning to end and be in awe of it's execution. I was so terrified of the commercial, I told my parents I wanted to see it. I was 8 yrs old! I remember telling my father 30 min into the movie that this was not scary at all. However, by the end I must have been practically frozen in terror. I can remember talking about how it scared the ever living shit of out me in 3rd grade lunch.

For years, my dreams would incorporate the Alien as a symbol of some anxiety. Along with HR Giger's art, and Ridely Scott's direction so much of what I like/produce artistically has a footprint from that movie. So thank you Dan O'Bannon for making it happen.

Wonder Stranger

This is the nose piece for the nitrous at the dentist. It stinks of super sweet strawberry. Kinda funny they give it to the kiddies as a play toy to remember their visit to the dentist. Of course, I have to wear it too which makes everything smell like strawberry for 20 min.



It's still snowing a couple of inches once a week. Just enough to coat everything in white and remind you that the huge piles from 2 blizzards in Dec aren't going anywhere.



My two goofies just happy to be outside and in their own worlds :)
It's fun to be in the park when no one else is there.



Give me a kissssss!!

And I found an interesting artist the other day. Plaid actually did a remix for her, but her original song is pretty interesting too.

VIA TANIA

Flunitrazepam

That's the real name of the Rufenol or the 'rufi' drug that the guys in The Hangover had. I finally watched this movie last night. It cracked me up in some parts, but didn't have me in stitches like I Love You Man.

I didn't even realize a trailer for Toy Story 3 is out. Looks pretty good!

Check It!

Tough Guy

Do you ever hear people having discussions about facebook? He said, she said, oh no he didn't! That's what the dentist and her assistant were doing when they were putting in my daughter's filling today. I wasn't offended by this, it just reminded me of those stories you hear about people being under in surgery and surgeons having insane conversations about their patients. That stuff really happens ya know.

I asked if that was UV light they were using to cure the filling. My dentist said, "What ? Oh yah...very perceptive of you!" hahahaha I said my fillings were so old they prolly used radioactive material in them and she let out the "horsey" laugh! You know deep and guffawy ( is that a word?) Which kinda surprised me cuz it doesn't match her at all. Ultimately, it went well and all is good.

My local outfitter store sends me a newsletter every so often. The woman who writes it works there and she really puts a lot of effort and creativity into it imo. It always has at least one interesting side story in it. Scuba diving in Nebraska and having an eagle snatch a fish out of your hand, pictures of hunter with a 8ft 200 lb moutain lion, a photo of a massive 10 inch Morel mushroom, and a link today for the Tough Guy competition in the UK.

I really enjoyed shooting sporting events when I had the chance, but this event in all its craziness would be such gold! Who wouldn't want to see Robocop running through fire and mud?!! You can read about it here. Here's one of my fav pics from the event.

The Ole Bago

Remember that night on the border in Texas!!!

Yom Yom Yom

I ate a ton of bad food this weekend for sure. Lots of cookies, Ihop, Smashburger, and more cookies! Watched some Olympics even. Both the ladies and mens mogul skiiing was pretty cool to watch.

Valentines day was chill as it was dog butt cold outside. I was feeling really blah doing laundry,cleaning ,talking bout taxes, spending large amounts of money on non fun things, and talking bout moving. However, I did get my 'dork' shoes the other night and was eager to test them out even though my ankle was feeling a bit off the other day. So I ran 2 miles in the VFFs and it felt really good! No discomfort, and maybe a slight sense of being more connected and free at the same time. I was really charged up after working out and felt great!

Later, I was rebooting my router in frustration when I spied an orange glow out the corner of my eye. A faint sun pillar was showing on the horizon. In the mere minute it took to grab my cam, change lens, and go upstairs, it died down a bit, but still a slight glowy blob remained. When I moved here I thought I'd see some glorious sunsets, but it's always some weird atmospheric stuff. Well that and apocalyptic clouds of doom!!

