12/31/2012:
I had a really nice weekend down on Long Island. We played games all weekend, and I got to hang with some familiar people and meet some new ones. I had to work today, so unfortunately I could not be there for the New Years Eve party tonight, but I am also glad to be home for it so I can spend it with Joanna. Over the weekend, a lot of different games were played. We played Ascension, Dominion, Descent, and Lords of Waterdeep. One group of folks played Battlestar Galactica for what must have been about 4 hours. Jen, Steve and I even got a few hours of Diablo 3 in, which was a lot of fun. I brought my level 10 monk to their level 22 party and did surprisingly well. I died some, but not as much as I thought I might. After about 5 hours of playtime, I had gained 15 levels to their 8, so now sitting at 25 to their 30. Much better :) It was really nice to see everyone, and I was sad to leave, but I'll be seeing some of them again in a few weeks for our ski trip to Berkshire East :)

Last week, we finally moved all 3 boys in with each other, and everything is going great. There are still a few scuffles, but that always happens. No big issues yet, and we've found them snuggled in a pile on multiple occasions, so we don't think there will be any problems. Yay :)


12/27/2012:
Had a very enjoyable 4-day Christmas break. Mom and Dad came down Saturday afternoon and we joined Dennis and Diane at Masse's for a very nice seafood dinner. Afterward, we hung out at the house for a little while before Mom and Dad went back to their hotel. Joanna and I watched a couple of movies after they left: Despicable Me and Identity. Joanna hadn't seen Identity, and the other was new for both of us. Joanna figured out the main twist in Identity before the end, but still enjoyed the movie, and we both liked Despicable Me.

Sunday morning, Mom and Dad came over and we went out for a nice breakfast at Bernie's, then came back and had a little gift opening. We kept things very small this year, and all agreed it was good. What I really wanted was time with family and friends, and I got that for sure :) After some more hang time, Mom and Dad left to drive home, and Joanna and I spent the rest of the day relaxing. That's what I definitely did the most of over the weekend, and it was good :)

The weather was nice on Monday, so I took the opportunity to put together a wood pallet out of some lumber I bought at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago. It will give me more room to stack the wood that I split out back. I also brought some more wood inside, since we started using the fireplace during the weekend to add some warmth and comfort to our home. Later in the day, the Campbells came over to visit for awhile, and brought cookies and a gift for the rats: a crinkle tunnel! They really like playing in it. We all went down and played with the boys for an hour or so. The kids had a good time, we had a good time, and the rats were pretty much played out. Near the end, Oliver and Timothy, who still have a few issues with each other, were lying together behind Sean, hidden away from the kids. After they left to head home, we ordered out. Joanna wanted sushi and I got chinese food. That was our Christmas dinner :)

Tuesday, Christmas day, was spent relaxing and consuming a variety of snacky foods: cheese, crackers, sliced pear, beef stick. Joanna had the rest of her sushi. I mostly just had the snacks :) We still have plenty left over, which I expect we'll consume over the next week or so. We also have plenty of cookies; Mom brought some 7-layer cookies, and the Campbells also delivered a tin to us. And we also have banana bread that Joanna made :) I played Starcraft II pretty much all day, working my way through the campaign since I never finished it. I think I'm nearing the end now. It has been quite fun. It was nice to have a whole day to play, without feeling like I should be doing other things, as is often the case :)


12/20/2012:
Last weekend was pretty nice. It was beautiful outside Saturday, and Joanna and I spent the day out, taking care of some errands and enjoying the day. We donated some books to the library, donated some items to Savers, and also bought a few things there: a new green work shirt for me, and a nice pair of shoes for her. That night, we joined Sean, Sarah, Geoff, and Nathan at the movies for a viewing of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". We all enjoyed it and are looking forward to the next one (the movie is split into 3 parts, 1 being released each year).

On Sunday, the weather was not so nice, so we spent most of the day inside. I did have a nice massage with Kristen in the afternoon. Always a pleasure. I also worked on my D&D stuff awhile and played some games: Diablo III, Dark Souls, and some Starcraft II as well. I am nearly done with my first playthrough of Dark Souls. I'm trying to defeat Gwyndolin currently, and then I will return to Lord Gwyn for the final battle. Then I can try on NG, or play through with my sorceress (she's all of SL 3 I think). It is very fun. And Dark Souls II is slated for release next year, I think, concurrent releases on console and PC, which will be awesome.

