Tag: Life

The Greatest Book Ever Written

Posted in Books and Movies, Life, the Universe, & Everything, Random Thoughts, ReviewTagged , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s always nice when I can write about a topic that has absolutely no controversy.  Some things are just so obvious and universal that just about everyone agrees.  And I think it’s a given that the best book ever written was Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

HGG cover

First off, the overall theme of the book is something to which we can all subscribe:

dontpanic

What great advice!  Don’t panic!  Does this amazing literary behemoth offer any other wisdom we can put into practice immediately?  Why yes it does!

“In the beginning, the Universe was created.  This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.”

“Q: What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue?
A: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far.  Alternatively, if life hasn’t been good to you so far, which given your current circumstances seems to be more likely, consider yourself lucky that it won’t be troubling you for much longer.”

“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made president should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

“There is an art to flying, or rather a knack.  The knack consists of being able to throw yourself at the ground, and miss.”

And of course:

“A towel, [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”

So stay hoopy, you bunch of froods.  The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything is decisively Forty-Two.  All we need to do is figure out the question and we’ll be all set!

As always, thanks for reading and you’re welcome!

Living the Dream,

Humble Dave

Words On A Page

Posted in Life, the Universe, & Everything, Random ThoughtsTagged , 6 Comments

I know, I know, it’s been a while.  You’ve missed me.  “Where are Dave’s entertaining blogs,” you’ve asked?  “Why hasn’t he been amusing me like the trained monkey that he is?”

Haven’t been in the mood.  I have had (and am having) a tumultuous few months.  And not in a good way.  Wild changes in all aspects of my life whose repercussions have yet to be fully felt.  New career with no financial security, living arrangements in flux, HUGE life changes, continued pain and physical limitations following my neck surgery, and death of a very close family member are just what immediately come to mind.

But people keep telling me to write another blog, so here it is.  A bunch of words on a page.  Really, a screen.  Unless you print all my blogs out before you read them.  Do you do that?  That would be strange.  I periodically hear stories of people’s grandparents who find interesting articles on the internet, print them out and then mail them to their grandkids.  So it’s not completely outside the realm of possibility.

Anyway, words on a page.  Still not really feeling it.  Deedle-dee.  It’s hot outside.  It’s also hot inside.  I have a list of to-do’s and instead of doing the big things on it that stress me out I’ve been doing the little things that are easy.  Makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something even though really I’m not doing the things that are important.  Shoot, writing this wasn’t even on the list, that’s how far down my priorities this is right now.  But I happened to have the laptop on my lap, so this is what you get.  Words on a page.

I watched Ready Player One on the airplane yesterday.  It was mediocre.  Read the book instead.  I also watched Rampage.  It was better than I expected but… come on.  It’s a nearly 2 hour long movie based on a video game in the ’80’s where you played a giant monster and smashed buildings down.  Hollywood is really reaching these days.  What’s next, Centipede?  Pew Pew!

The gentleman sitting next to me on the plane was editing some restaurant menus.  The girl sitting next to him, whom he didn’t know prior to the trip, had a tattoo on her right wrist of a fork and spoon.  That was weird.

I’m playing a new game on my phone called “Hole.io”.  You control a small hole that gets bigger by eating parts of a city.  The bigger you get, the more you can eat.  Each game is 2 minutes long.  You can play against other people online, against others locally via bluetooth, or by yourself.  It’s a fun time-killer.  Check it out.

Oh, Jetblue has a new class of seats called, “Mint.”  They look neat.  No, I didn’t get to sit in them.

Anyways, I’m pretty much done with the words on this page.  I’m not editing or adding any pictures.  Serve over ice and enjoy.

-Humble Dave

It’s My Birthday

Posted in Books and Movies, Life, the Universe, & Everything, Random ThoughtsTagged , , , , 7 Comments

Happy birthday to me. I’m 42 this year, and if you’re a fan of Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy you know the number 42 has special significance.

If you’re unfamiliar, the number 42, after extremely careful study, consideration, and calculation, was determined to be the answer to the Ultimate Question is Life, the Universe, and Everything. Unfortunately, the question still eludes us. The answer is decisively 42, though.

