So apparently Miri has informed me that the simple act of opening my home to the guild makes me a host for the wedding. OK... so Leigh and I decided it was time to own a costume suitable for the guild and for trips to Renn Faires, and Scarabfests, and medieval weddings!

Here's what I picked up at Museum Replicas (the sword was a housewarming gift from Oz). I apologize to the Atlanta costumers in the guild (Tiassa, Miri) but it looked like you two already had your hands full! One question to you both though - I saw a costume gold chain at Michael's and was considering a gold chain/signet of office with the guild's logo on it in either costume jewelry or enamel paint of some kind. Anyone have any thoughts? Also, haven't gotten any headgear yet and am not really sure what would look good.

And so, it comes to this.

I'm sitting here tonight, on a Friday night, working on a plain old fashioned drunk.

Tomorrow at 11:45, my wonderful, fun loving, inside lazin' dog Buster gets put down. Then after paying 45 bucks for the priviledge of kissing him and hugging him goodbye in my vet's waiting room, I get to take him to Petsmart and pay the 35 bucks for them to "dispose of the body".

I don't even want to know what that means.

Buster is lying at my feet right now, munching on his snacks and lying completely content and unaware of his fate.

I know I'm doing the right thing. For those who don't know, he nipped Alex, my 15 month old son, about a month ago. Missed his eye by an inch, and apparetnly it was completely unprovoked. Since then, I've done research, and I've asked countless people who love dogs what to to. All of them sympathized, but the responses ranged from "keep a close eye on him at all times, never leaving him alone with the children" to "shoot him. now." (I live in Georgia, remember) The bottom line is that people say that once that line has been crossed (tooth to human) he's not really "safe" anymore. Sadly, I agree with them. I've tried to place him in a home without children, but haven't been able to find one. He would be an amazing companion to someone who needed love with a low-maintenance dog. However, 90 THOUSAND dogs are killed in Atlanta every year by shelters who simply can't keep them all. It's amazing that so few people spend the 60 bucks to spay or neuter their pets. (Both the dogs I've owned had that done at 12 weeks)

So at halftime of the World Cup game the wound was STILL bleeding, and I finally acknowledged that I had to hit the doctor. Naturally, urgent care was closed due to the holiday, so I wound up in the emergency room. I did learn something interesting though... there's a new substance that ERs have that functions as temporary skin. Basically, it looks like white styrofoam, but it's a sterile dressing that gives your platelets a matrix to clot within. So, after watching this pea-sized slice of my thumbtip bleed profusely for two hours, they fold this stuff on, and the bleeding stops - just like that!

So there I was, putting the finishing touches on my office ceiling in the basement, figuring I could get it done today and move the furniture in tonight, giving myself my first night in the new digs this evening. Alas, it's not to be.

When you cut inch-thick ceiling tile, a sharp knife is essential for quick work and clean cuts (think crumbly ceiling tile). The sharpest knife I have is my carpet knife, which features a double-sided blade, both sides exposed for angling the handle either way you want to make a cut. The description of the knife should tell you everything you need to know - moving to flip the tile over, I caught the back side of the blade at and took a chunk out of the tip of my left thumb. Now, after 30 minutes of pressure to stop the pea-sized open wound, I'm sitting here at the computer, thumb wrapped in bloody gauze, and pissed that I can't get back into the basement. I'm going to make sure it's done bleeding before I go back down... which may well give me the perfect excuse to sit back and watch the World Cup semi-final in 20 minutes.