Dogmatic Doghouse

Day 9-You can't go, all the plants are going to die! Stick googley eyes on em.
And so it was. Vacations have to come to an end, and then you stand back and wonder WTF happened to the time. It was a long vacation, it was great time and I can't thank Boomer enough for hosting me for the week. We did so much, and so little, and played it by furry ear.

So, I was typing the LJ entry and Boom came down early and was up for the day. Ate a bit for breakfast and watched TPIR. Next was Boomer doing the rest of the downloading while I packed up and moved my stuff downstairs. I just pack so much crap, but we did do stuff with everything I packed. The ice chest was still filled with cold water and ice, so I put more Pabst in.

Reviewed all of the photos I had taken. Whew. I did hit 500 pictures, the most I've ever taken, ever. I have a lot of sorting to do. There's retail stuff, there's Waldameer stuff, there is Anthrocon stuff and it's all going to end up in a Boom visit folder. I'll worry about that some time when I'm not going to work in 5 hours with no sleep. :)

I showered and Boom and I sat down to watch Animal House. There are a couple catch phrases I use every day. We'll have to see Caddyshack and re-watch Stripes soon. Ate a snack during the movie, leftovers from our cookout and Pabsts ICE COLD. Then, we worked on Mom's computer. Boom purchased a 2.0 Gig/512 Meg/30 Gig desktop for my mom, and we cleaned it but decided to go all out. Boomer took it apart, cleaning the fans and the chip, but the faceplate... Compaq used tons of plastic on the early 90's machines they built and the faceplate was really tough to get off and tougher to get on. Cheap cheese. Only Acer was worse with their "bullet hole" cases. We got it though. I'll be taking it to mom and trying it out over the weekend.

Went to the Hop House for a farewell dinner. They have "All You Can Eat Pasta" for 7.99, which Boom and I got. Either come STARVED or consider it $1 off because the meal we got was HUGE. When the waitress asked if we wanted another, we both refused and Boomer even took part of his home. The Hop House just has the best food for cheap prices. It's why we eat there at least once, likely twice when I'm in town.

Got back and packed the car, was going to launch but decided to sit out. This became a chat fest, which moved in when the mosquitoes started having dinner for themselves. We continued chatting, I crashed on Boom's couch for an hour, and when I awoke, we continued chatting. It was 3am when I left! We have that trouble, I can never leave on time. The good thing? It was a few hours of talking with no music, no internet, no television. All that time, and it was the first time we had a chance to talk.

Came home, unpacked and now I'm going to catch a few hours of ZZZzzzzZzzZzzzzs

ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: ZzzZZzZzZ
Current Music: History Of Stern Part 2-Episode 10-Segment 2

Day 8...RIGHT! (How could it be anything else?)
he last full day on my vacation, Boom and I were going to kick back and chill. I thought of a good way to eat our leftover chili and made my way to the Pawnera near Boom's place. Stopped in and bought bread bowls, brownies, went to Rite Aid and got some green tea and stopped at the party store. Bought Boomer a medal for putting up with the cranky sheepdog all this time plus a card and a "bead jewelry" kit. (To make up for the bead he didn't keep at Walgreens.)

Prepared a chili lunch which turned out great. Those bread bowls from Pawnera make a whole meal and work better with thicker soups and chilis. Lounged for the day and prepared for the bar-b-q doings in the evening. At one point, Boomer got a knock on his door, and it was the fuzz! Apparently my car parked on Booms lawn for all that time cheesed a neighbor and well, I had to move it. I've been parking in the same place for 12 years, but this is the first time I have been here for so long. Someone griped when Hobnoses car was there...after 8 months? Now they have an evil eye out we guessed.

Went to the ball diamond to hit a few balls around. I had thought to bring my gloves and bat for softball in the early days of the vacation, but rain stopped that. In the dust of the diamond we played for about 15 minutes but when someone came over and opened a locked box behind home base and took out bases, we knew we'd have to move. Came back to Booms and set up in his back yard, which as it turns out, is big enough for soffball. We continued to play, then broke to set up the grill. Boom got to use his steamer, and I did a little duct tape magic and it was good as new.

We went to Giant Beagle to get additional supplies and ice. Why ice? To chill my Pabst. Nothing better than a beer beverage from a cooler full of ice, and it did not disappoint. I prepped the foodstuffs and Boom prepped the grill with the "Hobnose" method. Fire up a floor of coal until hot, then do a second layer of coal and repeat. This made the grill uniformly hot and ready. Great idea. Great cooking, as we cooked and had shrimp first, then noshed on burgers and brats, mostly turkey but tasty. It was the fun ending to final vacation night in Pitt. Cleaned up a bit and Boom went to offload all the pictures and video, while I, well, turkey burgers...took a schnooze. Woke, watched PeeBeeEss and crashed again. Mmmmmmm, ice cold Pabst.

I'll wrap it up in the next post and have impressions of the con/weekend in the future. Right now, more cleaning up around the joint, packing and getting ready to launch.

ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: HappyNSad
Current Music: Marcus Welby MD

Day 7: Deja DO
This is the first time I've ever been at Boomer's place where the trash gets picked up TWICE. No better place to spend non work time. Boomer gets a big doggie thanks for hosting this fat dog all this time.

Woke as usual, earlier than Boom, but didn't have the TV volume up. This helped me finish the LJ log pretty quickly. We actually got out at a decent hour. We agreed to take our time getting there and take our time while there, and well, I was good with that.

First stop was a surprise! We went to Mill Creek Mall. What we had thought was a dying mall and from the outside looks of it, appeared to be, a modern, clean, cool selling space. The mall itself was recently re-done and quite the contrast to Century III. It was a modern shopping meccha, but with all of the dead mall signs. Crapped Steve and Berrys. A church in the mall. Several local clothing sellers. BURLINGTON COAT FACTORY!! (Almost a sure sign!)There were also a few empty spaces without any effort to hide the empty space, even leaving the signs up. However, the big mall names were there. Big mall anchors too.

Wiki has it wrong. They said this mall was the 4th largest mall in in America. Actually, it's the fouth largest "shopping complex" because one company owns all surrounding land and stores. A LOT of leasable space. Boom and I toured the mall including looking at a "Crocs" store. We went outside, I took a LOT of pictures and we hit up Ollies Bargain Outlet which seems to be growing at Steve and Berry's pace. It was a nice store too with a lot better selection of crap that the ones in Cleveland. Boom bought some fireworks. We then hiked back to the car. They do have a new "lifestyle" area of the mall, with outside facing stores, but the economy tanked and they have only opened Coldwater Creek.

