A Return to the Classics

Early in 2009 while Jennifer and I were in Asheville for a weekend and we happened upon a used book store called Battery Park Book Exchange. Not your normal book store, this establishment has a wine bar to go with all of the excellent used books they carry. Most of what they have is in hard cover, which is our preference, it keeps longer and looks a lot better on our shelf. The place was set up with restored furniture and established a great ambiance for reading. Perhaps it is a good idea that the store is 2 hours away from us or I would probably spend way too much money. The pricing is affordable but they also carry collectables that sell for a few hundred dollars. If you are planning a visit to Asheville it is worth while to pay BPBE a visit!

The classics that I have read in 2009 are:

• Moby Dick - Herman Melville
• Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane
• Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
• Crime & Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
• The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxely
• The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoenvsky

Of this group I enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo and Crime and Punishment the most, Moby Dick was quite the labor to get through especially the chapters on the science of whales.

Here is the list of the rest of my 2009 books:

• The Revolution - Ron Paul
• 1776 - David McCullough
• Watchmen - Alan Moore
• The Eyes of the Dragon - Stephen King
• Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
• Without Remorse - Tom Clancy
• The Yankee Years - Joe Torre
• Wild At Heart - John Eldredge
• Golf Without Tears - PG Wodehouse
• Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

Sawyer Update

Yesterday afternoon Sawyer had blood clots in his feces and Jennifer immediately brought him to the vet.  Dr Casey did some x-ray work and found that he may be suffering from Intussusception and she recommended taking him to the emergency vet clinic for an ultra sound and potentially surgery.  These parasites have really done a number on him and on top of that he still has hookworms, so more medication for him.  The whole time he was being his usual happy self, when they brought him out to us he was jumping and licking was very excited to see us.  We checked out and headed to the 24 hour clinic in Matthews.

When we arrived you can tell that he wasn't happy to be there, he didn't pay any mind to the other dogs that were around.  There was a family that had just lost their pet and they were pretty emotional and he just kept looking at them and he kept sitting closer to us.  It's amazing how dogs can sense human emotion and how it effects their mood.  We met with Dr Husky and he looked over Sawyer's charts and explained the options to us, we decided to go with the abdominal exploratory.  This would determine for sure if Sawyer had Intussusception and to check for any other abnormalities.  Poor Sawyer who is extremely shy around men had his tail tucked between his legs and kept looking at us as the doctor examined him.  We left around 9PM and the vet told us that he would contact us after the surgery which wouldn't start until midnight.  He called us around 2AM and said that Sawyer did well, there was no Intussusception but there was one bowel that was slight twisted.  His lymph nodes were slightly enlarged due to him fighting the parasites and he told us that he was going to put him on a different treatment for the parasites and that we should expect to pick him up tomorrow afternoon.

We got a call this morning that he woke up and 4am with his tail wagging, so we got him back earlier which was great!  He has the big cone to wear which he was not happy about but as long as we are with him making sure he doesn't mess with his scar he doesn't have to wear it.  He is home recovering, laying next to me.  Hopefully he'll be back to his normal self and rid of these worms for good.  If you are a dog owner, please check your pet for worms/parasites, it is very painful and uncomfortable thing for dogs to experience.   

Tales of Our Sickly Pup

Two weeks ago we welcomed a new member to our family, Sawyer is a year and a half and is ridgeback/boxer mix.  He was very timid with us at first but he quickly warmed up to Jennifer, he is definitely not shy with the ladies we have learned.  He is however very shy and timid around men and sometimes very scared to approach a male, which leads me to believe that this poor fella was abused at one time.  We rescued him from the Union County Humane Society, they have great people working their and they made the adoption process very easy for us and they still keep in touch with us to check on Sawyer.  

His breed typically weighs in the area of 65-75 pounds and he is very underweight at the moment, 57 pounds when we received him.  As skinny as he is he does have a great appetite and would devour two cups of food in about a minute.  Last Sunday we went to the park and had a great time we our friends Jay and Beckie and their dog Daisy.  At the end of the day he drank out of pet water fountain and the water was sitting there for some time and 24 hours later he was very sick.  It started with his stomach making the most awful noises and he refused to eat, vomitting and diarrhea followed, definitely not a good thing for a dog that was already under weight.  We took him to the vet and they found that he has Giardia, which takes anywhere from 10-20 days for a dog to get over on antibiotics.  There is a vaccine that can be given to dogs to prevent this but we won't be able to get him vaccinated until he is over his current ailment.  

This weekend he did well, only vomitted once and at all of his food and the noises in his stomach are not as bad.  He has a follow up appointment with the vet this coming Saturday and hopefully he will be closer to 100%.  He is tons of fun and just loves to be around us at all times and for exercise he really loves to hope the baby gate lol.

