Off to the races...

Greyhounds are fast. REALLY fast. I however, am NOT.

Yesterday Donny decided to go for a stroll without permission...

As I was taking some cardboard boxes outside to put them in the car, I placed them in front of the back gate as I opened it slowly... only about 6-8". Now mind you... the boxes stand about 3 feet high and are approximately 2-3foot wide. The door is open about 6-8".

Ahhh... But greyhounds are skinny.

Seizing the moment, and hearing the clatter
Donny sprung from his perch to see what was the matter...

Although nothing was really the matter. He just wanted to get out.

So he did.

So the Punk Trash Dog vaulted the boxes and in one motion, squeezed (squoze???) between the gate and the fence and took off like a shot. There he goes...

It took me all of about 10 seconds to throw my stuff on the ground, lock the gate (so Marie couldn't join us on our leisurely stroll) and run around the corner.

And Donny was nowhere to be seen. I start running down the hill in the direction I think he went. I quickly call Sarah to let her know Donny's on the loose (she's at Mimi's place with Ethan, so she really can't help anyway) and I hang up and continue running.

Stupid dog. This is NOT good. We've been at the house with the dogs for no more than 24 hours, so there's no POSSIBLE way he'll know how to get back. And although the road outside our house isn't a highway, there's some pretty decent traffic. And he's nowhere in sight.

Quick prayer. (huff, puff) Stupid doggggg (huff, puff)...

At this point, I'm thinking to myself that there's no way I'm going to catch him. I should have gotten in the car, but at this point I've already committed. So I keep running... and I'm already gasping for air.

Then a guy in a blue truck calls out to me... "You lookin' for a dog?"

"Yeah..." (gasping for air)

"He went WAAAAAY down there (motioning down the road). I'll see if I can stop him for you... does he bite?"

"No..." (even if he did, I wouldn't have told him)

So nice blue truck man drives on down and I see him pull over. I'm yelling to Donny, and from past experience, I know the Donn-meister hears me but is just ignoring me... I can only imagine his thought process...

No way I'm coming back there... First you leave me at the house in MD for 2 weeks with almost no human contact, then you ship me off to Philly, and now where the FREAK am I??? I've been that stupid crate all day and there ain't no way I'm coming back yet...

Now blue truck guy and another man has reached the fleeing canine and, true to form, Donny approaches (after making his 20th "pit stop" of the trip) and jumps up to try to sniff the guy's face... basically how he greets all humans. Helper-guy grabs Donny's collar, and the journey is over. I thank him and blue truck guy as he drives past, and start the long huff-puff journey back up the hill toward home.

I have decided to wire the gate shut. We will no longer use it. End of story.

No more happiness...

In Fantasy-land, that is. My team lost, despite only needing 6 points from 2 players combined. And to top it all off, Deuce is out for the year, which means my top 2 RBs are now out with injuries. It's a wonder I've even won a game at all... I SO shoulda won that game. Stupid Saints.

Fantasy Football Happiness...

I wrote this in an Email to my bro this AM, and thought I'd just put it up in a post.

Good thing I decided to play Westbrook [Eagles RB] and McNabb [Eagles QB]yesterday. I got a total of 76 points from them, plus another 25 from the Dallas D, who is now on my good side again. :-)

I've got one more player (Cris Brown) going into tonight and it's already over. 124-108.

In my JC league, I need a TD from either Colston or McAllister, or some combination of 150 Yds rushing/receiving between them. If one of them goes over 100yds, that'll
seal the deal right there as we get 1pt/25 yds and 3pt bonus for +100.

It's always nice to come home to a weekend without football (minus the part where we watched Penn State lose to [shudder] Michigan... (you know, the team that lost their first game to a Division II school? ) and find that your home team wiped out the opposition and your two fantasy teams played well enough to pull out the victory. Now I haven't won my 2nd matchup yet, cause I still am losing, but I do have two players going tonight for the Saints on MNF and it looks like I'll be able to pull out the W. Good times... that'll make 3-0 in my JC league and lookin good.

Got the puppies this past weekend and things are starting to come down the homestretch to normalcy. We met GeGwee and Pop in Washington PA... "Why Washington...?" you may ask? Well it's not cause we're a little homesick for good old Montgomery Village... although we are. It's actually about 1/2 way between here and Philly, and it was a great way to meet them and have them deliver the pups without too much trouble. Pop managed to tie their crates to the roof, the puppies hopped in the back and we had a grand old time. Stayes at a Red Roof Inn for pretty cheap -- they accept pets with NO weight limit, so that was happy. They really behaved well (the DOGS, that is), and although it was a whirlwind 24-hour visit, it was a great time.

