And In Other News, Snowball Fights More Common During Winter Months

CNN does it again with another earth-shattering headline.

Breaking News

Some choice we have for news in this country! One network spreading lies and fear and purposely misinforming people and another, well, there are a few links I could have highlighted in that image to prove this point...

Channel 264 on DirecTV... BBC America. There's no other option.

Big Cats Nearby

It's not news to anyone who spends any time outdoors around here that there are cougars in the area -- you can't help but see their scat piles and paw prints from time to time -- but one in the vicinity of an elementary school has certainly caught the attention of the news.

Not really newsworthy, but does do a good job of showing off the views from downtown Snoqualmie!

Birth Control

So I'm out walking my dogs today and I'm heading down the path towards the pond near the park. School let out and a couple of boys are heading up the path towards me. Two moms, a stroller, and a leashed dog are about 30 yards behind them. The boys, about 8 years old each, look up and see us and suddenly start yelling, "Mom! Mom! The huskies! The huskies!"

I figured they were excited to see the dogs and the mom would tell them to ask if it was okay to pet my dogs. This happens all the time. There's probably over a hundred kids in the area that have at one time or another thrown their arms around Kimo or Annana's neck and hugged them.

That's not what happened though. Instead, mom stops in her tracks and starts to back up. She tells the boys to come back to her, that they'll go a different way. At this point I had stopped walking. I know some people are really averse to having dogs cross paths along a relatively narrow trail corridor (though it is about 15 feet wide). I ask the boys what's wrong and he tells me that they try to keep away from my dogs because my dog, Kimo, bit his dog in the nose.

What?

Having no idea what the kid is talking about, I ask him when this happened. He says a while ago. The lightbulb goes on.

"Did it happen about four years ago?"

He says it did, putting him at about 4 or 5 years old. Clearly second-hand information that needed correcting.

"Actually" I explain, "your dog jumped the fence and bit my dog. That's what happened." I had totally forgotten about this but, it's true. Not long after we moved in, Kristin was out walking the dogs and this family's dog leaped over their picket fence and attacked Kimo. Kimo defended himself -- and their dog may have gotten scraped -- but the end result was the owners of that dog (the boy's mom and dad) paying our vet bills.

So I yelled to the mom and told her it was fine, to keep coming and that I would stand off on the side with my dogs and let her pass. I knew at this point she was probably telling the other woman she was with all sorts of nasty untruths about my dogs. So when she got close I asked her if the dog she was with "was the one that jumped the fence and attacked my dog four years ago." A minor detail that I wanted to make sure was known.

She said it wasn't, that they don't have that dog anymore, but that "the incident really affected our other dog and I try to keep her away from them." Them was a reference to my dogs. She and her dog and kids passed without incident. My dogs stood on the grass and looked on. Her dog didn't even glance towards us.

It was at the them remark that I remember a brief run-in with her husband years ago, about 8 months after their dog jumped the fence and bit Kimo. I was walking down the sidewalk and he came out and essentially said my dogs were a nuisance and that I shouldn't walk past yards that I know have dogs in them (every yard is stylishly fenced by the way, this is a rather tidy neighborhood I must admit). Nearly one out of every three homes in the development has a dog. To not pass corner homes with dogs is an impossibility, not to mention it was his dog that jumped the fence. Not mine. I told him flatly to quit the "blame the victim" campaign and kept walking. I've walked past the house nearly every day for four years since and, again, never even thought about it.

But now it makes perfect sense. These parents are out of their mind. First, even though they had to pay our vet bills, they acted like it all our fault and tried to keep us off the sidewalk near their house. Then they apparently brainwashed their kids who were clearly too young to remember the incident that our dogs are mean and need to be stayed away from. And last but not least, they seem to think that this 20 second incident that happened over 4 years ago has given their other dog post-traumatic stress disorder.

All of this because of a relatively minor scrap the dogs got into years ago. An incident incited by a dog who is no longer even around.

I feel so bad for their kids. What's going to happen the first time the kid comes home after getting picked on at school or... GASP! with a black-eye from a fistfight? I'm surprised she just doesn't home-school them to better keep them away from all those mean kids who might be a nuisance. It's clear she can't handle living around other people unless everything is perfect. That's right, don't just act reasonable and pull in the leash on your dog, it's best to walk a completely different way. What a message to send to the kids. Run and hide. Stay home. Tell others to keep away. It's safer that way. Wouldn't want them to be "traumatized."

There are a lot of reasons Kristin and I don't want to have kids, but not wanting to have to deal with parents like these is in the top ten.

Kind of glad her boys didn't want to pet my dogs. I'd hate to see how she'd react if Annana managed to slip him the tongue, as she's known to do.

Sub Pop on Rock Band

Okay, now here's something to get me posting again.

