The 11th Hour

It's 11:10 PM as I start this post. I'm gonna keep it short, as I will be needin' to get to work on the morrow. Below is another pic of our soon to be house (God-willing!) from the street on a nice day.

More to come after this Thursday meeting with the Home Inspector. Please pray, if you can fit us in, that everything goes well with the inspection.

God Bless! Over and Out,

--Nick-Dog

Under Contract...

Well, almost.

Clare and I have bought a house in Strasburg, though it is closer to Front Royal than Strasburg. It's a foreclose fixer-upper with a stupendous partial mountain view and generous yard, bordered by a churtling creek.

Here's a pic:

So, that's what's been up with us!

Over and Out,

--Nick-Dog

More Ultra-Right Wingers Sound Off...

Put another way, law-abiding citizens need to be allowed to carry guns on campus.

Over and Out,

--Nick-Dog

Don't Say "I Told You So": Buy Your GLOCKS Now!

Hey folks, just wanted to chime in quickly. I don't think I'm a fear-monger when I say gun-wielding psycho-paths are becoming more bold. Over the past few years, we've witnessed shootings of the Amish in Intercourse, Pa., the rampage at Virginia Tech, and now again at Northern Illinois University.

I am pissed. This is the generational legacy that my daughter is inheriting--Cho wannabe's.

After the last blood-curdling massacre, I said Cho may not have gone as far as he did if students returned fire. Fred Thompson agreed with me. And now we are faced with another sick wack-job, and Utah continues to remain the only state that allows its university students to carry a legally owned firearm on campus.

Granted, no sane person wants guns in the classroom, but the stakes have changed. Armed maniacs are ambushing unarmed students in class. Even the Amish aren't safe. There's only one solution: return fire. Today it was a school in Northern Illinois. Several months ago Christian churches in Colorado were being attacked, that is, until the guy got gunned down.

But tomorrow, it could be a department store. Who knows? Getting caught in a showdown with an armed psychopath is not high on most people's A-list of things to do. But one day we may not have a choice. These locos need to be capped and bagged.

Let us not forget: The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Over and Out,

--Nick-Dog

Carpetbagged

Sorry I missed you all on Monday, but I decided to take a hiatus and attend to other matters...like watching HGTV and reading Drudge.

Now that our depature from the Olde Dominion is pretty much imminent, I have been fiendishly taking every opportunity I can to re-immerse myself in the Civil War and become more personally aquainted with those many places in our state that have become historical markers of that great event.

This past Sunday, Clare and I visted Chancellorsville battlefield. I always thought Chancellorville was a town, but not so. It was a plantation owned by the Chancellors at an intersection where the battle took place.

I can't fully express how completely pumped I was to visit the battlefield, free visitor's center, and take as much of the driving tour we could fit in before mass, but I was thrilled. For years, I have slowly but surely been gaining a sort of topographical appreciation for Virginia and the events that took place here. It was the Civil War that first attracted me to this area, the Shenandoah Valley and then, finally, college.

I'm so grateful that I've been given the opportunity to live and be here. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be cramming as much of Virginia's heritage in as I can.

Over and out,

--Nick-Dog

Some of My Recent Addictions

It's already been a week since my last post. Tonight, I am continuing to satiate my addiction to HGTV while posting and watching Hidden Potential at the same time. Even though it's not one of my favorite shows, I feel like I am "in the know" by staying tuned in.

So what are my favs? I enjoy House Hunters, an HGTV mainstay, Find Your Style with Karen McAloon, Over Your Head with hilarious Chicago native Eric Stromer, Carter Can with cool carpenter Carter Oosterhouse, not to mention my other favorites: Sell This House; Design to Sell; Divine Design: Design on a Dime; Secrets that Sell; and My House is Worth What?

Yah, I'm a dork.

Other than watching HGTV almost every night while surfing or playing Scrabble, Clare and I recently made a visit to Olde Towne Fredericksburg, where I picked up a cool antique to carry back to my Chicago pad (when I get one). What did I get, you ask? A chair--from the Library of Congress!

Well, I thought it was cool. It's solid wood. The vendor has all kinds of relics from all sorts of government buildings, but I had been thinking about it for awhile now after visiting some time ago, and was pretty sure I wanted one of these chairs. How cool would it be, I thought, to have an LOC chair in my office? It called to me. So now I've got one.

In other news in addition to slogging through Norwich's Byzantium, I am reading Yukon Alone by John Balzar. (Above is Emerald Lake, Yukon in the pic.) Balzac's work is easier, more contemporary fare, but awesome in its own right nonetheless, describing the 1,000 mile plus annual dog sled journey known as the Yukon Quest. Very worthwhile, if you are interested in dog-sledding.

So that's an Update. Please pray for Clare and I's move. We need to get a house.

Thanks, take care. Over and out.

--Nick-Dog

PS--Blogger is being a pain. Sorry for the formatting.