Perhaps I’ll learn it this year. I’ll keep my towel handy, just in case. Take it easy you hoopy froods!

Living The Dream,

Humble Dave

I Have No Idea What I’m Doing

Posted in Books and Movies, Life, the Universe, & Everything, Random ThoughtsTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

It’s a weird thing to admit, I know.  But it’s true.  You know the expression, “Fake it ’til you make it?”  That’s me.  Oh sure, I’ve been good at previous jobs.  But I’ve always faked the passion.  Oh, I supposed I might have been a “true believer” for a time, but the more I learned about my chosen profession, the more cynical I become.  That’s why when I was laid off last year I didn’t feel particularly bad about it.  It was an opportunity to make a change!  But to what?

And that’s always been my problem.  I have no idea what I’m doing!  Or more importantly, what I WANT to do.  “What drives me?” is one of the hardest questions I’ve ever had to ask myself.  It’s actually frustrating as hell, because you’re think that would be an easy one!

How do you even answer that question?  I don’t think I’m particularly passionate about anything.  I like to read (Sci-Fi and Fantasy, primarily), watch movies (the entertaining kind, not the educational kind), play with my dog, and surf the web.  I LOVE receiving packages in the mail, and for a while I was reviewing products on Amazon but that recently came to an end.

I like writing and am passing-fair at it, as evidenced by the fact that you’re still reading this wall of text I’m laying down here.  Thanks for that, btw.  But what do I write?  A book?  Short stories?  Random blogs about things and stuff?  Emotionally, I don’t think I’m ready for random stream-of-consciousness writing in such a public forum.  Frankly, I’m not sure the world is ready for me to just dump my brain out on the screen anyway.  It’s a weird place in there!

Irregardlessly (BOOM!  Adverbed an imaginary word.  I like throwing that in there just to upset both the grammar AND spell-check systems.  I think I may have also verbed a noun?), I suppose Forrest Gump had it half-right.  Life IS like a box of chocolates, but you have to bite into a bunch of gross ones like coconut (sorry hon!), and other weird nonsense until you find those sweet sweet buttercream bites of deliciousness incarnate.

So the circle us back around, what am going to do with myself?  I think I’d be awesome at retirement, but I lack both the funds and the funds to make that fantasy a reality right now.  Something in the book industry would be nice.  Would I be a good editor?  Publisher?  Writer?  Some other “er”?  Geez, I can’t even remember if the question mark goes inside or outside the quotation marks.  That’s not a good sign.  Then again, if I’m writing/publishing for Americans (which I would be, I suppose) most people wouldn’t be able to tell anyway.  That’s kind of depressing, actually.

Anyway, I’ll keep looking.  I suppose that’s all any of us can do.  Except for those lucky few who already found their passion and are living their dream.  And who knows?  Maybe someone will read my blog, decide my writing is awesome, and offer me a grant of some kind to keep writing whatever madness pops into my head.  Or someone may read my blog, decide it’s just awful, and pay me to stop?  Ooh!  Or pay me to keep writing this awful nonsense because they find it amusing.  I’m strangely comfortable with that.

So in conclusion, that’s why the Marvel Universe movies are so much better than DC Universe movies.  But it’s sad, really.  How do you screw up Superman and Batman so badly?

Love,
Humble Dave

edit:  I also like craft beer and whiskey.  And I find technology fascinating, although the completely voluntary loss of privacy concerns me.

It’s Nice to be Nice

Posted in Be Good, Life, the Universe, & Everything, Medical, Random ThoughtsTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

This isn’t some mushy blog post about how being nice to people makes you feel good (it does, btw).  It also isn’t some philosophical mumbo-jumbo about the nature of the Universe.  This is about complete and total self-interest, that also happens to help other people.  Being nice offers real, tangible benefits for you, as well as intangible benefits for others.  But since this post is about complete and total self-interest, we’re going to ignore the benefits to others (for now.  But really, if you’ve read any of my other blog posts you know that my style tends to be a bit…bouncy.  Just because I start somewhere doesn’t mean I end up where we’d expect).

