Now that class is done, I should go straight in to taking the CPA exam. That would be the logical thing to do. But I unfortunately burnt myself out on classes and I’m jealously taking the free time back from accounting to do…well…everything that I’ve been putting off for the past year. So here’s my to do list:

1. Get a haircut

2. Clean Carpets

3. Wash Outside of car

4. Clean Inside of car

5. Change light bulbs in the den

6. Change air filters in the house

7. List all the stuff on Craigslist that I’ve been meaning to sell for a while

8. Workout regularly (for longer than one week)

That will be a good start. I’ll let you know how it goes. If there’s something that I told you I would do for you any time in the last year and a half, now’s a great time to remind me about it. I might actually be able to get it done now.

Two weeks ago I finished my accounting classes at MTSU. For the last year and a half I’ve been driving to Murfreesboro, TN, about 45 minutes from my house, twice a week. I’ve learned a lot–and now I have the hours required to sit for the CPA exam.

At first, classes were a lot of fun. After about a year of it, I got pretty tired of them…tired of the drive, tired of the time commitment, tired of not having a life outside of work and classes. I was counting down the days until I got done and could leave Murfreesboro and never return.

So much to my surprise, the next to last day I was going to class I got a letter from the city of Murfreesboro. I opened it up and–much to my surprise–it was photos of me running a red light, along with a blackmail note saying–”we have proof of you running a red light and you need to give us 50 bucks or we’re turning you in to the Tennessee Department of Safety.” (my summary of their words) But let’s remember folks–this is from the CITY GOVERNMENT of Murfreesboro, sending this letter saying to pay them 50 bucks before they turn me over to the TN DoS and a collection agency. How absolutely corrupt is that?

I could go on about how I’m the victim here–I sat at this light for about a total of 20 minutes before running it. There was a train on the other side of the intersection that took up about 10 minutes, and the light was only letting about 5 to 7 cars through at a time. So when I sat there for 4 full cycles plus an entire train crossing…it was pretty ridiculous…but now it makes sense, when you think of it in the context of a trap by the city to make some quick and dirty money.

So today I went to pay the bill online and much to my surprise they even gave me a free VIDEO of me running the red light. It’s too funny. So here you go, world. I’m a criminal. Watch me run the red light.

You can click here if you don’t see the video above

Last week we agreed to dogsit our friend Renee’s dog, Alvin. And if you read my posts and/or Facebook rantings at the end of last week, then you know I was about to murder Alvin because he isn’t house-trained and was supposed to be going to the bathroom on training pads but was instead using our entire house including walls and furniture as his training pad.

You will all probably be glad to know that Alvin is still alive. After I wrote that blog last week, Alvin began to get a better idea of where he should be using the bathroom. In the three and a half days that have passed since the last blog post, Alvin has pooped on the bathroom floor only once…and peed on the bathroom floor only twice…and all of the other times he has managed to hit his pad. He did throw up on the kitchen floor today too…but doggie vomit aside, this is encouraging. Though I have ruled out any hope for Alvin learning to go to the bathroom outside the house where he should be going, I now have regained hope for my floors not permanently looking and smelling like dog poop. And that is encouraging.

And even though the potty situation is getting better, he is still the most emotionally needy dog I have ever come across. We can’t do anything-eat, watch tv, sit on the couch and talk-anything-without him hopping in one of our laps, licking our face, and demanding our attention. This was endearing the first day or two. Now I’d rather him just go sit in a corner and chill out for a couple hours. Without going to the bathroom there.

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We love having friends come stay with us. We have a nice little townhouse that we are lucky to have, and we like it when friends from out of town get to come and stay with us. If you ever want to visit Nashville, come stay with us!

Sometimes a friend of a friend will come stay with us, too. We have found this to be a fun way to meet to meet new people. Our friends are nice…and their friends are nice, too.

I have a friend named Renee. We like her a lot. Renee and I go way back to high school days in South Carolina. Renee has a friend named Alvin. Renee is going to be out of town for the next week, and her friend Alvin needed a place to stay…because, as you might guess, Alvin is her dog. He is a Maltipoo, acutally. A male Maltipoo. That’s kind of similar to being a male ladybug, I think.

Lyndsay volunteered us to house sit Alvin while Renee is gone. That is fine. I like to help Renee out…and I can endure anything for a week. Or so I thought. Either way, I figured this would be an excellent opportunity to settle the two year old debate between Lyndsay and I on whether we should own a dog or not. She says yes, because she wants a friend. I say no, because the thing will destroy our nice new house.

Alvin is fairly well trained as dogs go. I can make him sit and beg on command already. And he is what girls would call a “cute dog,” which makes him endearing. But the one thing he has not been trained on is going to the bathroom outside the house. He has been trained, Renee told us, to go to the bathroom on a little disposable pad that you put out around your house. Okay.

So far Alvin has been with us for almost 36 hours. He has peed on the kitchen floor, pooped on the kitchen floor, peed on the carpet, then on the couch, then on the carpet again, then on the wall, then pooped on the kitchen floor again, then peed on the carpet a third time, and on the couch a second time. The one place that he has not peed or pooped? The pad. It’s still as clean as when it came out of the package.

And it’s not like we haven’t given him the option of going outside our house…we’ve taken him our 4 or 5 times. And he goes to the bathroom out there some too. But yesterday Lyndsay walked him for 30 minutes…and he didn’t poop…and as soon as he got inside, he went straight for the kitchen floor and pooped on it.

Oh the joys of pet ownership. Why someone would pay money to subject themselves to this torture, I cannot understand.

A couple weeks ago Lyndsay and I had a few days off work and we decided to take advantage of them and take a spontaneous weekend getaway. We found an amazing price on a last minute flight, a good deal on a hotel and rental car…and off we went (with all of about 2 days planning). While in Dallas we saw the JFK museum, Six Flags, and we even got to go to this outdoor festival called “Taste of Dallas” where the local restaurants lined up along the street and sold food.

And the best part of all was that we got to visit with our friends Chris and Sallie Thomas! We had a great time driving around Dallas with them…and enjoying what Mexican food is SUPPOSED to taste like, apparently.

Dallas is a pretty neat city. I give them a D- for their roads (highways don’t have exit numbers) and intersections (they put all their stoplights downtown on the side of the street). and I give them an A+ for their food (amazing mexican) and an A for their rollercoasters (the Titan at Six Flags put a hurt on me that I can’t even begin to explain).

You can see more photos on the “Photos” page