Last Trips...

All,

Here are some pictures from The Wife and I's last couple of trips. The beginning of the album is from early March when we went to the DC area for the baptism of The Wife's goddaughter. The majority of the album is from our trip to Cabo in mid-March. I think there might be some photos of Lisa lying around somewhere that I haven't posted, so I might do that soon too. Nothing like an approaching huge exam to bring out the procrastination bug to spur me to post pictures. Anyway, enjoy.

March 2010 Trips (DC and Cabo)

Another plea for help...

Hi there. Lisa the dog (also known as the Woof, Woof-baby, Woofzilla, Woofer, Woof-shaka, and the ever popular Stinky-face) speaking. Awhile back I hijacked my mommy's blog. If you missed it, you can check it out by clicking here. Needless to say, no one came to help. Then I found out my daddy had a blog (it took me a little while to learn about it since he does stuff with it so infrequently), so I decided to take it over too. Look, things are still different here. I don't like different. Sure, my parents are trying to bribe me with turkey, but the fact is still that my (and it was mine) apartment is gone. Sure, I get my own room here, but my human parents decided they would wall me off downstairs while they slept upstairs. How am I supposed to show my love by pushing them out of bed in the middle of the night if I can't even get to the bed? AND they got a new comforter and they won't even let me eat it like the last few. Jerks.

In case you still need convincing that I need rescuing from this place, I'm going to put up some photos. I'll guide you through them and you can see for yourselves how awful my parents are.

Colorado 2009 and Random Photos

See what I mean? Doesn't that look great? So first they leave me for a whole week to go to that fabulous place, and then they change my world around completely. So, I'm asking one last time. Please come save me from these meanies. If you don't, I'm going to start mounting the resistance. No piece of turkey will be safe.

Long overdue...

All,

I've been intending to write this post for two months, particularly since the photos I wanted to put into it were mostly taken on a trip in May. However, since anyone who still bothers to check this blog is all too familiar with my extended absences, I'm not even going to try to explain away the time. Suffice it to say nothing monumental has happened since then, and summer school has pretty much sucked any humor out of me at this point. So, on to the pics of The Wife and I in the Great Smoky Mountains (like all the other pictures I post, click the photo to go to the album):

The Smokies May 2009

Well, that's probably it for a few weeks. I've got papers and exams to grade, then it's off to Colorado and finalizing the stuff for the new house. I'll post pictures, and maybe some witticisms, sometime in a month or so.

Weekends

All,

Another weekend down, although this one was a bit nicer than usual because I no longer had any finals or papers hanging over my head. Sure, I have to grade my students' finals now, but that's a lot easier than taking my own. So, the Wife and I decided to celebrate. Saturday, we lived it up by doing what we do every Saturday. So much for the celebration. To be fair, with another half marathon coming up in a few weeks, we have to keep getting these long runs in. Oh well.

On Sunday, however, we headed out to the Konza Prairie to do some hiking. Despite the extremely sarcastic comments you will encounter if you choose to look at the pictures below, it really was a lot of fun and a beautiful area. But you don't come hear to read about fun and beauty. No, you want me to make you laugh like I'm some kind of singing monkey. A singing monkey that dances around in a little suit for your amusement. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's exactly what I am. I just had nothing left for this post after coming up with the captions for the pictures. My apologies, and I'll try to do better next week. Onward to the pictures:

Konza Prairie 2009

How do I do this again?

Well hello there. I bet you forgot about this blog. I know I did. The Wife has done a pretty good job keeping up with hers, so hopefully you've been reading that if you wanted to know what was going on in our lives. I'm not really sure why you would, although, to be fair, history and the law ARE two of the most glamorous professions out there.

Anyway, the Wife and I went to a Royals game a week or so ago. It was a lot of fun, even if eye-poppingly expensive ($6 for a Budweiser? Really?). I suppose they have to recoup their investment in the "New K" (they remodeled the field recently), but honestly I didn't notice that much of a difference. That could be because we have only been to one game per year for the last couple of years, or it could be that no matter how much you try to dress up the stadium, you can't escape the fact that you're there to watch the Royals.

But now that it is baseball season, it's time for my favorite yearly ritual: Raising my hopes for my beloved Cubbies to unrealistic levels based on what I think I see in April, only to have the team implode sometime between July and October, leaving my heart a twisted, bloody wreck in the mouth of some scavenging animal. It all used to be so much easier. Back when the Cubs didn't spend massive amounts of money on players, the heartache could be over by the end of June (or the end of May if you were really lucky/unlucky). Now, however, they've decided to prolong the agony for their legions of fans. Sure, I suppose it sells more seats in September, but too many more years of this and there aren't going to be many fans left alive to fill those seats.

