New Neighbors... Soon?

09.25.2002

About a month ago I noticed that one of the houses behind me was up for sale. I didn't think much about it. When I bought my house, it had been on the market for at least 3 months when I first looked at it, and it was another 3 months before I made an offer on it. These houses aren't exactly easy to find, either (for those of you that don't know, you have to go down a gravel drive that I share with 2 other houses before you reach my driveway). Over the years, I've come to enjoy it. Traffic is one of those things I don't have to worry about.

Sunday morning I get up and go on my weekly Wal-Mart run, and I notice a U-Haul in front of the house for sale. I look a little closer and see that the For Sale sign has changedinto a Sold sign. After the shockk that it sold so soon wore off, I started to wonder what kind of people baught the house? Is it one person or a family? Old or young? Migrant workers or Swedish Bikini Team? Will they be like the rest of us and never let you know that they are there, or will they manage to drive me away?

There's not enough stress in my life, so obviously I have to manufacture some.

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My Mr. Peepers

09.24.2002

When Jerry got his dog, I was obliged to give him (the dog, not Jerry) a nickname by which I would call him. I've done it with all of Jerry's pets. His cats Abbey and Minuet I call Bumperhead and Zebracakes. It's not questioned, it's just a thing I do.

When Jerry got his dog Linus, I instead started calling him Mr. Peepers, which quickly evolved into Peepers for short. Everyone but me calls him Linus. I call him Peepers.

After much obedience training and practice, Peepers has learned to sit, stay, and lots of other good and obedient actions. Especially not to jump up on people.

Until Uncle Russ shows up.

The other day I went over and Jerry was practicing with Peepers. "Linus.Stay." Peepers obediently stays. "Sit." Peepers obediently sits. Jerry walks away about 20 feet. "Linus, come." Peepers hops up and trots over to Jerry. He's a good puppy!

But then I want to see how well I've taught him.

Me: Jer, try it again.
Jer: Ok. <looking at Peepers> Linus, sit.
Linus: <sits>
Me: <whispering> Peepers
Linus: <looks at me, starts to get up>
Jer: Linus... Sit!
Linus:<looks at Jer, sits back down. Looks back at me. Tail starts wagging. Finally can't stand any more, jumps up and runs over to me>
Me:That's my Peepers! <vigorously scratches Peepers>

Now that Jer has a daughter, the fun is only beginning!

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Is Last Week Over?

09.23.2002

Last week was a busy one (so busy I don't think I posted anything). Thankfully, it's over. With any luck, this week will be better, but I'm not betting anything on it. I've got a meeting this morning about a new website, but I've still got plenty to do on the Open Bio website. Sometimes I long for the drudgery of a 9-5 job. Then again, I am having fun working my butt off.

As a tangent, I was talking to Bob about Ying last week, wondering what he was up to (wishing he was still having to put up with Chatterbox instead of me). I was poking around the log files and who did I see? Ying! You may ask how I knew it was Ying, and I would answer with "Who else from Quiagen would be looking at my website?" So it has to be Ying! So now that I know that Ying is still alive and well, I'll put up a special story about Mr. Peepers soon just for him.

As you can tell, I'm rambling more than usual this morning. Mondays, blech.

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Slow Week?

09.13.2002

I've been pretty lax in posting this week, mainly because I've been finishing up the loose ends for the Southerland Station website, and then working a lot on the Open Bio Site for my old boss (and I guess technically, he's my current boss again, too). I never would have guessed you could get a functional shopping cart up and running from nothing in 2 months. Granted, a lot of things have been creeping up since it went live 2 weeks ago, but that main thing is there are people using it. to make it even more surreal for me, it's people from California, Japan, Korea, and even right here in Huntsville. I now know why Jerry would get lost looking at server logs. It's neat to see people looking at something you've written, and actually able to use it.

So, even though I haven't been posting, I been a busy mo-fo.

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Huntsville Haute Cuisine

09.09.2002

Saturday I finally took Gina out for our fancy night out on the town. All fancy truly entails is me wearing non-denim long pants. But to make it more interesting, I took her to Pauli's Chophouse, home of fine dining downtown.

There are times that you go out of your way to show love. Getting dressed up, going to a fancy dinner (denim-free), saying to hell with the diet. These are all sacrifices. We ate and we ate well. Then the bill came.

$130.00

For dinner. For two. I told her not to look at the prices. I didn't look at the prices. I knew it was going to be expensive, part of me kind of liked it. I never blow a wad on dinner. But I've got to admit, $130.00 took me a little by surprise. Luckily, I'm in training to be one of the major power players of Huntsville with all of the web-work I've got lined up, so the bill was no bug deal. Still. $130.00. It was good, and I know you have to take into account the service, location, and atmosphere along with the food, but even then I think they owe me $30 or $40.

Later I'll rant about Pollock telling em to get the Pastrami Cured Tuna. It's sushi grade tuna, except instead of being wrapped in rice, it's covered with pastrami seasoning.

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