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1. Football is officially here. College and NFL game on at the same time. Of course, it really starts when the Cowboys play my Skins on Sunday. I’ll be ready with my Jersey Mikes sub that evening.

2. With football season here, so is fantasy football. I’m in my usual three fantasy leagues. They are all different, so it can be tough to keep track of all my players sometimes. However, what that does mean is that when watching games there is always someone to root for. I’m in three pick’em leagues as well. That might be too much, but two are for pride only.

3. Sarge’s ear is almost healed. This has been quite an ordeal. He’s really been pretty much normal for the last 3 weeks, but we’ve just been waiting on the incision from the surgery on his ear to totally heal before he gets to stay outside most of the time with Beau. I can see the end in site and hopefully it will just be a few more days. Of course, I’ve been saying that for the last week. Beau has resigned himself to the fact that he doesn’t get to see his brother but for a few hours each day while I’m home. I know he hopes that will change soon.

4. Following a friend’s lead, I’ve started uploading a picture a day to my Facebook photos. I’m including them here from Flickr as well. So far, I’ve kept up with it and I hope it continues better than this blog. I’m trying to include pictures of things that happened to me that day or just interesting scenes of life. They aren’t all inspirational or funny, but I guess that’s regular life isn’t it? I just wish I could figure out how to get the titles in a caption during the slideshow so people don’t have to click on the picture to understand it.

I love having dogs. I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. However, at times, things can be trying and the last few weeks have been one of them with my oldest, Sarge. Now, it’s nothing he can control, but since he’s been hurt it’s just been one thing after another. What makes it tough is when animals are hurting, you can’t talk or reason with them. I guess it’s similar to what parents with young kids go through.

Anyone here heard of a ear hematoma? I sure hadn’t, but figured it out real quickly when one Sunday a few weeks ago I heard Sarge yelp after my younger dog Beau ran into him while playing. When I went over, I noticed Sarge’s left ear had some swelling. When I took him to the vet on Monday, it confirmed my googling efforts the night before that he had an ear hematoma. Essentially, it means he had a blood vessel in his ear burst. Most likely, it was caused by an ear infection that caused him to shake his head excessively. The vet had two options….surgery (requiring him to be put under) or treatment with pain killers and anti-inflammatories. I went with the later route even though the outcome could be a little cauliflower ear. Here’s how it looked after a few days.

I went away that weekend for a family reunion and had some friends take care of Sarge. Jim called me on Saturday to ask about the ear. He said it looked really big. I told him it was that way before, but when I got home on Sunday, I see what he meant. It had gotten so big, his ear was no longer hanging down. So, Monday, the next stop was the vet for surgery.

To treat this, they suture down the skin, but actually leave an open wound on the ear to let it drain.

So, Sarge comes home in a cone with his ear bandaged to the top of his head. I immediately have to cone proof my house, much like a parent child proofs their house, because the cone is deadly on corners, the magnets on the fridge, drinks on the tables, etc. The one good thing for Sarge was this meant he got to stay inside every day to keep it clean. Of course, this means Beau misses his playmate and is confused.

So, the ear comes out of the bandage after a day, but the vet says that’s ok. At the end of the following weekend, Sarge becomes really antsy. He can’t sit still for long and by Monday he’s constantly breathing fast and shallow. I got maybe 2 hours sleep that Monday because he just slept by my bed the whole night breathing this way. So, Tuesday morning…we’re back at the vet. It turns out the drainage from his ear has given him an infection causing a hot spot on his left cheek. In addition, his sutures were broken from the head shaking. Long story short, they put him under again, cleaned him up, and kept him until Saturday morning to keep an eye on his facial dermatitis. Apparently while the cone protected his ear, it also kept in the moisture which was bad for his face. While I hated him being there for so long, it did allow me to sleep well for a few days without worry.

So, since he’s been back we’ve been giving him a sedative to help keep him calm. On his Monday checkup, they decided to take the cone off to allow his ear to stay dry and pinned his ear back up with a bandage. I’ve decided to keep Beau and Sarge separated as much as possible for a few reasons. One…when Beau is around Sarge gets more hyped up and won’t relax. Secondly, Beau likes to lick the ear and face to help Sarge heal. But that just irritates him and loosens the bandage. Did I tell you I had to go back in on Tuesday to re-do the bandage? Beau’s confused, but hopefully we’re getting near the end of this ordeal.

