Well tonight was the big move for KD and Pooh. It did not go well. I went over to the parents house to see Brian, Sarah and Christopher (picture below) and after that I had the arduous task of moving the cats from the old place to the new one. God I hate moving cats. KD was easy, she went in her cage but cried for the entire hour trip back. Pooh on the other hand got wise pretty quick and I had to chase him all over the house to catch him. Almost immediately after we got underway, he shit in the cage, moments later, he threw up. He does not deal with change very well although now he is actually exploring the new place a bit. KD doesn’t seem to care much but doesn’t look very good in general. She needs to gain weight. Poor Gavin was stuck in the front seat, his head stuck out the window for lack of any breathable air in the car. Just as a dog would, he has no concept of why it was so difficult to go from one place to another.
So now they are moved, hopefully they know where the litter box is and where the food is. This is a trial run for those of you who have been following. If KD’s health does not improve and if Pooh does not start using his litter box, steps will be taken to put them out for adoption. As much as they are my children, they are still indeed PETS (not kids). I am in no financial position to sink hundreds of dollars into trying to cure whatever it is that ails KD, nor am I about to fork over hundreds of dollars to replace carpet and wallpaper in a rental because my pets destroyed it. It just ain’t gonna happen folks. Call me uncaring, cruel or whatever, they are pets NOT people, I will love them if they can all be successful and adapt to a domestic lifestyle for which they have been bread over millions of years. If not, they will have to go.
I got to meet Christopher tonight for the first time. He’s adorable, funny, and quite small (well normal for 4 weeks old but small to me). Been a LONG time since I held a baby, can’t honestly say I’d want to do it 24/7 (don’t worry Sarah and Brian, eventually he’ll stop asking you for food every 2 hours) but it is kind of special to have a new person in the family. It will be fun to watch him grow up.
Well, now I have to go pick the poop out of Pooh’s fur. Wish me luck.
Tags: cats, Christoher, KD, Pooh, poop, Uncle
Well it’s been a dam long time since I’ve written on this blog. Finally after 2 weeks, I have an internet connection back and I’m pretty much moved into my new place in town. My vacation from work starts this Friday afternoon (Lord I can’t wait) and all I have yet now to do is get the old place cleaned up and presentable which will involve cleaning the carpets and painting some of the walls. I expect Jirar and I can make a quick job out of it and be done. Once it’s finished, it will truly mark the start of a new life for me, Jirar and I will have nothing other than our pets tying us together any longer. A bit sad but life does indeed go on. I still miss him quite a bit and quite often but we are both moving on with our lives in positive ways and we are and will likely always be on good terms with each other. Some feelings never go away for people you’ve spent a great deal of time with in your life. They are always a part of it in some way.
So Charter Communications (my new internet and cable TV provider) can never do anything right. I had problems with them in Leelanau, why would I ever think I would not have any in Traverse City? I signed up for basic expanded cable service which comes with a cable box to take advantage of “on demand” programing. Well the box was dead on arrival and the contractor who installed it didn’t have another one. So, not only do I once again not have all of what I am paying for, I have to actually go down to Charter and swap out the box! On top of that, he never gave me a “user name” for my internet account so I can’t set up my email with charter. Doesn’t really matter though since I’m using Gmail as my email from now on. It’s just easier to have a web based email that I can take with me wherever I go. Oh well, I expect nothing less from monopolies like Charter. Just fucking sucks that I have to fix the problem. I will say that the connection speed is amazing. I am getting a 5mbs download speed now, compare that with a 256kbs speed that I was getting with DSL. To put that in perspective, a 20mb file now takes just about 8 seconds to download where as before it would have taken about 3 minutes. Both are MUCH faster than dial up but dam, I am paying less for this than I was for DSL and I get better speed. Speed is what it’s all about now with the internet. Video, streaming media, music, and all that shit is worthless if you can’t download it quickly. At least in my eyes, the internet is pretty much worthless if you have dial up. It just doesn’t cut it.
Gavin is adjusting well to the new house. He still barks every now and then but I can’t blame him. I’ve moved from the middle of nowhere to a condo that is pretty densely populated and I’m right near the airport. There are lots of new sounds that he is getting used to. All in all though it has been a good transition. I’ve not moved the cats yet, we’ll have to see what happens with them. That will happen this weekend.
So now it’s off to bed in my nice air conditioned condo. Hope everyone is doing well.
