Seen today: one house sparrow courting the ladies outside my office, and one northern cardinal doing the same in my backyard. This afternoon while picking up Neya at school, I heard a killdeer singing, and a blue jay singing the springtime queedle-queedle song.
*sigh*
Spring cometh… and my heart is wont to soar.
My dog hates Angelina Jolie… or at least Lara Croft as played by Angelina Jolie. I'm not sure which…
I have two dogs, Tumblin' Tina — an aging Cocker Spaniel (at left), and Cassiopeia — a young Chow/German Shepherd mix (at right). Tina apparently has no problem with Angelina Jolie, but Cassie can't stand her.
How do I know this? Well that requires a little backstory, of course.
A long time ago when I worked for Xenergy with James, he came into the office one day with a life-sized cutout of Mr. Spock. Spock was pretty popular and after James left the company, he left Spock in my care.
And Spock remained in my care for many years, moving from office to office, from job to job. So what has this got to do with my dog and Ms. Jolie? I'm getting to that.
About 2 months ago I decided to get a companion for Mr. Spock… somebody who could keep him company. Somebody who would listen to his troubles and offer sage advice. Someone he could play three-dimensional chess with. Sombody, frankly, a lot more fun to look at than Leonard Nimoy. No offense Leonard!
Enter Lara. I picked up a life-sized cardboard cutout of Ms. Jolie as Lara Croft at Strawberries Records and Tapes one evening with the intention of bringing it to work the next day. It was Lara from the second Tomb Raider movie dressed in a silver wetsuit.
Once I got it home I set it up so my wife could see what it looked like. My friend Matt had come over and we went into the other room to chat and hang out. Moments later there was a loud ruckus in the kitchen and we went to see what it was.
Cassie had found the cutout and was barking at it for all she was worth, apparently thinking it a weird 2-dimensional home invader. She crouched before it, howling and barking, with her hackles sticking up… daring Angelina to draw that harpoon gun and see what happens.
Naturally I did what any grown man would do. I picked up the cutout and chased Cassie around the house with it, culminating with the dog in the living room going berserk every time Lara “peeked around the corner”. Even Tina, who generally enjoyed the Tomb Raider movies beyond a few complaints about the plot, began to bark at the cut-out halfheartedly. This I can only attribute to peer pressure… Tina didn't seem to know what all the fuss was about but figured Cassie must have some reason for flipping out.
The obvious reason is of course, dogs are friggin stupid. Tina has been know to try and scratch out a cool spot to lay on in the hard plastic floor of her cage. Cassie will occasionally dig in her waterbowl, desperately trying to make a hole in the liquid. Eventually she gets pissed that it doesn't work, picks up the bowl in her jaws and drops it, spilling the contents everywhere. Dumbass.
I am happy to say that Lara is now safely ensconced in my office, where she is even more popular than Spock. If that is a source of tension or embarrassment for my half-Vulcan friend, he hasn't said so.
Meanwhile Cassie appears to be none the worse for wear and appears to have no memory of the event… or indeed any events. But we are monitoring her TV viewing… just in case. 
Vanessa's windshield has been growing a nasty crack after having been hit by a small rock which bounced up off the road some weeks back as I was driving on Route 2 in north central Massachusetts.
Today I called “The Village Glassmith” (based in Randolph, MA) to come out to my office and replace the damaged windshield.
They arrived at about 11:30 AM and after about an hour of me hovering at my office window, my girl had a brand new OEM windshield and two orange band-aids to hold the glass in place while the adhesive cured. Click the thumbnails below to see larger pictures. As you can see, they did a great job.
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PT Neon?
During the procedure the technician asked me if I knew how PT Cruisers were put together. I shrugged and he said “The build a Dodge Neon and then slap the PT Cruiser body over it.” I was sure I had heard something like that once before but I didn't think it was entirely accurate.