So what the heck am I talking about, and how could being nice help me?  Tangibly (Huh.  I wasn’t entirely sure that was a word.  I’m always pleasantly surprised when an uncertain word comes back without the “red line” beneath it.  Today is going to be a good day! Where was I?  Right.  Tangibly.).  I need an MRI for my neck (why?), and scheduling of such a thing can take weeks and weeks.  Now, “weeks” when you’re in pain is a long time.  I don’t want to wait weeks.  So I call on Tuesday and talk to the scheduler (Carrie).  I am super nice and upbeat.  Cheery, even.  I schmoozed her.  But I’ve got to be honest: Carrie was awesome.   Sure, she started out gruff and all professional.  The old “Let’s get this done, I have a million other patients to deal with” attitude.  Can’t blame her!  I was on hold for 10 minutes waiting for help.  They’re ALWAYS busy.  But in the face of my cheery self she loosens up and finds me a date of March 1st.  No, sorry, there’s no cancellation list where they’ll call you if someone else cancels.  I should call back every morning to check.  No problem, Carrie, thanks so much for your help!  Seriously, a week and a half isn’t too bad! Not what I wanted, but C’est la vie.

And that’s where the benefits start kicking in.  Because you know what?  People WANT to help people who make them feel good.  Because that ALSO feels good (yup, already made the first sentence of this post into a lie.  Deal with it.).  So anyway, Carrie says, “You know what?  I’ll keep your name and number next to me here for the rest of the day and if someone cancels I’ll give you a call.”  Carrie’s the best.  We hang up and frankly, I’m not expecting any calls.  Come on, she’s busy!

smile loud

About 15 minutes later my phone rings.  It’s Carrie, laughing because literally the call right after mine was a cancellation, and do I want to come in on the 27th.  Heck yeah I do!  Lots of thanks and emphasis that she is appreciated.  Boom, I’m in 2 days earlier (remember, when you’re in pain every day is an eternity.  So technically, I’m 2 eternities better off!).  Life is good!  Also, she’s feeling great because her normally “standard” day is suddenly just a tiny bit different, and better.  I could hear the smile on her face.  It felt great.

Anyway, I’m going about my business when about an hour later my phone rings again.  It’s Carrie!  HI CARRIE!  She just had another cancellation and do I want it?  It’s for the 22nd, this Thursday (now today, as I’m writing this).  HECK YEAH I WANT IT!  THANKS CARRIE; YOU’RE THE BEST!  Bi-directional happiness ensues.

So what did we learn?  Being nice to people has tangible benefits.  I get my MRI a full week earlier, which means I can make my neurosurgery appointment earlier.  Which means we can solve my neck problems sooner.  Which would be so awesome.  So, so awesome.

And this isn’t my only story.  These go on and on.  In another soon-to-be- written post you’ll read about how being nice via email to customer service reps can help fix your gross stupidity in letting airline ticket vouchers expire a month before you tried to use them (Sorry Dad.  You were right, I was wrong.  You’re smart, and I’m dumb.  You’re very good looking, and I’m not good looking at all.  Fortunately, we’re all good now!).

I know some people are reading this and saying, “He’s only faking being nice to get something.”  To that I respond: That’s not true.  I’m a nice person most of the time.  But regardless, IT DOESN’T MATTER.  If you act nice, you are nice.  Nobody knows what’s in your head.  You could be thinking about horrible, terrible things.  Nobody is affected by what’s in your head; people only know you by the actions you take.  BE NICE.  If you won’t listen to me, listen to the late, great, Patrick Swayze.

be nice

How will you know when it’s time to not be nice?  You won’t, Dalton will tell you.  Also, if you don’t know this quote, then go watch Roadhouse.  That movie is amazing.  But seriously, just be nice all the time.  My mom has similar wisdom, “Kill them with kindness.”  Be nice.

Thanks for reading!  And since you’re all awesome, I know you’ll share that awesomeness with everyone else (see what I did there?  I was nice, and now you want to tell people about my blog!  Seriously, tell people about my blog.).

