huh

I've been playing a lot of Lost Odyssey recently(over 50 hours at this point) and one of the characters is strikingly similar to my wife. Both named Sarah, very similar hair styles, both wear glasses and both have that cute little mole on the left side of their faces.

Goodbye my friend

Well, after no improvment from the meds that the vet gave us...today was the day we had to relieve Toby of his suffering. It was one of the most difficult days of my life...

We left Kian with our neighbors and took Toby to Dr. Bains at 12:30 today. They really loved Toby there and were very kind with us. I've included a few pics of him for those that never met him.

Sarah has a really good slideshow here

Worst week ever?

I think it has been for my family. Hence the drought in my blogging...

It started about 3 weeks ago, shortly after coming home from a memorial weekend trip. Our dog, Toby, began vomiting and having general stomach troubles along with his hind legs being weak. We gave him a few days to get over it before taking him to the vet and they started him on some meds that got rid of the vomiting but he kept getting weaker.

While we're dealing with that... we find out this past weekend that our neighbors(that we share a wall with) have water standing in their kitchen. After having a leak detection guy come out...the leak is in our lines under the slab. ugh. This is no simple fix... as all of the 1st floor lines are run under the slab and have to be re-ran through the walls and ceilings...coming to a total of almost $8000!

A couple of days after this...we take Toby back to the vet because not only can he not stand up very well, but he now cannot shut his mouth and his eyes are drooping. It had been nearly 4 days since he was last able to eat. Our vet had us visit a specialist and long story short...we're at home with Thyroid meds as a last resort, hopeful that it's the problem. If it is...he'll recover. If it isn't, he'll likely pass soon.

Either of these things would be hard enough to deal with on their own...but both together has been overwhelming.

The good news is that there was a class action law suit because of how the piping was done and we'll be getting a check next week to take care of a large portion of the cost. They start the work on our pipes tomorrow.

As for Toby, it's just a wait and see. We've not seen any improvement with the meds...but it can take time.

Interested in Lord of the Rings Online?

My wife and I have been playing since release and love it...

Gogamer has a really good deal for the next 48 hours:

LOTRO Special Edition for $9.90

There's also a deal right now for 9.99/mo fees or 199 lifetime.

We play on Windfola... sign up!

Gaming w/ kids

I was talking with my buddy Steve the other day about how this is the first generation of parents that grew up with video games and are now enjoying them with their kids. When I was young, I was generally told they were a waste of time and I should be outside.

Today, some of the best Father/Son time I have with Kian is when we're gaming together. Yes it's crucially important that he's active and I do limit his time playing games... but I also am able to use them as a motivating tool and a self esteem builder.

He's also just reached the next tier of his gaming ability. I handed him the Wii Nunchuck for the first time and we tried out Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Within 5 minutes, he was the one leading us around and destroying things. I almost shed a tear...

Beckham

The LA Galaxy are in town this weekend to play the San Jose Earthquakes... so we got tickets to take Kian to see Beckham :)

Should be fun, we got discounted tickets in a section right down near the field.

Congrats to Ken Griffey Jr.

600 home runs baby...

He's been my favorite player for many years and I was tickled when he came to my favorite team several years back. He had some injury issues early on with us, but has turned things around and has reached a monumental milestone.