Thoughts on The Dark Knight

I liked, I really did. I saw it at the midnight screening and then went again later in the day with my wife and some coworkers. I don't know much about how people are selected for nominations for Oscars and Golden Globes and things like that, but I really liked the performance of Heath Ledger. I was kinda afraid that all the buzz was due to his death, and I still think that is part of it, but the performance was great in my opinion.

It was hard to identify Heath in the part of the Joker, the transformation was that complete. When Jack Nicholson played the Joker, you could still see Jack in the character. This was not the case with Heath Ledger's Joker. I guess that is what makes a great performance, when you see the character and not the actor.

Aside from all the buzz about Heath Ledger and his subsequent death, I thought the movie was very good. This incarnation of the Batman series is quite satisfying for me. It is still a world that accepts superheroes and villains, but Batman and his adversaries are very human - flawed and scarred and...human. They aren't from another planet or bitten by radioactive bugs.

I know this is a little late - I forgot to publish it after seeing the movie last week.

Dog and Cats sleeping together...oh my

As I was looking through pictures of the animals to use in these posts I came across this one. Jazz and Sid sleeping together. I find myself smiling as I look at it. I guess that is a good thing, it helps me and my family remember the good times with our faithful friends.

Goodbye to my friend

I had to euthanize my dog this week, she had numerous Mast cell tumors and was in kidney failure. I know it was the right thing to do, but that does not make it any easier. Her quality of life was declining, she wasn't able to walk very far and seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

It seems fitting that it began to pour down rain as we arrived at the veterinarian office. She was trying to walk as fast as she could and ended soaking wet by the time we got into the office. My wife and I got some paper towels and tried to dry her off as much as we could. I felt so bad that she had to spend the last few minutes of her life laying on the floor dripping wet.

The doc came in and explained what was going to happen, I apologized to my loyal friend, kissed her on the forehead and the doc began the injection. Within a few seconds Jazz was gone. I layed her head down, kissed her again and said my final goodbye.

I miss her every time I come home and she doesn't greet me at the door. I still find myself absently reaching down next to my chair to rub her head but she isn't there.

...other than that, my week sucked

This has been one of those weeks from the darkest reaches of Hell. Where to begin?

Let's start with the dog. My dog has been acting a little lethargic lately, which is kinda normal for her at the beginning of Summer. About 2 weeks she started walking with a slight limp in her front leg, and I didn't think too much about it, she often jumps down the steps and I figured she may have just landed funny. The limp continued to get worse over the next few days so I took her into the veterinarian, who checked her for a break, didn't find one, gave her an anti-inflammatory and told me that if I didn't get better to bring her in for X-rays to make sure.

It didn't get better. In fact it got worse and her back leg started to swell like she had been stung by something. We also found a lump on her belly and another on her muzzle, these showed up almost overnight. We got the X-rays and some blood work done and found out that she has a number of Mast cell tumors, anemia and kidney failure. Great. She has been given a 1-2 week life expectancy. I will be monitoring her health and may have to make a decision to put her down at some point in the near future. This is not good news and, coupled with the loss of our cat a month ago, very hard on the kids.

So, that happened and the next day my wife's car was rear-ended at a stop sign. Not a huge amount of damage, but repairs will be needed. The worst part of that was, she was 2 blocks from where she works and in front of the building where I work. So, as she sat there with the police that were writing up the accident, numerous co-workers passed and had to ask "are you okay?" which can just add to the stress of dealing with all the rest of the things we have going on so far.

That brings us to today. There were heavy rains for most of last night and at some point our sump pump stopped and the basement flooded. I think most of our stuff is salvageable except for some boxes of papers that were on the floor, but I probably should get rid of those anyway. So, we are extracting water and shampooing carpets and trying to get everything to dry out.

But tomorrow...I get to shoot off a bunch of fireworks with my friends and neighbors. Good friends, good food, explosives and the weather is supposed to be great.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July.