Catching up: My personal time online has been very limited over the past several days, as I had to take my laptop to the Geek Squad to be sent away for service. I've got lots to say, but haven't had a chance to say it.

Virginia Tech: I can't even begin to wrap my head around the events that happened on Monday at Virginia Tech. Hearing the news reminded me of the shootings at Columbine, probably because I was in college myself when those shootings occurred. I was sitting in the Student Union, trying to do some last minute studying for an test in a few minutes, when the news reports came on TV. Most of the people around me weren't paying attention, and when I went to my class to take the test just a few minutes later (literally), I thought it was weird that hardly anyone in the room knew that there were high school kids across the country running out their classrooms, for their lives. That's the most amazing part of it all to me, that I can hear these news reports and check for updates throughout the day but actually get work done in the meantime. Or that I can write about something like this, and then go on to talk about something as mundane as washers and dryers.

Flooding: And yet, I am going to talk about them. Because I have new ones, and I really like them, even if they are so new and bright and clean and fancy that they make the rest of the garage look like a dump. I needed a new washer, after the last flooded my garage not once, but twice. Given how little I paid for them and how old they are, I figured I'd go ahead and just replace them both. I bought two open-box models (and no, they don't match), but they work great. I'm going to ask Hannibal, the next time I see him, to build a platform for me. And the best part? I hooked up the dryer myself. Jenni told me what to do, but I did it. Boy, I love stuff like that - not the doing it, especially, but the empowering feeling I get from knowing that I did it. I hooked up a dryer.

Harvey and Dakota: I'm still toying around with the idea of taking Harvey and Dakota for training, mostly because I don't think I'll be able to really walk them (and definitely not together) if I don't. In the meantime, though, I've been working on a few basic things - coming when I call, going inside when I tell them to, sitting. The next step is to get them to sit and wait when its time to go outside, rather than barreling full-force at the door. If they can learn that (especially Harvey) it will make it much easier to train them to behave the right way when people come over to visit.