I slept really well last night.

Victoria and I met a bunch of friends last night at Vivo (mexican joint in Austin) for Stephanie’s [Bubble’s] birthday. We both had a really good time. I have to say that I have some really awesome friends here in Austin. I got to meet my friend Sam’s new girlfriend, Abby who I thought was really cool. Other in attendance were Ryon, Jason, Amy, and of course Bubbles. She had some of her other friends there last night too that I had never met but were very nice.

We were invited to watch UFC last night too but we ended up not going. I am leaving for Birmingham, AL today and we just wanted to spend some time together before I left. I hate leaving.

We watched a movie called "The Jacket". I am sorta shady on what happened in the beginning. I kept nodding off (sorry, V) but woke up a bit through as the concept was really intriguing.

When I woke up this morning. I found myself laying in bed next to Victoria with Mallos in the middle sleeping and purring his little head off. I wondered to myself "could life POSSIBLY get any better than this? I don’t think so." I am happy guy these days. That is, by and large, a HUGE shift from my earlier 20’s. Read back in this blog… you will see. I used to be a miserable bastard.

I digress…

I ate my freakin’ head off (is that even a real expression!?) at the restaurant last night. The chips were excellent and so was the salsa… really garlicy and not too spicy. I ordered beef enchiladas, which, I can’t even remember the last time I ate. They were really good. I had a few drinks too, but was perfectly fine to drive by the time dinner was over.

Did I mention the strawberry short cake? Wow… that was REALLY good!

Incidentally, I have now brushed my teeth 3 times since last night and I can still taste the salsa. I am paying the price for all that delicious food this morning in more ways than just the aforementioned.

What else is going on… I apologize for the stream of consciousness that is about to ensue. Do your best to follow… that’s all…

<MindDump>

My grandparents are in the final stages of selling their house in NY. They will be coming to stay with me on February 15th until they find a house here in Texas. I am really excited to finally have some family here. It’s been over 4 years of having to travel just to see anyone that is blood related to me. This will be a nice change. Hopefully my parents will get their asses in gear and move here already (yes, you… I know you both read this…)!!

Victoria passed her test for brown belt in TKD yesterday. I always enjoy watching her test. She is really tough on herself with how she feels she performed. I think that’s a good thing, but I still like to be around so I can tell her how awesome she did despite her harsh self assessment. I am sure she will be posting vids (that I shot) soon. She’s good like that.

We had a long ass day yesterday. I woke up at 7am to get to KF school early. I have started meeting Denise and Craig to work on Chen tai chi. I love that form. I think that still, it’s my favorite martial arts related item to do. I feel awesome when I finish it. We took about 40 minutes to do the entire form. I also talked with Denise about coming to the clinic for some acupuncture. Me and Victoria are going to try it when I get back from my business trip.

After Chen, I had black belt class which wasn’t that harsh yesterday. We did finish 2nd tiger which makes me happy as I will be missing class this week AGAIN due to work related travel.

After class, I met V for her testing. See above. After that, we came home for a few to get some things, then went back to the KF school for her class and tai chi. I practiced 2nd tiger with Troy while she was in white-brown class. During tai chi, I helped teach while Master Joe pre-tested Debbie for her 3rd degree. Congrats, Debbie!

**Note**: I know I have kind of Tarantino’d this post as the description of the night is first. Deal with it. It’s my blog.

After getting out of bed this morning, I checked my work email and I had like 5 unread, all travel related. I have spent the last hour or so getting myself organized. I really hope my car has GPS.

I feel absolutely retarded as I never picked up my damn dry cleaning. I thought I would be able to get it yesterday after class, but well… the damn place closed at 2 yesterday. This means that I am now forced to wear my "2nd string", so to speak, of business casual clothing. This week is gonna suck.

</MindDump>

I am sure that there is more for me to talk about, but I need to get some other stuff done.

… officer for just pointing at me and not stopping me for speeding.

I am not going to recount the entire story. If you want to read about it, check out Victoria’s blog post on the topic.

I am so incredibly tired of this. I am upset, exasperated, frustrated, angry, sad… I think that covers it.

So, when we brought Atley to the shelter on Wednesday. They told us that they were skeptical of the vet’s assessment of the dog. If so, WHY ADOPT HIM OUT?!?!?

Am I crazy? I am nuts in thinking that this should be the responsibility of the shelter to take care of. If I were browsing the shelter and saw Atley in a penn and there was a sign that said "broken leg, raising money, not ready to be adopted", I would have said "oh, too bad, he’s cute" and been on my way.

So they were skeptical but let us take him anyway?!? How irresponsible! I understand what they are doing there. They have a huge job. They work with lots and lots of dogs. They are a non-profit. I get it… but still… come on.

The director over at the shelter is going to be talking to a vet that they have a good relationship with to see if he can do the surgery at a reduced rate. Still though, I don’t know what line is on how much I am willing to spend on a dog that I got a week ago. I am certainly not willing to empty my savings account. The emotional side of me is. The logical side is defiantly not.

We are taking Atley to the vet where Allison works today. She was able to get us a "free first visit" coupon (thank you!!). I want to see what they say about his leg too… although, I think that if the surgery was $500-$600 at a non-profit, it will probably be WAY higher at a traditional vet’s office.

I wish I could be more optimistic in this but, I really can’t see the half full side.

Also contributing to me feeling absolutely horrible today, I have to go to Alabama next week for work. I have to say that after being away ALL last week I am in no way shape or form looking forward to this. I am also not nearly as confident in my skills as I would like to be for something like this, but… oh well. I am hoping that I will be able to finish up early and come home ahead of schedule.

I really hope SOMETHING good happens today… at this rate, all I want to do is go back to sleep.