Goodbye, sweet Brandy

Fourteen years ago, Che woke me up in the middle of the night coming home late from work with this scrawny mutt puppy by his side. Two of his coworkers were returning from Colorado when they saw a pickup truck in front of them pull off to the side of a busy Texas interstate and kick this dog out of the back to fend for herself. She was scared and bewildered, so they picked her up and drove her home to College Station with them. They stopped by work on the way to the animal shelter, and Che being the softie that he is, agreed to rescue her.

Brandy was so skinny you could see her ribs, and her muzzle was full of porcupine quills. But she was also the sweetest dog you could ever meet. She didn't take well to strangers (especially men) at first, but we think that's because she was abused as a puppy. We spent the next 14 years making sure she forgot about that life and knew nothing but love and happiness.

After Abbey died in November, Brandy seemed to decline rapidly. I think she missed her best friend, but today they're together again in a better place.

We love you Brandy, and we will miss you more than you can ever know. Rest in peace, my sweet beautiful girl.

Keeping my sanity

My work life sucks right now, so in an effort to not completely lose my mind, I made a list of things that I am thankful/grateful for or that I have to look forward to. If I focus on these things, I might not have a nervous breakdown today.

1) My sister-in-law Aubry's cancer has not spread to her lymph nodes;

2) My brother-in-law has a job interview in two days that would give him a potential great new career opportunity, which he desperately needs;

3) My friend Michelle is coming to visit in two weeks;

4) I am finally getting a desperately-needed massage this weekend;

5) We are going to Chicago for the first time at the end of the month;

6) I get to spa/shop/dine with my friend Debie in Chicago;

7) I'm having drinks in Chicago with an old junior high/high school friend that I haven't seen in probably 20 years;

8) I have a three-day weekend this month!

9) I am going to bed before 10:00 tonight. :)

The City of Brotherly Love

My blog (and life) have been sad this year. I have been so consumed by work that I can't seem to find time to post more than an average of twice a month. Pathetic. So I might as well post about something tangentially related to work.

Last week, the firm sent me to Philadelphia for our twice-annual seminar. This was technically my third trip to Philly, but I can't say that I've really seen much of the city on any of my previous trips. This time, between meetings, I did find time to check out a couple of sights. Che sent me to the Mint for him (he's recently taken up numismatism as a hobby), which turned out to be a bit of a hassle for our group of four. They don't allow camera phones inside and they don't have lockers either, so one of my colleagues offered to stay outside with our stuff while we quickly toured the Mint. Turns out she was the smart one. There was no A/C inside, so we blazed through the tour, sweltering along the way, then I picked up a couple of souvenirs for him in the gift shop.

Then we headed across the street to the Constitution Center, Independence Hall (which we only saw from the outside because all the tickets for the day had been distributed), and the Liberty Bell. Oh, and to Jim's on South Street for the obligatory Philly cheesesteak afterwards, with a stop at Reading Terminal Market on the way back to the hotel. A virtual wealth of sightseeing compared to my previous trips. I even took photos!