Paulie....

Well Paulie was Vito’s younger brother. Kim and her mom found Paulie at the Elyria shelter and rescued him and we couldn’t of asked for a better rescue. Paulie was always skittish even after being with us for 15 years. He made it out to our new house in Parma and was able to enjoy the good life in our newly re-finished basement. There were several times where we thought we were going to lose Paulie due to his various ailments, but he always pulled through and Kim and I often joked around that he had 9 lives just like a cat. Paulie was a great dog though. He got along great with all the cats and after Vito passed we knew he really missed him. But Paulie had a great life. The amount of toys we bought for him was crazy. Every time Kim went to the store she would come home with another toy for him. Paulie was definitely Kim’s dog, but he always knew who to come to for some good petting and belly rubs. Like Vito, cancer took Paulie too soon and we wish we would of had more time with him. Yeah, 15 years just wasn’t enough time to spend with him and both Kim and I miss him immensely. I’m sure he’s with Vito and Sasha and Stewie right now and they are all running around together having a great time.

Until we meet again my little buddy, I miss you and will always love you.

Stewie....

So Stewie was one of the cats we found in our yard one night along with his brother. Both of them were kittens and came walking out of the woods across the street from out house. They were both so tiny at the time and you can tell they needed to be taken care of. The day after we found them we brought them in and Kim took them to the vets. We had to keep them separated from the other animals for a couple of weeks while they got all healed up and to make sure they couldn’t infect any of the other pets at the time. Once we were able to let them roam free they were both great cats. Stewie was our talker. Whenever you would say his name he would instantly meow back. It never failed and he did it right up until the end. Stewie was diagnosed with cancer a little more than a month ago. He wasn’t eating much and we knew something was wrong as he was always the bigger of the two cats. When the Dr. said that he had cancer I was devastated. We went through this with Vito and it never ends up good. Stewie would put up a great fight though. One day he just wouldn’t be himself then the next it seemed like maybe he was doing a little better. This continued for the next month. Kim and I slept in the living room on the pull-out couch just so we could keep an eye on him as he was sleeping mostly in the rocking chair which I would pull right up next to me. He wanted to be by me 24/7. I would sit in the chair and he would just sleep on me and it was something I will never forget. During the past year of working from home due to Covid, both Stewie and Brian hung out with me upstairs while I worked during the day. I loved both of my co-workers as one of them was always with me. Stewie lost so much weight at the end, he didn’t even look like himself. He was always such a big, furry cat that when he got sick, you could just see it. Losing him was really difficult. Even when we had finally decided it was his time, I didn’t want to see him go. Holding him all the way to the vets that night just hurt so bad, but he sat with me and just meowed a few times. We had him wrapped in a blanket as we didn’t want to put him in a carrier and I’m so glad we did that. I miss Stewie more than he could ever imagine. Waking up and hearing his meow asking for a treat every morning was music to my ears. Stewie was 14 years old when he passed and I wish we would of had more time together. The time we did have was amazing and wonderful. Kim always said that when I was at work she never saw either of the cats and once I walked in the door it seemed like the whole house would wake up and the cats would come running. I’m so glad that while I worked from home this past year I took a few moments out to take a bunch of pictures of both Stewie and Brian. I’m so glad I have all of those memories and Stewie, you will never be forgotten.

Sasha......

