Mister Update

First big kitty news, Mister had his first vet appointment yesterday. Well, not exactly his first, but his first with us. He had two vet appointments in NJ before coming down here. But this was his first time seeing our vet, Dr. Shah. It was so cute. We walk in a couple minutes after 8:00 a.m. (our appointment was at 8:00), and there is half the staff waiting to see our new boy! They all loved Buddy so much, they were all excited to meet Mister. Naturally, they all thought he was adorable.

He was very curious about the new surroundings. He jumped on the exam table, jumped down, did a few laps around the room, jumped on the counter, jumped down. At one point, he tried to jump up on the top edge of a corkboard on the wall. That didn't work out so well. But he was able to push off before falling down and he landed safely back on the exam table. Best of all, though, he got a clean bill of health from the doc. Yay!

Even though he was really good while he was there, he still wasn't too happy about the whole experience. When we got home, he pretty much ran for the bed and stayed there most of the day. He seems to have settled down now, though, and he's looking forward to a visit from his Aunt Noelle this weekend.

Vacation and New Beginnings... and New Beginnings?

Well, we're back. We spent last week at the beach in Wildwood, NJ. Naturally, it rained almost every day there. Of course, except for Friday, when we were packing up to head back. But, as the old saying goes, a bad day at the beach is better than a good day at work. Seriously, though, vacation is vacation. I always feel that you can't control your circumstances, you can only control how you react to them. Whether we were able to sit out on the beach, or were stuck in our room, or wherever else we went, it was up to us to have fun. And so we did. We went to the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum at Cape May Airport. We went down to the Boardwalk one morning when it hadn't started raining and rode rented bikes. We played Rummikub. We visited Douglass Fudge for the first time, where I found that the fudge well exceeded that of any other I have tasted. In fact, they have sugar-free fudge that tastes better than any other regular fudge I have ever tasted! (sorry James). We finally got to try chocolate-covered bacon from Laura's, after seeing it on Dinner Impossible! Everything really is better with bacon.

We did finally have to come back. But we were not alone. As you know if you read this blog, last month, we had to put our beloved Buddy to sleep. Well, about four or five months before that, a young cat began loitering in my mother- and sister-in-law's garage. After a several phone calls, discussions and back-and-forth decisions, they decided to keep him. Not for themselves, but for the unfortunate, inevitable time after Buddy was no longer with us. We knew we would want another cat at some point, we just weren't sure how soon. Well, a month later, we knew we would be in NJ for our shore vacation, and decided to bring Mister home with us when we came back. They had taken him to the vet, so we knew he was a healthy, neutered male about two years old (sadly, many people in that area drop unwanted pets off in the countryside, rather than find homes for them or take them to shelters). It has been just over a day, and he seems to be adjusting pretty quickly. After the initial lap around the apartment looking for the way back to the garage he knew, he worked is way under our couch. He stayed there for about an hour, before finally coming out. He walked around again, trying to figure out where he was. He eventually got used to us enough that he sat in my lap for a few minutes. Then he wandered again, eventually ending up on the couch. He spent most of the afternoon sleeping (he had a rough morning), with periods of waking up to explore. He still hasn't eaten or drank much, but we're hoping that, as he gets used to the fact that he is safe here and his food is safe here, his appetite will pick up.

The other, fortunate-yet-unfortunate new beginning was the new football season which began this weekend. The Redskins lost their opener to the Giants 23-17. The game really wasn't as close as the score and stats might indicate. They looked fairly outplayed in many aspects of the game. I don't know what happened to the much-touted West Coast Offense that we displayed to great effect against the Steelers' 1st team in preseason. It looked like Zorn had abandoned the passing game and reverted to the Gibbs run run run game. The "upgraded" defense looked like it got some of the big plays (a sack and 2 turnovers) it wanted, but at the expense of basic good play across the board. DeAngelo Hall got an INT, but missed several tackles that let big plays get by him. Haynesworth created some pressure, but not enough to collapse the pocket on the QB as we wanted. Orakpo was virtually invisible all night. I certainly hope this was just a rough beginning and we'll shake the rust off next week. There's no reason we shouldn't beat the Rams next week, but then again, there was no reason we should have lost to them last year!

Sad News and Angry Letter

As I'm sure most of you are aware (especially those on Facebook), we had to put our beloved Buddy to sleep. To make a very long story short, he was at least 15 years old (we never new for sure exactly how old) and diabetic. Toward the end, he stopped eating and drinking, and was so weak he could barely stand. We really did try everything we could (antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, testing his blood sugar) to give him (and us) as much time as possible. We finally had to let him go. It got to the point where it was not going to be fair to him any more. It was a difficult decision, and the first time either of us had to make that decision, but it had to be done. By the time we actually brought him to the vet, his condition had deteriorated to the point that neither of us had any doubt that we did the right thing. It was tough for us, but right for him. *sigh* Very sad.