Friday is Sarge’s check-up. I think the ear will be close to healed by then, but we’ll still probably have the dermatitis issue. Did I tell you my home is a regular pharmacy at the moment? Sarge is taking 5 different pills and he’s figuring out all my tricks with cheese, Alpo, peanut butter, placing in his mouth, etc. I think I’m moving to hot dogs next. Anyone have any tricks they want to share?

By the way, I want to thank my fraternity brother, Brandon. He’s a vet and while he may be in New Zealand getting his opinion on things this whole time has kept my mind at ease. Check out his blog, Brooksie. The link is under my blogroll section.

As I lie here on my couch fighting a summer cold, I’m still giddy from USA soccer’s win yesterday that propelled them into the round of 16 at the World Cup. This World Cup has certainly been more enjoyable than 2006 when the US couldn’t win a game and was generally disappointing in their play.

After two ties and some fortuitous results in our group, some friends and I met up yesterday to watch the game against Algeria. We could potentially advance with a tie, but we all wanted a win. And if we really wanted to prove that we belonged there, win…..we must.

After working for a few hours at home, I went to Bill and Heidi’s to watch the game. Heidi, always the generous host, made some breakfast food for the crowd which took time off of work. The group included myself, Chris B., Amy R., Amy G., Camillo, Jamie, Chris G., Robert, Bill, and Heidi. The dual tv setup (seen above) was key as we had the England/Slovenia game on the small tv.

The game ran everyone through a range of emotions. From jubilation on Dempsey’s goal, to horror when it was taken away. England scored soon after Dempsey’s “non-goal” (i.e. it should have counted) which raised the tension in the room. Luckily, the US side took the pressure better than we did and continued to play hard. Unfortunately, they kept missing chance after chance. As the game worn on and the clock ticked down, the crowd started to resign itself to an unhappy outcome. A tie was not going to work if England won and they had their game well in hand.

As the minutes ticked down, it was obvious Algeria was playing for the tie to spoil our bid. It seemed like we just weren’t going to get many chances. When the England game ended on the small tv, our game entered stoppage time (4 minutes worth). We needed a breath of life……… then we got it.

After stopping a head ball by Algeria, Howard, our keeper, launched the ball through the air with his arm up to half field for Donovan and he was off to the races. The ensuing pass to Altidore, shot by Dempsey, and rebound put away by Donovan sent an eruption through the living room, if not the US. What a great day for US Soccer!

More than likely that celebration, which caused me to go hoarse, is also responsible for this sore throat….I hope. However, I’ll be there on Saturday eagerly anticipating our match with Ghana. I’ll have to DVR it….so no tweets from any of you!

You know those mobile food trucks (i.e. restaurants on wheels) that you see around town? Well, a number of them from the area decided to get together in one spot. It was a great way for people to learn that they were out there and to taste all the different styles. It was also great to support local vendors since many of them buy their ingredients locally.

They all met up at Sam’s Quick Shop on Erwin road from 11:30-3:00 yesterday. Given we love food, I picked up my friends Bill and Heidi around 11:30 and off we went. We expected a pretty decent crowd since close to 500 had RSVPed on Facebook, but once we arrived we were overwhelmed. We got their around noon and to say it was packed was an understatement. After finding a place to park, we planned our attack.

The lines were already 30-40 deep at most of the vendors. We decided we should split up, buy a few portions at a couple of places, then meet up and share. I might miss one, but the choices were:

1. Only Burger – the main sponsor of the event…and yep, you guessed it…specializes in burgers.
2. Bulkogi Korean BBQ To Go – specializing in Korean tacos
3. DaisyCakes – cupcakes
4. Parlez-Vous Crepes – need I say more?
5. Indian Food on Wheels – nothing to say here
6. Mom’s Delicious Dishes – comfort food from around the world (using local and organic ingredients)

Since Heidi regularly has the opportunity to eat at Only Burger, we decided to hit Bulkogi, Parlez-Vous, and Indian Food on Wheels to start. Heidi went to Bulkogi, Bill to Indian Food on Wheels, and I went to Parlez-Vous.

My line moved the fastest, but I quickly realized that they were taking orders then calling out your name later. I had no clue how long that wait may be. After about 20 minutes, I placed my order. I can’t remember the names of the crepes I got…maybe a Flementine (with ham) and a Fermiere (with pork sausage)???? They had a mix of ingredients including spinach, carmelized onions, blue cheese, and fried egg. With the order placed, I found a 3′ x 6′ space of shade next to the truck and tried to escape the heat.

