Dominique....May 14, 1991 - March 14, 2005

Dominique went to heaven this morning at 9:15 a.m.

We made the decision to put her down this past Friday when she was finally diagnosed with chronic kidney failure. She had really been going downhill all week. We even noticed her health deteriorating over her past couple of days.

This past weekend was very emotional and very difficult. Dominique had unquenchable thirst, and she drank "gallons" of water. During the evening, we had to take her out every forty-five minutes for a pee. During the mornings, she was OK. She was very tired, so we just stayed on the bed with her a lot so we could be with her. We tried bringing her out for a couple of walks, but she was only interested in walking (very slowly) for a few minutes. During the evenings, she would begin pacing and drinking water every couple of minutes. Even though she was drinking a lot, she was dying of thirst because her kidneys could not process the water any more.

We're heart broken, and we've shed a lot of tears. But at the same time, we're happy that she lived to be almost fourteen years old and we have lots of pictures and great memories. We've already begun looking at our photo albums and rehashing great memories. We think she lived a great life...and on two continents!!! How many people can say their dog lived in the U.S.A. and Switzerland, and traveled to France, Germany, Lichtenstein, and Spain?

We're going to miss her terribly, and she'll always have a place in our hearts.

The Town Drunk...Swiss Style.

On the way to my German conversation class shortly after noon (12:11 to be exact), as I boarded the tram, I noticed what could be the politest and most orderely town drunk I've ever seen. Public displays of drunkeness are fairly rare here, and I made sure I chose a seat with a clear view so that I could enjoy the show.
I noticed the 60+ year old man holding a bottle of Coop Lager (the cheap store brand beer) the instant I got on the tram. He was unshaven, but other than that he looked fairly well kempt. He had on neatly pressed clothes, he didn't smell, and he happily greeted every person (including me) who stepped onto the tram. My first reaction was to avoid the guy, but as I said before, I wanted to be able to see what was going to take place on my eight minute tram ride.
As the tram began moving, the man began a soliloquy in slurred Swiss German which - while being very interesting to listen to - was completely incomprehensible to me. This gibberish continued for a minute, and then the tram slowed down at the next stop where an unsuspecting woman boarded the tram and sat right next to the man. This was going to be interesting...
The moment the tram began moving, the soliloquy began again. Now, if this had been in America, the lady would probably have made a noise of disgust and then moved to another seat. Afterall, who wants to sit next to a drunk? But not in Switzerland. The lady politely sat next to the man, and she pretty much ignored him. At one point, the man reached into his pocket, pulled out a bottle opener, and carefully popped the bottle cap off of his beer - of course he carefully put the cap in his pocket so that he could put it in the proper recycling container at some point in his bleary-eyed future. While he was putting the bottle cap into his pocket, he accidentally nudged the lady sitting next to him. He slurred out some form of apology, and the lady told him it was not a problem. At this point, I would definitely have moved to another seat because I knew what was coming next.
Because the lady talked to him, the man considered it an open invitation to begin telling her his life story. He began gesturing with his arms. Then, he pulled a little piece of paper out of his pocket and began reading and laughing out loud. A few seconds later, he began whistling what were apparently bird calls for some long extinct bird. All this time, the lady just politlely sat next to him and did not move.
Unfortunately, we arrived at my stop and I had to get off the tram. As I stepped off the tram, I looked back and saw the man offering the lady a sip of his beer. She answered him with a simple, "Danke, nein". Although she was beginning to look a little uneasy... she still did NOT move to a new seat.
As the tram began moving toward the next stop, I saw the man's arms begin gesturing again. The lady just sat there looking straight ahead.

Shanghai Surpise!

I just spoke with Mrs. TBF a few minutes ago, and she's doing well in Shanghai. She flew there from Singapore this morning, and told me that Singapore Airlines served up dim sum for breakfast. How cool is that?
I forgot to mention that Mrs. TBF cleared the wait list which means that she'll be coming home on Friday morning instead of Saturday morning - which is also very cool.

The Snowtime Trilogy is complete...

