Glad I finally remembered to recharge the camera battery, because the animals are in full-on pose mode tonight. Lily looking adorable (she can’t help it!):
I simply can not tell you how much I love this dog. She’s the one I am happiest to see when i get home, she is the one that I wake up in the night and feel around for (she’s always between my torso and right arm, with her head on my chest or bicep). I love Rosie and Tunch, too, but in a different way. Everything mean and angry and grumpy (my natural state) is wiped away with Lily kisses. I would seriously hurt anyone who ever said or did anything mean to my lady (although the same could be said of anyone trying to harm Tunch or Piglet).
This pose from Tunch cracked me up (he was sitting like this when I walked in the room and took the pic above of Lily):
“I’ve eaten and I can’t get up.” Somehow or another, the love seat/couch has become Tunch’s new perch. He sleeps on the arm, the spine, and the cushions, and both dogs and guests alike respect his AUTHORITAH. It is kind of funny watching guests come in, walk slowly up to Tunch to pet him, and then cautiously lower themselves onto the couch, all while making sure they have his approval.
Love these animals. Sometimes wonder how I ended up with three of them, but I guess a lot of you breeders with kids often look around at the brood and wonder how you ended up with four children.
John +2 (I actually threw out the other half bottle of wine it was so disgusting)
*** Update ***
I’m sure this will not help with the fat jokes, but can you junior detectives figure out which side of the couch Tunch likes better:
I’m sure it is animal cruelty that I am laughing about this.
Yutsano
A double Tunch night? Expect proposal from my wifey as soon as she sees this. She’s gonna be a smattering mass of goo tonight.
Svensker
aWWWW.
I gotta brag for my friend. He designed the coffee table that Pres O has in the new office. Cool, huh?
I love that Rosie is “piglet”.
eemom
what kind of wine was it? You oughtta stick with the NZ Sauvignon Blancs.
handy
Tuuuuuuuuuuuuunch!!
Paul W.
Is that Tunch or the couch? Either way I’d be wary of sitting on it.
Comrade Luke
@Svensker:
Oh god. He redesigned his office? This is going to be all over the Village. They’ll be talking about it for a week
Gina
Aw! Lily looks so damned cute here, like she’s laughing at you. Tunch is freaking awesome, I saw someone asked in the previous open thread if you had pics of him when he was younger – I’d love to see them too.
On another note, I’m trying to justify a trip to the Homer Laughlin tent sale in Newell WV. It’s a long trip from here, and would be a totally silly thing to just go to the sale to get overstocked Fiestaware, yet spend gas, time, hotel money, etc. However, I’m thinking that there MUST be some sort of interesting stuff to do nearby or on the way that I could lure the kids into doing, thus making it all “worthwhile”.
I’d be coming right through PA, but don’t really have a good sense of what the hell there is to do in either Western PA/Pittsburgh, and even less of a sense of what to do in northern WVA or eastern Ohio. Ideas most appreciated, if anyone has some to share.
Anne Laurie
Here’s hoping the wine was actually “disgusting”, and not just that the vile temporary cement left a bad taste in your mouth….
roshan
This might be helpful for folks who are looking into different options to stream netflix and other media on to their TVs.
There is a comparison chart in there which includes Apple TV (came out today), Roku, Pop box, LG, PS3, Xbox and WD.
Corner Stone
180 pound humans are concerned about what a cat decides?
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: I’m going to trust John’s l33t oenophile skills here, however you do raise a good point. I also promise not to nag about the fact that he’s drinking so soon after a body trauma. :)
Anne Laurie
@Comrade Luke: Yes, Megan McCain was on some talk show first thing this morning to complain about Obama’s taste in interior design — because we soooo respect the klassy credentials of a twenty-something whose greatest achievement to date was picking the right parents. The new look is “too casual”, so it’s “disrespectful of the dignity of the office”, according to the Wingnut Wurlitzer. (They wanted to do the “too expensive” whine, but it’s Obama’s own funds.) I think it looks better than Dubya’s Dallas Froo-Froo, myself. I also think Obama needs to get some adorable photos of Sasha and Malia spread out on those “horribly casual” but very comfy-looking sofas online, because his press people don’t use the “first president since forever to have young kids in the White House” imagery enough.
Paul
So where’s the Rosie swag in the BJ store?
