Is This Thing On?

Hey, faithful readers,

Yes. Both of you.

Especially the woman I met at KC's wedding who sat in my lap and had pictures taken. I'd love a copy of that photo if you're so inclined.

I'd even post it on here and make you famous ... to the other person who reads this regularly. Whomever that may be.

So shoot me a note, baby. I miss you already.

I Did It Norway

Rusty and I are off to Amsterdam and Norway for a couple of weeks starting this weekend. Last time it was Thanksgiving in New Zealand. This time it's Independence Day in Europe. Such is the life of an international jet setter.

So I'll be switching off this blog for a couple of weeks. (And to those of you who thought, "How would we know?" ... you try to be amusing day in and day out.)

But I'll be on the travel blog pretty regularly ... provided we wrangle internet access along the way. Do travel along with us, will you?

Dog Days Of Summer

Eight years ago on this very weekend, Rusty and I skipped out on Pride Weekend and motored out to Sweaty Kneecap, Nevada, or something like that, to pick up Chip, a labrador retriever puppy. On the drive home, he slept in the crook of my arm. Today, he's a 105 pound brick shithouse with a graying muzzle. My how time flies.

And Chip ... aka Chipdog ... aka Chipperdoodle ... aka PoodleDoodle ... aka The Poodle ... has become such a part of us, he's ... well ... a part of us. I do love that poodle.

Today, Rusty, Don (our house brother), Chipdog and I skipped out on Pride to go meet Bingo, a nine-year-old labrador retriever at the Santa Clara shelter. And while he's a bit of a spaz, Bingo came home-o with us today.

A new dog, Kenneth, you ask? I know. A nine-year-old new dog, Kenneth, you say? I know, I know. The debate about do we get a new dog or not has raged for years. A friend or two (yes, Patty, this means you) has even gone so far as to launch a full-scale campaign to lobby for a new puppy.

And instead we defied all expectations and came home with this old coot. But I can explain.

It's clear that Bingo (not his real name-o ... but his English isn't so great, so he can't tell us the real one) was separated from His Peoples somehow. He knows how to sit and lay down and shake, which is hardly something you pick up by accident as a canine.

Whether His Peoples wanted it this way or not is impossible to know, but the shelter's tried for several months to return him to his rightful place to no avail. And people don't exactly run to adopt older dogs. He was featured as pet-of-the-month so many times in the newspaper, he almost got his own column.

And that's how we got Bingo. Now to be known as Peety (an homage to my current employer and his current need to relieve himself every 15 minutes).

The reason why is simple: Every one of us was once a pup that rode home in the crook of a happy parent's arm. And every one us could lose Our Peoples in our later days. The best any of us can hope is that another tribe will wander by and claim us as their own ... that they'll see us as family even if we're old and there's no more fur on our elbows.

Welcome home, Peety. Welcome. Home.

How To Get My Vote

Barak Obama issued a statement yesterday about Pride Month. Now it's almost enough for me that Barak knows that Pride Month exists. But he pretty much puts me in the voting booth after saying the following. Is it possible that he just threaded the needle on this issue? I think he very well may have.

Here's the official text:

"Pride Month is a reminder that while we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do."

"Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."

"It's time to turn the page on the bitterness and bigotry that fill so much of today's LGBT rights debate. The rights of all Americans should be protected -- whether it's at work or anyplace else. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" needs to be repealed because patriotism and a sense of duty should be the key tests for military service, not sexual orientation. Civil unions should give gay couples full rights. And those who commit hate crimes should be punished no matter whether those crimes are committed on account of race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation."

"This Pride Month, let's make our founding promise of equality a reality for every American."

Rock on, Barak, baby. No matter what happens, you were the first person who had the courage to look it in the eyes and say it. Let's just hope you really mean it, too.