Living the Dream,
Humble Dave

 

What an Enormous Pain in the Neck

Posted in Life, the Universe, & Everything, MedicalTagged , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

As my wife will attest, I have a habit, nay, a gift, for injuring myself in stupid ways.  Blew out my knee paddle-boating, 2nd degree burns on my hand from steam coming out of a lobster pot, minor neck injury from staying in the same position too long playing video games, etc.  I mean, come on.  I’m the guy who can hurt himself sleeping (not joking, keep reading).

Normally these are minor, relatively quickly healed injuries (the knee’s been an issue, but that’s a topic for another post.  This is obviously about a NECK.  Pay attention).  Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

In July of 2017 we took our strong and excitable puppy to Petco Park for a big dog event.  We got to march on the ballfield; it was awesome!  At one point I’m talking to someone and pupper sees a dog he wants to go play with and BAM, he’s off like a shot.  I’m holding the leash firmly so he gets to the end of 6′ and snaps to a halt.  But, not before all 60 lbs of his momentum rebounds right into my neck.  I thought nothing of it at the time…

Next day, neck and arm hurt a bit.  No big deal.  Go to July 4th party.

Day after that, neck and arm hurt a bit more.  No big deal.  Go on long mountainous hike.

Ouch Day.  Excruciating pain in my neck, radiating down my left arm into my fingertips. Yup, I think I’m broken.

Have you ever had neck pain?  It’s remarkable how many things you do in your normal course of life which rely on your neck muscles in some way.  Even just sitting in the car while someone else drives, your neck is constantly working to stabilize your head.  Incredible.

I went to a few doctors, had x-rays and an MRI.  I don’t rembulging-disk-treatmentember all the technical terms,but the cervical disc between C5 and C6 in my neck is compressed and bulging out the sides of my spine.  This bulge has caused a narrowing of the tunnels my nerves use to leave the spine and visit the rest of my body, hence the pain my in shoulder, arm, and hand.  You know how Doctors always ask your pain level on a scale of 1-10*?  I was spending most of my time at a 6, and tapped a 9 once or twice.

Per the Doctor, I have three options:

  1. Medications, rest, and physical therapy.  Based on what they saw in the scans this was considered the best, and least invasive option.  The downside is that it would take the longest.
  2. Cortisone shot in my neck which would hopefully reduce the swelling and fix the disc (I guess?).  The downside is that if my blood didn’t clot fast enough and it bled into my spinal column, paralysis from the neck down.  That didn’t sound like fun.
  3. Surgery!  They can take out the bad disc and put in an artificial one.  Downside: Surgery.  I really didn’t even consider this as an option at the time, and didn’t pursue any of the details.

So anyway, July, August, and September involved me sitting on the couch unable to do much of anything.  I went to a painful PT (physical therapy) session 1-2 times/week.  Periodic doctors appointments.  That’s it.  It was just awful.  Missed an incredible family vacation.  Missed months of dog walks and good training with my new pup.  I took pills, slept, watched movies, read, PT, slept, and took more pills.  Ad nauseum.

Started to feel a bit better around October, and by November I was able to walk him again, albeit carefully.  I was being weaned off the many medications I was taking.  There was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Sometime in January while on a walk he saw some crows that were talking smack and decided to give chase.  Caught me off guard and boom, gave the old neck a shock.  It hurt, and had clearly done some damage, but not terrible.  If I was careful, it would be okay.

We focused on “heel” and loose leash training from here out.  Keeping my by our side on walks instead of letting him have the full leash to roam.  It was working great!

One quiet night I’m sound asleep when I hear Cody’s ALERT BARKBARKBARKBARK!  I jerk awake, sitting up quickly, and promptly wrench my neck completely out of wack.  I knew immediately this was going to be trouble.  Yup, hurt myself safe and sound in my own bed.  Woke up the next morning with the neck hurting worse, some pain in arm.  Got even worse over the next few days.

