Category: suburbs

Posted on

Lakewalk

I spent a chunk of the morning working on the garage. After clearing out a 40-year-old worktable, I discovered that it was over a square foot of extremely sticky, viscous grease-oil sludge, with decades worth of junk (nails, can lids, lightbulbs, etc.) trapped in it. I scraped up a lot of it (it takes the paint off the floor!), then decided to take a break.

Since it’s such a lovely day — 70 degrees, sunny, nice breeze — I decided to take Rufus out to a trail on Skyline Drive and walk up to Ramapo Lake. Ru decided that he needed to cool down a little, and, well . . .

Here’s the full set of pix from the walk. Now, back to home-work!

Posted on

Lakefront

It’s another vacation-at-home day, dear readers! I started it off by taking Rufus for a 6:30 a.m. walk down to Skyline Lake. I’d have gone later in the day, but then it might get too warm or start thunderstorming. Here’s a pic from the side of the Skyline Lake clubhouse:

And now . . . to clean out the garage!

Posted on

Last day!

The production schedule read, “Final Materials to Printer – July 2,” and I’m gonna get those final materials to the printer by July 2! Just a couple hundred words more about Pfizer and a brief writeup about Abbott Laboratories, and this year’s Top 20 Pharma / Top 10 Biopharma ish will be finished!

So don’t expect any more posts today.

In other news, it looks like the constant dreariness and rainfall of June has had at least one positive effect: the deer have had enough to eat in the woods and have (mostly) left my tigerlilies alone!

Posted on

Rufus See Well

Last week (?) (seriously, I can’t keep track of days anymore), the police officer who handled the report for Rufus’ dog-attack case stopped by. Because of that letter I got from the Akita’s owners stating that Rufus had walked into their yard, I wanted to check with the officer that the report hadn’t been changed from the once I’d received. He supported the initial report and said that nothing had been changed; the Akita (King) attacked Ru outside the property.

We talked for a bit after that; it turns out that the policeman is a neighbor of ours (which answers the question of why I occasionally see a squad car parked in the driveway of a nearby house), and had seen the Akita unattended in its yard many times. Also, he was glad to see that Rufus was alright, because he last saw our boy the night of the attack, and things looked pretty bad.

Near the end of our conversation, I said, “Y’know what burns my ass? It’s been more than 3 weeks since their dog ripped the hell out of Rufus’ leg, and they haven’t asked once how he’s doing. I can understand them not wanting to come by, but not even a note?”

He said, “That tells you who they are.”

“That it does.”

Today I discovered that it was probably better that they stayed away.

Continue reading “Rufus See Well”

Posted on

Sprung

Looks like someone forgot to post today! I’d better rectify that with a photoset (with oddball commentary) of this evening’s walk! Why don’t you click through the picture and go to the set?

Posted on

Dam fine morning

There’ll probably be a long-ass, rambling, depressing post later today, but for the moment, enjoy the view:

Posted on

What It Is: 3/23/2009

What I’m reading: Zot! 1987-1991 and Clyde Fans, Vol. 1. I never read Zot! when it was coming out back then and, reading it now, I can see just why I didn’t give it a try then, why I wouldn’t have liked it then, and why I’m enjoying the living crap out of it now. That Scott McCloud was a heck of a cartoonist.

What I’m listening to: Bill Simmons’ 2-part podcast with Chuck Klosterman.

What I’m watching: Some NCAA hoops, some of our regular TV — 30 Rock, The Soup, Dollhouse, Eastbound & Down — and, um, The House Bunny.

What I’m drinking: Boy, I drank a lot last week at the conference. I managed to go from gin to Guinness to wine over the course of an evening on Monday, but escaped a hangover. I hate to say it’s hard work, but I do get pretty wiped out walking an exhibit hall all day and being in business-mode. It’s kinda sad that the first drink is really a relief, but there it is. I mean, beyond that, I get into this really weird conference-metabolism, where all my habits are thrown off: eating, sleeping, drinking, bathroom, etc. At least I was able to replace my daily walks with Rufus with a 1.4-mile walk each way from my hotel to the Javits Center. Still, I was all sorts of out of rhythm last week.

What Rufus is up to: Getting used to the house routine again after spending a few days with Ruby & Willow (and Jason & Kristy). No dog-park or greyhound hike for him this week; we were too lazy on Saturday and I had to go down to Philadelphia on Sunday.

Where I’m going: Nodarnwhere!

What I’m happy about: One conference over! Three more (plus our own) to go! Also, my wife & I belatedly celebrated our anniversary this weekend with a fantastic dinner at Cafe Matisse.

What I’m sad about: That Continental failed to log both of the flights I booked for April & May conferences. I rebooked ’em at a net savings of $30, but they’ve never messed up any of my ticketing before this.

What I’m pondering: Whether the addition of a giant, high-end Whole Foods to Bergen “Dark Underworld” Mall was one of the signs of the apocalypse in the book of Revelations. (Whoops! I mean, “Bergen Town Center.”)