Argh.

[free] Puppies are in Rydal, Georgia.
We are in Woodstock, Georgia.
Andrew was meeting two people in Kennesaw, Georgia.



Two women said they wanted puppies and were specific as to which ones. We agreed to have Andrew go up to the owner's house, get the puppies, drive down to Kennesaw and deliver the puppies.

On the way down to Kennesaw to deliver the puppies, one of the women (who were gung-ho about getting the puppy today) calls and asks Andrew if we can watch one of the puppies overnight so she can pick it up tomorrow.

What the heck?

These people have known for a WEEK now that today is the pick-up day. Why couldn't she have called earlier, before Andrew made the trek to get the puppies, to cancel for today?

I guess I gotta break it to Andrew that it's dangerous bringing a non-housebroken, non-crate trained, non-vaccinated, non-dewormed puppy into the house with our two.

When is "skinny" too skinny?

Pageant director says, "it's because she has a Macedonian body type."
Health Professionals say, "she's below the BMI level for being malnourished."
Miss Universe Australia pageant judges deem her in the Final 3 (although losing the crown to another).

You be the judge:

Stephanie Naumoska (19 years old, 5 ft. 11 in. tall, 108 lbs)

Front:



Side (just in case you thought the front was merely a "bad angle"):



Remarkably, she looks a lot like a graphic I had found a couple of years ago online:



---------------
I thought pageants had started getting it together (or at least a good facade of such, right?). What kind of message does this pageant contestant (and a Universe qualifying pageant contestant, no less!) send out to young girls who are struggling with their weight and "fitting in"? In order for this contestant to have MADE it to this qualifying pageant means she had to win others. Kinda makes me sick.

Whatever happened to beauty with the Pin-Ups?

I realize some of you have been left in the dark...

I realize some of you have been left in the dark regarding what's going on with me right now so I thought I'd take the time to give you a brief rundown.

I haven't been "bailing" on my friends because I WANT to, but it's because I HAVE to....

1. Mom is okay. The test results came back that the spots and lesions she had on her organs are not, in fact, malignant. If you know my worrying mother, you know that this is a HUGE relief. For the past 10+ years, I have played Dr. to various family members and friends - mainly because I like it - but also because I have 3 years of medical training under my belt that rivals the best nursing schools.

2. Work is.....interesting. It's no shock that I work at a small company, and, through the months, it's been getting smaller. For the most part, we've been held, at bay, and only the sister companies have felt any hits from the economy. That has since changed. As of last week, we officially lost Megan (Purchasing/Inventory/General), Fred (Warehouse Manager/Shipping Manager), and Joe (Chemist/QA). We are now down to 4 plus 1. Darryl is in the warehouse, Vaughn and I are still in the office, and John is still the Manager. The "plus 1" is Rich, our outside salespersons for civil engineering products. We've also picked up more responsibilities, more work, and have taken a % pay decrease from our salaries. Added to that pay cut, my coworker and I will now be paying 1/2 of our medical insurance, and all of our dental and vision insurance provided to us.

3. Don't ask me to do anything on the upcoming weekends until after Morgenstern's wedding.
May 2nd: Albany, GA
May 9th: Work
May 16th: Amanda's Bachelorette party
May 23rd: Amanda's Wedding
Even Saturdays after that, I may be busy working :\

4. Our office has FINALLY gotten over the funky flu/whatever bug we all had. Mine started toward the beginning of the year and knocked me on my hiney. I missed Jen's baby shower because of it, but the way I ended up, I'm glad I did. The last thing I'd want is anyone to catch what I had!

5. Andrew and I planted....well....Andrew planted a garden at my place. I now have 3 tomato plants, 2 banana pepper plants, 1 strawberry plant, oregano, basil, and rosemary, and then I have marigolds, snapdragons, and a Lantana. It looks nice and definitely makes my patio "home-y."

6. Cash has allergies. We're assuming it's seasonal, but who knows with him. :\



I'm really not ignoring my friends or family. I'm just doing what I can to weather the economic storm and keep our business up and running. Don't take offense if I can't do things because I have to work, etc. I apologize in advance. Eventually, the storm will subside or at least weaken, but as it is now, it's more like a Category 1,000,000 Hurricane.

