Last year the focus of my blog became about my failed marriage. I used it as an outlet to get things of my chest. My divorce is final, my life is great and I don’t have any desires to share the personal details with you all.

So it is time to end this blog, it served its purpose, I enjoyed it but its done. However this is not good bye from me. I have another blog about the thing I truly enjoy, BEER!

You can find me now at BeersForDinner.com, a blog about craft beer, home brewing and mustaches. You can also follow my twitter account @beersfordinner, which will focus on beer or beer related items. My personal twitter account @designbyblake will still stay active.

I hope to see you there.

I’m going to own you.

Love,

Dan

I don’t understand the need for a year wait in the state of Maryland. I can say that I am no longer angry, I’m no longer sad, I’m just ready to be done with this ordeal.

A year ago I was angry, sad and ready to be done with the divorce. Since the divorce is uncontested I don’t even think my ex needs to be in court. So it was a long year for pretty much nothing.

All I know is that there is a bottle of champagne that has been sitting in my fridge since the wedding and I am going to open it. After a glass I’m going to open a bottle if Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, that is a beer you drink to celebrate. Even if you are just celebrating opening the beer.

Yesterday I received a text from my ex-wife letting me know that Buddy, the dog we got when we moved into our house, had passed away suddenly. He wasn’t an old dog by any means maybe 8 at the oldest. We don’t know for sure as we got him from The Maryland SPCA.

Buddy and I were not the best of friends, in fact unless my ex was around Buddy tolerated me at best. For the first year we had him I couldn’t even pat him without him being held in place. We pushed through, we had good times, he warmed up to me and eventually if my ex was around, acted like a normal dog to me.

When we separated Buddy went with my ex, as he should. I wasn’t really sad at the time, he was never my dog, he was her dog, he was our dog but he was never my dog. That being said, I’ve missed him this past year and while Rocky the Dog is amazing he isn’t buddy. Each dog is unique in his or her own way and one never truly replaces another.

Buddy dog, I hope that you are happy in dog heaven. Riding in cars with your head out the window, running through the fields and snuggling with the spirit of your mom who I know misses you a lot. I wish I had one last chance to give you a pat on your head and thank you for the years of company you provided. You were one of kind and you will be missed.

In a few months we will file our paperwork for divorce and legally call this union over. Although the end has had its bouts with bitterness and anger, it wasn’t all bad. I’ll cling to those memories of when times were good and look back and smile.

I don’t know what the future holds for me, I can’t say if I’ll ever get married again, I’m not sure I want to. All I know is I am in a healthy relationship with an amazing woman who makes me very happy. I hope my future ex-wife has found or will find someone that can make her as happy too.

The song “Nothing Up My Sleeve” by Wilco truly captures the feeling that I have today and I will leave you with the words.

I won’t ever cry for you
And you won’t ever shed tears for me
There’s nothing up my sleeve
That you haven’t already seen
It’s not that I don’t care at all
We lost touch so long ago
It may be our anniversary
But I, I wouldn’t really know

The phone won’t ever ring
In the middle of the night
And if it ever does
I can assure you it won’t be me

I’ll find somebody new
And you might find somebody too
There’s something up my sleeve
That you haven’t already seen
It’s not that I don’t care anymore
We lost touch so long ago
It may be our anniversary
But I, I wouldn’t really know

The phone won’t ever ring
In the middle of the night
And if it ever does
I can assure you it won’t be me

It’s not that I don’t care at all
We lost touch so long ago
It may be our anniversary
But I, I wouldn’t really know

I knew this wasn’t the direction that I wanted to continue heading. I knew that I needed to care about someone and that someone needed to care about me. Unfortunately my attempt at the dating scene at the time had ended very, very badly. I was so scared of commitment that I couldn’t agree to a date to see a movie that came out the next week.

I threw myself into my work as web production specialist (I didn’t create the title). I worked long hours; I didn’t want to go home because at home I was alone. Well not entirely alone, I did keep Karma the Cat when the marriage went south and as awesome as he is a cat is not good company.

One of the web sites I had to work on for my job was The Maryland SPCA. I spent many afternoons working on and looking at that site. I would find myself looking at the dogs that were available for adoption. My ex took our dog Buddy in the split, as she should have, Buddy was always her dog and I would never dream of taking him from her. I missed having a dog, a cold nose, a warm and furry body sleeping at my feet.

I decided I needed a dog, so during one of my lunch breaks I walked down to the Maryland SPCA (yes I do work that close). I looked at some of the dogs, I liked some I didn’t like some and then I went back to work. For the next two weeks I kept checking the site to see what I could find and then I saw Max. Max was a boxer mix that was about a year old and very cute and I knew we were meant to be together.

Work had been a little slow and I had some vacation time so I decided to take time off and go adopt Max. I went to the SPCA and had them bring Max out to me. We went to a one of the runs and we played. He was full of puppy energy, he wanted to play and chew things and I knew that as great as I thought he was that I was not the right owner for him.

