Like, ew, get a towel

So it turns out that if you spill green tea on your desk, it looks a hell of a lot like puddles of piss. Plus it's warm. Ew.

Black dog tries to dig to China

So I get home yesterday, and our little black mutt dog Elliott has freaked out, gotten out of his kennel, and tried to dig his way out of the bedroom. This translates into ripped up carpet, padding, etc. This is not behaviour he has exhibited in the past...EVER. He's gotten out of his kennel, but never the destruction. The obvious problem: he misses Maddie. Elliott is the dog we opted to keep due to the fact that his disposition didn't have us losing serious amounts of sleep over how he was going to act around a newborn, which is what was happening with Maddie. This episode doesn't change that, but it does give us another indicator how much Maddie's presence was affecting his behaviour...in this case, positively. With her around during the day while we're gone, he wasn't lonely, so he didn't give a shit about going off anywhere. Now he's gotta adjust to being only dog.

A bright side to this: when I found Elliott's handiwork, I didn't freak out. I didn't yell or scream. I actually remained quite calm. Perhaps I was in shock at the sight of this incredible destruction with a cute little dog standing next to it, his head cocked to one side as if asking if I liked the decorating he'd done. Hopefully I can maintain this same level of calm when my son decides to spraypaint his name across the front of the house.

Does anyone know?

If it's already raining, why don't they up the chance of rain to 100%?

Baybay Clothes

So since we got pregnant, I've found or had sent to me a number of cool, interesting, or otherwise amusing items of baby clothing, so I'm sharing a few of my faves. Let's review, shall we?

I don't care how many books you plunk down in front of a baby, whether it's Hemingway or
Seuss, they can't read a lick of it.


This picture kind of sucks, but it's the best I could find. It's a Guns 'N Roses shirt that reads "Sweet Child of Mine" across the top. My wife was a huge GNR fan back in the day, so this one's kinda for her. I mean for Christ's sakes, we even closed our wedding out in a similar fashion to a GNR concert with a blaring round of "November Rain." That is one long-ass song.

For the role playing game crowd, courtesy of my friend Brandon.

I used to have this 94 Ford Taurus that I always wanted to pimp out with "HOLMES" in Old English script across the rear window. Shit woulda been dope, but I never got around to it. Who am I kidding, I never woulda done that, but I sure as hell would dress my kid up with it! This site even lets you make the shirt yourself!

And probably my favorite one so far! Is it really all that sacreligious? I ask you.

Bye-bye Beagle

Well, we've said our goodbyes and our beagle has now gone off to live with another family. It was a hard decision to make and a bit emotional, but as sweet of a dog as she is most of the time, there are just some quirks of her personality that were not going to be compatible with having a newborn baby in the same space. Thus, we contacted the nice hound rescue people from whom we originally got Maddie and they found her a nice new family. Shit, not only did they find them, they interviewed them, went over proper hound-care with them, and inspected their fucking house to make sure it was beagle safe. So we feel pretty good about where she's going.

Not that we'll miss Maddie any less for it. Funny how when someone you love is out of your life, even their faults can bring a tear to your eye. Anyhow, bye-bye Maddie. Be nice to your new folks. We love you.

Thundercats

Was there ever an episode of Thundercats where Liono didn't walk outside somewhere and swing his sword around and do the whole "thunder, THUNDER, THUNDERCATS, HOOOOOOOOO" thing? Didn't he do it pretty much every time? And wasn't it always the best part of the show?

I thought of this because it's thundering outside.

A soldier named Castleberry

Yesterday on the way home from work, I was halfway listening to the news when a report caught my ear saying that a soldier with the last name Castleberry from suburban Austin had been killed in Iraq. I sat up and took instant notice because I know a guy named Jeff Castleberry who lives just outside of Austin and has a son in Iraq. Jeff was in my last play, I Am Alpha, this past February, and he hosted a fantastic cast party at his big hundred year old house. I remember he showed us a picture of him and his son that was taken right before his deployment, and he started to tear up looking at it. That was what I remembered first when I heard the news report, and even though I haven't seen Jeff since the play closed, I got a heavy sinking feeling.

Today, Ash was able to find the obituary for the soldier that died and we figured out that it wasn't Jeff's son. I felt relief at first, but then I felt shitty for feeling that way. After all, even if it wasn't Jeff's son, he was still somebody's son, and there is a family in mourning right now as I type this. Many families in fact, considering that just this week alone, 27 soldiers have died over there, not to mention all the non-American losses.

So Jeff, I hope your boy comes home safe and sound, and to the other Castleberry family and all the others who have lost somebody in this stupid war, I wish you all a measure of peace.