This past Saturday (Sept. 26) was one crazy weekend. Let's start from the beginning. We got up and took Bailey to the kennel because we were going to be gone all day. We left from there to go to a 5 hour seminar in Tomball. We got a 2 hour break in there, so we went and hung out with the Peschkes for a while and then headed to the church for the second annual High Altitude Olympics. Amanda and I competed in events where she poured water on my face (a slight modification of water boarding), I threw foam balls at her, and she led me around an obstacle course blind folded. At the end, there was a three way tie for first, so we competed with the Peschkes and Weenases in a newlywed style game for the gold and all the glory. After two rounds we were all tied so we went to sudden death and Amanda and I won because I knew her favorite book of the Bible was Leviticus (I love my wife)!
Solely by the grace of God, and with the help of a UH student who works for Amanda, I was able to get my hands on some tickets to the UH v. Texas Tech game that night. Because of the extended High Altitude Olympic finals, I got to the game about half way through the first quarter. Colin Sproule went with me.
For those of you who don't know or don't care to keep up with college sports, this game was unbelievably good. For about 20 minutes, Colin and I were standing next to Moses Malone, which was pretty cool. The Cougars were trailing by 5 points in the 4th quarter when they stopped Tech on a 4th and goal from the 1 yard line. With 5:37 to go in the game, the Cougars had to drive the ball 95 yards for the go ahead score. They did just that and the largest crowd in Robertson Stadium history erupted. When the game was finally over, the students rushed the field. What a game! Because it was a nationally televised game that didn't start until 8:15, I got home at 1:00 a.m.
Pretty good weekend if I do say so myself!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Bailey's Most Glorious Journey
Just thought I'd take a few minutes to update everyone on Bailey's new found unquenchable desire for freedom from the confines of our estate. On Saturday evening as Amanda and I were headed out the door to go to a friend's birthday party, Bailey saw her opportunity and bolted out of our gate and into the streets of our neighborhood. No big deal--she does this all the time. I got the car keys from Amanda and my neighbor from across the street (he's 14 years old and a very good sport!) and we set out to chase Bailey down. I will go ahead and tell you that at this point I'm wearing shorts, a t-shirt and am barefooted. Just remember the barefooted part.
Here is the route we took. I apologize that the maps start in the same spot in teh middle of the route. I couldn't figure out how to make it start in different places. You'll have to click and drag to the right to find the start (at our house on Dawson Road) and then click and drag each map to follow the route.
View Bailey's Journey in a larger map
The route started out normally and I usually catch up to her somewhere on Freestone because she has never left the neighborhood before. But this time was different. She got to the end of Freeport and made a brief stop at the house on the right corner where Freestone intersects with Kirby. When I saw her leaving, there was a large Boxer by the name of Oscar following her. I knew his name was Oscar because his entire family was chasing after him yelling, "Oscar, Oscar!!!" So I got back in the car and headed out onto Kirby while the rest of the entourage headed out there on foot. About 100 yards down Kirby, Bailey and Oscar hooked a left and ran out into an open field. I chased Bailey and Oscar through the open field (still barefooted) until I finally caught up with Oscar about 200 yards in. However, Bailey kept running until she nearly reached the houses in Southern Trails. At this point, Oscar's family had caught up and I told them I was looking for a new home for Bailey anyway and she had just made the job a lot easier. I had resigned myself to let her go.
So my neighbor and I walked back to the car (which I left in the middle of Kirby with the hazards on) through the open field (still barefooted, although it hurt a lot more now than it did at first!) and drove down Kirby to the mall to turn around. When I started driving back toward the neighborhood, there was Bailey standing near the road. So I sped down there, jumped the curb with the Murano (sorry Amanda, but I didn't want to leave it in the middle of the road again) and made another effort to lure Bailey into the back of the car--to no avail.
Bailey took off down the side of Kirby going toward the mall. But instead of staying in the grass, she zig-zagged her way back and forth across Kirby causing numerous cars to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting her. I really wish one of them had hit her because it would have cut this journey in half!
So, we chased her down Kirby where she crossed over to the right and took a brief dip in the pond. While she was enjoying her swim, the neighbor and I were parking at Goodyear so we could get out and chase her on foot. We nearly had her at Goodyear, but she took off around the parking lot going behind the mall. As I was going back to get the car, she started coming back toward us only to veer off to the right and start heading toward Dillards. We quickly got back in the car and continued our pursuit.
