More Halen Pics.

Yep, just what the title says. I got nuthin' else peeps.

Dirty Disgusting Dog.

Well, that's the brush my mom paints with anyway. But that's okay, she doesn't have to come visit.

Nonetheless, it's official. We're now dog owners. I've been wanting a dog for years now, but it was never really practical back at the apartment. And when we went looking for our house, I knew I wanted to get a dog eventually. Cut to 3 years later, and I finally got the urge to get the dog.

It probably seemed to Scott like my desire came out of the blue. Oh, he knew I wanted a dog, but about 3 months or so ago I started feeling like it was time, and I thought, well, if not now, when? Of course, the most important thing was that we both wanted it. And while Scott wasn't quite as gung ho as I was, he was up for it, so I began researching everything I could find on dogs.

We eventually settled on a Beagle. It seemed to be the perfect breed for us. They aren't too big, they're very friendly, they have short hair, a good temperment, and we both like the way they look. So we bought a couple books, read everything online, watched some tv shows, and figured we'd try to find one around the end of summer.

I talked to a local Beagle breeder, but it turns out they care more about requiring a fence then they do about finding a good home for their dogs. Hay, whatever, it's their choice, and they can deny their dogs a good home if they so wish. But I challenge anyone to tell me that any dog wouldn't be perfectly content, elated even, to live here. And I'll tell you one more thing, Halen's tail hasn't stopped wagging since he got here.

Anyway, it was shortly after that when we walked into Petsmart NOT looking for a dog, and stumbled, purely by coincidence, on someone who knew somebody who had a Beagle that sounded just like we wanted. I've told the rest of the story previously, so I won't go over it again, but neededless to say, it was a set of circumstances to coincidental to ignore.

We've had him for a little over a week now, and made the decision a couple days ago to keep him, so we're now the proud new masters.., I mean owners, of our very own slav.. I mean, puppy.

He's a good dog. And while it's been a stressful week of adjustments, plus everything else going on right now, it's gone well. He's not nearly as hyper as we originally thought (though he has his moments), mostly he's just a good dog. And even in just one week, we've seen good progress with the housebreaking, crate training, and some other things. We're not quite there yet, but it's going well. Faster then expected.

So there you have it. You're all caught up on the story. Now, anyone know a good vet?

You Might Get A New Beagle, Charlie Brown.

So funny thing happened on the way to the forum the other day...

We went to Target to get a couple things, and next to the Target is a PetSmart. So we went in to just look around and price stuff, ended up getting a Betta. But as we were checking out, we casually ask about any sort of events where they have adoptable puppies and such, and they said they didn't have anything for dogs. Well, the trainer working there overheard us, and asked what kind of puppy we were looking for, and I said, "We're thinking Beagle or something similar." She said she knew of someone who had a beagle pup who was trying to find a home for it, so she took our info, and we hooked up and went to meet the dog that day.

He was *very* hyper, but he is the right size (small to medium), the right age (7 months) and pretty close to what we're looking for, though his hyperactivity concerned us. There's nothing wrong with a playful dog, even an excited dog at times, but we don't want that 24/7.

So anyway, since Scott went on his business vacation this past week, we waited 'til this weekend to pick the pup up for a trial week to see how it goes.

So far he's been pretty good. We went for a walk last night when we got him home and he didn't seem too distracted by other people, passing cars or even other dogs he saw in home windows or barking from backyards. He was quite well behaved. We were impressed.

He's VERY needy though, but perhaps that just him being a puppy. He seems to have taken to us already, especially me, and wants to be around us constantly. For the most part, this is good I think. Though we hope he'll become a bit more independent as he grows up. He also seems to respond pretty well to direction. Most of the time.

He has poo'd and pee'd in the house a couple times already. I'm still not quite sure exactly what to do when he does this. I know it does no good to scold him after the fact since he won't associate it with the event. I guess it's just about settling into a routine and taking him outside after meals and first thing in the morning. Though he beat me to it this morning before I took him out. I consider it a lesson learned. Tomorrow I won't let him out of the crate before i'm ready to go.

Speaking of crates, we've been feeding him in his to get him used to it, and he's been pretty good about going in and out of it. But he did NOT like being put in it last night. He whined and shook and rattled and whined some more and oh my god does he have a hell of a high pitched squeal. We ignored him as i've read to do, difficult as it was, because you'd have thought he was being tortured in there. He'd eventually calm down for a little bit, then do it again. This happened for about an hour or so once we went to bed.

We're not sure we're going to keep him yet. We came across him so unexpectedly, and he's the very first dog we've seen. We'll see how it goes the rest of the week and make a decision. We played today, went for a walk or two, and right now, he's just curled up in the corner being a good dog.

And of course the question has to be asked.. if we get a Beagle, do we have to get a yellow bird and name it Woodstock too?

Con Air.

So my cool new HD camcorder, the one I got for my birthday a couple months ago that records to SD cards and that I really really liked? Yeah, it's gone. Some asshole stole it.

As you may have read on Scott's blog, he went to San Diego this week for work. So coming home last night, he had to take a small commuter flight from San Diego to LAX, where he then boarded a regular airliner to Seattle. Well, somewhere along the way his suitcase got lost. Someone forgot to put it on a plane, or take it off, whichever, point is, it wasn't there when he arrived in Seattle. And he wasn't at all happy about it.

Well, this morning, we get a call from Alaskan Airlines saying they found our bag and are going to deliver it to us today. Awesome! Problem solved.

Well, not so much. See, once the suitcase arrived and the guy left, Scott was going through it unpacking, and everything seemed to be there. Clothes? check. Work laptop, check. My camcorder bag, check. Etc.. That's when he opened the camcorder bag only to find it was EMPTY! That's right, some fucking minimum wage asshole prick at the airport went though our suitcase, saw the camcorder bag, opened it up, became enamoured by the cool shiny HD logo on the side, and decided he deserved it more then we did.

I have never seen Scott so pissed off in the whole 10 years we've been together.

Yeah, I am too. After all, it was my birthday gift. And it wasn't a cheap one.

So now we get to fill out a form. Woo. I'm sure that'll get it back. The airline will of course apologize profusely, the guy will get caught and fired and justice will, as it always does, prevail.

I'll just go ahead and start holding my breath right now.

Headline Of The Day.

"Jerry O'Connell & Rebecca Romijn Are Trying to Get Pregnant"

I admit i'm no Dr, and call me sexist if you must, i'm just sayin' that I think the smart money is on Rebecca.

"Kind Of A Letdown."

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Actually, our 4th wasn't a letdown at all. Though we did joke after a few unimpressive fireworks that they should be more accurately titled. Y'know, like instead of being called "Monster!" or "Happy!", they should actually have names like "Kind of a Letdown", or "Sorta Cool, But Not Really" or, "I'm Probably a Dud" which would be especially accurate for Ground Bloom Flowers. You light some hoping they'll be this big cool thing, and it just kind of ends up wimping out. I think if someone were to open a fireworks stand with more accurate names like that, the "That's It?!" would be a best seller. Hey, maybe I finally found my calling.

Anyway, don't let me fool you, it was a good time, there were several good ones in the bunch, plus we had food, family, and the kids had fun lighting some of their first fireworks, and that's no bad time at all.