Thank You

In Honor of Memorial Day weekend I want to say a big thank you to all the troops out there who have served or are serving and protecting our country now. And thank you to their families for the sacrifices they make as well. You are all true American Heroes.


Two years ago this weekend, we lost our little baby Bailee. She had a good long life and she was such a blessing to us. Just a few weeks ago her little brother Milo joined her. This is in loving memory of the joy they brought to many lives and the wonderful memories they have left us all with. They were loved and well cared for which is why losing them was so heart-breaking. Rest in peace Bailee and Milo. You will always be loved and missed.

Baby Bailee

Big Sister Bailee with Little Baby Brother Milo

Silly Old Bailee

Tired Old Bailee

Thank you for the love, snuggles, and joy you gave us

Pimps and Unions; Aren’t They Really the Same?

So before I get to what I feel are the obvious similarities between Pimps and Labor Unions, I have a very important question that I know many of you have discussed or thought about and one time or another. How is it that Pimps talk themselves into a job in the first place? Do they go up to prostitutes on the street and say “I got a proposition for you. You go find work and give me 70% of your money, and I’ll beat the crap out of you when I feel like it.” Is that how the negotiation works? Because let me tell you, agents only get 10% if I’m correct, and they actually find you work. If I were that prostitute I’d slap that pimp upside the head and tell him “hell no. Why would I give you 70%, 50%, or even 10% when I can keep 100%?” That seems like the obvious response from all prostitutes to wanna-be pimps. But somehow, there’s still a profession of pimps out there. Makes no sense to me.

Now that we’ve established that Pimps will take your money and beat you senseless, let’s look at just exactly what labor unions do for people. So they tell you they that they will negotiate your salary and benefits on your behalf. But this is obviously not a free service. Rather than charging you a one-time finders fee, they charge you in the form of union dues. And this comes directly out of your pay check either every time you get paid or once a month. And correct me if I’m wrong, in most union run companies, you don’t get the opportunity to opt out of the union to handle your own negotiations. You’re either in or you’re unemployed. Correct?

Next comes the negotiations, so after they’ve been taking everyone’s money for so long they have to make it look like they are doing more than just collecting dues every month. They need to justify their existence. So they rile up the payers of the dues and convince them that they need more of this, that, or the other and if they don’t get it, it’s worth striking over. So the union leaders go to management and make generally unreasonable demands and insist on their way or the highway. This is all in spite of the fact that management is telling them they just can’t afford all of that. But the union leaders refuse to budge because they want to look like heroes in an effort to justify their existence. So they force a strike and all the dues paying workers are forced to walk the picket line, which means they are no longer earning a paycheck. Well most of these people can’t afford to go without a paycheck, but nonetheless, this is expected so strike they must.

What happens if you try to cross the picket line? Haven’t you all seen Hoffa? And isn’t that when they were actually doing the workers some good? They beat them senseless. But since they probably have media outlets and the cops on the payroll, it’s not a big story. The only story is that they are on strike and management is being unreasonable and the union won’t budge because it is only “fair.” I tell you this, is it fair for them to take your money and then force you to not take a paycheck for a while? Is it fair for them to bitch-slap you if you disagree with them?

So then they go back to the negotiating table after a few days, weeks, or months and concede some of their demands but miraculously strike a deal with management and they are heroes, who by the way weren’t technically on strike since they were working for the strikers. So their incomes didn’t take a hit. Had you not paid them one bit of dues and not gone without a check while on strike, you’d probably be better off financially than you are with their “help.”

So let’s sum up the comparison between the two:

Pimps

• Take money from the hard working Prostitutes
• Force Prostitutes to do as they say
• Beat them if they try to run away
• Provide nothing of value for Prostitutes

Unions

• Take money from the workers actually doing the work for the company
• Force union workers to follow union rules
• Beat workers who dare cross the picket line
• Provide nothing of value for workers

I think I’ve made my point.

Lola's Corner

So as you can tell I'm a very very tired puppy. It's because I run around the yard like a maniac and try to climb the pompous grass by the fence and try to eat water coming out of the hose. I hope I don't offend any of you by my lack of lady-like manners. I think I take after my mom a little bit. Oh well. I think she's really awesome. So I'll own my undignified sleeping habits. Besides it feels good and who doesn't want to sprawl out every once in awhile?


So today in honor of the new friends I'm making, I'm going to share some of their photos with you and introduce them to you. Remember to send me pictures of your pets to lolafrog@gmail.com because I would love to make new friends and introduce them to everyone. Remember no humans as I don't want to have to chase down any
would-be stalkers and bite them.

This is Riley. She's a rescue German Shepherd found outside of Pet Co or Pet Smart at one of their adoption clinics. I hope to meet her in real life some day soon at the dog park since she lives so close to me. She has 2 sisters, Maddie and Hopper, but her mommy is clearly stating her favoritism of Riley as that's the only picture she sent me. Even though we all know that's just not possible to have a favorite child or to show favoritism to one child. And even if that were, the kids couldn't possibly be intuitive to the favoritism as long as the parent vehemently denies it. Riley, tell your mom to send pictures of your sisters too next time.

This is Mr. Pickles. He's a big gray cat. My mom tells me he looks a lot like her cat Smokey, may he rest in peace, after 19 long years. As you might be able to tell, Mr. Pickles has aspirations of being a Train Engineer when he grows up. Or maybe he just wants to knock the train off the tracks when it comes by. That's what I would want to do. I would very much like to play with Mr. Pickles, but I think he might find me to be in need of some Benedryl, Tylenol pm, or some other pill that might severely calm me down so as not to be such a pest. Mr. Pickles I still love you and I hope you'll send me more pictures as I hear you have some funny poses too.