The Dangerman
I’m assuming this refers to the fact that he is so damned ravenous, he’s even eating the couch; I don’t see any chew marks, however. I’m confused.
garage mahal
Only had the cat experience once, a semi dreadlocked calico from a apartment complex friend’s mother who passed, Cappuccino was her name. I came home from work the first day she was “dropped off”, went to go pick her up and got a hell-fury face full of of claws, snarls, groans, and some otherworldly jettisoned ink cloud of shit/piss (?) . So I thinking *that’s* why I hated cats my whole life. About 2 days later I’m laying on the couch watching TV and I hear a cooing purr right next to my ear, Cappuccino had come up to pay a visit. I didn’t know if she wanted to take my face off again, or wanted some love goddammit . That cat dug my shit bigtime, don’t know why, and hated my wife who “rescued” her. As it turns out I had to give Cappuccino up to a friend when we moved cross country, but I’ll never forget that cat, it ruled the house in just a puny amount of time. Maybe again someday.
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie:
That’s by order of the Big Boss though. He specifically keeps access to Sasha and Malia limited mostly to keep their childhood as normal as possible. I do think the Oval Office would be improved by those nice familial touches, but I can also appreciate Barack and Michelle keeping their daughters sequestered away. They are not public figures, and they shouldn’t be forced to be just by virtue of their lineage. Yes I’m looking at you Megan.
I also just realized Tim Geithner is my boss today. I feel oddly ambiguous about that.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
OT
Did anyone see this(Courtesy of TPM):
Fists Fly at the Hookah Bar
Comrade Kevin
Relaxation: It’s what cats were made for.
Didn’t like the Yellowtail SVB, eh?
Just Some Fuckhead
This breeder looks at his two kids and wonders how long until they can go to the store and buy me beer and cigarettes.
Dogsdoingthings
Dogs retrieving half-full wine bottles from the trash.
jacy
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Whee, I’ve got some that are old enough to get me beer and cigarettes already. I knew they must be good for something.
And I ended up with five, so I guess that makes me some kind of over-achiever, but not necessarily in a good way.
Anne Laurie
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Hah, you forgot the socialist nanny-state indoctrination in today’s schools! — my breeder friends complain that their kids, starting in kindergarten, are all up in the parental grills about their drinking/smoking/eating habits. One more reason I’m glad I stayed out of the gene pool…
BGinCHI
@Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle:
He looks like Casey Affleck if he was the victim in a slasher movie.
What a mook. I love it when cracker bullies get their asses kicked by “inferior” minorities. I wish Jackie Chan would make a movie where he kicks the shit out of a Koch family reunion.
burnspbesq
Does anyone have the remastered version of “Bring on the Night” (the live Sting album with Branford Marsalis and Kenny Kirkland)? Is it worth springing for? I’m listening to the original 1986 version for the first time in a while, and although the performances still knock me out, it sounds pretty awful.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Anne Laurie: Yeah, they do nag a little bit, especially after the boy went through D.A.R.E., but they mean well.
BGinCHI
@burnspbesq:
I can’t even hear it and it sounds awful.
Drum machine?
Martin
@Anne Laurie: 100% of that comes from the Dare program. Without the war on drugs, that shit wouldn’t be happening.
Last spring I helped my son make his anti-underage drinking poster for school (there are prizes for the school for participating, and his class got a police escort from the school to the bike path on their class bike ride to the beach). I was +3 by the time my small task was done and asked him if it was okay that I was drinking the whole time I worked on it. He told me probably not, but he wouldn’t tell.
Good kid.
asiangrrlMN
TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH! Ohmygodohmygodohmygodwho’sagoodkitty? Yes Tunchie is a good boy, he is, he is!
Ahem.
@Comrade Luke: Too late. Someone who shall remain nameless posted this op-ed by MoDo last night. Warning. It’s an excremental piece of shit (and yes, I know that’s redundant).
Martin
@BGinCHI: It would have been better if the stupid fucker had gotten his ass kicked by the belly dancers.
Martin
@asiangrrlMN: You should also mention that the article is pretty bad as well.
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
No drum machine. In fact, a fine drummer (Omar Hakim). it’s the aural equivalent of a head of lettuce that is three days past its use-by date. No life, no soundstage width or depth, no crispness. Can barely hear the cymbals. Soprano sax sounds like a soprano recorder. In every way, a typical mid-80s CD.
