Still hacking up lung. Coughing does a lot for silent group meditation. As a group we are used to a train coming by at least once during the meditation hour. I'm not a Zen Master or anything. I just bang the gong.

Really, that is the extent of my leadership. I open the church and bang the gong.

There are no altered mind states during meditation. It is just sitting and being. That is hard for a lot of people. I have no problem being silent in an external sense but my mind can be quite noisy. That is the part that requires discipline. There is a reason is called practice.

The question that comes up in my mind a lot is, "Does the Dalai Lama fart?" Actually does he fart while in meditation? I haven't had that experience yet. I've had some close calls. It would just be interesting to find out how one of our living holy people handles the extreme earthiness of farting. Jesus probably farted and laughed about it. The Dalai Lama would probably laugh too.

The dogs got to enjoy some sunshine today. It was cloudy for 5 days in a row.

Salvador is standing on my shoulder shrieking in my ear. He does not understand that I cannot stroke his head and type at the same time. He was whistling some show tunes earlier today. The preening, the show tunes, the cattiness, I don't know.

I'm spending Valentine's Day hacking up my lungs! Oh joy.

There are plans for a romantic evening. I'll take some cough syrup beforehand.

I'm down to 165.5 pounds. According to most BMI calculators that is my ideal weight. I'm pleased. About 5 years ago I was 215 pounds. Exercise and portion control. Mostly exercise because I like food.

Some people expect magic things to happen with their lives once the excess weight is off. Nothing magical happens in terms of riches, fulfillment and such. You are just healthier and weigh less. Weight loss won't solve everything but it makes dealing with some things easier. People do treat you better, even though you have not changed much in terms of personality. If you are a fat asshole then losing weight is only going to make you a thin asshole. After losing weight other people will just call you an asshole rather than a fat asshole.

Getting down to a healthier weight is a long term project. You have to start somewhere and stick with it. For some people it is not just the weight it is being able to do things without keeling over. There are some heavy looking people that can run marathons, compete in triathlons and do other mighty physical feats. There are some people who look fat but are very fit. Of course, if you are one of those fat people sitting around on their ass while stuffing your face then you are not one of the fat and fit. The fat and fit are out doing stuff and moving around. Don't use the fat and fit to justify your lifestyle.

Listening to DH run the vacuum cleaner.

Dogs are scared of the vacuum cleaner. Rusty has taken refuge under my desk and the Bassets have taken refuge on the couch.

Today is heartworm preventative day. Everyone gulped down their pills. The nice peanut butter fudge wrapping around the pills helped a lot.

Salvador is preening. Always preening. Sometimes, I think he is a gay man in a bird suit.

Off to cough up another chunk of lung.

fphomepage

Check out this freak show. Be sure to have some mental bleach handy when viewing the "erotica" pictures.

Listening to the Lounge Station on Radio@Netscape Plus.
Current song: You're the Top by Dean Elliot & His Big Band.

Just finished the Order of Service for this Sunday. Why yes, I go to church. A Unitarian-Universalist church.

What is Unitarian-Universalism? It is only the coolest, hippest, swankiest religion around. Whoa, a little too much lounge music. Actually, it is a over 500 year old religion with roots in Christianity that also draws upon the wisdom and traditions of other religions. To find a Unitarian-Universalist church near you vist http://www.uua.org. We call ourselves UUs because Unitarian-Universalist is just too long.

Our churches run a special for Catholics during Lent. Give up Catholicism for Lent and try us for 40 days. If you are not happy with UU after 40 days then you are free to return to Catholicism without any obligation nor condemnation.

Current Song: Stranger in Paradise by Jack Jones.

Current state: Coughing up my lungs between paragraphs.
Dogs: Rusty's breath really stinks, Harley is pissed off at our attempts to trim his toenails, Daisy is sleeping.
Bird: Sleeping quietly in his cage.

Mood: Stuffy but buzzing on Alka-Seltzer Plus Nighttime
Dog Moods: Sleeping, sleeping and sleeping
Feet: Cold
Watch: Timex Ironman Triathlon
Feet: Warming up now that Rusty is laying on them
Bird: screeching
Shirt: Purple with pinstripes
Weather: sucks
Listening to nothing but the whirring of computers.
Poetry: Feh

Cool! A real dog won the Westminister Kennel Club Dog Show. Way to go, Josh the Newfoundland.

Now is the time to stop giving show poodles those ridiculous haircuts.

