Dragonherder's Ruminations

11:05pm: A post that I didn't make when I was in Austin last....
I wrote this during the event, but deleted it before posting because I didn't want to worry my wife (or my friends). So, I'm an idiot.

***

10:22pm: So, here I am staying at my brother and sister-in-law's house....
It is a bit strange here. The house is over on East 7th Street.

Last night I came home and saw three inebriated gentlemen staggering down the street and holding each other upright. I made the block rather than getting out of my car right where they were walking.

Tonight I came home and there were four police cars stopped at an apartment complex down the way.

Occasionally people wander about here at night wearing hoodies and moving in groups of two or more. I am *very* cautious venturing out of the fenced yard (wood privacy fence). I check my van for signs of break-ins and bottles. I have heard gun shots during past visits (I believe).

I think that I would be staying at my Grandmother's house in Temple except for the fact that I have promised to take care of the dogs (that guard the house and my repose) and that I have no key to Granny's house....

Not doing this again, no way :-).

Still, it is helping me be *much* more aware of my surroundings.... That's good, right?

Actually the house is very nice and I'm sure that I'm perfectly safe (yeah, right). The area is becoming gentrified.... I have met some of my brother's neighbors and they are very nice. Still, Granny's house next time. In Temple. For sure!

David (the wimp - feeling a little bit like the girl who loses her glasses in "Adventures in Babysitting" at the bus stop who picks up the sewer rat thinking that it is a little lost puppy.... But think of the background I'm getting for some hypothetical upcoming book!)

David

***

Now safe back in Taos (and have been for two weeks). NOW it can be told!

10:42pm: The EVIL of Half Price Books
Alright, it is all my fault.

Half Price had a half of half price sale on some really inexpensive DVDs. Most of these suckers were priced at $5.95 or $4.95. So, half of that was really cheap. Cheaper than renting them....

Here, my friends, are my sins. Hear my confession (oh the shame....)

Cutting Edge (Toe Pick! A movie that I like much more than I should, but I'm a softy)
Ultraviolent (I was gonna rent it someday, really! And it has Milla Jovovich in it!)
The Saint (I liked the old series)
Mummy Returns (eh. I'll watch it again *someday* and it was REALLY cheap)
The Man from Snowy River (one of my favorite westerns with a great horse scene)
The Prestige (Tia and I were waiting to rent this one - cheaper to buy than to rent)
Canterville Ghost (A great old story and with Patrick Stewart in it. I hope it doesn't suck)
Dead Again (Good stuff! And $2.50)
Ghostbusters I & II with extra stuff (Tia was watching this a couple of days ago on TV....)
Terminator II (I've been re-watching these while working out. Cheaper than renting)
Terminator III (ditto and I never saw this one. And the new movie (with some scenes done
in Taos is coming out soon.... Gotta see the new one since it has scenes from Taos)
Strange Brew (GREAT MOVIE!!! "Luke, I'm your father, eh."
Roxanne (An underappreciated movie with Steve Martin in the part of Cyreno De Bergerac)
Waitress (Missed this in the theaters and Tia and I enjoy Nathan Fillion. Would'a rented)
1941 (A guilty pleasure, $2.50, Steven Spielburg)
The Italian Job (Mini Coopers RULE!)
Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark (Of course! A chance to get this without Temple!)
Three Amigos (I hang my head in shame....)
The Englishman (who did this and that and survived WWI - I probably shouldn't have gotten
this one. Maybe I'll return it tomorrow. Buyer's remorse)

Okay....

Movies that I was gonna rent but which are going to cost me "Guy points" to confess to....

Elizabethtown (sigh... Remember, $2.50)
Must love dogs (ditto)
Jerry Maguire (Tia and I figured we were obligated to watch this one. Sorta like
Napoleon Dynamite (which we ended up fast-forwarding through much of....)
Blind Date (well, I like Bruck Willis. Remember Hudson Hawk? My wife and I loved it.... A
Black Edwards Movie. Repeat after me, $2.50.)

Movies for my shop to rent out.

Ghost Rider (Sure, I'll probably borrow it from my shop and watch it at some point....)

Movies that I messed up on

Dragonslayer (We've already got a copy. I'll return it tomorrow unless someone hear speaks
up.... Ya gotta love "The Biscuit" fighting a dragon.... Great movie! Really!)

It has been...ah, you know I've never been to confession. Oh the penance is gonna be badddd.

