The Need for Greed

We've kept two kennels set up in our home to use for Charlie when we're away for extended periods but no more. I brought them out to the garage last night to store them as Charlie has graduated to full house privileges.  Something finally clicked with the potty training for him a few weeks ago and he gets it.

Believe it or not, it actually took me a few months to fully warm up to this little guy.  I'm sure it was because I felt I was slighting Toby and Allie by doing so but he's really won me over; how could he not?  He's a sweetheart but he's also a scrapper.  When Toby gets tough with him as he still does occasionally, Charlie gives it right back.  But for the other 23 hours and 59 minutes out of the day, they're fine.

His big thing lately is to carry his food bowl around and play with it. He's often at my side with a ball or stuffed animal in his mouth tempting me to try and get it from him...typical puppy stuff.  He also likes to bite the palm of my hand and bite it hard.  Jackie (my sister) says that's how he shows affection.  Without question, he's the goofiest dog I've ever seen.  Charlie then and now.

[rant] I posted this link to my Facebook page last night. No doubt talk radio will be all over this about how it's purely class envy on the part of Democrats and another step toward Socialism. Whatever; call me a Socialist. So long as these corporations are taking government handouts (money from me) to enrich those who have failed their companies most, I'm all for this sort of intervention.

When I used to listen to Rush he'd often talk about our economy and how it's not a zero-sum game. In some respects he's right but when you're talking about the fiscal integrity of a company he's absolutely wrong. Obscene salaries and bonuses to the few at the top come at the expense of workers who made it all possible. Somewhere along the way we've become desensitized to the degree that greed has taken over. We've become numb to the point where we stand by and watch as those at the top are rewarded for running their companies into the ground.  How did we get to this point?

What's most troubling when listening to guys like Limbaugh and Hannity is that they appear to have millions of listeners who are fine with the idea that greed is an acceptable byproduct of capitalism and that there's nothing wrong with it. Where is the shame?

We're all in this together. I pray that one day we'll begin to live our lives in a way which reflects that ideal. [/rant]

I've been using AVG anti-virus protection for the last two years but my license recently expired and I was going without. I considered going back to the free version of AVG but I hadn't gotten around to downloading it. I noticed a link my brother placed on his Facebook page about Avast and their free version of anti-virus protection so I opted for it instead. The biggest difference I've noticed is how much less time it takes my computer to boot-up now than it did when AVG was doing its thing in the background. I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing.

I'm happy to say that I've done several workouts on our Concept 2 rowing machine in the last week and I've got no tendinitis issues to show for it. That's not to say that I don't still feel a twinge of pain in my right forearm on occasion but I can definitely say that my time on the rower hasn't aggravated it. I've been disappointed that I haven't been able to use it much since buying it back in January but I'm hoping that with my new understanding of proper form I'll be able to spend a lot more time on it especially since winter is on the way and I'll be doing more indoor workouts.

I managed a 37-mile ride after work Tuesday afternoon. I hurried home and got suited up as quick as I could but didn't get on the road until just before 4:00. My Edge 705 told me I had around two and a half hours of daylight to work with...if the skies weren't so dark. The low overcast and on and off drizzle made it appear much darker than it was. I was seriously concerned the last half hour out there as I had no lights and thick clouds were blocking out what little sunlight was left.

I picked up a nice draft off of a semi at Cedar Avenue near the end of my ride.  He pulled away and I tucked in behind for as long as my legs would allow. I finally fell away climbing the 5% grade hill just west of Cedar at 31 mph.  Had we been on the flats and the truck accelerating at the rate he was I know I could've easily stayed with him well past 40 mph.

I hope nobody was on this ship during this test.