Then to Sarahs for turkey burgers and french fries. I'd told Boom about the place when I went to Waldameer last year. A great grill with a seperate and complete classic diner. We ate and were happy. Got into Waldy at about 5:45 and proceeded to do the amusement park a royal small but great visit. Trouble struck for me when we rode the Mega Vortex. (It's a mega disk-o ride. You sit on a motorcycle seat and spin in a circle while going up and down a big U track.) It made me woozy as it stirred up my tummy which was filled with turkey burger, fries and turkey jerky we got at Ollie's earlier. From that point, the reflux started playing havoc, but I pushed through. I got Boomer to ride the drop ride. We rode the flume twice. The spinning steel twice. The oldie roller coaster once. Kiddie coaster once. The train, which didn't help my queasy as it smelled of burnt gas fumes. The sky ride. The scambler. (Urp) The bumper cars. Both the funhouse and the Wacky Shack. Plus, we rode Ravine Flyer three times. Third time was at night and tons of fun. In it's second year, that coaster has aged well, and we rode near center rear and had a blast all three times. It's still short, but it's more intense and at night, even more thrilling. It's gotta make it in the top ten wooden coasers this year.

Left Waldy and went back to Sarahs for milkshakes. Got gas and coffee and went bye bye back to Pitt, jamming to Devo the whole way. Boomer was right. We did have a better time by not spending the whole day at Waldy.

The fun is nearing the end. 6 miles we walked the whole day. More excersize, but less milkshakes after walking :)

ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: Schleepy Sheepy
Current Music: Con footage by Boomer

DEY 6: Canine Decision 09
Not very decisive doggies are we. I was up at 11 as usual to type this LJ. That turned into a three hour production while watching UNIVERSAL TV's FINEST. First there was TPIR, but Universal got their turn when I turned on RTV and saw Marcus Welby MD, Quincy and then Ironside. Boom came down and we proceeded to think about what we were going to do for 4 hours. The trouble with thinking about what to do for 4 hours is, that's 4 hours of GETTING NUTHIN DONE.

1. Go to Erie PA for Waldameer amusement park in the evening and get a room
2. Go to Waldameer Tuesday morning for the day. (Requires early ZZZ)
3. Go to Pottsville PA for the Yuengling tour (hotel and 8 hours of driving)
4. Me go home. Boom follows. Go to Erie from Cleveland
5. Don't go to Waldy at all and enjoy relaxing.

We decided to give #2 a go, with an option for #5. Heh.

S0, we went out to hit up one of Yahoo's top ten most endangered malls, Century III mall. We had been there several times and even shopped there on Christmas in years past. It's a huge place.. meaning, a huge number of out of business stores to fill and/or wall over. JCP, Sears and Macys were the big stores still in business. There are two huge wings with empty boxes that were completely lifeless and the rest of the mall a hit or miss affair. It reeked of Randall Park mall in Cleveland as it was nearing the end. A huge albatross, 80's looking mess of mirrors and faded wood and a lot of "lack of drywall" to fill empty store holes. I've been following this mall since I met Boomer because it always had a "dying" stink to it. When we first went, it seemed like it was dying, the next time, it seemed to be re-vitalized, now...UH OH. (Steve and Berrys did that to a lot of malls. Too bad they expanded way fast for a short $$$ and bonus money from mall owners only to have that bite them in the ass. Ahh, but three year old STARBERRY shoes are worth the same as 12 year old Jordans, RIGHT???) Glad to see the place before the death throes get too loud.

Boom and I then went seemingly RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, to an older strip plaza I had never seen in Pitt. Century Plaza. They have a $1 theater with 8 screens showing Mall Cop?? Wow. They also have an inline (right in the strip of the stores) Shop and Save grocery store. I was in retail heaven. We went to Chilis, because in Cleveland, I'd their soup and salad deal and loved the hell out of it. Same thing when we went. Fresh chips, fresh salad and really good chicken tortilla soup. Mmmmmm. Stopped into S&S to see it was a modern S&S, only square. Not really a disappointment, but, yeah, kind of was. Got water and such and came back home to watch Animal House on Boomer's soooper lappytoppy. Trouble was, Linux. Linux requires a little more "packaging" than winners products and we couldn't get it to come off. We just listened to tunes on my old trusted Winners lappy and both browsed the web and I chatted on Anthrochat thusly. We turned in (TO DOGS??? Nahhh. Darn.) We went zzzzz about 1:30 am as Boom finally found that indeed, not all of the Linux packages had been swiped when he compiled his last kernel. *snicker* Okay, that's all of the Linux geekspeek for today.

So, it looks like Waldameer may be a GO today. We'll see. Another part of the best visit to Pitt I've had? Stay tuned. Hang on every word. The DRAMAFREE(TM) LJ post. Come on, when there's AMEN on RTV, what drama could we have? (It's still better than 227) Sherman Hemsley is still one of the funniest TV actors and it might have sucked as a series, but it was better than 227 :) Did I say that already?

To INFINITY and Roller Coasters. -Ric

Current Mood: More Than Bestest
Current Music: Crappy AM Syndicated Regis and Kelly copy

Good Gosh, Drew Carey was pushed! Vacation day 5: CHUG! CHUG!
Watching what appears to be the April Fools Price Is Right. Everybody is wearing plastic glasses and moustaches. The prizes are odd, the turntables don't stop. The sounds of the big wheel are ducks to farts. (Somebody step on a duck?) One good thing? Match Game music during one game and at the end of the show. Otherwise, what a CBSMess. Back up the truck to Drew's house.

Okie, so, like, day 5 and all. We only had one plan, the con. We would spend the day being furry nutjobs just like old times. Rather than getting food out, we stayed in and had another salad with the last day ham plus pizza. Loaded up the car and found a spot in the prime parking zone. Walked around in the nuttyness and noted something. Times have really changed. We passed at least five furry con members while walking to the hotel. We said hi to everyone, only one said hello to us back. The others seemed bothered by two dogs walking to the con. And so it goes. It's a different world, it's a bigger world, and when friends get personal items stolen from a furry party, you know it's becoming an f-ed up world. I could spout all sheit now about "the way it used to be" but nahhhhhh.