David

10:04pm: A few foreign films.
Tia_Tarina and I went and saw Slumdog Millionaire last week.

Tia had heard a review of the movie on NPR and this convinced us that it would be a good movie to see.

It was. But it did not in anyway reflect the review that Tia had heard. A very good movie, but we were surprised to see that it was rated R. I sincerely regret to say that it was not rated R for SEX.

I mean, aren't we the country that would rather see violence than sex? Sheesh.

So, go see the movie, but be prepared.

The other movie I went to see was very odd. I saw it tonight. "As the right one in" is a charming vampire, coming of age film.

There are many things that I could say about this film. But I won't. Spoilers don't you know. Again with the rated R for violence. Sheesh.

(On the other hand, given that the main characters are 12, that is a very *good* thing, relatively).

Several continuity/filming errors. A few WTF moments. More of an interesting movie than a good one.

Still the vampire affectionadoes will want to see it, if only to claim that they have seen 'em all.

Best,

David

8:30am: Snow greets us in the morning
Clouds of white encompass all
Trees they glisten in sheaths of silver
Colors peek from a sheet of white

Smoke swirls up in the distance.
Pinon hides within the breeze.
Giving joy to those who scent it
Others seek warmth while we see wonder

Already transforms the snow to water
Frost seems fleeting in November
Promising longer visits soon
Now faintest brush of lip to lip

Surprise awakening

1:13pm: So, about the Faina, what happened (is happening?) exactly?
So, there they were,

A Ukranian ship (The Faina) carrying Russian Tanks captured by Pirates.
Numerous US Warships circling the ship.
Tanks, supposedly destined for Sudan but ostensibly being shipped to Kenya.
A 20 Million dollar ransom demand (later dropped to 8 million).
And no news that I can find later than October 7th when the relatives of those held on board tried to visit Putin and vowed not to leave until they saw him.

Does anyone have any news about what happened after that?

The site for the USS Howard has no information. Wikipedia doesn't either.

Seems strange.

David

10:33am: Moving to the Boulder area in March....
Tia_Tarina and I have really enjoyed living in Taos. It really is beautiful, we do not take the mountains for granted. Each day we spend some time rhapsodizing about the place.

But

It is a bit backward technologically. There are no real jobs should things ever go South with the stores and the Franchise. And, truthfully, sometimes we get snubbed for being white (or maybe just for being from Texas ;-) ). When I have to travel to Austin it takes about three hours travel time each way.

In any case, none of that matters. What matters is the HOUSE. We visited the Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder area a couple of weeks ago. Extremely pretty! We drove up and down the streets of Boulder and realized that we had to make a journey. A long defered journey.

We went and found 1619 Pine Street. The HOUSE is still there. The two stories, the turret. I knew that we had found where Mork and Mindy lived!

I could rhapsodize about the crush I had on Mindy when I was growing up. I could talk about the effect that Mork had on my formative years (Hey! Is that why I never dated in High School!?!). But walking down the street on that late October day with my wife I can just say that the HOUSE gave the city a certain 90 degree shift from conventional reality. A quirkiness. A certain WTF that I have missed since Austin.

Colorado Springs has the incredible Garden of the Gods. Denver has jobs and an airport. Boulder has the HOUSE. We're moving to Boulder!

Nanoo Nanoo!

David

10:11am: Working for the Obama Campaign
Well, by golly, there we were....

As a stubborn Independent voter I have never gone out and worked for a campaign. I did go door to door, and put a banner in my store's yard, for the SOS amendment, but that was another matter.

Anyway, Tia_Tarina and I went down to the Taos Barack Obama campaign headquarters yesterday. I was one of those annoying people urging you to vote (assuming that you lived in Northern New Mexico, that is). Tia did data entry.

People were pretty understanding on the phone and I actually had a pretty good time (though my hands were certainly a-tremble at the start). A couple of people who were listed on the voter rolls as Republican were enthusiastic Obama supporters. There were a few people who told me that they were voting McCain and I politely thanked them for taking my call and let them go their way. No one I spoke to, and I got a lot of "not at homes" and answering machines, was undecided.

One phone bank opperator brought their dog, Trotsky. I joked that this was going to cause Mr. McCain to claim that Obama had communist sympathizers working for him....

The local Democratic candidates dropped by and one of them, Ben Lujan spent about an hour working the phones with us and that was very good for morale.

