Happy New Year, although it's now become a bit belated. Much has happened since last I updated you. I have two major changes in my life, both of which will affect the long term. The first is that my car is now longer inspection worthy. I've been driving illegally for about a week. Last Friday I took it in to get the horn fixed and they gave me a laundry list of things that would fail during my inspection. Now granted, I might have found a more sympathetic inspector, but sometimes you need to know when to give up the ghost. Here's the list for your enjoyment and my chagrin.

• Front Exhaust Section Converter

• Front Brakes

• L/FT CV Boots

• Rear Shocks are Blown Out

• Front Tires need replacement

• Needs Wheel Alignment

• Fuel Filter Tubes and Vents Rusted

• Vehicle is Badly Rusted

• Horn inoperable

    It'd be amusing if it weren't my car. So, it looks as though I'm going to have a buy a newer car. This evening I passed the 182,000 mile barrier. The last such barrier of my car's long life. Nearly 15 years have passed since this baby was manufactured. I've had it for 3 years and 10 months. On the same loan that I bought the car, I also purchased this computer and my Queen Size bed. The only thing I'm not going to be replacing of those three items, is my bed. It's still comfortable and isn't obsolete... No Jokes. The computer will be replaced this year, although I'm not sure when. I think that I've gotten my money's worth on all of those. A sum total of $4000 gave me all that.

    I went to the bank today, and started the process of getting a car loan. I need to fax a recent pay stub to them, so that they can verify my employment. Hopefully, I can secure the amount that I've requested. Fortunately, my brother has lent me his car, so I can drive around without fear of getting pulled over. It will also allow me to not make a hasty decision.

    The other long term item, is Fritz. This was previously my brother's family's dog. After some deliberation, and with the bleakness of his future, I decided that it was better for me to be inconvenienced than for him to be dead. After running around fot the past several hours, he has now settled on the couch, trying to stay awake, so that he can make sure that I don't leave without him. I've got him confined to the downstairs, while Honey is confined to the upstairs. It will take some time before he's used to his new life, and he really wants to roam the house. I'm just trying to spend some time with him so that he isn't too scared his first night here.

    Hmm, I'm starting to feel prematurely tired. I must be affected by the stress of having that extra body running around at full tilt.  So, I'll close with a two thousand words. I took these two pictures with the web cam, it wasn't easy, let me tell you. He kept shaking his head back and forth.  I'll give him his own page like Honey, when I get a real good one. Talk to you all later.

    I forgot to write about so many things, and now I've forgotten about all but one! On Saturday I drove down to the school where I coached last winter to see them wrestle in a quad. A quad is when four teams wrestle head to head. Three matches for each school, wrestling on two separate mats. The first match of the morning was against one of their district rivals. Whoever won this match, wins bragging rights as district duel champions. Unfortunately they lost by 9 points. Up until that time the team was a stunning 14 - 0. After that match, they lost to another team, who used to be in their district. For this match they were completely flat. No intensity. They had put everything they had into their first opponent of the day. Still, they've had a great start to the year and as a team they will be quite successful. We (My brother and I) knew that this team would probably peak this year, because of the amount of seniors on the squad. They have a few guys, that you might characterize as studs, although, they both are very smart and not brutish. They both wrestle smart, but all in all not what you would call tenacious, though they might disagree. I take great joy in that they often beat kids who rely on muscle, not moves. It's every geek's dream to beat the muscle heads at their own game. The new coaching staff is young, younger than my brother and I. They are apparently working them much harder than we did, which is good, and they've brought in a number of former state champs to help them train, which is excellent. It's hard not to feel inferior to some of these guys who attained a goal that was quite out of my reach. I was a decent wrestler, but not a stud. Better than average over all, I think. I'm going to go see how they do in districts. This year, they've split their district in half so that there are two districts with 4 schools apiece. Which means that everyone in the district goes to the regional. My district had seven schools in it when I was there, so getting to the regional  was an accomplishment at the time. Still, they need to do well in the district so that they won't wrestle a stud in their first match. Top 4 at regions go to state. The best I ever did was 6th in the region. I was 2 points away from placing top 4, but it was a hard two points to get. I better stop, I'll start singing that Bruce Springsteen song about Glory Days. Wrestling is tough like that, it's hard because you can't go back. Once it's passed it's passed. There are very few tournaments for adults, unless you're talking about Olympic qualifiers and such. It wouldn't be the same anyway.

