First Door on the Left

Pets are people too!

I’ve added an “Adopt a Pet” feature to the site. You’ll find it at the bottom of the left column. It features pets from Operation Kindness, which is where we adopted both Sunshine and Giorgio.

If you’re in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and are looking to add to your family, please check out Operation Kindness. They really deserve your support.

I found out that everybody who went to stay at the hotel last night was given a $25 voucher to pay for dinner and breakfast. For $25, I could have had a fairly nice dinner and breakfast. I regretted not having stayed at the hotel.

Then I found at that the hotel was not really a hotel, but a glorified motel that did not have its own restaurant. The food voucher was for the Denny’s next door to the motel.

My regret quickly faded.

They didn’t keep me at the office as late as they threatened to, so I got home about 10-ish. I wasn’t all that keen on spending the night in a hotel, so I braved the roads and came on home. It was only 12 miles of ice, worth the trouble of getting to sleep in my own bed. They want me back at 9:00 in the morning, rather than 7:00. All good.

I especially was not keen on the hotel idea after they told me I would be sharing a room. Cheapskates. The idea of laying awake all night listening to some bloke snore just did not appeal to me at all. If I have to listen to somebody snore, let it be the somebody I have been listening to for the past 27 years.

Home, sweet home.

“Travel is strongly discouraged. If you leave the safety of being indoors, you are putting your life at risk,” the National Weather Service said Monday night in a weather statement for North Texas.

So says the National Weather Service.

However, the nice people for whom I work just called. I am expected in the office as soon as possible. Their plans are to work me until at least midnight, put me in a hotel, and then have me back in the office by 7:00 tomorrow morning.

So here I go, putting my life at risk. See you when I see you.

(They are not paying me enough for this!)

It’s sleeting out right now. So far, about an inch has accumulated. The roads are covered with the stuff. About an hour ago my pager went off. “Due to inclement weather emergency, all managers and supervisors are now on call and will be expected to work the third shift if necessary.”

Like everybody else, I have no doubt in my ability to drive under these conditions. Like everybody else, it is everybody else out on the roads that I fear. I have no intention of going out there and making my car a target. Plus, there is the fact that they simply are not paying me enough to leave my fireside on a night like tonight. As one of my old bosses was very fond of saying, “That is not going to occur.”

I got new glasses today. I can see! I have hyperopia (far-sightedness), and without my glasses anything within about six feet of me is a complete blur. I have no problem seeing things in the distance, but get close to me and you can forget about it. To celebrate my new glasses, I made the font on this page smaller (since I can now see it). If you’re having a problem reading it, let me know and I will then recommend that you also get new glasses. (ha!)

Back to the weather… The news just posted a very long list of schools and businesses that will be closed tomorrow. This sleet and ice is expected to continue through tonight and into tomorrow. This area is not equipped for this kind of weather. Thankfully, I do not have to work tomorrow. Though I fully expect my pager will be beeping up a storm of its own.

When people change the design of their website, why is it that they find it necessary to advertise the fact? If I’ve visited their site in the past, I will most likely realize that the design has changed. If I haven’t, I don’t really care.

That being said, I changed the design of my website.

This article makes for interesting reading. Link via Reese.

Today is the s/o’s birthday. I guess I should get off my butt and go get a card or something, huh?

French Jokes Gain Wide Audiences

We Americans are a fickle lot, aren’t we? First we take to the streets by the millions to protest this war, then we make fun of France and Germany for wanting no part of it. So which is it going to be? Can’t really have it both ways, you know.

I believe Saddam has to go. He’s a ruthless dictator with no conscience. I just wish that somebody other than G-Dubya and his bunch was going to be running the show. I just know that somehow they are going to bungle the whole thing, and we’ll be the ones to pay.

You know, it wouldn’t kill you to leave a comment once in a while. And while I’m up here on my soapbox, call your mother, ya lazy bum!

And furthermore, if you have your site listed on services like BlogSnob or Wander-Lust, and you move your site to another url or even take it down completely, take the time to remove your listing from the service. It isn’t that hard to do and it only takes a few seconds. I mean, really. Lazy bum ya!

And whatever you do, do not put up some cute little page saying “I’ll be back” or “Going on hiatus” or “It’s gone” or any other cute little saying. I don’t care. Remove your listing. Show a little consideration. Again with the lazy bum.

I’m done now. I’ll go to bed. G’nite.

You know, it never fails. Just when you think your troubles are the worst troubles in the world, you happen upon something like this that makes you realize just how insignificant your troubles really are. (To get the gist of what is going on, start here and work your way forward.)

I’ve been reading his site for the past hour. I don’t know what to say. What an amazing individual he is. He doesn’t know me, nor I him, but I do know I’ll be following his progress over the coming months.

I realize that some people on the east coast are going to think I have completely lost my mind, but I actually envy them all that snow. Can you imagine looking outside and seeing something besides leafless trees, brown grass, pavement and concrete? It must be beautiful.

A fire in the fireplace, a good movie, a heavy blanket, somebody with whom to cuddle, and a couple of feet of snow outside. What more could you ask for?