#CJKWorkshop

[joeysworkbench]

Frosted Nanner Bread

If you want this…

Do this!

In three separate bowls

- mix milk and cider vinegar, let sit. It’s going to smell funny and look fucking awful but trust me it’s necessary, 4 generations can’t be wrong ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

- mash 3 super ripe bananas with fork, let sit. Do it with a fork, by hand, it’s the only way to get the proper gooey but still kinda chunky texture. Also don’t be afraid to let your bananas start going brown, that’s the perfect Nanner Bread ripeness.

- cream sugar and shortening, add eggs and beat. Good ole Crisco and granulated sugar. No substitutes, if you’re going to make sweets, do it right, do it for real. Make sure you mix these two really well before you add the eggs, again with a fork by hand is the best way.

Add dry goods to beaten mix

- Add flour a little bit at a time constantly mixing. Throw the baking powder and soda in last. You want to keep the mixture moist the whole time. It should start looking like dough pretty quickly but don’t let it turn into a mountain of flour, throwing powder all over the kitchen.

- take your time and mix by hand with a wooden spoon, none of that mechanical beater crap, you’re making a fine confection here, respect tradition and put some love into it, you’ll thank me later. This is going to get hard if you do it right, so maybe come take a few training sessions with me first to build up that upper body strength. 💪  👍   #ScienceFitnessPlug

Add mashed banana and milk mix

-Add milk first and loosen up the dough again, keep using that wooden spoon!

-Put vanilla in the mix and stir in, use as much as you want but know that the more you use the less banana you’ll taste in the finished bread. Remember that baking is a science not an art, so you need to use exact measurements and proven ratios, but even in science there are happy accidents, so feel free to experiment after you have mastered the proven recipe.

-Finally add mashed bananas and mix well. The dough should be wet and a little chunky here, and if some fucking joker tries to come by and stick their finger in and taste it, there’s a reason I kept saying use a wooden spoon, break their damn finger.

Flour pan(s) and pour in dough

- I like to split the dough up into two 8" loaf pans but I’ve also done it in a bundt pan or a cake pan, have fun with it. Just be aware that this recipe is for two 8" loaves and cook times will vary slightly depending on how you pan out the dough.

-Flour your pans, you don’t want these breads to stick and get ruined. Trust me, the wall of my first apartment learned this the hard way. If you don’t know how to flour a pan, you’re killing me smalls. Smear the whole pan with butter, then throw a small handful of flour in, shake and roll the pan until every inch of it is lightly coated with flour, dump out the excess flour. After that, call your mother and beg her forgiveness for being a complete fucking failure in the kitchen.

Pro tip: don’t use Pam or any other bullshit non-stick sprays. All they do is contaminate the taste of your bread and they don’t even help you get the loaf out of the pan, butter and flour ONLY!

-pour the dough into the pan, if using multiple pans take care to divide it evenly. You don’t want one bread to rise over the pan and fall while the other burns into a banana brick.

-DON’T SET IT AND FORGET IT! This isn’t fucking ronco. Stay near your bread(s) while they are baking, it should take about 45 minutes, if you want the kind of perfectly moist, cake-like banana bread I make, start checking with a toothpick around the 40 minute mark, the moment you pull that toothpick out and nothing wet is sticking to it, pull the bread out and rack it.

FROSTING TIME!!!

While the bread is cooling, make your icing. Unlike the rest of the process making the icing is totally freestyle, go nuts with it! Make your own flavor and consistency and see what else you can add to it.

 The following is how I typically make mine feel free to use it or evolve it. 

In two separate bowls 

 -cut half a stick of butter, let it sit out to come to room temperature 

 -Mash 1 super ripe banana with a fork, let sit 

-take butter, add a pinch of salt and vanilla to taste, mash with fork, should be soupy and chunky, kind of gross looking again, but trust me it’ll all be OK 

Combine banana with butter 

 - not much to do here, just put them in the same bowl and stir with wooden spoon.  Add confectioners sugar until you have desired consistency and taste 

- just like with the flour add a little bit at a time and stir in, this way you can test it and get the exact consistency and flavor that you want. If that joker motherfucker comes back and tries to 'taste' the icing you still got a wooden spoon, break his other damn finger.  Once you get your icing how you like it and your breads have had time to cool, put the icing on top and try to cover the entire loaf, top and all four sides, that way the icing will crystallize on the outside and essentially seal in the delicious banana bread, keeping it fresh and moist for days longer than it normally would.

