Reality VS. teh interwebs

Spring and I were spending some quality time with Hazel on the couch last night, when, under the door slides a piece of paper (followed by what sounded like quickly retreating footsteps).  I gave Spring a look, because, I had thought this was the dreaded "Please stop your f*cking dog from whining all day" note I was expecting we would receive at some point.  It wasn't that, thankfully.  Rather, it was an invitation to join this social networking site called meettheneighbors.org

Meettheneighbors is a site designed to - you guessed it - meet the people you live with and near!  Now, I'll ju

st start off by saying that, I think using the Web as a social networking tool is fine.  I, myself, spend a bit of time each and everyday perusing Facebook or MySpace (of course, not at work...).  However, I do that because it keeps me abreast on the goings-on of people that I normally don't see - friends that live far away, friends whose work schedules don't allow us time to catch up, and friends who add funny pictures of their new puppy.......................................... What?

A Web site that promotes "meeting" your neighbors, though?  Does anyone else think this seems, oh I don't know, counterintuitive?  I understand people are busy, and even that some people are shy, bu

t if I want to meet a neighbor, I'll go meet a neighbor.  I'm not generally the kind of person who befriends someone digitally before I do in real life (although, I did court Spring through MySpace, but, that doesn't count because I knew her in person, first).

We immediately sat down and logged into it, of course.  Low and behold, a whopping four people were registered, including us.  I'm not math wiz, but, I'm guessing there are more than four people in our building with computers.  Needless to say, no one had even completely filled out their information sections, and there were no posts or anything.  I'm guessing they all did exactly what we did - sign in to see who signed in.

Long story short - say hi to people as you enter/leave your building; don't stare at the floor when you're riding the elevator; offer your doorman/super/landlord some cookies; and above all, don't rely on teh interwebs to connect you with the world at large... Mind you, I say this from a blog post - oh the irony.

On a Sunday, I'll think it through...

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The Terrible Twos

It is now two weeks since Hazel's arrival.  She has been a trip thus far, and I suppose she's staying.  I'm writing this as Spring is playing with her on the couch, talking about how she's crazy, ferocious, and has no hair on her belly.

It has been an interesting two weeks.  For anyone who is used to having a family dog (i.e., a dog that the entire family raises), having one of your own is definitely a new experience.  We expected her to be a calm, playful dog when she first got here.  Those hopes quickly disappeared, and out from the depths of quietness emerged a much more hyper, squirmy, pee machine.

A funny thing I should mention is that she is a master of escape; a regular David Blaine if you would.  We tried keeping her in her crate while we were at work, and she broke out.  The next day, we tried keeping her in the kitchen with the gate we purchased.  Being only 6 pounds, she was able to sneak out of that.  Then, we tried covering the openings with mesh screening, which she also proceeded to escape from.  Finally, we took the beast to home depot and asked for their suggestions.  After nearly $100 of attempts at keeping her captive, the final solution was: $11 worth of cork board and zip ties.  This primitive solution has successfully kept her locked in the kitchen for days, and we hope for the continued success of this creation.

All in all, she's a cute dog.  She's doing slightly better with the housebreaking, and is pretty decently walking with us outside on the leash.  Her newest habit, unfortunately, is destroying her wee-wee pads during the day.  I suppose we'll work on that by the next update.  Until then...

Coincidence?

Hazel:











Fennec Fox:









I think not.

Day 5 of the puppy, and more

We're just about 5 days in to having the dog up here, and it's starting to slowly work out. She took a few days to get into some kind of a routine, but I think we've figured it out. She seems to enjoy Prospect Park a whole bunch, and so we've made that her official bathroom.

It's Friday now, and we're going to see Passing Strange tonight. Spring and I saw it back when it was at the Public, and it was a pretty incredible show, probably one of the best I've seen. I've heard/read good reviews about it now that it's on Broadway, so here's hoping it follows through.

I think we're going out to Lawn Guyland tomorrow for dinner with my folks, and they'll get to meet Spring's dad for the first time. I think he'll probably have a lot to talk about with my dad, such as tv documentaries, dog training, bridges, and maybe even the Jews of Williamsburg.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Weid Wednesday

So, what's up world?  It's just about 10pm, and I just came in from a very successful walk with Hazel. She took 20 minutes, but finally went pee pee.

Who's Hazel? No, she hasn't replaced Spring; she's the newest addition to apartment 3H. Hazel is a 6 pound brown/white Chihuahua. She's now a New York resident, by way of Texas. Spring's dad is visiting with us for a week, and he brought her along, and will be leaving her in our care upon his departure. We've had her since Monday, and so far she hasn't been super successful with the house training, but we're adamant about changing that. Maybe I'll check in and let everyone know her progress every so often.

For those that are concerned about Ridglea, she's doing pretty well too! She'd probably try and eat the dog if we let them get too close, but she'll warm up to it.

That's about it, till next time.