Checking In

It's been just over a week without an update - only because life is full and busy. Trying new discipline with Tyler and so far it appears to be working. Wiley is having sessions with a pro dog trainer, and he's much more mellow now that he's better sure of his place in our pack.

Finished my dedication remarks for the light booth at Youngstown on the 22nd. Planning to go into the studio again on Sam's birthday with our vocalist to put down some tracks on the tribute CD. It's coming along. Slowly, yes, but I'm happy we're making some progress.

Dating schedule is full, which is a bit odd (just because I've never "played the field" before), but satisfactory. Meeting some great women and making new friendships - no pressure to jump into anything substantial at this point.

Non-dating social calendar has also been pretty full. Helped Darlene out with her Year of the Dog Chinese New Year party on Friday, complete with trivia, bingo, picture matching, scattergories and dog stories. It might be the year of the dog, but the night belonged to the Monkey/Dragon/Rat team. In actuality there were 2 monkeys and a dragon, and no rats. So my monkey-led ace fighter squadron dominated early, and ended up taking the exquisite trophy at the end of the night. One of my teammates (the dragon) was Heath Ward of the Zero Film collective, and I daresay we hit it off quite well. I was already a fan of his film The Winter of Her, and we had a lot of shop to talk. I hope to work with him someday.

Saturday was my friend Jordan's wedding to his girlfriend Mali, and it was a nice event with just about every alt cultural scene represented. Unfortunately my goth gear was at the clean--er, I mean the morgue, so I was one of just a handful of "norms". Ron looked very Bondian in his black tux, and stuck out like a sore thumb among a very colorful and diverse wedding party. It was good to see some friends I'd not seen in awhile, and I found going to the restroom conveniently during the garter toss was very telling. Hmmmm.

Sunday was a coffee date with a nice gal from the old neighborhood (Palo Alto, CA), and then Superbowl XL, which as anyone with a TV set knows by now has become a very controversial topic. Lest anyone think the yelling is a case of sour grapes, I think Seattle is a very level-headed, realistic and gracious community, and would not begrudge the Steelers a win if they'd actually won it by playing better, as opposed to having it handed to them by official calls that were questionable at best. Pittsburgh did have a few amazing plays, but Seattle played rings around them in terms of most of the stats. The 11 point spread in the final score is ironically the number of points denied Seattle and/or given to Pittsburgh under dubious circumstances. And I have to say, when the commentators start scratching their heads and questioning calls repeatedly, that's a sign of bad officiating. Either corrupt or incompetent, take your choice - the result is the same. I'm sure this game will be debated for a long time to come. There is a huge fan outcry (including Steelers fans who wanted a legitimate win and are embarrassed by the result), but to their credit, the Hawks came home with heads high - deservedly so. It'll be interesting to see if there is any inquest by the NFL, or perhaps they have gone the way of baseball in the 1920s or boxing in the 1950s.

So enough football. I'm not even a huge Hawks fan. I'm old skool Raiders, baby. But as a Seattleite, I'm happy to root for my home teams, especially when they play a great season.

Now I'm just cracking the whip on the house reconstruction, and hopefully seeing some progress soon. Queuing up the financial stuff for the accountant - boy, tax time will be a real joy this year... bleh. Looking forward to my coffee date on Friday, and life goes on.