Ch ch ch ch Chia!

And so another birthday has come and passed. This time it's the uneventful 39 yrs old. Everyone says ,"1 more year!!!" and the shit really starts to get crazy right? Pffft Turning 30 was actually a really good thing for me. I dare say 40 is going to be even better. I'm going to be one of those 40 yr old men who say "I'm in the best shape of my life!" And although I'm still convinced a large portion of this healthy trend is tied to some hidden mid-life crisis, it's still a good thing. Hopefully I can continue to improve my mental focus and outlook as well as my physical condition.

Got my first food order from a local farm co-op. Soon I get to cut up some whole chicken and eat my fresh green eggs. I get to eat my organic popcorn and compare it to Orville's. I got my chia seeds and raw honey comb!!!

Watched this really cool vid from spaceweather.com where a 13 yr old girl named Anna Herbst video taped the SDO rocket disrupting the ice crystals that were causing a sun dog. You can see it here

Anyway, thanks to all my friends who sent me bday wishes. I've never been big on birthdays, but it is nice to get txts and emails from you. So thank you. (btw Jennifer Anniston's bday was the day before mine! lol) Here's an old picture for you then to contrast such a cheery ending!

Reboot

I spent a good hour working on something in photoshop tonight and when I came back down later, my pc had rebooted on its own. WTF! It wasn't even that cool of a project, but still.....I was pretty upset with the whole thing.

My real downer for the day though, was the trip to the dentist for my daughter. At first, I was so proud that she laid back in the seat by herself while she had her teeth cleaned like a big girl. Polishing, scraping, sucking of sprayed water, all done very well.

For me growing up, the dentist office was just this sterile place that smelled weird, and had some big stuffy guy in it with a huge moostashhhh.
It didn't help that I never brushed my teeth and had about 11 cavities by age 7 or so. The pediatric dentist we go to now, has brightly painted walls with a huge farm painting, stuffed animals,toy room, swivel tv's, cool little sunglasses, and 7 different flavors of polish.

I sat there as 3 children lay down each watching their own tv and having their teeth cleaned. The dentist was wearing really tall heels that had a tan alligator skin pattern. She's always so chipper too. It's kind of odd to have her tell me in such a cheery manner that my 3 yr old has a cavity!!!

So she got her first xrays too as she wore this little lead shield with a smiley face on it. I felt some more pride watching her tackle with biting down on the relatively large xray bite wing thingees. But soon it started to sink in. Our efforts to help her avoid cavities were apparently not enough.

I was just so deflated for the rest of the day. She has no idea that she's going to get a filling next week. Ugghhh!!!!

Anyway, I guess it's time for some changes for both of us...to create some better habits and be more consistent.

Who Dat?!!

Well the weekend has come and gone. Pretty low key here. My tongue blister was like having a needle constantly poking me in the tongue. Part of me kept saying to man up dude! so I gargled some listerine and then ate a bunch of hot sauce. Got to practice being stoic! lol

Finished Born to Run, started Animals in Translation, and bought another running book. I will prolly put a review on youtube for Born to Run because it's that awesome. Anyone want to read it?

Still toying with the idea of getting Vibram Five Fingers. I've found a couple of comparisons on running in them versus Nike Free 3.0 and 5.0's so I'm still curious. Besides it just keeps snowing here, so it's not like I'll be running outside anytime soon. I was shoveling today and thought mofo! it's cold out here. I thought it was 17 degrees , nope it was like 1 degree but it felt even colder than that. Weird.

Mexico City?

Pretty normal day really. Got my shovel on today for the latest round of snow. I'm very glad we will not be getting 2+ feet like DC will be getting. Having lived there, I can say that much snow is going to seriously wack that town out.

Later, I was dragging my girl round the backyard on the sled and hurt my foot. I don't think it's serious, but I was kinda bummed to not be able to run today. And I have this crazy blister on the side of my tongue. Makes me lisp and hurts when I swallow( of all things!)A dulling combo of inconvenience it is.