I assume it was recorded on good analog gear, and if so the missing information is in the tapes. Just needs a competent mastering engineer to extract it.
Violet
Lily! She’s such a beautiful girl! What a sweetie. Thanks for the photo of her! Love the Tunch photo. That sofa is hilarious. Tunch is not a small kitty.
asiangrrlMN
@Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle: Good. I am glad he got the shit beat out of him. What a dumbass.
@Martin: Rim shot! Nicely done, Sir!
BGinCHI
@Martin:
Being beaten by a belly dancer would actually be respectable. It might even be something I’d do on purpose.
My guess is that this guy’s friends, when they find out what happened to him, kick his ass all over again.
You stay classy, West Haven.
Steeplejack
I don’t know why, but this ESPN Monday Night Football promo strikes me as just about perfect. I actually wait with anticipation for it to come on as I’m dozing through SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight.
Some of the ones in the series about diehard fans complaining about their neighbors supporting archrivals are pretty good too (e.g., the Patriots fans throwing snow on the Dolphins fan’s door).
BGinCHI
@burnspbesq:
That really is a good line-up. What’s up with the 80s and so much stuff sounding like shit. I don’t remember the decade sounding like that, but I was on something for most of it.
Jesus, don’t tell Meghan McCain. I don’t want her trying to make out with me.
BGinCHI
@Steeplejack:
Love those spots. Even better is the one where people at work are singing the duh duh duh duhhh (my approximation) of the opening theme.
I feel like I’m 10 again every time I hear that song. And then I really miss Howard Cosell’s voice.
OK, I think I got a little something in my eye…..
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: I don’t get your fascination, but good to see you, anyway!
BGinCHI
@asiangrrlMN:
What’s the local press take on Pawlenty lately? Are his anti-HCR posturings getting any support or are people just finished with him up there.
I miss liberal MN pols (yeah, I know, there are still some good ones).
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
The first couple of generations of analog-to-digital converters and CD mastering gear just weren’t very good compared to what we have today. There was also a lot of learning by doing going on at the time. The other thing is that the rest of our gear that we use to listen is a lot more accurate than what we had in the 80s. The advances in materials science and metallurgy that have been applied to speakers – at all price points – have really made a difference. If you could listen to a pair of Rogers LS3/5As from the 1970s next to the current Harbeths and Spendors that are based on the same design, you wouldn’t believe the difference.
I’m in the process of ripping my old vinyl to the network drive, at 96/24. Will take years to get it all done, but it’s worth it.
Yutsano
@BGinCHI: Fair warning: BIG can of worms there. I’m sure wifey will give you all the bloody details, but Minnesota Republican are leaning towards Romney right now.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Just stopping by on my way to bed. Went out for a long dinner with an old friend, and now the alarm is going to go off at 7:10 a.m. Eek.
BGinCHI
@burnspbesq:
There is an amazing uniformity in movie soundtracks from the 80s. Listen to the Beverly Hills Cop music if it’s on, as a perfect example, and then remember that drum track as you watch 80s films. It’s omnipresent. Glad we’re through that phase.
This in no way is meant to insult The Thompson Twins.
asiangrrlMN
I now have this pic of Tunch as my desktop, and there are twelve of him. It must have to do with pic size.
@Steeplejack: Ugh! (Glad you had a nice dinner, though. Friend of the female persuasion?). Sleep well.
@BGinCHI: GAAAAAAAAAAH! GAAAAAAHHHHHHH! I can’t talk about it I’m so furious. We need instant-runoff voting in this mofo state! Ratface Pawlenty is evil! I want to go stabby stabby with my trusty rusty pitchfork. And, in the Strib, there are exactly two hits for Pawlenty in the search engine. Yes, both are critical of Pawlenty’s stupidity and evilness concerning ‘Obamacare’ but come on! The main MN paper can’t even–AAAARGH!
Steeplejack
@BGinCHI:
The ad with the people singing the theme at work was pretty good. I had forgotten that one.
@asiangrrlMN:
Aw, you don’t even have to like football (which I know you do) to like this. It’s just a perfect little Zen piece about “Mondays suck but soon there will be football.” And the guy in the hair net at the end is straight out of a Coen brothers movie. Win!
