I’m a dog person. Cats are cute, but honestly, they’re so ungrateful. Dogs just lap it all up, pun intended.

Why dogs are better than cats:

1. Dogs are on Santa’s Nice List. Cats are on his Naughty List.

2. You can walk a dog. You can run with a dog. You can play fetch with a dog!

3. Dogs obey commands, on the whole, cats do not.

4. Dogs listen, cats turn up their tail at you.

5. Dogs will protect you, they understand if you’re drowning and will rescue you. Dogs will wake up and bark if the house is on fire or a burglar is inside. Cats will slip out the back door.

And of course, when I say “dog” I mean not that yappy little thing the size of a mouse that you think is  a dog. Let me tell you a secret, wait, no. You’ll figure it out soon enough.  :)  Not to offend those that have such creatures, they just aren’t what I consider a dog. Be warned, my favorite dogs are mostly bear-like. Picture a short little woman walking a giant black bear down the street. That’s me.

My Favorite Dogs

1. Newfoundlands

My favorite childhood pet was Lolly, the Newfie-Lab mix. Shaggy like a Newf, but not so big and slobbery. I just love the Newfoundland temperament. They are gentle giants.

Photo by juhansonin.

Photo by Oleg1975.

“I has a stick!”

Photo by gardner newf.

Pros: They’ll snuggle with you, keep you safe, babysit your children (especially well known for being kind to children), swim (they have webbed feet!), easy to train, used as search and rescue dogs, fiercely loyal, very strong, patient, intelligent (contrary to the photo above they don’t really fetch, I think they see at as below them) and benevolent.

Cons: They slobber an awful lot and require a thorough brushing once a week because of how much fur they have. Purebreds also have a high tendency to have hip problems and defective heart valves (SAS) that can cause death at an early age. Getting a dog that is only part Newf is recommended to avoid these cons. That goes for most purebreds.

2. Bernese Mountain Dogs

Also referred to as Berners. These are also gentle giants like Newfs, and similar in temperament. We had a Berner named Zeki who was a purebred and he was an absolutely precious puppy. They make the cutest puppies, and look a little like boxes on legs. And they never seem to develop ankles…

Pros: Cheerful, love children, intelligent, natural watchdogs, socialize well, strong (they’ll pull carts if you train them), and good with other pets–including cats.

Cons: Slow to mature (they act like a puppy longer than other breeds), heavy shedder, and predisposed to certain diseases like most purebreds (we lost ours to lymphoma), insecure (they really do need a ton of positive encouragement)

3. Weimaraner

This is a relatively new addition to my list. A coworker has one of these and they are just beautiful dogs, especially the color. It’s very unique.

Photo by mockstar.

Pros: Good hunting dogs, pointer, water and land retriever, used as police dogs in some European countries, kind, fiercely loyal, highly energetic, unique coloring

Cons: Not recommended to be alone with children as it’s high energy could be unsafe, prone to bloat and hip dysplasia.

4. Boxer

My husband will be happy to see this little bugger on the list. Boxers are perpetual puppies. They are athletic, good family dogs, and have the biggest brown eyes that no one can resist.

Who could resist a boxer pup?

Photo by AJU Photography.

Pros: Family dogs, easily trained, active, intelligent, snuggly, watch dogs, loyal

Cons: Need a lot of stimulation and attention in puppyhood, easily bored, prone to flatulence (the Dog Whisperer said it, not me), good jumpers and escape artists, not very calm until at least 3 years old

Other favorites include every mountain dog, like St. Bernard or Great Pyrenees. They’re so loyal, protective, strong, and they can babysit your children for free. They can’t quite manage changing the diaper, lack of opposable thumbs and all, but they’re so darned gentle. I’m sure they would try their heart’s best if you attempted to train them to do such tricks.

Top photo by Bah Humbug.

Note, this is somewhat more of a memoir than a post. Take that as you wish.

3:50am First alarm rouses my deep sleep. I hit the alarm and the blaring stops.

4:00am Second alarm starts ding-ding-dinging.

4:05am DING! DING! DING!

4:06am I turn off the alarm, stumble to the kitchen and turn on the stove to make some espresso. There is no way the husband is going to get up without coffee.

4:27am Leave the apartment and call our friend to let them know we’re on our way to pick them up. No answer.

