Don't worry, I didn't forget about the commentary page. I was busy, very busy. Gidget came home the other night with "part" of my birthday present. It was ONE blank CD (like those used in a CD-Writer). Her plan WAS to give me ONE blank CD every day until my birthday, and then give me a new hard drive. Yes, I said hard drive, her plan was to throw me off track. hehe… It didn't work. Of course I was a bit "spastic" searching the house for the CD-Writer. Then, she thought I was busy cleaning up after the puppy, so she decided to hide things a bit better, and I caught her red-handed with the goods… Soon afterward, I sat here at the computer with my new CD-ReWriter (my Christmas present), as well as a 6.4 gig hard drive (my birthday present). Although, in my haste to install both of them, I made the most major mistake anyone could ever make with their computer. I accidentally FDISK'ed the WRONG hard drive, and lost everything on my computer. Yep, everything, from our internet "dating" emails, to my extensive image (GIF & JPG) library for web design, and even three Delphi projects that were almost finished. sigh… Well, at least now I have enough room to keep backups. HAHA… So pardon my absence, I have been re-installing, configuring, burning CD backups, and much, much more. I hope you have a wonderful day! :)

When is enough, enough? When do you, as a parent, cross the line and start "spying" on every move your child makes. If you suspect your child is doing drugs what should you do? Do you ask them point blank? Do you search their room and personal belongings looking for answers? Personally I believe you as a parent, have the obligation to do both. I feel you should search their room and personal belongings, and whether you find evidence or not, you should ask your child point blank. As a parent, you have a responsibility to protect your child from danger, no matter what that danger may be. In short, I believe that a parent must take responsibility for their child's safety, and take action as soon as they discover their child is in a dangerous situation. No amount of sympathy, and no amount of remorse would ever be enough, if something happened to your child because you chose to "look the other way". My thoughts for today's commentary came from watching today's Sally Jessy Raphael show. Have a good day! :)

I think I mentioned before that we bought a device from "The Right Start" that was developed by nurses for ordinary people to listen to their unborn child (much like the doplar device the doctor uses). Well, ever since we bought it, I have tried to hear our child's heartbeat, to no avail. The other night, I was listening, and heard something, which I could not pass by. When I would put the device on one side of Gidget's belly and pressed lightly with my hand on the other side, you could hear a very distinctive sound. It was just one solid thump, and it seemed to do it every time I pressed on her belly. Could it be? Yes, I am sure of it. It was the sound of our baby kicking or moving deep inside it's amniotic ocean. It was our baby's way of letting us know to "get that thing away from me". hehe. There is nothing more exciting, and yet a bit scary, than awaiting the arrival of this precious gift. Have a good day! :)

I just had to have a Beagle. For the longest time, I have always thought that having a Beagle would be a kewl thing, you could even say, I thought of the Beagle as my "dream dog". Never in my life could I even comprehend the reality of having one. On October 18, we bought one. We named him Mr. Bennington Jack, and we call him Benny. It took a while for Buffy (Miss Buffington Magwei), Gidget's 12 year old Lahso Apso, to warm up to him, in fact, now I think she actually likes him. I read online that Beagles live on their own agenda, and I remember thinking to myself, "oh yeah, sure". Well, I am here today to tell you, yes, they do live by their own agenda. When you feed him, and it's not quite what he was expecting, he buries his food in his kennel, and gets very defiant, you can even see the expression on his face telling you, "this is not what I want, fix it now". When you take him outside, attempting to teach him that the hallway is NOT the place for puppy poop, if he decides he is not going, that's the end of the matter. There is no bargaining with him, he has made his decision. The one thing that amazes me, is no matter how you attempt to discipline him, and no matter what has occurred that day, he is as loyal at the end of the day as he was the day before. He indeed has his own agenda, and we as responsible pet owners must adjust our agenda to arrive at a happy medium. Although, I hope his agenda changes soon, and the hallway gets a rest. If you want to see pictures of Buffy & Benny, click here. Have a great day! :)

We spent most of the day re-installing my brother-in-laws computer. The company we purchased his computer from supplied him with a Win95-OSR2 (Second Release) CD-ROM, like all other new computers, yet they had installed the first release of Win95 on his system. A few months ago we purchased NetNanny for his computer, and to this day have still yet to get it working correctly. So we installed CyberPatrol this weekend, and it seems to be working good. If you find a site that you think is unsuitable for kids under 18, please go to the CyberPatrol site and add it to their NOT list. Have a great day! :)