The more I look at her, the more I think Border Collie.  My dad came home from work and despite every name mentioned to the contrary, decided without any input or consideration of others' opinions that her name would be Bella.  I told him I was not going to call the dog Bella, but the name I said before he came up with that idiocy- Belle.  We'll see how far he gets when I train her to respond to Belle.  (It's a long story why I don't want my dog named Bella, but if you guess that it has to do with Meyer and her badly written drivel, you're spot on!).  You know, and it's too bad, too, because I think I used to find Bella to be a lovely name.  Now every lovesick female and their second cousin are going to think they know exactly why she has the name she does- and that's annoying.  But c'est la vie.

ETA: I realize I sound like I was, in fact, insulting people who read and liked Twilight.  It isn't that- it's that I really have never thought a series such crap in my entire life, and most of it is the characters, and it really bothers me to think someone would think we named our dog after Bella in those books.  To each their own reading choice- at least people  are reading at all, and maybe Twilight will make someone enjoy reading enough to read some truly great authors worthy of more recognition than Meyer- authors who don't, in fact, get any recognition for what they write (yet another of my complaints about Twilight, but that's for the Book community, haha!)  In short: y'all read whatever you want, I really am not judging- I reserve that for the author, not the readers.  Also feel free to disagree with me entirely on the merits of that particular book series, though I think we will not change each others' minds.

But enough silliness!  Onto the cute puppy!  (Which is, in fact, a whole other kind of silliness.)
( Cute puppy here! )

It is now time for bed.  The puppy is sleeping in a crate in my room!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Listener's Log

I really didn't think that I'd bother making any mention of the books I've listened to that were penned by Patrick Robinson because one of them was borderline dreadful and the followup was completely dreadful. And proving that I will listen to David McCallum read *anything,* I started a *third* Patrick Robinson offering this week. I was scratching my head over it again until Wikipedia provided a revelation that changed my perspective on the books -- or maybe just affirmed what had been nagging in the back of my mind.

Details of all this follow, behind the cut.

( Submarines, terrorists and explosions, oh my! )

(x-posted to thedogcommunity)

I'm a big-dog person considering adopting a little (teensy!) dog, and I was hoping for some advice and perhaps heartwarming stories of big-dog people growing to love little dogs.

Currently, I have a 9 year-old Boxer named Allstar, whom we board with the breeder my parents purchased him from when we go out of town. Allstar absolutely loves it there, and when I dropped him off a week ago, the breeder - I'm calling her Jane for this narrative - mentioned three Brussels Griffon dogs she had acquired from a rescue situation. She was considering rehoming two of them, as she doesn't have time to give them the attention that this breed requires. (Jane used to breed Boxers, but now breeds French bulldogs exclusively.)

Jane had tried to rehome the 3 year-old female, named Nikki, but the dog was returned because of housetraining issues. I asked to meet Nikki, and she's quite adorable. Since Jane has known my family for ages and obviously knows how we've cared for Allstar, our boxer, she said that she'd be happy to rehome Nikki with me free of charge, provided that I sign a contract to have Nikki spayed and that I'd return Nikki to her if things didn't work out. She suggested I take some time to think about it, which I did obsessively during our vacation, and I played with Nikki again when I picked Allstar up from Jane's house after our vacation.

( Cut for your sake, 'cause I ramble like crazy... )

So what do you all think? Any advice? Tips from toy-breed or small-breed owners? Big dog lovers who have come to appreciate the smaller breeds of canine? Reassurance that I'm not making a huge mistake if I decide to adopt her?

And just so this is not all text, some pictures of my boxer, Allstar, from our little nature walk a couple of days ago.

( Photos! Boxer on the loose... )



ETA: Things I'm Worried About #5: Squishing her. Seriously. Rolling over her in bed and squishing her. Stepping on her by accident. Sitting on top of her on the couch if she's under blankets. So many possible horror scenarios. With Allstar, it's like, I can accidentally hit him in the head with the fridge and he just shakes it off and continues to drool and wag his tail in the hopes of cheese. And if I get too close to him during the night, he will literally kick the shit out of me with his piston-like back legs - while sleeping - so that I give him his proper space. I like that my dog is durable like tupperware or a block of concrete.

I hate when I have boring days. Because then I have nothing to talk about. Hmph.

Did some reports, sent some reports, yada yada yada. Bryan did ask me what the next show we were going to watch and to let him know when I find it, hee.

For the fangirl portion of the evening, am listening to some of Elaine Cassidy's interviews and I freakin' adore her accent. I love accents anyway, but I really love hers, hee.