Stripper Stand-In

This is awesome.

Playing for Change: Peace Through Music - Stand By Me

http://playingforchange.com - From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music", comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe. This video and "Don't Worry" will be available at iTunes 1.27.09 while other songs such as "One Love" will be released as digital downloads soon; followed by the film soundtrack and DVD in stores on 4.28.09.

Pre-order the CD/DVD "Playing For Change" Songs Around The World" now at amazon.com!
http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Change-...

Order the "Stand By Me" and "Don't Worry" now at itunes!
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ...

Sign up at www.playingforchange.com for updates and exclusive content.

Join the Playing for Change Online Street Team at:
http://ufanz.com/teams/playingforchange

Join the Movement to help build schools, connect students, and inspire communities in need through music.

Big Pie in the Sky: Carnivore Challenge....CONQUERED!

Straight from the owner's wife's mouth:


"The Carnivore Challenge has finally been conquered! Two medical doctors from Birmingham, I believe, devoured it in just over 30 minutes. They won the jackpot and the $250 house cash. The rules for the challenge have changed because people have travelled so far to try it. Now, the house cash prize is cash. After a little over two years, the Carnivore has been beaten!"

When did "free puppies" become such a headache?

Keep in mind that we're screening people carefully, asking them about their home, other pets, etc. but trying to find homes for a boxer female's puppies has gotten to be a headache! (We do not own the mom nor the dad)

All of the puppies are black with white on their chest and toes..........

"I want the one with the white on its paws."
"I want the black one."
"I want the smallest one."
"Are their tails docked?"
"Do you think the dad is a boxer?"

Really? These are FREE puppies. The pick up stipulations are "cannot be picked up until April 28th" - when they are legally able to go to new homes.

I have told interested persons numerous times we are not the mom's owner, we are not the dad's owner, I can't tell them apart, I can't tell the boys from the girl based solely on the pictures, they are first come, first serve, I'm not saving and picking and choosing them out as the owners have already given one away after I took pictures.........

When did "free puppies" become such a headache?

Random XKCD

(Click on each comic to see the full comic)

Life Jackets?

I came across the below article online, and it angered me. First, my thoughts go out to the Harrelson family on the loss of a good man.

My second thought was, "where were the life jackets??????"

http://www.wesh.com/cnn-news/19238078/detail.html

Snippets:

"On Friday, Harrelson, 65, and five other men from his church took a group of special-needs children fishing on the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County. Authorities with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said at around 11:30 a.m., a 16-year-old in Harrelson's boat either jumped or fell in the water. Harrelson went after him. Neither was wearing a life jacket."

Where were the life jackets? You take a group of kids out on the water....special needs kids, at that (though it is unknown what type of special needs they were), and none of them are wearing life jackets?

The loss of a good man could have been prevented merely by following common sense water safety practices.

Dillard Weekend

The Weather:

The Cabin

The "Cast:" Andrew, Myself, Cash and Grimm

Yes, the cabin IS pet-friendly! The yard is fenced with three-rail wooden fencing and then covered in "hog-wire" fencing so the boys can run to their heart's content. There is also a spring-fed pond and mini-waterfall in front of the house stocked with trout. The boys can also go swimming in it.

We can't wait! Pictures to follow.

Funny (real) words I learned today...

Floccinaucinihilipilification - the estimation of something as valueless

Arachibutyrophobia - the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.

Aibohphobia - the fear of palindromes. (Side note....palindrome - a word, line, verse, sentence, etc. that reads the same forwards and backwards...."racecar.")

Antidisestablishmentarianism - opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church.

Callipygian - pertaining to, or having, beautiful buttocks.

Defenestration - the act of throwing someone out a window.

