Never an off-season

This is part of the reason that I seem to always be covered in dog hair.

This is the other reason:

This is a photo of a gigantic furball that Nick and I furmnated off of Chino's body yesterday evening. I've heard other pet owners say that their dog's shedding tends to be seasonal, however it seems that our mutt is in season, year 'round. No matter when we brush him, this is the result (although gratifying, its still shocking). His session yesterday seemed to temporarily alleviate the issue, but much to Chino's chagrin, he's in for another session tonight as we try to tame the tumbleweeds and bring the dog hair situation under control. I've tried to play it off, like we're playing beauty parlor, but he's not buying it.

Easily amused

This weekend, out of sheer boredom, Nick and I headed to the new Kroger Marketplace on Rt. 23 to check things out. We'd been closely following its construction and eagerly anticipating its grand opening. We both have grown tired of Giant Eagle's limited brand selection and weren't quite ready to give up on fuel incentives by switching to Meijer. As expected, everything is sparkly, new and fabulous. Add to that a plethora of free samples and we've got our new grocery store. In addition to the above, they also have a kick ass cheese section. I couldn't help but laugh when I snapped this picture. I figure that the next time that my parents are in C-bus, my dad will be on vacation here, doing laps around the cheese cooler and my mom will be on vacation at her favorite Dollar Store in Westerville.

A glimpse of my puppy

First, the ever-important background information:
For Easter this year, my sister put together an egg hunt for Chino. She put pieces of treats into small eggs and gave him the whole bag. It so happened that the Monday after Easter was when Chino was scheduled for his knee surgery (blog posts: here and here), so we never ended up doing the egg hunt. We kept the eggs though, and last weekend I got the urge to pull them out and "hide" them to see what he would do. The video I took was just to prove to my sister that we FINALLY did the egg hunt, but ended up to be a great laugh as we watched him play and figure out how to open the eggs. He'd get so excited when he'd find one, stepping on it to break it open or opening it with his teeth. To someone who doesn't know us, this would definitely appear strange. But its just another day in our life and the life of a mutt named Chino.

Now for the indisputable video evidence showing that Chino is both interested and having a great time on his egg hunt (wrinkled head, curly tail and my favorite...the straight legged bat). This is important to note because if asked to recount the fun that he had, he'd just shrug and say "whatever", if he even acknowledged your question at all.

Marriage Management

Let me set the stage for you.  Its about 10pm on a Sunday night and its time for bed.  We're wrapping things up, putting things away and getting ready to call it an evening when Nick gets up and goes into the kitchen...

L:  Hey, will you grab that cup and put it in the dishwasher before you run it?
N, standing in front of the dishwasher:  I had no intention of running the dishwasher.
L:  Exactly.
N:  Puts cup in dishwasher, inserts Cascade, locks it and presses the button.  

The end.

People of McDonalds

Today at lunch, I came up with a eureka of a website. PeopleofMcDonalds.com. You know, like peopleofwalmart.com, but not. My eureka came while I was innocently enjoying my #8 - Grilled Chicken Club, no tomato and a Diet Coke.  Yes, that's how I ordered it, because its McDonald's and they're all the same.  Being the same is also their claim to fame - if you're in another state and have a Big Mac attack, it will taste the same as the McDonald's down the street.  This brings me to McDonald's advertising.  If you've missed it, you must be living under a rock or in an old bomb shelter or something.  Even if you don't intentionally pay attention to their advertising, they advertise so much that inevitably, you learn through osmosis.  This brings me to my website.

As I was eating my lunch, I couldn't help but overhear a woman inquiring about the Angus burgers.  Her first question, "What is an Angus burger?"  The manager's response was "Its a bigger, better piece of meat".  Great.  So the lady asks, "Is it better for you?", to which the manager replies, "yes it is."  Side note - who doesn't know what the Angus burger is?  And if you didn't, could you not figure it out by the vibrant and large pictures on the menu?  I digress.  So the lady proceeds to order the Angus burger, since its obviously made of prime cuts of meat versus asses and tails.  Personally, I think that calling it an Angus burger is silly, since likely all burgers are made of Angus meat, its just a matter of how big the patty and what part of the cow.  So maybe Angus is made of the butt versus the butt hole.  Personally I think that its crazy, its like Steak and Shake calling their burgers "steak burgers".  If you really think about it, all burgers are made of steak.  Just sayin'.

Shortly after she orders her Angus burger, she comes back up to the counter, stepping almost behind it, rocking back and forth.  Ok last time I checked, McDonald's wasn't self-service.  You stand at the counter and wait until you are waited on by someone who could give two shits.  So she's walked onto the tile area, borderline running the drive thru, before someone comes to see what the heck she wants.  Turns out, she wants a fork and a knife.  As I went to refill my Diet Coke, I see her, daintily enjoying her Angus burger with her fork and knife, happy as can be.  

Second McDonald's observation.  Who in the hell orders a McRib sandwich?  Things that are wrong with this sandwich:
1.  Its a RIB sandwich.  Who wants to eat that?
2.  There are no ribs in this sandwich, but its RIB-SHAPED
3.  Somewhere, there is a factory that makes rib-shaped sandwiches

Finally, I was witness to a soft drink caper.  As I was waiting for my order and while the manager's back was turned, I saw the person in line behind me flop herself over the counter and steal a cup.  Really?  Who steals a cup?  Who doesn't know that you can ask for a cup for water and go hog wild at the pop machine?  Apparently this lady, because she just helped herself to the cup dispenser, behind the cash register.  Perhaps this is really a self service McDonald's and I missed the memo?  Either way it was an entertaining lunch, even if I was eating grilled chicken instead of an Angus.