wordinista | (no subject)

Whoo. Okay.

So, a lot of y'all might remember the night Tora-kun worked until 2:30 am. It was also the Night of Much Swearing.

Well, we started talking about that, and how it was going to look like if he stays working for this company, about one week a month is going to have insanely late hours. And me? I'm not really comfortable with that. I know my mother lives next door, but still -- I'm here, and... yeah. It's not cool.

So... I'm not even sure how it came up, but we started talking about the possibility of getting a puppy. We've got a pretty good sized house, and a decent sized yard, so space isn't an issue for a small-to-medium sized dog. So I started researching. As it happens, my dream breed, the Australian Shepherd, looks like it'd be a perfect fit. I have the time to devote to training and discipline, which is usually the biggest problem when it comes to dogs. You don't train it well, or give it enough to do, it's going to get into trouble.

All right, so I start researching breeders in the area, because breeders are people too, and people can be unscrupulous. It's not as easy as I'd thought, and there are a lot of dead links out there. And a LOT of breeders' websites are hosted on Geocities/Yahoo. *headshake*

And a frighteningly large number of them? Have no concept of site design whatsoever. Particularly:

http://www.paradigmcanines.com/

and...

http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/wildwindaussies/

Okay, the unfortunate thing is, these two places might have the Best Dogs Evar. It's possible. But their splash pages make me want to choke. Especially that second one. Lawd. I just... words fail me. Really.

Of course, all of this research is for naught if our landlord says no. Mrr. I hope he doesn't say no. *crosses fingers* We were tossing around names tonight, and if we pick one of the ones we were tossing around,

evilpuppy is going to be vastly amused.

In other news, Tora-kun and I watched Super Size Me tonight, and ... you know, I don't think I'll ever be able to eat at a fast food restaurant ever again. Ever. Ever-ever. OMG GROSS. It took two months of a vegan diet to undo one month of fast-food eating. I'm pretty sure I'm too much of a wuss to go vegan -- or vegetarian, for that matter (and I have the utmost respect for anyone who can manage it), but it'll be a damn long time before I ever order pizza and wings again. I told Tora-kun that movie made me want to run to Wild Oats and shop there forever and ever, amen. And I don't eat fast food that much (okay, ordering pizza -- and that's so stopping ASAFP), but I was seriously disgusted. *shudder*

Threaded | Flat

If you look on www.akc.org they have breeder listing that you can narrow down to your state, maybe more, not sure.

Just from what I've read here from you is enough to reinforce my desire to stay away from fast foods. I haven't touched anything like McDonald's, Arby's or KFC in probably a year now. I can't remember where it was I read what the fat grams and stuff are in a Big Mac or chicken sandwich but it made me feel sick to know I was putting that stuff in my body. The only thing I occasionally splurge on is pizza. Which is usually a once a month thing for us on a Family Night. Though we did have Leeann Chin's the other night because the kids wanted it. I remembered too why I don't eat that anymore either. Good gods!

Maybe I'll have to see this movie to give me a constant reminder of why I stay away from that stuff.

I haven't seen Super Size Me yet, but I did read Fast Food Nation and...yeah. Disgusting. Fast Food Nation encompasses the entire process, from cattle and farming to employment and advertising and nutrition, and it's appalling. I just wish we had a good ol' In and Out Burger around here, or one of those organic fast food places that they have up in New England.

...why did I leave Boston? Someone, please, remind me.

I still order pizza -- although I probably shouldn't -- but I didn't eat McDonald for WEEKS after seeing Super-Size Me. (And I've avoided reading Fast Food Nation because I don't want to read about the meat industry. I'm selfish.) But yeah... yuck. Did you see the extra footage where they tested how long it would take McDonald's fries to spoil?

The scariest part was how badly it fucked him up. I mean, cirrhosis? Good god.

On the puppy front be careful. I have found that mailing the breeder and telling them what you want temper wise and otherwise. Talking to them is the best way to look for a puppy. I would also recommend seeing where the shows are in your area. This is the height of the show season for dogs and cats. So there should be one in your area somewhere meeting who your puppy's Mom is will give you a heads up on what it will be like when you get it.

Of course you are going for a breed that sometimes is smarter than their owners. One of my rules is no dogs smarter than I am.

*runs away from sites screaming* scary O_O