Back in my office I looked it up and verified that a PT Cruiser is not a Dodge Neon with a different body. The PT is based on the the second generation Neon, but it has been changed in many ways, and the turbo adaptation required even more changes. So, though the PT and the Neon do share a number of components, there are plenty of components specific to the PT and no other vehicle.
Here Cassie chomps on a stick that Neya is holding, and they wrassle a bit.
These two cardboard cutouts hang out in my office. Spock doesn't seem to mind that Lara has the bigger gun.
Here Vanessa is shown with her new windshield, plus some orange band-aids to help hold it in place while the adhesive cures. These were removed about 2 hours after the job was finished.
Yeah, I know the car needs a bath, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. They recommend waiting a day before washing the car after installing new glass.
Here's my PT Cruiser's new windshield, just before installation. Two large suction cups are attached so that the technicians will be able to lift it and carefully put it in place.
Midway through repair, Vanessa is shown here with no windshield as a technician from Village Glassmith applies an adhesive to bond to the new windshield.
This nasty crack formed in my PT Cruiser's windshield shortly after a rock bounced up off the road and dinged the glass. 
Today the Supreme Court is hearing arguments about the presence of the words 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance that children are expected to recite in school each morning. Needless to say a lot of controversy swirls around this case.
Associated Press article: Supreme Court to Take Up 'Under God'
Michael Newdow, an atheist living in California, objected to his daughter having to recite/hear the 'under God' portion of the pledge every day, brought a case against the Elk Grove School District and won. The appeals have made it all the way to the Supreme Court today, and today we will see what the Court will do. I hold out hope that Newdow will win, but not much as the Court of late has been riddled with conservative appointees not to mention Dick Cheney's “hunting buddy” (who fortunately has been recused because he publicly criticized the lower court's ruling in Newdow's favor last year.)
“After today, this court will decide whether America remains one nation under God or whether we shake a fist in God's face,” the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, told a crowd of people carrying signs that read: “I support the pledge.”
These people don't get it. Christianity is not the only religion in America, and our own code of laws dictates that the government must be separate from the church, including endorsement of any one religion over others. If the pledge were changed to say 'under Allah', 'under Yahweh', or 'under Jehova' you can bet these people would be having hissyfits even though Allah, Yahweh, and Jehova are all the same God under different names.
Removing the words 'under God' is not “shaking our fist in God's face”. The government is not supposed to be endorsing Christianity. Removing the words 'under God' is not attacking the pledge or its intention, which is allegiance to our nation. If you want to proclaim allegiance to your religion, or to your God, there are many fora available to you to do that, such as your Church, your religious gatherings, your private parochial schools and so forth. I “support the pledge” too. That's why I don't want it to be an illegal pledge. That's why I want those words removed. I object to people who want those words included being called “supporters of the pledge” as if I am somehow not a supporter of the pledge.
“Tradition” is the most common answer I get when I ask why people want those words to stay in there. People tell me 'under God' affirms this country's history which, they claim, is undeniably Christian. But 'under God' was not in the pledge as originally written in 1892. Those words were added by the Congress in 1954 in response to lobbying by religious leaders during the Cold War as a way to differentiate our country from the “Godless Communists”. So the 'tradition' argument kind of falls flat.
I'm not on a crusade here. Although I believe ”In God We Trust” has no place on our currency, and “so help me God” has no place in our court system, I'm not campaigning for their removal. A witness in court is allowed to swear alternatively if they are atheistic, what's printed on the money isn't 'indoctrinating'. Children being forced to stand in a room full of people every morning listening to them say 'one nation, under God' is definitely inculcating. I don't want my kid saying 'under God', but if she does not pledge then she looks like an outsider to her classmates… peer pressure is a powerful force. They're not adults folks, they're kids.
Anyway, my prediction is that the Supreme Court will either weasel out of ruling on the case, or rule that the pledge should remain as it is.
If the latter happens there will be strong dissent from the nonconservative portion of the court which should make interesting reading. I'll continue to hope for a better solution, but the odds seem slim to me.
Peace.