So Kim bought Sasha for me back for our one year anniversary of dating.  Growing up the only type of pets we ever had were fish, so a kitten was definitely something that was brand new to me.  Kim had purchased her from Bevan's, a small feed store close to our house for twenty-five bucks.  Well little did we know that she wasn't well at the time and after a quick trip to the weekend emergency vets and over three hundred dollars later, we knew we wanted to take care of her forever.  Sasha was a great kitten.  I would literally be able to sit and play fetch with her with a small balled up piece of paper.  I would throw the paper from my bed into the hallway and she would run and get it and bring it back to me and be ready for more.  It was crazy.  She was always jealous of Kim too.  If we had some of out stuff on top of the dressed, Sasha would jump up there and knock anything of Kim's off the dresser while leaving all of my stuff untouched.  It was the funniest thing I had ever seen.  Sasha had been pretty healthy her whole life.  Kim and I were sitting around a couple of days ago, reminiscing about how lucky we had been with her.  We took her in for a few things here and there, but nothing ever big considering she lived to be 18.  I'm not sure when we noticed a change in her, but we were hesitant to take her in as with her age we didn't want to really have the doctor's poking and prodding her.  One day we finally took her in as we noticed she was using the bathroom a lot.  At that time we found out she had a hyperthyroid which we promptly put her on medicine for.  After some time, we got her checked out again and found out the medicine was working and her levels were getting back to normal.  I was very relieved at that time.  We knew being 18 that we were definitely lucky for her to have lived that long, but I had heard of cats living longer so we just enjoyed every day that we had with her.  A couple of weeks ago we started noticing a change in her eating habits and that is when things just went down hill very quickly.  We tried everything we could think of or anything that was suggested.  At one point it reminded of when Vito was nearing his end.  The last days we had with her, she followed me around everywhere.  I was spending all the time I could with her.  She was very special to me and I just wanted to make sure she realized that.  At the end, we could both tell how tired she was.  She had nothing left to give us, but she had already given us so much.  Sasha, you will be greatly missed and I will always remember you.  I can't think of too many times in life that you get to spend so much time with someone, but the time with her was some of the best of my life.  Sasha, I love you and miss you a lot. 

I can't thank Kim enough for bringing her into our lives.  When she was sitting in bed with her that first day when I got home from the gym I had totally mixed emotions.  Never having had a real pet before I didn't know what to do or think.  But the times we had with Sasha over the years were incredible.  Too many to write about and all of them I want to never forget.

Kim, thank you for everything, I love you more than you will ever know. 

A year hiatus.......

So it's been close to a year since I have written anything on the site.  I have been working alot on What I'm Playing Now and that has taken up a lot of my time,  But I have mainly not written on here as I just haven't been able to get past losing Vito.  Yesterday was the one year anniversary of his passing and it was a hard day.  I still can't believe it's been a year and it seems like just yesterday he was still here with us.  I will never forget that little guy, as he touched us so much and brought so much joy to our lives.  While we still have Paulie with us, I know soon it will be time to get another dog, as Paulie really misses having a buddy to play with.  Kim and I discussed it around Christmas time and I told her maybe by the time spring rolls around, I might be ready to try looking for another dog, but as of right now, I'm still not ready.  Plus, I told Kim I really don't want to potty train a puppy during the winter months here in Ohio.  I still want to get a tattoo of Vito and Kim agrees that I should.  It's been a few years since I have gotten one, and I'm just really in the mood to get some ink, and I think having his picture around will help with moving on and knowing that he will never be forgotten.

The post I have been putting off writing.......

Well, it's been almost two months since we found out Vito was sick.  Back then we didn't realize how sick he was or what was going to happen.  Basically my life seemed to stop once I found out he was sick.  I wanted to just be there with him and hang out with him every minute I could.  There were days around Christmas where we thought he just couldn't fight anymore, but the next day he would be a little better and we saw he still had fight left in him.  Kim and I talked and we didn't want to see him suffer, but we also didn't want to have him leave us before his time.  The medicines we were giving him were keeping him going but he definitely was not the dog he once was, the dog who pretty much ruled the house.  

Vito always love chasing after the cats, and our one cat Sasha would very seldomly come downstairs to hang out.  He would never do anything with the cats but chase them and when he got next to them, they all turned into best friends.  There were times when our one cat Brian would just walk up to him as he laid around and would just brush up against him like Brian was marking him.  But everyone in the house knew that Vito was the boss.  If he didn't want to be bothered, you didn't bother him and if he wanted to play, then you better get down on the floor and start playing tug of war with him.

I never realized how smart dogs really are.  Vito was very special and there were times where Kim and I thought we would come home and he would just start speaking to us.  Since we don't have kids, the pets in our house tend to get spoiled quite a bit.  The pile of dogs toys in our house is quite a sight to see.  You could sit there and name ANY toy in that toy pile, and it didn't matter if the toy was bought last week, or last year, Vito would dive into that pile and pull out the toy you just said.  It was amazing.  He was amazing, and I miss him more every day he is gone.