I attended a mini-rally for the candidates in the office. I figured that it would be depressing for them if they showed up and everyone just kept working the phone banks. They seemed very nice and very enthusiastic, but my favorite was still Trotsky, the chiuahua mix (Taos Purebred as they say) with a lot of Terrier in the mix, who kept wandering through the ring of people being friendly.

The speakers didn't seem to mind which made me glad. Anyone who feels upstaged by a friendly dog takes themselves too seriously ;-).

We're going out to do some more work today.

Whew!

David

Oh! And, said a singer to the choir, VOTE!

3:15am: That's bad. That's good. In Taos!
So. Wednesday we went out and visited the Taos Spa and Tennis Club and actually worked out! I spent thirty minutes on an elliptical (good for my knees for a number of reasons) and played on some wieght machines and Tia worked out too!

That's good!

We came out to see that one of the people in the parking lot had their window smashed out so that a thief could get their purse.

That's bad.

A police officer was already there! They said that the burglar had already been caught.

That's good.

We found out that the thief had stolen my laptop and Tia's purse (with her expensive and rare knitting needles and yarn and digital camera).

That's bad.

We got a call late Wednesday night that some of our stuff (including the laptop that I am typing on currently) had been recovered!

That's good.

When we went down to the station today we found out that the jerk had apparently thrown Tia's expensive and rare needles and yarn into the trash somewhere.

That's bad.

So, all things being equal, we were very lucky to get most of our stuff back. Still the darned idiot (and the inclination is to use MUCH stronger language here) did cost a *lot* of people (including ourselves) time, money, anguish and frustration. He did his little bit to make the world a colder place. They did catch him dead to rights and he should spend some little amount of time wasting his. If nothing else, the time spent in jail is time not spent stealing. That's good.

What a mess.

David

11:10am: It's Snowing!
'Nuff said!

David

10:40pm: Hooks....
Plot hooks are intriguing ideas designed to draw you into a story. They catch your mind and worry it and gradually you are invested into the story. Very interesting things, plot hooks. The kind of things that make you go "Hrmm".

Captain Hook is interesting, too. We all know that the Crocadile Tick Tock is just swimming around waiting to get the rest of the Captain. Interesting things, hooks.

And then there is the hook in the ceiling of the bedroom of the house we are renting. It is a big hook, probably big enough to hold quite a weight. It appears to go into a major support in the attic.

I really don't know who installed it or what they installed it for. I imagine that they loved hanging plants and were inspired and wanted to be able to support a hanging rubber tree. Or something. Something pretty heavy. I imagine a lot of things, but know very little.

Hooks in the ceiling. One of the many things in life that make me go "Hrmm".

David

;-)

10:02pm: Out to frustrate the credit card companies!
Here in Taos I no longer have the easy access to cash that I did at the store.

If I needed to go to pick up a cup of coffee, I could sign out a small amount of cash from the store, walk up to the 7-11, and buy a cupa.

Here I am forced to rely on that enemy of all mankind, the credit card.

So, I am making sure that I pay them. Regularly. Daily.

I spend $17.15 on dinner for my wife and I, at the El Taoseno (I took both red and green sauce, so that I could see the difference). That evening I use the free online banking service to send that amount to the evil empire(s).

Given that both the charge and payment are processed electronically, I am not actually burdening some poor employee with additional work.

David

11:21pm: Its been a very busy few days
And thus I'm gonna be very quick tonight, though I'll try to expand things later!

We've made it to Ranchos de Taos.

We now, finally, after many adventures, have internet!
We have set up a bank account here. Every Wednesday they give away free chocolate chip cookies. We intend to indulge....
We've bought groceries!
We have our utilities.
Tara has does an amazing job getting boxes sorted!
We've returned the rental truck, after traveling 749 at approximately 11.5 miles/gallon (in diesel). The top speed of the truck was 70 mph (for perhaps four minutes). Going up the mountains I was sometimes "flooring it" and reaching a blazin' 30 mph.
The trip took fifteen hours +/-.
All animals are doing well.
We have hot and cold running prairie dogs! Alright, we can't tell their temperature, but they are running. And this is great for a guy like me who has always liked prairie dogs.

We could not have done it without a GREAT DEAL of help from our friends! Thanks!
We appreciate the sense of humor of whomsoever carefully wrapped a paper coke cup! Really!

Tara is feeling much better! Yay!