[joeysworkbench]

Live Long and Prosper

Every year at Christmas we set up our tree and our decorations and our lights, plug them in in place of the lamp in the living room, and put a little Star Trek ornament onto the Balsam rope on the half wall. It is a miniature replica of the Shuttlecraft Galileo from the original USS Enterprise (that’s NCC–1701 if you’re nerdy). That little Shuttlecraft carries with it a message and every time you flip the switch to turn the lights on his voice rings out: Shuttlecraft to Enterprise, Shuttlecraft to Enterprise, Spock here, Happy Holidays, live long and prosper.

Although I never knew Leonard Nimoy I knew Mr. Spock very well. Watching Star Trek as a kid with my Dad every Saturday night I learned to love science and exploration. I gained an appreciation for things that are unique and different but most of all a need to find the most logical solutions to all of life’s problems, big and small alike. Spock, like my favorite character Superman, was another shining example of how great humans really can be, even if he was only half human. (hell that’s half more than Superman was, I suppose)

I hope that neither he nor his family, were they to come across this, would take this as an insult, but when I saw the announcement of his death I didn’t see the loss of Leonard Nimoy I saw the loss of Mr. Spock, a shining light of inspiration that I’m not ready to see put out. Some might find it silly to weep over the loss of a fictional character but not since my Grampy died have I felt this measure of heartbreak. Spock was one of the characters from my childhood I've tried to model myself the most after. Forever cool and logical in the most insane of situations; for someone thought to be without emotion he displayed a grace and compassion I can only dream of having someday.

Thank you Mr. Nimoy for giving us this shining example of humanity’s potential. I will cherish that ornament more now than ever before and for as long as I am able I will keep it lit and do my small part to make sure that your voice may ring out for generations to come.

He understood better than anyone that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. We need his wisdom now more than ever. Live long and prosper, Mr. Spock. You are and forever shall be, our friend.

[joeysworkbench]

...when ___________ used to be good.

Last week I wrote about getting older and how it's really not that big of a deal.  And I stick by that, all of seven days later.  Seriously, my conviction is legendary.  But there is one thing related to the passage of time that does suck and that is when something you love doesn't last. 

I first started thinking about this subject before I even wrote that growing old piece.  I went to the kitchen at work one day for a snack and someone was making cinnamon raisin toast.  I said to her, that smells like I'm home for the holidays and all of a sudden my mind was bombarded with all the "traditional" things that I never have anymore.  The first thing I thought about were those little colored mint candies that are kind of like nonpareils but not at all. 

                                            YEAH THOSE ONES!!!

I remember they used to always be in the drawer of the hutch come December but I had no idea where they came from.  They would show up around the same time as those disgusting chocolates that you have to have the map if you want to find the one good one.  Didn't they come from the same place that made the weird crusty cheeses?  Hickory Farms?,  I think. 

                                      Yep, those bastards right there

Of course my spider web mind went crazy from there, neuron's firing and un-archiving all the amazing treats, joints, shops and bakeries that my family obsessively returned to at the same times, with the same intentions every year.

After those Hickory Farms Mints I started thinking about the places that we used to go to only on vacation; like Jack's Bakery, the greatest house of Danish in all of the U.S. of A!  Every year we went to Long Beach Island, N.J. and rented a cottage for a couple weeks.  Those two Sunday mornings in late July my Dad would get up early and go to Jack's to get a dozen assorted pastries.  Whoever got up first got to go with him and pick the flavors.  It was incredible, I was never a heavy sleeper so I was usually lurking behind my bedroom door waiting for my Dad to get up and take the chance to get nothing but lemon danish. 

One summer though as we made the annual drive down the boulevard to our house at the end of the island, looking out for all of our favorite places, Jack's was no more.  Or more accurately it had become Fritz's Bakery "Home of the Famous German Sticky Bun".  Famous my ass the place isn't even a year old, where the hell is Jack's?!?  Fortunately it was mostly a change in name only, the danish were still there.  But after that name change the bakery only lasted a few more years and now if you go there you won't find a trace.

On the way to LBI (that's what the cool kids call it) my Dad would get a few sandwiches from a place in Saugus, MA called Alvinord's  (Alvin's if you're nasty).  These sandwiches were massive.  One sandwich came on a giant round loaf that was about 6, maybe 8, inches in diameter and the bread alone was probably three inches tall.  With all the meat and veggies stuffed in, the damn things were so big that one quarter of a sandwich was enough to fill your stomach.  It was like that Elf bread from Lord of the Rings only delicious. 

