Updated: 12/14/08




 

Mike's Blog

Thoughts, comments, ramblings, rants and raves!
(Sorta like a blog.)
(And it's named Mike's Blog 'cause Terry won't contribute!)

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2008

December 14, 2008 -- Well, it's been a hectic couple of weeks!  Footmas 2008 was held on December 8... and by all accounts, the 18 people and 22+ bottles of wine resulted in a great time for all!  Another success!  Terry's decked the halls...and we have 3 official Christmas trees up... and the house looks great.  It still amazes me how he does some of this stuff by himself.  Moving an 8' tree out of the upstairs storage area, getting it downstairs and put together is not an easy task... but glad it was done while I was at work!  Love the new Craftsman lawn mower... been great all year long... but it's awesome for vacuuming up leaves!  And, we get to have tractor races with Andy and Brenda, next door, each weekend!  It doesn't get any better.  OK, it does, but we work with what we've got!!!  Terry started a new job (whoohoooo!).  Finally no more JCPenney Custom Decorating - while he was awesome at it and did a great job -- it really helps to have a job where you can make some money!!  And, with the economy, not many people are spending $10K to dress up their windows right now.  So, finally, no more fabric books strewn across the garage!!  And... for some reason, Bigfoot keeps popping in my mind every now and then.  That typically means something is going to happen soon... another sighting, something along that line.  Stay tuned all you non-believers!  Toby is doing awesome... still 100% puppy and wearing us out... but a lot of fun all the same. 

November 28, 2008 -- The day after Thanksgiving!  By all accounts, sounds like everyone had a great holiday!  Terry cooked a feast for about 8 or 10 people... for the two of us.  The food was fantastic, as usual.  Andy and Brenda joined us last night to hang out for a while.  Hard to believe we have a month left until Christmas... or that this year has gone by so quickly.  The last month has been interesting... lots going on with work, Terry getting ready to start a new job (yippee!!!), neighbors/friends who just up-and-move without saying goodbye to anyone, a fun trip to NYC for a couple of days with Josh... along with Spamalot on Broadway that was very cool.  Terry's getting ready for the holidays... Christmas decorations are already being pulled out and put out... including 3 Christmas trees in the house... only Terry!  Lots of football... and the Buccaneers are actually looking pretty decent!  We're still working on hitting Lotto... apparently we're doing it wrong.  Toby's doing great, doing really well with socialization and lots of fun at Doggy-Day-Care... and at 14 months, still very much a puppy!

October 18, 2008 --  Lot's going on... including recovering from a fantastic vacation.  Terry, Aaron, Lisa and I enjoyed a great 10 days... in Miami Beach and then on a 7 day Caribbean Cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas!  The largest cruise ship in the world right now!  It was awesome!  See our cruise page for pics and more details! 

Huge congratulations to Cousin Lee and Xavier in Illinois!  They co-founded Illinois Vest-a-Dog, an organization that raises money to provide bullet- and stab-resistant vests to law enforcement dogs!  This weekend, they vested their 300th K9!!!  The vests aren't cheap (about $900 each), but they've done a great job protecting a very important part of law enforcement.  If you'd like to contribute, or just learn more about the Vest-a-Dog program, check out their website:  http://www.ivestadog.org/.  Great job Lee and X!  That's awesome!
 

Cool friends!  When we arrived home after our 10 day vacation, we discovered something very special!  "Someone" snuck into our back yard and proceeded to decorate our yard for Halloween!  VERY cool!  Thanks Andy and Brenda... very cool to have such good friends who would take the time to do something special like that!  We loved it! 

September 18, 2008 --  The countdown is on... the big cruise in about 2 weeks!  Did a quick business trip to Roanoke... awesome, beautiful city right in the mountains.  Terry and I went to Maymont Park last weekend, had a great time taking a tour of the Maymont House and wondering around the park.  Very cool place!  www.maymont.org.

September 9, 2008 --  Happy 1st Birthday Toby!!

September 8, 2008 --  I hit my 20 year anniversary with my company... a milestone that's more and more uncommon these days.  Andy, Toby is 364 days old today... tomorrow's his first birthday.  And Josh... I'm proud of you!

August 31, 2008 --  And just that quickly, summer is almost over!  Lot's of work, a little play and some fun along the way!  We had our annual family reunion in Shady Side, MD, and 40 family members attended.  It was great seeing everyone again.  Terry's been working hard and was rated one of the top performers in the mid-Atlantic region.  Toby is doing great... almost a year old... still very much a puppy... and about 40 pounds!  He's been spending lots of time a doggy day care, learning socialization skills with other dogs... and now is actually excited to go.  The reports are very positive, he's playing well and running with the herd!  And a huge benefit for us... he's one tired pup when he gets home and we get a break!  Football season is almost here... go Bucs!!  The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking good so far in pre-season.  Only a short time remaining to our cruise... and we're starting to get excited!  Can't wait... I'm mostly looking forward to laying poolside while we cruise the ocean!  And some gambling... I'm sure I'll get more than my share of roulette and black jack!  Terry and I went to Colonial Downs Offtrack Betting and spent a couple hours putting some bets on various races.  Not a single number hit!  :)  But, we had a lot of fun!  Maybe next time!

