The Babys' First Sleep-Over

I went over to my mom’s house to pick up Abby so I could take my Baby Girl home with me. My mom and I decided to split Abby’s time between her house and my condo. In other words, we would have joint custody over her. I planned on leaving Andy at home with my mom. It seemed like the logical thing to do. Abby was my dog. Andy was my mom’s.


However, my mom and Andy had other thoughts. When I asked Abby to go bye-bye, she readily headed towards the door. Unfortunately, Andy took off to the door as well. I tried to block Andy from going out the door. My mom asked me to let him go. Begrudgingly, I agreed.

I don’t remember much about that night except what happened towards the end. I had taken them for an hour long walk. We must have walked around 2 miles. The babies had ample opportunity to take care of their business. I remember asking them if they wanted to go ‘nighty’. Andy bounded up the stairs, Abby came in a distant second with me coming up right behind Abby.

I can still see the image of Andy standing on my new rug. He was beside the bed, turned around to face us and started pissing like a racehorse. I couldn’t believe it. He had all the time in the world to pee, and the spoiled bastard soils my brand new rug. I yelled at him and gave him a spank. I put on my shoes and shorts and took Andy right back outside. I’m not sure if Abby went with us.

And that is the story of how Andy ‘Christened’ my new condo.

Abby's First Time Alone in the Condo

I slowly adjusted Abby to my condo by taking her for short visits over there. The first time she and I were by us is still etched in my mind. She did OK at first. She sniffed around then slept. However, when I went out on a chore, she jumped up and tried to follow me out. She had a startled look in her eyes. She wanted to be with me. She did not want to be alone in a strange place.


I came home. She was happy again. She sniffed my legs to see where I had been and what I was doing. About an hour later, I put on my running clothes to go jog a couple of miles. Again, when I left the condo, she hustled down the hall. I must have been a good 20 feet from my door when I heard a plaintive cry from Abby. She was moaning in her isolation. My god did that dog know how to give me a guilt trip. She would eventually come to love the condo and downtown. However, on that day, things were a little rocky for her.

The Babies See the Condo for the First Time

A few hours after the closing, I was excited to see how the babies would like the place. I loaded them in the car by asking “Do you want to go bye-bye?” They whipped themselves into a frenzy, took their places in my car and rode with me downtown.


When we got there, they almost instinctively knew what direction to go when they got inside the building. It may not really have been instinctual. They may have been able to track down my old trail from my scent left behind. As I got the keys out, they grew anxious. I took them off their leashes, flung the door open and let them run free inside. They hustled their way down the hall and into the living room. They quickly came back to me. When they say the stairs, they climbed up them. Abby climbed. Andy bounded up them like an antelope. He was so strong, energetic and graceful then.

In the loft, there is a balcony. The babies immediately peaked over it to get a view at things below. They seemed excited and loved the place. This would be Abby’s second home for almost three years. Andy would live there 8 years, as long as I did there.

My First Home

The summer of 2002 was winding down. I had thought about buying a house, but since I was living with my mom, I took my time to find a place. One day when I was walking the babies downtown, I thought “I should get a place down here.” I decided to get a condo for several reasons. Deep down, I knew I’d have to move from Raleigh to a place where houses are too damned expensive. I didn’t want to spoil myself, so I chose a condo instead.


I also chose the downtown area because it was close, but not too close to my mom’s. A few years later when my dad was sick and I had to come over every day, that decision paid off well. I also didn’t want to live more than 30 min from work. I was right at the cusp of that criteria. Lastly, I knew Abby would love it down there. It was always hard to get her going, but a trip downtown always excited her. There was also a park right across the street from where my unit was.

One problem of buying a condo downtown is that what is a nice panoramic view one moment is a nice view of a 20 story building put up the next year. I knew that with a park sitting there, no development would ever take place there. I would always have a nice view of the downtown Raleigh skyline. The noise wasn’t too bad. I’m a heavy sleeper.

My condo was actually a loft. It was my first place and I no longer had to fret as a renter and worry about some asshole landlord looking over my shoulder. I was also excited to see how Abby would like it.

Dodo is a Ragdoll Cat!

I didn't think much about Dodo's pedigree when he first came to our house 3 years ago. He was a scraggly and  underweight cat close to dying when he we first saw him. He had been in a lot of fights and had the battle scars to show.

However, he came recovered well. He is now heatlhy but he has some very striking features. He has the biggest and prettiest blue eyes. Something else we found different was how he went limp when we picked him up. It turns out this is characteristic of Ragdoll cats. Dodo also has the eye color and hair colorations of a Ragdoll. I'm not sure if he is a pedigree Ragdoll, but I have no doubt he is part Ragdoll.

I looked on the web, and a pedigree Ragdoll can go for $500 - $1000. We got him for free! Talk about a bargain!

I'm No Longer a "1L"

I took my last exam today. Just like that, a full year of law school has passed me by. If there are any readers out there about to start law school next semester, I only have two pieces of advice.

1. Get all the pens, pads and highlighters at the vendor booths at the start of the semester. There is no damn reason for a 1L to buy a pen with all the freebies handed out. It may seem tacky or even kitschy to take the hand-outs, but those pens especially come in handy later in the year.
2. If you see an email with the words "meeting" & "interest" in it, by all means go there because there will be free food. I don't care if you are a red-hot liberal, if the Federalist Society offers free food, take it. Conversely, if you are a right wingnut, go to the environmental interest meetings. It won't kill you, and they will give you free food.

If you want advice on what hornbooks and primers to get, I suggest going to toplawschools.com or the like to see what all the blowhards have to say on the matter. I have no sage advice to "Get that 'A'."

A "Where Were You Moment"

People can recall with clarity and precision where they were when they heard news about some events like when Kennedy was shot or when the 9/11 attacks occured. I wasn't born when Kennedy was shot but I can recall the day's events when 9/11 happened. I was at work and remember thinking what a nice day it was. The humidity was low, the skies clear blue and the temperature mild. Things went downhill from there. I was only 30 or so miles from the World Trade Center Attacks.

When people ask me where I was at when I heard about Osama Bin Laden's death, sadly, I have to say I was watching Bravo TV. The Real Housewives of OC had ended when Andy Cohen was about to start "See What's Happening Live". He had shit eating grin on his face and asked if we heard the news that UBL had been killed.

I thought he was joking, so I switched over to CNN. Sure enough, it was no joke. So now, I have to live with the fact that I was watching RHW of OC when I heard about UBL's death.