I Can See Clearly Now....

Now that all of you of A Certain Age are hearing that song in your heads....

The new windshield is very, very clear indeed. You don't realize how cruddy a 5 year old windshield is until it suddenly goes away and a clear new one takes its place. It's like a fresh contact lens prescription. Which I also need.

Work - yes, it still sucks. No new tales from Dilbertland, Same Shit, Different Month. I'm bored, I'm unchallenged, and the people worth knowing are quitting at the rate of, uh, one a week? I went away for 4 stinkin' days and came back to find one of the lawyers we were working with on our last "real" (multimillion dollar) case had resigned. Oh, and Boss hadn't opened the mail for 4 days. Passive-aggressive much?

But on to the important stuff - today Dudley Learned to Bark!!! Girl took him to the vet for a checkup, he was pronounced a fine little fellow and had to be passed around the entire office for quite some time before he was released to her again. He does have mild Luxating Patella, like Murphy and, hell, like us. Knee problems run in the family. It's just evidence that he was meant to be one of us.

So he came home from the excitement of the doctor's office and ran and played and carried on with Murphy (pictures of the two of them together soon, I promise) and they disappeared under my bed, sounds of rustling and scuffling ensued, and then... BARKING! From Dudley! He gets doggier every day, now he can bark like a big boy.

They blew out from under the bed, Murphy's hair was flying and tongue lolling, ran around a few more laps, then Dudley had to collapse for a couple of hours of rest, and Murphy said "Thank GOD!" and collapsed too. Dudley's growing so fast, he's 5 lbs. already (Murphy is around 8) and learning so fast it's amazing. Girl says he was acting up in the vet's office and she said, "Why don't you just sit?" and his little butt hit the floor. He knows SIT and COME and walking on the leash gets better every day. Few Accidents in the House, too - if he has one, it's because we let him play too long without a relief trip for his tiny peanut bladder. He's a marvel. But boy, when he's awake and playing he wears us all out.

I had to take the afternoon for windshield repair because my Dilbertian Employer has a 4 hour leave minimum - I needed 1.5, had to burn 4, so fine, I'll take 4 and the hell with you. I assembled the loom. It's gorgeous and will probably live on my Shaker double dresser when folded and not in use, it looks like it was born to be there. It went together easily, folds nicely, and maybe in two weeks I will be able to warp the damn thing. The weekend is already burned - stuff with Girl on Saturday and a visit to the Units (with dogs on board) on Sunday. My father is in poor health, on oxygen, and is a huge Boston Fan, to the point of obsession. He needs to have Dudley visits.

And my resume is on Monster and headhunters are dancing around and calling me, but have nothing here in my salary range. OTOH, I could go back to DC and make 20K more without looking too hard, which I think would more than make up for the difference in housing costs. And the job pool is much wider and deeper. The cost of living is not significantly lower here anymore, but the salaries are still a joke. It's becoming less of a pipe dream and more of a thing I really should consider.