I Still Can't Believe It

Flowers of Congratulations Originally uploaded by Corn Dog . To my dear friends Anna y Jorge.

devon's birthday pie-off Originally uploaded by Corn Dog . Back story: My youngest brother was 14 or 15 when one night another brother stopped by the house to see if Shorty D-Bone wanted to go to a party since Mom & Dad were out and SDB was home alone. Upon arrival to pick him up unannounced, SDB was not ready because, as he so succinctly stated, "What about my pie?". Turns out SDB, in a state of hunger so dire he'd barely avoided gnawing his hands off, had just popped a pie in the oven. Yeah, 15 and baking pies on a Saturday night. We were merciless in our ribbing once we all heard the story. And forever since. So this weekend was SDB's 18th birthday. Here in the states, he's now considered legal, but only because he can vote and be drafted. Still can't imbibe alcoholic beverages with impugnity, although don't tell the Piney that. So how does his loving family celebrate? With a pie baking contest of course. SDB was the judge and I'm

My horoscope today said that "my insecurity has taken on a life of its own". That's comforting. Now I remember why I quit reading horoscopes. Although, I thought I was just making the title up with this reference to Saturn rising, but as it turns out, my astrological chart really does say that Saturn is my ascendant planet right now. I'm super fucking in tune with my planets, so just keep that in mind. It's my secret weapon. In other news, have you ever had that problem where you have absolutely so much going on and so much to do, that you find yourself unable to start and complete one simple task? Take for instance, a blog post. I must have started writing on four separate posts in the last week, yet you can easily see nothing new posted in that time frame. I'm guilting on the fact that I haven't posted in so long. Generally, I wouldn't care so much - at least not enough to feel guilty about it - but the wicked knowledge that there are a few hardy sou

I'm off to London - quick trip this time. Just going for a one-day meeting, but somehow we're working in a dinner cruise on the Thames, so that should be fun/interesting. Since I'm not bringing my camera (have the cameraphone with me), I'm sure I'll see all sorts of cool shots. That's how it usually goes it seems like. All weekend I had my camera with me and whenever it wasn't literally in my hand, I had all kinds of ideas for shots. When I did have it, all I managed to take photos of were the river (moving F-A-S-T and coming up about an inch an hour at one point) and of the dogs (which I'm guessing everyone but me is sick of). Oh well. At least I didn't drop the camera on the concrete floor, like some people do at the Piney. Ride is here - back in a few days!

...I hate taxes with the fiery hot hate of the ant looking at a magnifying glass. ...I'm glad Kurt Vonnegut was a writer. His wit and unique worldview are immortalized in print and that makes me happy. ...I'm the oldest person I know that still gets an Easter basket from their mum. She even puts money in a plastic egg. She's such a softie. ...I think once the grandkids start popping out (not me, my sister-in-laws. don't freak out), my Easter basket getting days are over. ...I'm really sad my iPod got jacked up on my last work trip. The sound only comes through on one channel now and it's not the headphones - it's the jack in the iPod. Boo. ...Work sucks so bad it's actually funny. Not the hours I'm working, but the sheer amount of chaos is amusing. Silly work people. ...My fantasy baseball team is wank. I'll never win with that motley crew. ...I'll think of something actual to post over the weekend. Piney is rejuvenating like that.

Will that post title work to distract you from the long slog between posts that seems to have become the norm? If yes, awesome, you're my kind of distracted. If not, toughen up, there's an arduous journey ahead of you and you should really save your strength for something more important to worry about...like toe hair and nose grease. And since that last might have sounded like some kind of advice, please heed my warning to never ever EVER, under penalty of looking stupid, take my advice on anything. "What do I know" is a common disclaimer I add to the ends of sentences in real life. If you want to get into the semantics of it, what do any of us really know ? Nothing is a foregone conclusion - I mean, just ask Pluto. You go for years being considered an equal and then some squinty-eyed scientists decide to strip you of your very lifeblood - who will ever learn to care about a non-planet? I guess lately I have been fooled into complacency, thinking I know somethin

I guess the more frequently you fly, the more opportunities there are for weird shit to happen. On the flight from Vienna to London, our plane "hit several birds" according to the cap'n. All I know is that shortly after takeoff, there was a loud thump after which proceeded a fairly noxious smell and the flight attendant getting up and looking at both engines, then getting on the horn to the cockpit. The cap'n's little speech also included the comforting "these engines are built to withstand such events, so we're proceeding as normal to our destination". I thought the whole flight after that point felt wonky...just kind of off. Then again I had basically only had a nap the previous night, instead of being a normal person and getting a full six or even seven hours of sleep before undertaking a marathon of taxis (1), airports (4) and planes (3) in the span of 15 or so hours. Right. Looking back, it seems like that was a recurring theme to this trip: get