I've seen Silence of the Lambs, like, 30 times and just realized upon the 31st, that Chris Isaak is in this movie. Seriously. He's the leader of the S.W.A.T. team in the scene where Lector escapes by wearing that guy's face. Weird.
(I'm sorry if that spoils anything for you, but you've had 14 years to see the movie, so whatever).
consumed:
2002 Mulderbosch Faithful Hound--South Africa
2204 Verget "Terroirs de Chablis"--France
Secco der Ressi Riesling--Germany
Bouvet Rose--France
2004 Yalumba Riesling--South Australia
Leitz Dragonstone Riesling
2001 Crichton Hall Chardonnay--Napa Valley
2004 The Stump Jump Grenache--South Australia
I wish I could tell you what we thought of each and every one, but yeah: 8 wines in one night (8 people). I know I liked the Secco der Ressi a lot. It was delicious.
also, Sam got both the Wine Lovers and the "Genius" magnet sets for Christmas. Hilarity ensues.
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. As far as music goes, I'm about as cutting edge as a spork. So, I don't really hear or know about cool bands til at least 2-5 years after everyone else..
But last summer, we found ourselves in the middle of They-Could-Shoot-A-Horror-Movie-Here-Its-THAT-Nowhere Upstate New York with no radio and no (gasp) CD's on hand, other than what our friend Clint (on the right) brought with him. In pops Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah. If you've not heard it, it's hee-larious. They had me heart and soul with their version of "Delta Dawn." Since then, Sam and I have been buying up all their albums. I'm listening to the last one we bought. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Are a Drag. It might be my second favorite--just based on "Rainbow Connection" alone.
Today is the birthday of legendary singer, Etta James. I lurve Etta. If I could have a singing voice like anyone in the world, I'd probably choose to sound like she does when she belts out "Stormy Weather". Chills, people, chills and shivers.
Meet Simone. She's one of the eight puppy mill dogs I picked up last weekend. We knew that, in getting puppy mill dogs, we were probably going to be getting some dogs who had some emotional problems on top of the many health issues they might have. It's just a fact of life that if you take a dog, stick it in a cage with no human interaction and breed it for years, that dog probably isn't going to have a really happy-go-lucky personality. It's okay. In doing dog rescue, I've come across a lot of dogs who, for one reason or another, haven't had the best experiences with humans. So, they're (for lack of a better term): f***ed up.
Some dogs have been stuck in a back yard 24/7, so they're crazy for attention and have no house manners. Some have not been fixed, so they hump everything that moves. Other dogs have been yelled at so much--or even hit so much--that they cower when you go to pet them. Still others have been too spoiled, so that they don't know their place in the pecking order of Life and try to bite you if you take their toys away. Some are picky about food. Some hate men. Some just hate kids. For the most part, as long as they don't chomp down on anyone, we can work with them. We give them time, love and attention and it all comes out okay.
But Simone is a special case. This little girl has obviously never been outside a cage. When I brought her home, there were 7 other dogs. I opened everone's crate in the back yard and let them come outside in their own time, so they could sniff everything and check the place out. Simone? She just stayed in her crate... For six hours. After a while, I pulled her out of her crate and placed her in the middle of the yard. She flattened herself completely on the ground, shivered, and then darted to the farthest corner she could find. When it was time to put everyone in for the night, I fetched her from the corner and put her back in the crate. She kept her head bowed the whole time.
I thought, surely, she'll be okay in the morning. The next day, we tried again. I opened her crate to let her out and she wouldn't move. I picked her up and put her in the back yard. Again, she ran to the corner and stayed there til I picked her up and put her back in the crate.
This has gone on for 3 days. Every morning, noon and night, I take her out of her open crate and try to get her to move to no avail. Simone won't look at you. She won't eat in your presence. (I'm not even sure that she is eating) Every day, she sits as still as she can, going to the bathroom where she stands, not making a sound or any sudden moves. As if she can just disappear if she's quiet and motionless enough.
It's breaking my heart.
I've decided that Simone is my challenge. She's been taught by life not to feel, to want contact or love. To be okay with total neglect. I'm going to make her into a DOG. I'm going to try to make her trust again. I want her to know what it's like to feel a kind human touch. To, hopefully, lose that desperate look of hers that screams that she wants to be anywhere but here. I want to see her tail wag. Is that so much to ask?
I do not watch The Bachelor... (except when Rollergirls is on commercial breaks) But I did catch this absolute gem of a quote on last night's show:
Upon arriving home from her date with Chins McDimpleton (the bachelor dude, whatever his name is), all the other girls asked this one dark-haired chick if she had made out with him. She responded, "I'm keepin' it classy."
Um, sweetheart? You're on the f***ing BACHELOR, for crissakes. I'm pretty sure that by now, Class has packed its bags, changed its name and moved Far Far Away from your ass. Don't call Class..Class will call you.