    Day 3 of Fritz. It's good that I'm kind of a homebody. This way I'm not missing anything by spending time with him. I'm trying to keep myself and him in a routine so that he can learn what to expect and will behave accordingly. I have at least two funny stories to tell you about him so far. The first happened last night, which didn't start out funny at all. After coming home and taking him for a short walk in which he peed, but didn't poop. I put him in his crate and went to the grocery store. When I came back, I let him out and left him alone in the downstairs, while I prepared dinner for myself. I figured, it would be quick, and then I would take him out again, since he didn't poop. Toward the tale end of the meal, I realized, he was kind of quiet. By the time I got downstairs, I realized what he had done. He had poop in at least 4 different parts of the room. As though he was trying to spread it out so I wouldn't notice, kind of like diluting it in water. Fortunately, he didn't spread it into the carpet. I don't have any carpet cleaner, YET. So, I used Spray N Wash on the carpets after picking up the poop. After spraying a generous amount around the room, he found a patch, and then just rolled in it. So for about a half hour, the dog smelled just like Spray N Wash, and for some reason, he was loving it! OK, maybe it's not that cute. I'm just a proud parent.

    The second story, happened this morning. We had rain, and my stairs iced up pretty good, unfortunately, I didn't know about it. As I took a step outside, Fritz slid first, pulling me just enough to spill my coffee all over his back. Fortunately, for Fritz, it was warm, not hot. So, now Fritz smells like French Vanilla. Yum! That's worn off, as his own doggy odor is always sure to come back. He's chewing on his bone right now while I write this. He's content, as long as I'm in the room. Come to think of it, so am I! That way I can keep an eye on him. 

    It's hard to reconcile the two versions of Fritz that we've seen in the past few weeks. He really comes off as happy go lucky, and just pleased as punch to see you, so it's hard to imagine the ferocious doggy inside. He did growl at me today, when I grabbed his bone from his mouth. I chastised him gave me a light tap on the butt, and told him no. I continued to play the grab the bone game, and he didn't growl again. So, I think we've made some progress. I'm given so much advice on how to establish dominance so as to avoid the sort of thing that occurred only a few weeks ago. He still gets too excited to think sometimes, but that may pass as he gets older and becomes more acclimated to his new home. All in all, it's working out well, and he's forcing me to be a bit more disciplined, which is good. I can't take out my lack of organization on him, but I'm willing to bet that I might be tempted to blame it on a person. I guess it's good practice for a family. Though, I know that I don't know what I'm in store for one day. I can only imagine the hundreds if not thousands of sacrifices that parents make that we never ever realize or acknowledge.

    Well that should be enough for this evening. Work is fine, I'm actually quite busy. I was given another project today, and it's due on Tuesday, which is kind of short notice! Since I work better under that kind of pressure, it's probably a God send. Plus it will put more chips in my jar, so that I feel like a productive member of the team. Night.

    It's been an interesting year so far for me. In less than half a month I've added two areas of major responsibility. A car payment and a dog. Admittedly, I've been a bit overwhelmed by the house responsibilities and the idea that I had to get this done and that done. Surprisingly, the addition of Fritz has actually helped me to get more done. Most of the time, I'm in more of a rhythm because of him. He has needs, and in order to accommodate them, I have to budget my time better. My cat requires very little organization on the other hand, feed, pet, empty the litter box, and your done. Because of Fritz, I'm actually getting to work earlier than I had been previously. I'm going to bed earlier as well, because I absolutely need to budget the time for him. I went to Petsmart this evening to get a few things for him. I still need to get a larger crate and bedding for him. Dogs can be expensive. I also need to enroll him in training classes, so that I can learn how to best train him. I read a beagle book, and I learned a few things. Oh, how he tests my patience. Sometimes he causes me to lose my patience completely. Serenity, Now!!!! I've begun to train him how to walk with me. It's slow going but, he's learning to sit when I stop. Still, he's got his own compass (his nose) and he can be stubborn. I try to be equally stubborn with him, so that he'll learn. Now that I've added this bit of extra responsibility, I decided, why not a car payment? I found a nice little sports car for the mid-life crisis. I'm not actually having a mid-life crisis, but I'll act like it, so I can spare my wife the agony when I reach that age. I'm buying a 1999 Mercury Cougar. It's black, 5-Speed, 6 cylinders, power everything. Leather seats, CD stacker, cruise control, etc. It's quite nice! Don't believe me? Here's a picture. It only has 33,000 miles on it, and it's in immaculate condition. The previous owner was anal about it's care. God bless those people. I'm afraid that I can't be that guy who always washes and waxes his car. I have better things to do, or so I tell myself.

