Bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy...

...fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! The wonderful thing about (Jack) Russells is we've got more than one.

Two actually. Guests for five days while their master is on vacation. We've always thought that if the energy of kids could be harnessed, stored and redirected there'd be no energy crisis. Update: if the energy of a tenth of the Jack Russells could be captured, we'd have clean (sic) energy for the foreseeable future.

Our calm, clueless pound puppies are no match for their guests. Pretzel didn't know what to do when the 'lil dervishes got in her face; she'd just look at us woefully, pleading with her eyes to make them go away. But Pretzel is starting to catch on and show a bit of aggressive play towards her two gnats. They'll bring out her inner beast yet. (riiight)

Something the Know Your Jack Russell books won't tell you is that they can teleport themselves up to six feet instantaneously. I had just gotten comfortable in my recliner last night, when our guests materialized on my lap. They quickly settled in and were off to chase squirrels in their dreams. So, I joined them for an hour or two, waking to the Iron Chef late show, and the task of getting the darlin's re-situated for the evening. Ah, puppies.

What a week. For techies, we seem to be at one one extreme or the other these days, on a scale from unemployed to 60+ hour weeks. I'm blessed to be closer to the latter, but am so looking forward to the two weeks I'm scheduled to be off at Christmas/New Years. Can't/won't gripe too much about cancelling a week off in November, either, 'cause the entire company's scrambling to meet new business requirements. And besides, under the circumstances, I can bank the time until next year. Which gives me 4 weeks vaca. Which segues nicely into the 4 weeks vaca I'll have in my 15th year there. Toughing it out and trying to do your best at your job occasionally has it's advantages.

Not that loyalty means anything like it used to. As the business environment has been changing over the past decade or so, we're keenly aware that, bottom line, we're not too much more than company resources and liabilities. If you're not needed or your output is not what's expected, you're quite outta here. Very understandable from a business viewpoint, harsh reality from the human side of the equation. It's a price of freedom; by and large, we have the freedom to excel and the freedom to screw up. I'll take it. Sure beats tyranny.

Job 10:12: "You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.