Idzeeboo's Blog

Our beloved family pet Boomer had to be euthanized this weekend after a long battle with canine epilepsy. He had more than 14 seizures in a 36 hour period and had suffered brain damage as a result. He was unable to recognize any of us, did not know his name nor where in the world he was. His balance and coordination were greatly diminished and he was in pretty bad shape. Ann-Marie and I made the heart-breaking decision to end his suffering Saturday afternoon.

I often hear people talking about how their pet is/was the best pet ever for various reasons. Boomer indeed was the best ever. He loved all people and gave as much as he received (if not more!) He also loved camping as you can see in the picture below. We have nine years of awesome memories with Boomer and will never forget him. He is already greatly missed.

One week at the academy down and about 46 more to go! The first week went pretty well - all things considered. The stupid uniform company did not have all of my stuff ready for the start of the academy so I have been wearing business attire. There are several other students who do not have uniforms either so at least I don't stick out like a sore thumb. The instructor who handles PT at the academy was out last week so we did not have to exercise on Tuesday as planned. Unfortunately, he is back and we will be PT'ing tomorrow. I am NOT looking forward to that! The curriculum so far has been all about law. Constitutional law, case studies and a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo for starters. Boring but necessary.

I still think about my brother-in-law, Paul a lot. For some reason I seem to have slipped into a bit of a funk and will frequently 'see' things that had to do with his death (usually just before I fall asleep). It is very much in the front of my mind recently and I don't know why. I guess it is a normal part of the healing process. A part of me still does not want to accept the fact that he is gone although I know for sure he is. It just doesn't make sense. Perhaps I feel this way because there are still unanswered questions about the circumstances of his death. Additionally, I feel kind of spooked about the possibility of my immediate family being involved in some sort of fatal accident and it keeps me up at night.

On a brighter note; THE RED SOX WON THE WORLD SERIES!!! Go Bo-Sox! Now if the Bruins would take notes from the Sox and the Patriots, I would be a REALLY happy man! The Jaguars won a squeaker over the Buccaneers this weekend, improving their record to 5-2. Our starting QB is out with an injury so I did not expect the Jags to win but it's nice that we did. I'll take a close win over a blow-out any day because it makes for interesting watching.

I have almost NO time for studying which makes blogging even harder but I will do my best to keep you updated at least once a week.

My oldest son decided to get a tattoo for his eighteenth birthday. So, Saturday morning we headed out to the local tattoo parlor with several prototype designs in mind. The tattoo artist (Dave) was quick to come up with a design that he thought was good. We thought it was great! Here is the finished product:

It took about an hour to completely 'ink' it and Adam handled the pain pretty well considering. I have had a few myself and they do hurt...

I will post some additional pictures in the family photo album soon and I also have some videos of the process. Cool!

Monday night, our long time friend and co-worker, Tim McConnell died suddenly of a heart attack. He was only 41. We are all stunned and speechless at this tragedy. We spent several hours with his wife and one of his children Monday night into Tuesday morning and will continue to help them in any way we can. If you would like to help in any way, please call me or my wife and let us know.

[This is a post from my youngest son about his Uncle Paul]

Me and my uncle Paul we very close together. We did so much fun things together. One day i was at home watching tv and my dad had just got home from work and told me and my brothers that my uncle Paul had just past away in a fatal car accident.I was devastated . I burst into tears.later on that day me and my father and my brothers went to my aunt house to keep her company because of what had just happened. 4 days later my family and uncle Paul's family went to his funeral and it was very very hard seeing my uncle in a casket.About an hour later in the funeral I gave my aunt and my uncle Paul's parents a folded American flag that would be put in the casket. to this day it is still very hard knowing that my uncle is not their any more but all that counts is that he was the greatest uncle and I will always remember him.