BUDDY BRANDO

As you can obviously tell, Brando's one of the most exciting things in our lives right now. hehe. I'm gonna write about him very often to update you on what he's doing & also as a personal diary so I can look back at this years later & remember how he grew & stuff & stuff. I'm very sentimental. So what? Don't judge me!!!

So we got him last Friday night (2/22/08) after Actor got off work. It was probably midnight but he was still up, well, VERY up & hyper I should say. We jokingly said that one of the kids gave him some crack or something cuz he was extra extra hyper. We hung out for a little while then I wrapped him in a soft blue blanket & we took him home. He squirmed for a little, slept for a little, and whined for a little. He did pretty good considering that was his 1st car ride. But as soon as we parked the car I felt his stomach shaking really bad. I thought he was gonna poop so I put the puppy pad on his butt but then it came out the other end. lol. He threw up a good bit on my arm.

As soon as we came in the house he peed & pooped like 10 times within 10 minutes. We were cleaning up repeatedly. Guess he was just marking his territory... We fed & gave him water, let him walk around & get aquainted to the place, showed him his bed & toys & just played with him all night. We didn't go to sleep till almost 5 in the morning.

We woke up at 7 to feed, walk & play with him some more. He was scared of the outside for a little while. We had to drag him across the hallway cause he kept resisting to walk. No not hard as in abusive, more like an encouraging nudge. Gotta show him love but discipline him at the same time. After a couple of walks he couldn't wait to go outside. He goes in & out of the house without hesitation now.

We're crate training him; he took to it immediately & even goes in it by himself to sleep. The 1st day or so he could stay in it for 3 or 4 hours & then starts wailinggggggg. After 4 hours he'd wail until we let him out. We ignored him the 1st time just to see how long he would wail. We figured that he'd get tired within 15 minutes & stop. Yea righttttt. He wailed for 3 hours straighttt. We had just taken him outside so he didn't have to go or anything. He just didn't wanna be in there.

After a couple of days we'd decided on another approach, you know, just testing to see what works best for him. So we moved his crate to the kitchen & left the door open but gated him in. That way he'd have room to roam around & occupy himself until we got home from work. Now mind you I taped puppy pads on the entire floor... When I got home that day... BOYYYYY. The entire house smelled like poop. I walked to the kitchen to see what was going on: he dug under most of the pads, peed & pooped EVERYWHERE. And if that wasn't enough he smeared his poop EVERYWHERE that he could reach: alllll over the floor, on the cabinet doors, bottom of the oven... yea.

I was overwhelmed. lol. I stood & stared at the mess for like a minute, like "How the hell do I approach this situation?" So I put him in the crate so I could clean up. It took me almost 45 minutes to clean, wipe & disinfect everything. Definitely an experience...

We decided that we were gonna give the whole "open ground" thing one more try before we put him back in his crate. So I taped the pads on the floor, this time with much more durable tape, and we hoped for the best. When we got home it was a little better as he didn't smear stuff everywhere but it was still too messy.

The next day we put him back in his crate & it's been getting better everyday. He barely whines anymore unless we just came home & he's so excited to see us that he keeps jumping up & down & barking to get out. He's getting trickier with his poop though; smart little runt! I had his bed on on side & the pad on the other & he pooped under his bed where there was no pad. Little rascal! Yesterday Actor told me that he threw his poop out of the cage. And last night we came home from the store & he had pee & poop outside of the cage. Apparently he stuck his booty out of the cage to do his business. lol. I'd be mad but it's too freaking adorable. Guess cuz he's still new. Cuz after a while I'm gonna be on that ass. Better play your cute card for as long as possible buddy.

He be posingggg

Look mommy I'm biting my toy! Take a picture!

You can kinda tell in this pic but his eyes are gray/blue/purple

His sexy come hither look

Outside on the rock that he eats. More on that next time...

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BRANDO 2

Here's some pix of Brando. He just turned a month old yesterday =)

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BRANDO

Pssssssst... Guess what?


















Me & Actor are expecting...








:-D










Now before you go pacifier & diaper happy, ya might wanna consider a petsmart giftcard. lol. Cuz we're getting a puppy!!!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's no word that can describe the depth of excitement that I feel. Actor's had numerous dogs before but this is my 1st dog ever. My 1st real pet ever. Cuz I mean, I had goldfishes as a child but they all eventually died & plus I didn't get to play with them so they don't count.

His name is Brando (as in Marlon of course.) He's a pit/rottweiler/chow mix. Yes I know that's the roughest mix ever for a 1st dog & everyone that we've told have been like "You got a what?!" but it's all good. With Actor's experience & both of our love, affection, attention & discipline he'll grow up to be a fine dog. Oh, he's gonna be trained to attack you if you mess with us too, believe that, lol. But if you don't mess with us then you won't get ate up *wink wink*

He's still at Aunty's house feeding off of his mom Sasha. She's a beautiful blue pit bull. Aunty's family is like our second family; we love them dearly. They already have a handful of dogs and Sasha just had a litter of 7 so they were giving them away. Me & Actor just started talking about getting a puppy & Brando came into this world right on time.

We can't separate him too soon from Sasha & are waiting for him to grow a little bit more before we can get him. If all goes according to plan we're getting him next Friday. I'm so excited! I've already looked online & in stores & know exactly what I'm getting him as far as a bed, food, & etc...