Title:( Ruba Dub Dub )
Author: Lule-bell
L&O: LOCI
Paring: Goren / Eames
Rating: R
Word Count: 100

two words:  real food!

i am now allowed to eat:  cottage cheese, pudding, eggs over medium, mashed potatoes WITH sour cream AND cheese, and i can drink milk!

and, i don't seem to be lactose intolerant!  yay!

Written for one of sionnain's challengey things. Many thanks to her for beta-reading and cheerleading :D

TITLE: Dancing on the Razor's Edge
AUTHOR: lonelywalker
FANDOM: Brimstone
RATING: NC-17
SUMMARY: Bathroom fun with Zeke and Lucifer.
WARNING: Contains kinky stuff involving a razor.

( Dancing on the Razor's Edge )

... I will be in the possession of a shiny new mobile phone. One I can surf the net with and tweet and watch videos on and listen to the radio and do all kids of other very cool stuff. And from time to time I might even use it to call someone. One that also costs twice as much as my monthly rent. Not an iPhone, but it's pretty close.

Also, my boss wants to send me to London again for sound recordings. In August. She keeps telling me that if I do it, I could combine it with something I'd like to see in London. Hm. Not sure if I should say yes, because I'm already planning to visit England 5 times before the year is over on my own. Someone else should get a go, right? (1x August, 2x September, 2x October, 1x November ... uhm, that's more often than 5 ...) And 1x Wales in December. Maybe. Can't wait to get on a plane and fly over again!

If it's Tuesday it must be time to talk about what I love now that I'm 2 months out.

- I appreciate all those people around me who call me brave for what I did. I suppose going to the US from Canada and doing this alone is brave. So I'll accept the family kudos.

This is probably a common sense question but I figured I would ask anyway.

I take Beaker out for daily long walks to get his exercise. It normally only ends up being 20-40 minutes which is pretty short for a corgi and their excessive energy. The reason they end up short is because my neighborhood is literally all hills (and aggressive dogs, as you read from my last post).

( And when I say hills... )

So naturally we tend to get 20 minutes into it and I am half dead. I admit I'm probably out of shape but even after walking him daily for over a month like this I still end up murdered as soon as we hit the 3rd or 4th hill. The heat doesn't help.

My question is thusly:

Would the hills be tiring Beaker out more than a flat walking ground? I know they tend to get me winded faster but he's on four legs and full of gumption. Today we ended up swinging back around our usual route because I was trying to avoid the unfenced doxxies and we walked past our yard. I was still figuring we'd go another 10 minutes or so but Beaker walked up onto our yard and flopped into the grass. I assumed he was pooped out so we just came inside.

My first Tuesday appreciation!

I appreciate that:

1. I have not thrown up or felt close to it since I left the hospital.
2. My pain is well managed.
3. I'm not having trouble eating or drinking.
4. My first full day home from the hospital (yesterday) I got in 45 grams of protein!
5. My mom is staying with me for two whole weeks instead of leaving tomorrow.

Today I went to my doctor's office just to have him look at one of my wounds. It was gaping a little and I didn't want to take a chance. He said it was fine, and rebandaged it. But they weighed me, and I'm down eight pounds from my surgery weight! Yahoo!

Lap RNY 7/16/2009
340/335/327/150

are in this month's Intouch... ( under here )

I haven't done one of these yet.

Now that I'm a few months out, I have noticed different things that are easier.

-I appreciate that I'm much more comfortable, overall.
-I appreciate that I can walk further than before.
-I appreciate that I can fit into movie theater seats much easier.
-I appreciate that my clothes fit better.
-I appreciate that I can reach different parts of my body that were harder to reach before, like when my toe itches. Oh, and it's SO much easier to tie my shoes.
-I appreciate that I'm not scared about not being able to do something physical, like walk the distance of a parade route, carrying water for the group I'm with.
-I appreciate knowing that next summer I WILL be able to march with a drum and bugle corps. That's something that I would have never considered before the surgery.
-I appreciate that everyone in my life has been very supportive and respectful of this process.
-Even though I don't participate tons in this community, I appreciate its existance, and I appreciate everyone here being supportive and sharing their experiences. It has helped me enormously.

Thanks, all!

270 (at surgery)/207 (almost to onederland!)/130-140
5'2"
Open RNY 3/30/2009

Icons made from photos taken by Nick Laham on Photo Day 2009.
Two sets (different cropping).

TEASER:


( Love that dirty water! )

RULES
→ Comment and credit please!
→ These are not bases, please don't alter them!

x-posted

My cat Moo man loves Spuds.


They share many secrets together. Doesn't he have huge biscuit paws?

This is Mulder, my German Shepherd. He passed away this morning. He was 10. I'm crushed.

Mariska as Bad Ass Benson. I think we need to see more of this side of her.

SVU - Olivia Bad Ass Lady