The Honeymoon

We took a day off after the wedding to relax and take care of some errands before leaving for the honeymoon. I highly recommend taking a day after wedding before leaving, it makes everything that much easier. We left on Tuesday to the Mayan Riviera, great weather when we left Charlotte and even better when we got to Cancun. The resort was amazing, it's been open for 18 months and the service is excellent. At check in the bar maid bought us drinks while we waited, everything in the hotel was marble and someone was always cleaning something day or night. We had our share of top shelf booze and Cuban cigars just about everyday and the evening shows were really good too.

We had a butler and concierge service during our stay, and they were great, whatever we needed they made sure we got it. The room was excellent, it was right above the tranquility pool and was very quiet in that area. 3 pools, 4 restaurants and 2 buffets and 5 bars so you never went hungry or thirsty. The staff was very friendly, when you are there for as long as we were they remember you and since I spoke the language they were always happy to see us. It was sad to leave but we were ready and I definitely suffered from withdrawal when I got back to work. Not having to cook or clean for two weeks and lounging on the beach and pool can really leave you in a happy place especially after drinking dirty monkey's all day long!

We went on two excursions, the first was to Chichen Itza one of the 7 Wonders of the World and a great place to visit. They do not allow anyone to climb the pyramid anymore due to accidents and vandalism, which is a shame we were really looking forward to getting to the top. The place is amazing and the history behind it is very fascinating, I definitely recommend it if you plan on visiting Mexico. However it is an all day trip, we were gone for 12 hours and were exhausted when we got back.

Our second trip was to a local ranch to go horseback riding, I have not done that since I was 7 years old. Ironically enough that was in Mexico too but in Tijuana. My horse's name is Pirate and Jennifer rode on Zorro, our tour guide took us through the jungle and out on to the beach where you can ride in the water. One of the horses in the group had some issues with his butt and kept rubbing it on every object he could find lol, poor fella. Here is a link to the pictures, enjoy!!

The Wedding

I know this is one month late but I was waiting for the pictures to arrive so that I may sure them with you. The wedding was a beautiful event and one that I will always cherish, there was a little scare of rain but the clouds behaved and the ceremony continued. There was plenty of rain leading up to the wedding and that made the gardens looks really pretty, and the pollen was under control. The musicians were great, our pastor Chris Payne gave a great sermon on marriage. The rest of the night was a blur, we took pictures, ate, toasts, visited tables, cut the cake and next thing you know the limo was outside waiting for us. We were so happy with the way everything turned out, everyone had a great time and we are grateful that our family and friends could share that special day with us. Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for the honeymoon blog!!

Food of the Gods

Changing directions here for a moment, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite topics and activities: EATING. For those of you that know me, you know that I can put away a good portion of food and ask for seconds and sometimes thirds. So once a week I will highlight a meal that just brings joy to my taste buds and belly, today's winner is a Bojangles biscuit. This morning my good friend AJ brought in breakfast biscuits for us and I thought to myself, this is worthy of a blog post. I've been in Charlotte now going on three years and I was told "you gotta try those Bojangle biscuits!!"! We do not have Bojangles in NJ so in an effort to embrace the local traditions I followed the advice and soon it became a daily ritual of stopping by the local Bojangles on the way to work. You may be thinking to yourself "what makes this a good biscuit?", well allow me to expound on that profound question. You have multiple options on how to dress your biscuit to suit your mood. Cajun filet, country ham, cheese, eggs, sausage, gravy (lots of it), steak and the cornerstone of breakfast meat BACON! The taste is delicous, very buttery and soft like a deep friend cake, throw in your favorite side and just sit back and smile with every bite. You may also ask "is this healthy?", considering the grease stain that it leaves on my desk through the wax paper the answer is probably no and these bad boys will most likely put a hurtin on you if you suffer from high blood pressure or high cholesterol so eat in moderation. But if you have a wild hair and want to monkey around with something unhealthy then be a gorilla and getcha a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit!!!

11 days

Well it seems like we just engaged not to long ago and we are 11 days from the wedding, so much has been going on that the days have been flying by. Honeymoon is booked, we are going to Iberostar Grande on the Mayan Riviera for 11 days I am really looking forward to that. Let's hope that the hurricanes take a break during the time!! Combine the wedding plans with getting Jenn's place ready for the market and you have one crazy summer. I have to thank her mom for being such a great help in the wedding plans, I cannot say enough how much we appreciate what she has done.

I've also been trying as best I can to follow the presidential race and a good one it is but also a bit disheartening. I say this because it seems like all the media focuses on are the attacks that each party makes on each other and then maybe give a second or two to the issues that are important. I am however looking forward to the debates, as someone who is on the fence about who to vote for I am hoping to see some substance from the candidates. I will say that I am also leaning towards an independent party, some say it is a 'throw away' vote but the only way to get a viable third party on the map is to support them.