Well, the inevitable happened. No, not breaking up with singer-girl, we're still doing fine. My computer finally bit the dust. A friend of mine in New York has offered to sell me his old 200mHz laptop for $300. As far as I can tell it's a piece of crap but it has worked fine for him and has a fast modem in it. I accepted and so I'm gonna have to find my way up there sometime late this week. I'll have the opportunity to visit ChI, too, which I am really looking forward to.

Went to the pound today with my friend Janet and came damn close to getting a puppy of my own. After considering my work habits and how often I'm home, however, I decided that at this point in my life I'm not the ideal dog owner. I love dogs though. When I was a kid growing up in rural Pennsylvania my family had a big (but old) golden retriever named Spark and a collie-terrier named Rufus (I have no idea who came up with the name Rufus for such a tiny little dog - I think it was my mother). I'm not sure Rufus ever liked me much, but Spark was my first love. At age 8 I'd walk with him down our long gravel driveway to get the mail and then run around in the yard. His health gradually deteriorated because of old age (he was old when I was born!) and when I was ten he passed away. I remember how upset Spark's death made me - though ten years old is teetering on the edge of puberty it is also an age where you're a child and aware of your environment.

I guess in some way or another I've always been looking for that kind of relationship I had with Spark. Someone to lick my face, hump my leg, run my fingers through their hair, and run around with me in the grass - barefoot on a summer day after getting the mail.

Dean