I had the third and final installment of the Snowtime Specials in the parking lot of Johannes Hakkaart's (that's what my receipt says) McDonalds in Füllinsdorf this afternoon while listening to the CD Mütter by Rammstein (ahhhhhhh...there's nothing like listening to some relaxing music while enjoying good healthy food!). Now that I think about it, I've probably eaten at McDonalds in the last three weeks almost as much as I have in the previous four years combined.
Anyway, this week's special is the Fondue Special. It's basically a Quarter Pounder with Cheese with a bunch of fondue cheese glopped on top and a special sauce which kind of tasted like yellow mustard. The bun was kind of like a sourdough bun, but I couldn't really pin down what it was exactly.
The verdict???? Damn good! Although, it didn't match the knee-buckling euphoria of the Rösti special. So, I'd have to rate them as follows: (1) Rösti Special (2) Fondue Special (3) Triple Cheese Special.
Also, I have to point out how expensive McDonalds is in Switzerland. Since my stomach was really growling while running errands today, I decided to go "Large" on my Menu (Value Meal). The cost??? 13.90 Swiss Francs which comes out to about $12.00 U.S.!!!! For a value meal!!!!! My receipt says: WIR FREUEN UNS AUF IHREN NÄCHSTEN BESUCH (We look forward to your next visit). Twelve bucks for a Value Meal??? At those prices, I'd certainly hope so!

O sole mio...

I just spoke with Mrs. TBF. She's at Zürich Airport waiting for her flight to Singapore. On Tuesday morning she'll head to Shanghai, and then it's back to Switzerland either on Friday or Saturday. She's waitlisted for the Thursday night flight back to Zürich, but she's currently scheduled for the Friday night flight. I really hope she gets on that Thursday night flight.
In the meantime, it's just me, Dominique, and King. Mrs. TBF and I just bought a new flatscreen TV for our bedroom. So, I think I'll probably just go to bed early while Mrs. TBF's in Asia and watch TV or read a book.

A little bit of Finland...in Switzerland.

Mrs. TBF and I ran into two Finns yesterday while doing a little shopping. First, we ran into a Finnish saleslady at Mobel Pfister while we were buying some towels for our guest bathroom. As I handed the lady my credit card to pay for the towels, she noticed my last name and immediately began speaking Finnish with me. As it turns out, she came to Switzerland 30+ years ago to study German for a year, met a Finnish man, they were married, and they never left. We spoke for a few minutes, she told me that there is a Swiss/Finnish Society in Basel with about 400 members and that there are about 10,000 Finns in Switzerland - imagine that!
After stopping at home to bring Dominique out to do her business, we headed out to a furniture store called Getzman to look for a new dining room table and chairs. The salesman who helped us has a Swiss father and a Finnish mother. I spoke to him in Finnish, Jo Ann spoke to him in English, and he spoke to us in a combination of Finnish, English, and German. It was a pretty interesting hour or so. His spoken Finnish wasn't great, but I could tell that he understood just about everything I said.
So, for me it was a rare opportunity to get in some Finnish language practice. I feel that my Finnish speaking skills have deteriorated somewhat while living in Switzerland, and I'm not happy about it. Pretty much all the practice I get is talking to my dad for about five minutes on the phone every week or so (he's not much of a phone talker), talking to myself, and occasionally speaking with a local Finnish friend - Anne (although we usually speak in English if Mrs. TBF is there).
The saleslady from Mobel Pfister gave me her home phone number so I could call her for some info about the Swiss/Finnish Society. Maybe I should give her a call and become a member of the society so that I could speak Finnish a little more often.
Mrs. TBF and I are thinking of beginning French lessons. English...German conversation classes, Finnish and French? How much info can one cram into their brain???

I'm supposed to be in Klosters...but I'm not.

