Random thoughts from the past week
This past week @mrsbozz and I were finally able to complete the memorial box for our beloved dog Jovi who we said goodbye to a couple of weeks ago. We found a shop on Etsy that customized these boxes. The total price was somewhere around $80 USD, and if I am being honest I am not sure it was worth the cost.
Don't get me wrong, when it comes to my dog, cost is no object. That should have been fairly obvious to anyone as we went through countless medications and tests to give her the best quality of life up until the end. However, from a practical standpoint, I have a feeling the vendor probably paid maybe $5 for the plain box, spent perhaps an hour customizing it with the lettering and dates, and then waited for someone like us to pay $80 for it.
It's done now, and that's all that matters. The final piece was one of Jovi's old license tags that we had on our trailer keychain while the trailer was being stored at my parents house. I brought that home to get ready for camping season this weekend, so I was able to pull one of the tags and put it in the box.
In case you are wondering, Jett was the name she had at the shelter when we picked her out 14+ years ago, so when she became ours, we made that her middle name.
The morning we took her into the vet, @mrsbozz remembered she had bought a kit to collect her paw print. It took us a couple tries (she was stubborn to the end), but we finally got a couple pretty decent prints. Looking back, we should have tried to do her nose as well. We've seen several people with nose prints and that is kind of cool. Too late now I guess....
It's funny because you can see the marks her nails made on the print and you can also see where her paw hair was so long in between her toes. We used to try to cut it, but she would often fight us the whole time.
I have every intention of trying to get this print done as a tattoo one day, the problem is, I want it somewhere conspicuous, where I can see it every day and be reminded of Jovi(like on my forearm), and I am not sure my dad would appreciate that. He's quite old fashioned about a lot of things. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, you are a 40+ year old man, why do you care.
Well, it comes down to respect and the whole not wanting to disappoint your parents thing. Sure, in the grand scheme of things there are a lot worse ways I could disappoint him, but I'm just not sure I am ready to fight that battle.
@mrsbozz and I went to a minor league baseball game this weekend. I will be writing more about it in a post from my @bozz.sports account, but it was a really good game. Plus, it was Taylor Swift night, so that made it even more awesome!
We also got the chance to go out on a little bit of a date this weekend. Something we really haven't done in quite some time. Since we don't have kids, it probably sounds silly for me to say that we haven't really had time to go on a date lately. The fact is, for the past year we have been rushing home as quickly as possible from work to try to get Jovi out as quickly as possible to avoid more accidents in the house.
It was usually a futile attempt, but it's just something we got in the habit of doing.
Now we have this newfound freedom to actually take our time and do some of the things we haven't done in a while.
It's bittersweet, because it is nice to have that freedom again, but if I had the choice, I'd give it all up to have my dog back for just a little longer.
It didn't take much twisting of my arm when @mrsbozz suggested we head to my favorite BBQ joint in town. I've written posts about it in the past, so I am not going to cover all that again here. It's called Molasses and they do some really decent BBQ for being in the middle of Michigan. They also make a killer old fashioned, and my wife is absolutely in love with their green beans.
Apparently they use Italian style green beans which are flat compared to the kind you usually see in America which are round.
As for what else they do to make them so delicious, I'm guessing that's a trade secret, but it likely involves copious amounts of butter!
Finally, I wanted to finish out this post talking about Splinterlands. It's been on my mind quite a bit lately as the new rewards system has been implemented and I weigh how all of these changes are impacting my account. I wouldn't say I am anywhere near a whale when it comes to Splinterlands, but I have a decent deck and at the height of the last bull it was worth somewhere in the five figure range.
I've been seeing a lot of people (bigger accounts than mine), talking about exiting the game as soon as they are able to after the recent changes. They just need to wait for a point where they aren't taking such a big loss. I have to admit, I understand where they are coming from.
I'm sure there was a lot of thought and probably some good reasoning put into GLINT, but it kind of feels like a slap in the face to me. On top of that, I've seen my rental income drop from 2000 DEC per day to right around 300 DEC per day (if I'm lucky) and I have to admit to being a bit disillusioned myself.
I know we still have a bit to go before the bull really kicks into gear, but I'm really on the fence about whether or not Splinterlands is something I want to continue to keep as a piece of my portfolio. I likely will, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my doubts.
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So sorry for the loss I believe the memorable box will already bring back memories about Jovi.
Thank you, I appreciate that. It has been harder than I ever could have imagined.
Yeah, I think you are right. Those etsy people get pretty good at buying the cheapest materials but putting them together in a way to make the end product look good. They have a subreddit where they talk about all their techniques. But at the same time, it does look nice, and I'm sure it will make a good display in your home.
Yeah.... I'm of the same opinion as the biggest accounts you refer to on Splinterlands. As soon as the price spikes, I am exiting. I've been in the game since Steemmonsters, but my trust for how they are handling it is gone. I just want out now.
I have heard a lot of people feel the same as you. Which honestly makes me sad because I was part of the original kick starter for steem monsters, but it's just hard to see a vision or focus right now. As much as I like to play the game, I want something that is a passive investment too and that ship is slowly sailing.
The box is nice. We had to do some fiddling to get her ashes to fit inside, but she is all set now. I still put my hand on the box each night before I head to bed.
Yeah I agree, it makes me sad too. But I just don't see any real progress. They screwed up the game with Chaos Legion. Then they put so many resources and energy into land, which is frankly too confusing and complex for the average gamer who just wants to play. That energy should have been spent on improving the game. After so many years of mismanagement I don't think they can right the ship at this point. I know they are trying, but it may be too little too late at this point.
For sure. I still have my node license too. If they can find a way to pump SPS back up, I will likely be dumping a good portion of my stake.
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I'm very sorry for your loss. That's a beautiful memorial portrait
Thank you. It has been a really difficult loss for us. We have her ashes in the box behind the photo.
That's a nice memorial for Jovi. The tattoo would be pretty cool, but I know how the older generation is a lot more conservative than most of us are!
That BBQ looked good, It's nice to have a great BBQ restaurant that isn't a chain. Around here there are a lot of choices, but since it's just me most of the time I don't eat out much anymore!
This place is run quite well and they make some good food. I didn't get a shot of it, but I had the St. Louis style ribs pulled pork baked beans, and mashed potatoes. It was delicious.
The funny thing is, I already have three small tattoos from when they had to do radiation on me after the cancer, so the ship has kind of sailed. It's just that they aren't visible.
Glad the cancer didn't beat you! That's always a good thing to hear!
Thanks, I got lucky. It was the "good" kind of cancer according to the doctor. I've been in remission about five years now. I just lean to the left a little because my right side is lighter.
If you have to any kind of cancer it's best to have the treatable ones!
sorry for your loss :(
and yeah totally agree thats not what i was expecting for 80$ D:
i had pet owners who often asks me for a pixelart animation of their pets and i always try to do the best... i know how important this is.
ab the tattoo, get it man <3
We are actually happy with the box, I just am not sure it was worth the $80. I could have probably made it myself for $30. What do I know though! We are looking into getting some canvas prints done of some old photos we have of Jovi. I will be interested to see how those turn out.