This whole Daylight Savings Time has me all messed up. First, Reggie was up earlier. Second, everything was just early today. Heck, even Reggie was pawing at his bowl, clammoring for his supper early.  And it got dark really early.

It’ll take a day or two to adjust. But I will adjust.

I just watched Lufthansa flight 423 take off over my house. This flight was operating a 747-400 to Frankfurt.

I think my inner aviiation geek just had an orgasm.

In the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts, we have a hidden tax known as the bottle and can deposit. Every time you buy something in a can or a bottle, you pay a five cent deposit. So for every twelve-pack of Diet Coke I buy, I have to plunk down an additional $0.60 for this hidden tax. Now, I can return these bottles and cans back to the place of purchase for the refund of said deposit. There is a little problem with this. If I return a bottle or can to a place that doesn’t sell that exact item, they don’t have to refund the deposit. That means I can’t return a beer bottle to the grocery store.

Okay… I still need to be environmentally good and have to recycle my crap. That means I put my stuff out on the street, and the city collects my recyclables. What happens to the deposits that aren’t refunded? The state gets to keep it. Thus, it’s a hidden tax.

Today, I returned a full bin of cans and bottles, only to collect $3.40. Most people just put it out on the street for the city (or the homeless people) to collect.

So few states put a deposit on cans and bottles anymore. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts should put a stop to this hidden tax.

The Food Network is already starting to advertise their “Seasons Eatings” campaign. Sheesh! They haven’t even finished airing Rachel Ray’s Halloween meals yet!

They’re also advertising an upcoming episode of Iron Chef America where Rachael Ray and Giada De Laurentiis battle each other while teamed up with the Iron Chefs. That airs on November 12. It should be fun to watch Giada De Laurentiis wipe the floor with Rachel Ray.

Screw Daylight Savings Time. This morning, Reggie was up WAY too early.

I’m off to Trader Joes in a bit to find something to take to my Halloween Potluck at work.  When my parents were here, we bought a mix for an orange cranberry bread, and it was fantastic. I think I’ll take some of that in.

It’s Saturday, the one day I could sleep in. Last night, I remembered to turn the alarm off. This morning, Reggie must have been concerned (or hungry) because he woke me up at 7:00. His breakfast was late. I put his kibble down and he ignored it. So I opened the back door so we could go outside. With the wind and rain, he wanted no part of that. We went back to bed after that, and I had some bizarre dreams.

About 10:30, we woke up to a thundrous crash. It sounded like a car had hit the house. It seems that the upstairs neighbors had dropped something on their deck.  What else was odd was that my back door had blown open.

I did a whole lot of nothing today. I reheated some soup, watched an old movie (Red Dawn), and started downloading some stuff. A little later, I dropped off Reggie at PetSmart for his grooming. The little guy was not happy about this. I’ll make sure I give him some cookies when I pick him up.  Then I went to Michael’s, the craft store, and picked up a few things.  I also went into Home Depot to look at some paint samples. I’d like to paint my living room. But right now, I just can’t be bothered.

I need to pick up my laundry before heading back to PetSmart to get Reggie. You see, I got really lazy this weekend. I dropped off 30 lbs of laundry at the local laundromat. At 85 cents per pound, that’s $25 for someone else to wash two weeks worth of laundry. The two things I didn’t take to the laundromat are my underwear and my jeans. The jeans are too heavy (and expensive to wash) and I just don’t like other people touching my underwear.  Now, that $25 coud go toward something else, but honestly, it’d still cost me $15 in quarters, plus I’d have to run up and down the steps a million times. I’d rather let the nice hispanic women make some money off my laziness.

I’m official, now. I have a Massachusetts driver’s license. It came in the mail yesterday. When I went to the registry, they confiscated my RI license and gave me a paper temp license. I doubt I’d be able to board an airplane with that, although I do have a passport.

Today, I’m going to run back to the DMV and update my car’s registration. I need to have an East Boston address on my registration and license in order to qualify for the discount on the Williams/Sumner tunnels. I’ve been paying $3.50 when I can get a hefty discount. It’s time to stop wasting that money.

With Blanche’s loss of Bob, I started looking for pictures of Domino, my dalmatian. She’s been gone a little over two years now, and we still miss her something fierce.

We got Domino when I was a junior in high school. She always slept at the foot of my bed. Even when I was away at school and my parents kept my bedroom door closed, she slept in front of that door. After college, Domino started sleeping at the foot of my parents’ bed—unless I was there. Then she slept at the foot of my bed. My mom fed her, but Domino was MY dog.

Domino was our protector. Nobody got near the house without her alerting us. She was especially protective of Sarah. You can tell by the pictures that the day we brought Sarah home from the hospital, Domino knew that she had work ahead of her. If Sarah was in her crib in the dining room at my parents’ house and start to fuss while we were in the living room, she would stand in the doorway and bark, letting us know that Sarah was in distress.

And then there was the time Domino and I were playing in the living room. We were getting pretty rough. My mom yelled at both of us to settle down. Domino, always the one to get the last word, walked around behind me and pissed on my head. Yeah, she won that battle. My dad still laughs to the point of tears with that one.

Oh, to give reference to the pictures, Sarah is now seven.

Somebody posted this link on Pug Village, and it made me laugh. It’s just wrong on so many levels.

It’s been a very long day. After cleaning up our database mess this morning, I tried getting out of the office early. If you call 3:30 early (when I got there before 7:00), then I was successful.

It’s getting cold outside. When I went to Walgreens, their sign said 35 degrees. With that temperature, it could snow. I hope we have a decent winter this year.

Tomorrow is Reggie’s one year Gotcha Day. There will be toys and treats.

It’s 8:30, and I’m going to bed in a few minutes. After work, I took a nap, but now it’s time to get to bed early. I have a busy week ahead of me.