Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Things Your Dog Won't Forgive




I know it's tacky and heinous, but I saw these at the dollar store and was seized by the need to see Roux wearing them. Since she got bunches of treats, maybe she'll forgive me at some point....

Sunday, November 26, 2006

A Largely Useless Bliss

I did nothing over the holiday. I have spent an entire week resting, reading, and taking care of those day-to-day chores I have no time for during the school week. It's been wonderful. I got a haircut, so I no longer look like a shaggy pony. I went with my family to see a dog they're going to adopt. I made calls, registered for classes, put up holiday decorations, dug out my Christmas CDs, cleaned out my refrigerator, and folded about five hundred pieces of laundry that had been waiting in baskets for a long time. I swept, mopped, and vacuumed. I went through a pile of old bills and mail. I tried my darnedest to get my Christmas lights working but only managed to coax about 1/3 of them to burn. I went to see my uncle who lives in the northern part of the state. I sunned my feather mattress, chased my dogs, aired out my house, took naps with my kitten, and I refuse to apologize for one minute of it. I think now, even though I am very behind school-wise, I have the reserves built back up to jump in, get serious, and survive this last manic push to Christmas. I might even have a little bit of Christmas spirit.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Seeing Red

Friday, three guys were talking while they were doing their Canterbury Tales projects and their conversation turned to their bad, bad dogs and how their dogs could take out anybody else's dog. I tried to ignore it, but when one of them started talking about how his dog had taken another by the throat, I told them to stop the conversation. I wanted to pick up a heavy object and hurl it, or even better, defenestrate them personally.

Only a weak, sorry human being gets joy out of goading an animal to fight another. Only worthless, powerless trash would take a loving, fierce, loyal dog and twist it into a killing machine. Pit bulls, Rotties, Mastifs....all are glorious and game dogs. All of them would put themselves through hell if their owner showed them approval. All of them have animal aggression that can be turned into a lethal weapon. Nobody I can have any respect for would ever twist that power and spirit into something to amuse and bet on, to debase and abuse.

And it is abuse. Let there be no questions. Let there be no claim that the animal is personal property, that it is natural for the dog, or that it doesn't hurt anyone. It is the most basic betrayal of the bond between man and dog, and I wish with a fervent and passionate desire that all the dog fighters could be adequately punished. I wish they could know the terror and the pain of the animals they abuse. I wish somebody would put every single worthless, disgusting, inhuman one of them under a jail somewhere and forget them.

Because of these human vermin, the pit bull has taken on a reputation as a vicious dog. There are cities all over the country where even owning one or a dog that looks like what somebody thinks might be a pit is illegal. The dogs can be taken and destroyed just because of their breed. No actual assessment of the dog itself is done. It's a pit; it's a threat; it's a dead animal. This is the legacy of the dog fighter.

But the legacy of pain doesn't even stop there. Even more horrific are the breeding programs, the bait dogs, the poor abused and maimed creatures left after the battle, and all the dogs who die for the bloodlust and avarice of their so-called masters.

How anybody could look into the eyes of a dog as brave and loving as a pit and see only a deadly toy to be used and disposed of is beyond me. Instead of law enforcement focusing its sights on the dogs, why can't they begin to punish the human refuse that tortures and abuses them? Instead of the media frothing everyone into a state of hysteria over vicious animals, why can't they dispose of the vicious owners and raise the public's awareness of the truth about this situation?

I am passionate about this. I don't think anyone with a shred of love for animals who has seen some of the abused and rescued dogs that come from this world could fail to be angry about it. I only hope our culture can reawaken some of its respect for all life and start punishing these semi-human monsters with the severity their crime demands.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Just the Coolest Thing Ever

Last night, Mom, Dad, and I went out to eat and then headed over to Sam's. Sam's is a place of great financial danger for me. I always, always, always spend too much money when I go there.

While I was there, I browsed through the Christmas stuff, and they had just the coolest thing ever. It was a giant Mr. Potato Head wearing a pirate outfit. He was like a cookie jar, and he's full of four other Potato Heads and all their accouterments. I swear I giggled like a five-year-old. Just seeing that giant pirate potato made my weariness slide away.

I'll tell you the truth. People were buzzing around those toys like moths drawn to a flame. Many happy children, or crazy middle-aged people like myself, are going to have those. I bet they'll all be gone by the end of the week. There's just something so non-threatening and smile-inducing about Mr. Potato Head.

I brought him home to add to my collection of kitsch toys in my office. He goes quite well with all the PEZ and the Darth Vader Potato Head I already had. I'm sure it says something not-so-flattering about me that I'm 30, and I still like Mr. Potato Head, but as I told my students: everybody collects something, and if something as simple as this makes me happy, then I think I'm pretty well off.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

A Moment of Peace

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~Albert Camus

I'm sitting outside at a table at the university branch here in town. The sun is gilding the poplar leaves, there's a gentle wind soughing in the tops of the still-green live oaks, and even though this place is close to a busy road, there is peaceful birdsong. Only occasionally does the road noise become intrusive.

I needed this moment of peace desperately. I have been in a constant state of furious motion since yesterday at 5:30 a.m. I did my class day, did my class night, went to the grocery store, came home, fell down, got back up, came back to work, set up a buffet table, led a meeting, dealt with the aftermath of that, and am just now having a minute where something isn't demanding my attention. It's divine.

Soon, I will have to get up and go to another meeting, another class, but for just right now, the only sound I have to focus on is that wonderful leaf-rustle of late fall. I will try to wrap this moment around me like a warm blanket against the haste and furor to come.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Places Cellphones Should Not Go

I just had an odd experience. I was in the ladies' room prior to my night class starting, and I began to hear voices. Doesn't that sound like a cry for medication and /or a "vacation"? It turned out that someone was checking her messages with the speakerphone option turned on in the stall two or three down from me.

I got to hear all her personal business including a song somebody left as a message for her. The song was the freakiest part. Imagine a disembodied voice singing in that tinny tone given by cellphones in the emptiness of a large ladies' room. Surreality at work, folks. I wanted to laugh, but didn't want to be rude.... Oops, too late....

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Google

"Don't be evil." -- Google motto

I like Google. I use their web pages, calendar, photo editing software, and of course, this wonderful Blogger. Every last tiny bit of it is free. They put it out there because they think everybody ought to have access to useful tools without having to mortgage a house to get them. Isn't that an almost foreign concept in today's world of burden the market all it can bear capitalism?

The calendar application is one of my favorites. I can keep up with all my various classes' assignments online, and parents and students who miss can use the calendar to see what they've missed. It's so much more efficient than a paper calendar which invariably gets lost. Students can print it off and tote it with them if need be, and then go to the website to get the handouts or Power Points to do the assignments.

Google keeps putting new stuff out, and every time they do, it's always something that I think, "Huh, why didn't somebody else think of that?" Their video service is something I'm exploring, but I have already found old Buster Keaton movies, the 1984 Mac commercial, and several other things I wanted to use for class. If it grows as fast as some of their other services, I can only imagine what will be out there next.

It's amazing to me that all of this grew out of a search engine. It's nice to see a company innovating, growing, succeeding, and yet not sticking it to their users just because they can. Kudos, Google, kudos.