ETA: And until just a little while ago I couldn’t find it on YouTube, so I had to wait for it to come on TV (or run the DVR buffer backward and forward to find it). Now I haz it preserved forever.
Emma
That is a mind-blowingly cute cat. He doesn’t look grumpy at all, he looks like he wants kisses (and treats).
Emma
@asiangrrlMN: Agreed. With the whole Tunch thing.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Full disclosure: I hate all commercials with a passion and viciously hit the mute button any time one comes on, so that’s probably the reason why.
@Emma: I don’t know what it is about cats that make me talk baby-talk. I never did it to my niece or nephews or any other human children I know, and yet, put me near a cat…This captures it perfectly.
Emma
@garage mahal: You don’t just go pick up a cat. Some cats don’t like to be picked up at all, ever, and some don’t like to be picked up by people they don’t know. Cappucino had a totally reasonable response.
Emma
@asiangrrlMN: Absolutely. With cats I’m all about, “who’s a good kitty? You’re the best kitty.” etc. With children, it’s more like, “oh, hi, pleased to meet you. Would you like some juice?”
BGinCHI
@asiangrrlMN:
You should see me rip an entire Chi Trib to shreds.
Pawlenty isn’t fooling anyone.
At least you all gave us Franken. And Husker Du.
asiangrrlMN
@Emma: Me, too! I talk to them as human beings. But, cats? Oh, man. I am just glad I live alone. And, you are right about picking up a cat. It has to be on his/her terms.
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: C’mon dude. It’s the snack cake factory worker. We all know you’re obsessed with teh little slabs of death he’s fiddling with. And if you think your job sucks…you could be doing that.
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
If you want to hear 80s music the way it was intended to be heard, grab a copy of “International” by New Order. A great remastering job.
BGinCHI
@burnspbesq:
Oh, I have that. Great stuff.
Have you seen the film “Control”? I thought the guy was great as Ian Curtis. I was skeptical about doing a film of JD, but I think they did it well.
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
I haven’t. Will check it out.
asiangrrlMN
@BGinCHI: I know. It’s so pathetic because it’s so transparent and yet he keeps fucking that chicken. Gaaaaaah!
Breathe. Breathe. Look at Tunchie. Breathe.
P.S. Love Al Franken. He is one of our saving graces.
suzanne
Jan Brewer is so fucking stupid. The fucking Libertarian candidate is a paragon of intelligence in comparison.
BGinCHI
@asiangrrlMN:
Plus there’s Prince, or, even better, Dave Chappelle as Prince.
And that Bob Zimmerman dude.
burnspbesq
Can I just say “Fuck you, Steve Jobs.”
An entirely new iPod product line? On the same day?
Why don’t I just give you the password to my PayPal account, and you can vacuum out my bank account at your leisure?
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: Is that an open offer? I could use a few more kitchen knick-knacks. :)
MikeJ
@burnspbesq: Just fired it up. Reminded that I really, really prefer the police arrangement of the title track. Really good performance, but the arrangement undercuts the despair, and that’s before the segue into wtwirdymtbowsa. Taking a lovely dark, brooding song and making it happy just annoys me.
The mix is clean, not at all muddy, but not exactly what I’d call lush. Sounds much more like a pop than a jazz album. I don’t have the ’86 mix to compare it to though.
A fun listen anyway. Maybe I just need more dope.
asiangrrlMN
@BGinCHI: Prince is a’right, but I do not like Dylan. Yes, I said it. Now I will be kicked out of the state. I do like the Replacements a bit, though.
@burnspbesq: You can haz edit? Yes? I added it!
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
No way. Yer now an overpaid, lazy, shiftless sucker of the Gubmint tit.
/teabagger
burnspbesq
@asiangrrlMN:
Umm, excuse me – six comments about Minnesota musicians, and not one mention of the Replacements?
Shame on y’all.
Edit: Noted. All is forgiven.
burnspbesq
@MikeJ:
Thanks. Sounds like a buy.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: I do give you open permission to rub it in my face that my new boss is Geithner. Of course that also means my ultimate boss is Obama, so I definitely haz a big happy about that. Plus I get holidays off. I haven’t had a job where I could do that in like forever. I may wear out my passport driving two hours north just because I can. :)
Oh and I’ll take every single dime out of the teabaggers I can get. In fact, for what I’ll be doing I bet I’ll have my fair share of those.