4:28am I call our friend again…and again…and again.

4:45am We ring up to their apartment, still no answer. Sadly we leave without them.

6:09am I call a guy in Canada about a ticket he might have for the men’s figure skating training session that starts at 7am. He says he can sell it to me.

6:30am Approach the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at the Peace Arch.

6:31am Get asked too many questions by the border crossing guard. Guard seemed very suspicious that my husband didn’t want to go to the figure skating event with me. How very, very suspicious of us.

7:00am Take a wrong turn at Marine Drive in Vancouver. I start getting stressed that I’m missing the the start of the training session.

7:20am Meet with the guy at Chevron to buy my ticket from him. Section T on center ice, not bad.

7:40am My husband drops me off as close as possible to the Pacific Coliseum. I still have to walk almost a mile to the gate.

7:56am I enter the ice arena. Before I even look for my seat I look down at the ice to see which group is on the ice. It’s not the group I’m waiting for. I relax.

7:58am Still can’t find my seat.

8:00am Exactly an hour late but I’m in my seat.

8:01am Eeee, there’s Joubert! So much glee!

8:05am Javier Fernandez of Spain music begins, it’s from Pirates of the Caribbean. A drunken pirate does not translate well on the ice.

8:06am Joubert paces an awful lot. Just casually skating back and forth across the ice.

8:10am Abbott runs through some nice triples. Looks like he’s come back from the short program disaster.

9:11 Amodio has a nice run through, I’m rooting for him in 2014. He’s got a very appealing style. He’ll definitely be a crowd pleaser.

{This is where I dropped the ball and lost the rest of my notes, so I’m wingin’ it.}

The Zamboni came out to visit every once in awhile. All decked out in its Olympic bling.

When the big guns came out for their practice, everything got noticeably more quiet in the arena. These guys were serious. Incredibly focused, save for the not-so-discreet glances at their opponents.

Very few jumps were made in this practice too. They all looked great.

-

I love this photo, Weir is always photogenic:

Plushenko was being Plushenko and left before his turn to practice his program came up. It was a let down, but it was good to see him. The last time I saw him, I met him.

This was many years ago. I believe I was a junior or senior in high school. And Plushy does not look like he wants to be there. From what I remember my friend and I had to really get his attention to grab an autograph and a picture. I have no shame when it comes to figure skaters. They’re my rock stars. I also tried to stalk Plushenko in Guatemala, but to no avail.

The rest of my day was spent watching most of the ice dancing practice groups. Don’t mind my over saturated, poorly shot photos, but figure skating is not an easy sport to photograph. With a point-and-shoot. In a poorly lit building. Of twirling people.

Afterwards I walked by no less than 50 policemen on my way to find my husband. Seriously, every corner around the Coliseum had a couple cop cars and a few dozen police. And by a few dozen I mean maybe 3 or 4.

Everything in Vancouver was green and blue, except the people. They were red and white (especially white). I’ve never seen so much Canadian pride.

Don’t you think Canada should use all of Canada before the World should have a shortage? Those poor Northern Territories, so neglected.

See how many flags you can spot!

Anyway, back the to border we went after some more wondering and poking around.

It truly was a beautiful day in Vancouver. Somehow the Olympics seem less grandiose and distant when they are in your own backyard, but I am so glad I went.

And kudos to Vancouver for doing such a great job. So they had a lot of issues, but despite the lack of snow it was a beautiful location. The Spring Olympics is sort of growing on me. Pun not intended.

To be quick on the draw.

I let the opportunity of a lifetime slip through my fingers yesterday and I’m pretty down about it. And I only missed it because I had to think about it. I should have just done it, it really couldn’t have gone wrong. Curious about what I let slip by? Huh, huh?

Figure skating. Yep. I had the chance to buy a ticket to one of the men’s events for the Olympic games and I dawdled too long and the tickets were sold out in a few minutes time. *pulls hair out* So in the grand scheme of things, this is not that big of a deal. But I was definitely hoping to go to one of the events. This is probably my only chance to A) Go to the Olympics and B) See my favorite figure skaters compete for the last time in the Olympics. I’m still kicking myself.

But I still have a tiny chance. If I can somehow get a ticket cheap enough from somebody (highly unlikely) or I could find a ticket to one of the practice sessions. Not really the same at all, but I’ll take it. At the very least, my husband and I are going to drive up to Vancouver and spend the day wandering around, seeing the people and Olympic sites. Even that excites me.