Yep you guessed it.  One summer, we went on vacation and those sandwiches were no more.  I had to eat a Subway sandwich at a rest area in the middle of nowhere, White Plains, NY.  A SUBWAY SANDWICH AND THEY TOOK ME TO WHITE PLAINS!!!  You'll forgive me if I'm still not over this. 

As an adult though, or well an almost adult, that is what I call my early post college years self, I discovered something that trumped all of those other eats.  Ray's Pizza, THE RAY'S PIZZA at 6th and 11th in New York City.  It was so delicious, I could just sit there and eat Garlic Knots all day while I repeatedly order pizza over and over and over and be totally satisfied with my life's choices.  I would go to NYC every long weekend, I told my friends it was for them but really it was for Ray's.  After moving to LA I came back the first New Years to THE City and it was gone.  Boarded up, taped over like some kind of filthy crime scene.  I was lost, I walked around the city all night, went to three of the other 57 Ray's Pizzas in NYC (seriously look it up, only Rays are allowed to make pizza there) but it wasn't the same.  Another one of my spots taken from me. 

I'll stop there and spare you from the endless list of food-torn emotional wounds I suffer from and leave it at these real big ones.  I guess what I'm trying to say here is that although growing old is no big deal as long as you keep doing the things you enjoy, you should make it a big deal to fervently support all the places you get joy from AND DON'T LET THEM TAKE YOUR FOOD!  Of course some things are so big they destroy themselves but all those little special places will stick around so long as they are getting your business.  Or so capitalism tells me. 

[joeysworkbench]

Boredom by Over-Saturation

This weekend I downloaded Battlefield: Bad Company 2, a game I missed, nay avoided, back in 2010, for free from Games with Gold on my 360.  I have not bought a Call of Duty, Battlefield or Medal of Honor game before and only played the original Call of Duty and Modern Warfare for about thirty minutes each up till now.  I have however been very vocal about these games and how their annual installments are ruining the medium that I love most.  But after a few days with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 I have to say that I am having a blast, pun absolutely intended.  The detail, quality and playability of these games is incredible. 

Running through firefights and getting mowed down for not following the battle plan is at first frustrating until you accept that when you follow the plan you feel like you are living the real thing.  Every bullet that whizzes by your head is terrifying.  Explosions cause all the sounds of the game to bleed out and turn to white noise giving you that shell-shocked perspective.  Fire your gun in an enclosed space or stand too close to your squad mate's rifle and you'll be deaf for the rest of the firefight.  It is intense to say the least and that's not counting getting to operate and go toe-to-toe with the biggest and baddest military assets on the planet. 

As amazing as the game is it does not change my opinion about this particular genre, it only enforces it.  I have never claimed that these games were not "good" or quality "AAA" titles.  Their production value is the highest of any game I have ever played and I've always tried to point that out in my critiques.  The problem is that every year each franchise has a new game and those new games always look the same.  Always the latest military gear, rendered in top of the line graphics, with a cinematic perspective and beyond a shadow of a doubt the best FPS controls on the market.  But that is also their downfall, they are boring by over-saturation and frankly it has deterred me from enjoying and supporting the work of top flight game-makers. 

If you don't believe me take a look at the three most recent gameplay trailers for these franchises and tell me without looking at the title which is which. 

I have not played any FPS since the early days of the 360 because they make up what feels like 95% of the market.  I played Halo, Turok, Perfect Dark, Bond games, Red Steel, Gears of War (technically 3rd person but controls the same), Left 4 Dead, Dishonored, FPS games with zombies, FPS games with aliens (oh lord so many aliens), FPS games with dinosaurs, FPS games with alien dinosaurs, do I need to keep going?  Dana, did you have something to say?

I really wish they would handle these games the way franchises like Zelda and Mario are handled, and even to an extent the Halo franchise, and put a few years between each release.  That way not only do these amazing games stay fresh and new but the developers, and their huge blockbuster budgets, have an opportunity to create new imaginative IPs.  Or even bring back some old ones that have been lost in the flood of Bang Bang Call of Honor: Battlefield:  Look How Modern My Rifle is This Year!!!

I have been complaining for years, gamer friend's commence rolling of eyes, shrugging of shoulders and if you must face-palm, that they need to make a new 3-D Streets of Rage, or Double Dragon game.  They kind of almost did with Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows but it was an indie game and fell way short of expectations.  Why hasn't EA, Activision, Bungie or Dice tried to bring back any of the franchises that ruled our childhoods?  Why doesn't Capcom bust out a crazy 3-D Mega-Man game?  Imagine a third person, platforming, action RPG with the Blue Bomber! 