We'll get to go back again in Nov for my cousin Kristen's wedding, so it's only another 6 weeks till GeGwee can get another dose of the mighty E. We'll try to post some pix from the visit soon... God knows we took enough of them!

Later Shpater.

Die Hunde kommen!

Yes, that's right -- the dogs are coming home this weekend! We've missed them terribly. Going to meet GeGwee & Pop about 1/2 between here and Philly, spend some time with them and have a nice little visit since they won't be able to attend Ethan's 2nd Bday coming up soon.

Here's a picture of Marie and Colin just chillin'... they've been getting some serious "puppy love". No doubt my nephew's gonna miss them... not to mention GeGwee and Pop!

It's been great knowing they've been getting some attention and love they deserved after the DC Debacle. Hope they enjoy their new digs in Ohio. Sarah and I have decided they'll be sharing the Master Suite with us... it's really the only place we can put their HUGEMUNGOUS crates that makes any sense.

We'll be sure to post more pix after they get settled in... although I doubt it's going to be as comfortable for them as it seems to have been in Philly...

Woof.

Donovan Diatribe

OK. I'm a little disturbed by something... I heard some comments made by Eagles QB Donovan McNabb the other evening on some HBO show, talking about how African-American QBs are criticized more than other QBs... I don't know whether that's true or not, and I'm not making excuses. I don't even pretend to know what his personal/professional life is like. I know he rushed his recovery from a torn ACL to come back way sooner than the norm, and I know he hasn't been able to get near enough time on the field to work out the kinks and get ready for the start of the season. I am pretty sure of one thing, though...

After losing in week one to GB, and then losing the other night to Washington while displaying a pathetic looking offense that couldn't even muster a single TD, don't you think there should be less time spent on politicking and more time spent on PRACTICING?

Do I sound like a ticked-off fan? Maybe. Am I insensitve? Perhaps. I'll grant him the fact that this may be a legitimate issue, but I'd rather have him focusing his energies right now on continuing to be the excellent performer he has always been. He is the consummate professional in my eyes, and is definitely a role-model. He has taken every insult, commentary and resounding BOO that the most-times-less-than-understanding Philly fan or member of the media can dish out... and he's always been top-drawer. I admit I was ticked off the other night while watching the game... but I've been thinking about it more and more in light of these comments he made the other day and want to send out my support to #5. Hang in there.

And for all you other McNabb haters out there, I say... "Well at least he's no Kyle Boller..." :-)

Just my $.02.

Could this be the year?

Probably not... but it's worth raising the question. I can't count the number of times the Phillies have raised my hopes with the possibility of making the post-season, and now they are doing it once again. They are ABSOLUTELY RED HOT and are beating every team in sight -- including winning the last 8 games in a row against the Mets (Aug and Sept). Meanwhile, the Mets are tumbling, have lost 5 (or 6) straight and the Phils are now just a game and a half away from the division lead. They're also either a game and a half or just a half game away from the NL wild card lead (depending on how San Diego did last night) and with only a few weeks left (if that), there's a distinct possibility they might actually get to the playoffs for the first time in like 10 years. Now don't get me wrong -- I don't EXPECT them to do it. That would be just plain silly... :-)

Nothing up my sleeve... PRESTO!

As quickly as it disappeared, the table has now been found (see previous post). Should be delivered by the end of the week. I'm sure there are other things that never made it to us, but nothing that seems so important that I'm going to lose sleep over at this point.

Spent the evening over at the house by myself the other night working in the basement... "Why the basement?" you ask? Cause that's where the TV is! Can you say "Monday Night Football"???

Yes folks, I got to experience not one but.. count 'em... TWO Monday Night Games. I could only hope for this to continue throughout the season, but I doubt it will. And it will be tough to keep up with those West Coast games if they don't start till 10:30pm.

So my FF teams are 1-1. I won in the JC League, but lost by ONE POINT in my work league. Can I jsut say how much I really hate Dallas? I should have known better selecting their stupid defense... I lost a point when they allowed the Giants offense to run rampant and score a bazillion points. And in the end, I was undone by Tony Robo-QB hooking up with TO for 2 scores, throwing for 2 more and running for a 5th TD. Can you say MEGA-POINTS scored against Jeff? Oh well... at least the league is free. :-)

High School Nude-sicle

Oh, Vanessa...