July 26, 2008 --  Wow, it's been a month already... and a busy month at that! 

• We had our neighbor summer block party... very well attended... and a great time.  Even one of the fine men from Chesterfield County Police Department showed (something about large rockets being fired off).  He was very cool... and even added to the dance lighting and music by hitting the lights and siren (on request!). 

• A bunch of us have actually had the opportunity to go out and hang our in some of Richmond's clubs.  Downtown Richmond is really sprucing up... some very cool events and places and things to do.  The first Friday of each month features the First Friday Art Walk... and it is very cool.  Strange.  But very very cool!  Popkin's has become a neat hangout... a great bar, centrally located, good food, awesome people.  Now, a few of the folks in our "group" are single... and hunting looking... and as an observer of this process, I'm beginning to understand some of the reasons they may be single.  Here's a few of the pickup lines attempted in recent outings... which didn't exactly succeed:

  • "I walk to work every day.  I'm very green about stuff like that.  Plus, my bicycle was recently stolen."

  • "Do you like tater-tots?"

  • "I really am an awesome guy.  It just takes a while."

  • "Did you see my moves out there?  Hard to believe I've never had dance instruction, huh?!!  It's all natural!"

  • "Hey, Baby!  How you roll?!"

June 24, 2008 -- OK, lots of stuff to recap here folks, so here we go:

• Aaron Turns 30:  Well, it's official!  Aaron is finally 30!  And we had a great party at our house with about 30 of his family and friends.  Aaron also cleaned up on the gifts:  cigars, Knob Creek, a 7 day Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas - the largest cruise ship in the world right now, 2 days in South Beach, unlimited boobies, an acoustic guitar... and on, and on and on! 

• Toby & Training:  Week 6 of puppy training is under our belts!  Toby's doing great, us not so well.  T does great during class, but we haven't spent as much time with follow-up training as we should be.  Looking for Terry to correct that soon!  :)  He's doing really well, learning basic commands and just acting cute as hell.

• Tubing the James:  Seven of us (me, Terry, Steve, Whitney, Jim, Daniel and Brandy) took off on Saturday morning heading towards Charlottesville.  Two hours later we were at the James River Runners... with about 500 other people, mostly college aged, looking forward to tubing the James River for about 4-5 hours.  Everyone got their own tube... plus a couple extra cooler tubes to handle food and beverages.  We had a blast! 

• Steve & Mike & The Cigars:  Steve and his fiancée Whitney visited us for a week.  It was great seeing them and spending time having fun and catching up.  I had a couple of favorite times... Tubing on the James was great... but my other favorite time was sitting on the back deck late at night, talking and having a great cigar! 

May 30, 2008 --  The end of May is here!  5 months gone in 2008.  7 months til Christmas.  Wow.  Latest Toby news is dealing with his constant finding things in the yard and trying to bring them inside.  We've seen a little bit of everything.  But the other night was a special evening... as Terry ripped "whatever he's got now" out of his mouth... to end up with a handful of bloody mouse.  Toby was not happy about the removal, I could do nothing but laugh, and Terry did this cool kind of dance.  It was quite interesting!  Go Beagle!  We had a great weekend last weekend!  Not only was it Daniel & Brandy's wedding party, but Brian and Cretia came to Virginia for the celebration.  I've known Brian from Tampa for years, but had never met Cretia... and Terry was new to both! It was great them over for an evening!  The garage - now known as Club Cretia - will never be the same.  And the fact that Mike tried to serenade a girl by guitar, as she was swinging gently in the hammock.... looking peaceful and beautiful... and then proceeded to vomit... does not ever need to be brought up again!

May 10, 2008 -- It's my birthday.  45.  Where did it all go?!  Yesterday was Toby's 8 month birthday, tomorrow is Cameron's 3rd birthday... and it's also Mother's Day. 

March 27, 2008 -- Someone please explain to me why Virginia won't allow me to buy a small draft beer at 5:22AM... but it's OK at 6AM.  WHAT???!!!!!  I'm on vacation, I want to have fun... I promise that 38 minutes will not make a difference!

March 17, 2008 -- We're exhausted!!  Toby is so energetic... and non-stop, but we're having a blast.  He's so cool!  We heard his first bark the other night... when he got a whiff of steak coming off the grill!  He went nuts!!  And, he still needs to work a bit on his barking... not quite there yet!  I'm really itchin' to get the new Apple iPod Touch.  It's really cool.  I have always loved my Apple Video iPod... great product.  The new Touch brings many of the iPhone features to it, and with some new features including Wi-Fi capabilities, mapping, e-mail, etc.  Very cool product... getting rave reviews... Apple really puts together some great products.  Now, if they would only come up with a wireless, whole-house solution for use with their iPod products... that offers the cool benefits of products like Sonos.