So here I am, nearly right back where I started.  I’m sitting on the couch in light pain (it’s usually better in the mornings) while the wife walks the dog.  I have a doctor appointment and PT scheduled.  And of course loads of meds.  I don’t have the patience to go through another 3 months of slow healing only to re-injure myself again, so I’m going to explore the other options in more detail and see what I can do.

So, I guess the only advice I’ll pass along here is when you’re going to the gym, don’t skip neck day.

Living the Dream?

Humble Dave

*The Doctor’s 1-10 Pain Scale, level details by Dave:
10 – Pain so bad I passed out
9 – I’m fetal on the ground crying and helpless
8 – Pain is all-encompassing.  Only thoughts in head are how to make it stop
5-7 – OMG this hurts in varying degrees.  Doctor visit mandatory if doesn’t stop
3-4 – Pain bad enough that I’ll probably see a doctor if it doesn’t go away in a few days
1-2 – That’s annoying.  Rub some dirt on it and walk it off.

 

Wow. Kind of a lot has happened (Part 2)

Posted in Employment, Life, the Universe, & EverythingTagged , , , , , 1 Comment

Geez, I am TERRIBLE about writing here consistently.  However, the important thing to remember is that “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” which also tastes terrible and sour unless you add sugar.  So, I guess it’s equally important to find someone sweet to mix with the life-lemonade.  What, you ask, does this have to do with Part 2?  Nothing, I just ramble sometimes.  I suppose if you didn’t like my rambling you wouldn’t have made it this far into my blog.  So…. you’re welcome?

I left Part 1 off somewhere after we got Cody and I’m supposed to start part 2 off with job hunting.  This one will cover the now 10ish months since I got laid off March 31, 2017.  Don’t worry, it won’t take you 10 months to read.  Job hunting sucks, so I don’t care to relive it detail.

My plan was thus:  Take a few months after getting laid off to relax, decompress, re-evaluate my life and decide on the best direction to move.  My though process was this:  I no longer enjoyed what I was doing (Financial advisor recruiting, relationship management, and firm business development), and this was an excellent opportunity to make a career change and find something I DO like, and fulfills me emotionally.  Guess what?  It’s harder than it sounds.

First of all, my plan was going swimmingly until at the beginning of month 4 (July 2017), when I was really getting into the groove and applying to jobs that sounded interesting (Account Manager and Relationship manager positions at tech firms) I got injured.  And not the kind of injury where you’re like, okay, I’m injured but still functional.  Not me, I don’t do things half was.  I got the kind of injury where I’m COMPLETELY OUT OF COMMISSION for months and months.  I was on so many meds and painkillers there was no resume updating, no interviewing, and certainly no job applying going on during this time.  I still looked at jobs to help me keep an eye on what was out there, but… no real luck.

A quick note on the injury:  I squished a disc in my neck between C5 and C6 which is bulging out, narrowing the pathway in which nerves exit the spine.  What this really means is EXCRUCIATING PAIN in my neck, shoulder, and left arm all the way down to my fingers.  Sitting?  Excruciating pain.  Walking?  Nope.  Carrying anything heavier than a couple pounds?  Dear god please no.  When you’re in pain doctors always ask you, “On a scale of 1-10 where is the pain now?”  I’m too detail oriented, I suppose, because this drives me crazy.  How do I quantify my pain level on a scale of numbers with no corresponding state?  I have to assume 10 is MAX PAIN, right?  So that would be pain that renders me unconscious, right?  A 9 would be pain so bad that all you can do is cry on the ground in a fetal position begging for unconsciousness.  An 8 is pain so all encompassing that every thought in your head is 100% focused on “how can I make this pain stop right now.”

I spent some time at level 8, and might have tapped a 9 at some point.  It’s MISERABLE.  There were literally only 2 positions I could be in that limited my pain…. hmmm… I’m totally off track here.  Let me bring this back around to the job.

I was in terrible pain and on mind-melting medications until mid September, when I finally started feeling well enough to take short walks outside the house.  It was on one of these walks that we stopped at an open house in the neighborhood.  I’ve met the realtor here a number of times, and my community is his “farm,” which means he’s worked this area for many years and does most of the listings here.  Really nice guy.  We chatted for a bit and he suggested I might like being a real estate agent.