So, met Robfox and co., chatted with them. Green Reaper was in the howwse. Met with Zen, sat outside, and the faces with nicks I know and don't came by and fun was had by all. KJ REW and others too. Locobun had gone golfing again, so we were killing time, waiting for a pizza feast tradition. Pakrat and co. came by. Went across the street to the Kwik E Mart and bought ice cream for the dog and I. More furries. More furries. Furries Furries!

When Loco came back, we hiked over to Boomer's cheap jeep. On the way, a lady pushing a shopping cart had a miniture pinsher. We met with JJ. He was a cute pup with a neat collar/harness with a pick up handle! He was mildly interested while we talked to the lady who was from Pitt but had been in Michigan. I had the idea to squeak Boom's squeaker and when I did, the dog was at attention and climbing all over Boom to get at it. It was funny and touching. Sorta like a scene in Fluke. JJ who was named after JJ from Good Times, take care of your owner. Dyn-O-MITE!

Dragged Zen, Loco and *I'm terrible with names* to Boom's house and beered up and went to the Hop House to beer up more. They loved the pizza and cheap drinks. It's a crowd pleaser. GREAT pizza. Great pizza. Good times. Good times.

Back to the hotel for cocoa.

Let the party begin! Zen had the full bar and ripped out some "original" Whoodamns made with diet Cranberry juice. Everybody had a wonderful time, including Pakrat who had a better time but likely he'd do a Ricochet on the ride home. Zen gave him a plastic bag to "help" make those memories. Boom kibbitized with Inuchance on his mini lapppy and I stayed clean the whole time. At about 2am, we went to the river to sit out and see the stars. Spent the good part of an hour enjoying the night sky while Zen and Loco took a schnooze. Nothing better than tilted concrete to sleep on. Went back up, gathered our crap, went to the lobby.

Duncan The Dog was there. He was the cute fursuited pup with a bunch of smily balloons attached. I went to get a photo of him earlier when a street dude that reeked of beer beverage said "Hey, how's it goin RICOSHIT" *snicker* True story. So, we sat in the lobby in the company of cuteness for about 10 minutes and waved bye. Went back to the doghouse, and despite getting coffee, when I hit the bed, that was that.

Great con experience and well this is the last day of...wait a minute.... It's the first day of the SECOND HALF OF MY RELAXOCON. Wow. Nuff woofed.

-Ric

Current Mood: Awake
Current Music: Quincy on RTV

Day 3 and 4: Bolt! Return To Vincents! Part of the 640! Non Pirate Pirates (Not Baseball)
Yeah, combining two days of posts, but it needs to be. Friday was a short stack anyway. We got up and lounged around for a bit. Had salad for lunch and were going to hit up the Ft. Steuben mall, but I put BOLT into Boom's great TV center and well, we were hooked. Watched the whole thing and because it was rush hour, decided to stay local once again. Went to Wally to get Boomer a universal remote, and well, for $20, bought him a UNIVERSAL (brand) remote. (I have one from the old Universal Instruments, no relation.) Came back to the den of dog and did the random code search, the code for Boom's TV which we tried three other universal remotes to no avail? 001. However, it controls everything and feels good in the paw. TV Set=Free, Remote=$20, total? $20 I'd say a deal. :) It's good to know how to fix stuff.

We went to Vincents Pizza Pub and sat out on the new outdoor seating area. Has a GREAT chicken and "brocollie" pizza and then went down to the con. Zen and Loco were fresh back from a furry karaoke night at a local. Some of the bars and resturants really know how to get the $$$ from the fuzzies. We saw Innerwolf who invited us to his room at the Aux hotel and enjoyed a Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA beer beverage. Then it was running around the con, seeing a very HAPPY Awkwafaux and going back to Zen's room for a bit. mr.BOSTON LEGAL vodker was ready for WHOODAMN making. Boom and I headed and sat out until 5 when the ZZZZZZZ's hit.

Saturday, Boom was too tired to go with me early to the con, so I went and found a great lucky parking space. It was good because I had my ACTIONPACKER (TM) with Ric Sheepy in it. Zen had invited me to do the fursuit parade because Loco would have none of it and went to play golf. I changed into RicSheepy and decided to use a fan in my muzzle instead of the snorkel which meant I could BREATH and TALK. More on that in a moment. First, Zen and I got seperated because of the elevator, and I didn't see him again. Second, the fursuit parade was loosely put together maybe an hour before? I dunno, but I walked into where we were gathering, and didn't know where to go or what to do. The announcer guy told us to gather near FUDDBUNNY (or something). Well, that was fine and dandy but WHO THE HELL WAS HE TALKING ABOUT? (More on this in a Gush Limbarge rant on the next RADIOLAWN.) Finally it took Yappyfox to get our collective shit together and before we knew it, we were moving, and I held a rousing chorus of "Do Wah Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Do" with the other furs. The parade was great, but my gas ran out fast. I pushed my fat ass out of shape dogsbody onward.

We wrapped the parade in a big hall where we were going to have our picture taken. This was bad as 15 minutes in, the parade was still coming in and well, I had to get a drink or seven and I did something I hate, I popped my top. It was that or leave on a stretcher. Got back in line and wait. Wait wait wait. Now, move up a bit. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. I might have stood for 35 minutes total. The picture taker made requests that NOBODY COULD HEAR. More to gripe about on Gush. Then on exit, I hit the wall. I went back in and drank seventeen glasses of water and chilled then went. I decided to take the outdoor route for airflow and it would be shorter to get back to the room but halfway there, the battery pack to my fan went down my leg.

If you've read my LJs past, you know that I can't breathe in Ricsheepy so now I use a slobbery snorkel. The fan was working great despite being a little big and unwieldy battery pack. With no air moving, I couldn't breathe! I was rude to a fur who wanted to get my picture because I needed air! I stood there for five minutes gasping, got myself together and apologized to said fur and managed to walk into the hotel and up to....which room? Damn. No room key either. Sat by the elevator for 15 minutes then went to what room I thought was Zens and he came out to look for me. Whew.