This is where it got a little scary. As she rounded the corner near Dillards, she was trotting behind the landscape bushes headed toward the front entrance of Dillards. And of course, like most big retail shops, Dillards has automatic doors. And it being a Saturday, numerous people were entering and exiting leaving the doors open for the most part. I decided then and there that if she ran inside Dillards (dripping wet since she recently went swimming in the pond) that I would take advantage of the fact that she had no collar or tags on and just leave. No one would ever know she belonged to me!
Thankfully she did not go into Dillards. I think she may be more of a Bass Pro Shops/Academy girl. But she did continue on her way. The neighbor and I were still following her in the car yelling at every person along the way to grab her if they got the chance. Finally we came to a back alley were the dumpsters are kept for the mall. Someone had left the gate open and we saw this as our chance to corner her. Unfortunately they had left the gate open on the other side which had the effect of funneling her into the mall! At least it's an outdoor mall so she was just walking alongside the people on the sidewalks.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention--as she was trotting down the corridor between the dumpsters and the mall, there was a guy standing near the restrooms. I called out to him to grab her if she came near. He looked at me, then down at Bailey who was standing right next to him sniffing him, then looked back at me as Bailey left. It was all I could do to not punch him in the gut when I walked past, still in pursuit of Bailey, and still barefooted.
We rounded the corner to the left where she was walking down the sidewalk in front of Barnes & Noble. There were some people sitting at a table outside and I called out to them to grab her if she came near and not let go of her. The guy reached over to pet her and grabbed her. I almost kissed him when I caught up.
So, I thanked him profusely, scooped Bailey up in my arms (40 pounds of wet dog) and walked back out to the car. I'm sure I looked perfectly normal walking barefooted with a wet dog in my arms through the mall. No embarrassment there at all. I put/threw Bailey into the back of the car and headed home. I marked this spot on the map with a volcano which is a pretty close indication of my blood pressure level at this point.
When we got home, I put Bailey in her crate, quickly took another shower and headed to the birthday party which we were now approximately 1 hour late for. The next day I found 7 or 8 splinters in the bottoms of my feet from the run through the field.
After all this, I can't say there wasn't anything good about it. Any sadness remaining in me about having to give Bailey up is now completely gone!
Here is the route we took. I apologize that the maps start in the same spot in teh middle of the route. I couldn't figure out how to make it start in different places. You'll have to click and drag to the right to find the start (at our house on Dawson Road) and then click and drag each map to follow the route.
View Bailey's Journey in a larger map
The route started out normally and I usually catch up to her somewhere on Freestone because she has never left the neighborhood before. But this time was different. She got to the end of Freeport and made a brief stop at the house on the right corner where Freestone intersects with Kirby. When I saw her leaving, there was a large Boxer by the name of Oscar following her. I knew his name was Oscar because his entire family was chasing after him yelling, "Oscar, Oscar!!!" So I got back in the car and headed out onto Kirby while the rest of the entourage headed out there on foot. About 100 yards down Kirby, Bailey and Oscar hooked a left and ran out into an open field. I chased Bailey and Oscar through the open field (still barefooted) until I finally caught up with Oscar about 200 yards in. However, Bailey kept running until she nearly reached the houses in Southern Trails. At this point, Oscar's family had caught up and I told them I was looking for a new home for Bailey anyway and she had just made the job a lot easier. I had resigned myself to let her go.
So my neighbor and I walked back to the car (which I left in the middle of Kirby with the hazards on) through the open field (still barefooted, although it hurt a lot more now than it did at first!) and drove down Kirby to the mall to turn around. When I started driving back toward the neighborhood, there was Bailey standing near the road. So I sped down there, jumped the curb with the Murano (sorry Amanda, but I didn't want to leave it in the middle of the road again) and made another effort to lure Bailey into the back of the car--to no avail.
Bailey took off down the side of Kirby going toward the mall. But instead of staying in the grass, she zig-zagged her way back and forth across Kirby causing numerous cars to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting her. I really wish one of them had hit her because it would have cut this journey in half!
So, we chased her down Kirby where she crossed over to the right and took a brief dip in the pond. While she was enjoying her swim, the neighbor and I were parking at Goodyear so we could get out and chase her on foot. We nearly had her at Goodyear, but she took off around the parking lot going behind the mall. As I was going back to get the car, she started coming back toward us only to veer off to the right and start heading toward Dillards. We quickly got back in the car and continued our pursuit.
This is where it got a little scary. As she rounded the corner near Dillards, she was trotting behind the landscape bushes headed toward the front entrance of Dillards. And of course, like most big retail shops, Dillards has automatic doors. And it being a Saturday, numerous people were entering and exiting leaving the doors open for the most part. I decided then and there that if she ran inside Dillards (dripping wet since she recently went swimming in the pond) that I would take advantage of the fact that she had no collar or tags on and just leave. No one would ever know she belonged to me!
