My friend has passed

It wasn't more than a week ago that we discovered that Marley, our Irish Water Spaniel of 13 years, had cancer. We knew that our options were slim but we were in no way prepared for how quickly the cancer would spread. On Saturday we spent the morning eating breakfast and simply laying down talking and crying.

It was a hard morning but she was loved by everyone that knew her. She will be greatly missed and always remembered.

A great friend is very sick.

For the almost 12 years that I have lived in this state my Water Spaniel, Marley, has been one of my greatest friends. She's been there for me every day with a smile on her face and happy to see me. Sure, we've had our ups and downs but she is and always will be one of the greatest friends I could ever ask for.

On Thursday my wife noticed that her throat was swollen. Since my wife works for a Veterinarian, the red flags went up. Marley went into the vets on Friday for a complete test on what was going on and on Sunday our greatest fear was realized when news that Marley was diagnosed with Type-B Lymphoma. Lymphoma is a very rapid spreading cancer which means that Marley will not be with us much longer we fear. We opted to not treat the cancer with chemotherapy because of her age and the advancement of the cancer already at this point.

She is fine today, eating just like she always has and still greeting us with her quirky sideways smile. She is not as active as she was just days before but she is still in good spirits. We have started her on palliative care which consists of mostly Prednisone. Our goal is to keep Marley has comfortable as possible until her quality of life starts to suffer.

It saddens me greatly to type this, but Marley and I have had a great time together over the 12 years. She will never be forgotten and their will never be another dog like her ever.

Getting Back To It

There is something to be said for taking things a little at a time. I have a bad habit of when I find something new that I am interested in, I go full force into it. This shows great excitement on my part but it also can lead to burnout more quickly.

Once the novelty of this new substance in my life wears itself off, I find myself not really wanting to do it anymore. Or at least not with as much passion as I once did. Something about the newness that really drives me to want it and want as much of it as I can get and then I want it even more. Then I become less interested in it. This has happened with a lot of situations. The latest being working out and exercising. I started about 4 months ago doing the P90X routine. I really wanted to get in shape for many reasons. Mainly because I'm 40 now and I started to really feel my age, another is because I wanted to start mountain biking again.

I did the entire routine. It took me a little longer than 90 days because life stuffs just got in the way. I had to go out of town for business a few times, family would come in town and I would visit with them. Who would want to come visit for me to just say "Wait right here for an hour while I go work out". Just seems rude. But, I did do the whole routine and I enjoyed it. I lost a bit of weight, I feel a lot better, lost about 8 inches around the waist. Good results. Now on round two of P90X, I am finding it harder and harder to "push play". I still do it, just not with the same passion as at first.

The other situation that has started to fall is mountain biking. I ride with a group just about every Sunday. Always have a good time and we like to cut up a bit. However, this past Sunday ride I rode home feeling a bit disappointed, like there was something that I just didn't obtain out of the ride as I had in the past. It kind of depressed me.

Then I started to think about everything that I do. Web site programming, Python programming, Linux, Classical Guitar, Mountain Biking, Exercising, etc... That's a lot of hobbies. All of which I go head first into and give it my all and just keep pushing at it. This can yield some great results, but it can also start to hinder the situation in the end. So where is the cut off point? Where do I need to draw the line on doing these activities? I guess I will just need to slow down and enjoy the activities that I do. Another option would be that when I start to have these feelings, to just ease off a bit. After a while it has proven to be that these feelings cease and I start to long to do them again.

Only time will tell...