Not fair

The pugs will never let me sleep late. And who can blame them? When I get up, I have to shower, get dressed at least vaguely respectably in case someone rings the doorbell, and then commence the neverending struggle to make something out of the day that is at least marginally worthwhile according to modern human standards. When they get up, they get to eat breakfast, and then basically go right back to bed.

So, yeah. What do they have to lose?

Rant: Business advice

I know, everyone hates their cable company. It's not a new rant. I won't bore you by describing what idiotic thing they did this time.

But I only just realized the depth of this. I realized that every time I try to decide whether I want to give them money for some new or additional service, the calculation doesn't just involve whether the service is worth X dollars to me. Every time, I also have to decide whether I want the particular service badly enough to overcome the fact that I just hate the idea of giving them any more money.

Really, I'm not asking for greatness. I just want them to run a business in a normal, average, mediocre manner, so that I can decide whether to purchase something solely based on whether it is worth the price.

Is that so much to ask? Just don't run your business so badly that people actually hate you. That is my advice.

happy thanksgiving!

Poised for takeoff
Originally uploaded by wombatarama

Here's Rose about to be blown away by the blustery weather at the Thanksgiving parade this past weekend.

Raised by Smush-faced Wolves

from Urbanpug.com:



The baby may think she's a pug, but pugs think they are human, so it all works out in the end.

A job well done... or not

I just read this review in the Onion of the apparently ridiculously long-awaited new album by Guns N'Roses.

I'm not sure why I started reading it, because I have never heard an old album by this group and have no interest in the new one. But I kept reading to the end, at which point, I wanted to run right out and buy - no, not the album, even though it was quite a good review. Instead, I couldn't believe that anyone could be such a good writer that he could get me to read 1700 words (I counted) about the new Guns N' Roses album, so I wanted to run out and buy one of this guy's books.

There is some kind of important lesson about writing here, but I can't figure out what it is, because I can't decide: Does this mean he is doing a good job as a reviewer or a terrible one?

Newfangled West Coast innovations

On the news lately they keep talking about 'fire season' in California. Listen up, California people: I know that you are inexperienced with the whole 'seasons' thing, so trust me: 'fire season' is a really bad idea for one.

Honeymoon period

I was out today doing research for a holiday gift guide for the newspaper (pay no attention to those bulging shopping bags) and found places that were selling Obama purses, totes, mousepads, and Christmas tree ornaments.

It was way too expensive, but I was sorely tempted to buy the ornament and hang it on the tree next to our only other celebrity-portrait ornament, the one with the Pope on it.

Pug powers

How do they do it? How can it be possible that when I am lying in bed in the morning with my eyes shut tight, and they are not making a sound or moving a muscle, I can still tell that they are staring at me?

Sigh.

It's hard to imagine what I could blog about that would be worthy of pushing that last post off the top of the page. But I suppose I will just have to post this lovely picture of Bamu and try to move on with my life.

The Internet made me do it

The artist hard at work
Originally uploaded by wombatarama

Having my arm autographed by Chris Onstad, author of the comic Achewood. Sort of a peak moment of my life, actually, and I am not ashamed to say it. Slightly embarassed, yeah, but not ashamed.

Autumn shadows

I'm Smush-faced and I Vote

I'm Smush-faced and I Vote
Originally uploaded by wombatarama

Obama sweeps the Pug-American demographic!

Now I have to go write two post election pet stories. I am not making this up.

Pug with Large Voter Turnout

Only a small section of the line, about 9 am. No way to get the whole line and a visible pug in the picture.

Murder most foul

The purloined pumpkin was returned safely - it was found on the front wall of the house next door. But then, we came home from dinner last night to this gruesome scene.



Perhaps the kidnapping of the other pumpkin was a red herring meant to distract attention from which pumpkin was really in danger?

Unfortunately, the corpse had been moved, no doubt destroying vital evidence, by the time I investigated. I was only informed of the situation belatedly, when we were out for dinner, and the Technical Staff realized that he'd forgotten to mention seeing a pumpkin smashed in front of the house as he drove by. By the time we got home again, someone had replaced it on the retaining wall.

Purloined pumpkin!

The pumpkin in the last post (better view here) was gone when we went to blow its candle out last night.

It had gotten a lot of compliments from kids all night, and whoever took it had to walk up the stairs, and ignored the much lamer pumpkin that was right at the bottom of them:



I guess I should be flattered, but why did they leave the lid? I imagine a gang of inexperienced pumpkin thieves getting back to their lair and yelling at each other "I thought YOU had the lid!"