Axl the dog was put to sleep today — he really led an amazing life, and found about the best companion a dog could ask for in Scott. We enjoyed some good times together, from roaming the halls at Amazon, to our ill-fated boat trip/swim, to the unfortunate mess you left us in our bedroom, big fella, although we probably could have done without that 🙂

Axl, we’ll miss you. Scott will really miss you. We hope you get to play with Darcy the Boston Terrier and you’re both young and healthy again.

I’m not sure if it was that my dreams started getting too stress-filled or just that the weather started to get a bit nicer in Seattle (I think sunset reached 5:30pm again!), but I’m starting to ramp up my career-discovery phase. It is still a bit all over the board (ranging from buying franchise, to starting something new, to financial planning, to joining a small start-up), but it is also accelerating — seems like every day has some networking, research, and discovery type activities in it; and, I’m finding myself working from early morning until late at night — not sure if that’s a good, or bad, sign 🙂

As a quick update on what’s been happening in our lives:
– All week, last week and this week, I’ve been filling out franchise applications and information sheets — just trying to gather a lot of information — some of them are becoming quite interesting to me — all of them will, of course, be quite risky, but I’m getting the bug to just try something, and see if outstanding execution can make the difference that I think it can

– On Thursday 2/9, had lunch with another ex-co-worker, who is now out doing his own thing — he’s one of the nicest people that I don’t know very well (strange thing to say, but it’s true). He’s out working as a financial advisor/stock broker with Merrill Lynch — if you need some financial assistance, let me know, and I’ll put you in touch with him — I couldn’t recommend someone more highly from an integrity perspective.

– On Thursday 2/10, I had lunch with an old co-worker (who still works at Amazon) — nice to hear that things haven’t changed, and also that my decision to leave still feels 100% right to me.

– On Friday 2/11, I pitched one of my ideas to a potential partner in crime — I think the person was pretty interested — I had laid out a fairly complete package, with financials, demographic info from the www.census.gov website (which I highly recommend to would be entrepreneurs), articles, and more. We’ll see if his enthusiasm lasts the weekend, when he sees that this will be a very scary endeavour!

– On Saturday 2/12, we drove to Federal Way, WA to see Karen’s cousin (Lynn) and her husband (Ed) and four of their five children. Two of them (Connor and Luke) were playing in an age 13 & under soccer game… they’re amazingly good, and won the game… they now have two more games until their state champs, I think! Afterward, we all went to Red Robin for a particularly unhealthy meal of Burgers and Fries – as Homer would say “mmmmm….” Afterward, Karen and I hit the suburban Target — wow, what an amazing store — everything comes in larger sizes… toilet paper packages, soap, and, oh yes, people 🙂

– Sunday 2/13 was pretty much of a work day — doing some self-study, research, etc.

I made a quick dash to Portland yesterday to have lunch with Aunt Jeannine and Lynn, take advantage of the sales tax benefit to buy some luggage and shoes, and meet up with a Wharton classmate, who founded a company that runs the loyalty/stored value card businesses for the likes of Subway, Quiznos and more… very excititng stuff! It was a great little trip — I always forget how nice Portland is, and also how similar it is to Seattle — it is a beautiful small city, on water, with great little neighborhoods, restaurants, and plenty of music and art. Plus, ‘family’ in the area is always a plus! I could definitely live there.

We had lunch at a Portland hallmark, Huber’s — I had the Turkey (their trademark), and I think Jeannine may have had a few of their Spanish Coffees 🙂

As a born and bred Eagles fan, I just have to say that:

a) I was sure they were going to win the game — I thought Donovan McNabb was underrated by people, and think he still is — next year is their year — I think I’ll place a Vegas bet now, and get the best odds possible. A running back would really help.

b) If Donovan had played a little bit better, they would have won easily — maybe he was sick, maybe not — in any case, he was the difference. The defense played well enough to win — he didn’t.

c) All of my negative feelings toward T.O. are gone — really, what he did is amazing — I’ve had broken ankle(s) in my past, and the fact that he not only played, but was the best player on the field, is truly remarkable. He’s a guy that put up.

d) That meaningless touchdown at the end of the game wasn’t meaningless to me — I got both of my bets to give me the 7 point spread — so, that pass&catch made me $100 richer. Makes up for that terrible $100 Penn State basketball bet I made in Vegas last week