March 8, 2008 -- Well, we've made it through 2 weeks plus 1 day with our new addition... Toby.  He's doing great!  Rescued only two weeks ago, his personality change and overall happiness has dramatically changed in such a short amount of time.  We took Toby to his first vet visit where he was pronounced by the vet to be perfect... in fact, our long-time vet, Beecher, was extremely impressed with Toby and said we got an incredible Beagle.  He was amazed at how healthy and well-behaved he is... especially at 5 months of age.  He loves sleeping in his crate at night... sleeps the entire night... is doing very well at the potty training thing (only one tiny accident in 2 weeks!)... and loves to fetch and run.

February 27, 2008 -- Wow, what a week.  Friday afternoon.  February 22.  I get an urgent message from our great friend and neighbors, Marilyn and Gayle.  A different neighbor ran into a crisis... and decided they couldn't keep their 4 month old Beagle.  The dogs name was Toby.  Terry and I had seen the puppy, only on a few rare occasions, outside.  Beagles need air, playtime, companionship and happiness.  We saw what was happening.  I actually told Terry that "within a few months, that dog will be ours".  Sure enough.  Without getting into the bad details, I can only tell you that it was a done deal.  Marilyn's e-mail took about 10 minutes... I spoke with Terry... we confirmed quickly that we would take Toby.  At 4PM, the dog was handed to Terry.  I got home around 5:30... to find a puppy somewhat confused, but also very content.  Toby had been in our house once before... and I talked to him over the fence on the few times I saw him outside.  I even tossed a ball with him... and he always brought it back.  It was always clear to me that we had fun... and he wanted to be at our house.  As I said, there's more to the story... but for now, the important part is Toby.  It's been 5 full days now... and he is doing great!  We saw a huge personality change on the 2nd through 3rd day.  He knows he's safe, comfortable, and gets a ton of attention. 

Now, that said, I have to say it's a HUGE flashback for us.  Bob was our girl, for 20 years.  A wonderful pet, great friend, and it was a huge loss for us in May 2007.  Terry and I planned to rescue a pet in May... after a couple of business trips I have planned.  Instead, we rescued Toby in February.  We'll adjust and make it happen.  We see a lot of similarities between Bob and Toby... particularly the very painful "puppy experience".  Beagles are known for their temperament, attitudes, solitude... and teeth.  Terry's hands are like shredded beef.  I'm fine, but I told Toby I'm the Alpha... and he seems to get it.  Maybe. 

Our boy Toby is doing wonderful.  We're already completely taken over by him... and we both can't wait to get home... and 5 minutes later can't wait to get away!  :)  We'll keep you posted... but he's doing incredible!!  And, we're very happy!

February 17, 2008 --  Well, here comes Nascar!  Today's the Daytona 500, kicking off 10 consecutive months of listening to Darrell Waltrip screaming out "Boogety! Boogety! Boogety!" as the green flag drops on each race.  And, you can tell sports season is kicking off, because I just received the initial invoice for my Tampa Bay Buccaneers season tickets... I think they come earlier each year!  Haven't been to a Bucs game in about two years, then again, it's tough to justify flying down to Tampa for a game... if they aren't playing to well.  Hopefully, this year will get off to a better start... but I will miss seeing Mike Alstott on the field.  Such a class act and great player. 

February 10, 2008 --  Wow... January is already gone!  That means it's time for my favorite challenge... taxes.  I don't mind paying taxes, I just don't like the fact that everyone doesn't pay a fair share.  I'd love to see a flat tax... nice and simple... but that will probably never happen.  So,  as I try to work through this mess, I also get constantly bombarded by candidate ads as they jockey for the Office of President.  It's really hard to convince me to vote for anyone while I'm doing taxes! 

FINALLY!  It's been months... but I finally won a poker game!  Thanks for the cash Aaron, Lisa and Terry... after all you've been continuously taking my money for months!  The painting party in January was awesome.  Terry and I gave neighbors acrylic paint sets for Christmas, and then had a painting party in January.  Everyone brought their kits and we set up two rooms with easels.  Nobody had a clue of what they were going to paint, but the event started, and it was actually really cool to see what people came up with.  You can see pictures of the party here.  There were some really good results... but I'm most impressed with Terry (OK, so I have to say that anyway... but I really am!).  He has so much talent... in the oddest areas... and apparently painting is one of them.  He's been offered cash for paintings, his Mom requested a painting... it's just strange, but he's cranking 'em out!  The party was a great idea and a break from the normal functions... everyone got to have fun, be creative and do something entirely different.  We'll be doing it again!

For those keeping track, Jesse is still serving in Iraq and doing well.  As part of the National Guard, he's actively protecting us... and looking forward to coming home.  Current plans are that he'll be returning on May 10... which also happens to be my birthday!  Very cool!

Recently spent a few days in Myrtle Beach for work.  Heading next to Spartanburg, SC.  Terry and I have a great trip coming up... heading to San Francisco for a week.  We're really looking forward to that... it's going to be a blast!