I really just want to love video games again.  The last game that I really was dying to play was Aliens: Colonial Marines and we all know how that turned out.  And really it's kind of the same as these games are, it just has a license that I'm fond of from childhood.  Before that the last game I was looking forward to was Knights of the Old Republic 3, again, that didn't happen.  Before that was Shenmue 3, again, never happened.  In fact the last hotly anticipated game that actually came out and was amazing was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  I was 12. 

I know the game companies can always play it safe and release a new military action game and sell millions, and so don't they.  Why not take a risk for once and not release one for a year or two?  Throw out some new franchises because we all know if your coffers get too lean, which they won't, you can just bring us back in with Bang Bang Call of Honor: Battlefield:  Look How Modern My Rifle is This Year 37: Full Frontal (Assault). 

[joeysworkbench]

I grew up on Derek Jeter, now I want to throw up on Derek Jeter

So Derek Jeter had his final game at Yankee Stadium the other night and capped it with his typical inside out ground ball to right field for a walkoff single.  Sounds like a fitting end to a long and successful (if not dramatic) career, right?  The problem is that it was about as real as an episode of (insert name of shitty reality TV show here).  That's right, I'm calling Derek Jeter, the New York Yankees and MLB a bunch of BIG FAT PHONIES!!!

When I saw the headline and accompanying video on ESPN, Scripted: Jeter wins it for Yanks in home farewell I thought just that, it was scripted.  That was a meatball that pitcher threw him, I could have hit that (that is before I injured my leg this year, but really without the injury I could have hit it just trust me) I had an intuition that something was too good to be true.  When I re-watched the clip I saw for certain that the pitch was a total fucking meatball.  Seeing that they were playing the orioles who already clinched the division and don't need a win against a non-playoff team my bullshit meter started going off the scale. 

That's when my Dad called me out of the blue at 10:30 on a work day to tell me what he saw on YES (that's the Yankees own network where all their games are broadcast) and completely confirmed my suspicions.  According to my Dad, a 63 year old retired engineer turned ace gardener who has nothing to gain from conspiracy theories and knows more about the Yankees than any sportswriter could plagiarize from an encyclopedia, the feed didn't go to commercial after the 8th inning.  It stayed on the field and cut to Joe Girardi who was talking on a headset during an unusually long delay between innings.  This continued into the start of the top of the 9th until Girardi concluded his headset conversation and gave somebody on the field or across the field a "good to go" sign.  Suddenly David Robertson, the Yankees closer and a damn good one to boot, gave up two HRs and three RBIs to tie the game and wouldn't ya know, Derek Jeter was up third in the Bottom of the 9th. 

In the Bottom of the 9th the Orioles brought in a new pitcher, minor league call-up Evan Meek, who gave up a single which led to Brett Gardner sacrificing to get the runner over to second.  Now here is where if you are baseball savvy it gets dodgy.  If the Orioles, who won their division but were still playing to take the best record away from the Angels, really wanted to win this game they walk Jeter to set up the double play.  A full time pitcher who's played all year to win the world series would never throw a game away, so they put in Meek who would happily do whatever he was told.  Not only does he pitch to Jeter, but he serves him up the most buttery, juicy and delicious meatball any baseball player has ever seen in his life. 

Jeter slapped it the other way, knocked in the run and then celebrated a meaningless win for a team that was mathematically eliminated nearly all of September as though he had just won the World Series.  Very un-Jeter-like. 

Personally, I am conflicted by this entire season surrounding Jeter.  On the one hand he is one of the best players I have ever seen play the game and he always played it right from day one.  He was a shining light his entire career of integrity and grace when all sports around him crumbled into villainy.  But the Derek Jeter I grew up on would have no part of such an obvious fix.  We deserved better from you #2.  The fans have deserved more from the New York Yankees for over a decade now and quite frankly Bud Selig and MLB should be ashamed of themselves for forcing onto Derek Jeter the very same thing they cited when they banned Pete Rose, the greatest hitter ever, for life. 

Derek Jeter retires, baseball dies...