I went back inside and that’s where I saw Rocky, a Lab/ Shar Pei mix. I had seen him on the web site and had no interest in him but when I saw him standing in his cage something clicked. While all the other dogs were barking he just stood there wagging his tail, I didn’t know until later that he wasn’t feeling well.

I played with Rocky in the run and I knew that he was the right choice for me and I think Rocky knew that I was the right choice for him too. We were both lonely and wanted someone to love & love us back. I adopted Rocky & Rocky adopted me and we have been inseparable ever since. My entire life changed the day that I took Rocky home.

It took sometime after bringing Rocky home but I started to heal. I stopped working so late (in the office) and started finding reasons to not go out. I realized that for the first time in a long time I was actually happy. I started to deal with the emotional distress that occurred because my marriage ended. I decided that I was ready to date again and found myself lucky enough to be given a second chance by an amazing woman who I am crazy about (she may read my blog). Long and short of it but Rocky the Dog saved my life.

All I can say to you, my few readers is this, adopt a dog it will change your life. Don’t go buy a dog, adopt one, there are so many that need a warm and loving home. They aren’t broken, they aren’t defective, they just need someone to love and someone to let them love back. If you are in Baltimore, go to The Maryland SPCA and feel the warmth of a cold nose. You won’t regret it, I promise you that.

For some reason old woman feel the need to put on perfume before going to the gym. Not just a dab behind the ears either, it’s more like a bottle exploded so when they walk by the trail of perfume wafts behind them like a car with a bad exhaust. The noxious scent has actually been known to choke me as I’m trying to do some cardio. No matter how fast I go, there I am, stuck in the same place, getting nowhere fast with no chance of escape.

So please, please, please stop putting on perfume at all it isn’t necessary. If you feel that you might smell bad might I suggest a little deodorant or antiperspirant. There is nothing worse then smelling grandma walking by while I’m trying to work out.

I guess the question is begged to be asked, which is worse, an old lady smelling like perfume or some asshole who walks by and farts? Either way you got no where to go.

So as I sign off for the evening I say to you perfume wearing grannies and to you fart blasting assholes of the gym. Fuck you!

While I am currently not looking to date today I did decide to sign up to a few dating sites to see the talent if you will. That’s right I said see the talent, see what’s out there. I know it objectifies women and men if that is what you are looking for but online dating is like going to Amazon except that the products can choose not to get in your cart.

It’s a little creepy to have pictures of 12 women sent to your in-box because you may have a connection. In my case it must be a loose connection as seeing that I gave as little personal info as I could to create an account, I didn’t even upload a photo, like I said I’m not ready to date yet. It’s even creepier when some of the women sent to me are ex coworkers from my day as a waiter or the woman who held my job one person before me.

After checking out some of the profiles I have some advice for you ladies listen up.

• Don’t make your user name Crazy4Baby, tooSexy67, IWantMrRight or HotSlut2000.
• Don’t put pictures up with your friends if your friends are hotter than you. It doesn’t matter how hot you are they are hotter.
• Don’t put pictures up with your friends that are ugly. We all have ugly friends but we don’t need to see them.
• If you have a pet feel free to put up a photo of you and your pet. If you just put up a picture of your pet you are either crazy for a baby or just plain crazy.
• Don’t put up pictures of you with another guy. I don’t know that it is your gay cousin Steve because the way he is looking at your chest makes me think otherwise.
• Please don’t post pictures taken from a cell phone, they are small and crappy and yes we are judging you on your looks.
• Yes we know you love your family there is no need to mention it.

Well that about sums it up ladies. I’ll be seeing some of you in a few months from now and probably being rejected by some of you as well. I look forward to the crazy adventures that are sure to occur.

There has been much hype that a black man, an African American is taking over the office of President. While this is a historic event in the history of the United States of America it should not over shadow what really happened today. Today a man that America believes in has taken office.

I didn’t vote for an African American President in November. In November I voted for a man that I believed could lead this country out of the darkness that we are in. In November I voted for a man I believed could help the economy, create jobs, end an illegal war and bring unity to America. In November I voted for Barack Obama, not a black man, but a man I believe in. Is Barack Obama black? Yes, but that should not over shadow the fact that he is a charismatic leader who brings hope to the nation.

My hope is that President Obama has the constitution needed to lead this country and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. It is up to you and I, fellow citizens to help foster the change that President Obama represents. He is just a figure head, a catalyst of change of hope.

We the people have a long road ahead of us to rebuild the economy, strengthen our educational system; to get our citizens off of unemployment & welfare and into the workplace. Without the support and action of the American people President Obama’s term as President will be fruitless.

So my fellow citizens I implore you to take action to better your communities. I say pledge allegiance to your nation and commit acts of patriotism, make a difference. Nothing comes easy, we have a long road ahead of us but we can prevail, we must prevail to ensure

I recently bought a Holga camera to find something to do that isn’t on the computer. I’m very pleased with the purchase of the Holga. I’ve gotten some photos that I enjoy looking at and hope others will too.

Of course I have found that after I get the photos back I spend time touching them up in Lightroom and then Photoshop. Oh well, these things happen.