This work week has been fairly stressful. We have a lot of requests to process, and we're down 2 people (AJ and Tracey are on vacation). But we're holding on, and pushing slowly forward. I have also been feeling a lot of anxiety since last week. I talked to Kristen about it, and she said she thought the world was stressed right now. The holidays are not what they used to be; too commercial, less simple enjoyment. This year, we are going for simple enjoyment: few gifts, relaxing time. Mom and Dad are coming down this weekend to celebrate with us. We will not be going to VT, which saddens me but it is best this year. I hope to go up and visit my parents' house soon, maybe in January. If we ever get some SNOW, Dad and I could do some snowmobiling. We never got to go last year; never had the snow for it.


12/10/2012:
Had a nice weekend. Friday night, Sean, Ian and I played the third session of our D&D campaign. They wiped out a small kobold den, found a fair amount of treasure, and achieved 2nd level. On Saturday, I drove to CT to attend a small get together and dinner at Pete and Jen's, with them, Blaine, Shelly, and Dante. We had goose, which I hadn't had before. Dinner was well put together and well cooked, but goose isn't really to my taste. It was a good time, nice to see everyone and hang out for the afternoon and evening.

After returning home, I loaded up FireFall, which was having an open beta weekend. It's an MMOFPS, and it isn't too bad. The graphics are nice, it runs well on my machine, and I didn't encounter too many bugs or errors. The weekend was a server population stress test, so unfortunately there weren't many quests, and some of those were buggy, but I had fun for the time I played, that night and again on Sunday.

On Sunday, Joanna and I went to the mall for a few hours. We had a great time walking around, and did a little shopping for ourselves. Unfortunately, she didn't find anything she wanted for herself, but we got some things for the house, and I picked up a few articles of clothing I wanted (a full set of long underwear and a few new pairs of sweatpants). It was great just to wander, though. We did a few other errands as well, and were home by 3. I spent most of the rest of the day tooling around in FireFall. A fine way to end the weekend.


12/6/2012:
Kena passed away early this morning. She had been sick for a few days, and she passed easily, comfortably. She has joined her sisters now on the other side, to bounce and play. We love you, Kena.


12/5/2012:
Last weekend was nice, pretty relaxing. Joanna and I got up early Saturday morning and got our errands done; we were home by 11. I spent most of the rest of the day playing Diablo III, with a few hours of Starcraft II thrown in as well. I got some stuff done around the house Sunday: hung up a curtain rod in the office, worked on some D&D stuff, also cleaned up some junk branches and leaves in the back yard and put the barrels out for pickup.

Yesterday, we received some exciting packages in the mail: new curtains for the office and a new video card for my computer, a GeForce GTX 650 Ti :) I hung up the curtains during my break yesterday and installed the video card last night. I tested Dark Souls and it is much smoother, then played some Diablo III with everything cranked up, and it looks a lot better. I hope to test other games this weekend :)


11/29/2012:
The rest of last weekend went pretty well. I spent most of Saturday at Sean's place, playing D&D with Ian and him, followed by some Allstars Battle Royale on the PS3. Sunday was mostly a low-key day. Sean and I worked on de-handling his maul so he can re-handle it, then we hit Home Depot for some supplies, but unfortunately they didn't have what we were looking for. He's shopping around this week, and we may get together this weekend to finish the project so he can again have a working maul for splitting wood.

One unfortunate thing we found last weekend is that our new rats brought lice with them. I reported it to the rat rescue so they can notify the foster homes were they stayed. I took them to the vet on monday and it was confirmed as lice; we now have Revolution enough to treat all 4 rats, just to be safe. 1 dose per week for 4 weeks, to make sure we get the whole possible lifecycle. Annoying, but not the worst parasite. At least we can't get them and the cat can't either. Just need to be extra diligent with cage cleanings and Revolution treatments for a few weeks. The boys are already happier and more active after just a few days. Soon enough we can take all 3 boys down to the play room for some run-around time :)


