My path to getting a new passport has a few roadblocks. I had made an appointment for last week with the post office, but I forgot I needed to bring my birth certificate. My dad keeps my birth certificate in a safe deposit box at the credit union. Dad said he might be able to get the birth certificate sometime this week. I'll make another appointment for the passport once I have the certificate. There's only 90 days until my Halloween cruise!

A furry bowling meet was held in the Denver area after a long time without one. I haven't bowled in a few years, so my scores (59 and 110) were lower than my old average.

I made the final payment for my upcoming cruise yesterday. It's nice to finally have that paid off because my accounts won't be as empty as they have been for the past few months.

I tried Taco Bell's new Cheez-It Crunchwrap a couple times over the past week. The first time, I thought they forgot to put in the giant Cheez-It. Others explained the Cheez-It basically disappears into the other ingredients of the Crunchwrap. It still tastes good, though I'll quote another review by saying it's "more heavy on the gimmick than it is on the flavor."

There's only 70 days until DenFur and 134 days until my Halloween cruise!

The company that booked my pre-cruise hotel stay in Orlando called me to say the hotel I originally chose will be closing in July. Considering all of the negative reviews the hotel has been getting, I'm not completely surprised. My reservation was moved to another hotel less than a mile from the original one. The new hotel has many more positive reviews. I just need to call the booking company the day before my stay to make sure the reservation is still active.

My dad showed me an ad in the local paper looking for delivery drivers. I really wish there were more opportunities locally that didn't involve driving. I already do food deliveries and just barely make enough to cover the cost of gas and maintenance.

Only 100 days until DenFur and 164 days until my Halloween cruise!

I found a job opening at KRCC (the station where I previously worked for 18 years) this week. The station is looking for a new local host for Morning Edition. I applied even though I don't have all of the skills required, mostly because it offered a great salary. The only downside of the job is the hours. The position is weekdays from 4:30 AM to 1:30 PM. That would affect my listening to Doggy Radio on Monday mornings, as well as possibly affecting the Rabbit Hole on Sunday nights.

I don't think I was connected to my server when I tried to do the Saturday show. I was about to e-mail Boomer to ask him to enable my port, but my Mixxx program's green "on air" light came on and I thought I was already connected. Near the end of the show, I brought up the stream page on my cell phone and saw it wasn't playing. I'll be sure to double check things next week.

I heard Saturday that Romeo Rabbit is stepping away from the Rabbit Hole. Whether or not this is good-bye for good, I want to thank Romeo and show my appreciation for his 14 years of dedication to the show. I was introduced to a wide range of furry musicians thanks to Romeo.

As I continue with the show, I should inform everyone that I only have a fraction of the furry music library that Romeo has. My "Studio C (couch)" is just a laptop and a Blue Snowball microphone, although I am trying to raise money for a more professional setup.

I can't really use my "radio voice" late at night due to living in a condo and not wanting to disturb the neighbors. Also, I wouldn't be able to do any interviews of musicians because I completely suck at it due to lack of experience.

I don't know yet if I will do a Saturday morning/afternoon show as Romeo has done. I will need to discuss that with Boomer as he controls the server I use for the Rabbit Hole. Boomer had suggested splitting the show with someone else. I may do that if I find I'm too overwhelmed.

I hope everyone can be patient with me as this announcement came as a complete surprise. I will do my best to carry on with the Rabbit Hole, though it might not be the same quality as when Romeo did it. Any feedback, good or bad, is appreciated.

DenFur opened their hotel reservations on (of all days) April 1st without any advanced notice. I was able to get a room for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, but Sundays were sold out. Luckily, I was able to add Sunday a few days later.

I was too tired to go outside to watch the solar eclipse. According to other people's pictures, the sun was about 2/3 covered by the moon here. An eclipse forecast for 2045 will include Colorado in the path of totality. I'll be 74 when this happens.

There's less than 200 days until my October cruise! I will pay off the cruise cost over the next four months. If I can't find my passport by July, I'll need to order a replacement. I need to get a new passport anyway because my current passport expires in January 2025.

I realized I forgot to do a recap of my trip to Texas Furry Fiesta.

Overall, the convention was great. My room was in the central tower, so I didn't have the advertisement with the giant baby glaring at me. The only thing that sucked for me was the elevators. I didn't want to go out as much due to the constantly-full elevators.

During the trip to Dallas, I stayed overnight Wednesday in Wichita Falls. For the trip back home, I spent Monday night in Amarillo.

THURSDAY
Registration for Furry Fiesta went quickly for me since I registered at the Sponsor level. The con had a special line for Sponsors and Super Sponsors.
The only event I planned for Thursday night was the 1950s-'60s dance party.

