Sorry about not having a blog update yesterday.  What started out as a quiet and rather peaceful day ended with some sadness.

My sister and I were running some errands in her car.  Early in the afternoon, a dog ran in front of us on a very busy street - and as hard as she tried to stop in time …

We have no idea if the dog survived.  The owner, thankfully, came outside of his house immediately and put the dog in the back of his car, and promptly brought it to the vet.  Names and phone numbers were exchanged hastily, but we haven’t had the heart to call and follow up.

Which brings me to my point - there are no stupid dogs; only stupid owners.

Dogs’ natural instinct is to run around curiously.  Why people think they can put dogs on those long tethers in unfenced backyards - on the best of days, a cruel way to treat any animal, and on the worst of days, an escape puzzle that’s not too difficult to solve - is beyond me.

I’m vouching for a law that says that owners should be treated as their dogs are.  If the dogs have to stay outside all night in the freezing cold, so should their owners.  If the dogs are permanently chained to a dog house, so should the owners.  If the dog is neglected for weeks on end - well, so should the owners.

Some people laugh at me for “spoiling” my dog.  She lives inside of the house.  She eats healthy, homemade meals (prepared specifically for her; that’s not a codeword for “scraps”).  She is loved and cared for as any human member of my family would be.  And this is only natural; she’s a living, breathing, feeling creature - just like the rest of us.

Of course, we feel terrible about what happened yesterday; an innocent dog suffered terribly - for the sake of someone who had no business owning a dog in the first place.

Nice way to end off a Christmas holiday.

Opened presents and turkey eaten as the day winds down.

I found myself spending a lot of today (in between napping and reading a new Bill Bryson book) thinking about Christmases past.  Not ones from recent years, though - Christmases going back to my childhood.  The kind of Christmases where I was given things like pencil crayons, drafting sets and detailed models of sports cars.   Good memories, in truth, and the seeds for many formative forces in my life.

This year, I’m happy to simply have spent this holiday in the company of good people and good dogs (my sister’s English Bulldog joined us for most of the afternoon).

Regardless of what faith you observe and whatever customs you practice today, I hope it’s been a wonderful day for everyone reading this.

It’s Christmas eve.  The company has all gone home for the night, and it’s just me and the ‘rents hanging out at the house.

For one solitary evening, I’m doing my best not to think about everything I’m naturally inclined to think about - and instead focusing on everything I have to be thankful for.  Great friends and wonderful family, good health, a good job that affords me financial security, and the knowledge that I’m fundamentally a good person, despite (or perhaps, in part, because of) my flaws.

I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful holiday season.

No, I’m not talking about smoking. I’m talking about lighting the Christmas Tree (is it still legal to call it that?) at the State Capital last night.

I was joined by Lisa Sullivan (of NBC-17 fame). Lisa gave me an impromptu lesson in video blogging, and we explored the nuances of rechargeable batteries and the need to put electrons into the batteries first.

Despite the technical hijinks, we had a great time - especially when the little kid who was supposed to announce “THREE” during the countdown to the lighting announced “TWO”. As the Governor noted, he was just in a hurry to get things lit up.

No trip to the State Capital is complete without me snapping a few brownies … here’s what I came up with.

Before I met Lisa, I took some time to explore the recently reopened Fayetteville Street. There’s a pleasant mix of old and new architecture here, and the Briggs building stood out nicely as an example of a restored, but not an over-restored building in a bustling downtown core. The Briggs building hosts a nice museum celebrating the history of Raleigh, which brings me to my next photo …

This isn’t that distant of a memory in Raleigh. In fact, some of the older restaurants in the city still have the separate entrances - without the marked doors, of course. I was too young to remember the civil rights movement (I was born in 1975), but it’s amazing how many reminders of segregation still exist today.

My last shot for today is a streetscape looking south from the State Capital. I’m especially fond of the coloured lights; note the purple illumination on the convention centre at the end of the street. The blurred lights of the car driving past give the shot a nice sense of movement and bustle - a happening place on a Wednesday night!