My Dog Max Has A Rough Week

Poor Poor MaxDog. He was sick last week. I noticed that in the morning that he seemed to have an excessive mucous discharge from his eyes. Now everybody gets "sandman", but this was much much worse. When I looked closely at his eyes, I noticed that in the outside corners, the skin was splitting, and there even seemed to be some dried blood (sob). So naturally, I took him to the Vet right away. I sometimes wish I got as good medical care as these 2 dogs get. Of course I don't have some really kind, wonderful, generous, and not to mention good looking, person taking care of me :-) The vet thought it unusual, because Springer Spaniels don't normally suffer from eye problems. She used some sort of "eye stain", which determined that it was not some internal illness, but more likely some sort of eye infection, or irritation. I think I know what happened. I take these guys for walks late at night on the weekends. Since we just go to the neighborhood greenbelt area 2 blocks away, and it's so late when we go, that I don't leash them on the way. They run around, here and there, sticking their noses into everything. The vet (and I ) believe that Max stuck his nose into something that he is either allergic to, or just something that got into his eyes. In any case, the Vet gave me some doggie eye drops for him, and it cleared up :-) One funny note, I detected a certain jealousy in JulieDog, since MaxDog was getting something (The eye drops) that she wasn't getting, so I rinsed out, and filled up an old "Visine" bottle that was almost empty, with water, and then JulieDog could receive "eye drops" too. Peace was then restored in the household. Sigh, they're just like children sometimes, but I love them anyway :-)

Slice Of Life..... In The Beginning

So, some Slice Of Life fans have asked me recently "How did SOL start"? So, way back, when I first got into Engineering atmy company, I was a member of a company culture group call The Latino Network. One of the things the group was sponsoring, was a "D-League" (fun league) softball team. The thing is, our so called "team"…… was awful. I don't mean bad….. I mean Real Bad. We were so bad (how bad were you), that what we did might not actually be described as 'playing softball". So bad, that a children's T-Ball team would have beaten us. So bad….. That "Charlie Brown's Team" would have kicked or butts. It was comical. Several of my co-workers would ask how the game went, so over coffee in the café, I told these little "softball stories". After repeating the same story, over, and over, and over again, I just started putting a little blurb at the bottom of my weekly. After the season was over (record of 0-11 by the way), I stopped doing it, and I got so many notes about 'What happened to those cool stories", that I started to tell stories about other things that were happening around me, that struck me as amusing, and SOL was born. I'm not even sure where the name originally came from, but there it is. So, without further adu, I present, the "Original" Slice Of Life It's not much, and I hadn't yet seen our team's "potential", despite our first games score, but it is the original SOL. BTW, the Weekly Report was dated 01/29/98 :-)


Employee Support Groups
-----------------------
* Formed our Softball Team, and had our first
game, against Chandler Christian Church. Final Score: CCC=18 ILN=6.
ILN Record: 0-1. My Batting Avg: .667

Winner At The D-Backs Game

So, ya didn't really get an SOL this week, just Tom's bitching, so I guess I owe ya one. Last Night, we went to the D-Backs/Yankees Game at the Bob. Boy most New York Fans are STILL Obnoxious and Rude, I guess nothing's changed in the 26 years since I left NYC, but that's another story. Guess What? Last Night, I won $50.00 from Fry's Supermarkets at the Game! CoooooL huh? You may remember from a past SOL, I told ya that at the Diamondbacks Games, have a promotion where they get the Fans to hold up their supermarket discount card, they scan the crowd, and pick someone out for display on "The Big Screen" and the $50.00 Gift Certificate. The last time they picked our section, they gave it to the lady with the cute baby. But what I noticed, was that just before it happened, a DBacks Employee, with a headset was standing at the bottom of our section, scanning the crowd, and being directed. I realized that they pre-pick the section, then look for somebody to give it to, so for the last 2 years, at every game I go to (16 season tix per year), I've been watching for that employee. Well, last night….. I saw him! They announced they were going to do the promotion, I looked down, and there he was, scanning the crowd, just like before! Since they ALWAYS pick a DBacks fan, and I was wearing my DBacks Jersey and hat, I whipped out my Fry's Card, Stood up, and waved my card and my arms around like a fool….. The employee starts walking UP THE STAIRS, the announcer is saying "We're scanning the crowd….. The employee stops on our row, and the announcer says….. "And the winner is…….. YOU"! BOOM! The camera zooms in, and there's Tom….. up on the Big Screen, 40ft High! The guys hands me the $50.00 Gift Card, I throw my hands up in the air in victory, turn around 360 degrees, and the Whole Section Cheers! So….., High 5's all around, 15 seconds of fame, and Filet Mignon this weekend, it just doesn't get much better then that! :-)

Give e A Freekin Break..... Please

Whew….. SOL time off, boy did I need that. First, Thanks so much for all your nice notes and comments when Slice Of Life went off-line. I really, really, really appreciated it. Now….. On the other hand….. I wanted to take this first SOL return message to tell you why I needed a sabbatical. That's why I complimented you first. Some may be….. disappointed at the rest. First….. Let me tell you, I LOVE doing SOL, it feeds my creative/artistic bent, not to mention, my Ego, what with everyone telling me so often, how great it is, who wouldn't like that? I sometimes even feel like I've achieved a sort of small fame. What I've learned though, is that there is a dark side to fame. In the last few years, the SOL fan base has exploded geometrically. SOL is reforwarded so many times, I'm not even sure how many people read it. It's become so popular, that I even began to feel a certain "pressure to perform". SOL to be honest, is not at the top of my "Life Priority List", but if I was having a busy week, or an off week, or didn't deliver SOL at all, I was bombarded with dozens of messages in multiple media's probing into "What's Wrong" with me, when actually, nothing's "wrong". I know it's genuine concern, but "geometrically", it's overwhelming. I occasionally even received a few critical e-mails, concerning how I "let these people down", because they didn't get their SOL, or it wasn't "good enough" that week….. Geeeeez, who could be, or would want to be, creative in that atmosphere? Like I said, I KNOW it's all out of concern, or just joking, but please….. Do me a favor….. In the future, If I'm having a week where I'm up to my arse in alligators and can't think of anything else, or for whatever reason I don't deliver SOL to someone's perceived expectations….. Cut me some slack….. OK? Thanks. :-D