January 21st is when we had to make the hardest decision of our lives.  Vito was breathing so poorly that we knew his time had come and that we needed to take him into the vets.  I bundled him up in a blanket and held him as Kim drove us to the vets.  I carried him in with tears in my eyes, and held him through the whole procedure.  I told him once he got sick, that I would be there with him until the end, and I was.  It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life, but I wouldn't let him go through this alone. 

No one knows what happens when we die.  Everyone has their own theories and beliefs.  All I know is when I die, I hope I get to see Vito again and spend eternity with him, as he will always hold a special place inside of me.

Vito, you were loved when you were alive, and you are still loved now that you are no longer with us.  You were to young to be taken from us being only six years old.  There was so much more time I wish I had with you, but I am so glad the time that you were with us we all enjoyed so much and will never forget.  Vito, you were a wonderful terrific dog, and all I can say is I miss you.

Vito laying on my chest one day.

Still hanging in there

So my gaming time has been pretty much consumed by taking care of and worrying about our dog Vito.  While he has slowly started doing better, it still really seems like a roller coaster.  His liver enzymes have finally started to come down after two weeks of medicine, but they got worse before they got better.  His numbers are still high but hopefully we continue the downward trend.  

In regards to what the ultrasound showed, which were spots on his liver and spleen, the Dr. isn't even going to worry about that until everything else is in check.  So we really have no idea what's going on in that department and are trying to not worry about it.

Let's get on to some games though.   So I have continued playing Assassin's Creed 4 and I have to say that if I was to do a game of the year this would probably be it.  This game has great graphics on the PS4, a great story and so much to do, you will never get bored with any one thing.  If you thought the AC series was falling apart, they have completely turned everything around with the fourth entry into this series.  

So Christmas has also come and gone since my last post.  I have to say one thing,  my wife is the best wife ever!!  So I opened up a box which I thought was going to be clothes and there were socks sitting there but the box was a little heavy for clothes.  Under the socks was a PS Vita.  I was NOT expecting to get one.  I always thought it would be cool to play with as I had some fun with the PSP I had bought on launch day but it just seemed the Vita never had that must buy game.  Well my co-host on the What I'm Playing Now podcast has been playing Persona 3 on his PSP and we discussed some of Persona 4 Golden which is out on the Vita.  I played some of the original Persona which was out on the original Playstation.  I never finished the game, but always thought it was a pretty good RPG.  So since my wife is the best wife ever, with the Vita she included a fifty dollar PSN card so I immediately added the funds to my wallet and started downloading Persona 4 Golden on the Vita.  Once I started playing it, all I could say was, WOW.  I haven't played a good RPG like this in a while.  Everything in this game is great from the music to the story, I cannot put this Vita down.  I didn't think anything would be able to pull me away from AC4 but this game has.  So now I need to try to divide my time between these two games, as I know they are both just going to take a LOT of time to complete.

It's been a long week.....

So when I started this blog I told myself I would try to write to it almost daily.  Well about a week ago one of our dogs, my dog Vito, got sick.  I really haven't been on my computer all that much and just kind of hanging out with him hoping he gets better.  Well he really hasn't been eating that much and we found out that his liver enzymes were elevated.  We've been giving him medicine for a week now and while his appetite has improved a little, we realized he wasn't improving a lot.  My wife took him back in for a follow up today and we received some pretty devastating news.  His liver enzymes are actually higher than they were a week ago so they suggested we do an ultra-sound to see what was going on.  The Dr. found several spots on his liver and spleen.  She believes it is cancer.  Vito is only 6 years old and is a Cairn Terrier so we were both really shocked that our young dog was having to deal with this.  

The Dr. informed us that he isn't in any pain, and if we can get him eating regularly again, he may be with us for a while still, but we have no idea what is going to come of this.  We were informed that we should bring him back in in a week for another ultra-sound to see if anything had progressed and the Dr. might be able to let us know a little more where we stand.

So, that's pretty much been my week, a really shitty one right before X-mas.

I love being a pirate!!!

Yesterday I played a shit load of AC4.  I have to say, that this game is VERY good and it definitely deserves the award it won at the VGX awards last night for Best Action Adventure Game of the Year.  I think just yesterday alone I just about doubled the amount I had done in the game and there just seems to be so much more.

