Hi, Colleen.

I live in Chicago and guess where I'll be tonight? PARTYING WITH OUR MAN BARACK. I have a ticket and everything.

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I'm back to my sad, empty, dogless apartment. Sigh. My parents took these pictures of Stanley this morning. Ta da.

Apologies for the crappy phone pic. My camera's batteries are charging now, so I'll have better pics later.

Stanleyyyyyy

I went with my parents today to a shelter to look at dogs. We were looking for a medium sized, "basic" dog, as my mother put it. All of the dogs they had were of medium size and they were all very cute and definitely wanted to come home with us. My parents are suckers for the typical hound face so sweet Stanley stood out right away. We took him outside to play and he was pretty good on the leash (a little pulling but he stops if you stop and will just need a little training to learn his manners.) After getting info about his background and personality, we decided he was our new dog.

He's a Treeing Walker Coonhound, which I've heard of but have never seen in person. He's a little shorter and lighter than the breed standard but he looks like the pics I've seen of other Walker hounds. He's very sweet and cuddly and just wants to be next to a person, getting pets. He doesn't seem interested in toys - just pets. He'll wander around the house or yard for a few seconds to sniff and then comes back for more pets. His primary interests in life seem to be humans, being pet by humans, sitting next to or around a human, and sniffing. He's not evven interested in dog treats! Just pets!

The people who work at the shelter just gushed about what a wonderful dog he is, etc. etc. and one of the employee's mothers had already dubbed the dog Stanley. My parents love the name, so Stanley it is. They weren't very sure of his background but he looks to be around 2 and judging from his uncertainity with stairs and other household things, I think he lived on a farm or outside.

He has marked on a chair and a wall but a good, firm NO! stops him in his tracks. He isn't fixed yet but his appointment is Tuesday so I'm hoping that will help. He is very eager to please and responds well to a firm vocal command so I don't see any real ongoing problems. He's learning good doggie manners now but he's already a really good match for my parents. He likes to sit on the porch or by the front gate and just observe. I know that he's tired today so he's calmer but he has lots of room to play and a dog who lives behind us to talk to.

Oh and his bark sounds like a walrus.

Don't mind me.

My parents' 40th wedding anniversary is coming up and I have NO idea what to get them. They're driving up to Michigan with my Grandma that weekend, so they can visit her sister and the rest of my mom's family. I was thinking about just giving them money for gas and whatever but that's not really thoughtful. I honestly can't think of anything they actually need and if I ask them what they want, I won't get any kind of useful response. I was thinking about gift cards for restaurants, maybe.

What the hell do you get people who've been married for 40 years?

Word is that U2 is working on a new album due out in November (squee!). Completely unrelated to that, I was listening to "War" earlier today and then found this tonight. I forgot this video even existed.

Three things:
1. I don't get the acrobats, at all.
2. I'm not sure why this song was picked for a video. I love it because I'm a U2 fan but it doesn't really go with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day," in terms of picking singles.
3. Cuties. They're all in their way early 20's in this video.

Show us a picture of the pet you'd most like to have in your life.

Working dog

I want a dog. I don't care if it's a puppy, an adult dog, big, little, purebred, a mutt, whatever. I just want a dog. Two would be great but I won't be greedy.

My apartment doesn't allow pets and I want a condo anyway, so I've been tucking money away over the past few months. If I do that consistently, I might be able to buy a place in the next, I don't know, five years? I could find an apartment that allows dogs, I guess, but I can't afford the rent on a new place so I'm kind of stuck here for a while.

When contacting online technical support, customer service, or anyone else who may help you with a problem that you're having, please refrain from using the following phrases - "Please advise," "What gives?" or "What's up?"

These phrases make our skin crawl and we ask you to kindly stop using them. Thank you!

- The people who help you fix things.

The Cubs are on FIRE right now. And the fact that I care still disturbs me.

Share the song that most makes you think of "disco."