11/23/2012:
Had a great Thanksgiving day yesterday. Played some Dark Souls (playing the DLC content) and some Diablo 3 (got my wizard up to 42; he'll be my next to 60), then Joanna and I went to Cal's Bar and Grill for an early dinner. I decided on a traditional turkey dinner, and she had shrimp :) It was nice to go out; we should do it more often, I think. We were home by 4, and spent the rest of the day relaxing. She played some Perfect World awhile, and I watched Captain America for the second time. It was just as good as the first time :) Later on, we got Oliver and then Kena out for some playtime (they are the only 2 rats not allowed to play together) while we watched some Mythbusters on Netflix. I finished off the night by finishing my book (book one of the Shadow Wars trilogy). Nice day :)

Today I slept in late, but was still very productive. I dusted everything in the living room, then vacuumed the house, upstairs and down. I cleaned out the meditation room - threw some stuff away, put other stuff elsewhere in the house, added a few things to the donation box for Savers - then vacuumed that thoroughly, in preparation for bringing the boys down there later for some meeting time. After all that was done, Sean and I split some wood from my pile for an hour or so. We got a fair amount done. I'm actually running out of room on my wood rack, so I plan to head to Home Depot and get a pallet or two (I'm sure they have tons) to stack additional wood. After Sean left, I worked on my D&D stuff awhile, to prepare for tomorrow's game with Sean and Ian. I have some stuff down, but want to work on it a bit more before bed tonight. Dinner time right now, though, and Lynx was demanding a lap so I'm sitting here for now. Going to load up some Diablo 3 for awhile, then head back downstairs later.


11/21/2012:
It's been a good month. Busy, but good. On 11/4, we bought a new boy rat, and named him Oliver. He was just 4 months old, alone in a cage at the pet store (if only we had gone one day earlier, we would have had both him and his brother). He is a very sweet boy, licky, playful. Last weekend, we adopted two additional boys from Mainely Rat Rescue, one 7 months old (Bear), the other a year (Timothy). We plan to introduce them to Oliver soon, probably tomorrow. I do not think there will be a problem. They are all very sweet; we have not seen any aggression in any of them.

On 11/9, I drove to Alexandria, VA, to attend my cousin Katelyn's wedding (on 11/10). It was a long drive, about 8 hours total, but a good one. The weather was beautiful, and I only hit heavy traffic in the expected places (getting out of NY state, and getting past Washington DC. I had a great weekend down there, reconnecting with family and also meeting some new family (I had never met my cousin Amber or Seth, and the last time I saw Sydney, she was 2 years old). It was a Catholic wedding, very formal in the ceremony and the reception; different, but I wouldn't say bad. Was definitely a fun time, full of friends and family on both sides. What a wedding day should be, I think. The day after the wedding, a group went to Washington DC for the day, but Mom and I chose to explore Alexandria instead. We spent 4 or 5 hours walking around downtown (downtown was less than a mile walk from the hotel). We had a nice breakfast (sat outside; it was a gorgeous day), then headed down to the waterfront to sit awhile, then walk around the town some more. We saw lots of little shops, and stopped in at a few. I bought some Turkish loose leaf tea and some Tanzania Kilimanjaro coffee for Joanna. The tea is very good, and Joanna loves the coffee. On Monday, I drove home. Mom rode with me; I took her to Albany to pick up her car from the airport (she flew down). It was great to have her company for the trip, and even with the Albany detour the drive home only took 8 hours. I had Tuesday and Wednesday off from work as well, and I spent most of the time relaxing, though I did get a few things done around the house to prepare for winter -- I put the draft stoppers in some of the windows (really more like draft hinderers, but they do help), and I also added another 2x4 to my wood rack out back, to provide an angled roof when the tarp is put over it for the winter, hopefully allowing the rain and snow to shed down the sides instead of collecting on top like it did last year.

Played my D&D game last Friday night, our first game since September. It was a fun session; the PCs are preparing to leave the area and head north to explore. There was some crafting and other preparations. And a giant hamster summoning (the hamster is giant; the summoning took 24 hours). N'Pesh is pleased with his new animal companion, and I foresee some interesting encounters in the future. Next session, they will most likely start their journey. I played a lot of Dark Souls over the weekend, and made solid progress. I have almost finished my first playthrough, and may go through again, with the current character or a new one. On Sunday, Joanna and I drove to Amesbury to collect our new rats and also bring back two girls that we fostered for a couple hours until their new owners came to pick them up. It was a four hour round trip, but was a pleasant drive.