[joeysworkbench]

VIDEO GAME SENSE MEMORY Episode I: Dianogas in My Milk

The last time I had a break between gigs I had a compulsion to break out my Nintendo 64 and play one of my favorite games of all time, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.  I dug it out from under my bed, hooked up the console, got out my favorite red controller, the one I ALWAYS used, and popped in the cartridge.  First flip of the switch...nothing.  No worries, just give it the classic cartridge/console "blow" and try again...still nothing.  A tiny bit of saliva on the pinky and rub it on the contacts...nothing.  Blow, shake, quick drop, hard flip...again nothing.  On/off, on/off, on/off a half dozen times real fast...no dice.  I was heartbroken, a favorite piece of my formative years lost to the ether. 

I know what you're thinking.  You brought your Nintendo 64 all the way from Massachusetts?  Aren't you like 30?  Yes, asshole, I am almost 30 and I did in fact pack ALL my video games and consoles into my truck when I first drove out here 3 1/2 years ago.  Video games were an undeniably important part of my life.  My brother, my two best friends and even my Dad and I shared lasting memories of gaming sessions with everything from the freaking Commodore 128 up to the current generation consoles. 

Whenever I play an old game I get a rush of fantastic feelings from memories in the same way that finding an old stuffed animal in the attic or seeing a picture of a departed loved one makes all those memories come rushing back.  It sets me on a euphoric path down the proverbial memory lane while simultaneously inspiring me to find and create new memories that will have the same effect years from now.  I have so many stories that I love to remember, love to tell, and no matter how many times I've told them or you've heard them the high only gets better. 

This weekend I have decided against all odds that I am going to bring that tired old Shadows cartridge back to life.  Armed with some Q-tips, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, some lint free cloths and a healthy dose of youtube cartridge cleaning tutorials I'm going to wipe away time's filthy curtain of decay and flux capacitor (makes a better verb than Delorean) myself back to 1997 and the frenzied glee of surviving the terror of Coruscant's sewer.  As well as laying an old school beat down on the galaxy's most overrated, Boba Fett. 

Thinking about Shadows this morning reminded me of one of my,oddest, yet fondest video game related memories.  The night I first played the sewer level and feared the dianogas in my milk.  It was late on a weeknight in the winter, it was pitch black out and I had been playing the game all night since I got back from doing my paper route.  My best friend and I had both bought the game and were playing it concurrently across the street from each other.  I had reached the sewer level first and beat it just as I was called to dinner, spaghetti and meatballs to be exact.  If you've never played the game the sewer is populated by Dianogas, they are basically globular bodies with tons of tentacles and a creepy eye on a stem (similar to a periscope).  They make roaring sounds and bite you with hidden mouths while lashing you with their whip like tentacles.  Being a sewer, the water is murky and you have no choice but to go in it.  Dianogas are everywhere.  Basically, these creatures look like meatballs with spaghetti coming out of them (pictured)

I sat there pushing my food around my plate like the Beaver, or Kevin Arnold on The Wonder Years.  My parents insisted I eat faster and as always put the hard sell on the "cavalry" maneuver,  AKA, "force feeding me what I refused to eat"  To make matters worse I was drinking a huge glass of milk.  A dense, murky liquid I observed to be the perfect place for dianogas to hide.  Great...

Of course since you're reading this we can, most likely, safely say there were no dianogas in that milk as I am still alive to tell you this more than 15 years later (although I'm not sure how long it takes tiny dianogas to kill you and I still drink milk warily and haven't eaten spaghetti and meatballs since I took over responsibility of preparing my own meals).  Immediately after dinner I had to call across the street and find out if he had also faced these horrid abominations.  He had not, so I proceeded to warn him about the impending nightmare and recounted my battle with the evenings vittles.  I'm pretty sure the only thing he heard during the whole conversation was the phrase "Dianogas in my milk" because he repeated it constantly and shoehorned it into every conversation we had for days on end.  Even now it's like a code phrase, we say it and both laugh hysterically (although I'm crying on the inside) and everyone glares at us wondering what the hell a Dianoga is. 

This weekend, I will fix that cartridge and I will face that nightmare again.  Happily.  When I beat that level I'll call him on the phone and will undoubtedly say "Dude...fucking dianogas in my milk"  We'll laugh hysterically and then have an endless conversation bringing up countless other video game memories we have together and both take our leave feeling happy and accomplished.  I'd love to share more of these memories with you, and I hope to hear some of yours. 

Until next time...BEWARE THE DIANOGA

[joeysworkbench]

I have a dream that one day I can afford an iPad

Apple announced their new iOS and iPhone 6 today, as well as the new iWatch (I assume that's the official name).  Of course it was a ridiculous, overdone event and all the Apple fanboys lost their shit all over the internet. 