I was supposed to go to Klosters this weekend with a bunch of buddies for a weekend ski trip, but I had to cancel out at the last minute. Our suddenly very old dog has not been doing too well, and I figured it wasn't fair to Mrs. TBF to have to handle things on her own while I was off having fun.
Dominique has been kind of going downhill for the past two months. I brought her into the vet's office last week for blood and urine tests, and all the preliminary results were pretty normal. The problem is - her behavior hasn't been very normal.
For the past two weeks, she's been very hyper at night, drinking water like crazy, having to go out for a pee just about every hour during the evening, etc. When I brought her for the blood test, she was about 2 kilos lighter than the last time I weighed her. All of these symptoms pointed to thyroid over-medication (she's taken medicine for hypo-thyroidism for several years), so I just reduced the medication on my own while we waited for the thyroid blood test results. Reducing the medicine helped a lot, but the blood test ended up showing that her thyroid level was LOW. The doctor basically told me that since reducing the medicine helped, we should just ignore the test results and continue with the lower dosage of medicine. It got pretty bad last week. One night it was so bad that we started talking about the fact that it might be time to put her down.
I think it's just a matter of her being almost fourteen years old, and her body's just beginning to break down. She has cataracts, arthritis, and takes three different types of medicine which seem to help her a lot. She continues to poop and pee normally (although sometimes IN the house), she still has a ravenous appetite, and the tail still wags quite often. So, she still has some living left to do. But, instead of talking about her twilight years - I think it's more like she's now living in her twilight months.
It's all just incredibly sad, and I can't even write this without getting emotional about it. Mrs. TBF and I are just going to try to make the most of every day we have with her, and I'm going to try to not get too mad at "our baby" for having the occasional accident in the house...

More of the "F" word...

What are usually the first words out of one's mouth every morning? Good morning...coffee...gotta peepee...? Those might be the words of choice for most people, but usually the first words uttered out of The Big Finn's mouth every morning are either "Fu**ing Primus" or "Fu**ing Migros"!!!
So far, I have very little to complain about as it pertains to our new apartment. I like the layout, the location, the proximity to grocery stores and downtown Basel, etc., etc. Overall, I'd have to say that we made a good decision to move to this place. One of the benefits - proximity to grocery stores - also brings up one of the problems.
We live right next door to a Migros grocery store. Migros, along with Coop, is one of the two major grocery chains in Switzerland. Mrs. TBF and I overwhelmingly favor Coop, but it is convenient having the Migros next door in case we run out of something and need it in a hurry. As a matter of fact, you can take the elevator down into our parking garage, walk out of our parking garage door, and walk right into the Migros parking garage without ever going outside. This gives you an idea of how close the Migros is to our apartment.
Not only is there a Migros next to our building, but there is also a company called Primus located right next door to the Migros. So if you look out of our bedroom window, you can see both the Migros loading dock and the Primus loading dock (the Swiss apparently do not believe in location, location, location when building houses). Here's the problem...
Anywhere from 4:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. I begin hearing familiar sounds from my past. As most of you may know, I was an account manager for various transportation companies during my fifteen or so working years. These sounds are the unmistakeable sounds of pallet-jacks and fork lifts loading pallets onto a trailer. After these noises subside, then comes the unique sound of a diesel engine starting, and then the sound of a truck driving off. When I hear these sounds, I moan out either "...fu**ing Migros" or "...fu**ing Primus." Up until this morning I was never quite sure which one it was. However, this morning, thanks to Dominique, I witnessed the culprits in action.
This morning, at 4:50 a.m., Dominique jumped out of bed which pretty much gives you about a two-minute window to get her outside for a pee (give her a break...she's old). I threw on some clothes, brought her up the stairs to the rooftop garden area, and she took care of business. As I rubbed the little balls of sleep from my eyes, I noticed light and motion coming from below. Lo and behold, I saw three Primus employees loading a delivery truck at 4:55 a.m.!!! "FU*KING PRIMUS!!!!!!!!"
Now the question becomes whether or not I go about the arduous task of filing a formal complaint (how Swiss of me!). I'm pretty sure they're not allowed to make noise until 7:00 a.m. To their credit, it did seem like the guys were trying to be quiet. But, it's one of those situations where you're trying to be really quiet, and then you end up making more noise than if you just moved about normally.
Yup, I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I guess I can take on Primus and Migros which will leave me with only one more interrupter of my precious R.E.M. sleep.
A couple of Saturday nights ago, I was reveling in the fact that there was no way Primus and Migros would be waking me up early on a Sunday morning. So, I went to bed looking forward to hours and hours of uninterrupted sleep. Before I knew it, it was 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning (I think I went to bed at 2:30 a.m.), and I realized that something loud had woken me up. When I finally got my wits about me, I realized what had woken me up - "FU*KING CHURCH BELLS!!!!!"