@asiangrrlMN: You haz a double Tunch night. Repeat after me: “Nothing shall harsh my Tunch mellow.”
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Tuuuuuunchie. Happy sigh. You are right. I r spoiled. And, I iz jelus you can haz Obama as your boss.
@Emma: Aw, sorry she is gone. She sounds amazing. Pics?
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
Are you going to be on a 9/80 work schedule?
Emma
John: we had the most amazing monster kittie ever, a Turkish Van who looked just like Tunch. She would kill you for a piece of popcorn, would sit forever just for the opportunity to grab some spaghetti with her claw, stuff it in her mouth, and run across the room with it flying out of both sides of her mouth, her belly swaying as she hit full speed. She would be your best friend, late at night after work, if you gave her the occasional corn chip and some snuggles. She loved water. She loved people. She loved other cats. We loved her, and we miss her. Ok, enough with the melancholy, it’s just that Tunch looks so much like her.
MikeJ
@burnspbesq:
You got some? Oh, you meant the album. Uhm, yeah, it’s good.
Speaking of MN bands, they were no Replacements, but I also enjoyed the Suburbs and Soul Asylum.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: That hasn’t been set yet as far as I know. I’m guessing I can answer that question better after my first day. I am aiming for a schedule that will cover Alaska and Hawai’i, so that A) my day will wind down nicely and B) it will mirror my old work schedule at my former job. The nice part is the bus schedule accommodates any schedule I’d want to work.
asiangrrlMN
@MikeJ: Agreed on both the Suburbs and Soul Asylum. We really do have a good music scene here.
Emma
@asiangrrlMN: I have a pic or two. How do I post?
MikeJ
@asiangrrlMN: I saw Soul Asylum at the Antenna in Memphis on the tour supporting And the Horse they Rode in On. Me, my gfriend, probably 10 other people, and they still blew the doors off the place. Fun show.
asiangrrlMN
@Emma: Do you have a Flickr account? It has to be on the web somewhere in order to link to it. Otherwise, email to Anne Laurie, and she can post the pics. I would love to see your girl.
@MikeJ: The last time they were here, they played at the Minnesota Zoo. Just hearing about the gig freaked me out.
asiangrrlMN
@Emma: Like this. This is a blog entry I did about my cats. There are pics in the link.
Emma
Here’s one, I think.
Emma
Hmm, that didn’t work. I’ll try one more time.
Emma
Jebediah
OK, with all due respect to Tunch’s couch-cushion-squishing abilities, Otto has it beat all to hell. Our (sadly-departed) 9 pound cat used to like to hang out on the back cushions of the couch. Otto saw that and must have thought “Hey, looks comfy, why not…” A ninety pound pooch does some serious cushion-squashin’. The cushions aren’t attached to the back, so they were free to flatten really far down.
As for the pic of Lily – that kind of look is a big part of why I am so smitten and besotted with dogs. (And I, too, would happily harm anyone who threatened my pooches.)
Emma
Argh. I keep hitting, “link,” pasting the link, and nothing happens, oh well, I guess, unless someone can tell me if there is an extra step I need to take.
Emma
<a href="“>
Emma
<a href="http://“>
Violet
@Emma:
You have to hit the link button again to close the link.
Anne
Super kitty!
Also, too, two of the rear cushions on my couch are permanently deformed because there is no better place in the world, apparently, for Orbit to sit and observe his domain.
asiangrrlMN
@Emma: Put some text. Like, my cat. Then, highlight said text. Then, hit the link button. A window will pop-up. Put in the URL and hit OK.
(Not my cat in the link).
Emma
Emma
My cat.
Emma
My cat.
asiangrrlMN
@Emma: YAY! Worked. And, Wilhelmina is a gorgeous girl. Love her coloring!
But, now that post is gone. Weird.
@Emma: I love the chillin’ in the box pic. And the ‘all the food r mine’ pic.
Emma
Well, now that I have the hang of it, I’ll try one more. Here she is, again.
Yutsano
@Emma: YAY!! KITTEH!! I call that the MUST. CLEAN. SELF. position.