At this time Bill nor Heidi had even placed their orders yet and my slip wasn’t even up on the ‘close to be done’ line. I started watching the process of making the crepes and talking to random people to see what else was around. It seemed like everyone had placed orders, but were waiting on them to be ready. One woman told me they were already out of cupcakes.

While I was standing there, Susan, a friend I haven’t seen in a while except through Twitter, came over. She had been about 15 people behind me in the crepe line and her husband was over at Mom’s Delicious Dishes. We marveled at the crowd and realized the turnout was probably MUCH more than they had expected. About 10 minutes later, Heidi showed up to report she had placed her order after 40 minutes and they had told her it would be at least 30 minutes before her’s was ready. I had estimated I was at least 20 minutes away after seeing my name go up on the ‘to do’ list. Bill was still in line, but his place was handing out the food as they ordered, so we knew he’d be our savior with the first food of the day.

Sure enough Bill showed up after about 10-15 minutes with an appetizer and a chicken platter. We congregated in a do-it-yourself car wash stall to avoid the heat and proceeded to chow down. And boy was it good! Definitely worth the wait.

Once we had downed our first course, I went back to the Crepe stand with Susan to see how it was going. It was sometime after 1pm at this time and she told me that she overheard someone say they were running out of batter. In addition to that, they only had one burner working so it was slower than normal. Amazingly enough, no one was angry. We all took it in stride enjoying the company and the day. Although we did notice around this time a lot of the vendors had stopped taking orders. They were never going to make it until 3pm.

Susan’s husband, Tula, showed up in a bit with his meals from Mom’s Delicious Dish and they looked good. I regretted not having the opportunity to try everything, but I was looking forward to the crepes. Luckily enough, they called my name shortly thereafter. The car wash stall was again our lunch table as we went back to chowing down.

Unbelievable crepes! And huge! I was complimented on my choices, although I was slightly chided that I didn’t get a sweet one. I like meat….what can I say? We took turns taking bites and halfway through realized we were never going to be able to eat finish them and the Korean food that hadn’t come yet. I hear that happens when you eat and wait….but I usually can’t do that.

We wrapped up the remaining crepes and waited for Heidi’s food to be done. She had been keeping tabs on her progress and a 1/2 hour wait easily turned into an hour. The food smelled good and only our stuffed stomachs kept us from eating it right then and there. We put the half eaten crepes in the bag and went on home to divide it up later.

I did eat the leftovers for dinner and was impressed with the Korean tacos as well. Not a bad meal to be had. It’s too bad the trucks roam around Durham and Carrboro and not in Cary where I work. Otherwise, I’d frequent them quite a bit. I will say though, you’ll liable to see me in Carrboro one Saturday morning to get a crepe. Many of these places are on twitter…so if you are interested in knowing where they are sign up or check out their websites (links above).

Been awhile since I’ve regularly posted, but I guess I don’t quite lead the exciting life like my friends Tim and Mary Lynn .

So, I’m sitting here watching the first day of the NCAA tournament. Exciting day to be sure, but it’s without the Heels and my alma mater, W&M. Truth be told, after the start to the Tribe’s season, I really expected they’d be there. Beating Wake and Maryland on their home courts gives you that confidence. Of course, I never expected the Heels wouldn’t make it either. C’est la vie.

But the disappointment in both of them not making the NCAA Tournament afforded me an opportunity that doesn’t come along that often. They both made the NIT and were paired against one another with UNC hosting on Tuesday. On top of that, the game was to be played in Carmichael arena the old gym for the Heels before the Dean Smith Center was built around 1986. Renovations had been scheduled for the Dean Dome…because why would they need to host an NIT game?

I had heard how small Carmichael was and how great of a home court advantage it was for them, so it was even more imperative that I got tickets. W&M was making a 2nd post season conference in their history AND the game was being played in an historic arena (newly renovated as well). Surprisingly, public tickets were easy to get even with the capacity sitting only around 6800. With my neighbor and fraternity brother’s help, Jim Berry, we got tickets right as the public sale commenced.