And once again it is time to go to bed!

Good night my friends!

David

11:27pm: There's tunnels under the street! Part the first
It was a tough day in Taos.

February 15th, the day after Valentines Day, and rather than staying abed with my wife and waking gracefully, I had gotten up and dug into the lease that we were sent by the owners of the first choice for our home rental.

It was grueling. Leases are not my favorite reading materials first thing in the morning. But, if we were to find a house during our visit it had to be done.

It was a damn silly lease. I cut. I added. I added again. I sighed and sent it off to the landlord and waited.

We had spent most of the day running around. We waited to go visit Angel Fire, the skiing community of the mountain from Taos. We made an appointment to see our second choice for housing. The agent couldn't see us until two. Then she agreed to meet us at one. Then she showed up late and forgot the key.

We then decided that we should just go ahead and rent the first house, our first choice.

The daughter of the owner was overjoyed. She and her mother (the home owner) were leaving the next day. She to Argentina. Her mother to Florida. Oh, and the lease changes were just fine. They would go ahead and print them out and meet us at 4PM to sign them over at her mother's apartment....

Well, we met about 4:15. I took out the lease and started to look it over. I was the wrong lease. It was the original, pre surgery. I looked at the daughter and told her about the error and she was horrified. She didn't have time to run home. We needed to make the deposit by that evening. She and her mother were leaving the next day and she needed to run by the bank and run errands before departing.

A brainstorm. Why not have the people at the bank print up the lease?

We went to the bank and after more hoops we got the lease printed up and signed.

Whew.

No Angel Fire, no quiet day. But the exhausting day left us wrung out and exhausted, but with a house.

More later,

David

12:38am: SPIKE'S BACK!!!
For those of y'all who don't know, two days ago our cat Spike made a break for it.

We had Tia-tarina's parents over this weekend. While cooking a meal the fire alarm went off, Tia-tarina's Parent's Dogs started barking, Dulce barked as well and Spike ran out the open door.

We didn't discover this for about twelve hours.... Spike is usually VERY shy around people and often hides, so it wasn't until bedtime that we started wondering where the cat was. The next morning we really started worrying and canvased the neighborhood callling Spike's name. Today we made up flyers and handbills and started handing them out.

Tonight, at 10PM, I had to go into work. Instead of driving, I went ahead and walked figuring that cats are nocturnal, it was a somewhat nasty night, and by calling softly I might catch her attention. No luck.

On the way back I took a different route and near our house I got a response. Four soft meows! Well, I couldn't get any other response for the next five minutes, but with some trepidation I went and got my wife (trepidation because we have been very stressed and I didn't want to offer false hope). We called and called with no luck.

But, when we gave up and went up to our house, Spike ran up to us!!! We grabbed her and ran inside and then probably scared her by paying much more attention to her than she wanted.

So, Spike is back. Everyone is happy except for LeeLoo (our other cat) who was pretty happy being "top cat" in the house.

YAY!

David

(Whew)

10:10pm: Tia_tarina and the 'Hoff
Tia_Tarina has hit the big time with her pictures. Yesterdays entry on Tia_tarina's painting a day Flickr account has been picked up by thedailyhasselhoff.com !

It is a pretty darn good Knight Rider (classic) painting!

David

Whoo Hoo!

8:53pm: I can haz houz
We have found a house.

In Taos. Actually Ranchos de Taos.

We've spent the last two days running around Taos going from place to place trying to set up appointments to see houses. We've had very poor luck, though we did find two places that would work. One was a sort of faux-adobe. The other is a nice house down in a deep valley where our neighbors will be very ecclectic and we'll probably have sheep and cows grazing in our front yard.

Fortunately we avoided the faux and look forward to living in the other house for at least a year. Whew! We had some issues with the contract, but the landlady was very agreeable and we came to a good arrangement.

The road down to the house is dirt (mud right now) and something of an adventure to get to. But I think that it will work just great!

Best to everyone....

11:50pm: Visiting Santa Fe and Taos
Well,

Here we are in Taos.

Yesterday I spent three hours off loading a 26 ft UHaul. It was, ah, interesting to drive the "pig" (I refered to it as a small continent myself). I hired two nice guys to help move and they did a fine job, but boy I was tired afterwards.

