The puppy is teething. Things she enjoys chewing on include the following: me, my clothing, my hair, grass, leaves, bark, the walls of her pen, towels, blankets, pillows, my Tablet PC, my Tablet PC pen, her toys, feet, and so on.

We found a puppy!

One of the ads I called on from the Seattle Times panned out. Monday night I went to see a puppy in Shoreline but she was gone by the time I got there. My mom & Rich went to see some in south Tacoma (Spanaway) and reported back that they were good. My mom took photos and videos to show me. I was interested. Wednesday morning I called and arranged for Benjamin & I to go see the puppies after work. But, it turned out Benjamin had a deployment at work and couldn't go down with me. Since time was at a premium and I wanted to avoid sitting in traffic forever I decided to leave work early to drive down. On the way I snagged a cheap plastic play structure through Craig's list. :) It turned out that Tuesday afternoon/evening's traffic was shockingly bad and it took me about three hours to get there, taking some sneaky ways around. There were thunderstorms on the way to keep me entertained. When I got there I met the little girl that could be mine. I held her and watched her play. She was great. The parents seemed healthy and very well loved. The woman selling the puppies was a pet owner, not really a breeder, though she had done this before. She bred her own male and female pugs together; this was their 4th litter. They weren't the "best" pugs I have seen but as I mentioned before, I don't necessarily want the 'pug standard' characteristics. What really sold me was her personality and how loved the parents and puppies were. So I bought her. We went to my mom's house for dinner on the way home and then home to introduce her to Benjamin. Today I went to work for a few hours and then came home. I'm trying to get the puppy used to be alone during the day without doing it all at once. Benjamin and I are still discussing names. See photos & videos of the whole adventure.

Photo taken using infrared I want a puppy so freaking bad it is making me crazy! Yesterday I resorted to the Seattle Times classified ads. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner; I suppose I was trying to do things the "right" way and go to a "good" breeder. But that isn't working out very well, especially since some of the "desirable" pug characteristics are actually less healthy (ex: flatter faces and larger nose roll tends to mean they have more difficulty breathing). So last night and this morning I called/emailed every single ad in the Seattle Times for a female fawn pug puppy. I have two leads. I am going to Shoreline tonight to meet a litter of ~12 week old puppies from Roseburg, Oregon. My mom is going to look at some pug puppies for me tonight in Tacoma that are 6.5 weeks old. Oh, and there is a 3-4 month old female fawn that needs to be placed with a new family because her owner was in a serious accident and has to give up the dog. But since she is older she isn't our first choice. I think the Tacoma ones are our first choice if they turn out to be good. I'm on pins and needles and apparently somewhat obsessive-compulsive as well as a bit melodramatic at times. ;-)

This morning we had my dad and Mimi over for Father's Day brunch. Benjamin cooked scrambled eggs & bacon and my dad and Mimi brought juice and pastries. We ate on the freshly cleaned back deck and chatted while we enjoyed the gorgeous weather. We looked at the trees in our back yard and talked gardening. We gave them a barbeque and comforter we were getting rid of and they gave us some Richlite pieces from Doug that we're going to use to puppy-proof the neighbor's fence.

On our way home we stopped in Tacoma to celebrate Father's Day with my mom and step-dad. My mom barbecued buffalo burgers and we chatted for a while. We finally left and got home around 11:30PM.

After leaving St. Helens we went back to Longview where another breeder was nice enough to meet with us on the spur of the moment. She has two show pugs who she will be breeding together in the late summer. We got to meet her female but her male was at his handler's house. She was extremely nice and informative. I don't think we'll end up taking one of her puppies either, but she has really helped us figure out what we want to look for in a puppy and a breeder.

Saturday finally came and Benjamin and I drove more than 150 miles to St. Helens Oregon to meet and hopefully pick out a pug puppy. Unfortunately once we were there we decided not to take one. We had several concerns but the biggest one was their lack of socialization. They were adorable and interested in us, but they hadn't been held much and were afraid of us. That combined with a few smaller issues forced us to make the very difficult and dissapointing decision to leave with our money but no puppy. :-(

Thursday night Alan came over and helped Benjamin move and put together the futon couch for the family room. They also took our other futon to the front porch so it can be picked up by someone else who wants it. I offered it to a coworker but ended up advertising it on Craig's list for free.

