I am a Movable Type junkie. I love using MT - it is allowing me to make useful websites without learning how to do backend databases. I'm in the middle of doing one for Nassau/Queens Drum and Dance and when I'm done, I'm going to do one for my brother-in-law, Jim. The Nassau/Queens one is a very complex set of three blogs that I hope to use includes or PHP to connect - which I've never done before, so it's exciting to try something new. When I'm done, Rip should be able to maintain the site without my help. Jim's is just a straight up weblog and I'll just implement his design - but its fun for me anyway. I really should be working on the Tarot site. And I've been promising my step-father a house construction blog too.

My cousin Liz visited this weekend and as I suggested, brought her puppy, Emily, a 7 month old Shepard mix. Well, it was a long day of dog management and though I enjoyed Liz and her boyfriend, Matt, I think that we were all exhausted by the end of the day. I was most worried about my mom's biggest dog, Lady, who is a Rottie, Shepard mix. She is like a bear. It turned out that the little dogs were the biggest problem. Fawn, the puppy, just hid the whole time, but Lil' Bit snarled and barked at Emily incessantly. I tried putting Lil' Bit in my mom's bedroom, but she wouldn't stop barking. At some point I took Aidan into our room to nurse him to sleep and brought the little dogs in with me. Lady and Emily, it turns out, were playing together really nicely outside. When I came out of the bedroom, Lil' Bit came too and started in barking at Emily as soon as she saw her. At this point, Lady had bonded with Emily and was actually disciplining Lil' Bit for being so incorrigible. Lil' Bit was not responding to Lady and Lady got more and more agressive until she out and out attacked Lil' Bit. Fortunately, I was right there when it happened and was able to whisk Lil' Bit away. The whole thing was so upsetting. I had this picture in my head of Lady as this gentle giant which is shot to hell. The other thing is that it seems to have changed Lil' Bit's place among the three dogs. Even though Fawn wasn't involved or even around when it happened, she has been lording over Lil' Bit ever since. They have been playing roughly ever since we got here, but now Lil' Bit just doesn't want to fight back and she seems to have been demoted to bottom dog. It's kind of sad and pathetic.

Other than that it was nice to see Liz and Matt and I sure appreciate them making the 2+ hour trip out here to see us. It certainly broke up the solitude of this place - I now have 4 straight days alone til Mom gets home which is turning out to be the longest stretch that I'll be alone - so all in all, that's not so bad. I've been having these crazy ideas about going to Katy where I grew up. I spent a lot of time studying the map today. It just doesn't seem to make any sense right now though. It's 3-4 hours away and what am I going to do when I get there except drive around the old neighborhoods. I can't think of a single public space I could bring Aidan to except the mall.