Donning the Green and Gold, Jim and I went to the game with my uncle and another W&M friend, John Ackiss. My first impression of Carmichael was that it was impressive for a small venue. Very cozy and I immediately saw why the men’s team had a 169-20 record there. There were no bad seats in the house.

While I wore the W&M colors, I found myself not being able to audibly cheer either team (too many conflicts of interest). So, I ended up just rooting for a good game. And what a good game it was. After UNC started the game on a 9-0 run, W&M showed why they were dangerous by hitting a few threes to cut it to 9-6. The game was back and forth, but at halftime the Tribe was down by 10.

Jim and I weren’t too worried about that though since the Tribe set the NCAA record for 3s made in a season at 279. And sure enough, they came out hot in the 2nd half hitting 6-8 from 3 point land in the first 10 minutes. UNC fans around us expressed shock, anger, and amazement after the Tribe kept hitting 3 after 3 (tying a school record of 16 for the game). On top of that, they protected the ball well and ran their offense smoothly. (Did I tell you their head coach played for Dean Smith?) With 5 minutes left, W&M was up by 5 and that’s when I felt my first nervousness. I started thinking they may actually win. But my confidence was shortly shattered, as the Tribe didn’t score in the last 5 mins and UNC scored the last 11 points (9 by free throws) to win by 8.

In the end though, I went away happy as I won either way and the Tribe put on a great exhibition of basketball. I would have preferred this to be the NCAA tournament, but I’ll take a game in Carmichael any day.

Due the icy conditions, I knew last night that work would be opening up 2 hours late. I thought that may let me sleep in a bit, but my internal alarm had me up at the usual time so I jumped into my P90X routine. This is second go around for me on that as I finished it the first time in December. Today was Plyometrics. I tough, but good cardio program. Once done, I jumped into work.

I’m lucky that I can logon to my machine at work from home. It truly can make you pretty productive from home. And although I’ve worked from home before, today seemed especially productive. While the winterland scene from my home office window helped, I think it was mostly due to my cleanup of the office on Sunday. I think the non-cluttered workspace just made me feel better. Maybe there is something to this feng shui stuff. Should I research that?

After working for a few hours and seeing that half the office was staying home due to roads or closed schools, I decided to stay home as well. I only had one meeting and would call in for that. The rest of the afternoon consisted of answering emails, listening to the dogs snore, and jamming to my iTunes library. Another advantage of being at home.

The day was not over after dinner though as I had an indoor soccer game at 8:40. Carpooling over we hit a few icy spots on secondary roads and saw a wreck, but at least the game was successful game. We won 9-3. Now I’m sitting at home totally jacked up from the game and can’t sleep. I guess it’s time to catch up on tonight’s DVR choices. What shall it be? 24, Chuck, House, or Heroes?

Well, January sure finished with a bang here in North Carolina with a wide storm that brought snow to most of the state. I wasn’t sure what to expect because the predictions changed quite a bit during the week. We’re usually on the line between snow and freezing rain, so I figured the change of significant snowfall was low. As Friday approached though, everyone was predicting 4-7″ around here so I knew something would happen. Saturday was the last day of duck season and I was going to go if at all possible. As long as it was snow, I figured it give me chance to put my 4 wheel drive to use especially since I was only going a mile from my house.

I got up at 5:30 am and saw a few inches of snow on the ground. The weatherman was saying sleet would start in a few hours and they still expected us to get near 7 inches. Sounded perfect to me. Brandon arrived at my house at 6am and we left to meet Joe at the impoundment. The weather would be considered miserable for most people, but it was perfect for us duck hunters. The weather keeps the ducks moving and makes it harder for them to see us. With the right gear, it hardly bothers you at all. All in all, we didn’t have the best shoot but we had a lot of fun. I know most people would think us crazy and wonder why we do it especially if we aren’t successful. All I can tell you is that I love being outdoors and experiencing it with the dogs. Watching the sun rise, the woods come alive, and ducks fly makes it all worth it.

The sleet started earlier than expected, so we ended up only getting 5 inches of snow. However, it stayed soft and was perfect for taking Beau and Sarge for a walk in the woods. There is a creek behind my house and they love exploring it…… especially in the snow. They were like kids in a candy store….constantly running around and checking everything out. With the snow, the woods were quiet and peaceful. So quiet, that the dogs ran right up on a wood duck before he saw them and took off. After about an hour leaping through snow drifts, we were back home and the dogs immediately conked out.

