Arrived home this evening to find the puppy (nee "Shitpaws") had soiled her crate. But-but-but: She has progressed from her Shitpaws days! She didn't step in it and spread celebratory tracks all around her crate ... which is nice.
Once outside, though, I quickly realized this wasn't a potty-training relapse. She has acquired a bug (or, more likely, consumed a bad hit of yard 'shrooms) so that she -- as my southern college roommate would say -- "could shit through a screen door."
A couple more incidents later, and we diagnose that we have a problem. Sadly for her, our "solution" is to not feed her tonight and hope for the best. But dogs don't tend to buy the "but you've got the runs" argument for forced food deprivation. So she laid awkwardly at my feet all evening, only occasionally getting up just to flop back down with a dramatic sigh just a few feet away. This move allows her to reposition and announce a new accusatory gaze at me that says, "Is it time yet?"
The bad news is there will probably be more clean-ups tomorrow, and maybe a trip to the vet. The good news is her theatrics let me sort of capture her spine-contorting repose on film (above). Even if I had a spine that enabled my feet to face forward while my upper torso and arms faced backward, I don't see how that would be a preferred position. But then I don't know that I'd lay with my tail perilously close the rolling chair wheel just to protest feeding conditions, either.
Addendum: If you followed the old Shitpaws link, you should know her modest size leads us to doubt her shelter-billed part-Newfie lineage. Unless that "part" is about 5%. Or unless her Newfie parent was seduced by one smooth-talking miniature terrier mix after a long night of yard 'shrooms.
I'm already turned off by her "The Nanny"-esque voice, so I couldn't bear to watch Palin's speech. But I was still curious about what distortions and non-issues she used in the Grand Fight To Not Talk about Actual Policies (But War Records Are Lovely). So I looked at Palin's transcript and noticed that every reference to "nuclear" is spelled out phonetically: "new-clear."
For real! I noticed with colloquial amusement that she was a fan of "newk-u-lar" when she was first introduced to us non-Alaskans just six days ago, after the Chief Executive of A State That Borders Russia was named as the Woman To Shatter Ceilings before her off-limits family was paraded before the cameras. I chuckled but figured they might even like that, since it sounds all down-home and moose-hunter like -- an image they played up from Day 1. Never thought they'd coach her to change it.
But perhaps that pronunciation is too close an echo of W., the last person elected for his down-home charm and endearing ignorance. So her speechwriters changed it, spelling it out for her every time: new-clear. Elitists! Insisting she pronounce it as intended ... damn elitist GOP speechwriters...
But Let's Talk about Policy ... or Not I noticed in her speech she ripped the value of "community organizing" (which in non-affiliated GOP groups has already become code for "possible drug dealer?" the way "strict constructionist judge" has become code for "will overturn Roe!").
It is bewildering to me that we can have election after election built around these non-policy arguments and character assassination. On one hand Palin can accuse her opponents of being "elitist" and out-of-touch with "the common man," and in the next breath dismiss community organizing, which is the most fundamental, most difficult, back-breaking step in enacting change and happens to very much involve "the common man," as it is his only recourse. Wait, you had to reason with people and forge compromise among disparate interests to enact policies? You weren't just handed a seat through family name? That's no preparation for governing this country.
But why are we having this discussion to begin with? Oh, because policy discussions don't resonate, and in truth their policies have quite ugly results, according to the data of the last 28 years. If this were about policy, we could have the election today, because the tenets are already spelled out.
Meanwhile, I feel bad for the pregnant teenager, who for the good of the party must freely chooses at 17 to marry the baby-daddy, getting mixed into all of this. (Abstinence-only education works!) And that's great Palin still had her baby with Down Syndrome, but if you're pro-life (note: pro-prenatals only; soldiers, foreigners, immigrants, prisoners, poor need not apply) was there really a "decision" to brag about? God told you to have the f-ing baby!
Ah, but we are not to ask questions about her background or how her family is an example of her beliefs in action, because that is first, chauvinist; and second, she was chosen by a War Hero so what question is there?, and third, background scrutiny is to be reserved only for Democrats, whose foreign paternal background and questionable degree of love for Our Country demands careful, suspicious scrutiny.
For the person who doesn't have everything, but doesn't really want everything, but just buys what he needs/wants when he needs/wants it, m'lady found one more great surprise for me for my birthday: A sweet all-in-one telephoto lens for my year-old Nikon digital SLR camera. This one's a beauty because it lets you carry just one lens around, which is huge if you're lugging the camera around to begin with.
I've been too busy to really get down to exploring how to use it, but I took it to a recent family gathering (to zoom in on facial pores) and on my rushed Radiohead/Joshua Tree trip out west. So far so good.
At the in-law abode, I messed with it by lazily shooting hummingbirds at a feeder. Figured those spastic sugar-high wings would be a nice test for the zoom. It's really ridiculous, how digital SLRs have made taken half-way decent photos so easy. I still feel like I'm cheating, with equipment I don't deserve (Why yes, I was reared Catholic. Why do you ask?)
Though the first thing you discover when trying to shoot a hummingbird is: Screw the speed of their wings -- it's their bodies that move too damn fast! They're small, they appear in your periphery like bugs, and they zoom from hovering to zipping across your range in the, heh, blink of an eye. I had to point at the feeder and just hope for the best.
Anyway, a friendly wasp arrived, too, to partake in the sugarfest. Wasps always fascinate me, but lacking the courage, I'm not going to get close enough to really examine one.
So the lens served a purely practical role, as it allowed me to examine the sucker from afar. Zoom, shoot, then blow-up the image to inspect that funky body. Those long dangling legs, the big stinger that Freaked.Me.Out. as a kid, the seemingly not-meant-for-flight physique that will nonetheless nimbly navigate your flesh when perturbed.
As you may have noticed, the site has changed. Sampa, the free-site host, did a version 2 of some sort.
Despite an FAQ that made it sound like allowing one's site to go through v.2 surgery would be okay, there were several flexibilities that surprisingly disappeared with the click of a button. (e.g. I cannot believe sidebars like this one are even narrower than before.)
And I'm told -- miraculously! -- that the conversion cannot be undone. Truth be told, I'm actually quite pissed. But free is free. Sampa has otherwise been good to me.
So I need to sort through site "features" to see how I can make do. Except that I don't have the time at the moment, in the middle of graduate classes and Lighthousehockey.com. (btw, I've removed that Lighthouse RSS feed so that you're not clogged with random Islanders hockey gibberish).
But I promise to touch up the accessories when I get a chance, and return to irregularly scheduled blogging.
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and non-issues she used in the Grand Fight To Not Talk about Actual Policies (But War Records Are Lovely). So I looked at Palin's transcript and noticed that every reference to "nuclear" is spelled out phonetically: "new-clear."
At the in-law abode, I messed with it by lazily shooting hummingbirds at a feeder. Figured those spastic sugar-high wings would be a nice test for the zoom. It's really ridiculous, how digital SLRs have made taken half-way decent photos so easy. I still feel like I'm cheating, with equipment I don't deserve (Why yes, I 
Anyway, a friendly wasp arrived, too, to partake in the sugarfest. Wasps always fascinate me, but lacking the courage, I'm not going to get close enough to really examine one. 
February, 2008