pro-duck-tive

That's what I've been. (Please don't correct my spelling, it's a play on the word. )

So the pool, which on Sunday was a container for 14,000 gallons of algae, is now clean. I'm so pleased! It's a tiny bit cloudy, but hey, I'll take that over what it was. I should've taken a picture. I had the water tested, bought some more clarifier, and vacuumed it after work today. It started raining as I was getting out of the pool so my timing was perfect!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to mow the lawn because of said rain. Oh well. We need it so badly, I'm certainly not going to complain!

I finished most of the shopping today. I still need to get corn, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, beer, and ice. That can all be done in the morning. Along with the lawn, poop patrol, the other half of the cleaning I didn't finish today, and dog only knows what else.

Did I mention I'm ready for bed?

Actually, I have more laundry to fold than Macy's has in stock so my blogging time is over.

Stay tuned for BBQ pictures!

D

Freddie and my horoscope...

I forgot to mention yesterday that Freddie is in the latest PetEdge catalog.

A picture of him modeling a mixed color camouflage t-shirt is on page 171, if you have it. Two pictures before his, his flyball teammate Steffi is modeling the regular camouflage shirt. Pretty darn cool if you ask me.

His picture also appears in the 2008 Avonside Miniature Pinscher calendar. He, Janey, and Ebony are the centerfold for the calendar. June will be an awesome month to have open.

Adam and I went to the restaurant store yesterday. It is such an amazing place! I never even knew such things existed. It's like BJ's but for restaurants. So, the price per pound is the best you'll ever see, but you also have to buy 50+ pounds to get that price. While I didn't buy 50 pounds of anything, I did get a lot of food for really good money. All of it is marinating away in the fridge.

I also found a Christmas gift for someone close to me in there. I think that person is going to be quite happy.

Things left to do:
Homework
clean
BJ's trip
Butcher trip
finish cleaning the pool
Poop patrol
set up the EZ up

BJ's, the butcher, homework, and some of the cleaning will get done tonight. The yard, the pool, and setting up will get done tomorrow morning. The BBQ isn't until 2pm so I have a few hours.

This was my horoscope this morning:

Think carefully about what you're really responsible for -- at work, in interpersonal relationships -- and take care not to overextend yourself now. After all, you deserve some energy left over for fun, too!

Ya think?

D

lots and lots of stuff...

Been busy. Again.

But it's kind of starting to calm down a bit. I've caught up on all but 3 assignments for homework - the rest I'll do today or tomorrow. The pool is looking better as well, thankfully. I still have quite a bit to do with it, but I can see to the bottom now. Mustard algae killer doesn't work, btw. Even if the employees at Namco swear it does, don't believe them. I dumped in 4 times the amount they said and it did diddly squat. I stopped there on the way home last night to ask what else I could do and a customer told me how to fix it. And it's working. Go figure.

I have to do a serious poop patrol of the lawn still. My b-i-l is coming up tonight with the grill, maybe my sister as well. I'm leaving work a little bit early today so I can pick up Adam and go shopping at the restaurant store for the BBQ.

Tomorrow night I have to hit BJ's for a few things and stop at HD for a couple of tanks of gas. I have to dump some clarifier in the pool too, maybe I'll do that tonight.

Saturday morning I'll be preparing food, cleaning the house, and getting ice. I also have to set up the tent, clean off the tables and chairs, and put some stuff away.

Now that I have a cellar door in, I don't have to keep a gate plus something heavy in front of it to prevent the cats from going down there. So I can put that stuff away.

I have to find time to bathe the dogs too - I did all their nails the other day.

The BBQ, by the way, is open invitation. If you know me and you're reading this, you're more than welcome to attend!

In dog news, Tweak has fully learned the concept of retrieving. This is both good and bad. Good, because it's a great base for flyball and frisbee - I just have to make sure that she doesn't feel the need to put the tennis ball in my hand like I've taught her for everything else. The bad part is, now that's all she does in the house. If I'm doing something, she'll come bring me a toy. Or a shoe. Or a book. Or whatever she can get her grubby little mouth on.

Lately I've been thinking about the past. I'm not sure why, thoughts just pop into my head. I have no regrets in my life. That doesn't mean I have always made the best choices, just that I realize all of those decisions have made me who I am and I like who I am. So, I may get embarrassed by my actions but I don't think I shouldn't have done them. Everything is a learning experience. I'll share at some point, but this is long enough as it is.

In server news, I'm sure you've noticed the continuing saga with my blog. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not and a not-so-pretty MySQL error is in it's place. I called tech support, again, yesterday to fix it. I've worked with the person that I spoke with in the past - on the same problem. So he understood my frustration at continually having to call to get this fixed. I've had, at minimum, one ticket a week for this since I moved my blog over.

