Wonder Bouncer

Happy New Year

We've had a great time off. Check out what's new in my photo gallery. I'll also have a fun video soon.

Vacation!

As the whistle blows tonight, I'm on vacation until the new year. I have a few projects to get done in that time, but hopefully I'll have a chance to get some rest as well. The shingles are pretty much gone, but I still have the nerve pain. Not sure when that will go away, but it's not as bad as it was.

For all you hardcore gamers, check out Warlord's latest production. I remember playing Duke 3D on my "fast" 486 back in the day. That game was so much deeper than Doom. he he

Duke had funny lines and quoted Evil Dead 2 and They Live. Two very campy movie morsels covered in corn syrup in a bowl of awesome. If you haven't seen them, you should.

Don't make me bust out my bubble gum.

A moment in traffic

This morning on our way to day care, I looked over at another car stopped with me at a red light. The passenger of this nice grey Jaguar was a dog. It looked a lot like Sophi. I wanted to reach out and pet its jowl.

I know this is odd, but I miss petting Sophi's jowl. She only had one that drooped under her chin. It wasn't slobbery or nasty. It was soft and fuzzy. She loved it when you tugged on it and gave it a good scrub.

Then, the light turned green.

Feeding time at the corral

Recovery II and random thoughts

This illness is mostly over, I hope. The skin is healed up, but the nerves inside are still sore. So, the knot in my back remains. Sometimes, I don't feel it. Other times, I have to lay down due to pain. I'm still on some meds to fight the virus, but not much else for the pain. I'm going to switch doctors in January, so we'll see.

Also, I'm trying to keep off the 10 pounds I lost since this all began. But, a hefty bowl of queso last night didn't help.

We just started season four of "The Wire". It's a whole new direction, but so far I like it. Hey, it's "The Wire" so of course I'll like it. :)

I have most of my Christmas shopping done and my vacation officially begins a week from today. I'm ready for some time off to catch up on other projects. Freelance, etc.

I delivered the first batch of Neighborhood Watch fliers. I had 33 houses and Walker enjoyed the walk. When I was a kid, I used to deliver fliers for my mom's business. Instead of 33, the number was closer to 1,000. So, this little task was easy. The only issue was my back.

It's cold in Dallas and my work office has no heat. They should be fixing it today. So, I might go back there tomorrow. The office experience has been pretty lame, between absent coworkers (I see them once a week at best), power outages, broken A/C, noise level and other issues it's just not a good work environment. Word on the street is I'll be going back to working from home in March.

Recovery

Well, friends, it turns out it wasn't a rib issue at all, but shingles. Basically, anyone who had the Chicken Pox as a kid has this virus in their spine. And under the right conditions, it sparks. The doctor said last Thursday I'm about half way. And the flu-like symptoms seems to be mostly over. The shoulder pain continues, but I'm on new meds. So things are OK. Stress seems to be the main cause, and guess what? Having a youngun' and getting things done is stressful (holidays stress me out, too). Fortunately, while I was down, Yvonne helped a bunch.

We decorated the house for Christmas today. Zoe seemed to enjoy it. She's in a grabbing stage, which is pretty funny. And she's eating more solid foods, like cereal and peas. Now we're thinking about presents and who should get what.

And finally, I officially joined the neighborhood watch group. New signs were posted all around the area. I'm just waiting for the first tag to hit one of those. But, I'm optimistic. The area is organizing. We have an email list. We have a person in charge. And we have a set of goals (starting with the signs). Maybe 2008 will bring security. I know I'm going to try to make that happen. But, I'll try not to stress about it.