Seek The Substantial

Miranda, Courtney and Ashley F.

Greggo, the Birthday Boy and Justin.

Stetty and Daniel.

K. Mitch’s kid being funny.

Richie and Justin.

Daniel turned 30 and after and difficult start to the day, very windy and cloudy, it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. To me there is really nothing better that friends hanging out, enjoying the company and talking. It truly makes for a very stress-free life, a simple life.

Years of paint on an old chair. Luckily, I was given the task, two weekends ago, to sand this son-of-a-gun down. After putting two coats of paint on it someone doesn’t like the way it turned out.

Olive doing what she does.

Puppy dog Blue.

My wife and I spent last weekend gardening. We actually had a really good Saturday together and I think that we got lots of things accomplished. We bought bluebonnets and once I get around to taking some good pictures of them I’ll post them. I really like the idea of planting bluebonnets, I don’t know why, but I do.

Zoey taking a little time to pose for a pictures.

I admit I haven’t written as much as I would like to recently. I really haven’t been in the mood to write, but I know that this is not an excuse. When I first started this thing (I think it’s been 4 or 5 months) I posted links without much content. Now I feel like that I don’t need to post links, but instead should focus more on content. And let’s face it, content is hard to come by, by. This may mean that there will be fewer posts, but that will also mean that there will be more to each post. I know that this doesn’t satisfy those of you who expect 3 weekly doses of PuppyDogBlue and I’m sorry. Maybe things will change. There are a couple of things that have been on my mind recently.

This past Saturday I calked almost the entire back-side of the house. I’ve been meaning to do this for a really long time, but due to cold weather and more importantly, laziness, I’m just now getting around to this task. I know that this will require yet another coat of paint, but I’ve got all summer to get it done and I’m not under any sort of rush. As I was calking my wife went with one of her friends to First Monday and I was left to my own devices. Spending the entire day without your buddy stinks, it’s no fun, I don’t like it.

Sunday I helped Justin and Ashley F. move into their new home. Really there were only about 4 or 5 items that Justin needed help with and Tony and Greggo assisted as well. There is something that I realized, I am a weakling. I haven’t worked out in a really long time and the past 3 weeks I’ve been trying to get myself back into some semblance of shape. I started out doing as many pull-ups and push-ups as possible. Now that I’ve worked out the soreness I’ve got some starting numbers. My goal this week is 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups. These are not done all at the same time and in fact it takes 4-5 sets, but this is my goal for this week. Yesterday I did 55 pull-ups and today I did 107 push-ups. Baby steps.

I don’t know if I’ve ever given the proper shout-out to Tony and Leslie for their help on my and wife’s home. We never could have finished without them. Really what they did was above and beyond, it was completely selfless and incredibly appreciated. They spent numerous weekends helping when they had their own projects to complete. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I really don’t know where to start here, this may be more of a rambling string of words rather than a coherent text. My wife says that I can make someone feel terrible without saying a word. I never intentionally want to make someone feel bad, but I suppose it happens. I’ve never really understood how I do this. I reckon it is my silence that is so horrible, the simple fact that I will simply not say anything if I am offended, I will keep my mouth shut and move forward. Despite that fact, I do forgive and I tend not to hold grudges. I move on, life is too short, etc. I don’t know where I got this particular trait, my father is a quiet individual who always seemed to say more with his face than with words, like father, like son. I am not an angry person, in fact, I am not angry at anyone. I am frustrated by some people’s actions and I am sure that there are some people who are frustrated with mine, but that is life. No one is better than anyone else, we all change, we all grow, none of us are the same people from 10 years ago, we are human beings who evolve and change, that is absolutely certain. I am a proud person, I have lived a good life, I love my wife, I love my family, I love my friends and if we didn’t feel so passionately about each other then there wouldn’t be a discussion about any of this. Life is not perfect, it is a constant battle, it is about forgiveness.

Miranda told me the other day that I should be a writer. I remember in junior high that I wanted to be a sports writer, but my insecurity about my writing style always held me back (I always prefered to write in a conversational tone and none of my teachers seemed to appreciate this laid-back style). I truly think that if I could do all of this over again, I would have given writing a shot. I do not think I am truly opinionated about things and so I think that having a weekly column would be a beating, but not being constrained by a particular syle suits me. The perfect job would be if everyone could simply pay me to write, whether it be on this blog or not, then I think that this would be the perfect job.