I vacuumed the rugs and then rolled them up and put them away in preparation for puppy housebreaking.

We've had some beautiful weather this week.

Traffic this week has been extra super lame all week. It's because of sports. There are games for at least a couple more straight days as well.

My office window was washed on Wednesday. I think it's funny the guy hung from the roof since I'm on the first floor, but I guess he was already riding around on his little seat and didn't want to get off.

I spent a few hours Tuesday evening organizing the remaining pile of stuff while Benjamin was at his Champions game. It may not look that great but it is way more organized than before - everything in in little groups organized by type (computer stuff, miniatures, clothes, AV stuff, etc). Now it's ready for Benjamin to cull.

Tuesday after work I went to Petco to get crickets. While there I decided to get some puppy things to get ready for the puppy we hoped to get on Saturday. I bought a bunch of puppy things and was so caught up I forgot to buy crickets at all! I ended up going to Mud Bay Granary as well to get the Puppy Kong Combo that Petco didn't have and Mud Bay s way better. It might be more expensive but I like it a lot more. Too bad they don't have crickets!

Car thief returns!

Last night our repeat offender returned and broke into Benjamin's car. Benjamin forgot to set the alarm Saturday evening so sometime Saturday or Sunday night the car prowler let himself in and helped himself to everything of interest in Benjamin's car. This person is really selective and not in a very smart way. The person took a backpack and Mag light but left behind two unopened copies of Microsoft Office and a bunch of other random stuff. I wonder if it is a kid in the neighborhood because it seems like anytime you forget to alarm your car he is there, always waiting. I want to catch this little puke (like my gritty detective novel terminology?). It is tempting to get a video camera and lay a trap. I wonder if it would hold up in court. I called Seattle PD and requested that they increase patrols of our street and Benjamin is going to report the theft. Supa lame.

Benjamin's office is really coming together and the piles in the dining room and kitchen are steadily shrinking. The desk at the end of the room is the new desk Benjamin bought yesterday at IKEA. Also note that his miniature case is set up and has minatures inside. And the glass is quite clean and shiny, of I do say so myself.

We bought another double-high folding bookshelf at Storables and put it in the living room. Needing to move the side table made me clean out the frog tank (to lighten it by removing the water). The frogs are ecstatic and are now trying to mate.

After the brunch, Benjamin and I went to Half Price Books to sell a bunch of books we cleared out of the house. We had 6+ bags of books and 2 boxes of 1980s comic books. When you look at the books I bought today it is clear that I am really getting older. In contrast, Benjamin bought a video game and some porn. ;-)

This morning we went to brunch at Benjamin's parents' house. It was mostly a family gathering but was also a belated birthday celebration for Rand and an early Father's Day celebration. We didn't stay for very long after brunch because Benjamin was anxious to get back to our house projects.

Saturday while Benjamin went to IKEA to buy another desk I went to Costco. I returned our memory foam mattress topper because it hurt Benjamin's back. Then I bought everything on our list plus a bunch more. These are the new Avia tennis shoes I bought myself to replace my purple Sketchers since they're falling apart.

Friday Benjamin and I carpooled together because Brice & Emilio are out of town. After work we went to the company store to buy some software for his co-workers and then to Great Floors to return the extra package of flooring we had leftover from the basement. The sky looked very pretty as we crossed the bridge on the way home.

I may have found our pug puppy! There is a litter of 7 week old pups just on the other side of the Oregon border. There are several girls to choose from, though there's one person who gets to choose ahead of me since he's looking for a "breeder". Benjamin and I are planning to drive down next Saturday and meet the puppies. If everything is okay then we'll pick the one we want and bring her home that very day! I am so excited! Now we're cleaning and trying to get the crap cleared out of the upstairs in time for the puppy's arrival.

Isn't this little guy on the left just the cutest? I love how he positioned himself to really tackle that nipple.

