It is kind of odd too, because that Jan 2009 edition of PC Magazine is the last print copy of the magazine. They are going totally digital after that edition. So, I guess it’s a milestone edition and I got published in it. Maybe it could be a collector’s item?

Read my submission:

I’ve lost my buddy. Jake was probably the best dog I ever had. He also was the dog I’ve had the longest as well. We debate for how long we had Jake, but it was roughly 10 years (getting him in 1998). He got him at a time when I previous dog ~ Spot had died. So there was a farm place without a dog. At that time we would go to Hutch Sales Barn to find deals on small poultry and knew they had at the time free kitten/ puppies to give away as well. We got Jake from a family that lived in New Auburn, but not much else for background/ information. We always had fun describing what breed Jake really was. We think it was Golden Lab/Golden Retriever with possibly German Shepard mixed in as well, but nothing for certain. His name was in reference to the song by Pirates Of The Mississippi – Feed Jake . Always thought after I heard that song, I’d wanna name my dog that. That song summed up much about my dog too.

Although he wasn’t a born hunter, he always loved to roam the farm, occasionally scaring up a rabbit or his specialty, squirrels. While they utterly fascinated him, he only caught one once and he didn’t hang onto it for long after. He spent more than a few hours treeing a squirrel and wondering in barks and yelps why they didn’t come down. He always loved going for a bike ride or walk and would always be checking things out a few hundred yards ahead at most times. He also loved car or truck rides, although with car rides, he usually jumped in and usually kicked out immediately.

He was a very loyal dog. He often knew the visitor to the farm before they set foot out of their ride. He had a special sense for guys and whether they were good or not.

In the last few years, Jake even learned to ’shake’ his paw at his advanced age, no doubt being jealous of his companion Max (our Black Lab). Although Jake never loved to shake, he would do it on ocasion if it meant he would be getting a meal or a pat on the head.

Although we are not sure what ultimately happened to our friend, he did get loose on one of his occasional runs with Max and never came back. We can only assume the worst.

I think the following pictures capture his spirit best, that of a happy dog, enjoying the world around him. I’ll miss my buddy. Bye Jake.

From Jake

Enjoy!

Well, maybe not. It’s a great soda (not pop mind you) that’s like a Cherry Pepsi and Dr. Pepper mixed.

How did I find out about this stuff? My sister had some when she was in Carolina and said it was okay, but having heard it hyped a few places, I needed to see what the deal was about this beverage. So I had the sister pick some up on a recent trip to the Carolinas. And I was not disappointed!

Now if I can find a constant supply/supplier, I can maintain my fix on this wine. Word is it’s available in Duluth, Bernicks from St. Cloud,Mn; and Iowa. I do get to these locales, just not often enough to actually scout out where Cheerwine may be sold.

The special occasion occurred on Friday Feb 29th. By much surprise, I took Elyssa down to the Nicollet Island Inn on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, where I had a horse drawn carriage waiting for us.

The carriage took us down to the Stone Arch Bridge and stopped in the middle. So with the Minneapolis city skyline as a backdrop and the St. Anthony Falls as background music, I asked for her had in marriage. She fought back tears, because they may have just froze that night. We continued on our carriage ride through the Warehouse District and back to Nicollet Island Inn where we celebrated with dinner.

No dates or other arrangements have been yet made, but we shall keep you in contact. Please forward as you see fit.

–
Michael & Elyssa

From Enagement

From Enagement

From Enagement

This time is was a genuine contribution to the Red Cross. Albeit a dare of sorts. I think I convinced a co-worker that if she signed up for direct deposit of her paycheck, I would do it, as she bugged me about donating.

This is substantial on two fronts. First because for the better part of two years I’ve been trying to get said co-worker to sign up for this. She ’said’ she handed in the form…. I’m doubting it because she laughed so as she was telling me this.

The other obstacle was that I am not particularly found of needles and the joy of having one stuck up my arm was not grand. I made a point of not looking at it because of it.

But I made it. I got a bit woozy and nauseous when I sat up, so they made me hang out for a bit before moving much. That coupled with getting a ice pack to the eye, really made for a memorable first experience.

I know it’s good to give, but it’s debatable if I’ll give in the future….

Linda went out to North Carolina this spring to watch Lynnea graduate from Duke. While there she picked up some rays at the ocean. She has also been busy helping James update the rental house. She had great fun moving Lynnea out of the house to her own place. As you can see, her life revolved around her kids. Linda hosted Christmas bake this year and got to spend some quality time with family and friends.

