First item on my Christmas list

Oh yeah, I want this.

Pencil Sharpener

Date Night!

Tonight is date night for us. I suggested last week that we have a date night and Steven went for it. We go out a lot, but not in the context of a date night. We'll get a little dressed up and have a nice dinner. I think we're going here.

I'll post about our meal soon.

I like the idea of date night. I know I'm not terribly original with the idea, but its good to keep up the spice!

YAY RED SOX

Way to go Red Sox!!

What’s the connection between Dalmatians and firehouses?

From Mental Floss:

In the 1800s, fire engines were horse-driven carriages. Unfortunately, horses and other equipment found in a fire station were prime targets for thieves at that time, especially in some of the poorer urban areas (where many fires occurred). Some firefighters tried to combat thievery by sleeping alongside their steeds, but since they were often exhausted from fighting blazes, that idea didn’t always work. Eventually, the solution became clear: a watchdog.

And not just any watchdog. You see, horses are not solitary animals. They prefer the companionship of some other animal; another horse, a dog, a goat or even a chicken. Left alone too long, they grow restless and neurotic. Dalmatians, it was discovered, formed an amazingly close bond with horses once they were introduced. They also became quite protective and possessive of their equine friends, so it became impossible for anyone to try to spirit away a horse under cover of the night. In fact, the spotted pooches were also used by stagecoach drivers for the same purpose, and became colloquially known as “coach dogs.”

Two Hulk Halloween

This is cool. You can control some of the elements in his yard right from your browser!

Two Hulk Halloween (BoingBoing)

First Orgy After Brian's Death Very Solemn

HA HA HA. This is great.

First Orgy After Brian's Death Very Solemn (from The Onion)

How to board a plane without ID

Just show your sash!

Link (from BoingBoing)

Britney Spears loses visitation rights

No one is talking about specifically why, but is it that hard to not take drugs 12 hours before you see your kids?? I mean, COME ON BRITNEY.

She is a lost cause. Sorry to say.

Britney loses visitation rights (from CNN)

Here's what I mean about the dogs

I shot this video of the dogs. It gives a pretty good picture of what they do all day. It must be exhausting for them, always having to show off. A minute after I shot this they wanted to fight. Bitches.

The Dogs: day two

There have been no more bloody dog fights since yesterday. Millie and Ginger have established their pecking order for the time being. This morning they were playing/competing. I say competing becuase Ginger would come up to Millie and try to put her head above Millie's (to show dominance), but since she is shorter than Millie, our dog can easily stop this and put her head and body over Ginger. If they were the same size, they might have fought. It is very interesting to watch the struggle for power, but I am on high alert in case they start to fight.

I have to say that things are MUCH better than they were yesterday morning. I hope it stays like this.

Make your HP printer display say anything

This is friggin' AWESOME! If I was still at my old company I would totally make the printers display the current weather.

Control your printer (via BoingBoing)

Florida ranked fourth in tech employment

Florida is ranked number four in the US for technology jobs. I was surprised to read this, but it is a big state, so they must be spread around. I know when I was looking there weren't a "ton" of tech jobs and the competition for them was fierce.

However, this article paints a unique perspective on the state of tech jobs in Florida.

S. Florida's tech job base is vulnerable (Miami Herald)

Mid-day doggie update

I went home for lunch today and let the dogs out. I looked at Ginger's ear; she got a really bad bite from Millie this morning in "the fight". Yikes. We are going to watch that cut to make sure it doesn't get any worse. I'd hate for our friend to come home and find her dog all beat up.

On a lighter note, Millie was licking Ginger's ear wound a couple of times, so I think that is good news. I need to check with Steven. He knows all about dog behavior. There were no fights at lunch, although they were a little "standoffish" aside from the ear lick incidents.

Are we making progress? Stay tuned.

Leader of the pack

We are dog-sitting for our friend's dog until Sunday. The dog, Ginger, is a wonderful dog. She is a pit bull mix and a very sweet dog. She arrived last night and we began the slow process of acclimating her to our dog. It became apparent very quickly that both of these dogs are alpha females. Uh oh. We had a small fight last night, but nothing major. This morning, however, was a different story.

I imagine having two dogs is similar to having children. I got up, put one dog outside while I fed the other, then switched them (I don't mean that you need to put your kids outside to eat, but stay with me here). With our single dog, I know that I can get up and make coffee, feed Millie and then go out for a walk. With two, the whole situation changes and becomes twice as complicated.

After both had eaten it was time for a walk. Steven got up and volunteered to help with the walks. Millie, our dog, had her leash on and was near the front door and Ginger came over and bowed to Millie (according to Steven, I looked away for a split second). Well, Millie got pissed and barked and Ginger. Ginger barked back. Before I knew it, both dogs were on each other, snarling and causing a big ruckus, with me standing in the middle. I grabbed Millie's collar and pulled her back, but that bitch is strong. She continued to fight! Steven took control and calmed the dogs down. I think all our hearts were racing and it was only 7 am. Ugh.

When we returned from the uneventful walk (except that no dog would poop), we noticed that Ginger had a bite on her ear from earlier. Not a bad bite, but a bite nonetheless. Millie is in her crate during the day and Ginger, who doesn't have a crate, is in our guest room, sleeping on the bed. She is a little whiny. We hope she cuts that out. She could sleep in our room, but that doesn't seem fair to Millie. Should I be worried about "fair" with dogs?

We have almost 5 days left. Steven thinks they will become friends. I'm not so sure. Giant bitches don't become friends overnight. If we have to separate them we will, but, boy, this could be a long week if things don't change!

