Days, days, days run away like Horses over the hill... That's what it feels like. The days have been running away from me while I watch from a lawn chair wondering where my giddy up and go went.

    October feels like a lost month to me now. Not because it was wasted, but because I was just along for the ride. My final trip of the month, was by far the worst. Not because of what happened, but because of the absence of happening. My last trip was to Oklahoma. Again!

    I don't mind traveling out there, I don't mind doing work out there. What particularly grates on me is when I have to stick around and do practically nothing. I was lucky on this trip to actually escape a day and a half early. I was so happy, I didn't know what to do with myself when I returned home. Still, the sad thing about the whole trip, is that it went well. I didn't really have a single thing to complain about. My heart was not in the right place to spend a week in Oklahoma. I tried to write in the diary while I was out there, but I was just moaning and groaning too much, and I was ashamed of myself, because I had no good grounds to do so. I wished that I could have picked up my attitude, but I just wasn't successful at it. Having duly complained, I do have to be thankful for at least one thing. The extra hours that I worked will help pay for the new tires I had to buy for my car this past weekend. I got up on Sunday to go to church and I discovered that my driver side front tire was flat. The cost of the tires was pretty bad, because I have performance tires on my car. I still have other work to do on my car to get it ready for winter. I have to get the oil changed, a front end alignment, and new windshield wipers as well. Easy come, easy go. The last time I put in for extra hours at work, I got in a car accident. The overtime money paid my deductible. Someone seems to be watching over me. I'm going to be getting more overtime in November, what will happen to my car then?

    Work, has been pretty good this past month, we've been in high speed mode trying to get a new computer system out to the field this month. This effort includes developing an installation package, rewriting software so that it performs smoothly and writing documentation. Early on in the project I was rewriting some of the software for this, but now I'm working on the documentation end of things. In particular, I'm taking photographs of the new equipment and editing the photographs for our manuals. After that work is done, I'll be bringing the manual that we've developed to the web, so that our client's will have more resources at their disposal. I'm taking two more trips in November. I'll be heading out to Oklahoma again, albeit only for two days, and then I'll be heading to Trenton, NJ for another few days. I'm thinking of taking an extra day to see New York City. I haven't been there in some time, so I'd like to go to the village to do some record shopping.

    Fritz is sick. I called the vet today, and I'm bringing him in on Monday. He's been throwing up a lot this week, and he's been retching from time to time as well. He's too dumb to know he's sick, because his tail will wag even as he's coughing. I've been experimenting this week with having him run free while I'm at work. Normally, I have left him in his crate while I'm at work, but since he's been able to go a number of hours without making a mess on the carpet, I've allowed him to have freer reign. I think that he peed on the carpet once this week, while I was at work, but he threw up 3 times while I was out. So, the carpet is taking a beating nonetheless. I tried oxyclean this week on a bunch of the stains that he's left. The results are mixed. In some places, it did a pretty good job, on other's not so good.

    I have an optometrist appointment on Wednesday. I'm looking to get new glasses (finally!) and a new set of contacts, perhaps. We'll see what the cost will be for both. I was hoping to use my overtime money to take care of the cost, but as I told you earlier, the money has been shifted toward car maintenance.

    Still, with all of the money going out toward the necessary items, I have found some left over to keep track of my favorite pop culture entertainment goodies. U2 have released their best of 1990 - 2000 CD, which came with an extra DVD and a second disc of B-Sides. Go out and get it now while Best Buy has it on sale. I paid $14.99 for it, and it's well worth it. U2 went back and remixed a few of the songs from that decade, as well as putting 2 new songs on the disc. I'm listening to it right now, and enjoying some of the new interpretations of old songs. The DVD is pretty neat as well. I'm looking forward to the full blown Best of Videos for this era that will be coming out in December. I think I need to get a DVD player for my computer so that I can take screen shots from the videos to add something a little different to my website. For the X-Box, I bought Tony Hawk 4, which is pretty decent. I've played all of the other versions of the game, and it gets progressively better for each release. Tony Hawk 2 was really fun, and Tony Hawk 3 was challenging with better graphics. I haven't played Tony Hawk 4 much, to tell you the truth, but that's because I plan to savor it. Plus I'm working on my computer. Ok, I'm playing another game on my computer, shhh. Spiderman on DVD has been unleashed on the public. So, I had to buy it. I haven't watched that one yet, I think I'd like to bring it down to my sister's for Thanksgiving and watch it with all of them. Some things are better shared. This Christmas season brings a lot of things that I'd like to have. Star Wars Episode II is coming out on DVD soon. The new Lord Of The Rings movie is coming out in December, and I'd like to get a palm pilot. The palm will probably have to wait, as I have more important things to take care of, but I realize that my schedule is fluid to the point of me not making all of my commitments.