Ok. That was the sad news. Now, the angry letter. An angry e-mail, actually. A while back, I had been noticing some delays in the turnaround of the movies on our Netflix queue. I went back & forth with Netflix customer service sending me non-responsive form letters that had nothing to do with my problem. Someone finally answered me personally, that Netflix was sorry, blah blah blah, if it happens again, let them know, more details, yadda yadda yadda. It happened occasionally after that, but for the most part was fine. Recently it has gotten worse again. So I did a little looking on my history and wrote back to them. Maybe you can tell me if this happens to you, too. When we return a movie, we put it in the mail, Netflix receives it the next day, then ships out the next movie later that same day, we receive it the following day. Three day cycle. One day each for shipping each way. What I have noticed is that during periods when we watch a lot of movies, suddenly, it takes two days for them to receive our returns. This month, we have returned eight movies (with a ninth on the way back). Our last four movies were mailed on two consecutive Mondays, but Netflix didn't show them as received until Wednesday, which means we didn't get the next movies until Thursday. This only seems to happen when we exceed about five movies in a month. What I suspect is that, when our frequency of return becomes to high, they will receive a movie, but hang on to it for a day before officially marking it as received. The more movies we can get out of them in a month, the more processing they must do and the more postage they have to pay. If they can slow us down a little, it saves them money. Maybe if we get fed up enough, we'll upgrade our membership and they can make even more money.

Hmm. Just thought of something else. I didn't think about until I was just writing this post. I'm sure they will say that they have no control over the Post Office, and it's probably just random delays. The one problem with that, which I did mention in the e-mail, is that the delays only occur when our frequency of rental increases. The other problem, which just occurred to me, is that the shipping delay never occurs when they ship us the movies. Only when we return them. That would be a pretty big coincidence...

Borrowed Time

Well, we got some bad news from the vet today. It's a pretty safe bet that our Buddy has an abdominal lymphoma. In other words, a cancerous tumor. It was a fairly emotional morning. Our vet, Dr. Shah, is really wonderful. I think he's really trying to get us to realize that it's not going to be much longer. There was some discussion as to whether we should put him to sleep today. The other options consisted of nothing (where he would waste away to nothing), Prednisone (which would have had too many side effects), Metacam (an anti-inflammatory, which would hopefully alleviate some discomfort or pain he may experience, and allow him some quality for what time he may have left). So we decided to go with the Metacam. We'll see how that does for him. We also got an antibiotic, since he seemed to be displaying some of the same symptoms he had before when he had a mouth infection. We hope that between the two medicines, he'll start to feel a little better and start eating better. When we can get him to eat, he seems to perk up quite a bit. The problem is getting him to eat. If all goes well, and everything works as we hope, we're still probably only looking at a couple of months. But for now, he's home, and he doesn't seem to be in any pain or discomfort.

Redskins Training Camp

Well, it's almost upon us. Camp starts this Thursday, I believe. (Why it starts on a Thursday, I have no clue.) I've thought about going to Fan Appreciation Day, but I think I'll pass. a) Don't want to go solo. b) It's going to be hotter than Hades, not to mention humidity roughly equal to that of the Atlantic. c) The older I get, the more crowd averse I get.

As we get closer to the season, naturally, all the prognosticators have to put in their $0.02. Not too many people are giving us much of a chance. I think the collapse of the O-line in the 2nd half of the season is looming large in everyone's mind. I, on the other hand, think we'll do much better than last year. I certainly hope so. Of course, I am optimistic. I am a fan, no? In any case, it's not entirely without cause. Our defense, already ranked 4th last year, has added Albert Haynesworth. He should draw double, sometimes triple coverage in the middle, meaning someone else should come free to go after the QB. His presence also should effectively shut down (or at least limit) the middle lane for RBs. We also added Orakpo on the line and Daniels is back and healthy. In the secondary, we re-signed Hall and Rogers has had a full offseason of working on a healthy knee. No question our defense should be greatly improved over its already spectacular performance last season.