Let's just say that I don't EVER want to do that again. I sweated so much, it was like I just came out of a pool. Even my socks were wet. My Ricsuit body will need the full Woolite treatment AND since I didn't have a change of underoos, my shorts quicly became wet and I looked like I pissed myself. Ahhh, the spoils of war.

Got back to the doghouse, cleaned up and went to AJ Michaels home near Stubenville OH. Had a great time drinking beer beverage and listening to NON PIRATE radio? That's right. A gathering of pirate radio fiends and Ham radio operators, and our broadcast was being heard through the web, relayed by a LEGIT SHORTWAVE RADIO broadcaster, then to the web. Times have changed, :) Had food, saw fireworks everywhere and good times good times. Came back to Boomers to type this and crash.

Good days MR. Gee! Sunday will be mostly AC for us pups. ARF! -Ric

PEEESS: Even with air on full, my spongesuit was still soaked! I really lost water weight big time.

Current Mood: Happy
Current Music: Natural Bark

Day Two-Pith Umbrellas and Liquid Crystals
Got up with about 8 hours of sleep and it was overcast and the started to get a little sunny. Well, because it was so cool out, I thought to sit out and do my LJ log. Set up, had a MORNINGBEER by my side (Something about IPA's tasting like grapefruit makes me want to have them as MORNINGBEERS.) Boomer came out for the enjoyment and not 10 minutes after, sun had gone away and sprinkles, then steady rain.

Came inside when it stated blowing on us and well, I had a fun idea. We had wanted to go out in the rain with the umbrellas we bought at Dollar General. Boomer's is the one we bought in Madison when we went there. I bought mine on Boom's next visit to Cleveburg. So, walking does a body good and walk we did. Stopped at a BP AM/PM store to get a cheap chicken sandwhooch. Buy two things from the grill and get a 44oz drink free. I thought it said UP TO...and the guy had to charge me full price. EXCUSE ME, I Don't NEED a 44oz drink, but too bad. That was a head cocker. I could have bought the massive 100 oz mug for $8.99 and get re-fills for $1.59. America's soda issues grow to FAT proportions. The guy said it could be used as a stool :)

When we left BeeeP, it started POURING, but it was great because we were two dogs, getting slightly wet, enjoying the weather with our umbrellas! Yay! Went to Shop and Save to buy some BBQ fixins, and well, we started to regret not coming to the Sheeeeeeooooopppp and Save with the car. We went from basket to cart as we got bargain fruits, onions, sauces, butterspray and a ton of cheap MEAT. There is a little cooler where they keep "last day" meats, and we happened upon a ton of ground beef and lunch meats. I'm not to keen on the lunchmeat because who knows how old it is. Sure enough one of the packs of sliced ham had gone brown and then, A HUGE SPOT OF MOLD. *shudder* That would have turned me off right there, but Boomer took that pack to the meat guy and kept the rest. Boom's umbrella also shot a rod! Cheap "plasticmetal" rib on his brella snapped in the middle, not where it was connected, and shot up through the fabric. What you get is what you get. Cheaper cheese.

Walked back home in the cloudy not rain, unpacked out stuff, cleaned up and got in my car to get our chili making canned goods together. We thought it would still be raining that evening, and we bought all the cheap meat, why not have a summer chili? We went to Savaleet. (SaveALot) as they have cans of beans, maders, chili powders cheaper than anyone else. Stopped at Family Dollar. Stopped at Walgreens to get ICEES and Boomer found a little ruby gem on the floor that looked as if it was part of a jewelry making kit for kids. I had him leave it on the counter. Having worked at HILLS years back, I know that even the smallest toy probably came from something bigger in the store and walking out with it is stealing. *good GODS I be too damn honest and S*IT!* Went to the Dollar General to complete our shopping trip and came back to the Metro doghouse to start brewing chili.

IM'ed a few peeps, and made a call to Zenwolph who said that Whooodamns are ON this year. He has the makings this year for our favorite furry drink, which means, ROOM PARTY. My PBR will be unleashed! *snicker* Boom and I decided to not go to the con to do dinner prep and re-arrange his living room to be more like a theater room. Hobnose found a 37" LCD Westinghouse K-Mart Cheapie tv and when Hob didn't want it because it was smoking, it took Boom a few months but just like the ASUS Gaming lappy he got, he soldiered a few new thingys to it and LIKE NEW DIGITAL TUNING TV! The set looks great where it is now, but it's a temporary place as he wants to re-design his whole living room.

Watched the rest of MYSTERY MEN and well, Kinka Usher was pushed. :) What the hell were they thinking? It isn't even a "C" movie. It's tons of talent, doing nothing on screen, but we got to hear PeeWee laugh again! Yay! Big letters as the credit rolls "Artie Lange". Keep getting those residual checks from ELF. Then we watched the Tim Allen vehicle "The Shaggy Dog". Again, not the best flick, but people changing into dogs to an audience of dogs who'd like to change into dogs.... I just can't get over a dog becoming a man on a city courthouse steps, and he's naked...and NOBODY CARES.... Chili came out great. One of the few things I cook that turns out a crowd pleaser every time.

Crashed at about 3am. Friday funday ahead. What mall mysteries are we going to find? Stay tuned! ARF! -Ric

PEE ESS: Yeah, about our plans changing? Right about now I should be on a tour of Yuengling in Pottsville PA. We decided we're having just too much fun chilling here in the BERG so, no beer tour for JOO. Waldameer is still a GO however. Get a hodelmodel on Monday and ride stuff on Tuesday.

Current Mood: Floppy Rainy
Current Music: Rutles References

Day O---Day O--Daylight come and me having fun!
Tuesday night I bid bye bye to work for a week plus of fun fun fun till my Nissan goes away. Actually, last weekend was spent trying to get a new car. They had a 2009 Ford Focus, with exactly the same equipment as my Nissan only it was a 2 door, for 12995. When push came to shove, the move was to get my cheap jeep repaired again in hopes I can get two more years from it. (Said this two years ago and two years before that.)

So, went to the Brew Keeper and had beers as usual, plus finally watched FAT SOFTBALL to a stunned fanbase of three. They liked it. Lots of work.

