Category: Animals

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Let’s do it:

1.  It feels like a Monday for me because I took a 3-day weekend from work (to include Monday). I had so much fun setting up and personalizing my sparkling new desktop computer system on Saturday and Sunday that I spent Monday catching up on everything else that I would have normally done during the previous two days. I got it all done and then some on Monday !  I was proud of myself when I went to sleep.

2.  After over 15 years with State Farm I saved over 24% by switching my auto insurance to GEICO yesterday. Back in February I compared State Farm with GEICO, and had I made the switch back then I would have saved a mere 9%. It wasn’t worth the time and the trouble to switch. But a more than a 24% savings is definitely worth it !

3.  The MASSIVE political ads continue to inundate and stuff my (old-fashioned) mailbox. I’m actually taking the time to glance over all of the fancy and glossy literature, but the joke is on them. I’m not voting in the Primaries – not even via absentee ballot.

4.  A closed door that you can not open due to the fact that it is locked shut and you don’t have a key for it, or there is another impeding factour (such as a person who won’t let you in) is very symbolic of ‘The End’. You can’t go any further. You can’t proceed. Progress is halted. STOP !  It’s certainly not a positive symbol – especially if you are on a fantastic journey. Before I was saved by Jesus I regularly hit closed doors in my life – literally, figuratively, and symbolically. Nowadays (in my new Life) I don’t encounter too many closed doors. I am simply more aware of the ones that I need to stay away from. But when I do reach a closed door on this journey it is far more painful than it ever was in my previous life. Sometimes what isn’t that big of a deal to one person may actually be a closed door to another person. There should never be a closed door between me or you – and God.

5.  Back in November 2007 a Canadian Dollar was worth more than U.S. $1.08. Today it was only worth U.S. $0.94. The British Pound has dropped from above U.S. $2.10 to below U.S. $1.90. The European Euro was flirting with U.S. $1.60 as recently as the start of July 2008. Now it’s down to nearly U.S. $1.49 !  Our U.S. Dollar is making a substantial comeback. That’s allowing oil prices and ultimately gas prices to drop.

6.  The last time I went through the Starbucks (in Homestead) drive-thru I received exceptional customer service. That’s a good thing because they had already received two strikes in a row from me, and had they received a third strike in a row I would have initiated a temporary boycott of the joint. A boycott of Starbucks is something that I’m not sure that I’m ready for yet.

7.  I got a haircut at the legendary Woody’s Barber Shop yesterday. I always feel clean and refreshed after I get my mop cut. Believe it or not I actually don’t keep track of when I get a haircut via an Excel Spreadsheet. There’s no point to it. If my hair blows around in the wind then it’s time to get a haircut.

8.  If HP wanted to do a television commercial right here in my living room then all they would have to do is simply film me sitting down here at my computer workstation using all of their fine products.

9.  I have an HP printer-scanner-copier all-in-one device now. I bought it at Office Depot yesterday. Those two pictures of Barney and Fluffy that I posted on the blog last night were the first two that I scanned (as a test). I’m gonna look around for some more classic pictures. Maybe I’ll find one of me from my U.K. days some 23 years ago. You can see what I looked like as a goofy 18-year-old !

10.  My credit card company just raised my credit limit by a tad. They must’ve seen how much money I spent this past weekend !  😯

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Animals

Remembering Barney & Fluffy

Barney and Fluffy were the childhood cats of me and my brother, but I should clarify that a bit. We found Fluffy (a Manx) outside on our elevated patio deck on a bitter cold and icy Northern Virginia morning on the 23RD of December in 1983. She remained with us (our family) for over 17 years – until 2001 – long after me and my brother had become adults and moved on with our respective lives. Barney arrived about 4½ years later in 1988 while I was living here in Homestead (at the air base) but my brother was still living at home. Barney remained with the family for about 18 years – until 2006. Both cats lived long, fat, and happy lives. Fluffy was the most lovable feline I have ever known in my entire life, and Barney was simply ‘the cat that didn’t like me’ – although during his last year (of perhaps senility) he came over to me and purred on me as if to ask me for my forgiveness for all of those years in which he didn’t care for me.

Here are some classic pictures of Barney and Fluffy. The first one has a date imprinted on the back of it of ‘APR 89’; however, I suspect that the picture was actually taken around Christmas-time of 1988. That would make Fluffy about 5½ to 6 years old and Barney less than a year old. The second picture was taken several years later well into the 1990s.

Barney & Fluffy - Christmas-Time 1988
Barney & Fluffy - Christmas-Time 1988
Barney & Fluffy - Mid-1990s
Barney & Fluffy - Mid-1990s
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Animals

Saturday Morning Shenanigans

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Are you ready ?  Here’s what I’m talkin’ about !

1.  It’s a cool, dark, and stormy Tuesday afternoon in Homestead. We’re still in a drought if you can believe that. We need a lot more rain than this to get ourselves out of this fine mess !

2.  My brother and his lovely wife got me addicted to the TV show TMZ while I was at their house in Texas. I watch it almost every night now. I never saw a single episode of it before my recent trip to Texas.

3.  I never realized how much I actually like iced coffee … before I started drinking iced coffee !  I’ve made the new Homestead Starbucks a Monday afternoon tradition (right before the weekly Life Pointe Church staff meeting).

4.  Irony ? – A coworker of mine standing barefoot on an old chair on top of a hard floor while updating our building’s safety bulletin board !

5.  Yesterday I picked-up the new premium fish fillet sandwich from Wendy’s, and I brought it back to work. I microwaved it (to get it a little warmer than it was), and it emitted a wonderful smell that attracted a small portion of my coworkers. They adored that smell. It probably smelled better than it tasted. It was a fine sandwich, but I wouldn’t consider it to be ‘premium’. If anything it was perhaps a bit overpriced.

6.  Watch this cool Life Pointe Church promotional video from this past Sunday morning. I’m not in this one. I told Jesse that I wanna be a lovable babyface in his videos rather than a miserable heel. Travis alleges that I have a loyal cult following at the church. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a not so good thing.

7.  Every Sunday morning at Life Pointe Church I manage to get myself in to a whole bunch of pictures, yet they never see the light of day. I challenge you to put those pictures online, or send them to me and I’ll put them on the blog here.

8.  Here’s my brother in a recent text message to me describing what he had to deal with regarding his beloved dog Buddy – ‘… on Saturday he ate grass outside then ate insect killer that I sprayed, then vommitted BRIGHT YELLOW PUKE in A CIRCLE in the living room’.

9.  My 2002 HP Pavilion laptop is dying a slow death. I can see myself buying a brand new one sooner than I thought – like before the Summer is over. I may even donate this old laptop to the church once I buy the new one.

10.  Got ‘Rock Band‘ ?  I’ll be the lead vocalist. I’m good like that !