Michael had a good year as well. The highlight of his year was going out to the San Francisco area with his girlfriend this summer a week. They visited Yosemite, Golden Gate, Napa Valley, Alcatraz, the freezing Pacific Ocean and Silicon Valley. While in ‘the Valley’, they visited Yahoo!, Apple and Michael’s favorite Google. In June, he purchased his dream car, a ’88 Chevy Corvette. It’s been a blast to drive and make the heads turn. Michael has been keeping himself busy as of late with something new, tax classes. He is learning the intracies of the income tax code so that he can prepare personal tax returns for a firm in New Ulm.

After graduating from Duke last fall, Lynnea began a position as a pediatric nurse practitioner. She is currently employed at South Lake Pediatrics in Plymouth. She lives in townhome in Prior Lake, but plans to move further into the metro area this spring to be closer to work. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends and babysits for a few families in the metro area. She just returned from a trip to Las Vegas and is busy planning more vacations for the year to come.

James has continued to expand upon his flock of poultry, adding some ducks, chickens and geese. He has also enjoyed hunting. He ran his first demo car this year at the Sibley County Fair and had a smashing good time. Also keeping him busy this year was his plans on remodeling our rental house so that he could live there. James has learned lots about sheet rocking, mudding, caulking, painting, plumbing and insulating as a result of this. He’ll be happy to finally be done and moved in sometime soon.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The Piotters
Linda, Michael, Lynnea & James

The eBay feat was more of a co-inky-dink. Having spent considerable sums of money buying and selling on eBay since a pre-historic 1999, I’ve finally obtained a Turquoise Star. This is eBay rating for a 100+ positive rating. Even more impressive in my book, is that I did it without a negative review about me as a seller or a buyer. That probably means more to mean than the 100+ rating, but it’s still nice. They sent me an email with a fancy little certificate that would go great as plaque or framed accolade.

The other recent feat took a bit more brain power. Mensa has always had that geekish-nerd calling to me. Having pondered how to get into it since high school, I finally talked with some members at the Minnesota State Fair. After taking a pre-test and being given a discount to join by the sister’s boyfriend for National Testing Day, I decided to pull the trigger on this deal and see if I could get in. So after a 3 hour test which really included 2 tests,each in it’s own right an intelligence, one the infamous Wonderlic Test (the great football genius test). The test went good and all, with a bunch of similarly aged kids trying to see if they had it as well.

Just last week, I got a letter from Mensa. It said I passed. That’s it, you’re in. No score, no numbers. That was a bit anti-climactic, but being in the 98th percentile should be good enough I guess. I was told at the testing for a score, the proctor would have to be licensed to give a score by the state (i.e. psychologist) and such. Bummer, teachers aways had great pleasure in handing out scores, good or bad, but I guess they were paid to unlike our proctor.

So two such neat accomplishments in such a short span feels good, now I’ll have to go after a few more things on the list….

Purchased it from a chatty retired contractor in Hutchinson, Mn after seeing it in the Hutch Leader newspaper. It’s a 1988 350 V-8 White Coupe, with Red Interior. Came with factory installed Bose speakers and an after market CD player.

Quite a fun ride. Having never had driven, let alone owned a true sports car, it’s a blast to drive. Extremely responsive on the gas, meaning I can pass cars just by pressing the pedal, no hesitation. Ah, speed is nice.

Now, what we’ve all been waiting for the photos:

More pix of course on Flickr

Was doing fine until I get about a mile away from home. Going the normal speed limit when I notice a panel truck pulling out of a neighbors’ driveway. The scary part is that this panel truck does not stop at end of driveway as the law requires, but continues to roll through and start to turn onto the main gravel rode.

Now normally this seem all be well and fine, but it does not take into account that this is a gravel road and that this truck driver has decided to take a big ass turn with said truck.

I’m almost in a panic now realizing what this guy is doing as I am coming at him full speed and it appears he does not see me coming. So I slam on the brakes, but realize at the speed I’m going on a loosely graveled road this is not good as I begin fish-tailing. Luckily, the truck driver stops short of his intention as I am coming closer, and I just move closer to the ditch and get by, although a tad closer to the ditch than I would ever had liked to be.

Fine, so this yahoo pulled out in front of me. The real scary part is that 19 years ago a very similar incident happened to me at this same drive way, under much the same circumstances. That time I ended up in the hospital to have a 4 inch gash sewed up from my head.

I honestly don’t know what I would have done had the truck not stopped when it did. My car was loose on the gravel so it made it hard to control, but taking the ditch might have been an option. I don’t want to think about what would have happened had I only the choice to hit the truck with my car. That would not have had a good outcome.

Not fun and having to almost relive that previous accident shook me up a tad. Damn it.

p.s. I called up the business owner that owned the truck and bitched them out. piss-poor driving I don’t need to tolerate!