Tags: cable TV, Charter Communications, condo, DSL, internet, moving
In their natural form, vermicious knids are huge, dark, egg-shaped beings that are quite at home in the vacuum of space. Their homeworld is the planet Vermes, a fictional planet located (as stated in dialogue) 184270000000 miles away from Earth. Their one weak point is that they are show-offs; they cannot resist shaping themselves to spell the one word they know how to spell–SCRAM–before they attack.
According to Willy Wonka, numerous sentient alien species that formerly existed have been wiped out by the knids’ predations. Wonka claims that the only reason humans have escaped this fate is because the Knids cannot enter Earth’s atmosphere without being burned up by friction—despite the fact that among the worlds that have been depopulated by the knids is Venus, which has a substantial atmosphere.
Wikipedia
Tags: Wonka
For those of you keeping track, I’ve spent the last 3 months or so searching for a new home. It’s just too dam expensive to live in Leelanau County any more and I simply can’t justify a 4 bedroom house now that I’m single. So, today I got an email informing me that the condo I looked at last week and really liked is now mine. I will go sign the lease early this next week. I’m pretty excited about this one since, when you look at the big picture, it’s really a steal. It’s located very close to work for me, it’s a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with a 2 car garage in a cookie cutter condo complex. The interior is a little bit dated but it’s not at all unreasonable. I’ll have central air, a small sun-room in the back, a fenced in side yard for Gavin that is fully landscaped complete with a deck and on top of that I’ll have full access to the community pool and fitness areas as well as all the other amenities that the association offers. What’s great is that the association dues is already included in my rent so I don’t have to think about it. The lawn will be mowed, the snow will be plowed, the streets will be safe and quiet. Not a bad deal.
Now the hard part starts. Once I finish this, I am going to start putting boxes together to sort and finish packing the rest of my shit. I’ve kept a little low on that front lately just becuase it’s somewhat difficult to live out of boxes. My intent is to get out of this house and start living in my new place around mid-August or sooner. That said, I don’t have tons of time to mess around packing shit up. The roommate is still living here and nobody is telling me when she is leaving. There is SO much to get done at this house, I need it empty as soon as possible.
I took the dog and KD the cat to the vet today. Turns out KD had a bladder infection so that is why she has been peeing in outside the litter box. I’ve got to give her 2 pills a day now for the next month or so, hopefully I will see some improvement in her general health. Gavin is healthy and now up to date on all his shots. I’ve got to get a license for him now that I’m moving to a different county. I’ll likely go do that this week. Pooh is doing just fine, fat as ever, and enjoying very good health at the moment.
Alright, it’s off to work now. I’ve had a few beers and my clothes are in the laundry. Time to get some work done.
Tags: condo, moving, Pets
Baby Christopher was born July 16, not on July 17th like I had said earlier. Seems my days are all running together lately as I’m sure the happy parents days are too with a serious lack of sleep.
I will know today or tomorrow if I got the condo or not. I’m getting ready to dish out some serious bucks here up front so that I can have some overlap between my current lease and the new one. More later, have to head off to work.
Tags: Christopher
I admit it, I’ve been a little lazy when it comes to this blog. Today I got emails from my web host letting me know what I’ve got a month to renew my domain names (leelanauphotography.com and leelanauwhippersnapper.com). No big deal, $8 each. I’ve also got to renew my subscription with Zenfolio by the end of August in order to keep the photography site alive. Again no big deal (hey mom and dad, how about that birthday gift?). I’ve added some new functionality to the blog tonight. On the right, you’ll see 12 pictures. They are random samplings from my photography site. They will be something new each time you visit the blog. Just a good way to promote the photography web site I think. I’ve also added a post calendar so you can see what days I’ve actually written something and I’ve added a search box in case you ever need to find something that I’ve written in the past. WHOO HOO! Right?
Well the apartment hunt is going pretty well. I toured a condo today that I think I’m going to take if I can get it from the Realtor who was showing it. I’ve already sent in my application and told him I’m ready to go TODAY. This was a great little 2 bedroom 2 bath condo right off of Garfield. Comes with a small fenced in yard for Gavin and a 2 car garage. It’s in a managed community with a pool and other amenities. It’s also listed for sale but apparently the owner will take whoever makes an offer first so I made an offer on it. Pretty much right within my budget and very close to work. Just crossing my fingers now waiting for a call back telling me I got it. Then I have to round up the cash to make it happen right away. I’ll have to be creative with that. Anyhow I hope I get it.
After the tour, I took Gavin out for a boat ride at the cottage. Pretty nice day today. Not crazy hot but really not unpleasant. I decided to test my shallow water skills and we took the boat through the narrows and out to the North Lake. Always a trip to do that, no problems though. Had a swan hiss at me, what evil birds they are. Tonight I’ve just been sitting around doing not much of anything. I’ve not had a day like that in a LONG while. It’s nice to just relax now and then.
