Hello everyone and welcome to my Monday. Wally woke me out of a dead sleep this morning by barking loudly. I instantly broke into a cold sweat, since Wally doesn't bark very often. The first thought is always is someone in the house? Then I realized if someone WAS in the house, Wally would have bounded down after them looking for some food or a game of fetch. I let him out the front door, then went back upstairs to get back to bed, only realizing it wasn't 2:30 as I'd thought, but 5:30 and my alarm would be going off soon. Suddenly, I was wide awake. Clearly, the only thing to do would be to get up.

As it turns out, Wally had been barking at Madeline, who is staying at my neighbor's house to watch their bulldog, Stryder. She'd taken him out back before going to work, which is a message to both dogs that it's time to play. I'm hoping to watch some tv tonight, order something to eat, and get to bed early.

The song of the day is "The World I Know" by Collective Soul off their 1995 self-titled album. I love the simple, smooth rhythm of this song; the strings, the snare...it all fits together perfectly. I'm not completely sure what the song is about, to be honest. Read the lyrics and decide for yourself. There's a lot of despair going on, though, and it's certainly reflected in the video: