It’s worth a nickel

it finally happened.

this week, my puppy was born. one of the breeders i’ve been working with called today to say she had had a litter of puppies this week, and it included a couple of male fawn puppies. with all likelihood, one of those puppies is my jake.

at the end of january, we’re going to head out to clinton corners, ny (about 25 minutes northeast of poughkeepsie) and meet lorraine (the breeder) and the puppies. i cannot wait!

note to self: purchase pugs for dummies asap!

i’ve been really bad about blogging lately.

there are so many good stories i want to write about, but i just never make the time. it’s another one of those things that just doesn’t happen, because i don’t carve out 5 minutes to do it.

last weekend, i finally went to see wicked. i’ve only been talking about it for oh, a year or so. well don’t you know, it was well worth the wait: it was the best show i have seen in a very, very long time. ana gasteyer, of saturday night live fame, played elphaba, aka the wicked witch of the west, aka the lead character. when i saw this, at first i thought, “really? ana gasteyer? she can sing? no way.” folks, she can SING. (i even used capital letters, and i hardly ever do that in my blog.) it really was a great experience, and it was shared with good friends too. paul was there of course, having organized the whole thing and coordinated the ticket purchase, along with jimmy, peter, colin and his sister (who were kind enough to join us after philip and brian were unable to make it). i’m not kidding. don’t miss it. call ticketmaster today.

michelle will be excited by this news, perhaps more than anyone else. paul and i have decided on a puppy breed, and i’ve made a few calls talking to local pug breeders. we’re hoping to have a little boy puppy joining us in the spring, and i’m super excited about it. by the time he arrives, we’ll have a back door out to the back yard, where he can play (on a leash, until we get a fence). needless to say, i’ll be reading scores of puppy books over the next several months.

i also had the opportunity to participate in the 2006 hudson valley aids walk. for the first time in its fifteen-year history, the walk was held right here in poughkeepsie, on saturday 30 september. we got a group of about 10 people together from ibm, and walked proudly along with around 100 others in a short but satisfying two-mile loop in downtown poughkeepsie. i really hope that the walk comes back here next year, and is bigger still. the proceeds of the walk benefit aids-related community services, which helps to raise awareness of hiv/aids and to improve the quality of life for people living with hiv/aids in the hudson valley. paul and i were proud to raise over $600 for the cause this year; our family and friends gave very generously.

let’s try to get together here more regularly, shall we?