A Worthy Cause!

OK... I've decided to walk in the Animals Humane Society's Walk For Animals on April 30th.



I think I can get Eschelon AND Target to match what I raise or at least donate.

I'm going to rephrase what I originally published. It came across too harsh and I feel badly about it...

Try some of these ideas if you're looking for ways to scrap up a donation: Give up pop for a day and give the $5 for an adult dog to stay alive one more day. Ration your smokes over a week and give the $20 so a kitty can get vaccinated. Stay in over the weekend (rent a movie instead of going out) and give the $40 so a stray has a nice warm place to live for a while.

I'm not asking for $100 pledges or even $50 pledges. Just give. Give $2 in nickels if that's what you got lying around. Shake out your couch and donate the change. Handwash your car instead of paying $9 for the super-duper express wash that's only valid with a 6 gallon minimum purchase!!

I, myself, am giving up my eating lunch out for a donation for the kitties. I'm saving up the monies reimbursed to me for the gym, for the puppies. I'm going to re-watch the movies I have instead of renting new ones.

If you can't swing a donation: How about walking with me? Heck, even if you CAN donate and still want to walk with me, let me know! We can figure out a place to meet and car-pool so we don't have to take up a bunch of parking at the walk lot.

I know most of you are probably thinking: Why is this gay man not trying to raise money for cancer, or AIDS, or leukemia? Because there are walks all over the country for those. This walk benefits the animals here in my area. It let's me walk into the shelter and see what the money raised is doing.

Go to their website and look at the reasons why the animals are surrendered... housesoiling, too much energy, too much work. There are a lot of animals that are put too sleep because they can't deal with the animal or it's too much work.

I want to do whatever I can to help those animals get adopted. Please do whatever you can to help too. Please?

E-mail me if you want more info.

4-wheelin', Shotguns and Marshmallow Peeps...

Not your typical Easter day for me, but I loved it just the same.

My nephews each have their own shotgun, my brother-in-laws have their collections and my father has the 'mother-load.' He only brought out two 20-gagues out, tho.

I started out manning the spring loaded thrower. Threw them out fairly consistantly; some high and a few low. The nephews needed practice just shooting tartets nomally. Then I grabbed my old 20-gauge and Dad took to the thrower. He was launching 2 at a time, some straight up into the air, and from behind a 'blind.' My Dad had a knack for making it challenging, but still fun.

It was a good time and we decimated a case of bio-degradable clay pigeons. My Dad and my brother-in-law both explained to me their plans to change the 2-acre field into a long-range rifle field. They're going to build-up a bank at about 200 yards and Dad just bought a 300-yard rifle. I asked it what he was going to use it for and he just laughed. It was a gift for himself. It didn't have a purpose. He did say he could use it for elk hunting or buffalo,but he has only gone on one elk hunting trip ever.

After our shooting spree, I hopped onto my sister's 4-wheeler and took Dylan back to the house to grab his 4-wheeler. We raced around the Smith Plantation for a while and Dyl tried his hardest to get me all muddy, but I'm just a little smarter than that. :-)

Yuna and Akima came along and played and played and played... they were wiped-out for the ride home. Yuna perked back up once we hit the carwash. She wasn't all that happy with the arm that sprayed the water and stuff on the Vue. She'd start up by me and whimper then as the arm moved around the car, she followed it barking and growling the entire way... it was cute!

Then, about 5 minutes after leaving the carwash, she and her sister were once again passed out... The were awake for 20 minutes when we got home and they crashed again...

I'd take them up there every weekend if I could. They LOVE being able to run run run...

I had hoped to see Mikey last night, but after his busy week I can understand him wanting just to hang out at home. We'll see each other tonight and that'll work for me.

I hope you all had a good weekend!

Easter evilness...

Those bitches over at Brach's Candy made those DAMN 'chicks and bunnies' that are like circus peanuts... and a WHOLE BAG ended up in my possession.

DEVIL!!

Visiting the Fam

I'm heading up Sunday morning to my Mom and Dad's for Easter. Mikey is headed down to Iowa to spend Easter with his family. He bought two BEAUTIFUL Easter dresses for his nieces.

Sounds like both my sisters and their families are going to be there this year. Joseph is young enough to do the egg hunt and be fun to watch. The others just do it because they know there is a basket hidden full of fun toys and GOOD candy... (i still wish I got a basket)

My brother-in-law Terry and I get to hide the eggs and the baskets. We are PURELY EVIL when it comes to hiding the baskets for my older nephews. Last year, we hid Casey's about 20 feet off the ground in a tree, Travis' in an old stove my Dad had replaced in the house, and Dylan's was buried in a mound of straw... It was a HOOT!!

They also have to find all of the eggs before they get to hunt for their baskets. It's good fun for us to watch and the kids actually enjoy it. This will be the first Easter where Yuna and Akima will be out and about, so I just have to make sure they don't eat any of the eggs!

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend even if you don't celebrate Easter!! It's supposed to be BEAUTIFUL this weekend!

Easter Smiles!

Click Here!!

