Stupid Dog Story:

So, Apache was REALLy hyper last night (usually I walk her for an hour, and she is so pooped she naps long enough for me to relax and cook dinner etc.). I hope this isn't a growing trend. Anyway, she discovered my door stopper. This was a more entertaining event than watching Boston Public (though Monday-night TV has gotten much better since the advent of "The American Embassy" - the quote of the week, from a droll British police officer regarding the Vice Consul's job She teaches Americans not to drive on the wrong side of the road. Maybe I should join the Foreign Service).

So, back to the door stopper, its one of those spring ones with a rubber tip. And the the square area aroung my door is tiled. So, Apache slides across the tile right into the rubber stopper. First, there's the quizical, "What's that?" look. And then she squats down to examine it further and POUNCES. She was really surprised by Newton's Laws to have the stopper bounce right back at her. So she starts dodging it, getting into position to pounce, growling, poking at it, running awake, getting up the courage to try again, only for the thing to spring right back in her face to send her running. This provided over 20 minutes of entertainment for her. The only other thing that I have seen keep her attention that long is when she got stuck in some poor guy's fishing net (he thought it was endearing, because he raised sheep dogs back on the Farm in west Texas... I live in HICKVILLE).

Stupid Man Story:

Speaking of Hickville, I met a man out walking yesterday (having an 8 week old puppy attracts a lot of attention from just about anyone, which is good, since I am meeting all my neighbours. But so far the only SEXY men I have met are out walking with their girlfriends, the losers are out alone, and this is the case and point...) Anyway, he proceeded to regail me with (a total stranger) how he just moved here because he's looking for a job, and very out of money (don't ask me why he's living in one of the more expensive apartment complexes with a view of a resort and marina or how he even was cleared as you have to prove you have a monthly income higher than 4 x the rent - of course, he told me what a deal he got because apartment rent in Dallas is so much higher than Houston, I guess he hasn't figured out that here salaries are lower to match the lower cost of living).

So, he told me he felt the Houston economy was better than Dallas (which is where he moved from) and that's why he was looking here. I had to explain to him about Enron (which he had never heard of) and the possibility of all the Compaq employees (15,000) being laid off if HP manages to merge with them today. This didn't seem to deter him, because he thinks Dallas is a cess-pool of evil. Then he told me how he applied to be security at NASA, but he was deterred by the number of pages the application was (what did he expect?). He also told me he applied to work at our new Walmart, Target, and Home Depot, but was deterred because the process was too formalized (they have a computer station set up where they have all the new applicants sit and fill out forms).

The worst part of all this is that Apache has no loyalty at all and as soon as a total stranger starts petting her, she's his until I tear her away. So everytime I tried to walk away from this strangers sob story, Apache kept turning back to get all the love and affection she could (apparently getting petted by me is a worst-case scenario). I was very happy when she finally let me tear her away from this guy.