I thought about it for a while, and realized it checked the 3 “big picture” boxes I had for me ideal job:

  1. I want to like the company I work for and enjoy what I’m doing.
    • I’d be working for myself, but with the tech and support of a big company behind me.  Also, I like working with people, and everyone needs a place to live!
  2. I want what I do to have a positive impact on other people’s lives.
    • Helping people sell their existing homes for the most value seems like a great thing to do.  One the flip side, helping buyers find their “dream home” or even buy their first “starter” home seems like it would be changing the world for the better, one family at a time.
  3. I want to make enough money for Jas, Cody, and me to live comfortably in San Diego.
    • Full time realtors who work hard, are honest and personable, and don’t give up when times are hard can make a GREAT living in a market where the average home price is around $600K+.  In the immortal words of Frito from “Idiocracy”: I like money.

So I have embarked on my real estate career!  Signed up for Keller Williams real estate pre-licensing courses in the beginning of October.  Finished the 3 classes and passed their final exams by mid-January.  Sent my application along with licensing fees to the California Bureau of Real Estate (Cal-BRE) and have approximately 5 weeks to wait until they process my application and open my testing window.  I then have… a year, maybe to pick a test date and pass.  Irregardlessly (eat it, grammar check.  I adverbed an imaginary word and there’s nothing you can do about it!), I’ll take the test as soon as I can.  In the meantime I’m doing a lot of studying and attending another Keller Williams training course called IGNITE which is AWESOME.  Learning a ton and excited to get started hopefully at the end of February or (more likely) beginning of March.

So there you have it!  I’m going to be a realtor in San Diego.  So, if you’re reading this and planning to list your home or buy a new one later this year definitely let me know!  If you’re happy where you are but know some friends or co-workers who are planning a move I’d love to talk to them as well (once I’m licensed!).  If they’re friends of yours we’ll try to find them a home near yours.  If you don’t really like them that much we’ll find them something far away. 🙂

Living the Dream,

Humble Dave

El Doggo Destructo, or El Pupper Perfecto?

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We got a dog.  And not just any dog.  Well, actually, we really don’t know what kind of dog we got. He’s a mutt.  They told us he’s a Malinois/Lab mix.  One day we’ll do a DNA test and find out.  Today is not that day.   I don’t see any lab in this guy.  Malinois?  Who knows.  Those are the dogs the military use to find bombs and hunt terrorists.  These dogs can learn just about anything.  I’m terrified that I got a dog significantly smarter than me.

We rescued him from The Barking Lot (TBL) dog rescue (donate here).  TBL primarily rescues dogs from high kill shelters, but has also been rescuing them from Asia’s dog meat trade by working with the Soi Dog Foundation.  Our dog Cody was dropped off as a stray to a shelter in Riverside, CA in December of 2016 (or January 2017, I don’t remember).  No information was relayed to that shelter, so Cody’s history is a mystery.  He was not neutered, so they did it there.  Ouch.  TBL found him an brought him to San Diego in late January, and we brought him home March 1st.  Although we’re not sure about his breed, we do know a couple things:

  1. He is definitely male.  Although I’m not a vet, the penis is a dead giveaway.
  2. We’re fairly confident that he’s a dog.  He definitely smells like one.

————–

Okay, so I just went to quickly grab a couple of photos of him to prove his dogness, and ended up spending the last hour or so looking through pics and remembering the madness of when we first brought him home.  He was SO CUTE.

20170604_144710

I mean, come on.  That’s what cuteness is.  But take another look.  He has a knowing look in his eye.  He has a big brain in that enormous melon he calls a head.  Frankly, I suspect he’s only half-listening to me.  One ear is trained on North Korea, and the other is monitoring Chinese subs in the Pacific.

Anyway, I spent too much time reminiscing in photos and now it’s bedtime, so I’ll have to pick this up tomorrow.  Actually, before I go I should give a brief explanation as to the title of this blog.