Disney backs star after nude photos revealed

First you see it...

Then you don't. It's nice for magicians, but not so nice when you're moving cross-country. Let me just fill you all in a little...

We moved in Wednesday. The movers broke the foot on an antique, the sofa won't fit down the basement stairs, and they can't FIND our dining room table. An expensive one. No idea where it is. We are ticked.

Besides all this, I get the sneaking suspicion that there are more things missing... nothing too terribly important (except for the table),... but missing nonetheless. My 2 keyboard stands? no idea where they are. Other missing items include misc. gardening equipment (lawnmowers, weedwhacker, rakes, etc) and probably a bunch of other stuff we didn't need anyway... ugh.

Luckily, we have Ethan's room almost set up, our king bed made it up the stairs, and things are starting to take shape. It's gonna take a while, but we're on our way. Luckily Benji and Liz are in town this weekend for Debbie's 60th -- so we drafted them to help. Good thing too -- I'm gonna need help getting our extra Queen bed back to Debbie's to replace the busted air mattress. It was a lovely way to wake up this morning... poor Sarah. I know for sure she can't WAIT to be back in our own comfy bed... Ahhh.....

We're in!

I realized I hadn't posted, so just wanted to fill everyone in. We closed on Monday -- happy day! The previous owners are really cool and as it turns out, they're living right next door! Now, it's only temporary cause they're building a new home close by, but the woman's sister is our neighbor -- no doubt we'll be seeing a lot of them. But it is kinda weird to see their kids and have them watch us do all kinds of things to their house... but at least they're cool about it.

Sarah and I started painting (well, priming -- haven't got to the paint part yet) and we have 2 rooms to go. Thought it would be a good idea to get all this done before the movers showed up, but it doesn't look like we'll finish. If we can at least get some of it done, it will help a lot, I'm sure. There are only 4 rooms to paint, including a bathroom, so it's not that bad. The only problem is that we have a limited amount of time to do it, since we're away this weekend in Chicago for a wedding and won't return until late Monday. That leaves tonight (Thu) and next Tue to finish up... hopefully we can get everything at least primed and perhaps get one or two rooms totally finished. Cross your fingers!

Nothing to lose your head over...

Or is it? This is just disturbing...

Man loses top of his head in brain operation

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

We're closing tomorrow. So psyched.

Sarah and I went over with Mimi and Ethan tonight to do the final walkthrough, and were pleasantly surprised when we found not only the big screen TV and speakers (like we were expecting), but also 2 tuners, a CD changer, a DVD player, a component switcher and a bunch of other things! So cool! Now we don't need to fix our stuff!

The pool table is gone (as expected), but that's good cause it means we won't have to deal with it. We would have sold it regardless, but it's one less thing we need to do. We will need to purchase some patio furniture to enjoy on our nice big deck, but most of the other stuff we already have. Sarah wants to purchase a few chairs for the living room since most of our furniture will be downstairs in the basement, and we have some painting to do in the rooms upstairs, but everything else is basically ready to go -- move in condition, clean and smelling all purdy. NICE.

I am so thankful that this is almost done. And before I forget to mention it -- we're basically paying NOTHING at closing. We asked for $2000 back from the sellers bringing our costs down to $750 -- but we're getting a $750 rebate from USAA for using their services. How cool is THAT?!?!? Looks like we'll owe something like $.53... Love it.

The movers don't come until next week, so that gives us a little time to get things together (painting and whatnot). Really looking forward to finally having a place of our own (again)...

"Our house, in the middle of our street..."

Great article

Dad sent me this article by one of my favorite writers George Will. It's a great look at a great umpire, Bruce Froemming. In a time where many professional umpires opt for the easy way out, here's one who unfortunately is considered a throw-back. He actually CARES about what he does. He calls them like he sees them... not like he's EXPECTED to see them. INTEGRITY PERSONIFIED. I guarantee that if there were more Bruce Froemmings in pro sports, we'd have a lot less of the headline-grabbing nonsense that the rest of them are generating. But, I digress...

Read on -- Diamond-Hard Integrity -- Bruce Froemming.

Enjoy.

A 6-pack a day...

I started this little advenuture about 6 weeks ago at Jungle Jim's where I decided I would choose a variety of individual brews to create a custom 6-pack, and then sample and review them over the course of a week or two. Well, needless to say I DID finish them all (no doubt!) but I haven't had a chance to review them yet.

