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I’m not one to advertise, but I have to let you know of a GREAT thing when I see one. As many people know, downloading digital music is a GREAT concept but has been carried out horribly in the last few years. The music industry (not necessarily the artists) do not want to embrace the switch from CDs to digital downloads. Why? Because it’s difficult to moderate distribution. Pirating is a valid issue, so a few years ago, I figured I’d try my hand at downloading digital music legally.

Because of DRM (Digital Rights Management), I was unable to burn MP3 CDs and I was very limited to what I could do with my file. IT’S MY FILE! I PAID FOR IT! Sometimes, if my internet was down, I wasn’t able to even play the music on my own computer! For obvious reasons, I gave up downloading music from places like urge.com. iTunes is the same way; they offer mediocre-quality music that can only be played on a very limited number of MP3 players.

However, I stumbled upon a GREAT solution to these problems. Amazon.com offers high-quality MP3s with NO DRM! In other words, you can legally download music for a great price (usually 89 or 99 cents a song) and do whatever you want with your music! I fully support this service so from now on, amazon.com it is for me!!!

Please, give it a try.

Well, the inevitable happened. We received Maddie Saturday morning. She was beautiful! We introduced her to Drake, who she liked immediately. We kind of knew Drake was going to be a good sport. Then came time to introduce Maddie to Leila.

Leila is an interesting dog. And by interesting, I mean horribly unmanageable. She has the worst case of little-man’s syndrome that I’ve ever seen. Of course, this was no different with Maddie. Leila immediately tried to bite her. Throughout the day, we’d try to walk them together or play with them in a neutral setting so Leila wouldn’t have to be defensive. It never worked. Leila is past the point of socialization, which is unfortunate.

Maddie started to become very uncomfortable around Leila (who isn’t?) and started to act strange towards Drake. We knew that this was not becoming the atmosphere we wanted to foster a dog in who’s already been through a lot. Jackie decided to hand Maddie back over to the organization, as our house wasn’t a suitable environment. Ultimately, Leila fought and Leila won. It’s now been unintentionally reinforced that fighting and trying to bite visiting animals is a successful way to get them out of the house.

Kudos to Jackie for pursuing this wonderful adventure. Hopefully she will find other ways to contribute her time and effort to dog rescuing while we have Leila. As usual, I’ll be here to help!

My wife, Jackie, has a special love for German Shepherd Dogs (GSD). I fully support her passion to foster and help rescue this wonderful breed. Of course, we’re both new to the GSD Rescue scene, but Jackie received a phone call last night that completely changed her week; she’ll be fostering Maddie, a 1-year-old GSD!

More information about Maddie can be found here for anyone who may be interested in adopting.

Fostering a dog will definitely be an interesting experience. A lot goes into rescuing a dog, but each dog will have a well-deserved second chance at life.

I’m starting a new series in my blog. I come across a million pictures a week (I’m behind a computer at least 8 hours a day). Some pictures stand out as humorous, cruel, meaningful, emotional, etc. I’d like to start this series with an image that makes me laugh with guilt every time I come across it. It’s not just that the cat looks ridiculous….. I can just picture doing this to the cat that makes daily trips to the garden in my front yard.

After 5 years of college and three applications, I’ve been accepted into LSU School of Dentistry!!!! I’ve worked so hard to get to this point and now I actually feel like it was all well worth it. Thank you God! Jackie’s been so supportive despite the previous years’ rejection letters. My friends and family all know how important this is to me!

I have 4 years of Dental School, which will be stressful. But for the first time, I’ll be attending LSU!!! I’ll be at a school that has a sense of community - a school that I can be proud of. I can officially call myself a TIGER!!!! Well, in about 5 months.

Jackie and I are dog-lovers. When we heard that “The Krewe of Barkus” was this Sunday, we were extremely excited! Fortunately, Jackie has a friend who also likes to humiliate her dogs, so we burrowed a Jester costume!

While walking to the parade route, we came across a guy who was one of the best statues I’ve ever seen. Fortunately, he was a dog-lover and agreed to pose with Jackie and Drake.

Drake is a carefree dog - it’s nice not to have to worry if he’s going to sneak attack another dog if we’re not paying attention. Matter of fact, he made at least 1,000 friends yesterday. One of which was “Chase” - a friendly dog who rolled with Drake’s punches.