Wednesday, got the car all loaded up and came to Pitt and immediately sat out for an hour drinking my leftover beer from before. Rainy rain started. First we went to the thrift store nearby and I bought some VHS movies for only 99 cents. (Trainspotting first USA release and Mystery Men to see how bad it is, and it is bad.) Boom bought a steamer, that didn't work, but more on that in the next report. We went for food at Ikea which now features WIFI. Boom had to use his NETBOOK which now has a carrying case that was a "Big Bible" case I found at Ollies Bargain Outlet for $5. Boom is happy and a little blessed *snicker* Had our hot dog weiner franks for snacking and jetted to the ALT Super Beer store, actully a bit cheaper and my new fave. Got Y! in bombers, a case of Lagunitas IPA (holy YUM)and then bought a case of PBR (yes..PBR) for 11.29! Nothin better than slummin.

Next we stopped at Dollar General for a traditional stock up fest. We also stopped by the liquor store for some gin and tonic making materials. (Gotta have something to drink when we cameo the con.) Then back to the metro Pitt doghouse and we decided to walk to K-Mart as I needed some tape and other sundries I forgot to get at the General. Made it back from our hike and decided to go to dinner at Hop House where the Spaghetti and Meatballs are awesome. Got a beer sampler where one of the beers was not what I ordered and the waitress said she couldn't take it back! I didn't make the mistake dammit! Don't mess with my beer beverage! She brought me the right beer sample and said she'd paid for it. *shakes head* (They might have thought I would have drank it and not said nuthin. You can't make a shi**y beer like Magic Hat #9 fruit tasting mess into Clipper City's Heavy Seas Hop III without expecting me to notice.)

Finally we went down to Anthrocon 2009 and saw much life around the place. So cool to see peeps having fun. Believed I saw some Ohio Furry folks, but didn't say hello because I forget nicks a whole bunch and saw Tigerwolf who was very tired after setting up registration and the net room. We're going to have more fun doing cameos and likely I'll wear RicSheepy downtown at least twice this weekend. Came back and watched Mystery Men for about 45 minutes until I crashed from boredom and Boom crashed a little bit after. He likes the movie so far. I bought it because Artie Lange is in it.

That's it, that's all. Halfway into today, plans have changed. More about it in the next update.

WOOF! -Ric

Current Mood: Rainy
Current Music: Cool

Ready For FAT SOFTBALL?
Today at 4pm EST on the Pawpet stream. http://pawpet.tv/index.php?main

Yes, it should fly today. Boomer The Dog and the ever FAT me, doing what we do best. Making silliness seem like dogliness. Heh. Okay, it's no big deal, but it's a VIDEOLAWN, and it's Boomer and myself doing a show about my softball BEER LEAGUE. It was a lot of work, but we had a blast making it..NOT EDITING IT *snicker*

Unless DOG intervenes, at 4pm EST, we have GO!

Spent most of the day soaking up the rays, getting things done. I'm a DO-ER and I get things DONE. Little dog time coming up with a odd little con involved. All your Nissan Sentras belong to me.

ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: Bouncy '09 14700
Current Music: Area 38 Trance Muzik Incarnate

A Little Bit Of Lawn
It's been raining here so can't mow. Well, I could this morning but...

We have ONE MORE GAME!!!!!!!!

I was at the 'Keeper on Wed, when Mark the Owner/Brewer said that we had a playoff game today at 3pm. I looked at the record on-line and, we were not the absolute worst and that means we're playing a team that had lost one game. Trouble is, that's the team that handed us our asses in our worst loss of the season! Mark said we're playing this one to win, which means, ME NO PLAY...

...but I'm going to be there for team support while we try and survive our first game and move on in the series. Trouble is, with the Pawpet show returning, and running Radiolawn at 4pm, I'm going to MISS the show I've been promoting.

Thankfully Yappy was KIND enough to run our other VIDEOLAWN (another hint) (Jeeze, don't you get it by now?) from New Years because that was a base show, but quite good. The next Pawpet show after will be the premier of the Radiolawn summer season. So, If you haven't seen how FAT FAT FAT Gush Limbarge is in real life, see this one and stay for the PIE. They are having the 420th show tonight. Pawpet 420. Hmmmmm. Will it be Muppets with spliffs? Will it be Great Space Coaster with a broken washing machine pounding out rhythms? Will it be Between The Lions only with bloodshot eyes and a lot of "Mawwww Duuuuuuuudes". Will it be New Zoo Review awww go F**K yourself Charlie?

Tune in and find out :) Pawpets, still smokin. Tommy Mutt? Arrested for selliing Folkmanis BONGS? 5pm EST on an internet near HUGH.

-Ric

Current Mood: Awake N Stuff
Current Music: Gush VIDEOLAWN

Balls to the BEER WALL
Didn't do much on Sunday other than Softball. I was up really late, woke in the late morning, and stayed on line for lots of time until it was time to go for softball. It was a double header and the last two games of the spring season. I was determined to get on base. Even if I took a walk, I would get on base somehow.

This whole season has been loss after loss. After the first game when I played a little field and missed at two at bats (making at least contact with the ball once only to foul out..), that set the tone. The beer after the game was why I was playing. I played very little over the next 7 games. I was a designated hitter in 3 out of 7 games, all with the same result. I made contact, but fouled out. (The game that Boom and I filmed for RADI--*ooops, secret at 4pm EST this Sunday, maybe*, was such a bad blow-out, I got to play the field but only because nobody else wanted to go out, it was 34-0 at the time.)

We won ONE game against the only other no-win team. I wonder if they won again. Eh... That was a double header and I didn't play at all. I didn't complain. I was in it for the BEER.

Sunday was a double header. I bought a new bat, never had a bat before. (Never owned a glove, never owned a ball, hell, never played the game of softball ever! Played hardball in a team once when I was 10.) I liked the length and feel of the bat. Just the right weight to make my swing follow through.

We started playing and two members of my team used my bat before me and they used it for both games. The loved how it felt and they hit lots with it. Then, I came up and well, ICK. Double whiff. I felt lower than low. I did play in the outfield and felt pretty good about that because I helped on two plays. With the extra players, I didn't get to bat again in that game.

Second game came up and well, we were quickly in the outhouse. I did make it up again. We had two quick outs and well, I thought it would be my last chance to at least get on base in the season. Surely I wouldn't get the chance again. This pitcher was less than good. I let him throw me a ball. Took a whiff at the next one and then, BAT ON BALL. The ball bounced almost straight down, in fair territory! I was told that the catcher bobbled the ball and I just made it on base. I had a HIT, I made it to BASE and in a TWO OUT situation! YAY.

