Real Life

Surely someone out there needs an adorable puppy, right? Delivered to you by the nice, nice, beyond nice Amy Sisson, who is quite literally saving this dog’s life at some expense even though she and her husband can’t adopt her themselves:

Hopefully the vet will say yes, but even so, we do still need to find a home for the puppy as quickly as possible. This is NOT limited to the Houston area. We will drive this puppy wherever we have to to find her a home.  So if you know anyone anywhere in Texas, or Louisiana, or Oklahoma, or wherever, who would be willing to take this puppy, we will get her there at our expense. Please ask everyone you think might even remotely be interested. As a reminder, this is a Black Lab or Black Lab mix, female, estimated 3-4 months old.

Relevant backstory and circumstances provided here, along with place to say, yes, of course.

Or the yellow bike wrangler, anyway.

There’s a big, great feature column on Christopher coming up in tomorrow’s local paper, but it’s already up online:

"Some kid had written his name all over it in magic marker," Rowe said. "I don’t think he’s going to be a very effective bike thief."

…

"One thing I’ve learned in terms of sociology reminds me of the legendary Old West attitude toward horse thieves," Rowe said. "I’m here to tell you that if you take one of these yellow bikes and put it behind your house, your friends, your neighbors, your landlord, your girlfriend … they are looking for an opportunity to rat you out."

Hee.

(Updated: New link with more pics! Also, you can now leave nice comments at the end of the story.)

GQ has a beautiful, haunting article about Cecil Ison–the amazing dad of my great good friend Sunshine (whose mom is exceedingly awesome too, not to mention her husband)–and how the scars of war are always with us:

One day Cecil would make a wind chime from branches collected on his farm, one branch from each type of tree killed in the storm—oak, pawpaw, walnut, pine, apple, maple. He would paint the words i will sing the beauty of trees on one limb. And on another: trees. hummingbirds. honeybees. The forest would regenerate itself, blackberry briars would flourish in the sunlight that poured through the trees, attracting the creatures that feast on them: songbirds, butterflies, and dormice. "The earth is resilient," Cecil would say. "You have your scabies over in this corner, a nice fresh breeze coming through here as a result of the hurricane happening over there, and that’s all part of the earth."

But when the storm first happened, Cecil mourned, and the people who love him saw it as a piece of what broke him. The beginning, or middle, of the end.

(Via said husband.)

Please, please read it and be thankful for what you have and that people like this are in the world and then angry that they have to endure such pain and then back to grateful again because they’re so amazing anyway.

Continue to check in if you haven’t. Good thoughts to all of you and yours.

Updated: I believe I’ve heard from or about everyone. There’s also a check-in thread for skiffy types here.

Colleen Mondor has created the Virtual March for New Orleans:

It’s simple – all you have to do is write one letter and address it to Gov Blanco, Congressmen Jim Oberstar and John Mica and Senators Daniel Inouye and Ted Stevens. Send them the fax and let them know that as an American you support the Thursday March and you are frustrated with the continued tolerance for violence in New Orleans. It is our tax dollars that are not getting the job done down there – it is as much our problem as it is the people who live there. We are the ones who are responsible for making sure that money is spent in a proper and responsible manner in New Orleans and it is way past time that we let our leaders know that they are held accountable to us – all of us. Tell them that security is paramount, and so is aiding and assisting the legal system so once people are caught they can be tried in a timely and legal manner. Let them know that we must add grease to the wheels of justice. Also we must provide aid to NOLA schools – more teachers, more innovative learning environments and more effective recreational programs – we must help those kids before violence is only thing they have.

She has all the contact info.

Meanwhile, Jenny D remembers her friend, Helen Hill.

This is something we can all do.

To Mister Christopher Rowe! Who is not your lord and savior, but is currently playing me Schoolhouse Rock videos on YouTube (pronouns!).*

Wish him a merry birthday, y’all.

*Except this was pre-posted at 11:18, so we’re probably asleep right now.

The story of the Kim family is one part amazing survival tale, the rest heroic tragedy. Hug your loved ones, and hope to be so smart and brave in such circumstances.

Thngs I Learned Over Thanksgiving 2006

1. Superman II really is the best, primarily because of General Zod and his minions (especially the scowly one). In fact, I’d go so far as to say that almost every movie would be improved by Terence Stamp as Zod fiercing up the joint.
2. Never play Trivial Pursuit against a science fiction writer when death is on the line.
3. George the Dog would really like to live in a party house. He prefers it. He’s been wandering around all day looking for people to entertain him.
4. Thai food kicks turkey and dressing’s ass, but I actually knew this already. However, I will raise things one AMAZING curried catfish.
5. Related to four: It’s best to stay out of the professionals‘ way. Don’t mess with the notecards.
6. The Johnny and June movie is actually really good. You should see it.
7. Manly men can completely fix a leaky faucet. (And I’ve already adjusted to turning the cold tap the opposite direction too.)
8. Alan can outsleep me! (Though in his favor, he did have that whole 14 hour drive thing.)
9. Hiking is not about speed.

I find myself stalled at nine, but that’s just because I’m very, very sleepy. And anyway, we’d already established that the best thing about Thanksgiving is to be surrounded by a bunch of fantastic people. Check.

Hope yours was great too.