Former Partner

Adam apparently gave the stainless steel grill (that he said he'd hold onto until I got to a more permanent place) to his brother. He said he didn't give it to him, but 'let him use it.' (I can only assume his mother had some role in this)

Now, his brother is a nice guy, but i'm not too certain he'd take care of something that wasn't his own. I'm a little worried that if I DO get it back it may be either tampered with or just in poor condition.

I'm going over to Adam's tomorrow night with Carlos and we're going to get my Grandfather's chair and some other mail (2 years old).

When we talked on the phone, things were civil until Adam wanted me to give him money or some sort of restitution for 'taking everything' with me. I found this somewhat offensive because when I told him I was moving out the first words out of his mouth were: 'I want the TV and the DVD player! I'm getting something out of this!' I left with the red dishes I loved, a quesadilla maker, my TV, about half of the movies, my surround sound system, the pups, and the art glass I had collected.

I left him with quite few things that just blended in with the house: 2 tv stands, a TV, dvd player, executive bookshelf system, microwave, stainless shelving system, kitchen prep counter and various tools and such. It was his house so I just wanted to leave with the few things i brought into it.

Granted, he was the primary holder of all furniture and such, but I left without even taking a bed. When the split happens, that's when you ask for concessions... not two years after.

I want my grill back, but if I don't get it i'm not going to freak. I'm just going to be disappointed because he said he'd hang onto it to help me out.

Funny thing is: During one of my moves I lost his pair of softball cleats. I have offered to give him some money to replace them and he didn't even say 'Thank you.'

Amicable separation? I guess not.

UPDATED: I have turned off comments for this post. Adam, go post your story elsewhere. You need to move on and leave me to my life. You may have your opinion/perspective and I'll respect it, but you can post it on your site, not mine.

GOOD MORNING!!

Hello Everyone!!

How are you folks doing today? I'm going GREAT! I had a good night's sleep (with the exception of my dream where I was a Ninja with two BAD-ASS swords tyring to kill off all the killer crabs that had invaded the beach) and I hope you did too!

I don't have much to say except my former partner called and hopefuly this week I'll be able to get my grill and my Grandfather's chair back from him. He also asked abuot his softball stuff and I have NO idea where that is.

Anyone out there got a pickup truck? I need to make this a one-trip visit.

Later Gators!

Inspection

Carlos and I are going to be inspected by the City Of Minneapolis!!

Ok, well.. actually, our apartment is, but I have to be there because Yuna and Akima will go BALLISTIC without me there.

They're checking to see if everything is up to 'Code' or not... Maybe if I show them a few things they'll make a suggetion to the landlord! :-)

We SERIOUSLY need a new fridge. things in the freezer are quickly comsumed by frost and ice cream gets mushy and wierd flavors start happening...

Anyway, this all goes down on Wednesday morning so I get to work from home for a bit.

Tonight and tomorrow night are going to be used for cleaning. It's mostly just running the vaccuum, but cleaning up around the leaky fridge should prolly happen too.

Yum yum!!

Palamino tonight for dinner!!


WOOT!

Moving on...

I have finished the DragonLance Legends trilogy. It atually made me tear up at the end. Tasselhoff Burrfoot is BY FAR my favorie character. He's the comedic relief and has some of the best stories and analogies.

I'm going to start on the DragonLance Trilogy called 'The War of Souls.' This is a whole different cast of characters and actually tells the story of Huma. Time-frame wise, it happens before the stories I had read before and just finished.

It'll be good, I'm sure!

Icky

I feel like crap today.

I went to bed with a sniffle and a little congestion and woke up wit a full-blown cold. I feel like one of my eyes is going to shoot out of my head and splatter onto my monitor. I got one of thise Vicks Inhalant sticks so I'm pretending to sniff markers. It seems to be helping.

I also got some tylenol cold to hopefully relive some of the symptoms.

If I feel like this tomorrow I think i'm going to be staying home.

I'm not buying...

So, I may not be as nice and eloquent as Aaron, but I also had a 'watcher/stalker' at the gym.

I usually mind my own business on the workout floor. I'm trying a new workout in order to incorporate more cardio into the routine. I head over to the new cable cross-over machine and begin my chest workout.

Three machines over there is a regular (who always seems to spend more time in the locker room than the workout room) lifting on the chest machine. I catch him looking at me a few times during my workout, but I just go on with my business.

I decide I'm done buffing up for the day and head down to the locker room. I give a quick glance around and it's pretty empty. Good thing! I strip down, grab my towel and hop in the empty steam room quick. I love sitting in the steam. It makes my lungs feel good and gives them a temporary vacation from the sniffles.

I'm spraying down the steam vents (it's kind of an old system) and getting the room all nice and hot when what's-his-face walks in butt naked. Now he's not completely out of shape carrying the love handles like most of us have. He's probably late 40's or early 50's, balding and has a very weathered face.

I finish getting the room full of steam and find a place away from this other guy. I usually sit on the third level because it's warmer up there and this guy was down on the first. I didn't think anything of it, but I usually close my eyes, lean back on the wall and relax. I was sitting there for about 5 minutes and I open my eyes and this guy is 'rubbing one out.'