Funny XBox Live Stats

The Golden Compass: Top 20% of all Live gamers

Feeding Frenzy: Top 2% of all Live gamers

Left 4 Dead: Top 40% of all Live gamers

Family Game Night: Top 10% of all Live gamers

Feeding Frenzy 2: Top 23% of all Live gamers

The Maw: Top 30% of all Live gamers

Minivan drivers

Rush hour is the same every morning. If you are a stupid driver or have no intention of letting people in, do not ride in the slow lane! Here I am trying to get on the highway and a minivan comes flying up. At first it appears she is letting me over, but as soon as I start to go, she floors it and almost hits me. I stop, and she stops. I wave her on, she throws her hands up then floors it again. I slowly merge over, and as soon as I do she hits her brakes hard... For no reason other than to try to get me to hit her. I was paying attention so I did not hit her. Do not be a psycho minivan witch in rush hour!

Pit Bull Saves the Day!

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=107779&catid=14

Pit bull saves Holland woman from abductor

HOLLAND, Mich. (WZZM)- A Holland woman has an unlikely hero to thank after breaking up a domestic fight.

The 32-year-old's estranged husband beat her and attempted to abduct her from her safe house in Holland.

The plan was foiled thanks to a dog which usually gets a bad rap.

The fight between Steven Schumacher, 33, and his wife was very public. Witnesses say he beat and dragged his wife across the street, attempting to get her into his vehicle.

But the fact the fight was public may have helped. That's how Blitz saw the events unfolding from his window, and 'blitzed' to the rescue.

Judging by his barking through the window, we're presuming Blitz is no fan of cameras.

Blitz is a two-year-old, hundred and something pound pit bull; yes, the kind many fear.

"He'll protect us when we need it," says his owner. "But he's a great house pet, he's great with my kids, he's wonderful."

Due to the nature of this tale Blitz's owner does not want to be known.

She says close to 11:00p.m. Wednesday she heard screams for help.

"It's still surreal," she says. "I haven't even slept yet, (I'm) still kind of shaken about what could have happened to her."

She saw Schumacher beating and dragging his estranged wife.

"(I was) scared of what could have happened to her, because he was close to getting her in his car."

Blitz saw it too.

"He about knocked me out of the door to get to them. I heard her screaming, 'help me', repeatedly and I came out my front door and my dog spilled past me and went and scared him a little bit."

She says he never bit anyone, but scared Schumacher just enough that he loosened his grip on his wife, who then ran inside Blitz's home and waited for police.

"I'm very proud of him," chimed in his owner. "He would never do anything unless the situation was like that when he feels that we're in danger."

****************************
Only two negatives:

1) "Blitz" is nowhere near "a hundred and something"
2) I really wish the owner would have taken the damn logging chain off his neck! How ghetto.

Yeah. We did that.

Last night I went with Andrew to buy his Tahoe. The driver of the Tahoe is a Freshman at North Georgia College in Dahlonega (my "alma mater.") After Andrew's test drive, and while Andrew was checking things out mechanically, I had a chance to talk with the driver about North Georgia and how he liked it. He said he liked it VERY much, and then he started to tell me some things:

1) This year was the first year that North Georgia allowed male students to live on campus and not be in the Corps of Cadets. The guys are living in Lewis Annex which posed a question for me, "what about the upperclasswomen? Where are they living?" I know that Owen Hall is on campus now (an AMLI apartment complex on campus with NGC housing rules), but there was always a shortage of housing for woman.

2) In Flag Football, you have to run with your arms outstretched and the ball in your hands. You can't tuck the ball under and run or anything because they say you're "guarding the flags." I guess Flag Football has changed a bit from when we used to play in intramurals: the guys would stop playing to watch our games because we were brutal.

3) Parking: The decals are still permanent adhesive, which makes it a pain in the neck to scrape off if you sell/wreck your car. The freshman said, "why not parking hang tags, duh."

Well, my dear Freshman, I am sorry to say that my class was quite possibly the class that caused these rule changes.

We were too rough in intramurals so much so that Chestatee was always on campus with an ambulance.
You don't have hangtags on your cars because we used to trade out with friends when we wanted better parking or closer parking to classes. Yeah, we ruined that for you.

When I got done talking to the Freshman, I told him he could thank us for the crazy rules now at North Georgia. I'm pretty darn sure my friends and I were the cause of them.