Snowtime!!!

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that a few days ago I made a rare stop at a local McDonalds and sampled the Rösti Special - a culinary masterpiece! It's one of three Snowtime! specials that McDonalds of Switzerland is currently offering.
Today, the autopilot on my car suddenly took me against my will into the Münchenstein McDonalds McDrive, and I was forced to order this week's Snowtime! special - the Triple Cheese. By the way, I love going through the McDrive in Switzerland. I order in German, but I say the names of the things (Big Mac, cheeseburger, etc.) with an American accent instead of a Swiss accent which results in massive confusion for the order taker. I'll say: Ich möchte ein Big Mac. And then I'll hear the McEmployee say something like: "BEEEK MOCK??"
Getting back to the Triple Cheese ("TREEEPIL CHEEESS?)...
As the name implies, the Triple Cheese is a burger with three types of cheese, plus some kind of gooey fondue sauce on a cheesy-baked bun. The verdict? It was good, but not even in the same league as the McRösti.
Next week's special is the "Fondue Special". I think I'll have to give it a try. Then, the Rösti Special comes back for an encore performance from March 14th - 20th. Mrs. TBF's mom arrives from Chicago on March 17th. I can think of no better jet-lag food than the Rösti Special small menu (Value Meal) for my Schwiegermutter. I guess it's a good thing I began stocking up on the prune juice today.

Now I've seen just about everything! But, I haven't tasted it...yet.

I stopped at our local Coop this afternoon to pick up a few groceries, and something really unusual caught my eye while I was looking for prune juice (...it's not for me. Mrs. TBF's mom is coming to visit in a couple of weeks, and Hell hath no fury like Jo without her prune juice!). Actually, it's something I can't even begin to imagine could posess any sort of commercial potential. What is it you ask? Why it's....SAUERKRAUT JUICE. I am not kidding, I saw sauerkraut juice at the grocery store today. I picked it up, I held it in my hand, I considered buying it, and I chickened out. But fret not...I'm sure I'll be buying it soon. Now that I know it exists, it's something I just must try. And when I do - I'll be sure to let you know how it tastes. You know?? All this talk about sauerkraut reminds me of one of my famous brain-freezes from a few years ago.
Shortly after moving to Switzerland, I decided one day that I was going to make some sausages and sauerkraut for dinner. At the time, I could barely count to ten in German and going to the grocery store to look for items I had never bought before always brought on a bit of anxiety because I feared having to ask somebody where a particular item was. It would usually involve me belching out a simple question in what I thought was German but in actuality was more like a cross between Esperanto and one of those tribal African languages with the popping/clicking sounds. Plus, nine times out of ten, the store employee I'd be speaking to was probably French (most of the grocery store employees are), and they wouldn't have the slightest idea what I was saying. So, I walked around Coop for a couple of minutes trying to find sauerkraut without any success. Then, I figured I'd have to actually ask somebody where it was. When I began to rehearse the question in German in my head, I suddenly realized that I had no idea how to say sauerkraut in German. I actually looked in my little German pocket dictionary and I couldn't find it in the English section. This was unbelievable!!!! How could something so German not be in the German dictionary??? Right when I was about to give up, I simultaneously realized that Sauerkraut IS German (DUH!) and I looked up to see it on the shelf in the cooler directly in front of me at eye level. I grabbed a couple of bags, paid for my stuff, and slinked out of the store in disgrace.
So, let's fast-forward about 4½ years. Not only do I know that Sauerkraut is a German word, but I also know that Sauerkraut Saft means sauerkraut juice, it exists, and I'm probably going to be trying it for the first time in the very near future.

Hey...let's talk some shit.