A file is being created in the /temp directory of the server by dog only knows who or what and it is using up all of the available space. When it gets to a certain size, my blog goes kaplooey (yes that's a technical term.) I asked them to research what the cause of that file was, along with what application was creating it. I also asked for them to upgrade this blog software so I could again have comments and such without the hundreds of spam comments I was receiving. I'm not sure if comments work or not right now, but if you've tried, please let me know what the result was.

I don't have permission to install apps on the server or I'd do it myself.

Shower time.

D

only one more...

Only one more crazy weekend and then I'm done. Let me clarify - only one more crazy weekend in a row and then I'm done. Next weekend is my BBQ. Quite honestly, at this point, I hope only a few of the people I've invited show up.

I'm tired. Like real, bone tired. I'm sure the flyball tournament this weekend helped but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with life right now.

I had a couple of dates over the past couple of weeks and neither of them panned out. The crazy part is that I'm actually *happy* they didn't! That's one less thing I need to worry about and I can't tell you how much of a weight off of my shoulders that is. Clearly that's a sign that I have too much going on.

I have a lot of homework to make up - far too much actually. That will have to happen this week at some point.

I have to get the yard ready for the BBQ, borrow a grill from my sister/b-i-l, get the pool back to being clear (tomorrow's project), and go shopping for food. I have training with Tweak tomorrow, which should be fun since we missed the last 2 weeks. I have to bathe and dremel the nails of all the dogs. Oh, and Jay's coming up to install the cellar door tomorrow as well.

I did manage to pick up the couch from my aunt yesterday. We got out of the tourney around 7'ish (a couple of hours past what we should've), stopped at Terrie's house, went to my aunt's, spent a few minutes with my grandparents (my grandfather's birthday was yesterday, he's 86), then got back to my house around 9:30 or so. Got the old couch out on the deck, got the new(er) couch in it's place. Gave the dogs some attention for like 15 minutes, cleaned my team shirt for today, and hit the hay. It was a really long day.

Right now I'm sitting on the couch wondering whether or not it would actually be a bad thing to go to bed at 8pm. I'm thinking not.

On a brighter note, the moon has been gorgeous the past couple of nights. It's been very clear and bright, enough so you can see some detail of the various craters. It has been surrounded by a light gray mist that fades out to a slight dusty rose color. Quite the breathtaking view. Have we seen the same moon?

D

time...

I've always thought it was amazing, the way the perception of time changes with what's happening in your life.

Remember when you were a kid and your Mom said you had to wait 10 minutes for something? Ten minutes was forever back then. 10 minutes before Frosty the Snowman started. 10 minutes until the caramel apples were ready. 10 minutes until we could leave to go to my cousin's house and play in the pool.

Now, 10 minutes disappears in the blink of an eye. 10 minutes to finish something before a meeting. 10 minutes until it's time to go and you're still getting ready. Reading a book for 10 minutes before bed inevitable turns into 45 for me. 10 minutes is only forever when I'm stuck in traffic or waiting in line at Dunkin Donuts. Otherwise, it's just not enough time.

I know it's my own fault. If I don't bite off more than I can chew, time would flow normally and 10 minutes would just be 10 minutes. I'm a product of my own making and I know it. Ah well.

In other news, I'm almost caught up with my homework and I think I should be on track for the rest of the course. I've seriously considered skipping a class after this one for a little bit of a breather. The winter is better for me anyway since that's when I hibernate and don't mind taking a bunch of classes. We'll see.

Time to go...

D

traveling fool

And so I'm back, yet again. I'm trying to catch up on everything at the moment and have beyond very little free time. Not terribly surprising for my life.

I had a great time in New Jersey with my friends. It's always good to hang out with dog people and talk dog stuff while surrounded by dogs. I really wanted to take home a 10 year old mix that Susan was boarding. He was so damn sweet! But, thankfully they wouldn't let me - Millie gave me about 3 1/2 inches of the bed last night and I'm not sure I could handle another large dog in the bed!

Work is *crazy*. The next few months for me are going to be incredibly hectic. I know I'll have to work from home for about half of that time so I can actually get shit done. I'll stay up real late working (after homework I suppose) and work super long days in the hopes of hitting my deadlines.

I have a book of sayings that Ellin gave me for Xmas last year. Currently it's set to "I love deadlines.... especially the sound they make as they go whizzing by." That's my life right about now.

Work - crazy.
Homework - 1 week behind
Social life - far too busy even though I don't have the time for it
Family - Haven't seen in weeks
Dogs - they've been dragged along with me but will need to be content having me here but not playing all the time
Flyball - still holding on to number 5
Friends - they only see me on myspace

Please don't misunderstand, I'm not complaining! I'm just busy, like normal.