I wonder if they have any rules against Marco Polo on the Drill Field at midnight?

The beast.

Andrew and I are headed to pick it up this evening.

Bunch of Crap

Andrew called a guy last night that had a Full Size blazer for sale for $3000. He told the guy (who lived in Dahlonega) that he would be up tonight (Tues night) with cash, in hand, to buy it if he wanted it. The guy said that would be fine, etc. and that they did have another offer on it, but it wasn't the asking price of $3000 so if Andrew came up there, cash in hand, it was his.

Andrew just texted me that the Blazer is gone. The guy went ahead and sold it to someone else even though we made firm plans to drive almost 2 hours one way to go and buy the darn thing tonight.

This sucks. The guy never said "First Come, First Serve," he just told Andrew that the Blazer would be waiting for him and to just call him this afternoon to make sure he was home.

AT&T Wireless being moved to my sh*t list.

I called AT&T last week about changing my rate plan to one that was less expensive per month. The only people I really call besides my parents are on the AT&T network, so I have hundreds of rollover minutes.

I was told by the operator that I pay "automatic debits." Okay, that's nothing new.

That my cell phone bill dropped on April 8th of this month. Okay.

That I would not be able to change my service plan until April 7th or April 8th before or on the day the bill drops. Okay - sounded dumb to me, but I thought, "okay, I'll wait then."

Today is the 5th of April, and I just got a text message from AT&T telling me that my electronic payment was successful for my bill and that the next bill drops May 9th.

I.....am.....pissed!

To make matters worse, I call AT&T support, and, guess what? They're not open on Sundays. They're only open 7am-9pm during the week and until 6pm on Saturdays ("in your time zone.")

Is this just another way for AT&T to screw us over??? What the Hell?

"Wife Wanted"

Posted in the "Items Wanted" section of Craigslist (Atlanta):

wife for organic cooking,gardening, cleaning - $1 (Gwinnett)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: sale-d3guj-
Date: 2009-04-02, 12:17PM EDT

Hello &happy thursday,
I am looking for female with a lively sense of humor and irrational optimisim & sense of wonder. My hobbies are consulting engineering, volunteering, hiking, bikinh, teaching & playing tennis.

Mutant Chronicles

Andrew and I watched this the other night. It doesn't come into theatres until April 24th. Overall, if you like Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Comic type movies, you might like this one.

After The Ice Age, "something" dropped from space onto the Earth. It created a "machine" that was set to transform humans into mutants. The machine was defeated in the middle ages, and a seal was placed over the opening in the Earth.

Fast forward to 2707. The world is now controlled by four corporations (not countries). We have almost depleted our resources. Two corporations are fighting in trench warfare using technology and tactics similar to WWI (with some minor additions ;) ). The seal is broken during the war, and the machine starts up again (I don't know where the mutants came from that broke out of the seal though - they stayed down there that long??)

A holy man enlists the assistance of others for a suicide mission to destroy the machine.

I won't go into any more details, but it's an okay movie. I wouldn't spent $10/ea to go see it in theatres. If you have XBox Live, you can download it :)

Dear Brandie/Nicole Carter...

You are a crook, and you are a fraud.

You attempted to sell us a dog that you had already sold to someone else. The photos you sent to us as being "Meeka" were not Meeka at all. You not only lied to us, but you lied so elaborately that it is pathological. The extent you went to selling us your lies is unbelievable.

We've seen the updated photos of "Meeka" owned by the 20 year old girl in South Carolina. We know that the photos you sent us were not of Meeka. I have since taken the liberty of screenshots of all of the photos you have posted publically showing your "K-9 partners" and your "retired K-9 partners" that have never been K-9s - police or otherwise. They were dogs you got for free from people of whom you took advantage.

No wonder you did not reply to my lengthy and fact-ridden e-mail. You were in the wrong, and you knew it.

To the readers of this blog, be careful when dealing with Brandie/Nicole Carter out of South Carolina (Columbia-area) who "owns" Unicorn Valley Shepherds and professes to being a dog trainer. You WILL get screwed.