So, I went to return the UHaul. Now, in my own understated way, I had managed to get UHaul to price match another company. But then, after finding out that the "continent" got only seven miles to the gallon, I decided to return it to Santa Fe instead of Albuquerque. I had called to make sure that this would be alright and was told that the cost of the change would be (probably) the difference between the cost of taking to SF and the cost of taking it to Albuquerque.

Not so. The interesting company wanted to charge me more than $200 for the change. Fortunately, though after blood pressure raising effrontary, calm polite phone calls prevailed. (Though the last person I spoke with wanted me to "Tell the people at the drop off point that I said to waive the charges." I'm sure they would have believed me...but I made him tell them himself (nice people at the drop point, just hampered by the higher ups).

At Enterprise there was no car waiting for me. But the wait was not long, and they waived about $50 of fees and gave me a free tank of gas. So all was well there.

Tia_Tarina and I are enjoying the visit, and house hunting with moderate success. More, probably tomorrow.

David

(Tomorrow I hope to remember how to condense the posts. Sorry about that!)

8:03am: Fear is the root of Tyrrany
Fear is the root of tyranny.

It is where it gets it strength.

Fear of some unknown catastrophic event that wipes out lives and purpose.

Fear of the government.

Fear of restrictions upon travel and personal freedom. Fear of the loss of wealth or property. Fear of incarceration.

Yesterday Justice Scalia stated that it might be legal to inflict torture to gather information as long as it was not done as a form of punishment. How comforting this must have been for those who tortured our servicemen during bygone wars. How comforting this must be for those who we, as a nation, tried for war crimes? How nice this must be for other governments, those that we have censured in the past, who have inflicted torture. Surely they could have used the same justifications.

He used that oft quoted tool of Fear, the "Bomb", an item that might or might not even exist to justify such torture. Such a mythic construct, the possible existence of that thing which *might* do damage or cause death, is a simple thing to call up Fear in those listening. After all, surely anything that the government does to stop a "Bomb" from going off is justifiable.

So simple. So black and white.

Surely those who would want to stop such questioning are wrong. They are dangerous. They must be restrained. Anything is justifiable to stop a "Bomb". So the government is justified in jailing those who disagree with them. Such sad, deluded individuals must be unpatriotic.

What is the loss of freedom compared to safety from the "Bomb"? And if we suspect anyone of doing unpatriotic things, we should report them of course! Suspicion of others is patriotic, da?

Isn't Fear fun?

So, I Fear. I Fear restrictions on travel. So I am silent. I Fear restrictions on my wealth, so I do not speak. I know, you see, that even a posting such as this could result in my being placed upon a list of people that are not permitted on airplanes. It has happened in the recent past. I will hurt my business if I am placed upon such a list. So I Fear.

I Fear the loss of my country. I Fear the loss of self-respect. I Fear the loss of freedom.

So how can I not speak?

Torture is wrong. Those who committed torture MUST be prosecuted. We must not give up our country because of Fear.

Please do not be silent.

Posting in spite of Fear, I remain,

David Wheeler

11:36pm: First internet sale for Tia!!!
Tia_tarina has been attempting to sell art on the internet since she started painting again.

She has had several pieces for sale at Etsy.com.

Today, she sold three of those pieces, the first three pieces that she has sold via the internet.

Soon, I trust, she will be able to maintain me in the style to which I look forward to becoming accustomed to!

Seriously, it is a great step and very encouraging!

Best,

David

12:06am: Crisis can be a blessing....
It tends to place things into black or white decisions.

A slow decline, a few sores here and there from trying to move more when the back legs don't work and you have to push yourself around, constant panting (is it from pain or just the effort of moving, but it goes on and doesn't seem to stop). The realization that more food is entering the body than is leaving it. Soft wimpers.

These are harder to judge. At what point is life more painful than death. At what point is it better to close things down rather than to extend it without any hope of an improvement tomorrow?

Remedil, carts (my attempts to interest in these began to cause her to tremble), a great deal of carrying and cleaning up after. The decline does not seem to stop. Pain seems to increase. Extension is noted in the belly, presumably from unpassed waste, this will not have good results.

So.

Today I put Arrow down. It may not have been a good decision. She might have lived longer. Maybe the panting was just hot flashes.

But, today my best decision was to go ahead and do what I felt needed doing. Please note, how I mealy mouthedly avoid saying that I killed my dog. When it comes down to it, my friends, that is what I did.

But she was a good dog. A very good dog. And I will miss her very much.