Someday: I need to make an appt with the dentist, get me and Millie back to the chiropractor, make an appt with my eye doctor, poly the bookshelf, have the railings on the deck replaced, and clean the pool (which is a nice green color due to 2 weeks of total neglect.)

Did I mention I'm having a cookout Labor Day weekend? You're more than welcome to attend.

Did I also mention I've had a few dates? No? Sorry, but I don't have the time to go into details!

On to homework. :XX" class="middle">

D

Binbrook

What a weekend it was!

I'm totally into the camping on-site thing - that made it so much easier! Looks like I'll have to start researching campers/RVs.

Hanging out with that team all weekend was nothing less than I expected. It was f-u-n! I have an idea of what it takes to be number one and I know I don't have it.

I won't say I'm not competitive because I wouldn't be in the sport if I wasn't. I will say that there's a ton of work that goes into being the best and everyone on the team needs to have the same mindset and goals in order for it to work. I think perhaps I'm a little too casual.

I would love it if my team could put together something for these tourneys that are far away. Until that happens though, I don't want to miss out on these experiences so I'll tag along with the people I enjoy being with - as crazy as they are.

Millie did incredibly well for a dog that doesn't like other dogs or crates. She tolerated being in the crate a lot of the time with not nearly as much whining or barking as I thought. I was so thrilled with her and I'm looking forward to being able to bring her again! She's getting older and I want as much time as I can get with her. The day I get that tattoo will probably kill me.

Tweak did really well too! We had a puppy practice and she was dead-on on the tug! She didn't even try to herd me while I was running. We tugged in the yard for a bit yesterday - I waited until she was behind the pool, called her, and ran away with the tug. Bam! Right on it again. It's the best I can do without anyone here to hold her for me. I'm so proud of my little girl.

Freddie is a pro at tourneys so he was awesome too, as usual. I wanted to let him do a few runs after the tourney was over Saturday night, but there's a rule that you can't have non-registered dogs running when the lights are set up. I felt bad having him there and not being able to run him - he loves it so much. But, he didn't seem to mind so that made me feel a little bit better.

I did break out the camera a couple of times but I didn't get as many pictures as I usually do. I passed the camera Saturday night during ladder ball to a few people. Here's a tip for you: don't give the camera to drunk people. I have pictures of the concrete, RVs, people's mouths and eyes but very little that are usable. I do have one OK picture of Bonnie that I'll share eventually.

All in all it was a freakin' great weekend and I can't wait to do it again!!

I had a date Tuesday night with a friend of a friend. I've been talking to him for the past couple of weeks but hadn't met him yet. It went very well! I know my bad date stories are funnier but it was good to have one where I wasn't cringing. I'm not sure when we're getting together again since I'll be away, again, this weekend.

Speaking of which, I'm heading down to Susan's to spend the weekend with her, Donna, & Kate. Of course it's the busiest time of year for boarding, which Susan does, so moving all the dogs around will be very, very interesting.

I know she has some adolescent, playful dogs there now that I'm sure Tweak will love playing with! Millie's going into the I'm-old-don't-bother-me group. She'll love that.

Well, that's about it for me. I have to finish up homework at some point during the day so I can come home, pack up the dogs and take off for Jersey. I hope they don't mind that I'm coming with dirty laundry.

Tweak's at the bay window making these pseudo barks at doG only knows what. It would probably work better for her if she took the tennis ball out of her mouth.

D

Oh yeah...

Tweak was really into tugging this weekend. So much so, that she bit my left one. I have a scratch and a big yellow bruise there.

Like they say, it isn't flyball without blood.

D

A thank you

This Thank you goes to ECD who graciously offered to post a little update for me on his blog while I was having trouble with my own.

Once I figure out how to put links on this thing, I'll add his blog.

Until then, do it manually - http://eastcoastdweller.blogspot.com/.

Thanks ECD!

D

My dragonfly...

I'm delving into homework world and may not get to pop out of it tonight. So, here's a picture to ease the pain.

D

Yippee!!

I'm back! Woohoo!

And tomorrow I'm leaving.

The problem with the blog ended up being a server issue and not my individual site. So, the next time it happens, I just need to call support and have them do whatever they do. At least I didn't break anything.

I'm kinda swamped at work and won't be able to post a lot right now. However, I should have some time later tonight so come back then and I'll let you know all about Binbrook.

I'll try and post some pictures in the meantime!

D

I'm back

and it seems I'm hitting a little blog trouble again.

Time to brush up on my SQL - after my nap.

D

tattooed and gone...

I got my dragonfly tattoo last night - it came out awesome. Once it heals a bit, I'll post a picture.

The car is just about packed for our trip to Canada. I have my birth certificate and the dog's rabies certificates. Apparently I'll have to get a passport.

I'm taking my camera so I'm sure to have some good pics this weekend.

D