    Now that I've jazzed myself up with Coca-Cola and I'm ready to write, Fritz is wagging his tail at my feet, he's so damn cute. I took him to the vet today, because he's been throwing up all week. On Saturday morning, he had thrown up a rubber band along with the digested food. The Veterinarian would like me to keep an eye on him, and we agree that his throwing up might be a result of the rubber band. Other dogs, who like to chew things have clogged the tube between their throat and their stomach and as a result they throw it back up. Fortunately, he doesn't have too many chances to eat rubber bands, and I'll be more careful in the future about disposing of them. Fritz has one other problem that I had checked out while I was there. He has a lump on his ear. As it turns out, it's a tumor. Since it's only about a month or two months old, we can wait a little bit before he has surgery to remove it. It's cancer, but it's probably benign. They can't tell until they remove it. I'd explain, but being a Vet isn't my business. The estimate for the dog repairs are $475. I'm going to have to wait until after Christmas for that one. It's going to require them to put the ear in a sling, or some sort of harness so that he can't flap it to death and spray blood all over the house. Eh, why not, he's already peed, pooped, and puked on my carpet. That's my 2 year old. Love him to death!

    I've spent a good portion of the weekend doing the things that I ought to be doing, which is uncharacteristic of me of late. I've been letting life carry me forward instead of me directing my life. This can't continue to be my default setting for how I approach my life. Don't get me wrong, some downtime is healthy, but when you lose a month and a half, (maybe more) where you really aren't doing something to set yourself up for the future, eventually the future happens and you're left behind. A small example of this, is e-mail. I haven't really written a lot of e-mail over the last 1 - 2 months, so I shouldn't be surprised that e-mail from friends has trickled. I could lament that you all don't love me, but couldn't you say the same about me? My apologies to those I haven't written, I will try to catch up soon.

    The weekend started with a diary entry, which I didn't finish, and didn't publish, but will when I complete this section. After I had written some, I had to go out and help a friend move a hot tub from a porch to a flatbed truck. It took me longer to get there than it took to move the thing. Still, it was good because I was out of the house and I needed to stop by Merchant's Tire & Auto to check on their availability to work on my car. After getting the tires changed, I needed an alignment. My Oil also needed to be changed, and I needed new wipers. They told me to come back in 2 hours, so I drove to the grocery store, picked up some needed food and other household items. I kicked around the house for about an hour before returning to MT&A to get the work done. That took several hours and then I was on my way back home again, where I started on the house work. Mostly, I'm just trying to clean up the carpets because their so hideous, especially after a week of vomiting. Not by me! It's Fritz's fault.

    Sunday was even better, although I did wake up a little late. (Something else to work on). After Church, I brought my oldest niece home and she helped me to start taking down the balloon wall paper from the guest bedroom. I borrowed an electric steamer which has done a wonderful job in getting the paper off, I'll still need to follow it with Dif once all the paper is off. It's a lot of work, I did 3 one hour increments today and have now gotten about half the room done. It takes time and the room heats up while you're working. After getting started on the demolition of my guest bedroom, the rest of my brother's family arrived for dinner and Spiderman on DVD! That was a lot of fun. I love to share popular culture with others. It's almost like if we like the same things, we automatically like each other. It's sort of a stupid way to relate, but it's oh so convenient.

    Wicked segue here. I was just thinking that when I do get my palm, maybe I can start jotting down talking points for this diary. Throughout the day and week I think of things that I would like to explore in my diary, but I forget about them when  I finally start typing.