    I'm finally going to Phoenix in a couple of weeks. I think it will be for 3 or 4 days. In some ways, it's inconvenient. I'll have to find someone to take care of the dog and cat. It may have to be a kennel. We shall see. In other news, my co-workers would like for me to try out for survivor, so that they can live vicariously through me. All I need to do is borrow a video camera so that I can film a 3 minute video. They printed out the application, and I'll fill it out this evening. If I actually make it, I'll be gone for 7 weeks in June and July. It's doubtful that I'll actually make it. Heck, I'll be surprised if I get a video camera in that time. Hmm, I'm going to talk to people at church and see if any of those folks have one. What have I got to lose? I'm pretty good at mending fences with people at work and other places. The great mediator, that's me, or so I'd like to think. As long as I mend fences, the focus will be on the combatants, and not on myself. Or so I hope. I'm athletic enough, I don't particularly like to eat, so the food won't be a problem. The only possible problem would be Poison Ivy, but given the barren nature of most of the locations, I doubt it will be a problem.

    Well, I gotta go, I have an application to fill out. I'll let you know how it goes. If you have any ideas on what I should do on my video to get attention, please don't hesitate to write. Ciao! Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I did a search on Faulguy and came up with an old version of my site, which was hosted by MSN, when I used to be a member. For some giggles, visit http://homepages.msn.com/PrimetimeAve/faulguy/index.htm On one hand this old site shows me how far I've come on my site design. On the other hand, it reminds me how little I have really learned. Hmm, I really should step up and make something truly extraordinary and stylish. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow.

    I've been listening to an old favorite. Achtung Baby is my favorite U2 album and I've been listening in particular to the back half off the album, which contains several excellent songs that most people haven't heard. U2 released five singles off of that album, but In my opinion, they didn't necessarily release the five best songs. Tracks 9 and 10 are just fantastic. Track 9 is entitled "Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World" In concert, it was beautiful, unfortunately they only played it during ZOO TV, so I haven't heard it live in almost a decade. Although, I do own some bootlegs of it.

    My cat was just down here for the first time since I've moved in. I wanted a segregated household, where the dog and cat could live separate lives, but Fritz is just too demanding of attention, and cries the moment I leave him alone. So I've left the basement door open most of the time, and let him roam. Most of the time, he hangs out with me, with occasional trips to the main floor to stare at the cars and people walking by. I'm still keeping him in the crate at night, and last night, he cried his fool head off. After a while, I just had to let him cry himself to sleep. I don't know when I'll let him sleep with me full time. I'm opening up a little at a time, though I've only had him for two weeks, so maybe it's quite rapid.