So, off to bed now, I’ll be writing more about the apartment hunt again soon.
Tags: apartment, boat, condo, lazy
Looks like they grow more than just Corn in Iowa.
Tags: baby, Christopher
Well for those of you who have been hiding under rocks, you can now call me Uncle David! Sarah and Brain are now proud parents of a healthy baby boy - Christopher Wallace Peterson. Both mom and son are doing well and I suspect as I write this my folks are on their way down to Iowa to do a meet and greet. I’m so happy for both Sarah and Brian and wow, I wish them the best of luck as they bring up this child. He will be surrounded by so many wonderful people, it’s hard to imagine what great things he will accomplish in his lifetime. So that’s the big news right now.
In other news, I am still continuing to look at apartments. So far, I’ve seen 2 complete DUMPS that these landlords are trying to pass off as livable places. What a fucking joke. I was told in my pursuits here that I have only a year before I can really afford to buy my own place. I just need to find somewhere that is not infested with roaches and mice to live for a year. I am going to see 3 condo’s this weekend in Traverse, hopefully one of them will be what I am looking for.
On a sad note, the pets are really hurting my chances at finding something worth while. One complex I am looking at is brand new, gorgeous, has all the amenities that I require HOWEVER, they allow only one dog and one cat. I have 2 cats. That place is also the most likely place that I can get into and I hate to say it but if it comes down to choosing an apartment or my cats I have to say at this point I have to choose the apartment. I intend to do everything I can to accommodate my own children but even though I do treat them like my own kids, they are still all pets. They don’t pay the rent (and in fact eat me out of house and home) and I may have to make a choice.
Work is crazy right now. I’ve managed to put in about 55 hours for 2 weeks straight now and next week looks like more of the same. Major re-set’s going on with lots of new product hitting the floor for fall. It’s really keeping me on my toes and lucky for me, my team has sensed my urgency and really started to perform up to my expectations for speed.
Tonight I am painting the vanity in the bathroom so now it’s off to do a second coat. That is the one thing we never finished when we redid the bathroom so I am finishing it now so that it looks like we did what we said we were going to do. Enjoy your weekend!
Tags: baby, Pets, work
Well it’s been quite a while since I’ve written here. Suffice to say it’s been crazy busy lately. With all the visitors at the end of last month and just a crazy ass schedule at work, it has been very hard to find the time to write lately. Things are beginning to pick up now to the frenzy level. I need to find an apartment/condo soon so that I can finalize a new lease within the first couple weeks of August. Got an email from the current landlord today, her recent showing of the house was largely good however it looks like Jirar and I will have to rip out the carpet in the basement. It would appear that she was less than impressed by the smell of cat pee coming from the basement. The little one (K.D.) learned a bad habit this past year from a visiting cat I would think and has taken to marking in some areas of the basement. The deal when we moved in here was that the security deposit would be waived but we would be largely responsible for any sort of damage caused by either ourselves or our animals. We were not asked to replace the floor coverings, only get rid of the smelly stuff and wash down the concrete under it to remove the odor. In all, I’m willing to accept the task of doing so but Jirar won’t be let off the hook. It will happen when he is home.
It’s also time to move forward with renting a dumpster quite soon. I will wait until we rip out the carpet but at this point I can easily fill up a dumpster with random crap that can not be donated and that I have to get rid of. I have no idea what the cost will be yet but I would guess it has to be cheaper than hauling the stuff to the dump and paying the tipping fees there which are out of control. I packed up the office with the exception of my computer the other day and managed to whittle down a lot of that shit to a few boxes. It’s just amazing how much shit you accumulate over the years that you use for a while and then shove to the back of the closet. Good to finally go through it I guess. I’m starting a new chapter in my life, it will be nice to do so without all kinds of random baggage hanging on.
I went golfing with Dad the other day. I managed to keep the ball in the air most of the time but it was no use, both of us scored well over par and it was a pretty easy course. That was the first outing that Dad and I will be having this summer, our goal is to play once a month until the season is over. We got off to a late start.
I have posted new pictures to leelanauphotography.com in the past couple weeks and I intend to post more as I can find the time. I had been meaning to post this picture below on the blog but had not found the time to do it. I am posting it full size becuase it makes and excellent background image for your desktop. Click on the picture and it will open full size, once it’s open right click your mouse and select “use as desktop background” and it will magically be put on your desktop! Enjoy!
Tags: busy, glen lake, moving, photos