Here's Dominique pooping on her rooftop "litter box" on February 27, 2005.  
One of the best features of our new apartment is that the entire rooftop is ours, and ours only. Most of the rooftop is tiled and landscaped, but a fairly large portion of it is planted in a natural, prairie-style planting. The previous owners mentioned to me that it was just a "...bunch of weeds", so I figured that I would eventually just landscape it myself at some point. One thing I didn't really consider was this area's potential as a lazy way of taking Dominique out for her rather frequent need to relieve herself (afterall, she is almost fourteen years old). We were taking her down in the elevator, down the front steps, and over to a grassy knoll about thirty meters away from the front door of our building. Most of the time, Dominique wouldn't make it to the grassy knoll, and she would end up doing her business on the rather ornately grooved tiles in front of our building. This would result in me either getting out surgical tools to remove her dookie from the grooves....or just leave it and pretend it was somebody else's dog. I think you can figure out which option I chose.
Then one day, our neighbor Suzanne asked why we didn't just bring her up to the roof to do her business. It was like being hit on the head with Duh!-hammer. Since those brilliant words came out of Suzanne's mouth, I'd have to estimate that 90% of Dominique's peepeeing and poopooing has taken place in the rooftop "nature preserve." And be not concerned, because I pick up after our baby every time she drops one of her little land mines. I just grab a bunch of poo-bags from the Robidog bin when I walk by one, and I keep them in good supply next to the door that leads out to the roof.
I have to admit that it's so convenient that this past Friday night I actually took a pee up there myself while I was waiting for Dominique to finish. I'd be willing to bet that Suzanne is now regretting having given me the idea!

A Mrs. TBF milestone...

I forgot to mention, Mrs. TBF hit her goal weight at her weigh-in yesterday. She has lost 30 pounds/13.6 kilos since September 1, 2004. She looks great!!! I can't stop slapping that taut po whenever she walks by me.

Ich liebe es...

That's German for "I'm lovin' it!", and that's definitely what I'm feeling.
It's probably the snowiest day in Basel since we moved here, and on my way to pick up Rammy and Mrs. TBF from the Münchenstein Tennis Center I made a quick (and rare) stop at the local McDonalds.
As I pulled into the McDrive, I noticed that they were promoting today's special - the Rösti Special. What is the Rösti Special you ask? Well, it's an intoxicating combination of an all-beef patty, with tons of cheese, a Rösti (the Swiss version of hash browns) patty, and a couple of strips of bacon on an fried onion bun. It was unbelievably good. Perhaps I'll have to stop at Mickey Ds later in the week to sample another daily special.

Take a chance...

...you stupid ho!. Those are the rather catchy lyrics from Gwen Stefani's song "What You Waiting For." And, imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered this past weekend that the various SKY video channels that have the video in heavy rotation have made the rather silly editorial decision to bleep out the word - HO.
For those of you who aren't as "street" as me (oh...and by the way...when did it become pronounced "SHTREET"? Why has "SHT" become an accepted American prounounciation of every word that begins with an "ST"? Has everybody suddenly turned German on me???), ho is short for whore. Why has ho/whore suddenly become offensive to people? My guess is that a group of rather sensitive high-class prostitutes have lobbied against the music video channels to get them to bleep out this term that they find offensive - as if it somehow undermines the professionalism they have worked so long and hard (I'm sorry if you found that offensive) to achieve. I think people are just becoming too gosh-danged sensitive. All of this reminds me of some words or wisdom from one of my former work colleagues - David L. (I'm not sure if he'd want me to use his last name).
I worked with Dave for several years at my last company. Over the years I was amused by the fact that he was a devout Christian, went to church every Sunday, and...he swore like a truck driver (which was fitting because we were account managers for a trucking company). One day, I asked Dave how he justified peppering his vernacular with the word FUCK (...sorry if I've offended you) while attempting to adhere to the tenets of Christianity. Here was his response: "It doesn't say you can't say FUCK in the Bible!" Those words of wisdom have stuck with me through the years, and I've occasionally felt the need to repeat them in order to knock the easily-offended off of their pulpits. Their response is always the same: "Well...I find it offensive." And my response is: "Who cares?" And getting back to Gwen Stefani, my guess is that a handful people have called in to complain about the use of the word ho in her video, and they've managed to create a new swear word which is probably used a zillion times a day by English speaking people throughout the world.
I wonder if they're going to have to bleep out Santa Claus next Christmas. Bleep, bleep, bleep...Merry Christmas. There are going to be an awful lot of angry rednecks when they have to start calling them dad-burned things bleep-downs. It looks like Smith and Hawken have already buckled to the pressure by changing the long-used garden hoe to "precision weeder."
It's at times like these that I have to remember Dave's words of wisdom. It doesn't say you can't say ho in the Bible. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it!