I missed seeing the Hound Group. The Bassets did not care and they prefer watching Most Extreme Elimination Challenge anyway. Why don't the Japanese export the drugs they are taking?

Why is television for men much more interesting than television for women? I'll take Spike over Lifetime any day.

Cough, cough

Rant:

Some woman in Tennessee (a state that I've come close to visiting) is suing Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, MTV, CBS and Viacom over the little bit of nipple. She claims it has caused her embarrassment, pain and suffering. She hopes this becomes a class action suit worth billions of dollars.

I want to sue the woman in Tennessee for causing me embarrassment, a headache and suffering caused by the fact that she lives in the same country and that she is causing even more embarrassment to America. I don't want money. I just want to beat her with a cricket bat for 2 minutes.

I think the United States is the junior high kid of the world community, with the way we act about nudity. It was, at most, 10% of a nipple. Heh, heh, heh, nipple.

What about the children? @#$%! the children! God forbid, a parent has to take time to answer what ever question their child might have had about the moment.

I love America but hate a lot of her residents.

create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide

I've been to the Bahamas but I did not want to have a map of the world with just two countries in red. In my mind I've been to many other places.

Listening to: "When I was 17" by Frank Sinatra.

Received my official race results post card.
Gun time: 6:13:43
Chip time: 6:08:56

Place within division (Female 30 to 34): 334 of 339
Place within gender: 1821 of 1838
Place overall: 5363 of 5391

Split times:
5K: 0:43:24
10K: 1:22:46
Half: 2:52:06
30K: 4:15:08
37K:

Effing A! I Finished!

To keep on topic, the Bassets are sleeping on the couch. The pack issues have been sorted out. Harley's sad eyed stare is quite hypnotic. If I did not know better, I'd think he was trying to communicate telepathically.

Mood: slightly crampy but content.

Ate dinner with the marathon training group. We all want to run another marathon. I want to run another marathon and finish in less time.

I run like a Basset Hound. What I lack in speed I make up for in tenacity.

Check me out, running like a Basset Hound in the Houston Marathon

It has been over a week but I'm still high.

Current mood: sleepy with sore pecs, triceps and biceps

I did not feel like publishing this one on the regular site. Too many words. I needed to get them off my chest.

Yes, that is a cartoon self portrait.

The Bassets had a dry night. Harley is a bit thin. He will be getting more food.

Mood: tired of New Hampshire primaries.

Another Monday. Yee Haw.

Doing some minor design changes on the ol' website. Both of us have been bitten by the redesign bug at the same time. Walter is looking for a new look for the Robot Monster Toys index page.

The dogs are doing their dog thing. Eat, sleep, shit, demand attention. I do wish Rusty would lick his privates a bit more quietly. Especially in the wee hours of the morning.

I just finished reviewing sites from November, 2003. Maybe I'll get to January, 2004 site by February.
Who knows. I'm just amazed that people take the time to solicit my opinion just because I set up an awards program. It brings in the traffic.

Mood: content

Okay, I (Linda) have not been updating this silly blog thing lately.

I've had trouble writing from the view point of my Basset Hound, Daisy, and keeping it somewhat interesting.

Writing from the point of view of Basset Hounds is difficult because 1) they do very little except, sleep and eat and 2) I have a day time job that prevents me from observing the Basset Hounds doing anything interesting if they did something besides sleep and eat.

To be fair the hounds don't sleep all the time, a lot of times they are just laying around. They go on walks and Harley's dangling bits are the subject of amusement to the neighborhood children.

I will add entries but will discontinue writing from Daisy's view point.

Making sure that the cushions stay on the couch is hard work. Also, Linda seems to spend a lot of time out of the house, so she can't transcribe my thoughts as often as I like to share my thoughts with you, my loyal reading public.

Who am I kidding? Who wants to read the thoughts of a Basset Hound? I read somewhere that we are ranked pretty low on the intelligence scale. At least we are smarter than Afghan Hounds. We would have never allowed the Taliban to take over our country.

For the humor impaired, that was a joke. Maybe not a good one but it was a tongue in cheek comment. I have a lot of tongue to insert into a lot of cheek.

Although Rusty is a fluffy dog, he does lay around the house just as well as a Basset. I'm starting to like him. I discovered that his howling goes very well with our baying. We should start a trio.

Daisy

I've been in a bad mood lately. Rusty, Harley, everyone is chapping my hide! Doesn't anyone understand that a girl has a right to be in a bad mood once in a while. I just want to be in a bad mood without everyone going off on me.