    Oh, I just remembered one of the things I wanted to share with the gallery. A few weeks ago, I went over to my brother's house and he was making apple pies. He was in the middle of cutting and coring them when I arrived, so he handed me a cook book and showed me the recipe for pie crust, and then told me to double it. So, I made two pie crusts and apparently they tasted good. I haven't baked anything since I was a kid. A very little kid, because I barely remember it. When my oldest niece walked in, with my hands in the pie, her eyes bugged out because she was so shocked that I was doing anything in the kitchen. It's not really a matter of can't, it's more a matter of don't. I rarely have an appetite, so I don't excited about cooking. I think I would enjoy cooking a little bit more, if I had someone special to cook for, or had someone not so special to cook with. All in good time, I guess. I'll be an adult some day.

    I should be packing my bags for my business trip, but I'll be honest, I'm a bit tired at the moment. So are the dogs. I'm babysitting Fritz's Sis Zoe. They're not blood related, but they occupied the same house for nearly a year. It's a little like adoption. I'm watching her for a few days, and then my brother will watch Fritz for a few more. Tonight I decided to take them both out on a walk, at the same time. Man was that challenging. My patience held (mostly) as the comedy of the situation was too great to allow me to get really angry at them. Fritz routinely barks at other dogs and he has even barked in a few people's faces... to my embarrassment. This evening, a young boy was running to his house and when he saw me with the two dogs, he stopped and said "It's OK, I have a dog" as he leaned down to pet them. He was confident, I wasn't so sure, because after about 2 seconds, they both barked in his face. I apologized but I'm laughing now. Poor kid. I was like a puppet on strings with these two as they were pulling in separate directions during our extended walk. I tried to avoid all other dog owners in the neighborhood, but one came around the corner while Fritz was doing his business, so I couldn't move fast enough. Fritz has a loud, piercing bark. Zoe's is more subdued and not as spirited as Fritz's. Nonetheless, I was standing there holding them back while they barked their fool head's off. The other dog owner had the right idea. His dog was muzzled. I think I might look into that.

    Super Special Cat update: This one is by request by a loyal reader. Honey is doing fine, although she's a bit nonplussed by this extra being in the house. Zoe doesn't quite know what to make of Honey, and most of the time Honey could care less about this other dog, because, of course, Honey owns the place. She knows it. She's just waiting for the rest of us to figure it out. Oh to be a cat. Sleeping last night was at the least, interesting. I felt like I was living on animal planet with a dog curled at my side, one at my feet and a cat by head. Zoe's master has a different sleeping schedule than I do. Zoe woke me up at a quarter to five. That's Eastern time to you and me. So, in my paranoia, I got up and let them out to do their business. Fritz is accustomed to my schedule but I don't trust Zoe primarily because I don't know her habits. I only have one more night of this before I return the favor and bring Fritz over to my brother's.

    Cupid has written me 3 letters over the last several weeks. The letters are not too descriptive, and I'm unsure on who's behalf I'm receiving them. I'd like to say that I care, but I don't, because I'm 99% sure that my response, or lack thereof would not arm Cupid with arrows. I just thought I'd mention it, because it's not everyday that you get an e-mail from Cupid. I'd say that it's every other day with the proliferation of Spam out there. Look a 10¢ word! No, I haven't been drinking, Instead I'm actually enjoying writing with a little bit of free association. That and spell checker, and I'm in Bizness.

    Thanksgiving is fast approaching and I'm looking forward to it. My sister told me that it was Ok to bring Fritz, because they have a fenced yard. He's gonna love it. Fritz and Zoe are wrestling right now. They are both Beagles and they sometimes bite at each other and pull each other's ears. They is a little bit of growling, and a lot of barking by my none to shy pup. He's vocal just like his pop. It would be cute, if my ears didn't hurt when he barks. At least they'll be ready for bed because they'll be tired.