Thankfully she did not go into Dillards. I think she may be more of a Bass Pro Shops/Academy girl. But she did continue on her way. The neighbor and I were still following her in the car yelling at every person along the way to grab her if they got the chance. Finally we came to a back alley were the dumpsters are kept for the mall. Someone had left the gate open and we saw this as our chance to corner her. Unfortunately they had left the gate open on the other side which had the effect of funneling her into the mall! At least it's an outdoor mall so she was just walking alongside the people on the sidewalks.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention--as she was trotting down the corridor between the dumpsters and the mall, there was a guy standing near the restrooms. I called out to him to grab her if she came near. He looked at me, then down at Bailey who was standing right next to him sniffing him, then looked back at me as Bailey left. It was all I could do to not punch him in the gut when I walked past, still in pursuit of Bailey, and still barefooted.
We rounded the corner to the left where she was walking down the sidewalk in front of Barnes & Noble. There were some people sitting at a table outside and I called out to them to grab her if she came near and not let go of her. The guy reached over to pet her and grabbed her. I almost kissed him when I caught up.
So, I thanked him profusely, scooped Bailey up in my arms (40 pounds of wet dog) and walked back out to the car. I'm sure I looked perfectly normal walking barefooted with a wet dog in my arms through the mall. No embarrassment there at all. I put/threw Bailey into the back of the car and headed home. I marked this spot on the map with a volcano which is a pretty close indication of my blood pressure level at this point.
When we got home, I put Bailey in her crate, quickly took another shower and headed to the birthday party which we were now approximately 1 hour late for. The next day I found 7 or 8 splinters in the bottoms of my feet from the run through the field.
After all this, I can't say there wasn't anything good about it. Any sadness remaining in me about having to give Bailey up is now completely gone!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Bailey Needs a New Home
Over the past several months since I started this blog, many of you have grown accustomed to the occasional sprinkling in of Bailey stories to lighten the mood in here. Well, it's with great sadness that I'm telling you we need to find a new home for Bailey.
I know what you're thinking--how can you give up a dog with such great entertainment value? The honest answer is that it's going to be best for all involved to find her a new family. We simply don't have the time, energy, sanity, space or yard size to accommodate a dog with her energy level. In the nearly two years we've had her, she has eaten or otherwise destroyed two pairs of eye glasses, several plants, several pairs of underwear, dozens of pens and clothes pins, my new wallet and I'm pretty sure she ate a $5 bill. That's just a small random sampling of the havoc she has brought to our lives. Happy and well-adjusted dogs who are content in their environments are not that destructive.
On top of that, she will do anything to escape from our back yard including digging under the fence and jumping over the fence. She has been really creative in her escape tactics including moving plastic chairs to the fence so she can get over and getting a running start and catapulting off the grill. And as you have probably seen from a previous video I posted, she has successfully jumped a six foot fence to escape the friendly confines of our back yard.
The only way we have found that even comes close to dissipating her energy build up is to attach her to the bicycle and let her drag us through the neighborhood on a dead sprint for a couple of miles. She barks the whole way and scares the bejeezus out of everyone. I think she nearly gave a jogger a heart attack the other night.
So, Amanda and I have decided that we would like to preserve what is left of our youthful sanity and accordingly have sent her information to a Brittany rescue to try to find her a new home. You can view her profile here (she's the 4th one down under Texas):
Please feel free to forward this link to anyone you know who may be interested. We think she would make a great hunting dog or even a great family dog if she had a large yard to play in and probably another dog or two to play with. Sorry for the sad news, but it needed to be said.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Go Coogs!!!
I need to take a moment to congratulate and brag on my alma mater, the University of Houston Cougars. For those of you oblivious to the college football world, UH defeated the #5 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys this past weekend 45-35, in Stillwater. This is the first time UH has beaten a top 5 team since 1984 and they have achieved their first top 25 ranking since 1991 (currently ranked #21). This kind of play is a far cry from when I attended UH (1998-2002). The best record the Coogs achieved while I was there was 7-4 in 1999. In 2001, they went 0-11. So you can understand my excitement at seeing my beloved Cougars not only winning games, but beating really good teams.
Here is a little highlight video for your enjoyment.
Here is a little highlight video for your enjoyment.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Bailey v. Garden Hose
Sorry for the length of this video, but there weren't really any parts I wanted to cut out. Bailey drives us nuts all the time, but it's times like this that we really enjoy her.
