Happy New Year? Let's Hope!

The year 2008 is finally behind us! I know the year 2008 was a rough one for a lot of folks, us included, but there WERE some bright spots, at least for us. I'm sure if you rack your brain, you can think of one or two yourself. Here are a few of mine, in order of appearance:

• The year started quietly, then, in March, I quit my steady job drawing cartoons for a local retailer. If I had known how bad the job market was, I wouldn't have made this decision so hastily. All has worked out slightly well though. Through a series of odd jobs, freelance gigs, and Perfect Wifey's actual job, we managed to squeak by. Barely.

• Also in March, I saw PW do her star turn in  a local theatre production. She was fabulous, and repeated this feat in another role in November of this year. No, I am not biased. 

• Wow, March was busy for us! We also went to Las Vegas for an overdue honeymoon financed by my Perfect In-Laws. We had a wonderful time, and even came home "bucks up", but not by much.

• In April, things really kicked into high gear! We moved into  our new house. It has been a great, but pricey, experience. We are all happy here. It is like the Brady Bunch without Alice, although PW fills that role pretty well. I am more like Sam the Butcher. The neighbors are great too, nothing like the Dittmeyers.

• The month of May brought another milestone: Rocco the Wonder Dog joined the family! He and I have an up and down relationship, but overall, we're glad to have  him.

 Our carpet may not share this sentiment.

• In case you didn't guess, I also started a blog this year. You're reading it right now, in fact! It has been a really rewarding experience, and has brought me back into contact with dear friends I lost track of, as well as making some new friends I've never met. If you are thinking of starting a blog yourself, I highly recommend it. Unless some creepy person starts stalking you as a result. This, however, hasn't happened to me yet, try though I  may.

Man! So much has gone on this year: Great parties with family and friends, our first anniversary and new Doctor Who toys, that it's hard to cover it all (and I have in several other posts, so go to the archives if you missed anything).

Still, no matter what happens this year, it has to be better than the time I spent New Years Eve on a cruise ship, and right after Midnight we were capsized by a giant tidal wave. If hadn't been for Reverend Scott, we never would have made it out of there! I still miss Mrs. Rosen, though.

 To all my loyal readers: Let's just hope for a bright, shiny New Year!

How Can You Miss Me If I Won't Go Away?

For regular readers of this blog, who check it out daily for a heapin' helpin' of hilarity, I'm sorry I didn't post much last week, but we here at Casa del Blanco have been hit with some bouts of what I'm sure is just the first of many Winter colds. Perfect Wife has it worse than me, but I am not 100% myself right now. For those of you who suspect I have never been 100%, you are probably right, but I still feel crummy.

Being sick did not mean we did not have an exciting week 'round these parts. Some highlights:

• We attended a High School Christmas concert. Curiously, the show only featured one Christmas tune. The rest of the show featured music I have already forgotten. It was two + hours of my life I will never reclaim. When you attend a performance where both the audience AND the performers are there under duress, you know it won't be pleasant. 

The musical director seemed  to be having a nice time, however.

• Rocco the Wonder Dog, after a few weeks of good behavior, has again decided our carpeting is a fine alternative to going outside to do his "business". This has strained relations with him and Perfect Wife.

• We got a Christmas tree! It is a really beautiful tree, and "only" set us back fifty bucks. Buying it reminded me of the days when my sister and I would wait until Christmas Eve, and score an unsold tree from the discarded tree pile at the K of C lot for free, by hauling it over a chain link fence. Believe it or not, this is a fond Holiday memory for me.

• We also ordered some new Rudolph action figures online to add to our growing collection. We were very proud of  our assortment of TV Holiday figures, until a dear friend of mine informed me of the magnitude of his collection. He even has Yukon Cornelius and his sled dog team! In the spirit of "keeping up with the Joneses", we will rectify this situation, even if it means Christmas dinner will be Kraft Mac n' Cheese.

• Also in the Yuletide Spirit, I viewed the Miser Brothers' Christmas special Saturday night, but I  will reserve my comments on that for the fine Clique Clack TV website (which you can visit by clicking on the link at right), that still hasn't realized the error in judgement they made by inviting me aboard.

Yes, it was quite a  week. As they say, "Busy man, you've had  a little day".

Takin' Rocco For a Walk-o

Being a pal of  Rocco the Wonder Dog has many benefits, as I have commented on in this blog countless times. As in all healthy relationships, however, there are some issues I'm afraid he and I will never come to terms with. Don't worry, dear reader, this won't be a post about his ability to generate the funkiest-smelling "SBD'S" at the most inappropriate moment when you have company over. Rather, the biggest issue I have with Rocco is his  concept of "going for a walk".

Most dogs I have lived with in the past seemed to understand the purpose of a walk was to do your "Business". If you happened to see a squirrel or encounter another dog and got to sniff his rear end in a neighborly fashion, all the better.

Rocco seems to believe that the purpose of a walk is to stay outside in the freezing cold and sniff every inch of the land he can as long as he can. He often gets "on the trail" of something and gets all worked up, sniffing and whining as he pursues his "prey", and all thoughts of going to the bathroom are tossed to the forewinds. This is probably a wonderful jaunt for him, not so much for the human being getting their arm wrenched off as he tries to pull on his leash to places he shouldn't go. If he actually had a purpose to his "tracking", I might be more understanding, but, since whenever he actually encounters some creature (and his success rate is embarrassingly low), he has no idea how to proceed. "Do I attack it?", he wonders, "Sniff their rear end?". He is clueless. I have seen him stand 2 feet from a bunny, transfixed, with no idea what to do next, while the bunny in question looked at him with a curious stare, as if  to say, "Are you gonna chase me or something? Otherwise, I'm just gonna keep eating grass". This is embarrassing  to me, Rocco and the bunny.

Don't get me wrong. Rocco is a wonderful dog, and if we can ever get together on the whole concept of what a "walk" entails, he will be a perfect dog.

I wouldn't hold my breath.