    I went to the optometrist this week. I've had my current glasses for 4 years, and my contacts for almost 3. Fritz had already taken a chunk out of my glasses several months ago, so I was well over due. I was delighted to find out that my vision hasn't changed in 4 years! Yeah!!!! I was surprised about that one. Even though my vision hasn't changed, I'm still ready for new glasses. I didn't realize that the styles of glasses had changed. My brother had bought some pretty thin frames, when I say thin, I don't mean that the arms are thin. I mean that the lens are kind of squared off and narrow. My brother had gotten a pair of this type and if I hadn't seen that 75% of the selection was of this type of frame, I would have gotten something different. Bah, I'm a sheep, but I'm gonna be a cool looking sheep. The one's that I decided to purchase are a metallic blue, or a steel blue, very rock star. They even come with magnetic shades. This is the coolest thing. The old slip on shades of the past are gone. Now they use magnets to keep the shades on. So when I feel like the sun is too bright I just quickly grab my shades and drop em on my specs. If that weren't cool enough, I'll also be checking out some new contacts. I complained that my old contacts seemed to dry out my eyes, so my optometrist (I call her MY optometrist, because I was so pleased with the way she handled my eyes... wait... I'll elaborate.) ordered me a pair of contacts to try out. If I like them, I can buy them. That is so cool! When first presented with a choice of contacts, I figured that I would have to make a decision right then and there, but as it turns out, I can try before I buy. So, the optometrist visit worked out very well. I even had my eyes dilated for the very first time. Fortunately the day was overcast and I didn't have to wear those goofy paper shades.

    Right now, I'm grooving to a bunch of B-Sides, Live Tracks and Remixes from U2's vinyl catalogue. These songs have never seen an official CD release and so now I have them all lined up on my computer, for my listening pleasure. I've recorded 36 songs from old 45's and 12" Singles. At the moment it totals about 2 GB's. I still have to go back and pare out the opening and closing bits of the song. When I record from my stereo, the recording starts as soon as the needle hits the record, so you have some silence and some blips and pops before the song starts. In most cases, you can't really hear any of the album noise, which is great! On a few of my older 45's you can hear it, but it's by no means distracting, unless of course you're bugged by that sort of thing. I still need to pull down Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" off of vinyl, because it includes an extra stanza of verses that are not in the original version from the album "So".

    I've had the computer for about 4 months, and I still haven't made a mix CD yet. Something has got to be wrong with me. My next project is to finish recording stuff off of vinyl, and then I'm going to burn the tracks to disc for an amigo of mine who doesn't own a record player. I think it will make a nice Christmas gift, and I don't think he reads this, so it will still be a surprise.

    Well, look kiddies, I need to be moseying along and pack my bags. I also want to do a little more destruction in the baby room, so that when I get back I can start painting.

    This past week, I made my parents proud. After all of these years, I finally made it to Princeton. I had been to Harvard some years back, but Harvard is not Princeton. Throughout my educational journeys I have been to West Point, The Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy. They are all prestigious schools, but they aren't Princeton. Princeton reminded me of a cross between Albany and Cooperstown. It reminded me of Cooperstown because of the pedestrian friendly sidewalks and downtown area. It reminded of Albany when I walked between the houses that were once upper middle class domiciles, but have now been split up into 4 apartments so that students can live within walking distance of the main campus. As much as I like my new home, I do have fond memories of my hardwood floors and molding characteristic of older homes.

    I'm getting ahead of myself here. I need to start from the beginning, lest I forget anything. When last we spoke, I was preparing to leave on another trip. The first leg of the trip was Oklahoma. This went very well. We had some extra help while we were setting up and we finished in about half the time. I left Oklahoma last Monday and flew back to Washington D.C.

    When I arrived back at Dulles, I realized that I had 4 hours to kill, so I called my brother and tried to get someone to pick me up. No luck, so I took a cab. I was able to surprise them and have a decent dinner. My brother drove me back to the airport and I was on my way to Trenton, NJ. This leg of the trip was a success also. We were a little handicapped from the outset, as we were missing some crucial cables. Fortunately, we're the postal service and have express mail at our disposal. So we worked as long as we could on Tuesday and then we got the rest of our gear on Wednesday. On Tuesday night I made my trip to Princeton, because I was looking for a record store. A guy that works at the Postal facility in Trenton is a huge music fan, although his tastes tend toward the more eclectic groups and experimentations of the 70's and 80's. Still, I was able to find a few used items for a cheap price including a few U2 discs and compilations. I wouldn't hit the mother lode until Thursday.