Now, mind you, I'm not really a beer connoisseur, but I do enjoy all the difft flavors you get across the variety of different IPAs, lagers and stouts. I plan on getting up my "6-pack review" soon -- that is, if I can find the list where I wrote down all the different kinds I tried.

The one I do remember a brew by the Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland OH called Eliot Ness, an amber lager if I remember. Very nice smooth feel, slightly toasty (and no, I was not "TOASTED"!!!) and not much of a hoppy aroma to it... I remember a bit of hops in the finish, and it was quite drinkable, despite the strange name -- actually the reason I chose to try it. Apparently he loved to frequent the brewpub and got a beer named after him. Maybe I should ask the folks over at Dogfish Head to consider renaming their Belgian Dark -- perhaps the "Rezer d'Etre"???

Ethan's musical genius

OK - so I took this video with my camera the other day cause I had to share with the world the musical genius that is Ethan Rezer. Nevermind the fact that he's only 23 months...

In case you can't hear real well, Daddy is calling out the names of the notes of the scale -- OUT OF ORDER -- and Ethan is playing them on the piano! He rocks! Look out Liberace!

Click on the video to bring it up in the player. Enjoy!

I hate the Braves

Isn't it about time for the Phillies to dominate the NL East? Haven't I waited long enough? Just when you though the Braves were headed downhill, here comes the newly acquired Mark Teixiera, hitting 9 homers in 18 games and revitalizing the Braves offense. Oh, and Smoltz is still as nasty as ever, proving so by striking out 12 in his most recent outing. The Phils are hanging in there, scoring a ton of runs and leading the NL in that category, but it seems like they just can't seem to push it over the top. The pitching has been pretty steady, and a once inept bullpen has really been top-notch as far as I have been able to see in the limited amount of games I've been able to track. Is it too much to ask for a little post-season activity? There's still hope... but it's never a given with the Braves hanging around.

Oh yeah -- I hate the Mets too.

I've been waiting...

For a Blo - - og post...
To go on-to Jeff's site...
Yeah, waiting...
For a Blo - - og post...
To see if he's alright...

OK. Lou Gramm I'm not.

But neither are you - so leave me alone.

Seriously... the first 2 weeks of work have been jam packed. Things are going well. I jumped in with both feet and hit the ground at a quick jog and haven't had time to look back yet. I hadn't even realized that there wasn't a post about my first week until I started getting reminders from TravelinGirl76 and djcunnin. Sorry folks.

I like my office, the people I work with and the stuff I'm doing A LOT. I've had to dust off some of my analytical skills as well tidy up the cobwebs on the math side of my brain. I've been working at compiling online ad stats (pageviews, visits, CTR and more) using a variety of different tools for about 50-60 sites that F+W owns. More on that later. Suffice it to say it's a great way to learn about everything going on here.

I helped prepare the monthly reports the first week I was here, got to send them out to everyone and already got my feet wet answering questions from some of the online marketing managers. I think this is going to be a great match for my skillset... analytical thinking, web experience, some programming and some people-skills. There's also a good bt of "why isn't this working" brainstorming going on with my boss, which I highly enjoy. My mom can definitely vouch for that -- I started at a very young age by always asking her... "Mom, ask me a hard question."

Well, these are definitely some difficult ones. But I'm up to the challenge. I started practicing a long time ago.

More later...

Ethan and Daddy

New job starts tomorrow

I'm a little excited.

A little bit nervous.

Sort of anxious.

A little frightened.

a LOT grateful.

Start at 9:30 and I'll be jumping right into orientation, lunch with my boss and afternoon meetings. He called it "orientation with a purpose". I don't care what it is -- just glad to be getting my shot. Finally.

Househunting

Sarah narrowed down about a million listings down to a few that we've been checking out with our new USAA-Approved realtor. She's great... very knowledgable, likable and even from one of the target areas. I still can't believe what $150K gets you around here. It's ridiculous. Our $350K townhouse in DC would be about a $600-700 house here. LOVE IT.

We are torn right now between 2 great possibilities -- one is a fantastic space, ready to move in, gorgeous finished basement and beautiful... the other has a lot of potential and has a great master suite and a TON of room. So do we go for the gorgeous no-work required house with less space and no master bath or do we go for the one that has a ton of room but will need carpet and paint right off the bat? Argh! Choices...

Opinions would be welcomed...

More soon.