It’s so frustrating watching all of the BS that goes along with an upcoming election. All of the lying and hypocricy that people think they can get away with makes me want to scream. I wish that more people would hold them accountable and that we could get more accurate information from somewhere other than comedy central. But here you go…

I’ve been listening to the NPR All Song’s Considered podcast today called “The 80s: Were they really that bad?” and decided to check out their blog while eating lunch at my desk. To my delight, the latest blog is a gift from radiohead.

It’s a review of their most recent live show, which NPR recorded and is releasing on their free live concert series podcast (where I’ve downloaded some amazing shows recently.) It’s coming out next monday and I cant wait.

I’ve seen Radiohead live only once before and it completely blew me away. It was no doubt the most amazing live show I’ve ever seen or heard. I really wanted to see them again but unfortunately bands like Radiohead don’t come to places like Salt Lake City. *sigh*

Heres a quote from the article that pretty much sums it up:

When I think of the best concert I’ve seen, I always flash back to Pink Floyd in early 1972. Almost two years before the band released what would become Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd performed the entire suite of songs to the amazement of us all. We’d never heard any of the songs (then titled Eclipse: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics), and with its quadrophonic sound, it still was the most massive musical surprise I’ve experienced.

Radiohead’s show at the Santa Barbara Bowl came as close for musicianship and creativity as any show I’ve seen in 37 years. I’ve seen a lot of shows.

These guys write great songs, and sometimes you can even sing along to them, but what they do better than any band is create a sonic adventure — a soundscape which, at its best, stretches time and allows the mind to wander and rejuvenate itself. I think of it as resetting the synapses. Creativity breeds creativity. When the music was over, I felt unboxed and changed and pretty darn happy. Drugs are overrated; music is underrated.

Check on the blog for an interesting soundbyte about their revolutionary lighting design for their show which is made up entirely of LED’s, effectively reducing the bands carbon foot print.

Oh yeah and in case you were wondering the 80’s really were that bad.

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of our adoption of Zeppelin. It seems like just yesterday and yet I can’t imagine life without him. He’s a very special dog from his uniquely handsome physique to his uniquely complex personality. To celebrate I took him to petsmart (which is a rare treat for him because of his ‘issues’) and got him a treat to chew on and a brand new version of his most favorite toy, bad CUZ (only this time I got him GOOD CUZ so maybe he’ll be good!).

And just like the first week we got him, we took him to the park with us again this year for a labor day picnic with family. All of the nieces and nephews smothered him with affection and he had a great time. Despite his issues with other dogs and strange men, he sure is amazingly tolerant of children. Good boy, Zep! (We had to leave the Gonz at home for this one, because he is, I am sure, NOT good with kids. He got to go skateboarding with me though which was a great workout for him.)

Labor Day Weekend, 2008

Labor Day Weekend, 2006

You’re crazy, but we love you Zeppelin!

Read the original blog posts about him:
My Doggie Crush
Our New Doggie!

As if my day wasn’t bad enough already, a big dog came charging at us off-leash while I was walking both dogs together this morning. He immediately went for Zeppelin and the two of them started to fight. I started screaming at him to get off and his owner came running out of the house and I screamed at her to get her F#@ing dog. She was finally able to grab him and she started apologizing but I was so mad I couldn’t help but yell at her that it should have been on a leash. Her excuse was that she only just let them out because she was about to take them for a walk. I’m sorry but I don’t just open my front door and let my dogs run into the street when I take them for walks. I put them on a leash FIRST and then open the door. Why don’t people have common sense?

Luckily Zeppelin is ok but I swear I saw blood in his mouth as we were walking away so its possibly that he may have bit the other dog in self defense I immediately turned around to come home and now I have to go to work but the dogs only got a 1 block walk and gonzo is super hyper

Something horrible happened in our backyard tonight. I let the dogs out for their before bed potty and when I opened the door and called them back in, gonzo was sitting by the door and Zeppelin was nowhere to be seen. I thought this was really weird and I kept trying to call Zeppelin but he wouldn’t come. He never ignores me like that so I knew something was wrong. It’s pitch black in our yard and its very difficult to see him so I went in for a flashlight. When I shined the flashlight into the yard I noticed Zeppelin was standing over a dark shadowy thing. Then the flash light reflected off four pairs of eyes and I knew that Zeppelin had caught an animal. I ran in to get Devin who confirmed my worst fears. Zeppelin had caught and mortally wounded a cat. The poor thing was still alive but barely hanging on. Panicking, I ran into the house and called animal control. It only took about 15 minutes for them to show up but it was so difficult for me to sit and wait while the poor animal was slowly dying and suffering in my back yard. Meanwhile we examine Zeppelin and he has deep scratches all over his face. When the officer finally arrived, he told me the little guy wasn’t going to make it. He wrapped him in a towel and took him away to end his suffering. He told me I wasn’t in trouble and that this happens all the time. He told me not to feel too bad about it because it wasn’t my fault. But I do feel bad… I can’t help it. I feel horribly sad. My worst fear is that it was someones pet and that they will have to deal with the heartbreak of losing a beloved family member. I can only hope that it was a stray. The two ladies who live behind us have a cat that hangs out in their backyard which shares a fence with ours. The cat knows we have dogs and I hope that it was smart enough to stay out of our yard. I really really really hope it wasn’t their cat and I am filled with dread of having to break such terrible news to them.

