RIP: Kasey - the dog

Kasey, our dog of 11 years, passed away on Wednesday morning, July 23.  He survived liver cancer last summer - going through a major surgery to remove a softball sized tumor.  He recuperated wonderfully and lived a great life for about 10 months.  Slowly in June he started to show some minor signs that he was getting sick.  He was more tired than normal, ate a little less, etc.  But it was nothing major.  Then, around July 15 he stopped eating.  Completely.

After a few tests, our wonderful vet informed us that Kasey had a recurrence of tumors in his liver and they were, most likely, inoperable.  

So, after a few days of thinking and consulting, we decided to let Kasey go.  He wasn't going to recover, the tumors were big and his time was coming, be it in a week, or month - he was going to die.  This way, he could go out without pain, and while he still felt fairly good.  He was losing weight and not eating (for 8 days!) and drinking very little.  The IV he was on was basically keeping him hydrated - so he couldn't come home...

It was a crappy decision to make because he still had energy and spunk, but he couldn't sustain himself...the vet was keeping him going.  So, we let him rest.

He was a great dog.  I picked him out at the shelter in 1997 and he was a great companion.  Once the triplets were born he got less attention, for sure, but he followed us (and the kids) around continuously.  He liked to make sure everyone was OK and he felt like he oversaw all we did and protected us in the process.

So, we are one dog lighter, but miss his companionship greatly.  RIP, Kasey.

To the Aquarium

Jenn and I are taking the boys to the Long Beach Aquarium tomorrow.  It should be a good time with the kids, unless they get into the shark tank or something horrific.  

I'll post some pictures when we return...

Summer To-Do List - 2008

So, the best part of my job at a University is, of course, having three months off during the summer to tie up the myriad loose ends that accumulate during the hectic nine months of instruction.  Each summer I have grand plans of composing massive amounts of music, and each summer I churn out a couple of minutes of music and I return to work in September frustrated that I didn’t get more done when I had “time off”.  Well, that has happened again this summer, but I am sure I will get more done.  Why?  Because I created a to-do list.  Yep, that’s gonna keep me in line.

Actually, I can’t be kept in line.  I have three-year-old triplet boys, so “time off” is really a pipe dream.  I am just busy in a very different way - like potty training.  But I digress.  Here is my To-Do list for the 2008 Summer:

• Clean and organize our home office.
  
• Re-organize the garage.
  
• Hold a garage sale.
  
• Bring excess crap to the Salvation Army.
  
• Organize my CD collection.
  
• Organize my office at CSUB - and maybe move into an office that was vacated by a professor that isn’t returning.
  
• Service my guitars.
  
• Record 2-5 standards - solo - in my home studio.
  
• Get JIMSCULLY.COM up an running.
  
• Get my publishing company up and running.
  
• Edit audio recorded in May from CSUB concerts and the recording session of “Bouncing About”.
  
• Compose!!! (Trombone Sonata, Jazz Choir, Big Band, Concert Band, Voice/Piano)
  

Anyway, that is a partial list.  Everyday I think of more things to do...

Maybe I’ll just sit down and compose tonight - it needs to happen.

More to come...