All of us dogs are excited about Linda attempting to run in the Houston Marathon. We've been trying to protect her from injuries before the race by using our bodies to shield her legs. She does not appreciate it. She would not almost stumble so much if she would simply stop trying to walk around the house.

It is time to watch Trading Spaces. I'll write more later.

Daisy

Linda went to the dentist today. She had her first cavity filled. She could not feel Harley giving her kisses for a while. From what I hear, it is an extraordinary feat for a human to go without needing a filling for more than 30 years. I'm glad I have good teeth.

My ears are doing better.

Harley is trying to be a big baby. He thinks he is a lap dog. He placed all of his weight on one of his paws and nearly bruised Linda's thigh. Nobody's lap is big enough to accomodate him. We Bassets are big dogs with short legs. Imagine a Lab trying to be a lap dog.

Harley likes to hang out in the computer room with Rusty.

We got to spend the night on the couch instead of in the kitchen, last night. Since we did not pee on the floor we will get to spend the night on the couch again.

Walter is sending us outside to pee.

See you later,
Daisy

My ear! My ear! My ear is driving me nuts.
Walter is giving me medicine but my ear is still driving me nuts.
You think having an earache is bad, try having 8 inch ears that droop.

I hope my little girl is staying warm in Baltimore. It is a bit chilly here but no ice or snow.
I am jealous of Rusty's think fur coat. I have a nice layer of fat to help keep me warm.

Daisy.

Now the wing back chair is off limits. The chair has been off limits for two weeks now but Harley and me find a way to get on it when nobody is sitting in it. It is so comfortable. The comfort is worth the balancing act that we have to do in order to get to the seat.

For some weird reason, Linda and Walter want some Basset free furniture. They think the floor, our bed and the couch should be adequate for our needs. We are Bassets, we deserve more.

Today, Linda went back to work. It was just Walter and us all day.

We ate some pizza crusts and lunch meat. Linda said that Harley and me were not very good scent hounds because Rusty, the non-hound found the bit of meat on the floor before we did. I guess it did not occur to Linda that we were being nice and let Rusty find the meat. We have the scenting talent but no formal training.

Rusty and me got into a little bit of a shouting match over some pizza crust. I won.

Walter and Linda say we look a bit like the crocodiles at Australia Zoo during feeding demonstrations. Harley has a bit of trouble with catching food in the air. Sometimes he clips the morsel and it goes flying off in a new direction.

I got a good whiff of Salvador, the bird. His body covering tickled my nose. He does not smell very appetizing. Apparently birds do not greet each other via butt sniffing. He did not appreciate my nose in his butt and he flew off. Of course, I do not know exactly where his butt is. I just checked the end opposite of his head.

This is Daisy, signing off.

Harley is under the mistaken impression that he is allowed to sleep on the bed. He has learned that he is not allowed to sleep on the bed. The bed is for people. The couch is for Bassets.

Salvador the bird tried to walk on the couch but I shooed him off. The couch is for Bassets only.

I allow Linda to sit on the couch only because she pets us while sitting on the couch. The couch is for Bassets only. Nobody else is allowed on the couch. Especially, elderly fuzzy dogs.

I growl at Rusty whenever he even looks like he wants to be on the couch. The couch is for Bassets only. Linda gets mad when I growl at Rusty. For some reason she has a special place in her heart for him. It may have something to do with him being first dog and all. I think Rusty is a nice gentleman but the couch is for Bassets only. Well, except at night when Linda and Walter go to bed. Me and Harley sleep in a bed in the kitchen while Rusty sleeps on the couch, if he can get on it. The old dog has a tough time.

I might reconsider my rule about the couch.

Daisy (as transcribed by Linda because it is impossible to type with these huge Basset feet)

Hooray, Blogger is back up!

Linda has posted pictures of me and Harley. Also includes bonus pics of my daughter Lil Bit.
They can be found here

Despite the lack of photographic evidence, I walk very well. And when I want to get on the couch, I can fly.

Me and Harley went on a 30 minute walk yesterday. Rusty got tired after 15 minutes. Everbody wanted to pet Rusty because he has a sweet face and soft fur. I am so jealous.

Check out Linda's web comic A Perfect World. There is link on the right. Today's strip features a Basset Hound.

Harley tried to help Linda with her gag writing. She did not appreciate it. Something about Basset slobber on the portable keyboard. I was snoozing on the other end of the couch so I did not get the whole story. Besides Harley is not too witty. Harley is a sweet boy but bless his heart, he is not that bright.

Daisy signing off.