I remember the 1st night that we saw him, he was a little smaller than he is now. I stood there & watched him for like 40 minutes! lol. Couldn't take my eyes off of him. He's so adorable & cute & playful & affectionate &... everything great in this world. Did I mention that he's a deep, rich, chocolate color? And we think his eyes are blue. We're not too sure cuz his eyes were so tiny & he was moving too much for us to look.

I'll definitely take lots of pictures & post it on here. He's gonna be the most loved dog in the whole wide world.

:-D

MY NEW FRIEND PEARL

I remember the first day I got her. Black, red & silver with a mirror on the back. Shaped like a regular rectangle but with the top right & bottom left corner curved in. The infamous Nokia whatever edition (I still can't remember.) I love limited/ unique/ customized stuff. They're the best.

My brother gave it to me as a graduation present; straight from Vietnam to my tiny little hands. It was the most complex & entertaining device I had ever seen in my life: Mp3 music player, movie player, film maker, photo caller id, internet, memory card... the works. It might sound typical now, but mind you this was 3 or 4 years ago; before anybody even knew that music on your phone was even possible.

The reactions were always great: "What's your number?" "404. 5. Whoa! What kind of phone is that?!" "Oh, it's just a... *insert explanation here*" It was cool to have a phone that everybody loved & complimented over. Cuz I'm a gadget freak. And I love having cool stuff. lol.

We've had conversations, good & bad. Pictures that are definitely worth more than a thousand words. Messages that make or break your day. Songs & videos that entertain. We've been through it all.

I dropped her a couple of times (Ok, many) & it was very painful. I don't know about ya'll but I don't like dropping stuff, especially my phone. It's the worst.

Years later, as with all things, my little Nokia started to deteriorate. Bit by bit she wore down & out. I was sad. I tried to nurture her, heal her, but to no avail.

Reluctantly I got another phone. Turns out my little Nokia had already told her friend about me: what I liked & needed. Ergo me & little miss Blackberry met & shook hands. "Pearl" she calls herself. She's beautiful & smart too. Adorned with silver jewelry & bright, shiny, red lipstick, she catches everyone's attention. I mean, you should see her lipstick! It's the most amazing red I've ever seen in my entire life! It's shiny apple, new car paint red.

I've only known her for what? 2 days now? We've gotten off to a good start. I love everything about her so far & I'm excited to learn more. She's just so interesting. I have a good feeling that this will be a long lasting friendship, hopefully as long as it was with Nokia.

I still have her by the way (Nokia.) I'm looking at her right now. In a couple of days we'll say our final goodbyes as she goes back to Vietnam with my dad. He'll find a nice place for her to stay & might even fix her up for good. Even so, I might just let her stay there & go on a permanent vacation. She deserves it. Don't we all?

TO- THE TOILET SEAT WETTER

LISTEN- I HATE TO TELL YOU THIS BUT I KNOW WHO YOU ARE

YOU SEE WE HAPPENED TO CROSS PATHS- AS YOU CAME OUT, I CAME IN.

I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU TO COME BACK AND CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF, BUT YOU HAD ALREADY WALKED INTO THE OFFICE AND I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE AT THAT TIME. BUT NEXT TIME WE CROSS PATHS TO AND FROM THIS RESTROOM I WILL, CAUSE SINCE I KNOW WHO YOU ARE AS SOON AS I SEE YOU COME OUT I'LL JUST ASK POLITELY BEFORE YOU GET AWAY AGAIN.

I (NO, WE ALL) ASK THAT SINCE APPARENTLY YOU WERE NOT TAUGHT AS A CHILD THAT BOYS SHOULD LIFT UP THE TOILET SEAT *white out* THEY TINKLE - WOULD YOU PLEASE BE SO CURTIOUS ENOUGH AS TO WIPE IT DOWN WHEN YOUR DONE. I DON'T THINK ANYONE ENJOYS CLEAN UP YOUR URINE.

SINCERELY,
YOUR SECRET KEEPER (FOR NOW)


"PLEASE WIPE OFF THE TOILET SEAT WHEN YOU WET IT"



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*I saw this in the handicapped bathroom at work. (There's two businesses in this building & we share a public bathroom. The regular bathrooms have 4 or 5 stalls & there's a separate handicapped bathroom across the hall (which everybody uses. I don't think I've ever seen a handicapped person use it...)

*Ask me how hard I laughed when I saw this

*It's filled with grammatical errors but you get the point. You toilet seat wetter! lol. Stop it! That's gross!

TOUCH FREAKING DOWN

The Giants won! (Not as in happy, but as in shocked)

They won! As an Atl-ian I'm obligated to stay true to the Falcons but since they weren't playing (and won't be for a long time. blah) we were rooting for the Patriots (weren't we all?) But it was inevitable: 18-0 & you lose the game that matters the most. Yea. That's just how life works doesn't it. I feel bad for them. But damn if the Giants didn't deserve that win. They fought for that thing. You don't understand! It was an uproar! There were only 3 or 4 people in the house that were going for the Giants so when they made that last touchdown everyone else jumped up & screameddddd (Not cheering. Screaming in pain. lol) Glad I didn't put money on that game. If I did I would've bet on Giants just cuz everybody thought the Patriots were gonna win. I think that's another reason why they didn't either. They were a little bit too comfortable & figured they had it in the bag. Boys & girls, this is what we call a classic case of GOT YO ASS!!!

And look! The Manning brothers both won the superbowl! Two years in a row! How kick ass is that?! I bet they're gonna make them go head to head in the superbowl soon. Very very soon. How big is that gonna be? Can you imagine?