No time to celebrate because the gal up next hit the ball and it was dropped by the shortstop. I was on second, and the next guy up got walked. That meant the girl up next automatically got a walk, meaning I SCORED! That was very exciting, but no time to rest as I was immediately back in the field where I was a big dose of ineffective. I wasn't over enough once and I wasn't far enough back another time. Kinda sucked. BUT, we were still in the game and still batting and when I got another chance, again with two outs!

Pitch One: Behind my back.
Pitch Two: Over my head
Pitch Three: Practically rolled by

I GOT ON BASE AGAIN! It was the first time the balls were so apparent that I could have had a golf club for the third pitch. Next gal walked, I got to second but the next guy popped up and was caught at short.

We were still on the field, but they scored the one more run they needed and the season was over.

TO THE BAR FOR BEER!

I woke in the morning in PAIN. I need the activity really really really bad.

ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: Tired
Current Music: Another stern replay thingy

Saturday In The C
Productive day here in the C!

I mowed my lawn first, then did some rinsing of the windows and patio furniture, then I went outsky to shop my brains out.

It was a Caribou frozen coffee first. Yeah, it's 4.09 for a cup of ICE, chocolate syrup, and coffee tasting stuff, but damn, still the best on a semi warm day. Went to Ollies, (a Biglots like store), only without the new stuff. (More of a treasure hunt store.) Found Boomer a bag for his net book for $5. It was meant for a huge bible, and it's padded to protect all the good god. If it fits his lappy, I'll have WON! (We dogs love finding a bargain). Went next door to the Sears store, didn't buy anything but dropped a deuce. Hey, when you gotta go...

Had lunch at the Mmmmmmm Chipolte, which is on the outskirts of Great Nothing mall. I used to live down the street from this monstrosity, and it's gained a HUGE Gaylens/Dicks and a big Dillards that killed the Dillardsgate I worked at when I first got back to Cleveland. I parked really far out so I could walk walk walk and burn off the burrito. Went to the BessBuy, to look for Midnight Juggernauts. (A interesting band I got on a sampler for free back in Louisville.) Still looking.

Left the Best Buy and went to Record Exchange, because I felt I had a better chance to find MJ there and...no dice, but I did buy BARK! The depressing story of a chick that goes doggy and her husband's attempts to deal with it. It was 2.50 and I figured, even used, it's an original copy and it's 2.50!

Then, I made my way to Target and saw that they did NOT have those unscented natural Wet Ones anymore. Bummer. (Jeeze, THIS is what LiveJournals were made for! HA!) I also looked at Softball bats, but couldn't bring myself to get one. I trucked across the street to Wally for a purchase fest. Done there, I decided to return to TarJAY for something.

I am now the proud owner of a Easton softball bat just like the one I have batted with during the games. *shrug* Prolly not going to see much use, but I don't care. I'll be ready for the double header today!

So, got a ton of walking in, even after eating. I could feel the burn when I got to Giant Beagle to buy some foodstuffs. Oh yeah, that's an overweight body on accident mis-formed legs. Urgh.

I watched "Free Enterprise", a movie I bought at Ollies, with William Shatner. Wow. What a huge cinematic piece of $%&*#! Shatner flicks are horribly bad unless they are Trek more or less. Anybody remember Kingdom Of The Spiders? Shoot Or Be Shot?

Also watched the DigiTV premier ep of IT's ALIVE. http://www.theitsaliveshow.com/

They went from low powered TV and cable to a digitv side channel in Pitt. Great horror movie television lives even in the new world. The netcast is what I saw. Still the same.

EDIT: Haaaaannnntttiiicccipppaaaaation Yep. Another week to wait for Radiolawn's return. Keep LOOKING for it :)

ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: Upbeat
Current Music: NEW DEVO in a CONCERT BOOTLEG on YewTeub! WOW!

DigiTV, get used to it..or..WAHHHH, No got my stories no mo
First of all:

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S

P I T T S B U R G H

P E N G U I N S!!!!!!

Yes, I know I live in Cleveland, and our cities are arch enemies because of Steelers vs. Browns, but I love the city of Pittburgh. In going there for 13 years, I've learned so much about the city that, well I'd move there. You know why? SO I'D ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO CELEBRATE WHEN MY HOCKEY TEAM BUSTS THE SUCKASS OF THE REDWINGS! Well, we do have a great bassetball team...L! We have a great baseball...L! We have the BROWNS man...L! I can root for Ohio State! L...L...

I should be a Redwings fan, but I just can't root for them. In fact, I see so little hockey on TV, but after watching game 7 last night, and seeing the Penguins turn it up to beat the home team, a feat that hasn't been done in a game 7 championship series at ALL in ANY SPORT since 1979...

Yeah, we have only minor league hockey here in Cleveburg, but NHL is the only game to watch.

In other nose, the DTV conversion passes with a whimper. It's no big deal, but what is a big deal, HOLY SHEET, there are a LOT of low power UHF channels still on the air! Tonight, I walked through every channel on my studio/computer room TV and found 7 stations. I found the RTV network with McHales Navy, Kate and Ally, A Team, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Gallery... lots of stuff.

At this hour, there are a couple of infomercial channels, HSN (super...super..), a "trendy" religion channel for teensomethings and what appears to be a channel from Canada? Funny what you'll find when they take your TV away.

My gosh dude, what is all that heaven/hell blah blah blah with the hair? Oh, yeah, they want your donations. Figures. 17 year olds can donate too, then go get drunk and FORNICATE! Just ask for forgiveness on Sunday dude...then watch the race! It's all GOD.

ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: Religimous
Current Music: Let's pray. Oh lord, take away analog TV so they might see my hair!

YAY!
POST DIGITAL SWITCH

The only channel I can get is a low powered UHF running....

MC HALES NAVY!!!!!!

YAY! Ernest Borgnine, Joe Flynn and Cleveland TV native TOM CONWAY aka TIM!

-Ric

UPDATE: At 10:30, it's Jane Curtain's amazingly funny "Kate And Allie". Haven't seen this in...well, never saw it :) Ohhh, my antenna on top of the house brings it in better, also a home shopping net and a PBS that hasn't shut off yet. Damn, someone is mowing the lawn, that means Kate and Allie has lines running through it. Such a shame to miss fine quality 80's TeeVee.