There is more, of course. A world's worth of self-justification. A bit of self-loathing. A prayer that this entire post is not just greater self-deceit.

Enough.

Please do not comment on this. I know that I have your support and prayers. Right now it would be painful to respond to posts. Maybe later.

I am glad that many of you got to know and play with Arrow. She loved to jump and catch bubbles, you know, once upon a time. She loved to chase the stick and run in tandem with her bothers to bring it back to me. She went to sleep, that final time, with her head upon my leg and snoring to beat the band, as always. She always wanted to go to the store with me, and I'm glad that she did many times.

Enough.

She was a good dog.

Best to you all.

David

11:47pm: My wife's adventures! In Art!
Please feel free to visit my wife's art page here

http://www.dailypaintersguild.com/dailypainterslist.html#Anchor-

Push her name, Wheeler Tara.

Thanks!

David

10:58am: Ha Haha haha! Happy New Year to all!
Hello everyone!

Just a quick jump in to wish everyone a good year! (I think I may have gotten to this before anyone else - I guess everyone else is still recovering from last night!)

It is good to have good friends and I am very thankful!

Happy New YEAR!

David

10:57am: It's silly, but pretty much right in my case
I'm a pretty happy guy!

Yay!

David

I'll have to see if I inserted the picture correctly.

But a personality test with yes/no bollian answers? Sheesh.

Your Social Dysfunction: Happy You're a happy person - you have a good amount of self-esteem, and are socially healthy. While this isn't a social dysfunction per se, you're definitely not normal. Consider yourself lucky: you walk that fine line between 'normal' and being outright narcissistic. You're rare - which is something else to be happy about.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com Please note that we aren't, nor do we claim to be, psychologists. This quiz is for fun and entertainment only. Try not to freak out about your results.

6:57am: Why I haven't been responding to my email....
oneworldhosting

These overly optimistic gentlemen and ladies committed to moving their servers two weeks ago.

They didn't move.

So, they decided to try again this last Friday. They are still trying and my and many other people's sites are sitting in limbo.

I'm sure that these good people are trying their best. I suspect that they will lose enough customers from this fiasco to sink the company.

So, if you haven't been able to contact me via email, now you know why.

We will be migrating away from them early next week, and competently, too.

And next time you are looking for a new hosting service, choose someone else.

Best,

David

(ARRRGH!)

Go to 1worldhosting.com and check out their overly optimistic views on when my site will be up again. At one point they reported that 85% of their sites were live, but as one of the supposed 15%, I'm dubious as to their accuracy....

9:43am: Tia_Tarina recovering at home -- Billy Goat Pub
Tia_Tarina is recovering at home. She has three little bitty holes in her from the surgery and still is in a bit of pain from it, but she is getting better. We have been making a few outings to bookstores as the doctor has proscribed light walking to help her lungs. All in all, things are looking up!

Thanks to all the people who sent flowers, care packages and helped out! We really appreciate it!



The Billy Goat Pub.

When we visited Chicago, we found ourselves near an underground pub called the Billy Goat (okay, okay, we sought it out, but still...). The Billy Goat is where Saturday Night Live got the "Cheebouni, cheebouni. No coke, Pepsi." skit from. Supposedly Bill Murray went there and started taking other cast members there. And a legend was born.

So, they got attitude. We went in and it must have been obvious that we were looking for the "Billy Goat Experience". The bar was dimly lit and articles on the wall had the dusky appearance given by long exposure to grill smoke. The men behind the counter, one young, the other older and grizzled, were friendly. They attempted to upsell us as they were expected to. "You no want single cheeseburger. You buy double."

When we went to pick up our order, the older gentleman, with a kidding scowl, refused to hand me my order first. "Ladies first" he intoned. I responded with "Always" and he handed me both meals with a smile.

Alas for the poor Chicago Cubs, they did not fair so well with the Billy Goat. It seems that the owner once had a Billy Goat (hence the name) and took it with him to a Cubs Game. Well, they refused to let that goat in, and as a result the team was cursed. Later years the Cubs attempted to end the curse by appeasing the owner, and seemed to, but the Billy Goat just wouldn't let go. At one point the Cubs brought the goat (IIRC) to every game and the Cubs had a great winning streak, but they wouldn't bring it to the Championship and thus they lost the pennant (stories that I would relate better to y'all if I was a baseball fanatic, I'm sure).

An interesting trip!

David

(Using his extra hour today to write in livejournal!)