Well that's it for this week. I've got to finish catching up on my beauty sleep so that I'll be ready for the dog park this weekend. I hope to leap frog a few dogs, or I'd kind of like to challenge that crazy Boston Terrier to a rematch. I thought I had her, but I found out I've got some training to do. Hence the climbing of the pompous grass in the back yard. Have a great week and I'll see you next week. Same time, same place.

Dedicated to Everyone Turning 30

I’m turning 30 tomorrow, and by the time many of you read this, tomorrow will already be here. Believe it or not, I’m looking forward to it. I’m not throwing a fit, proclaiming to the world “woe is me, my life is over, the end has come!!” You see I think the 30s are going to be great! And in honor of my birthday and all of you who have recently turned 30 or who will be turning 30 over the next year, I’m going to share my reasons for being so optimistic, some of which I’ve heard from friends, family, and colleagues.

Wisdom. I don’t think of 30 as being OLD, just being more experienced and hopefully a little wiser than I was 10 years ago. I feel survival of many of my varied experiences have helped me learn to make better decisions and weigh the possible results of my actions.

Perspective. Wisdom leads me to a better perspective than I had 10 years ago. I’m grateful to be alive and grateful to be healthy and surrounded by such wonderful family and friends. I feel very blessed in spite of some of the horrible things or situations I’ve witnessed or been apart of. They’ve all made me who I am today, and I hope that isn’t someone who’s so self-involved that I miss out on what’s important in life. 10 years ago I’m sure I was.

Productivity. The 30s are going to be a productive decade. This is because I waste less time now on stupidity and spend more time enjoying life, educating myself, and listening to the insight of others. And less time being bitter and self involved. Although I do watch a lot of TV still. But I’m convinced that has more to do with not having kids.

Knowledge. I’m learning more everyday, which may sound a little redundant, but wisdom and knowledge have two different meanings. I’ve always thought a day was productive if I’ve learned something new. Sometimes that’s a new skill at work like yesterday when I finally mastered vlookup in Excel rather than wasting my time with lookup. Who knew they were different and well that lookup was unnecessary if vlookup can still do what you want? Sometimes it’s just taking some time out of my day to read the paper or watch the news to find out what’s going on in our world. Sometimes it’s reading a book and since I can’t read novels, it’s usually some kind of book that educates me on a specific subject ideology, or perspective. I plan to keep learning and stockpiling that knew knowledge. Maybe I’ll stop when I’m much much older. Like 40. Just kidding my parents don’t seem old to me and they are twice my age or pushing it.

Stability. The older I get, the more stable I get. This comes in the form of marriage to a wonderful man, increasingly better jobs, and well let’s face it, working for the government. It’s pretty stable these days and really hard to screw up. Although it shouldn’t be that hard.

Respect. I’ve heard and am hopeful that I will get more respect in the work place in the 30s. There’s something about the 20s that I believe people judge as immature and inexperienced. Which may be true in some cases, but I believe unfairly judged in others. All you ever want in your 20s is for someone to take a chance on you, and unless you’re already set up with a dynamite connection or you magically find that person willing to take that chance on you, it seems hopeless.

Beauty. I think women are generally more beautiful in their 30s than in their 20s. Maybe it’s because they mature on the inside, which makes them overall more attractive. Maybe it has something to do with surviving the 20s that gives them a glow of courage and strength. Whatever it is, I plan to join the beautiful 30 something club.

And Finally….Slurppee kisses from the puppy. Need I say more?

And those are the reasons why I’m looking forward to the big 3-0.

And now….

Reasons I Know I’m Getting Older

1. More bills to pay than ever before in my life.
2. I’m obsessed with my skin imperfections, only now it’s discoloration more than zits.
3. I’m more opinionated now than ever. I just know if I should keep my opinions to myself in a face-to-face conversation better now.
4. McDonalds repulses me now more than ever. Although Taco Bell doesn’t, so that may have more to say about my preference than age.
5. I’m more obsessed with eating healthy and making up for the unhealthy times.
6. More gray hair than 11 years ago when the first one was horrifically discovered.
7. More Responsibility.
8. Getting the “when are you going to have kids” question more often, presumably because there must be a misconception that you MUST feel your biological clock ticking since you are now 30, and that women are infertile after 30. I guess I should tell that to all the women having healthy babies well into their 30s.
9. More creaking and sore bones and joints when I get out of bed.
10. Finally, this crazy obsession with fiber and getting enough of it and finding the most efficient yet tasty delivery method. Fiber One is great. And the powder in the bottle that you can add to your food did not work out so great for me.

I Stand Corrected

So not being born and raised in Texas, I used to scoff and mock the people plopping their kids down in the middle of some Bluebonnets off the side of some random road, or highway, just to get a picture of their kids or family amongst the state flower. Or at least that's what I thought it was about. And many of them take the same picture year after year, which I just didn't get. Until now!!! Look at that picture. With the exception of the leash it's the most perfect picture I have ever taken. And I must admit I saw the spot before I had the camera with me and declared, we must bring Lola back here to get a picture. It turned out better than I imagined. I will never ever again mock or scoff at those who drag their kids out to get a picture with the Bluebonnets ever again. Because even though Lola isn't in Bluebonnets, your kids in the wildflowers is about as good a picture as anyone can get. So snap on my friends, and take the time to make a memory with your pets, kids, and families. You'll be glad you did.