Fred Posner dot com

In memory of my puppy Forrest, I branded myself with the following:

They say that we should be thankful for the pain we feel with the loss of a loved one; as the pain we feel is a measure of the love felt for them. If this is the case, then I must have loved Forrest more than I’ve loved anything else in my life.

When I posted the previous post about having a bad day, I would have never had imagined that December 20, 2006 would become perhaps the worst day of my life.

When I woke up that morning, Forrest wasn’t doing well and after a trip to the vet’s I learned that he had developed a massive growth that could not be removed and was causing him great pain. Within 14 hours of the last post, Forrest was gone and I would begin to experience the worst days of my life.

I know Forrest may have been “just a dog.” But to me, Forrest was a combination of my best friend, my daily companion, and something that I loved more than anything else. His abscence is tremendous. I miss him deeply and am only now starting to make it more than an hour without breaking into tears.

I’m starting a new foundation in his name to help/provide assistance to rescue organizations, service dogs, etc. and will post more info.

Shitty start generally leads to a shitty day. But there’s a bright point. Between a month where nothing seems to work right for me, and Forrest’s deteriorating health I received my Hanukwanzika gift from my sister and from Martin.

My sister gave me a very nice cigar over’s kit complete with my first ash tray. I don’t think I know how to smoke a cigar without ashing onto the floor, but this kit is so awesome I must learn.

Martin gave me a subscription to Atkins at home, making sure that by this time next year my goal of no longer being morbidly obese should be realized.

Update — Forrest has passed away.

5 years ago, if someone said that I’d be buying an Espresso machine, I would have called them an idiot. I never liked coffee. The taste used to make me dry heave and other than yogurt, was one of my most hated flavors.

But, as we get older, we try new things. Perhaps it was my love of tiramisu. Maybe it was just the dire need of caffeine. But regardless, Fred has developed a taste for Espresso. Funny though… I don’t like a regular brewed coffee.

How much do I like Espresso? Well, there’s a new machine sitting in my kitchen that’s already brewed me 3 cups.

I bought me a cheapo model… but one that would be a decent cup of Espresso and in the long-run, tremendously cheaper than going to Starbucks. Sure it’s a steam model, but it uses real coffee (not pods) and tasted pretty good.

After spending a few weeks with my family in SoFla, I returned to the abode in Gainesville to find that Dish Network had dropped my NBC. Dropped. All gone.

Now, I had chosen the America’s Everything plan which was supposed to be all available channels and also paid extra for my local channels and the “super stations.” So why drop it?

Well, according to Dish Network:

A district court judge issued an injunction requiring DISH Network to shut off so-called “distant network” channels no later than December 1, 2006. Only about seven percent of DISH Network’s 12.46 million subscribers received Distant Network Programming (which includes ABC, NBC, CBS, or FOX broadcasts that originate from outside your community).

My response… “bullshit.”

Gainesville has no local NBC channel. The cable company here broadcasts the NBC channel from Orlando and why would they be able to provide for me NBC while Dish Network not? Simply put… money.

So… now the dish is gone (thanks to Joe) and my house looks much bigger without the huge raincatcher on it.

And now since I’m getting my Internet through Cox Cable, I’m transfering my Bellsouth number to Voip Internet Phone Service. I’m going to end up saving 250.00/month.