What is wrong with people?!?!?!

I don't smoke. If you wanna smoke, more power to you, though you shouldn't :-), it's bad for you... Anyhow... as a non-smoker, let me say the new smoking ban is just stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. While I have liked that there is no longer a smoking section 6 inches away from the non-smoking section in restaurants (which was always stupid), and I will enjoy the fact that smokers at work will no longer be standing right at the employee entrance at work so I don't have to walk right through it on my way into the building, THIS is just beyond my comprehension...



My thoughts:

1. I don't smoke, I wouldn't choose to stop here. If I need a drink or a lottery ticket, there are many other places I'd go. Any non-smoker that doesn't want to be in that environment should use some common sense and uh, stay out of that environment.

2. Kids? Don't take them in here then they won't be exposed. But if you smoke, your kids are probably already exposed.

3. How many hours did our lawmakers waste coming up with a law that doesn't let smokers smoke in a tobacco store?

Anyhow.... on another smoking related topic, sort of...

A guy I once told that he should quit smoking or it would kill him, is now singing songs about Sarah Palin. Check it out HERE. Oh, by the way, Gerry's response was something to the effect of "at least I know what I'll die from". Good point.

2 down, 6 to go

Yesterday I ventured out of the house to hit Boscov's "As seen on TV" selection. I've been seeing the commercials for the Pedipaws and wondered if it really worked. Pedipaws it a pet nail trimmer that works similar to a Dremel tool to sand the nail instead of squeezing and clipping it. I had asked a coworker if she had any experience with it and she said it worked very well, better than traditional clippers anyhow. Our guys HATE.... HATE... HATE... getting their nails done. Did I mention they HATE it?! Well, they do. Benson only needs to hear you make a mere mention of 'toenails' and he is headed to another room, one far away from the person that said the bad words. Anyhow, my trip paid off. Boscov's had them. So I saved that dreaded "S&H" charge and brought one home. After putting the batteries in it, Benson and I went to school to get tired out - my thinking being a tired dog might be more tolerant. Only problem was it tired me out too, and it was hotter than usual so I was too tired and hot to fight him over his toenails when we got home, but I digress... When we finally got to messing with the thing, I just turned it on around each of them to get their reaction. Duncan just wants to chew on it. (Surprised?) Benson just sniffs it unless you get it near his toes. HA. (But he doesn't seem to mind the nice massage it gives him it you rub it on him as it vibrates!) This morning we actually tried doing toenails on each of them. It wasn't a bad experience at all once we tag team them. Daddy snuggles/holds them while mommy does the nails. Later on we'll try another paw on each of them, one seemed to be as much as either would humor us with. After the first nail, they were sort of "ok, this ain't bad", but didn't really offer the next paw. Better than nothing.

And an update on the little puppy

And by that I mean Benson. HA! Duncan is now (over) 67 pounds. That is what he weighed-in at two weeks ago. We went to visit Daddy at work again and we put him on the freight scale.

As for the little one, Benson seems to have FINALLY quit scratching. Once the first side started healing up, he started scratching at the other side. With any luck, we'll be back to school this week. And we could all use it. It'll be nice getting out and walking and nice getting these two back to socializing - both with other dogs and each other. Benson seems to be trying to get along better with Duncan. He isn't snarling at him near as much as before, but I think we still have a ways to go before Benson is totally ready to play nice. But then again, Duncan only has 20 pounds to go before he catches up to Benson in size, which gives us about two months if he keeps growing at his current pace.

DirecTV

Well, we finally got sick of paying the cable company, so we switched. Dave took last Thursday afternoon off to be here when the satellite guy showed up. It ended up raining all day, and the only place that the guy thought would work was on the chimney, which is right next to the electric cables coming off the pole and into the house. Water. Electricity. And a metal ladder. Well, it wasn't happening. They got pretty wet standing out there in the rain admiring the spot that the ladder would have to lean, but in the end, we had to reschedule. So Wednesday I got to hang out with the puppies and we waited on the satellite guy. He got here an hour EARLY and got everything hooked up for us. It took about 3 hours though, so if you are considering satellite, the connection takes more than a few minutes. Could have just been our lovely chimney/power line layout though.

We're still getting use to the new set up. We have like a gazillion channels and can't find much of anything yet without checking the cheat sheet. The only thing I DON'T like about it so far are the local channels. They are all stretched and distorted. The guy said that was normal. I'm not sure why. But it BUGS THE CRAP OUT OF ME. But the picture is nice and clear and the sound seems sooooooo much better than cable. And I can't hear to begin with.

Did it work?

Well, I have been wondering if those white strips really work or not. And I was starting to think my teeth were getting a nice shade of crappy yellow. Must be too much ice tea or something. Anyhow, I decided to give it a shot. So here are my before and after shots:

Before



After



What do you think?

On a related note - let me tell you, getting an exact photographic reproduction of a before and after is hard. I used the same lighting and everything, but the skintones seem off to me (maybe the white balance was different - ironic huh? I forgot to check that), so hopefully you can get an accurate enough representation of the teeth. But I think it was a success to see in person. Let me know if you see me if you can tell the difference.