FRIDAY
I saw Alexander James Adams perform. Later that night, I attended the Jackbox Games panel for about an hour.

SATURDAY
I planned to see both Crusader! and Rhythm Bastard performing, but I only made it to Crusader!'s show. I also missed the "Card Sharks" panel show because I needed to get dinner. I had the pappardelle alla vodka with chicken at the hotel restaurant.

SUNDAY
The hotel's laundry service doesn't operate on Sundays, but the hotel has a free self-service laundry room for guests. I had to buy some detergent from the gift shop ($6.50 for a 3-load package.) I went and got lunch while my clothes were drying.
After closing ceremonies, I had a burger and some bourbon-and-cokes in the hotel bar.

My next convention will be DenFur in August.

I'm glad there are a few warm days this week so I can do some more errands before Furry Fiesta. I will leave for the con on Wednesday, when there's supposed to be rain and snow moving into Colorado. There's rain in the forecast for Dallas during TFF. Hopefully there won't be any tornado warnings like last year.

My packing for the con is almost complete. I just need to pack my smartphone charger and APAP machine after waking up Wednesday.

My federal tax refund this year will be over $5,700. If everything goes well, the refund should be in my account by the week before Furry Fiesta.

I met with a small business counselor on Tuesday. The biggest roadblock to starting my own radio station is a lack of capital. I was given a few brochures for courses on starting a business. I just wish I had connections with people who would be willing to lend me a hand, both with finances and staffing.

I resumed doing food delivery work at the end of January. I aimed for late afternoons/early evenings with sunny weather so I wouldn't have to deliver in the dark. I was able to get a 3-hour shift before the Super Bowl since that time will be super busy.

My birthday was on the 15th. I used a couple of e-mailed offers last weekend. I got my haircut on Sunday, using a birthday coupon for $5 off the "MVP" package at Sport Clips. Afterward, I picked up a free birthday 3-pack of glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme.

The self-employment agent I was supposed to see next week needed to reschedule my appointment. The next available appointment is in mid-February, so I'll see him then.

As a certain furry musician would say, I've made too much pasta. I made some macaroni and ate half of the bowl for dinner yesterday. I had the rest today.

 RadioRomeoRabbit announced the date for his 24-hour charity stream. It will be on February 2nd starting at 7 AM ET. Romeo will be raising money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Contributions may be made right now at gofund.me/b2faa231

I got some bad news about a Denver radio station. I had applied for an on-air job at KJHM "Jammin' 101.5" recently. About a week later, I read an article that Jammin' and sister station "Flo 107.1" are being sold to a religious broadcaster, so there goes my chance (as slim as it was) to work at Jammin'.

I booked a hotel room for the night before my Halloween 2024 cruise. I was originally going to take an early-morning flight to Orlando and arrive 5-6 hours before the cruise departed. The organizer recommended arriving the night before in case of delays. The room I got was only about $130 (pretty good for a 3-star hotel in Orlando) and the hotel has some good food options nearby.

Barring any last-minute announcements, I'll be doing a Christmas Eve show after all. I'll take the next week off since Boomer The Dog will do a New Year's show then. JaSonic said he would also do an almost nine-hour music show to ring in the new year for the UK and North America.

An inch or two of snow is forecast for Saturday into Sunday. That should be enough for a "leftover white" Christmas.

I'm glad I read my Dreamwidth blog in bed earlier. I was debating what to have for lunch when I saw my latest entry. I forgot I had bought a chili cheeseburger and fries from Whataburger yesterday to have for lunch today.

I'm thinking about renting a car for my trip to Furry Fiesta next year (and Anthrocon, if I can go.) My Subaru is 18 years old and has driven over 177,000 miles. The trip to Dallas is only about 750 miles, while Pittsburgh is more than 1,400 miles away. I'm more worried about the drive to Pittsburgh and I do have AAA coverage, but I'd hate to have anything go wrong on either trip.

Romeo said he might take the rest of December off with The Rabbit Hole. I filled in last night and am making a playlist for next weekend just in case, including 2-2½ hours of Christmas music. I don't plan to do a show the weekend after that since it's Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.

I had Thanksgiving dinner with a local singles group this year. It was a potluck dinner, and I brought a sweet potato casserole. The casserole recipe I used was from Pillsbury's website ( https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/s.....c-dcea461a1104 )

I need to quit putting things off until the last minute. The last time I brought this casserole to a dinner, I had peeled and chopped the sweet potatoes the day before so I would just need to do the other steps and cooking on Thanksgiving morning/afternoon. I accidentally jabbed a finger with a knife while rushing, but it only required a Band-Aid. In order to get the dish cooked on time, I only chopped 3 of the 4 sweet potatoes I had. They weighed around 3 lbs. total, just shy of the 3-1/2 lbs. the recipe called for. Looking back, I think I also forgot to add the vanilla due to rushing.