The hell with cable man, we don't pay for free media--er wait, I have Sirius don't I? FAIL!

Current Mood: Floppy
Current Music: Tim Conway there as TVs go to the trash...

Goodnight, Goodbye, and Good Luck
Here I am at 9:45, watching regular broadcast TV right near it's last gasp. In Cleveland, everything goes dark at 10. (At least major channels.) Being that I don't usually watch TV at 10AM, I have to watch the end of worry free broadcasting, the end of useful TVs, the end of B&W TVs as we know it watching:

Today cooking a steak and veggies.
Regis cooking some kind of meat.
Scrabble on TV. (Wow!)
Syndie Fox gab fest. (Lip gloss audience)
God.
Ernest Angely's TV 55, (no swearing on MATLOCK) GOD.

...wait! Clifford's on PBS now... AT LEAST IT'S DOGS!

DOGS ON TV!

Out with a whimper, it is. Gee, remember where you were when 1999 turned to 2000? Yawn!

(Actually, I was on Yiffnet and listening to Art Bell while he got all excited over a local black out somewhere in the US. )

That's it. That's all. Landfills will swell as guys roam the streets saying "Bring Out Your Dead".

Ahhh the hell with it. Gotta get to work. -Ric

Current Mood: Eh...
Current Music: Channel 5's FEY announcer: "We've shut Down Bay Bee"

The Long And Winding Weeeeeeeekeeeeennnndddd
Well then, Boomer was nice enough to come over again this weekend. Why? *Belch "Why NOT?" We had troble getting on my net again. It was being bitey, but we got it and went to Roosters for a nice din din. Boom got a really killer ASUS gaming computer for $200. It's pretty close to state of the art. It had a coke spilled on the bottom of it and needed some cleaning and re-solder and a jump of the board, and it works good as new. Having a laptop better than your really fast desktop must be great. He put Ubuntu on it too, and it sails. It has an OLED read-out for when he gets an email and is watching videos. It does have the tinnest sound, but that makes sense too, you'll most likely use a sub system or good headphones for it. Bravo pooch! We then watched TOMBSTONE as Boom has never seen it. "Say WHEN" Val Kilmer 10k Run. I'm your Huckleberry.

Onwards and upwards, as I mowed the lawn and we got out on the road. We went to City View Center first and saw The Bottom Dollar (former Circuit City with original sineage still up...Bottom Dollar Just What I Needed...feh) Cityview was built on top of a huge toxic waste dump with the most toxic elements short of radioactive stuff under a "safe" membrane. Yeah. Sure. It opened with big fanfare for two years, and since, CC's gone under, JoAnn Fabrics and Petsmart moved out, Giant Eagle is threatening since the WalMart opened and closed! It's one of those odd cases of a new store giving flight because they have had problems with settling and methane gas scares, so they bolted. There are more stores left unbuilt and all sorts of court ranglings around the property and a whole 'nother shopping center across the freeway, partially built, and abandoned. We waited 10 minutes for Hotdogs at the Giant Eagle gas station and left.

Saw my Panera where I am always sending stuff to Boom on my lunch. Went to Best Buy and well, Blue Ray DVDs, especially of digital cartoons, are too odd to watch. Almost like 80's digital video for Laserdiscs. Too fake. Personal taste I guess. Went to Microcenter and geeked there for a while. I was put OUT of the market for a $300 full sized Acer computer because the plastic flexed like a Dixie cup! It was that thin! Right where you rested your wrists to type! They had an E-Machines with a smaller screen and a camera for the same price that was built better. Still, I'll just wait thank you. If Boom could find a lappy so good for cheap, I'll wait.

Then, to dinner with my Mom. We watched our softball film again and had dinner at Rocky River microbrew and then saw the Prisoner "Once Upon A Time" ep. Freaky. Off to home and crash we did.

Sunday, we saw UP at my local cinema. What a f-in GREAT film, and pretty much the best Pixar production I've seen. SQUIRREL! I actually lost it a few times. Best thing was, it moved so lazy like, it wasn't gag a minute. Of course, flying dogs was a little hard to swallow, but hell, it was a great fantasy movie. #1 for two weeks. I hope it makes it to three. We got some ice cream at Dairy Hell. The chocolate coated waffle cones are the bomb! We sat outside and enjoyed them on my patio. Then it was time to see the airing of my Radiolawn show, but Yappy was having net troubles, and didn't even have the chat server up and going. He said he'd rather air it the following week, and I thanked him. Better to not see it than to see it half assed. We left for Softball, stopping at Marcs to goof around a bit, had dinner at the Keeper and threw the ball around, and then to the field. We got killed again, only not as bad. We were going 1,2,3 and the other team was taking longer...but it still went really fast. Back to the Keeper for more beverages than it was off to home and crashland.

Saw the Boom off and work resumed. Back to life, back to reality. :P

In less than a month, AC, but more important, 6 days off from work. Can't wait can't wait, can't wait.

ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: SQUIRREL!
Current Music: Silence Is Golden (TM)

Relapse O Weekends
Okay, so the Bergandsheepy weekend pretty much ended the way I stated when I last left you. We worked and worked and worked on the film, then we found out that if even if we would have had it done on time, it still wouldn't have been ready. Encoding for MP4 using two different formats. One format encoded fine, the other, a DIVX format, didn't convert properly. Boom finally figured it out and improved on it long after I'd left. It's easier to encode all bits of film to use in one format BEFORE working on editing, or something. We did go to the Hop House for a pizza feast, as tradition dictates.

The CAVS tanked miserably. I won't say anymore, but being from Cleveland? I couldn't have expected anything else.

Saturday again, a mow, some shop, and LOTS OF SPORTS. Tribe, Cavs disgrace and HOCKEY also go boom. (I'm a Pen-Goo-Wins fan more or less.) Sunday, we finally WON! The beer league I'm on played the only other no win team and we were better! Really, it started close, then we took off. Scary. Then the second game, back to the losing streak.

Saw the final few eps of Boston Legal on DVD. I still haven't watched almost all of season 4 and my Sanford and Son set stopped at the eps when Red Foxx was out on strike. Maybe I should just skip those as they are like, toss aways. Whitman Mayo was pushed.