Last weekend Miranda and I watched two movies. We had not seen a movie in the theater since Friday Night Lights and thus these reviews are a bit dated. You can also find a list of my movies at Listal.

Elizabethtown: I really enjoyed this movie. I think that I really connected with this movie from a standpoint of failing and being able to pick myself up. This is what motivates me in life, the fear of failure and I have always thought that overcoming this is a huge hurdle for me personally. The acting was generally good and Kirsten Dunst was able to pull off the “quirky” girl, but Orlando Bloom seemed a little stiff, however, I think that this was how his character was supposed to be. Self-reflection is a good thing, I remember Duk telling me that he had a serious road trip to take and I told him that a road trip by yourself allows for this type of reflection and is a good thing and should be appreciated and not dreaded, more times than not you come out of it a better person.

The actual town of Elizabethtown, KY has a neat website, and you should click on the gallery for walking trails.

Wedding Crashers: I love anything from the Wilson brothers, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell and Stiller and I thought that this was a funny movie. Of course I watched it when I needed a “pick-me-up” and it was good to laugh. It was hard to envision Vince and Owen’s characters as attorneys or mediators, but it was funny nonetheless. Funny quote from Owen Wilson’s character in the movie: “That we’re all one. That seperateness is an illusion, and that I’m one with everyone – with the Prime Minister of England, and my cousin Harry, you and me, the fat kid from ‘What’s Happening,’ the Olsen twins, Natalie Portman, the guy who wrote ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ Nat King Cole, Carrot Top, Jay-Z, Weird Al Yankovic, Harry Potter, if he existed, the whore on the street corner, your mother. We’re all one.”

It was only a week ago when my wife and I (and Tony and Leslie) were enjoying ourselves in the beautifully sculpted landscapes of the Dallas Arboretum. Since then it’s rained 8 inches and tonight it’s supposed to be 32 degrees.

I do believe that this weekend I’ll try to haul off some more brush and scrape more windows. Once I get done with that I’ll start working on all of the outside crevices to make sure that they are completely sealed. It just doesn’t end. I am really ready for the cold to go away, I’ve had enough. You win.

You need to go here and look around. I would be willing to bet that there would be something there that would interest you.

This website is basically like being able to go to http://www.internet.com.

I can honestly say that there hasn’t been too much going on lately. I have had to adjust going back to work after taking off for two days, but I’m back in the swing of things and I’m ready to go and save the world.

This is how I spent my Saturday afternoon while everyone else went bowling. My mom had asked me to do something with her and I didn’t want to break that commitment, but when I got home I knew that I had some serious work to do. In this picture is 20 shirts, that’s at least 4 weeks worth of shirts that had not been ironed. It’s one of my greatest flaws and one of my least favorite activities. You would think that a big hot-shot attorney would be able to afford to have his shirts ironed, but that seems crazy. Paying someone to do something you can do yourself. Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of things I can’t do (i.e. fix anything in my house), but the things I can do, it seems silly to pay someone to do them.

By the way, I really appreciate my Mom, she has decided to frame my diplomas, after almost 10 years of them sitting in the closet. I would never have done this, for whatever reason, nevertheless, I thank her.

I have yet to receive any pictures from anyone and (foot tapping) I’m upset. I’ve got lots of room in my inbox so I’m not real sure why everyone is waiting. I hope everyone participated, and if you didn’t then I’ll try to catch you next year, or the next.

I don’t know if anyone reads the comments, but I want to give a big shout-out and congratulations to Duk who has decided to run for a judicial position in Missouri at the tender age of 30-ish. I’ve told him that he should blog, the kids love it (just ask TJ) and it would be a great way to document your journey. He’s still considering it. As an aside, I would be willing to do whatever is necessary to get the blog looking like it should and something that you’re happy with (i.e. red, white and blue everywhere, lots of Duk logos, etc.). You can send pictures and transcripts of public speeches, all things will be posted in a very professional manner (I might even spellcheck it). I also promise not to overuse the parentheses as I have done in this paragraph.

Puppy dogs sleeping in the evening.
We stalk squirrels in the morning
Mowing
The day closes.
Scraping the paint off of windows.

Dining room and kitchen wall that was removed.
Kitchen.
Removal of the dining room and kitchen wall.
The entire kitchen was sanded.
Water heater and pantry that became the pantry and fridge cubby.

Master bedroom.
Master bathroom.
Failing heater.