While I ended up only making 10-12 servings instead of 14, there was still about 1-2 servings of casserole left over for people to take home.

I think I might just uninstall Facebook Messenger from my cell phone. I've gotten two messages from people trying to sign me up for assistance programs (which are likely scams.) The only problem is I have friends that communicate via Messenger, including part of a group I'll be cruising with next year. Maybe I should just use Messenger on my computer so I'm not shown as being online all the time with the cell phone.

I purchased a registration license for my copy of PaintTool SAI on Sunday. I panicked a little because the cost listed in Japanese yen looked really expensive (¥5,500.) Thankfully, that's only about $38 US.

I think I'll ask for a new DustBuster for Christmas. The one I got over a decade ago isn't charging anymore. That and more clothes are the only Christmas gifts I can think of.

It's hard to believe it's been over 3 years since Boomer began reading my Dreamwidth blog on Doggy Radio. I looked back a few years and found the first post that was read was from October 12, 2020. My Dreamwidth blog is at jcollie719.dreamwidth.org

I booked a cabin for my friends' anniversary cruise next October. The "ocean view" cabins were sold out, so I got a balcony cabin. I paid the deposit and will make monthly payments toward the cruise between November and next July. If I'm able to save enough for both the cruise and Anthrocon I'll register for AC as well.

I turned up my thermostat a bit this weekend since there will be winter temperatures the next few days. Sunday's high was only 25°F.

I still haven't heard back from the "Game Show Battle Rooms" folks. I don't think I'll be hired.

I went ahead and registered for Texas Furry Fiesta today and reserved my hotel room, as well as the motel rooms for my overnight stays to and from Dallas. I figured getting this out of the way early would work best for me.

It's unlikely that I can afford both of these trips next year, but I hope I can attend Anthrocon in July and my friends' anniversary cruise next October. On the low end, the costs for the cruise and airfare would be around $2,200; the high end would be around $3,400. Any trips later in 2024 would also depend upon whether I can find employment and can get the days off for the vacations.

I had an interview last month with a new company called "Game Show Battle Rooms," which will operate group games in Denver that are similar to escape rooms. I haven't heard back yet if I'm still being considered for a host or co-host position.

Despite being nervous, I think I did well in my interview for Game Show Battle Rooms. I should hear back from the company later in October if I'm still being considered for a host or co-host position. The company will operate game show rooms similar to escape rooms.

I bought a bag of Paqui Haunted Ghost Pepper tortilla chips last week. They're not as hot as real ghost peppers, but they are spicier than jalapeños.

"Is that your final answer? I'm outta conTROL!"

While looking on a job site, I saw an interesting opening. A company called "Game Show Battle Rooms" is looking for hosts with experience in theater, improv comedy and radio. I have experience with improv and radio, so I sent them an application last night.

I bought some Lunchables and similar types of snack kits to keep in my mini fridge. This would give me something to snack on during my shows without needing to use the microwave late at night.

Just as a reminder: My Sunday fill-in shows for The Rabbit Hole are streamed at a different address than Romeo's site. The address I use to stream is boomerthedog.com/dj-collie or boomerthedog.com:9450 ... No pesky ads! (I had gotten reports of the signal dropping when I originally tried to stream on Romeo's server, though I don't know if that was just one user, a problem with the server itself or an ID-10-T error on my part.)

I'll be starting at 8 PM Eastern on Sunday with an hour-long fill-in for The Night Shift, followed by The Rabbit Hole* at 9 PM.

I got a prescription for a medication to help me sleep better. After having previous medications cost less than $5 each, it was a shock to be charged $175 for the new one. For that price, to paraphrase RuPaul, it better work!

Ten or more years ago, there used to be an IRC chatter during Funday Pawpets, Radio Unifurse and the Rabbit Hole who lived in Pueblo, Colorado and was a white wolf (IIRC his screen name was sf77.) I was supposed to meet him in person years ago at a Denver event, but he was unable to make it. Another former IRC chatter I remember was a corgi who would announce that he was launching himself across the room with his farts. I don't know why I suddenly remembered those two chatters, but they just appeared in my memory.

Vocational Rehab messaged me today to say they can no longer help me with self-employment since it's taken so long. They said they would still help me find a job with someone else, though. The main reason I wanted to go the self-employment route was because it's been impossible for me to get hired (or find a living wage) at another job.