What people recycle

You can tell a lot about people by what they recycle. I walk our dog in the mornings and usually before the trash people come, our dog is ready to go out. She sniffs and pees along the way and is naturally very interested in people's trash. It is very interesting to me what people put in their recycle bins. I think it tells a lot about them: 25 wine bottles (booze hounds), organic soy milk cartons (healty), lots of aluminum cans (not into fresh foods), etc etc. I wonder what people think of our bin? We have a lot of water bottles, a wine bottle or two, a few beer cans and a milk carton. Healthy booze hounds?

Using the Internet to ruin someone's life

I don't even know how to start on this one. You just have to read it. Make a cup of coffee or a sandwich and sit down for a spell and read this. The first link is the article. The second is the blog of the victim.

This is so incredible. It reminds me of 'The Blair Waitch Project' though. What do you think?

The Life and Death of Jessee James (LA Weekly)

piece of fakey (victim's blog)

Wow. This is messed up shit. Or a real good fake, complete with blogs.

Ikea Opening - Police are ready for "stampedes"

Wow, this is like, the biggest thing to happen to south Florida EVER. Wait till they try the Lingenberry sauce. I'm going to steer clear of IKEA for a while.

From the Sun-Sentinel: "Sunrise - Off-duty police officers will be called in to direct traffic, and firefighter/paramedics will be at the ready in case of pandemonium and stampedes.

It's not every day a furniture store opens in Sunrise.

Not like this one, anyway."

Lindsey Lohan is out of rehab

Mai-Kai Restaurant

After Friday night's fiasco we figured we'd tempt fate and eat out again (plus, we were out of food at home and a Saturday night spent grocery shopping wasn't in the cards for us). Again, we were heading to La Bamba and detoured at Mai-Kai. I'm not sure how to describe this place, so forgive me if I can't give it an accurate picture.

From the outside it looks like a giant restaurant in the woods (it is on Federal Highway, a busy road in Fort Lauderdale). When we pulled up, the first thing I noticed was that this place was busy. For example, there were like 10 valet people (many places in south Florida valet, it must be because of all the older people, but we love it too!). Once we were freed of our car, we went inside. It was so dark in this restaurant. Picture a nightclub, that's how dark it was. But it was also kind of cool. The older host announced to the person who assigns the tables (remember, this place is big - I'd imagine they can seat 300 or 400 people) that there are "two for dinner", then announces "two GENTLEMEN for dinner". Umm, does that matter? We're in the gayest city east of San Francisco. But, I'm not offended. I just thought it was funny.

Once seated, we strain to see what is on the menu, but its as dark outside as it is inside. Our waiter brings us a flashlight. I kid you not. After we order (pu pu platter for 2 and some noodles), we realize that there is an expansive garden near our table. We took our flashlight and walked through the woods. The restaurant has paved a sidewalk through this area and it is popular to walk through the jungle after dinner. Now I understand why we have the flashlight. Remember, this restaurant is in the middle of a busy area, so the forest is equally strange and exciting.

Anyway, that was our night. I had a lot of fun. It is kind of expensive for what is basically Chinese food, but if you include the whole experience, I think the price was fair. Plus, they have yummy rum drinks. How can you beat that?

http://www.maikai.com/

Sunfish Grill

Steven and I ate at the Sunfish Grill recently. Bad move on our part.

We were headed to one of our favorite places, La Bamba, and we decided to make a detour and try out Sunfish Grill on the recommendation of our friend. We arrived around 7:30 and the place wasn't busy at all. We were promptly seated in the dining room, but seconds after we were seated the host noticed Steven's flip flops and told us that he was going to need to move us out of the dining room as the chef has a strict "no flip flops" policy. WTF? This restaurant is about 1/2 a mile from the beach and about 1500 feet from the intracoastal waterway. To us, this is a beach restaurant. Well, to the chef, this is a fancy establishment and flip flops aren't allowed. Whatever.

So, we allow ourselves to be moved into the bar area where the host sits us at a high table IN THE WINDOW, apparently so the entire world can see Steven's flip flops. As we bitch to each other about how ridiculous this whole thing is (we should have just walked out), we check out the menu and drinks list. Most of the items are "market price". I understand one or two items being market price, since it isn't easy to price items that change daily (like lobster), but most items on the menu were market price. That's just stupid.

We eat (my meal sucked, Steven liked his) and pay our bill. On the way out Steven mentions to the host that he thought is was inappropriate that we were seated in the dining room and then made to move. The host didn't care and actually showed Steven the door!

Needless to say, we won't be back. We're not snobs, but here's why we think we're justified in being pissed:

* We were shown to a table in the dining room and were sitting down, then made to get up and move.

* The restaurant was NOT busy.

* Most restaurants in south Florida realize that since they are on or near the beach, there is a good chance that people will wear flip flops.

* I was wearing sneakers. How was that better?

* We were moved to a window table, with Steven's flip flops in full view of the street.

Anyway, I digress. I just had to share this story because this restaurant obviously takes itself way too seriously.

Loaf of Bread Wrist Rest

This makes me laugh. I want one. (From BoingBoing)


Loaf of bread wrist rest

I Hate Wal-Mart

I hate Wal-Mart. They claim low prices, but many studies have shown that while they might have the lowest low price on one item, many others are not priced lower than competing retailers. Middle America lives on Wal-Mart and I feel that the company preys on these consumers (me included) to simply shop there and assume that their prices are the lowest. That's not always the case. In fact, it is not the case a lot. Also, their stores are depressing. Walk into a Wal-Mart after going to Target and you'll see what I mean.

I hope they go out of business, but they are simply too big to do that.


Wal-Mart Era Wanes Amid Big Shifts in Retail (from WSJ)

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline

I am speechless.