Last night after going to the library, eating dinner, and vegging out for a bit, I worked on the basement. I vacuumed under the stairs in the networking closet, moved the violins into the closet, and then installed the TP & hand towel hardware in the bathroom. I felt very handy. ;-)

Benjamin is preparing to be in an Apple commercial.

Benjamin is getting cozy in his new office. It is pretty cold in the basement still, but we discovered that if Benjamin closes his office door the electronics in the room are more than enough to heat it. ;-)

Sunday night from about 8-11 PM we worked on sorting the piles in the bedroom and living room. We made a dent but have a lot left to do. This morning I dropped off 5 bags and some misc. items at Goodwill. I also have 4 bags of books in my trunk to go to Half Price Books.

Judge upholds Gregoire's election

Gov. Christine Gregoire's narrow 2004 election victory was upheld this morning by a judge who said Republicans failed to show that voting problems in King County and elsewhere were the reason Gregoire won by 129 votes.The decision by Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges surely will be appealed by the GOP to the state Supreme Court.Read the entire artcile.

Sunday morning I had hellerwork and then I went to Claire & Erik's house. We had lunch at a pub in West Seattle and then hung out at their house for a bit. Claire & I went on a shopping trip to Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Then I held Amelia while Erik & Claire got ready to go to part I of Claire's younger sister's high school graduation. More photos.

After visiting with the pugs for about an hour and a half Benjamin and I went to breakfast at the Portage Bay Cafe. From there we walked to Petco for crickets, stopping at Hardwick's hardware store pictured above. When we got home Piper came over and she and I went for a walk. It was a longer, faster walk than I usually do and it was good. It was also really nice to see Pipey. At this point I was hot and pooped so I crashed on the couch and had dinner. Then Benjamin and I watched Spanglish (the second time for me) and eventually went to bed.

Saturday at noon Benjamin and I drove to the house of a pug breeder, Shelly, who lives near us. We met a litter of 4 week old pugs as well as the mom and dad pug (and a few others). The dad is owned by Shelly and the mom is owned by Melissa, a breeder in Tacoma. The pugs were adorable, fuzzy, and fun. I wanted them all. But I am not sure if this is the right litter for us. The dad pug has a wirier coat than I want and his facial markings make him look serious all the time. But both parents are healthy and very nice. The mom has a soft coat so the pups could get that from her. The other wrinkle is that both of the girls (we want a girl) have medical problems. One has a cloudy eye but they don't know why; she's going to the vet today. The other little girl has a broken tail. We might actually be willing to live with that but we'll see. More photos and videos.

Friday evening Benjamin went to Jon's house to work on Champions. I called around to see if any of my friends were free to go see a movie, but they weren't. I went to Bartell's and Hollywood Video on my way home. Hollywood was having a big sale on DVDs so I bought a whole bunch, mostly anime and comic book movies for Benjamin. After that I went home and ate dinner. At 7pm I decided to take a "nap". I slept until Saturday at ~10AM.

Yesterday a giant order of Adobe software upgrades arrived at work. I've taken over the job of managing the design team's software collection so I opened all the boxes, photocopied the CDs to record the serial numbers, distributed the CDs to the team, stored all the manuals, and recycled all the boxes and the old software manuals. Now I get to play with Photoshop CS2 and the other programs. :-)

Another disgusting development in the conservatism of our country and the limitation of your individual freedoms. A judge has issued a ruling preventing the parents of one boy from teaching him their Wiccan (pagan) beliefs. It's part of a divorce decree, but neither parent is fighting for this position - the judge is the one pushing this agenda! In case you're wondering, the federal government has previously given Wiccans protection under the First Amendment so it is recognized as a religion, not a cult. Read the complete article.

I spent about 40 minutes last night wedged behind the dryer swearing, trying to get the dryer vent hose hooked up properly. I finally succeeded and this is the first load of laundry I've done in my own washer & dryer in 2 months. Woo hoo!

The weather turned colder on Sunday and yesterday the rain returned.

Geek it up

I just discovered a very entertaining magazine for geeks: Make Magazine. There's a bonus issue promo on subscriptions.