As much as I love Apple tech, it is far superior for Audio/Video and Graphic Design, I hate what they do to technology.  For everything they do right they do a dozen more wrong.  For me the biggest issues are forcing touchscreen technology without perfecting it, except for those with dainty little teenager hands, eliminating powerful desktop apps and functions to promote mobile cross-platform compatibility and buying up quality indie tools to turn them into cash cows for an already mega-billionaire company and stripping them of their acute usefulness. 

They take something which should be easily accessible, and used to bridge gaps thus making life easier for everyone and they make it expensive for the sake of exclusionary trendiness.  Most of my shows, projects and now my own podcast are produced on Apple tech because quite frankly it is easier on their platform.  But it is so expensive, and from what I have heard and read from long time podcasters the new Apple OS and Apps are missing a lot of really necessary and useful apps/codecs/compressors/tools etc they used to include in the basic OS. 

I cannot hate on Apple because I like a lot of their products but I wish they would actually act like the hip, 'stick it to the man', alternative entrepreneur friendly company they portray themselves as and sell their products at a realistic price point.  I think of the message of Star Trek First Contact, when warp drive and the first Vulcan visitors prove undeniably that we are not alone in the universe and how it leads to the creation of a peaceful society, post World War III of course, and think that maybe the answer isn't out in space. 

I know I am getting into the unrealistic, idealistic nut ball realm here but trust me, it is not as ridiculous an idea as you think.  Making things like smart phones, tablets and now smart watches, affordable for the average person would be a great way to promote technological responsibility.  Of course at first we will hit a major low as a society when EVERYONE spends all day crushing candy or whatever the current addicting tap game is but the clever, genius types will have easier access to tinker and come up with real useful purposes for the newest most advanced technologies. 

Then as with all things, once they are discovered, and then made cheaper and easier, everyone will have a Star Trek like device in their pocket or their backpack that they can just go online and find instructions for turning it into a lifesaving device, an educational tool, a musical instrument, any of various kinds of meters, levelers, measurers, maybe a replicator (this one is a bit far fetched).  The real point is Apple can make an example of themselves that other companies would then have to follow, because of Apple's enormous influence over public opinion, and all of a sudden society becomes not about the pursuit of personal wealth, but the pursuit of community advancement. 

[joeysworkbench]

Learn from the dog

I've always found myself perplexed when everyone around me would make such a big deal out of the announcement of the death of some celebrity or retired ball player.  "You don't know them, why the fuck do you care?", I always think to myself.  Last week when the Robin Williams story broke I read it, thought to myself, "Oh well, he had some good movies in the works, too bad" and that was it.  Not even 3 seconds after I had that thought the whole office erupted in a cacophony of aww's and dramatic Noooo's that I found from my perspective fake and forced and really weird. 

Then I saw on Twitter this morning a post about someone's dog passing away and for the first time I can remember I actually felt real, honest to goodness, empathy for someone I don't know and have never met.  This person is just a random actor from a favorite show of mine and beyond a curiosity of what they might be on next I can't say that I "follow" them too closely.  But a single tweet memorializing their dog and holy shit.  I was almost completely overwhelmed. 

I'm pretty sure I've made it plainly clear to the world how much I love my dog and anyone who knew me before LA knows how much I loved my old dog growing up.  I have never and will never get over losing my first dog, or any dog I will ever have for that matter.  It's not a pain or a wound that needs time to heal, it's like a piece of your soul that's gone forever, beyond a boundary we can't cross, and can never reclaim. 

It feels very different then losing a person you loved because your dog is a constant companion, their life is your life and vice versa, they have nothing when they don't have you.  I was crushed as a kid by my Grandpa's death, and I still miss him but I eventually moved on.  It was nothing like losing my dog.  I still think about my old dog everyday.  I think the only thing you can do to stay sane is to get another dog and give all you have to them.  Share the love, it's what a dog would want you to do in their memory. 

Does that feel like we got sidetracked?  Stay with me, I'll explain.  Sometimes you have those moments where you realize, hopefully privately, that you've been completely wrong about something your whole life.  Here's one of mine, exposed so that everyone can learn from it.  It's not a bad thing to share in what other people are feeling, even if you don't know them, even if you've never seen them anywhere but on TV or on the internet.  The world can be a cold, cruel place, but it gets a little warmer when we all share each others' successes, failures, pain and happiness.  I learned this from a dog, don't be too proud to learn it from me.