My wife even noticed how much more I am into this one than the first one when it came out.  I said this one is so much better than the first one.  The first one just felt so repetitive after a little while, and to be honest, I know I didn't get that far into the first one. 

There is just so much to like about this game I'm not even sure where to begin.  The ship combat for one is just a downright blast.  I love sailing around and just getting my wanted level up only to try to have the hunters come after me and then take them down as well.  It's also really cool if you play with the companion app on your smartphone to send some of the ships that you have plundered over to the game, where you can play mini-games of trading as well as fighting via keeping the trade routes clear.  I had to have my phone plugged in the whole time I was playing yesterday as having the app open for hours at a time was killing my battery.  Every so often I would grab my phone and send off more ships to trade.  The app also comes in handy for using the map features.  The map you see on your console is the same map you can pull up on your phone, so you can have the map open the whole time you are playing and never have to switch over to the in-game map which is very nice.

The story is another part of the game that really has me continuing my long play sessions.  I will sail around for a while and plunder and do some of the side quest work, and once I get a little tired of that I jump back to the main story line and the story is just amazing.  Right now I really feel like I am getting to the good part of the story and I can't wait to play it some more.

FIFA 14 why you no let me play?

So last night seemed like a good night to continue my quest for the Portuguese cup in Fifa 14.  I was already in the quarter-finals and wanted to - go - all - the - way!!!!!  I won the quarter finals game and then there were several other matches not even related to the cup.  I'm not familiar with the normal calendar of games for this cup but that one REALLY confused me.  

So I play through several matches and my game was a little off last night.  I wasn't doing a lot of good, but we were still winning.  So I get to the semi-finals match and the coach doesn't play me!!!!!   I sat there swearing like a drunken sailor.  I couldn't believe that all the good I had done in the earlier games of the cup got me NOTHING in the semi-finals match.  Needless to say at least if I am having a bad game, I can usually still win with my teammates.  The funny thing is, when the coach does decide to sit me out of a game, the team usually loses horribly which is exactly what happened in a 5 - nil game in the semi-finals.  I was needless to say quite pissed and after saving everything it was the end of Fifa for the night.

Tonight I am going to pick up the season pass for Assassin's Creed IV and going to get back into being that drunken sailor with some Christmas Ale.  Although, I'm pretty sure they probably didn't have flavored beers like that back then.  Oh well, it's just a game!!!

Gotta love the Steam sale!

So I finally found something to pull me away from my PS4, the damn Fall Steam sale!  I have to say, that whenever Steam has one of their sales, it's a damn good sale!  I pulled the trigger on some smaller games I've been wanting to pick up and I'm glad I did as so far I've been having a blast with them.  I picked up Hammerwatch, Rogue Legacy as well as Baldur's Gate Extended Edition.  

I've been wanting to pick up the Baldur's Gate game as I never played through the first two.  I haven't started playing this one yet, but I can't wait to start as I know this is one great game.

I did start to play Hammerwatch and Rogue Legacy.  I've spent a little more time with Hammerwatch as once I started getting into it I defintely could not put the controller down.  I'm using my Xbox360 controller to play this game on the PC and I would definitely recommend the game be played this way.  Picking up the 20 dollar wireless connector for the 360 controller was definitely a great purchase.  I had an old logitech wireless remote that I picked up from Overstock.com YEARS ago as a refurbished controller and the 360 controller is so much better.  I can't wait for there to be better support for the PS4 controller as that controller is definitely becoming my controller of choice.  So Hammerwatch is an interesting little game.  The graphics aren't the greatest but the gameplay is definitely there.  I do wish there was a way you could get the map to zoom out as several times I felt like I was going in circles not knowing where to go next and had I been able to see the full map at one time it would of really helped.  If there is a way then someone please post it in the comments as I couldn't figure out how to do it. 

I played a little bit of Rogue Legacy and I can see already that that game is ALL about dying.  Holy shit what a rough game.  I didn't get to far into it before going back to Hammerwatch so Rogue Legacy may be put on hold until I reach the end of Hammerwatch.