I just got back from Las Vegas. What a bizarre city... for the first few days everything seemed flashy and fabulous, but soon it started to just feel shallow and empty. The main reason the city is there is just for tourism... all the tall buildings are hotels, rather than offices. People call it the city that never sleeps, more like the city without a soul. All sizzle and no steak. Still, Hoover Dam was cool, and the 550 mile drive to the Grand Canyon and back was a hoot.

Pictures:

http://homepage.mac.com/jswaddell/PhotoAlbum36.html

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The West
The Northeast
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Here are some more recent pictures of the pups since the last ones I posted were all taken the day she came to my house. There were taken in July, August and September.

http://homepage.mac.com/jswaddell/PhotoAlbum32.html

I realized that I never posted about my new dog (in actuality she's slightly used, but new to me. Like a pre-owned car.) I got her from a rescue in olive Branch, MS and she is the sweetest dog ever. Her name is Mercy and she's a merle great dane. Here are some pics from the day she came to live with me. Please note that since these pictures were taken I've cut the grass, bought a new couch and painted the shed.

http://homepage.mac.com/jswaddell/PhotoAlbum31.html

I am totally, hopelessly addicted to Battlefield 2. (At least until Battlefield 2142 comes out next month.)

A dog's diary:

7 am - Oh boy! A walk! My favorite!
8 am - Oh boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9 am - Oh boy! The kids! My favorite!
Noon - Oh boy! The yard! My favorite!
2 pm - Oh boy! A car ride! My favorite!
3 pm - Oh boy! The kids! My favorite!
4 pm - Oh boy! Playing ball! My favorite!
6 pm - Oh boy! Welcome home Mom! My favorite!
7 pm - Oh boy! Welcome home Dad! My favorite!
8 pm - Oh boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9 pm - Oh boy! Tummy rubs on the couch! My favorite!
11 pm - Oh boy! Sleeping in my people's bed! My favorite!

The cat's diary:

Day 183 of my captivity... My captors continued to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from clawing the furniture.

Tomorrow I may eat another house plant. Today my attempt to kill mycaptors by weaving around thei r feet while they were walking almostsucceeded - must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair - must try this on their bed.

Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body in an attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear in their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmm, not working according to plan.

There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More important, I overheard that my confinement was due to my powers of inducing "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an informant and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured. But I can wait; it is only a matter of time.

Ok, so I'm sick. Sick enough to go to the ER on Monday. Of course the only reason I went there was because all the Minor Medicals were closed for Labor Day, but if you understand that my fear of hospitals is only eclipsed by my fear of planes, then you know that I was pretty bad off.

So anyway, I'm still sick and even though I'm getting better I am still stuffy and snotty and coughing and so, so tired. But enough of that, I had to get up at 5:30 this morning for my 7:00 weekly meeting. Made it through that and get to work to find out that my paralegal called in sick. Now I can't really fault her because she *never* calls in sick. But the timing really sucks. Did I also mention that both Phill and Jill are out of town this week so we were already 2 people short?

So now we are 3 people short, and in my condition I'm not very helpful. Unfortunately the 2 healthy people we have here only handle post-closing matters so that means they have no clue how to fill in for our 3 missing persons. Then I spilled yogurt on my tie.

The one redeeming thing today is that our new hire, Pat, has experience in the field so she is doing a pretty good job of filling in. And it's only her second day. I think that if she wasn't here I would be hosed. Just close the doors, hang up a sign, let's go home.

Current Mood: sick

So the otolaryngologist had nothing for me. Blocked eustachian tubes suck. ass.

i had been looking forward to a night of Battlefield 2 with Justin and Kris. Unfortunately my cable modem decided to crap out this weekend, and the great and mighty cable monopoly will not deign to send someone to fix it until Wednesday.

Luckily I was able to dig up my old RM356 56K modem router. After a mere 3 hours of fiddling I was able to get it up and running. Whoever thought the old Serial to ethernet adapter was a good idea for the management interface? Especially when I haven't used it for 5+ years and have no clue where the damn thing is is. Ah well, I made it behave via ethernet.

So yes, my friends, I am living la vida loca at 56K in 2006. This would have been the bomb, like, 10 years ago.

/me starts pricing DSL packages. again.

Well I've been back from the beach for about a week now, long enough for the stress to settle back in. Although it is much more manageable after having a week to unwind. Seven days of surf, sand, seafood and suds does a body good. Elvis and Mercy were glad for me to get home as well, they are happy to be back to the usual schedule of 10 hours of couch duty while I'm at work. I send them to a good kennel and they seem to enjoy it there -- Elvis won't even let me pet him goodbye; he's too eager to run back there when I drop him off. Still, it's nice to know they miss me and are glad to be home too.

Kudos to the Boltons for their hospitality and Amy's great cooking, now they have to come to Murmfus so I can show them some more of the same. It was awesome to see everyone, most of whom I hadn't been able to spend any time with for over 2 years. Stupid bar exams.

Mercy managed to hurt her foot within about 72 hours of being back at the house. Luckily nothing is broken so limpy is on doggy advil to keep the swelling down til it heals. She's in fine spirits and wants to play as much as ever so watching her try to keep up with Elvis is entertaining. The nice side effect is that she doesn't harass me all night anymore, she just gets comfy on the bed and goes to sleep.

In other news I found the best ear plugs ever. Being a light sleeper and having loud pets doesn't work well together so I am cherishing the quiet nights now. Elvis has even gotten used to the weekly agenda again and is patiently quiet until the alarm goes off. At that point forget the snooze, all bets are off. Dogs are great. I even set up a webcam so I can watch them during the day. No, you can't watch too. Gangstas have only so much bandwidth.

Current Location: Patio
Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: XM81 - BPM