I am tired of traveling, and have decided not to go to VT for Thanksgiving this weekend. I need a long weekend at home to rest. I hope to get back on a better sleep schedule; lately I've been going to bed later than is healthy for me. I also want to get some D&D stuff done on both campaigns (my main and the little one I'm running for Sean and Ian). And there is additional winterizing and organizing work I want to do at the house. Plenty to keep me busy, but I also look forward to some downtime, games and TV, and playtime with the new rats :)


10/16/2012:
Had a really great weekend in NH with Jeff and Sajin. I have an overwhelming love for the both of them. I drove up Friday night and attending a little Halloween / Housewarming party at their new apartment. It was a really nice, relaxed time. I got to reconnect with a few people and meet some new ones. There we good conversations and a few fun games. Sajin had to work early Saturday morning, but Jeff had the day off so we hung out at the apartment awhile then went out for breakfast. Later in the day the 3 of us went for a nice walk in the woods nearby. There is some magic in those woods, and it was nice to experience it. Afterwards, we went to dinner at a restaurant called The Farm, in Dover, and had a great meal. We finished off the night with some hang out time and some Wii sports games. Sunday morning, Sajin had to leave early, and I drove home when Jeff left for work around 9 am.

I arrived home just before noon. It was nice to get home early in the day; it gave me time to do some things around the house and still relax before my crazy work week. I got some laundry done and put some of the fans away for the winter. Also got Kena out for some playtime. I paid some bills, and filled out the necessary forms for our house refinancing and got those in the mail for Monday. All that done, I took a nice bike ride, exploring further out in the neighborhood, and really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to my next ride. Afterward, I played some Diablo III for awhile with Sean, then watched some TV to finish off the night. Very good weekend!


10/12/2012:
Walnut passed away last night, at the advanced age of 3 years, 6 months. He was bright eyed and chipper until the end. He had his grumpy days, but was a very sweet rat, very licky as long as the cage door was open. He is missed dearly.

We are now down to only one rat, Kena. She has been nippy lately; I think she is still a little confused about where Iris is, plus we moved her under Walnut's cage last week so we could completely clean the other cage. It now stands empty, silently asking for more animals to fill it. I came very close to buying a pair of dumbo boys at Pet Supplies Plus earlier this week. If they are still there next time, I think they're coming home with me. I don't want a ton of rats right now, but more than one would lift our spirits I think, and we have such a good home for rats, it seems a shame not to have more.


10/3/2012:
Iris passed away tonight. She had been sick for a couple of weeks, stuffy nose, lack of appetite. She took to the Vite paste well and ate a lot of it for several days, but for the last few days had been eating and drinking little, and not sleeping much either. She passed peacefully, laying on my arm. I miss you, little rat.


09/05/2012:
Cashew passed away last night. He hadn't been feeling well for several weeks, and seemed especially unwell last night, but I did not expect to find him this morning. It seems he passed on while sleeping last night, snuggled up outside the little wooden house. He had a good life, and passed easily. Goodnight, Cashew. We miss you.


08/21/2012:
Mom and Dad came down to visit last weekend. It was great to spend some time with them; I feel like I haven't done that as much as I'd like lately. On Saturday we went over to the Westfield fair. It was small, but it was a beautiful day to drive out and walk around for a couple of hours. After the fair, we returned home and separated for a couple of hours. Mom, Dad, and Joanna took naps. I was tired, but didn't want to sleep, so I played Diablo III instead. It helped me relax, and I felt better and more awake later on. In the evening, we went to dinner at Johnny's Bar & Grill in South Hadley, and had a great meal. None of us had ever been there before, and it was a nice treat. After dinner, we returned to the house to hang out and talk for awhile. Mom, Dad, and I took a little walk around the neighborhood and stopped at DQ to pick up some ice cream dessert. A little later, Mom and Dad returned to their hotel and Joanna and I enjoyed an evening together. The following morning, we went out for breakfast before seeing Mom and Dad off to head back to VT. Overall, a very enjoyable and not very stressful weekend. :)


08/18/2012:
I had just said how well Nilla was doing, 2 days ago... and then her health dropped off rapidly. Joanna took her to the vet yesterday. She was very congested, having trouble breathing. The vet thought she may have pneumonia, and gave us some antibiotics for her. Her health continued to deteriorate yesterday. Joanna held her all day, and we took turns holding her in the evening after I got done with work. Nilla passed away last night around 11:00 pm. There is a Nilla shaped hole in my heart now, and it hurts. In time, good memories will fill it, but for now it feels empty.