Emma
@asiangrrlMN: I didn’t realize it had worked, and requested deletion. I’ve posted another one now. And yes, she is gone, and it is weird, I mean in real life. It’s the pictures of Tunch, I guess, since she’s been gone for two years.
asiangrrlMN
@Emma: She’s simply beautiful. Such a sweet, kind face.
MattR
@Emma: OMG. That picture of her in the cardboard box is priceless.
@asiangrrlMN: I totally forgot how much the sun takes out of you. Took a nice nap this evening and now my sleep schedule is screwed. No pics either.
Emma
@asiangrrlMN: Oh yes, she was all about the food. And the boxes. She totally played up to the camera. You could also put things on her, like a superman cape or something, and she didn’t care, she was just that chill that she’d walk around all day with a little superman cape on her back and just really not care.
Emma
@MattR: “Has anyone seen my shades?”
asiangrrlMN
@MattR: No pics of Ellie with babes in bikinis? I’m so disappointed. But, I know exactly what you mean about the sun zapping your energy. And napping. And not being able to sleep. ZOMG! We’re the same person!
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Dogs r chick magnets. That is all.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Oh hell yeah. Like babies. Except, usually not as much of a problem (if said baby is one’s own).
MattR
@Yutsano: @asiangrrlMN: I am disappointed as well. But pets are not allowed on the beach during the day though that might change after Labor Day (I hope). Also have a friend coming down during the week next week so I will probably make more of an effort to get to the beach during the day. The beach by yourself is nice and relaxing, but not exactly “fun”.
Started reading Outliers today and I can’t believe the Republicans have not issued a fatwa against Malcolm Gladwell. The book is basically a repudiation of the idea that hard work is always rewarded and that our country is a strict meritocracy. I am not sure that I trust his stuff 100%. I have a feeling he overstates some things, but the birth month bias he describes in the first chapter is pretty amazing.
Anne Laurie
@Emma:
If you email your pictures & stories to me (addy near the top of the right column), I will use them in a future Pet Rescue thread!
Yutsano
@MattR: He’s too easy to write off as an East Coast elite. In fact I think that’s the official rightwing stance on him. I dunno it’s not my week to keep up on these things.
And posted without further comment.
asiangrrlMN
@MattR: Really? That’s odd about the dogs. Or not. But poor Ellie. I hope she gets to know the joys of days at the beach really soon.
@Yutsano: Man, you love the dawgs, don’t you? Do you know how they get chosen? The rookie looks awfully young.
ETA: When I met the VP of Taiwan, I got this treatment, too. Door opened and saluted. It was weird.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Couldn’t find an answer I was totally satisfied with, but as far as I can tell it’s a lengthy interview process and background check. I’m guessing they look to see if you would compromise the post in any way (they ARE guards after all) and then when there’s an opening you get called up. It’s not exactly the place you make a career especially as an NCO, so you do that for a couple of years, brag about it, then move on in your career.
MattR
@Yutsano: At least I now have an excuse for why my professional hockey career never took off. I was just born in the wrong month. Oh, and I never tried to play organized hockey. Maybe that had more to do with it.
I am actually an outlier as far as the birth month thing goes. I was pretty much the youngest in my grade (born 3 days before the cutoff) but I don’t think it mattered too much. Physically, I would still have been behind if I was with kids a year younger but intellectually I would have been ahead if I was with kids a year older. Emotionally, who knows.
@asiangrrlMN: I think it is pretty understandable they don’t want the chaos of numerous dogs on a beach full of people. I know if I am in the water, I don’t want the lifeguards distracted by that. There is probably a less crowded area somewhere (maybe on the bay side of the island) where I can bring her but I have not done much exploring yet.
Lysana
@asiangrrlMN:
For me, it’s dogs. Most of my vocabulary ends up drowned in a sea of canine-targeted gitchy-goo level noises. Until I get more used to the dog in question, then I regain what I had unless I’m playing with them and aiming for the “who’s the cutie patootie” stuff.
ETA: And speaking of dogs, why no Rosie picture, Cole? Was it all “look at me, I want to play” and no good poses?
Yutsano
@MattR: There are practical and numerous reasons for not letting a dog run on a beach when it’s crowded. Most of it is liability: even the best trained, best behaved dog, is unpredictable in a stressful situation. So they require constant monitoring of their behavior that essentially keeps you from enjoying the water and the sun.