Even though I let my dream of attending the men’s free skate get away, it will still be a great time to wander around with my husband.

Ever let a great opportunity pass you by? Was it for the better or are you still regretful?

For more of What I Learned This Week visit Musings of a Housewife!

So hubby and I recently washed the carpets of our car. This was preceded by an epic drive to every car wash we could remember to find one with a carpet shampooer machine. All of them had the vacuums, but we needed some heavy duty scrubbing here.

Anyway, we found one. Basically the only one in North Seattle. Possibly all of Seattle, who knows? It’s on Aurora for those Seattlites out there who want to know. It’s a Brown Bear car wash.

Back to the beginning, we washed the carpets. Well they didn’t have a blow dryer to thoroughly dry the carpets. So we vacuumed the foam off and it was all mostly dry after that but still damp.

The next morning…the car smelled a little musty and mildewy.

Note to self: Wash the carpets in the summer when you can roll the windows down to dry it all off.

Remedy: Buy an air freshener that smells like pumpkin pie! Not a bad trade.

What else I learned this week:

1. Every cookie freezes well. I’ve never met one that didn’t. And putting them in the freezer is not going to stop you from eating them.

2. Don’t look at food blogs right before grocery shopping, it’s dangerous to your budget. And it’s more than likely you won’t make all those wonderful things that you thought you would make. Hurray menu planning!

3. MASH is every bit as great as I remember it to be. Same goes for Little House on the Prairie.

4. Restaurant pad thai is the one thing that will always be better than homemade.

Learn more things at Musings of a Housewife!

Photo by NCinDC.

If you can’t see the entire photo above (if you see it on the right hand side then you’re fine), then please view this post individually by clicking on the title. You have to see what’s on the nun’s feet!

I learned that it’s better to write down what I learned this week than try to come up with it on the spot for this post.

I learned how to keep brown sugar soft. Keeping brown sugar in the freezer and then taking it out and leaving it on the counter for a few minutes will result with nice, soft sugar. But actually I really don’t have a problem with my brown sugar hardening.

I learned that rollerblading is much harder to do than I remember. My husband and I took a a skate around the lake by our apartment. FYI he is much better than I am. I say it’s because of all the skateboarding he used to do. Me? I fell twice. Both times on a hill, once going up and once going down.

I learned that ice skating is also a lot more difficult than I remember. My husband is also better than me at ice skating. I had no idea. By the way, Saturday night we went ice skating and then Sunday afternoon we went and bought roller blades from Goodwill. That’s why they both happened this weekend.

I learned that both aforementioned forms of exercise are really fun forms of exercise. Zipping around the lake in 25 minutes on roller blades is way more exciting than running/walking around in an hour. And needless to say ice skating is just plain awesome, but too expensive to do regularly. :(

I learned that a little bit of truffle oil makes vegetables so delicious. Oh my goodness I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s just so unique in flavor, I’m not sure how to describe it. Just YUM.

For more things learned this week, visit From Inmates to Playdates!

Isn’t the picture of the nuns rollerblading awesome? Just randomly found it on Flikr. I’m quite pleased. The photographer was aprilzosia.

By the way, please vote for Foodista.com for a Shorty award (Twitter awards) in the food category if you can. Keep cookin’!

I found this article through my alma mater, the University of Washington, about researchers from UW that developed a virtual reality program to distract burn victims from their pain. It is called SnowWorld and has mainly been used by troops burned in Afghanistan or Iraq.

The version of the program in the military hospital uses high-tech goggles that have a wide field of vision. SnowWorld helps patients who wear the goggles block the unpleasant view of their wounds and charred skin, allowing them to navigate an icy canyon instead.

In it, users can push a button and throw a snowball at a giant penguin or a mammoth, which trumpets angrily in response.

(For Veterans with Burns, A Virtual Reality Aid)

It has gotten good response from patients and has made life better for them, their families, and nurses. I can’t imagine the pain these people feel already, many of them with over 80% of their body burned.

The article also mentioned possibly using the same technology to treat those with post-traumatic stress disorder. I’d be interested to see what they come up with. Actually, I’m interested in what this program looks like and what other features it has.