Because there was no Pawpet show last weekend, this weekend will be a treat. Boomer and I produced a film on softball that I'm really proud of because it's tightly edited and funny. It puts me back in the Radiolawn business too, for the summer, hope to have 6 or 8 shows come out. Going to beat the total this year, really. Really, see the show at 4:00 pm EST Sunday and stay for the pie!

Random nudes:

Repaired my 8 cell battery charger. Took me a bit, but I'm dangerous with a soldering gun.

Last Leno: Don't let the door hit you in the ass Jay. Never liked him. Never.

First Conan: In two shows, I've had more laughs at 11:35 than I have maybe in a couple weeks. Love ya Dave, but Conan has got my viewership now.

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Last night, he had Steve Martin and Paul Simon on. The comedy bits and jokes were crappy. When Steve came out, the show got good. When Paul came out the show got better. When Paul Simon played with the Roots (Jimmy's house band) over the top excellent, one of the best performances I'd seen in late night.

Geeze, I'm jonesin for some rolly coasters. ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: Happy Dappy
Current Music: Howie Replay 3

Good LAWD is it this TOUGH
I'm here with Boomer in Pitt. We did the usual on Friday when I got here, got eats, but didn't sit out. Then, we were going to start producing a Videolawn. Big mistake. BIIIIIIIGGGGG MISTAKE.

Okay, you can have all sorts of ideas of what to do for fun when you're driving two hours to see a fellow dog. Then I realized, "I gotta work on Memorial Day" (a bullet I thought I'd dodged at work, but not with my "new old" position.) So, I knew this would be a cut short weekend.

I was looking at all the film we had taken, and decided to do our film differently. We shot new footage here at Boom's place and then started editing the magic together. Sure there was dinner at The Hop House, and we had Pasta and Meatballs which was always good, but back to producing.

WE SPENT THE WHOLE FRIGGEN DAY PRODUCING....and it was a nice day out too. By midnight we decided to sit out, but when we did, cranky and tired, I was frustrated that it took 20 minutes+ to listen to music, and then about 30 minutes later, I needed to crash.

SO, we didn't get the show done. We may take a late stab at it, but it airs at 4pm, and it's 10am now. I forgot to bring a backup show, so crap crap crap.

If we spend an hour more finishing a half hour show, it will be too much. I'll cut a piece of commentary on video we can piece to it while Boom is dropping in the audio, then wait till it renders in MP4 and then send it up to the Pawpet show. Here goes another day.

Art isn't this tough is it? Crap takes 30 seconds if you don't read the newspaper. :) ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: Loopy
Current Music: Dogs On Film...Dogs On Film

KIMMEL!
If you ever...EVER...wanted to throw up your hands and let it fly to where you work, Kimmel did it.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/jimmy-kimmel-demolishes-abcs-upfronts/?hp

Yep. He slammed ABC and said what needed to be said rather than towing the company line. It was either a well planned jam or a mighty, show ending FU to ABC. Either way, Bravo Jimmy Kimmel.

ARF! -Ric

Current Mood: Injuns Tankola
Current Music: Manager's BS

Weekend De Woofing
Saturday was supposed to be crappy fursuit day. As mentioned before, I had visions of a great protest and showing how great a "crappy" fursuit could be. Boom and I didn't hit the road until after 3pm, and so it was. I used to go to Cameocon for the Jimmy Johns and dead mall experience, but, so it goes. There are no cons left that I've attended since they were born, and so it goes.

I'm actually glad. Boom and I got off the freeway, stopped at a Caribou coffee and enjoyed the Bou, then back to my dog house. We did buy a giant umbrella for me at the DG, so Boomer could have the one we got in Madison. I took it out of the store and opened it up to a huge dent in the shaft and it was crooked. I walked back in and got another.

Dropped off things and decided to make a run to Sandusky for Fazolis. We did, and Italian fast food was had by all. It's the nearest one to me now, so a fave for Boom and I was being visited. We went to the sMall for mally goodness. I told Boom about the history of the place and what stores used to be where. Trivial poop really. We went to the Super wally and noted the small shoe department with 90% sandals and summer wear. We went to the Dunhams sporting goods store and saw glove oil, but didn't buy any and went to Staples to see if they had a case for his mini lappy. They did, but at $25... Him and I are cheepdogs afterall.

Rode back and went to the Drive In Theater and saw Star Trek, which Boomer dug a lot. We stayed for I Love You Man, and it was very funny and a little close to home as both Boom and I refuse to grow up when a lot of our good friends have "grown up." We're just Pups you know.

Drove back and saw an ep of the Prisoner and crashed thusly.

Sunday, the weather was cold but sunny, so I got my lawn done. Boom came around when I had finished and he was curious that my fridge was fitzed. He said his at home did the same thing, and that started a process where he disassembled it, found the trouble, the fan inside the freezer was not blowing and that made the outlet for air into the fridge freeze up, hence, the freezer worked, the fridge didn't. He took the fan out and with lithium grease provided by my brother, cleaned and re-packed the motor. Meanwhile, I used my steamer to melt the ice and clean out the whole mess, and when we were done, it was like I had a new fridge. We even cleaned the coils underneath. Boom save a $150 house call, or at the very least, 40-50 bucks for new parts.

Then, it was off to film my softball game. I got to play a bit, batted a foul out and made a few assists in the field. Did I mention I went in when it was 32 to zip? We got crushed, but you know, I had lots of fun. Boom and I went to the after beer at the bar, and I proceeded to get tanked to the bejeezus belt. We had great fun though, and played lots of catch and ate great food.

Boom dezzy'd me home and I crashed almost instantly. My only regret is losing the CVS camcorder where some of the film for our softball video was. It wasn't at the bar, most likely it was on top of my car when I drove off from the ball park. Kinda sucks, I'm going to try to call there and see if anyone turned it in. You'd have to know what it was and how to rig a cable to download it, otherwise, it's worthless, but damn. Damn damn.

Boom left with me in the morning, and that was that with that. Next weekend I'm going to return the favor and go ova dey. More fun will be had.

ARF! -Ric

PEEEESSSS update 5/19 1:45: YAY! I came home from the bar tonight, and shopping at wally, to find...MY CVS CAM! It was under a sweatshirt that I tossed to the floor in my motions to pass out on Sunday. WOOF!

Current Mood: Bitchin
Current Music: B-B-B Bad to the Bone --XM

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