I know, I know, every year about this time I do a post about the Cubs, how this is their year (and it is this time), and how being a Cubs fan is such a miserable experience. And it is, and I should probably know better. But I don't. Which is probably one of the reasons the Wife keeps telling me that I need to work on that whole "logic" thing. Darn lawyers.

Okay, that's all I've got. I'll leave you with a new picture of the Woof (aka Lisa) doing something silly.


Yes, for a dog that is generally scared of everything, occasionally she can be ferocious - here she is attacking the vacuum while it's running (but turn it off, and she backs away from it).

Thanks for the Assist...

Today The Wife and I ran a half-marathon. We both did much better than our goals. I can't explain why - although training might have had something to do with it (we didn't train for the last one we did). Of course, our inspiration might have had something to do with it as well:


So, thanks for the assist little buddy. We couldn't have done it without you.

What I've Learned...

First off, all that free time that I thought I would have once school started and I'd be able to procrastinate? Turns out that didn't happen. Don't get me wrong, I still procrastinate, but the free time aspect of it doesn't seem to have materialized. Hence, the lack of blog posts. For which I'm deeply sorry. Truly. Not that you believe me at this point, and I can't say that I blame you. My promises of more posts are starting to sound like the Cubs' promises to win a World Series sometime in their second century of futility. Anyway, I've managed to cobble together some time today, mainly by putting off grading my students' midterms, so you get a post. Here's what I've learned since the last time I wrote:

1. The baseball gods hate me. Well, maybe not me in particular. But they certainly seem to hate the Cubs. At this point the Cubs' journey back to the World Series (let alone winning the stupid thing) is starting to resemble Homer's Odyssey. The Cubs, of course, are Odysseus, valiantly trying to return to their homeland. Except someone forgot to tack on the happy ending to this story (although I suppose coming home to a bunch of men trying to seduce and marry your wife isn't exactly happy). So here's what I've learned: The Cubs are the modern day version of Odysseus. Except their ship was struck by lightning, jumped upon by a whale, and finally battered against the rocks. leaving the crew strewn dead upon the beach. Where wild dogs picked at their bones. Basically, I'm an idiot for continuing to hope that they're coming home. At least I don't have to suffer through this.

2. The football gods are not particularly enamored of me either. Oh, sure, Notre Dame is better than last year, but that's like saying the current financial crisis is better than the Great Depression. Just because now is better than then (at least so far), doesn't mean that it is good. I'm willing to be realistic - I didn't expect a national title this year, and I don't think anyone should expect one next year. That being said, it's still frustrating to see a team which is clearly improving just give away a game like they did at UNC. So here's what I've learned: Last year was so bad that my patience (never one of my strong suits when it came to ND football) is even thinner now.

3. The basketball gods seem to like me. Most preseason polls have Notre Dame firmly in the top 20, if not the top 10. This is good. Until I reread point number 1 above. So here's what I've learned: Never trust anything written before the games are played. Predictions usually turn out to be wrong.

4. The political gods hate all of us. Look, I don't want to get into politics here, as it's a subject that requires a lot more time and careful deliberation, not to mention debate, than I can possibly provide in a blog format. Not to mention that I'm sure my views don't agree with those of many other people who might read this, but I don't think it is my job to try to convince anyone of the correctness of my position. Particularly at this late point in the campaign season, most people have already made up their minds based on whatever criteria they deem important. I know I have - my only plea is that you do a little research via a credible source (such as Project Vote Smart) if you are still deciding about anything. Anyway, here's what I've learned: The political gods hate all of us. Why? Because that is the only explanation I can see for why this travesty is being foisted upon the American people.

5. The doggie gods love The Wife and I. Okay, I don't know that there are any doggie gods (or political gods, or sports gods, etc.), but if there are, then here's what I've learned about them: The bulldog is one of their jokes on humanity. For proof, I offer up some more pictures of Lisa.

More Lisa

6. What I've learned: I am weak - he is strong, but he needs some help. So, for those of you not already aware of this situation involving extremely good friends of The Wife and I, please take a minute to think of or pray for this family.

Sorry to end on a bit of a down note, but even I can't make jokes about something like that. Anyway, I'll try to be better about posting more frequently, but I might just take the Cubs' approach. In which case, I wouldn't hold your breath - it's going to be a long century.