Found a website where I can buy some human bones for cheap. Ya know cuz I think I need to buy some! Give them away as gifts maybe. haha

Here's a pic showing what will happen when you're out of state looking for meth labs all day and singing kids songs replacing the lyrics with naughty stuff.

And yah what about Mexico City? Is it a good place to visit ya think?

Take it like a man!

Bernard Lagat is a 35yr old professional runner. He's won several medals in World Championships and Olympic events at races from 5K and under. His personal best for a 5K is 12:59:22 Putting that another way the average runner does a 5K (3.1 miles) in about 30-40 minutes. Anyway, the guy is fast and he continues to be fast which is what is so inspiring about him. He defies the logic that at over 30 he can still win events.

So I'm reading the latest issues of Runner's World and Lagat's story doesn't really grip me right away. I'm not really interested at this time in being fast, but just as I begin to flip away to another section a certain word catches my eye. That word is a scary word. It's (say it in a whisper) ....circumcision! AHHH! yah cutting flesh off the penis. Sure I don't remember it, but it still brings about horrid painful images right? So here's the story right from Runners World.

Lagat grew up in Nandi Kenya. The Nandi had the custom of ritual circumcision. For Lagat to 'become a man' he would have to declare himself ready for circumcision sometime between ages 12 to 20. I can see that conversation now in 7th grade. Hey man, you gunna do it this year? I don't know man. My parents said they'd get me an Xbox if I did it!" lol

And here's the kicker. A boy has to do it in front of a council of warriors and old men and 'command himself to remain stoic'. If he shows any signs of pain or blinks, or betrays his feelings, then he is dubbed a coward. This is such a huge disgrace he may never be allowed to marry or own a house! yah man no drivers license for you, you wussy!

It may seem primitive, and sound painful as hell, but does it perhaps make a more meaningful impact than a Graduation?

pic is by Peter Read Miller/sports illustrated

You Smell Like Death

I used to follow news photography a lot. I even had a folder where I'd collect/store a bunch of these really powerful images. A lot of it is fairly intense tho as the news tries to be as well. So I stopped in favor of other pursuits. Anyway, I was googling something or ruther and found a series of pics on yahoo news that I found interesting, so I've been coming back. About a week or so ago, I saw pictures of a dog that was part of a group of dogs in Japan maybe? that could smell certain cancers. Just google that and you'll find some crazy stuff. Apparently the dogs can smell the unique proteins in your body from the cancer...just from your breath!

As I side note, I saw a show on bed bugs too that sent waves of disgust through me. Turns out the pest control used a Beagle to find the bugs in the woman's house. Did you know male bed bugs forcefully penetrate the back shell of the female to mate? And they have to be full of blood when they do it! ewwwwww

Well today I found pictures of a cat who lives in a retirement home and apparently this cat can tell when you're time is up. It sounds kinda creepy to me. Crap! the cat is by my door! Nooooo!!!, but seriously upon more reading it sounds like a very unique and touching situation.

I had read about half of 'Animals in Translation' before I stopped, and now that HBO has made a movie about Temple Grandin ( staring Claire Danes) I think I'm going to complete that book. But perhaps this new book about this uncanny feline might go on my list too.

Datz a lotta chips!

It snowed a bit today. Enough to require a quick shoveling. Seems like I wear less and less every time I shovel. My daughter loves to shovel too, but in her own insane way which includes throwing chunks of ice at me. Most people I know would prefer warmer weather, but I think I'm going to miss the cold next year.

Liz decided we should order take out from Chili's tonight. Mmmmm fajitas are always so good! We ordered some Bottomless chips and Salsa too. They gave us like 2 large size potato chip bags full of chips. Dats a bunch of chips man!

Anyway, here's a pic from 03. Me and horses...its so weird to see that.