Remembering Dabas

Today I went to Austin with a friend to buy brewing stuff. We had to stop at a PetSmart. He had to buy something. I had to pee. In the bathroom was a chart of dogs from around the world. I managed to find a listing for Catahoula Leopard dogs.

I sure do wish we could've kept Dabas.

It's all I can think about. I keep thinking about laying down in the floor, and seeing Dabas turn and look at me. I swear I could see him smile! And then he would charge me to bite me everywhere.

Here's a picture of what he would have wound up looking like.

(15) I held off as long as I could. I fought the urge for weeks. Then I succumbed. I redid the site. I must confess, I didn't come up with the design. I got it from the fine folks at Entheos. Their link is at the bottom of every page.

Something about their three column layout appealed to me. It would allow me to put ads on one side, and content on the other.

Let me know what you think. Email me at jeffholt at yahoo dot com.

It has been really humid the last few weeks. By the time I walk from the house to the car or the car to the house, my skin is slick with sweat. Since this is Texas, I just have to endure it. But when I was in Japan, there was a great way to cool off.

Whenever I went into a restaurant, after being seated the waitron would bring a small, rolled handclothed that had been moistened and chilled. I would take this cloth and wipe my face and feel instantly refreshed. In the winter, the towels were steamed. After a long walk to a restaurant, the feel of moist heat against chilled skin was almost orgasmic.

On my return to the States, I stopped in Hawaii, where I encountered the towels for the last time.

I think it's high time we demand this service from the restaurants we visit. I know I would return more often to a restaurant that provided them than one that didn't. That would be good customer service.

25th class Reunion

Happy birthday, Rodney!

The Fredericksburg High School Class of 1980 is having its 25 year reunion next weekend. I haven't been to any of the previous reunions. I am usually out of town, mainly in Midland, playing golf with Gary. I may go this year, but I forgot to RSVP by May 20th. Oops.

More about Wal-Mart

(3) I ran across the Wal-Mart Watch site today. As thousands descend on Fayetteville, Arkansas for the annual Wal-Mart shareholders' meeting, they have produced their own report. Here are some quotes from their annual report:

"Year after year, Wal-Mart’s low pay and insufficient employee benefits programs leave hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart workers to rely on Medicaid, food stamps, and public housing assistance to make ends meet. Call it the 'Wal-Mart Tax.' It costs American taxpayers at least $1.5 billion in federal tax dollars every year, and hundreds of millions more in state and local subsidy costs."

And this one:

Wal-Mart President and CEO H. Lee Scott has earned a reputation as a hardcore cost-cutter who demands that his fellow Wal-Mart executives strive to save fractions of a penny on everything from supplier costs to the cost of toilet paper in store restrooms. But when it comes to his own pay, the Wal-Mart CEO is quite generous. Scott’s $17.5 million in compensation in 2004 was nearly twice the average of $9.6 million for leading CEOs, according to Business Week. Scott raked in about $8,434 per hour, which is $8,424 more per hour than the official Wal- Mart figure for its average worker of $9.68.

I've been watching Wal-Mart for a while and none of this is any news to me. Check out their site. It's an eye-opening read.