    I ostensibly finished the installation on Wednesday evening, so Thursday amounted to monitoring and instructing the local personnel on the changes to the new hardware that we installed. At around 1 PM, I was done working and got some good directions to the Hoboken Path Station which took me right into Greenwich Village. I quickly found my way to Rebel Rebel a music store on Bleeker. I spent way too much money there. It didn't help that I hadn't set a mental budget before walking in, but there were simply too many items that caught my attention and they were kind of pricey, but hard to find. I've already added the majority of them to my discography, and will finish updating shortly. Loaded down with several pounds of vinyl and CD's, I made my way further down Bleeker toward another record store. I found the other store, but it didn't have anything that I really needed, so I turned around to head back toward the Path and I stumbled upon Subterranean Records which is basically a room, located underground. I found the U2 section of LP's and 12"s and found 2 that I liked. When I arrived at the counter, I was told that all used items were half off. I told him to hold that thought while I went hunting for more treasure. I ducked my head under a counter and found a box labeled "80's New Wave - Blondie to U2" I pulled it out and found a number of U2 45's. Some of which I didn't have, and some that were in such great shape, that I was willing to buy a replacement for the copy I had at home. At half price, I couldn't lose. It also helped that the guy behind the counter, didn't really know what this stuff could be worth and I got quite a bargain on the pieces that I picked up.

    Having raided the local record stores, I decided to get some authentic Greenwich Village cuisine. It was the first mistake I made all day. I wandered into a little Pizza joint, that was tres chic. I looked at the Pizza menu and I didn't really understand what I was looking at. When the waitress asked me for my order, I said "Pepperoni". She informed me that they didn't have pepperoni. I should have gotten up and walked out. But, I was kind of embarrassed of my suburban tastes, so I agreed to try the special of the day. When it arrived, it had vegetables that should be banned from touching Pizza. I took a bite and it wasn't bad, but after eating about half of it, I couldn't stomach any more of it. I don't know exactly which vegetables were on it, but I think one of them was black eyed peas, and maybe some squash. I'm shuddering as I write this. Out of embarrassment, and a little bit of pity, I asked for a to-go box. I didn't want to make her feel bad for suggesting such a horrid choice, so I figured I would just play nice and get lost as soon as possible. She went to go get a box, and then turned around and asked me if my travels would allow me to carry a box around, or if a bag would be better. I opted for the bag. I could guarantee that the bag would fit in the trash receptacle two blocks up. I wasn't so sure about the Pizza Box.

    Aside from the challenging lunch, the trip was a success. I made it back to the car rental agency and made my flight in plenty of time.

    On Friday I stopped by my optometrist and picked up my new glasses and my trial contacts. I like the new glasses just fine, but I've been wearing the contacts for the past two days. Right away they were far superior to my old contacts, but later on in the day, my eyes were starting to bug me. I'm going to stick with it until my appointment next Monday and see how my eyes like it. My eyes might just be wimpy from having not worn contacts very frequently. So, I'll exercise them this week. I want these to work out for me, because I think it's easier for me to hide behind the glasses, and with contacts I tend to look at people more directly than with glasses. I also think I look better with contacts. God gave me long lashes and a pretty green blue color. So, I might as well show them off for a change. The blood red streaks of irritation help to set off the green as well. I'm hoping that goes away soon.

    Well, I finished phase I of the baby's room. I have removed all of the paper from the walls, and now I just need to go over the entire room with a sponge and vinegar to remove the rest of the glue. I went to Home Depot and bought some joint compound to repair some of the damage I've done to the walls, and I bought some primer so that I can apply that prior to putting on a new coat of paint. I have no idea what color I'm going to paint the room, but I don't want to procrastinate too much longer.

    Thanksgiving is on the horizon, and I'm looking forward to spending time with my parents, my siblings and their children. We're heading to my sister's for this one, and it should be fun. I'm bringing my X-Box down there, and I'm in charge of finding movies and games for the day. They picked the right guy for the job.

    Well, my eyes are getting tired, mostly from wearing the contacts all day. I'll probably write again after Thanksgiving is in the can.