Obama to Circumvent Normal Congressional Vote on Health Care Reform
Our lovable president got on national TV Wednesday night and waxed eloquent about how Congress was actually in agreement on about 80% of the ideas needed to pass health care reform and that the bickering needed to end so they could get something done. He talked about his grand ideas to provide affordable health insurance to all Americans without adding a penny to the deficit, despite the fact the Congressional Budget Office, using the numbers given to it by the White House, predicted a $220 billion increase in the deficit over the next 10 years as a direct result of Obama's health care plan.
The president made a noble request for bipartisanship to get this reform done "because something has to be done." And less than 48 hours after his speech on Wednesday night, he's laying the groundwork to use the budget reconciliation maneuver to circumvent a true congressional vote on the bill.
So much for listening to the people who turned out in 10s of thousands at town hall meetings in August to express their concern about this health care bill. We the people can state our opinions all we want, but our leadership simply doesn't care. According to a recent Gallup poll, 39% of the people polled said they would direct their representative to vote AGAINST Obama's health care plan as opposed to 37% who would direct their representative to vote for it. The other 24% had no opinion. 64% of the people said their vote in 2010 would be directly affected by how their representative votes on health care.
Despite all of this, Obama continues to ignore the citizens. In the article above talking about use of the reconciliation measure, Obama is quoted as saying, "there are a lot of politicians like that who, all they're thinking about is just, ‘How do I get reelected?’ and so they never actually get anything done." That quote was followed by this one from an administration official:
“I think getting something done is paramount here," a senior administration official said before Obama’s address to Congress. "We want to bring along everyone who’s willing to come with us, but the fact that not everyone is willing to come with us is not an excuse to fail in dealing with what is really a fundamental issue that has to be done."
There you have it. This administration has an agenda and they couldn't care less what you and I think. We need to "get something done" because we the people are apparently too stupid to decide what's best for us. We need some out of touch elitists in Washington to make those decisions for us.
In summary, our president thinks that a representative or senator who votes against health care reform because his or her constituents have requested him or her to do so is purely an act of selfish desire to get re-elected. Sounds like a classic Catch-22 to me--represent your constituents by voting against health care and be smeared by the president and his democrat buddies for playing partisan politics, or ignore the majority of your constituents and vote for health care, thereby ensuring you don't get re-elected.
The president made a noble request for bipartisanship to get this reform done "because something has to be done." And less than 48 hours after his speech on Wednesday night, he's laying the groundwork to use the budget reconciliation maneuver to circumvent a true congressional vote on the bill.
So much for listening to the people who turned out in 10s of thousands at town hall meetings in August to express their concern about this health care bill. We the people can state our opinions all we want, but our leadership simply doesn't care. According to a recent Gallup poll, 39% of the people polled said they would direct their representative to vote AGAINST Obama's health care plan as opposed to 37% who would direct their representative to vote for it. The other 24% had no opinion. 64% of the people said their vote in 2010 would be directly affected by how their representative votes on health care.
Despite all of this, Obama continues to ignore the citizens. In the article above talking about use of the reconciliation measure, Obama is quoted as saying, "there are a lot of politicians like that who, all they're thinking about is just, ‘How do I get reelected?’ and so they never actually get anything done." That quote was followed by this one from an administration official:
“I think getting something done is paramount here," a senior administration official said before Obama’s address to Congress. "We want to bring along everyone who’s willing to come with us, but the fact that not everyone is willing to come with us is not an excuse to fail in dealing with what is really a fundamental issue that has to be done."
There you have it. This administration has an agenda and they couldn't care less what you and I think. We need to "get something done" because we the people are apparently too stupid to decide what's best for us. We need some out of touch elitists in Washington to make those decisions for us.
In summary, our president thinks that a representative or senator who votes against health care reform because his or her constituents have requested him or her to do so is purely an act of selfish desire to get re-elected. Sounds like a classic Catch-22 to me--represent your constituents by voting against health care and be smeared by the president and his democrat buddies for playing partisan politics, or ignore the majority of your constituents and vote for health care, thereby ensuring you don't get re-elected.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Experimenting with Posterous
For those of you who don't know me very well, I'm always on the look out for new technologies, even if they aren't particularly useful for me. Free technology is my Achilles heel. Today I found a pretty cool free technology and am trying it out to see if it will be useful for me. Posterous let's you post to your Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc by emailing content to certain email addresses. You create an account and set up your linked accounts like your own blog and then use certain email addresses to post to your various linked accounts. For instance, I'm posting this to my blog by emailing all the content to blog@posterous.com. I'm still not sure how useful this will be, but I wanted to give it a shot. Posterous has some other cool features that I'll be trying out in the near future. I'll keep you updated on whether it's worth it or not.
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