Dabysan in Hammersmith Palais

QotD: Talk to Me, Goose

If your pet could speak, would you want it to or would you prefer it remain silent?

1) Kudos QOTD for another good question. I take back half of the nasty things I've ever said about you.

2) Who answers "no" to this question? My animals (most of them) already make noise. Why wouldn't I want to understand them?

Although I have a lot of reasons for wanting to hear what my pets are thinking, the foremost is to finally learn the complex and lengthy tome of rules that Daisy is constantly enforcing. Nobody -- with the possible exception of Hotrod, who shares a special, spiteful bond with Daisy -- has ever heard the rules. The only way you can learn about one is by violating it, and by then it's too late.

Because I want in on the fake commercial thing...

My ode to Daisy

Daisy

Welcome to the Family

The folks at the shelter said that Pablo might have a difficult transition period. I haven't owned cats as an adult, so I'll defer to the wise cat owners of Vox. He seems a little standoffish...as demonstrated here.

Right at home

Will he ever learn to trust us?

QotD: Worst Job

What's the worst job you've ever had?

Since I was 15 years old, I have gone no more than 4 months without a job of some sort. I have been employed as:

- a gas station attendant
- a bag boy
- a gorilla-suited hype man for a toy store
- a salesman
- an office clerk
- a pedi-cab driver
- a valet parker
- a journalist
- an advocate
- a PR guy

...and probably a half a dozen others that I'm forgetting.

One might think, that with all those jobs, I would have a hard time picking out a least favorite. One would be wrong. When I was in high school, I did a brief stint working for a local butcher. It was an utterly vile experience. My duties included washing bloody dishes and containers, sweeping up blood-soaked sawdust (no modern, sanitary, plastic flooring for these guys!) and my personal favorite, cleaning the razor-sharp meat saw with ammonia. The fun part was when the saw cut into my fingers and the ammonia got into the cuts. Good times.

Not a Desparate Last Ditch Salvo in Comment War

Last night CarrieNation and I adopted the Cutest Cat on the Planet (TM). I swear this isn't a desperate ploy to revive my flagging fortunes in Comment War.

Meet Pablo. He decided the bathtub was a safe place from which to observe his weird new housemates.

Pablo

The New Best Thing Ever

I usually don't like young people. Or things from Florida. Surfer Blood is both and I really, really dig it.

Surfer Blood - Swim (To Reach the End)

QotD: Peanut Butter OR Jelly

If you have to give up either peanut butter or jam and jelly for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?

I suppose it would be too much to ask that you keep your hot streak going for four consecutive weeks, QOTD. Nice to see you back to the drivel. The world makes sense again.

I like the occasional jelly or jam, but I don't find them to be particularly important foodstuffs. Peanut butter, on the other hand, is a delicious staple.

I'd like to know who answered this question with jelly or jam. Cause that's loony tunes.

QotD: Sweet Treat

If you could only indulge in one dessert for the rest of your life, which sweet treat would you choose?

Ok QOTD, I think we're officially friends again. Thank you for asking a question that perfectly illustrates why pie is now, and always will be, the world's superior dessert. One of the many wonderful things about pie is that there are so many delicious varieties. I could have a different pie every day for a month and never get bored. From the flaky crust to the sweet, delicious filling, pie rules the dessert firmament, now and always. Imagine having to choke down the same overly-dense brownie every day for the rest of your life. Gross.

On a dessert-related note, the Web site Jezebel has been running its own form of March Madness to determine an ultimate champion in the age-old battle of pie vs. cake. The premise is fine, but the seeding -- particularly on the pie side -- was ludicrously poor, with pie champ Blueberry coming in at a lowly #6 behind such second-rate pies as the always-boring key lime.

The voting has also been maddeningly disappointing, with the sickly German Chocolate and food-colored Red Velvet emerging from the Cake bracket and the prosaic Apple and misnamed Cheesecake emerging from the pie side. I like chocolate, but I will never understand people who espouse a knee-jerk appreciation for all things Chocolate over far superior dessert items.

The only thing left to do is head over to the voting page and support the only thing that still deserves to be in the running the wire-to-wire #1 seed, apple pie.