I know that its not Zeppelin’s fault, he was only doing what he was born to do. He was just being a dog. Dogs are predators, hunters, carnivores. Cat’s are too. I always knew he had a higher prey drive than many dogs, and I knew that he can run like hell, but I always thought that a cat would be able to outrun him This is the second animal he’s caught. (In our last apartment he caught a pigeon.)

So now I have to face the horrible task of going over to my neighbors house in the morning to see if their cat is missing

Some of you may know about our ongoing struggle with the dogs eating or couch (and hundreds of our other personal possessions when we are away from home.) We were fighting a losing battle and it had gotten to the point where we accepted the couch as a piece of trash waiting to be thrown out and replaced. Every day, we’d come home to further destruction on it (see below.) It got chewed to bits, drooled on, furred up, scratched to shit… you name it they did it.

So we used our wedding money to buy a new sofa. It was a tough choice because what kind of sofa could possibly hold up to the chaos that is our dogs? Devin and I are also very much into modern design and wanted something with clean lines and not the frumpy overstuffed couches that are oh so popular in the USA these days. We also had a very small budget to work with so a more durable leather couch was out of our budget (as a vegetarian I’m also not a fan of leather.) We tried to save money and bought a used couch off craigslist but that turned out to be a huge mistake. It looked horrible in our house and turns out the previous owner was a smoker and the thing REEKED of cigarettes. Also, used couches come jam packed with all kinds of interesting smells for the dogs and they wanted to get to know the couch way too much. Luckily we turned around and sold it again (for less than we paid) but only lost $75 on it.

We found a sofa that we loved from Macy’s during their semi-annual furniture sale. We picked it up on Saturday and its retro-modern stylings look great in our house. Its also very well made and cant be beat for the price. (Comparative in price to IKEA but much much better quality.) We are hoping to save up for the matching loveseat next time it goes on sale (they are back to full price now.)

So… how do we protect it from the pirahhanas that live with us? I don’t know if its safe, but we are taking the following steps to protect it.

1. Regime change– We have let the dogs take control of the house. They have become rude, pushy, spoiled brats. This is a huge failure on both are parts that I am embarrassed to admit. It happened sometime amongst moving to the new house, wedding planning, out of town guests, etc. etc. Our busy schedules have made us lazy and we shouldn’t have let it happen. So we lost control but we are taking it back. No more dogs on furniture, no more letting them get away with bad manners, no more coddling them all the time. We are reinstating the NILIF policy (nothing in life is free.) It’s not only good for us, but good for the dogs too.

2. Ramping up the exercise– Ok, I admit it… since we moved into a house with a yard, the daily walks have tapered off. I’m not a morning person, and cannot for the life of me wake up on time. Always running late is not condusive to taking 30 min. walks around the park with the dogs before work. I plan to change things and get this important routine back into our lives. Part of the dogs destruction is due to boredom. A tired dog is a happy dog. And the extra exercise is good for me too. Having a yard is great too, because they can go out there and run like mad. Even as the walks got fewer, the dogs have gained muscle tone because of their ability to play in the yard. However, walks are important for establishing my role as pack leader and the sensory stimulation of getting away from the house is great for them (and me!)

3. Extra dog proofing of the house– For many people, crate training is a godsend to curbing bad behavior. For us, we have a special case of a dog who is smart and strong enough to tear down any crate we put him in. It’s just not safe. We spent months trying to make it work, but he just panics when contained. So we have a routine of dog proofing that we have to practice vigilantly. Adding a couple of extra steps to this routine is a pain, but I think it’ll add a bit more safety to our new couch. We bought a king size bedspread to cover the couch with that we can tuck in under and behind so they wont be able to pull it off easily. We also got a large, heavy coffee table to push up against it to make it less easy to leap from floor to couch when wrestling each other.

4. Coming home for lunch– I used to do it every day. I still do it alot, but it always seems that the days the couch got eaten where the days when we either didn’t come home at lunch or when we left them alone in the evenings. They hate being alone for long periods.

5. Furniture protection plan — We paid extra $$ for a protection plan that covers our couch against stains, rips, etc. If the dogs pee, puke, drool on it, its covered. If they tear it apart its not. If they scratch it a little bit its probably covered. The plan is good for 7 years and if Macy’s cant repair any damage, we’ll get a new couch for free. If we never use the plan, we get our money back after 7 years.

6. Keeping clean — Our dogs are shedding maniacs. I brushed the hell out of them this weekend, and I need to do it more often (ie. a few times a week) to keep the massive amount of dog hair off of everything. Combining that with more vacuuming and we should be able to get that aspect a little more under control. Also, with a yard thats 80% dirt and no grass, our carpet and furniture get pretty filthy. Maybe if we just wipe their paws better… *sigh* This part is actually more challenging. You should SEE the stains on our cream colored carpet. :\

At any rate, cross your fingers for us. We’re doing the best we can and we cant afford any more problems.