King has gone "High-Tech"!!!

As I mentioned earlier this week, I went to Qualipet to buy some pet supplies. Among the things I bought was a "Kitty High-Tech Mouse" for King made by a German company called Karlie. One of things I really enjoy about buying things in Europe is that the back of the package usually has instructions/information translated into several languages. Now, mind you, this is not really a "high-tech" piece of equipment as the manufacturer implies. All it really is is a small fishing rod with a catnip stuffed mouse at the end of the line that squeeks when you bounce it off the floor. However, this fact has not deterred the good people at Karlie from feeling the need to list the highlights of their product in seven languages - German, English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. Here is the English translation which I found rather amusing:

Here comes the high-tech mouse!
Sensational:
-Just the slightest contact and the cat hears the "real sound of mice" - an integrated chip makes this possible and the cat cannot tell the difference between this sound and the "original" sound of mice.
-With new safety mouse, which means to say with soft felt eyes, ears and tail, no sharp corners [Oh,oh...do I sense a previous manufacturing flaw? Perhaps the eyes, ears, and tail were previously made of...glass and barbed wire?]
-With the scent of catnip (cat mint)
-Active toy to promote instinct and concentration. [I must point out that it did pretty much drive King into a frenzy. So, instinct yes. Concentration? Let's not push it.]
-Many exciting hours [huh?] of play between animal and people.
-Immediately ready to use [Liars!!! There was some assembly required!]
-Do not leave the animal to play on its own. Do not eat. [Is this last comment directed toward the "animal" or the "people"?]

This fall...I'll be having it MY WAY!!!

BIG NEWS!!!! BURGER KING IS COMING TO BASEL THIS FALL!!!! I can smell that flame-broiled smell wafting over the Bahnhofplatz already! 

What a difference four years makes...

I did one of my classic Swiss outings this morning/afternoon - Qualipet, Media Markt, and IKEA. However, before I went to the BIG THREE, I had to stop off at the Motorfahrzeugkontrolle (or, MFK) to change our address on our drivers licenses.
Four years ago, when I was in the process of changing from our Illinois license plates to Swiss plates, the MFK (I began substituting something else for the "M" and "F") was the bane of my existence. It was incredibly disorganized, most people refused to speak to me in English (and my German skills were practically non-existent), and worst of all: nobody would provide me with a list of all the things I needed in order to get my Swiss plates. It was absolutely one of the most frustrating experiences of my life!!!! I had to go to the MFK four times in order to get my plates. Each time, a person would tell me something like: "...now that you have these [useless] pieces of paper, you must go get this form from your pastor swearing that you did once drive an orange Vega." I'm exagerating slightly, but it wasn't too far from what I experienced. On the fourth trip, I begged an employee who spoke English to PLEASE provide me with a complete list of everything I needed, and he told me that all I needed was one piece of paper from my insurance agent. Luckily, I had the agent's phone number, asked the man if he would call the agent and have him fax him a copy, and surprisingly enough...he did just that. Although he had to throw in a "...this is highly unusual..." just for good measure.
Fast forward to four years later....
I walked into the MFK, and I was surprised to see that they now had a very organized number system. I pressed a button, and received number 516. I looked at the board and found that number 514 was currently being helped. About seven minutes later my number came up, and I went to a window where I was helped by a Herr Rüdisühli. I was able to tell him in German that my wife and I had just moved from Reinach to Binningen, and that I needed to change our address. He took our paper drivers licenses from me, went to a typewrite where he just put xxxxxxxxxxxx over the old address, typed the new address next to it, and put the official Baselland stamp next to it. It took about two minutes, and I was out of there! I kind of wish I hadn't put an hour's worth of coins into the parking meter.
On I went to buy some cat food from Qualipet along with a cat toy for King (I just can't pass up those stupid cat toys). After Qualipet, I drove to Media Markt where I bought some printer cartridges and stereo cables. Then, I went next door to IKEA.
When we first moved to Switzerland, I spent A LOT of time at IKEA. As a matter of fact, one time Mrs. TBF and I were in downtown Basel at Manor (a department store) and a man going down the escalator said hello to me in English while we were going up the escalator. Mrs. TBF asked me who he was, and I told her that it was the warehouse guy from IKEA. I just got an "Oh...my...God!" with the simultaneous eyes rolling up into the head...a classic Mrs. TBF look which I have had the pleasure of seeing at least about 5,000 times since we were married.
Anyway, I had to buy a small cabinet for our bathroom, and I actually understood the lady when she told me in German that I would have to pick out my own handles in the kitchen area before getting the rest of the stuff from the warehouse pick-up area after I paid for everything. Four years ago, I would have brought the boxes home, unpacked everything, assembled the cabinet, and then I would have hurled out a stream of expletives at IKEA, Sweden, and anything else that I could think of while wondering WHERE THE HELL THE @#$*&@#!!! HANDLES WERE!!!
So, I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now. Let's see if I still feel the same way after trying to assemble the damn cabinet.