Riding on the coattails of last Friday's Rock Band Network reveal, indie label Sub Pop is the first record company to officially pledge its support for the new DLC initiative. Rolling Stone spoke with Sub Pop A&R exec Tony Kiewel, who said, "This conceivably could be the opening of the floodgates." Sub Pop intends to convert its "entire catalog" -- which includes Sonic Youth, early Nirvana, and The Postal Service -- to playable tracks.

Need I also mention that everyone's newfound favorite band, "Band of Horses" is also also under the Sub Pop umbrella, as is early Soundgarden, Sleater-Kinney, and a little troupe known as Flight of the Conchords.

Oh and if you think your Rock Band parties are fun now, just wait till you get you're belting out the lyrics to "If You're Into It".

I call dibs on the toy piano!

GMCR

Ugh.

I have got to learn to trust my instincts when it comes to the stock market. You see, only once have I ever bought an individual stock -- Gamestop about 9 years ago. That worked out well, though it would have been even better if I held onto it longer. Nevertheless, we typically only invest in mutual funds as part of our retirement funds and leave the voodoo of individual stocks to people with more knowledge and means.

My father-in-law told me recently that the best advice he ever received about investing was to stick with what you know and particularly to those companies whose products you believe in.

Enter Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. I was always a fan of their beans since my college days when I would sip a cup of their Rainforest Nut at the off-campus Hill of Beans coffee shop while studying. Then this past fall, as many of you will recall, I became enamored with the Keurig coffee maker, a product of Green Mountain. I shouted its praises from digital rooftops and convinced several of you to buy one.

I thought about buying some of their stock last November, but didn't. Though it was only trading around $15-20 per share, the economy was in a free-fall, our other investments were tanking, and Christmas was around the corner. We really didn't have a couple thousand dollars to invest on my newfound fandom of GMCR.

A couple weeks later they struck a deal with Tully's and GMCR's stock rose about 50% overnight. I was kicking myself, but put it out of my head.

Now I want to cry.

GMCR is trading at $68 per share today and briefly topped out at $93 one day in June. Though I would have undoubtedly sold it long before it reached that height (see previous mention of Gamestop), I can't pretend that the prospect of making over 500% on my investment in this economy isn't making me want to bang my head against the wall.

I don't read the financials and don't follow business reports -- I leave that to my recently-degreed wife -- but I will follow my gut. It would have been 2 for 2 if only I trusted it.

The Definition of Scumbaggery

"Effective December 1, 2008: British Airways will mandate a fuel surcharge fee, ranging from approximately $150 to $600 (USD), for all awards redeemed by Mileage Plan members. The fuel surcharge will be collected along with all current taxes and fees at the time of ticketing, and applies to all tickets purchased or exchanged on or after December 1, 2008, without exception."

The New Newsweek

We've been subscribing to Newsweek for the majority of our time together as a couple and I was very happy to read 3 issues ago that the magazine was set to receive a major overhaul with the goal being better design, less pop-culture, more serious writing, and a greater diversity of topics. The letter from the editor said they actually desire to create a product that is higher quality, that will cost more, and that will have a lower subscriber base. The lower subscriber base was probably going to happen anyway, given the state of newspaper/magazine publishing in this country, but I'm more than happy to hear they wanted to create a more serious magazine for a more select readership.

I took the first issue of the "new Newsweek" with me on my trip to NJ last week and am happy to say that the magazine has been given new life. There is a noticeable increase in the quality of the writing. The design is crisp and easy to navigate, and there even appear to be fewer ads. Unless it's my imagination, the paper itself feels nicer also. The whole thing feels more grown up. I smiled upon reading the editor say that they are no longer to publish news stories that don't add anything to what we've already read online or seen on the television.

The new Newsweek is basically divided into four major sections. "Scope" includes the typical perspectives and conventional wisdom pieces and other blurb-esque newsbites, but with greater focus on the relevant. "The Take" is a series of one-page op-eds written by Newsweek's longstanding stable of columnists from Fareed Zakaria to George Will. I read each and every one of them and credit should be given to each author for keeping their own well-known ideological beliefs in check and, essentially, posing more discussion topics and questions instead of lecturing. "Features" is just that and includes lengthy, well-researched articles on a number of topics ranging from health to business to politics. An article written by NYC Mayor Bloomberg on Obama's first thousand days was particularly interesting. Lastly, "Culture" is allocated a paltry dozen or so pages (this is a good thing) and contains a collection of short articles on entertainment, food, travel, and books.

While this rundown may sound typical of a news magazine, those who have read Newsweek regularly over the years will no doubt notice the changes as soon as they pick up one of the new issues. The snark is greatly reduced, the writing and depth of discussion is deeper, and the infatuation with stupid celebrity goings-on is gone. In short, the magazine has made itself less of a target for those who like to namecall at the media and took a great stride towards increasing its reputation and making sure we don't let our subscription lapse.