Some of you know that we have had a long-term canine guest at our home: Dakota. Dakota married Cosmo and they had a little girl: Vudoo. Very sadly, Vudoo went swimming in the pool with inadequate supervision last Saturday and now resides under several hundred pounds of dirt in our way back yard pet cemetery, which is now becoming quite populated. We were all very sad about this, especially Dustin who locked himself in his room when he found out. Vudoo, we are sorry and we will miss you. Dakota, I guess you don't get spayed just yet after all.


Each morning, Dakota, Cosmo and I accompany Dustin up to wait for the bus at the corner. Dakota, a very smart dog (not that she often uses it for good...), has learned a new trick, which Dustin captured on video as follows:




Typically, she licks off the mucoidal delicacy on her first jump. This one did not dangle as well as others. Oh well. Who knows what other tricks we'll learn while waiting for the bus!

This next picture relates to my last post, item 6. This is how I knew Dustin was home from school today. Please notice 1) empty tp roll on the right, and 2) fully clogged toilet on the left! For goodness sakes! It simply doesn't take an entire roll to clean or even to polish such a small bum! I am considering tp rationing...

Finally, I wanted to add some interesting detail on the endless counting that goes on in my mind. First, you may find, as do I, that if you cluster the counting, it becomes at once more reliable and easier. For example, you can count to 10 by 1,2,3,4...10. OR, you can hear two groups of 3 beats and one group of 4 beats and that is 10. I wonder if any computer algorithms take advantage of this approach? It is WAY easier to count this way, then you just have to keep track of the 10's.
The other number related thing is that I sometimes convert to other number bases. For example, when I saw BJ and Katherine's house address, 11101, I converted it from binary to 29 base 10 (decimal). That made it pretty easy to remember and also serves as an error check.
So that's it for tonight's show. Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends :)

No pictures, just text, so if that's boring to you, adios. I am in a quirky mood, so here goes my six someone asked me for a long time ago but I ignored:

1. My mind works with numbers only. Names don't stick until a number goes with it, doesn't matter if it's a phone number, a serial number, or a tail number--I need numbers to think.

2. Which brings me to the next item: I count in my head for any repetitive activity in which I engage. It is automatic. It comes from my Medulla Oblongatta (however you spell that, Waterboy). For example, when I urinate, the counter starts. The number counting has been in french for 30 years now. So, a safety stop will count out to between 10-15. A recognizable but not yet serious situation is a 15-25 tic event. A wake me up out of a dead sleep will go for 30-45. A STOP everything now and go this instant will get 60 or more... And lest you think it is limited to dehydration exclusively, I count steps as I run, cycle, fill my water containers, chew, brush my teeth, etc, etc ad nausium

3. Speaking of brushing my teeth, I am meticulous. I think I passed this down to Amber (was it in your post about brushing teeth being an absolute prerequisite to going to bed?) So, my morning brushing gets 10 strokes for each "station" in my mouth. I have assigned 22 stations, which means 220 brush storkes, with each one being a "back-forth". Yes, I am OCD, no doubt. Night time gets double, with some extra work to make sure the nasty textured crap on the inside is for sure gone, cuz the tongue travels religiously and methodically over the teeth 24/7 and it KNOWS the crap spots and will NOT let me alone if there is some. So that makes 440 + at night. Now you know why it takes me so long to get to bed. The up side is that I recently went to the dentist for my first cleaning since 1993 (yes, that's before a couple of my kids were born). To their astonishment, the hygenists were amazed that they had no work to do. HA! Poetic justice!

4. Since the pre-existence I believe, I ALWAYS put on my left sock, pant leg, shoe, or whatever first, then my right. NO exceptions. If for some reason the right goes on first, I take it off and start over. This is scarry for some of you who thought you knew me. Oh well, breathe deeply.

5. I can't stand for the 3-way light switches (you know, the ones that have 2 or more places you can turn a light off or on) to be in the "on" position if the light is off, or in the "off" position if the light is on. I will go all the way across the house/office/yard to fix this anomaly. So, for exampnle, our front exterior porch lights can be controlled by a switch in the kitchen by the sliding door, by a switch at the front door, or by a switch next to the exterior door going into Nick's room. I will navigate the entire house to fix an irregularity with the switch position. Actually, this annoys even me, but I have to live with myself so I just do it as fast as I can.

6. I am glad that we are only responsible to post 6 items or I would possibly be reclassified by my peers out of the sane component of the human race. However, I may find some sympathy among other men with this last one. I only use two squares of TP at a time, neatly folded over, when doing my business. If by some unfortunate chance the quality of the TP is sub-par, it may have to be three squares to avoid a puncture. I use the full size, then fold in half and use again, then in half again, thus getting three swipes out of two squares. That maximizes the use out of that piece of flush-it-away expense. Until I started living with females, I assumed this was pretty much the norm world-wide. One roll of TP can last me up to 12 years. Since I have been living with women now for the past 29 years, I realize that one roll is only supposed to last one day--you know, one roll=one day. When we are on TP rationing in the last days, I hope to make some converts. It drives me insane(r).

So there you have it. I'm as weird a duck as ever quacked. I'll get back to pictures for the next post--much safer.