I should have written this sooner but I have been rather egocentric the past few days. Thank you to everyone who sent me an email or wrote me a comment. It really was comforting and I appreciate it.

Sunday morning my father and I buried Lily. The ground was frozen and it was quite a challenge to dig the hole. We used a pick to break into the soil, over and over, an inch at a time. Finally after two hours a hole appeared. My mom and sister came out and all together we put Lily in her grave. It was so sad. I keep thinking of her, wearing her red sweater and covered in her favorite blanket, sleeping forever in that cardboard box, buried deep in the backyard.

God took the decision away from us. Lily died this morning at 3:25. She died peacefully. My Mom and I were with her. Mom woke me up at around 1:00 and said that Lily was close. We sat with her until the end. She was the sweetest, nicest little puppy and I already miss her so very very much.

When is the right time to put a pet to sleep? Little Lily is not doing good. She is weak and can hardly stand. She gets lost in the house. She can’t see. She vomits, a lot. She doesn’t go for walks nor does she beg for cookies. She is ravaged by age. Yet her heart continues to tick. She is worse at night. We say we will take her to the vet in the morning but by then she is almost okay. Except she has no life or spirit. She sleeps all day. She eats a little. The evening comes and she gets bad again. I know she isn’t going to get any better. She doesn’t seem to be in pain, exactly. With Kiwi, it was so clearly time. Kiwi had congestive heart failure and she couldn’t lay down and she couldn’t breathe. We had no choice but to take her to the vet and have him administer the shot. Lily is just old. Really, really old. I feel so helpless and I don’t know what to do. Poor little Lily.

Beautycheck – virtual attractiveness Very Interesting.

Wow! This is just about the nicest compliment I have ever received:Jewdez Bloggin’ Lovefest. I had absolutely no idea– I mean, I knew people read this blog but it always seemed to me that I was blogging in a void of sorts. At any rate, thanks Jewdez! I really appreciate it!

retroCRUSH:Who was the hottest costumed TV Retrobabe? I voted for Julie.

I AM BACK FROM NASHVILLE!!!!! What a weekend! I stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Let me tell you it was huge. It took me 20 minutes to walk from my room to the meeting rooms. The hotel itself is the largest non-gambling hotel in America. It may even be larger than the state of Rhode Island. The inside of the hotel was designed to look like a city within a rainforest. (Does that make sense?) There was even a river going through the hotel! Reminded me of a cross between Disney World, Las Vegas, and the sealed city in Logan’s Run. On Friday night we went to the Grand Ole Opry!!!! Charlie Pride performed!! Actually, I didn’t know Charlie Pride until he started singing: “Kiss an Angel good morning, love her like a devil when you get back home” I almost jumped out of my seat and bellowed: “I love that song!” Somehow I never knew a black man sang it, for some reason I thought it was Kenny Rodgers. Here was the lineup: January 10 6:30-7:00 Jimmy Dickens, Jimmy C. Newman, Steve Azar, 7:00-7:30: Jeannie Seely, Charlie Louvin, Osborne Brothers, Joe Nichols, 7:30-8:00: John Conlee, T. Bubba Bechtol, Connie Smith, Jerry Douglas, 8:00-8:30: Jean Shepard, Jesse McReynolds and The Virginia Boys (who sang John Prine’s Muhlenberg County!), Holly Dunn, Darryl Worley, 8:30-9:00: Bill Anderson, Jan Howard, and Charley Pride. At any rate, it was just great. A fabulous slice of Americana and I LOVED it! The next day I had my presentation and it went very, very well. Afterward a number of people came over and complimented me on my presentation skills. They also liked the application. Hopefully when we renegotiate my salary this quarter, they will remember this meeting and realize that I am drastically underpaid. Saturday we went to the Wildhorse Saloon and watched the Titans vs. the Steelers. Thankfully the Titans won and all the locals were in a good mood. Once the game was finished they cleared off the dance floor and held Line Dance Lessons. Guillermo asked me to dance and I took him up on his offer. For a Yankee and a Cuban, we line danced our hearts out! At 10:00 the bus came to pick us up but I said that I was having a good time and didn’t want to go back to the hotel. A few others agreed and we went to a club right next door that had 4 tiers of dance floors. We initally stayed on the first floor and I actually found myself dancing to an Eminem song ,”I’m Slim Shady yes I’m Slim Shady.” Personally, I find him repugnant but the song had a good beat and I could dance to it. I eventually convinced everyone to go down to the 80’s dance floor. There were 2 big cages on either side of the dance floor and…. yes, I got into the one cage and danced!!! I felt like a 1960’s go go girl… kinda like in the movie, It’s a Bikini World… anyone ever see it? At any rate, the evening ended rather dramatically when I had to convince a Security Guard not to arrest one of my colleagues who had drank too much and apparently became violent before passing out. Talk about negotiation skills, once the police came I was able to get the charge changed from assault to a misdemeanor and he avoided a night in jail and walked (or rather carried) away with only an incident report. I eventually got to bed at around 3:30. The meetings on Sunday started at 7:30 and somehow I was able to wake up looking refreshed and rested. The flight home was uneventful. Today I worked a full day despite the weekend full of meetings. Regardless, I had a great time and I can’t wait to go back to Nashville again!

German Prostitute, 77, Mugged After Night Shift
Jan 8, 2003 B E R L I N (Reuters) – A 77-year-old German prostitute was mugged after leaving a brothel at the end of her night shift and slightly injured, a police spokesman said Wednesday

I’m going to Nashville. It’s a business trip. I will demonstrate the application I designed and developed to a group of 100. Crazy how at one time being in front of a small group of 10 struck fear in my soul and now I yawn at a group of 100. I just hope my throat feels better by the time of my presentation.

1. Must stop eating peppermint nougat candy
2. Must wash dark clothes
3. Must pack