The greatest question marks appear on the offense. Here's why I think we'll do better this season. Campbell is in his 2nd year under Zorn. His handling of the off-season shenanigans of Snyder & Cerrato shows his maturity and determination to be the leader of this team. I think he will make great strides this season. Last year's rookie receivers are now healthy, know the system, have adjusted to NFL speed and have had an entire offseason to work with Campbell. I think they will step up and give defenses someone to cover other than Moss. Portis, as usual, is a machine (though I don't get the new look...). Another 1,000+ season. The O-line is the only area of concern. They've certainly gotten younger, with the release of Jansen & Kendall and the return of Dock. The question is, will they gel as a unit and stay healthy? If they do, I think there's no limit to what this offense can achieve. Apparently, Madden 10 agrees with me...

Two for Two!!

For the second night in a row, Larry Michael read one of my questions on Redskins Nation!! Last night, I asked if the Skins would consider putting Rock Cartwright in on punt returns. Tonight, in response to the recent press release regarding the changes in the parking and tailgating rulse, I asked what the shuttle situation would be this year. This time, they didn't use my last name, but they still said "Michael from Crofton." Those were my only two emails so far, so I guess I'm going to have to come up with some more questions.

I'm Famous!!

Most people who know me (and many who don't) know that I am a big Redskins fan (and season ticket holder!). There's a show I've been DVR-ing and watching on Comcast SportsNet called Redskins Nation. It's a nightly show, hosted by Larry Michael, who does the play-by-play on the Redskins radio broadcasts. Every show, they do a segment with fan questions. People can write in and ask questions, and Larry and the Official Redskins Blogger, Matt Terl, answer. Tonight, they led the segment with a question I sent in last week! They even said my full name and location, so there was no doubt it was me! Yaaayy!!

Double Lobster

I guess any weekend where you have two lobster meals can't be all bad. On Saturday, Chrissy's company had their annual summer gathering. This year, it was at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland. They have a Fosters Clambake tent right by the water. I think I heard that the clambake goes on every weekend, but they rent out for groups on occasion, too. In any case, they had the company picnic there on Saturday.

They served clam chowder, steamers, lobster, grilled chicken for the non-shellfish peeps, corn & potatoes with blueberry cake for dessert. The weather in the morning was very cloudy and icky, and "they" were predicting possible intermittent showers through the day, and temps around 91. I think that scared some people away, as somewhere around 1/2 the people who had RSVP'd that they were coming didn't show. Fortunately for us, that meant that, as we left, there was lots o' lobster leftover, and they began giving it away! So we each took one home with us and warmed them up yesterday! Yummy!

Facebook v. Blog

I was updating some info on my blog, when I realized I hadn't updated in forever. I realize a lot of this is due to now being on Facebook. I hadn't realized quite how long it had been, though. I guess all I can say is that I'll try to do better... Right now, though, I need coffee.

Back from the Bluegrass!

Granted, it was only 5 days off (2 of which were the weekend, so we had them off anyway), but a vacation is a vacation... even if it's just a mini. Chrissy and I took a few days off work and went to Kentucky to see some horsies. We left early early Thursday morning from BWI and flew into Louisville. We picked up a car there, and headed to Churchill Downs, where they run the Kentucky Derby. We did the walking tour, and visited the Derby museum, where I ran into a woman who was doing research and taking photos for a book she is doing on things to do in Kentucky. She took my picture on a racehorse simulator, so I may appear in a photo collage in her book! Then we went to Woodford Reserve distillery. Woodford is the official bourbon of the Derby. Nice tour and nice tasting there. I won't go into full details on everything, or this post will be more like a novel.

Highlights - we visited the following stables: Vinery, Three Chimneys and Darley. We visited Old Friends, which is a retirement farm for former thoroughbred race horses. Spent quite a bit of time with Michael Blowen, who started and runs Old Friends. We went to Keeneland race course on Saturday. Went to the Kentucky Horse Park on Sunday, and took a horse park tour (including Winstar Farms). We had dinner at Malone's steakhouse (a Top 10 in the Country on a few different lists). I tried bison for the first time, at Ted's Montana Grill, not Malone's (pretty good - not as tender as beef, but similar flavor). One of the funniest things that happened was when we were at Vinery. We saw a horse there named Repent. I went to pet him, and he moved his head around. Didn't quite try to nip my fingers, but not far from it. Then, I went to scratch his chin. Well, that must have just been the magic spot for him, because the moment my fingers made contact, he about fell into a trance. He became perfectly still. After a bit, I stopped, and he began moving around again. Then I went for the chin again, and sure enough, he froze. Cracked me up! Check it out...


Anyway, overall it was a very good trip. Saw lots of horses, had lots of good food. Did a lot of running around, though. Now, we're trying to catch up on our sleep. Not doing a very good job, I might add. I think I need another vacation.

P.S. Congrats to Sharon & Steve! They finally made it home yesterday after a long, arduous process to adopt their new daughter from Russia. Welcome home, Victoria!