One, Two, Doucheroo

I've been listening to Styx a lot lately and I've noticed that they're really annoying and pretty stupid. The music is great (until 1985), but they are idiots when it comes to talking at shows. It's just some of the cheesiest dialogue.

They try to announce their songs by some sort of clever banter and it just plain fails. Case in point. The song is great (kind of cheesy) and Tommy Shaw is just a bit of a dumb ass. I'm sure everyone was cringing in embarrassment.

Now, I know most front men in bands say some pretty stupid things. Pete Townshend has admitted publicly that he hates when Roger Daltrey talks onstage because he thinks he sounds like an idiot. I think people would do better to just keep their mouths shut and play some music. I've only heard a few musicians sound intelligent or funny when introducing a song.

I still love Styx.

Faster than a cheetah, dumber than Beyond Stupid

The first New Year's Eve without Quantum Leap has begun and it hasn't been all that bad. Only one problem: My back hurts from the drive to Chicago. I just hope it feels better by the time we leave for Sioux Falls. Yikes!

I can read so I must not be able to run fast. At least my little brother thinks so.

At Thanksgiving dinner we were talking about reading (nothing in particular, just generally) and my mom said, "It's a fact: Aaron doesn't read." And he responded with, "Yeah, but I can run fast." It was hilarious. There is apparently a direct correlation.

Howdy Doody!

So now you start to recognize that every path you see leads to a tear in your eye. So wave goodbye, wave goodbye.

My family's dog isn't in the best shape. We discovered a couple of months ago that she has cancer in her mouth and nose area. It's been causing a sort of green discharge (basically snot) to come out of her eye. Her hips have also been bothering her for about the last year. Unfortunately, it's all starting to bear down heavily on her. We're pretty sure we'll have to put her down in the next couple of weeks. I'm just hoping it doesn't have to happen while I'm gone in Sioux Falls for the first few weeks of January.

I've always felt that I would be the one to take her in with my mom. Especially now that Scott moved away. I know my sister wouldn't be able to help mom get through it. I'm not saying I will be much better, but I think I can do it. I would really like to be there so I can say goodbye in the right way, not a hurried I'm-going-on-vacation sort of way.

This will be my first pet that has to be put down and I'm just really upset about it. I've flushed fish down the toilet and, even though each one was named after me, it just doesn't seem to affect me in the least. Maybe it's because fish don't blink. They seem less than human, I suppose.

Every time I look at Piper I can tell she's not entirely comfortable and some days are just downright bad. But then other days are great. She'll play and try to attack my hands like she used to.

I think it's just hard to know when the right time actually is. My mom wants to take her to the vet before she actually puts her down, just to get a second opinion on how miserable Piper might be.

For a while I've been fairly nonchalant when people ask me how she's doing. I usually say, without a hint of remorse, "We'll probably have to put her down soon." Now that it's actually come time to do it, I've been having a harder and harder time. Every time I sit and pet her I feel horrible. I hate having to deal with death. Sometimes I just want to be the one to go. Just so I don't have to feel the emotions that are inherent in somebody passing.

Inevitably I start thinking about everyone that was close to me. I'll start to think about how my dad, grandpa, grandma and anyone else who has passed used to play with the dog. It's just hard and I don't know how long it will take me to get through the emotions. Especially if I don't get to see her one last time before she goes in.

I just love that dog.

Oooh it's a killing machine. It's got everything. Big fat tires and everything.

I've almost made it through December without a post. This could have been a disaster. I've just been too lazy to write anything. There is a lot to say, though.

I bought a new car. It's a 2007 Ford Fusion. I really like it. I'm just scared about money now. Ugh. I've never really been in serious debt before this and I'm a bit frightened. I'm sure it will all work out.

I went to Briarwood Ford for the car after a pretty wretched experience at Fischer Honda. I basically hate salesmen. The Honda guy was just really pushy and tried sooo hard to get me into a car that just wouldn't work for me. I wanted four doors and he kept pushing a two-door car. He basically ignored everything I told him and tried to get me into a car he was probably trying to push off the lot. I'm not interested in dealing with that kind of behavior. Also, the financing was maybe the worst I had every heard of. I figured out that I would be paying for the car twice over. Holy crow. I ended up getting a decent loan from my credit union and I was able to scrape together the difference for a down payment. All in all, what I'm paying for my loan and insurance for the Ford is what I would have been paying for the loan on the Honda alone. No insurance. So, I'm happy with my choice.

Gleet is basically gonorrhea. Not sleet made from gobbledy-gook. Nor is it the noise a goat makes from its secondary nasal passage.

Quagga is not the war cry of the Wa Tichi Indians. It is also not a member of quadruplets that is living parasitically in one of its siblings.

I will need three more posts after this one to hit my own personal monthly quota. I have to save some stories for those posts. Check back often.