    I actually cooked tonight! Or more accurately, I heated up stuff. I've been living on a diet of hot dogs and bologna and cheese sandwiches,  with snacks thrown in for good measure. This evening I actually made spaghetti with sauce. I need to get my mother's recipe for meatballs. I miss meatballs. I also ate a can of cut green beans. They contain Iron. 4% worth per serving. The can contains 3 1/2 servings.  Therefore I had 14% of my daily allowance. Which is 14% more than I've been getting lately. I suppose that I was in a better mood this evening than I have been. Actually, for the most part, I've been in no mood. I've been in no mood to anything. It's usually enough for me to just wait until motivation hits and then begin working on pet projects, but since I've been here, that has been few and far between. Responsibility dictates that I do these projects despite my mood. I mean, who's to say that I would ever break out of it, and suddenly get motivated to do all the things I ought to. You never know. Different people are afflicted with different chemical imbalances, tremendous tragedy, a bad upbringing. You name it. People have different reasons for why they do this, or do that. Or, don't do this and don't do that. A friend was telling me about how someone she cared about was Bi-polar, and therefore had a very hard time keeping control of motivation and the like. Unpredictable would probably be an understatement. I've known a few Bi-polar folks over the years. Lithium works for some of them, and some have a mild enough case of it, so that they can usually function quite well without the aid of chemicals. Occasional doses when life is swinging a bit much and they are back in business. Still, the loss of autonomy scares me. If I had that problem, I think it might shatter my whole existence. After all, I've spent the past 28 years, learning how to keep everything under control. My disappointments, my excitement, everything closely managed, efficiently screened. Hmm, I don't really have any way to wrap up this line of thought. So, I'll just move on.

    I'm starting to feel like a parent. Fritz requires attention all the time. Speaking of which, where did he run off to. Be right back... He was upstairs people watching. And there he goes again. Who's taking care of whom here anyway? He made sure that I sat down before running up stairs to go see what was going on in the street. As a proud parent, I feel as though the most interesting things are what the dog and cat do. And as a proud parent, I have no idea, how bored you are when I talk about my babies. I've learned a lot about beagles and dogs in general over the past two weeks. I'm now cleaning the litter box daily, because of one of Fritz's favorite pastimes. Twice, he grabbed a piece of cat poop in his mouth, dropped it on the floor and rolled on top of it, then he would pick it up with his mouth, drop it again, and roll. I'm not entirely certain I understand this, but I'm not all that happy with the behavior. As of this writing, Honey is in control of the relationship. Fritz is scared of her, she just protects her ground and goes where she pleases. It's the way that I want it. She's already hit him a few times this week, but eventually they should get used to each other.

    Hmm, Fritz had to go out to use the bathroom and broke my concentration. Let's see, I'm still waiting for the title to my new car. Because of the 3 day weekend, everything gets pushed back. I don't know if I'll be able to drive it this week or not. I may have to wait until next week. The check goes to the bank (via mail), the title goes to the previous owner, the previous owner gives it to me and then I can go to the DMV. With the short week, I'm preparing myself for the disappointment that I may not be able to drive my new car until next week. It sho do look purty in front of my house. But that was not what it was built for, and it's not what I bought it for. I can tell you that for the first time in years, I'm looking forward to taking a few road trips. That's the beauty of having a car that you can depend on. It doesn't hurt that I can reach a top speed upwards of 120 miles an hour. Not that I'll be doing that, but it's good to know.

    I don't currently get TV channels. I don't have cable, and I don't have a satellite dish. I'm just not ready to invest in either, because it's a guaranteed amount of money that I have to spend each month. I'm probably spending that much money on DVD rentals, but at least I know what I'm renting. $50 bucks a month seems too high for the luxury right now. Once I really figure out how much extra money I have, I'll probably get a satellite dish. Cox cable doesn't seem to deserve my money (based on all the complaints I hear around here) and I can't even get high speed internet through them, so at this time, I say "Why bother?" I've been kept up to date on some of my favorite shows, by borrowing video tapes from my brother. It has kept me in the loop for Survivor, Friends, ER and CSI, so I'm pretty content with that. On Sunday, I was really missing TV because the NFL playoffs were on. I was able to listen to it at home on the radio, so it was pretty cool. It allowed me to do other things, while I listened. So, at least I wasn't glued.  Still, I had a 3 day weekend, and I didn't maximize it like I could have. I did get some quality time with Fritz and had some quality time with a friend who lives long distance. So, it was a pretty good weekend, but I still need to paint. Getting started is the hardest part. I need to go out and buy paint first, but I'm not firmly convinced egg shell is the color I want. I'm not entirely sure I know anything, except that I don't like peach as my main color in the bathroom.

    Well, that should be about it this evening. I have to put the dog to bed, and put myself down soon after. Have a good night.