I was caught off-guard by his courage to do that in a public place, but was even more startled when he glanced up at me and gave me this stupid little grin. LIKE I'D BE INTERESTED OR FLATTERED!!!

I'm sure a lovely look of disgust had made it's way to my face, and I got up and headed toward the door. This guy kept going.

As I reached the door I turned to him and said, 'You better sell that shit somewhere else, because I'm not buying what you're selling!' I stormed out of the steam room and into the showers.

That man didn't leave the steam room the entire time I was getting ready to go.

He's there every morning. We'll see how he reacts to my presence on Wednesday morning. :-)

Did I have a weekend?

Looking back it really doesn't seem like it.

I worked on Saturday and then went shopping with Carlos. We hit IKEA (NEVER again will I go on a Saturday) and then headed over to the mall for DSW and 'The Rack.' I succeeded in finding an inexpensive pair of black shoes for work (I LOVE the sales at Nordstom's Rack).

On Sunday I cleaned up my room a bit, played my game for a while, then went to see Mikey at Marshall Fields (his pt-job). He was SOOOOO cute looking all concentrating and stuff... We came right before his lunch break, so we got to sit down and hang for a while. On this trip I found 2 pair of jeans that I needed badly.

I needed new jeans because I think 2 of the 3 pair I have date back to college and the other pair are a good 3-4 years old. Arizona jeans from JC Penney (stop laughing) aren't all that bad. They make my ass look pretty damn good!

After work, Mikey came over and we headed to Uptown for dinner (my treat) and book shopping. We hit the used bookstores and found the mother-load!! He found the first books from 'The Sword of Shanara' series that he'd like me to read and I found the next trilogy of my DragonLance books I want to read. I bought more books because I'm on book 3 of DragonLance Legends and that should get me through to the end of the week.

So, there you have it. My boring life.

New Music!

Calling all music-heads!

I need some new tunes. Any suggestions?

I like Dance, re-mixes, some R&B, some Rap, very little country, and I try to stay away from screaming and random instrument breakage.

Is that enough to go off of? By the way, the Dance music has to have words otherwise I just view it as noise.

So, give me some suggestions, make me a mix cd, give me a good place to go to download... cool?

Apologies

I'm sorry for neglecting my blog for a bit.

I had a good weekend. Work was good (read: it went by fast), but they had just waxed the floors and the store STUNK!! It made me VERY sick to my stomach and led me into this cold. I had to cancel on Sahara for dinner that night because I was so icky. When I came home I slept for 2 1/2 hours then went to bed at 10pm and didn't wakeup until 8:30am or so. Guess I needed to rest, huh?

On Sunday I washed some dishes, played my game (got my Warp spell which is a HUGE time-saver), did some laundry and waited for Mikey to get back from Iowa. He came over and we hung out for a while. I miss getting to spend SO MUCH time with him. Because of the surgery and the bandage changing, it's been limiting the time we get to spend together. He's also one of the newest Marshall Fields employees and will be working about 12 hours a week there. It'll reduce some of our time spent together, but t's going to give him some extra cash to pay stuff down. It's a good thing!!

The girls are good! Yuna LOVES her new kennel cushion that Mikey bought her. Last night after beating on her sister for a while she went and laid in her kennel. She was in heaven! Akima, on the other hand, wasn't so appreciative. The first day she ripped 3 corners of her cushion off and I came home to foam EVERYWHERE!! So, I tossed it out and I put one of their pillows (sleeping pillows that they've had since day 1 with me) in her kennel. It's been a few days and Akima seems to be OK with it! Hopefully these cushions will help with their hairloss.

Other than that, life is good. Still looking for a new job. I'd sure like to be challenged.

Adios Amigos!

CM is WAAAAAY too nice!

We went to Petsmart last night to get Niblets some catnip.

He mentioned that we should get the cushions for the bottom of the kennels so Yuna and Akima wouldn't lose so much hair. I agreed and we headed out.

We grabbed dinner at Fridays and then went to the Petsmart in Fridley.

They were having puppy class last night and we met MANY cuties. There was a yellow lab, a golden retriever, a phantom poodle, and a rat terrier. They were all less than 6 months old. SUPER CUTE!!

We also got to see two HUGE Great Danes!! They're in there often because I've met them before... (that's also the Banfield Vet that I take the girls to)

Now, I had expalined to Mike that I didn't have the money to get the cushions and he said he'd get them for them! That's pretty damn sweet! (he's going to get paid back)

So, we got 2 kennel cushions, 2 Nylabone toys (to hopefully keep them from tearing up the cushions), 2 walking harnesses (one red, one blue), catnip for psycho kitty, catnip mousies, krinkle balls, and some other toys for Ms. Niblets...

It was a productive trip and I can't thank CM enough for helping out! A big THANK YOU to Carlos too! He has offered to feed the pups on Tuesday and Thursday nights when I work late. Without him we wouldn't have been able to get as much done as we did last night. It's nice to have people in my life who enjoy the pups and are willing to help me out!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!