Just Another Reason I want a Dog

Copyright 2010 (text only). The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.

You Decide: What's Your Choice for First Pooch?

I love dogs. I grew up with dogs as beloved family pets. I want to get a dog. My siblings have dogs that rule their lives, dogs they love even when they drive them crazy. Dogs that are part of the family. I'm with the Obama girls -- I've worked hard, and I want a puppy. I even have The Daily Puppy featured on my blog. Unfortunately, a friend of mine recently told me that, on behalf of dog lovers everywhere, he was forbidding me to get a dog. Why, you might ask? Apparently because of my crazy-ass schedule and heavy work travel. He said, "you get home at 9pm and eat oatmeal for dinner. You're lucky to have kept yourself alive. You couldn't keep an electronic pet alive." He went on to say that I should get a CAT. Now, cats have their place. I've had cats. But I've reached a time in my life where I want affection and unconditional love. Cats provide disdain and suffer us on condition -- the condition that we have thumbs and thus can turn on the water and make the can opener work. My last cat, Thomas (RIP), would have kicked my ass out if he could have paid the mortgage on his own. So, no more cats for me. But, alas, my upstart, co-called friend just might be right -- perhaps my life isn't really situated for a dog right now. But a redheaded girl can dream, can't she? Just like Sasha and Malia -- though I guess I'll need to live vicariously through the Obama girls and that lucky First-Dog-to-be. For now.

Copyright 2008. The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.

Why Doesn't the Printer Work? For Cat Owners, the Truth is Revealed

A friend sent along this little ditty, and I simply had to share the love. Bear with me as I set up the context for this video. It goes something like this: I have long held that my home technologies -- and the work ones, for that matter -- are often attacked by trouble-making gremlins. Computers, voicemail, printers, DVD players -- devices working fine one day that can suddenly, inexplicably be kaput the next -- out of sync, giving error messages, eating tape, erasing files. I also believe that certain people have a benevolent magnetic field of sorts, and that their mere presence can magically make any such problem go away (and make me look like an ass for complaining about it in the process). The computer tech guy at work is one such magnetic personality --- if I'm convinced my computer has gone haywire, he has only to walk into my office for all to be well in my technologic world.

However, as a cat lover, the particular explanation for "gremlins" supplied by this hilarious video also rings particularly true. Perhaps you can relate?