I'm wasting away to nothing!

At the beginning of the year, I weighed about 113 kilos/248 lbs. which is pretty normal for me. On January 20th - the last day I went to the gym before our move - I weighed 109.9 kilos/242 lbs. The only thing I consciously did as far as dieting is concerned was that I switched from using heavy cream to using skim milk in my coffee (a MASSIVE sacrifice...believe me!). I was six pounds lighter, and Mrs. TBF was disgusted by the ease with which I lost the weight (by the way...she's lost 26 lbs. on Weight Watchers).
Two days ago, because of the move, I went to the gym for the first time since January 20th. I felt like my clothes were kind of loose, but I was shocked when I stepped on the scale and saw that I was....107.2 kilos/236 lbs. I LOST 12 POUNDS IN A MONTH WITHOUT EVEN TRYING!! It must be that I lost muscle weight during my gym hiatus. Either that, or I have a tapeworm the size of a cucumber!

Just say NO to drugs....

...I sure as Hell can't. I guess I should clarify. I'm talking about veterinary drugs.
Just about every time I go to Dr. Buser's office to get a refill on one of Dominique's drugs, I walk out with the latest viel besser medication. Today, I went to get some arthritis medication that I squirt on Dominique's food everyday. I came out with that AND a special arthritis medication for those extra-bad arthritis days that may (or may not) be coming up in the future. So, I guess I'm a sap when it comes to the pets.
At least I AM able to pass up on the constantly improving Swiffer...
Is it my imagination, or is there a new type of Swiffer every time I go to the grocery store? Yesterday, I saw a Swiffer that squirts liquid and wipes. It's ridiculous, and it must be stopped! Who decides that the world needs this kind of stuff? What happened to the good old-fashioned mop and bucket? HMMMMM...let me think about this for a moment...

People buying Swiffer wipes and liquid refills = company making money.

People using a mop for several years and filling a bucket with soapy water = company not making money.

I GET IT!!!

People...this is mass brain-washing. You don't need it. My mom plunged my old pajamas into a bucket of water with some Spic (isn't this a little politically incorrect) 'N Span, or dishwashing liquid, or whatever was handy, and the floors were spotlessly clean.
Come to think of it...I'm pretty sure my mom NOW uses a Swiffer. Maybe it's not such a bad thing afterall.

WE'RE ALIVE!!!

We have survived the move to Binningen! I just hooked up my computer, and I'm back in the blogging business! I'll resume blogging again on a regular basis over the next couple of days. That's all for now!