20170314_113019 (1)

 

This is El Doggo Destructo. Why are his paws in the water bucket?  That’s not even his bucket.  It was the communal drinking water for the whole dog park.  But no, his paws were dirty.  They can drink when he’s done.

 

 

20170814_170159 (1)

 

This is El Pupper Perfecto.  He loves all the people and all the dogs and just wants to playall the time!  He’s super excited to be doing whatever it is he’s doing!  WHEEEEEEEEE

 

 

That oughta do it.  Goodnight.

—————-

 

Wow. Kind of a lot has happened (Part 1)…

Posted in Cody, Life, the Universe, & EverythingTagged , Leave a comment

So it’s clearly been over a year since I’ve written anything on here.  That’s a bit of time, and as one might expect, kind of a lot has happened.

Although, I suppose that one mightn’t necessarily expect that.  For many, many years look the same.  You wake up, go to work, come home.  Occasionally do something interesting on a weekend.  Rinse and repeat 360ish times (except for the weekends, then only repeat 52 times.  And sometimes holidays, but… meh.) and it’s another year again!  But I digress…

What’s happened?  I got a dog, was laid off, got injured (indirectly by the dog, natch), missed a vacation (DAMNIT), job hunted (unsuccessfully, to date), found a new career, reinjured myself (albeit not as badly), and I feel like I’m forgetting something, but I’m sure it’ll come to me eventually.

You know, it seems like a lot less after writing it out.  But really, Nov-January was business as usual.  The standard week I described above.   Three months of “the usual,” although we had some great visits with family mixed in!

February started our dog search, and March 1st we adopted Cody from The Barking Lot dog rescue.  You see, we’d done a lot of research and given the whole “dog thing” a lot of thought.  We knew what we wanted, more or less.  A 2-3 year old adult female.  Housebroken.  Crate-Trained.  Basic obedience training (sit, stay, lie-down, fetch, etc).  Mellow, but interested in walks and play when we were in the mood (basically medium energy).  About 40 lbs.  Basically a relatively easy dog for first-time dog-owners.  So we searched and looked and googled and visited shelters.

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First of all, meet Cody:

Allow me to start off by saying he’s an awesome dog.  That being said, perhaps we compromised on a FEW things.

  • Female?  –> Nope.  Male.
  • At least 2 years old? –> How about a 10ish month old puppy instead?
  • Obedience Trained? –>  This one’s tricky.  He’d clearly heard the commands before, but didn’t necessarily know he was supposed to take an action.  He’s been fairly easy to train, and also incredibly difficult to train.
  • Crate Trained? –>  He HATES being locked inside the crate.  Really, he hates being confined anywhere.  All the bars on the crate are bent.  Fortunately, we can leave him alone in the house now.
  • 40 lbs full grown? –> They told us he was 40 lbs when we adopted him, and would be between 45-50 lbs full grown.  We took him to the vet 3 days after we brought him home and he weighed 52 lbs.  He’s currently weighing in at just under 70 lbs.
  • Medium Energy? –> HAHAHAHAHAHA.  High Energy.  Holy moly.  If you ever saw this dog get the zoomies…

The good news is that he was definitely housebroken.  The bad news is that he’s super smart, and fairly stubborn.  What that means is that he knows what you want from him, but doesn’t care because OHMYGODTHERE’SADOGOVERTHEREANDIHAVETOPLAYWITHHIMRIGHTNOW! Or “I know it’s bedtime but a stranger parked their car in front of our house BARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARK!”  Although I do still lock my doors, you’d have to be an IDIOT to try and break into my place with this guy on guard.  He takes his job seriously.  I saw him straight murder a cricket that hopped a little to close to the back door.  It was not a pretty sight.

I’ll do a full post on Cody another time.  For now, just trust me when I say he’s a cool dog, and an enormous PITA.  Fortunately, he’s incredibly cute so it’s hard to stay mad at him for long.

In fact, this one’s getting a little long.  I think I’ll end it here, and pick up Part 2 with “Dude, Where’s My Job?”

BARK BARK!

-Humble Dave and Cody