08/16/2012:
Happy birthday to me... though it would be happier if I didn't have to work today. I thought too late about trying to get the day off, and someone else already scheduled it. Oh well..next year I should be able to get it.

I am still free of kidney stone pain. I have a followup appointment with the doctor the first week of September, so we'll see what she says. I'm going to assume "you need to drink more water" will be in there somewhere. I put down a liter and a half a day, on average, but less than half of that ever seems to make it all the way through; it is used up elsewhere, apparently.

Nilla is doing much better, amazingly. A month ago, we were sure she'd be gone in a matter of days. She is still floppy, but mostly back to her Nilla-self otherwise: energetic for short periods of time, then snuggly. She has been eating the pellets we give her, so her teeth seem to be in better shape, too. She goes in tomorrow to see the Vet and check that situation, but it seems to us that everything is going very well.


08/08/2012:
I passed my kidney stone last Thursday, in the early morning, before my doctor appointment. This was fortunate, because I was able to capture it and give it to the doctor to send for analysis. Also fortunate, of course, for the reason of "much less pain". I had a CAT scan yesterday, and need to perform one other test, and then I'll meet with the doctor in early September to go over the results. Sigh. Hopefully there are not any more stones in there...


08/01/2012:
My weekend started off nicely, but ended poorly. D&D friday night (my game - PCs are assaulting a goblin cave system). D&D saturday at Pete's (his game; we are flushing goblins from some ruins near an elven city). So far, so good. Sunday, I woke feeling like crap, and my back hurt. Went out, did a few errands, came home, still felt like crap, and the pain intensified...and then I knew... kidney stone. Damn stones. 4 years since my last one, and I had hoped they were gone for good. Turns out not. :( It is now Wednesday and I have not passed it yet. I have an appointment with the urologist tomorrow morning, and we'll see what happens there.


07/18/2012:
We think Nilla may have had a stroke, aneurism, or similar issue sometime in the last couple of weeks :( She is sleeping most of every day, wobbles when she walks, has trouble gripping with her teeth, and is overall floppy. She still seems comfortable, and crawls out into our hands when we open the cage. It is just a sad situation, but we are making the best of it.

Also, Lynx was diagnosed with diabetes a few weeks ago, and we need to inject him with insulin twice per day now. He is also on prescription food (purina DM, soft food). He seems to be doing well with it. He has another checkup at the end of next week, and we'll see where he is at then. Hopefully he can put on some weight; he has lost about a pound and a half since February.

07/01/2012:
I am feeling significantly better today. I still have some neck pain, but it has been improving all week, and today is the best yet. Because of this, I have been able to get almost all the things done this weekend that I wanted to :) Yesterday, Joanna and I ran errands. We hit Ocean State Job Lot, Home Depot, Walmart, and Price Rite, picking up various required things. After returning home, Joanna made us a tasty dinner of sausage sandwiches with sauteed onions. I hung up new blinds in the bedroom, and then after dinner we attached our curtain tiebacks to the living room wall so we can let some more light in :)

Today, I did all of my outside stuff. I got the lawn mowed and the trimming done. I also pulled some very tall weeds from the area near the gas meter out front (some were as tall as me), and then cleaned out that corner, near the steps. We had been using it for a dumping ground for rat cage cleanings for quite awhile, but we won't need to shake all the towels and hammocks out anymore; I bought us a shop vac yesterday, and we'll use that to clean the cages from now on. It'll make things neater all around, and hopefully keep some of the insects that like that sort of environment further from our house.

With all that done, I only have a couple things left on my list. I have a curtain rod I need to hang in the office, and I need to order some curtains to hang on it. We also need to rehang all our pictures, now that the living room painting is done. Small things, really. If we get to them today, great. If not, we can get them done later this week. I think it's time to relax with some games :)