Claire Bear -- now Chloe

"Life all comes down to a few moments. This is one of them." - Bud Fox, Wall Street (1987)

I'm finally back at work after my four day weekend after my Lasik. It went by really fast, but I think my healing is going well. I did a lot of resting and my life consists of many many drops. I even got to finally see the 1987 movie Wall Street. I thought it was pretty good and had a great message at the end. Here are are few quotes that I liked:

Carl Fox: Money's only something you need in case you don't die tomorrow...
Bud Fox: There's no nobility in poverty.
Gordon Gekko: You gonna tell me the difference between this guy and that guy is luck? [points at a bum and businessman]

I tried to skip the more famous ones. I'm looking forward to Wall Street 2 now. I must say, I could really identify with the not being able to pay off the student loans part. To think this movie was made before Enron, the financial collapse and debt swaps.

I feel like it is time to get back to life as normal, but it feels anything but. I feel like I need to make as many changes as possible to see how many will stick. There are so many things that are part of my normal routine, now that putting on contacts is no longer one, maybe I have time for something positive to fill that time with. I have been thinking this way for the past five years and I have to admit, I've made many great changes in my life, but there is always so much more I can do.

So I have a lot of old glasses frames with lenses. I know the lenses are useless, but the frames are good and in many cases cost a lot of money. I have two Ray-Ban frames, one I plan on giving to my sister and the other on selling. But that leaves years of old glasses just sitting there in a box. There is a donation box at Wal-mart where I can throw them in, but in my mind I'm donating hundreds of dollars since that is what they are all worth. Most likely I'll just do that, I'll donate them, but I have trouble parting with old things. I think I still have some old cell phones from college. Those should be recycled. I hope I'm not a person that hords things. The plan is next week to take them all down, but in the meantime, if you have any ideas, let me know.

I got a new puppy. I named her Claire for now. [Update: I think I'm going with Chloe.] She is Max's daughter. I don't know why, but when I saw her, it was the name that came to me. I broke my rule of not giving dogs people names, but for some reason it fit. It is still in the tentative stage though, I might change it, but if a week passes and a better name doesn't hit me, Claire-bear it is. Though, I could call her Clara instead. I think she is adorable and right now I'm working on house training her. So far Marty 0, wet carpet 2. Let's hope for better results today. Here is the picture of the adorable girl.

My friend Christina picked her up for me from the Valley on her trip up. It was very kind of her to do this favor for me. I'm a lucky guy to have such good friends. I took Maddie to her and we traded pets in San Antonio. It was hard to part with Maddie, she is a great kitten. A joy to have around and so adorable. She even cried when I left her. I do feel confident that she is going to a loving home, and like I have said before, I have enough pets already. Here is a picture of Maddie this weekend laying on my chest. Look at those adorable boots.

I did finally get to meet Maddie's mom, well a stray cat that I think is her mom. She is an orange tabby and was out outside my house. I let her in and gave her food and water, but she wanted none of it, which means she is being fed somewhere else. You could tell she had been nursing, but her reunion with Maddie was not like I expected. She didn't want much to do with her, which could mean that she isn't her kitten or that they have been apart for too long. In either case, I'm no longer worried that someone is missing their kitten. I let Maddie's mom out and she went about her way.

I'm still healing from the surgery and one of the things I was warned about was seeing halos and starbursts around lights at night. I can attest that this is true. I'm told it goes away, or at least gets better. It is very annoying and for the time being I'm not going to drive at night. For the day time I have my sunglasses, which are very helpful. I want to be completely healed already.

I wished my father a Happy Father's Day on Sunday, but we pretty much celebrated on Friday when he was in town. Dads are somewhat under appreciated compared to moms and I think there is good reason for that in many cases. I have to say though, Dads already have to share father's day with Grads (see Grad's and Dad's signs at stores), I don't think they should have to share it with single moms too. Many of my friends and family members are single moms and to me it just feels super common and I don't know how someone could handle that much responsibility. I understand the idea that a mom has to be both a mom and a dad to a child, but single moms still get Mother's day to celebrate their effort. You can't try to take father's day too. You don't see single dads or widowers trying to partake in mother's day. Then you'll have grandmothers, widows, mentors and older sibling sisters being celebrated on Father's day too? Dads, Step-dads, foster-dads, grandpas shouldn't keep having their special day watered down. It just seems infinitely regressive to try to expand it to others just because you might not be happy with the biological father. Then don't wish him one, I mean, it is pretty common sadly that there are absent fathers. I guess everyone can celebrate in their own way, but I think dads are important and should get their day. Yes, this is akin to that imaginary war on Christmas the Right loves to cry about, so I see how petty I sound, and I admit I'm being that, but I might be a dad one day, and I want my special day to mean something.

Today my mother had a minor surgery, and I note that it is surgery, so I don't consider it to be minor. My older sister told me that it went find and that she is now home re-cooperating. I hope she feels better. I'm sure soon she will be feeling a lot better. It is hard not to worry about that kind of stuff and I'm hoping everything is going to be much better.

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