There were far more people than I expected to see. Every breed you could possibly think of was walking around and we didn’t see a single fight break out. Why? Because we didn’t bring Leila!!!

If you couldn’t make it this year, then definitely try to make it next. It was by far one of the funnest parades I’ve been to in a very long time!

Something triggered a memory yesterday when I was practicing my daily ritual of death during a 5-minute break. I smoke. It’s a disgusting habit, I know. I picked it up in college and didn’t leave it there. What I dislike even more is the blatant statements that strangers feel compelled to share. On one of my bad days at UNO, I remember a heavy-set girl I’ve never met before walking up to me. She said, “You know, you should stop smoking - it’s disgusting.” I still regret it to this day, but I turned to her and said, “…and you should stop over-eating.”

She (and a few people around her) looked at me with that “How Rude!” look. Why? Obesity is about to pass up smoking to become the #1 preventable killer in America. Why can she tell me that I’m disgusting when she has a habit that is just as likely to kill her? It’s difficult to take someone seriously when they have obvious problems of their own. However, anyone who has any constructive advice on how to quit, I’m willing to listen.

If I’ve gained one good thing (amongst the millions of bad things) from smoking, I’ve learned how to be empathetic to those who have a habit they cannot break. I used to wonder why people can’t just STOP EATING or STOP DOING DRUGS. Well, now I understand. I’ve quit smoking about 5 times. Sixth time’s a charm…

Recognize these people? They are members of Westboro Baptist Church. Without going into a deep explanation of their purpose, you can read more information about them at this link.

Or, if you’d like to read their website, you can visit www.godhatesfags.com. Yes, I’m serious.
I can’t express the anger I feel when I read about the things this group is a part of. For instance, they show up at military funerals with their “God Hates Fags” signs and picket so loudly that the mourning family cannot help but be distracted. Why military funerals? Why the men and women who died while fighting for their very own freedom? Because America is a “fag-enabling” country. Or at least that’s their reasoning.

For the fun of it, check out this link: http://www.thesignsofthetimes.net/watchsignmovies.html. It’s pictures of the signs they typically bring to their events.

Some of their more popular slogans:

• Thank God For 9/11
• God Hates You
• Thank God for Katrina
• Thank God for Dead Soldiers
• Your Pastor is a Whore
• Semper Fi Semper Fag

What bothers me most about the whole thing is that they claim they’re doing the work of God. I can’t help but think about the Non-Christians who see these people and think, “If this is what God is about, I’ll never be a part of it.” That’s a shame. There may be things going on the world that do not have my support, but I will never misuse the name of God or disrespect our own military to get my point across.

How DO they get away with it? The Phelps’ family is made up of lawyers. They know the law VERY well and can manipulate it in their favor. How do they fund their missions? By suing those who illegally act against them.

Sorry for today’s dreadful post. It’s on my mind.

There are few things I enjoy doing more than hanging out with my wife, Jackie, and our dogs. Let me rephrase that: my dog, Drake, and HER dog, Leila. Before I adopted Leila, I had always wanted a smart dog: a dog with a purpose - a dog that could learn tricks. Big mistake. Smart dogs constantly need something to do, they get their feelings hurt easily, they talk back… Might as well just get a cat.

And then I met Drake. The best, dumb, most friendly and loyal dog you’ll ever meet. Yes, I said dumb, because neither Drake nor I am afraid to admit it. He won’t be competing in any trivia competitions like other dogs. But, he’ll lay on his back in the presence of children - his way of saying, “You’re boss”. He’ll let you yank his tail and put your hand in his mouth. Why? Because he just doesn’t care. From this point on, I’ll take a dumb dog any day.

I’m not usually a stickler about the English language. However, it drives me insane when people botch it. People create words, people mispronounce words. Take “mischievous” for example; it’s pronounced “miss-chuh-viss”, not “miss-cheev-ee-us”. With all the creative word-creating that makes it’s way into the dictionary each year, I figure I’d mention definitions that need words. If there is already a word in existence, then I’m an idiot. This may be a bit backwards, but work with me on this…

We’ll start with a more serious one; What do you call it when people leave out the truth? They aren’t necessarily LYING, but they aren’t making the truth clear. It isn’t a blatant lie, because that takes the creation of a false story or statement. But it isn’t honest, because they know there’s more to the story.

Create a word for it!