I submit this video as evidence of my premise. Well not really, but you’ll never hear Eddy Grant in the same way again.
Oh and I also didn’t fit Gladwell’s birth month outliers. I started kindergarten when I was four, already had a second grade reading level, was at sixth grade level by first grade and college by sixth grade. Of course the state of California was okay with letting me start early. If we had been in Connecticut I would have waited until six.
YellowJournalism
Fluffy cuteness overload! Yay! And I’m one for baby-talk with puppies and kittens, too, although I’m adamant about not using the gagagoogoo baby talk with my kids.
@Svensker: I love that coffee table. But it just doesn’t seem to work with the couches. The couches have to go.
MattR
@Yutsano: A note to Rush Limbaugh and others. That is the proper way to blow off steam and for “boys to be boys”.
I think my parents made the right call in letting me stay with my “natural” class. I started high school at 4’7″ and 75 lbs and graduated a foot taller and 50 lbs heavier (which is not as extreme as the 10 inches my father grew in one year). I don’t know that I would have wanted to have been pushed forward making me even smaller compared to my classmates. At the same time they let me complete 11th and 12th grade math over a month during the summer after my freshman year because the math teachers were so sick of dealing with my questions and/or boredom. I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been if they had held me back at the beginning
Yutsano
@YellowJournalism: It does look a bit like interior design by committee. I wonder how much else Obama will have to pay for just to avoid the inevitable right wing freakout over him spending any sort of scratch. I guess I’m glad he gets paid well.
BTW you’re allowed to make fun of the fact I have to drive by UW every day to get to work now. I hang my head in shame every time I think about that.
@MattR: Honest truth: war is ten minutes of solid action and 23 hours and 50 minutes of pure fucking boredom. Whatever method they choose to fill in that dead space as long as no one gets hurt I’m totally okay with.
By high school I was so amazingly bored and understimulated I couldn’t focus on much of anything. So I concentrated on the two things that I actually had to work at: music and German. Thanks to that I can actually get by in Deutschland (so much so that I held a conversation for over an hour with a native speaker before she asked to switch to English so she could practice) and I can make an oboe sing. Neither of those tasks is a simple feat, and I’m a much better person. But I had to seek that out.
asiangrrlMN
School sucked hard. Got picked on. Was bored. Almost flunked a class out of sheer spite. Ugh.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: It wasn’t quite out of spite, but I flunked an English course because the work was so beneath me (sentence diagrams? ORLY?) I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Of course then I’d take the test and blow the other kids out of the water. I only graduated high school because of a summer course between junior and senior year where I aced it all. So they tried to label me dumb until I showed I understood the material better than the teachers half the time.
MattR
@Yutsano: @asiangrrlMN: I was definitely lucky. Good parents. Good school. Good students. Good amount of money in the community so things were in good condition and there were a variety of good programs available. I spent my time on comics, computers and various sports at different points. Two of those three did not provide that many long term benefits :)
Yutsano
@MattR: Damn those computers! I knew they’d never amount to nothing good!
Oh wait…
MattR
@Yutsano: But my laser vision kicks ass so the comics made it all worthwhile
Yutsano
@MattR: Feel free to laugh at this, but hand to FSM the Dawg used that as a pick-up line on me. Of course it was just an excuse to get me to stare him in the eyes. My recommendation: find a gray-eyed girl. Your life will never be the same.
Huskies r cool. At least the puppeh kind are. The purple and piss sort not so much.
WereBear
@Svensker: I was all, “ho hum, a coffee table,” but me extreme likey!
mandarama
@Svensker:
Hey, cool! It’s really pretty and interesting. I like the whole room.
But I wish I hadn’t seen Arianna Huffington’s review of it. Ugh. Bitchy, but not even remotely funny.
mandarama
Oh, and as usual…the mouseovers on these photos had me rolling. “Wafer thin!”
BigSwami
So glad you’ve come to the dark side, John. I fell in love with a woman who loved big dogs, and I was never a dog person growing up – I was a krelborn with braces and allergies. So I wasn’t really sure how I felt about having to win the approval of a beast who, I was told, growled at all men.
But I stuck with it and stepped momentarily out of my comfort zone, and I have been richly rewarded ever since. Guinness was a complex, thoughtful, sensitive dog. He wasn’t keen to be cuddled but he was a loyal friend who wanted nothing more than to share the sofa with me and occasionally lick me with no warning whatever.