The rest of the weekend consisted of doing odd chores around the house including shoveling snow where I could. When I walked on the driveway in the morning, I could here the ice crack below the snow. So, it was one of my top priorities to get some sort of path for the vehicle cleared on my small hill. The sun helped soften parts of it up, so I think it’ll be enough to work even after the overnight freeze.

Tomorrow work beckons, but I’ll probably head in late to let the ice melt and hopefully avoid any idiots on the road. If my short trip to the grocery store today is any indication, there are plenty of them out there. It blows my mind to see people flying by slower cars on packed slush/ice/snow or tailgating in these conditions. I’m not so worried about myself, but these people I can’t control.

Today was a good work day because after a half day of meetings and emails, we had a team outing in the afternoon. Once we were done in the morning, we headed to Raleighwood for lunch and a movie. Now, I had heard people speak about Raleighwood in the past as a place that you could go, watch a movie, and drink a beer. I expected to walk into a place with a screen and a lot of tables……essentially a bar with a theater.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to see very nice long and short tables with leather desk chairs that recline. It was very clean and a good atmosphere. On top of serving beer and wine, they have a menu that is mostly bar type food, but with a pretty good selection. I had the Bleu Cheese burger and while it wouldn’t make me write home to my mother it was definitely passable.

The food came out just as the movie was beginning. Apparently this place plays different movies at different times of the day. Given it was the middle of the week at lunchtime, the selections (they have two theaters) was geared towards kids. So….our movie of choice was Up. I didn’t know anything about the movie except it was made by Pixar, so I figured it would probably appeal to all age groups. I didn’t expect too much, but let me tell you, we were laughing pretty much the whole movie.

There were some sad parts, but there were plenty of parts that had adult or just plain silly humor. If you have dogs or spent time around them, you’ll love this. Its hard to explain the humor with the dogs without giving away parts of what makes it funny, but you’ll love the dogs talking to one another and getting excited about balls and squirrels. I would definitely recommend watching this movie if you are looking for a fun time.

It’s too bad I live so far away from this place, because I would definitely spend some time there. Who wouldn’t like to see The Hangover or watching Monday Night Football while drinking beers?

I’m behind on this one, but here is the slideshow of my pictures from Canada.

Yesterday was opening day for the middle season of duck hunting here in North Carolina.  I hadn’t had much time to scout around before Saturday, so I went to an old standby place close to my house.  It’s not necessarily a honey hole, but there are usually ducks flying around and if they aren’t there, you can see where they may be going.  Another advantage is that its a little off the beaten path so you don’t normally run into others…especially deer hunters this time of year.  I have nothing against deer hunters, but its one less person in the woods for you to worry about.

I went by myself because my normal hunting buddies couldn’t make it.  Since I only had to worry about messing me up, I took both Sarge and Beau.  Beau needs some seasoning, not that Sarge is an expert, but Sarge starting figuring it out a few years ago.  He’ll sit there and search the sky especially when he sees something flying or hears the duck call.  Beau hasn’t put those correlations together yet, but he also hasn’t been put in a lot of great situations to make it hit home.  He is getting better though and it helps to have him around a dog that can teach him.  Today started out rough for Beau because he was whining and didn’t want to just stay.  But after some ‘encouragement’ he eventually sat there next to Sarge anticipating what may come.

Sarge and Beau

Unfortunately, I only saw a few sets of ducks flying around and nothing close enough to give him the opportunity to retrieve anything.  It was a little warm (55 degrees), but I’m not convinced there are a lot of ducks around anyway even with the 2 days of rain and weather that may have brought some in.  However the joy is being out there even if its at 5 am.  I have fun seeing the swamp come to life and and the sun rise.  I mean really…how often do you get to see a beaver up close?

The night before as I was checking the water level, he came up within 20 feet of us….  you see the best spot in this area is on a beaver hut.  He had some fun with that dogs that evening slapping the water a few times as he went down the creek.  They jumped in thinking there was a duck to retrieve.   And apparently we woke him up at 5:30 when I was setting up decoys as he did the same thing.  However,  we never saw him once the sun came up.

All in all, it was a fun morning.  No ducks to bring back, but the fun is being outside, seeing the wildlife, and really experiencing it with your dogs.  I truly believe dogs mature and become more disciplined the more they can be with you out on the hunt.  They understand why you ask them to do the things you do (like sit and stay) and buy into it more.