So it's come to this: a tale of baby voyeurism and dog-scented jalopies

I haven't posted anything since September and am not promising that I will start posting regularly as of now, but I do enjoy writing even if it's only to read back later and marvel at my cleverness. To bring you up to speed with the exciting changes in my life in the past 9 months (that would have been enough time to gestate!)...Janessa has moved out to live once again with Brian (they grow up so fast) and not much else of consequence has happened. I went on a couple small vacations to Seattle and Vegas (perhaps more on Vegas later) but otherwise I've been working and gymming and sleeping according to my regular habits. Moving on!

This weekend was the yearly Dog Walk that the animal rescue organization I volunteer for puts on. We've been working on it since before Christmas and it takes a huge amount of effort and coordination on everyone's part to carry it off. The day before the walk, I was supposed to go to Costco with some of the group to shop for the barbecue, but since I had also promised Janelle I would see "The Babies" with her (side note: not as bad as I would have thought), I wasn't able to make it and instead offered to drive another volunteer's truck stocked with supplies to the event. The movie was at Santana Row, so we decided to go to dinner afterward and then go pick up the truck in San Jose and take it wherever we decided to go out after. Ok. Let me back up a bit to when we first got to the theater, rounded the corner, and saw a line stretching into the parking lot for the ticket counter. Not what we were expecting at 4PM on a Saturday at the theater which shows mainly indie films. We first noticed something amiss when we started checking out our linemates...mostly 30-something/40-something women dressed even more over-the-top than typical Santana Row wannabes. Anxiously whispering that hopefully all of these women weren't there to see the Babies, Janelle and I tried to overhear what the group at the front were going to see. Turns out, the CineArts was also showing Sex & the City 2 at almost the exact same time we were to see the Babies. Aha! Now the drunken gaggles of women desperately trying to recapture their youth and band together through the common themes of love, fashion, and horse-faces made sense. I only hoped passersby wouldn't confuse me and Janelle with these pathetic moviegoers; we were going to spend OUR afternoon watching four babies from birth to age one! I stand by my choices.

So after the movie and after dinner, we headed over to my friend Jennifer's house where the truck was parked - the owner had rented a U-haul to drive to the walk so I would take her truck filled with buns, water, soda, and charcoal. I should mention that the owner fosters dogs with the organization, a fact which I didn't really think about until the three of us, dressed in semi-fancy attire, were squeezed into the cab of the Ford Ranger, literally covered in dog hair and reeking of unbathed canine. Janessa has three dogs in a 700sf apartment, and even she was offended. At first it was funny, but after a couple of minutes of driving 50mph down the freeway (the fastest it would go), unable to see out of the back window because of the grime and getting my hair blown off because of the necessity of having the windows rolled down just to breathe, blasting Usher's "OMG" (featuring Will.i.am) and looking like we were on our way to Club Miami...yeah, it was still funny. We decided not to go back to Santana Row in our new ride, but instead, and more appropriately, to the liquor store around the corner to pick up some $6 wine and drink at home. Good times! Makes me appreciate the little cube car I drive that allows me to reach speeds of 80mph and beyond with the slightest depression of my toes. It may be ugly but at least the dog hair is limited.