Losing him was a positively brutal experience, one that really left scars. But I found out that coming home to an empty house was just thoroughly unacceptable in every way. And now I have Charlie, an 80 pound Plott Hound who gets to sleep in the bed with me while my wife is away at veterinary school, and I am astonished at how much he challenges me and forces me to find new ways to care for him and love him. I know at this point that if I had to live without a dog I’d probably fall apart rapidly. We’re supposed to be together, dogs and people. We evolved together. We’ve shared our lives and our foods with them for countless millennia and we need them to remind us who we are.
CynDee
@ John Cole: I’m convinced that your animals are good luck for me, like the wonderful household gods, who, from ancient times have nurtured the peasantry trying to survive. See, I just know that it must be gentle little spirits that somehow got me 80 hours of really good work — and maybe more to come! — after being unemployed for two years. I get uplifted from the BJ community in so many ways; the human animals are pretty good, too, in a Don’t Pet Me sort of way . . .
@Svensker: That is just beautiful! So glad to see the place re-done with taste and practical elegance. Do you think your table-artist friend would agree to likewise re-design our foreign policy, Department of Aggression, economy, immediate alternative energy renewal program, global warming strategy, the American media, and the U.S. Congress, and go on Faux Bruise and incite Bo Obama to bite the thugs who stole his country? (Under that fabulous table is a great place for Bo to take up residence in the Oval Office and keep eyes and nose on all the things that affect us little people. Imagine a country built on wisdom, living creatures, food, home, and appreciation thereof.) Yep, bring everybody in to talk around THAT table, with Bo under it. Maybe something really worthwhile would get done.
@Gina:
Fixed.
@Corner Stone:
Uh — are you not from around here?
quaint irene
Oh, pretty, pretty Lily.
How many tags does she have on that colllar?
Laura Clawson
I had friends over last night and for a wonder Henley came out from under the couch. One of my friends looks at him for a minute and goes “that’s a lot of cat.”
I mean, only if you think 16.5 pounds is a lot of cat.
mslarry
@MattR:
OMG i just finished outliers too! really enjoyed it, like you found some things a bit suspect. But overall, I agee, it was a great read.
As for the fatwa against Gladwell, you’re right on that score as well. Throw in the fact he looks white, but is in fact half-black and he’d be red meat for their base.
tesslibrarian
@Laura Clawson: That seems a proper amount of cat.
I never understood going after Tunch for being big, even if he did need to lose a pound or two. There is nothing more wonderful than a big cat.
My cats have always grown big. Not “fat.” Big. I had two females that were, at their peak of life, 14 and 12 pounds respectively, and both liked to sleep in my lap or on my back at the same time. One was long and lean (maine coon mix) and one was this round little tortie who looked like she had a lot of british shorthair, and walked like a bulldog. Her fur was so dense it was hard to give her the flea meds.
Jack was 9 pounds when we got him (about a year), 13 by his first annual check up, and has evened out at about 14.5 for summer, 15 for winter. He’s all muscle, too, even at the age of 10. Rub his shoulders or head and you can feel each muscle group, and it’s like a life force.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Spite. Stupid creative writing class in which one got docked for being creative. And titleless. Poems must have titles, I was informed and cannot switch narrators throughout the poem. Poems have to be capitalized and have proper punctuation. Creative writing MY FLAT ASS!
@MattR: Bite me.
bjacques
How come you never show photos of that orange tabby Tunch is sitting on?
I used to be mostly a cat person, was a bit scared of dogs, then had a girlfriend who had the best dawg in the world. So now I like both.
And Hookah Bar Guy: Danger Seeker!. Also.
catclub
@Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle:
You know that times actually have changed when a white guy
gets beat up by blacks and arabs and HE gets charged with a crime.
I understand that many black men got beat up, and the additional charge of resisting arrest for insult.
Jebediah
@mslarry:
And his fine looking suit is really made out of sack.
Gus
Your pet situation is a lot like mine. Two dogs, one of whom is a sweetheart and one of whom is a neurotic attention hound. Then have a great cat, though mine is much less cantankerous than you claim Tunch is. And yes, I love them all more than I thought it was possible to love an animal, but the good dog is the favorite.