This article claims that 2/3rds of dog owners surveyed in a recent poll said they would work longer hours for less pay if they could bring their dogs to work.
I would certainly work longer hours. I don't know about the less-pay part, though. I got lots of kibble to buy..
I spent most of my day Saturday driving to Mesquite, TX to go pick up eight puppy mill dogs. If you don't know what a puppy mill is, consider yourself lucky. I wrote a nice little description for our rescue website, but in simpler terms: it's usually a Backwoods Shithole where some Cruel to Animals Asshat with no basic soul or sense of compassion keeps multiple dogs caged for years on end, breeding them til basically they fall apart and/or die. The dogs are almost never socialized or given even basic vet care. Honestly, I can't imagine a hell that is bad enough for the people who operate these things. It makes me so angry, I have a hard time even writing about it. You're better off being educated about it here, here or here.
ANYWAY, so I go pick up these 8 dogs. They range in age from 4-5 months to about 7 or 8 years old. All of them are unbelievably stinky and matted. I thought I was going to gag from the smell on the drive back. After spending 7 hours in the car, I then spent the rest of the night just shaving everyone down so we could see what we're working with. Seven girls and one boy. Incredibly, all of these little ones are so sweet. They're not too sure about people--they tend to scurry around and flinch a lot if you speak to them, but the little looks on their faces when you pet them is just priceless. Total confusion, and then it dawns on them that they're getting their ears scratched. I think a couple of them are warming up to me. I will admit: not the cutest dogs I've ever seen.. but I am SO happy we have them. These pictures you're seeing are 3 of the dogs: Kramer (the buff one), Wicket and Gertie (she's a cocker/scottie mix).
so, in case you are keeping up with the math, that makes 14 dogs I had at my house Saturday night. Yeah. I know.
People are always asking me what is that certification thing that Sam has that makes him an official wine geek (as opposed to an unofficial one). He's a sommelier. He's not in the Court of Master Sommeliers...yet (but he is certified by the ISG) If you shop at Target, you've probably heard of Andrea Immer. She's one. And off topic: She'd probably argue with Wikipedia that sommeliers are waiters. Anyway, what being a sommelier means, for us anyway, is that he can tell you a lot about the wine you're drinking--where it comes from, how it was made, what it should taste like, what you should drink it with food-wise, etc, etc. We don't have to discuss every wine we drink, but we do quite a bit. It's handy.
But seriously, I don't think you should be allowed to be a sommelier unless you pose for this picture...
Here at the Lee/Sam household, we eat a lot of good food and drink a lot of great wine. We'll probably die before we're 50, but we'll be a well-sated 50... with that in mind and nothing else to contribute for the day, I'm offering some recommendations on food/wine for the week.
Clementine oranges are so freakin' tasty. I didn't actually know before I looked it up that they're oranges, not tangerines. They're in season now, so get them while you can. And try not to eat 7 of them in one sitting. Not that I have ever done that.
I could probably eat Laughing Cow Cheese forever. The full fatted version, not the light (as with any cheese, just eat less of the full fat version..because low fat cheese mostly tastes like monkey butt). 
If you're ever looking for a good but really cheap wine for every day, Three Thieves is easy to find. Don't be put off by the jug. We usually get the Zin, but I like the Bandit Tetra California Pinot Grigio too. I'm in the process of tracking down some Trevor Jones Boots Grenache that my sister and I both love, but it's a bit harder to find because it's not available all year round. If you hear of anywhere that has it in Austin right now, let me know. I need it mid-February.
Speaking of, I'm going to get Sam the Sommelier to recommend some fancier wines here pretty soon. I wanted to get his opinion on the macon village I had this week because I thought it was great, but as he pointed out: I drank it all before he got to it. So, uh, oops.
You know those souped up cars and trucks that have the glowing lights underneath? I think it's called "ground effects" but I'm a sheltered nerd living in the 'burbs, so I have no idea.
Anyway, we now have, um, "ground effects" in our kitchen. It's one of Roy's latest projects. Our house was built in the 1970's so we had all sorts of weird features (like a hitching post in the living room, I'm not kidding) but the most annoying was the damned flourescent lighting everywhere. We pretty much immediately took down the huge light tube that was in the kitchen and it's been vacant ever since. Til Sam and Roy got the idea for a replacement lighting system. (actually, we were going for LED lighting, but no one seems to carry it around here). This is what they've come up with. There are two switches. One is for the main white lights and the other is for the blue lights. You can have both on at the same time or just one or the other. I have no freakin' idea what the benefits of having ground effects in the kitchen might be. But I'm thinking our next move should be airbrushing a mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe above the stove..
IF I were the type of mean person who insisted on shoving my dogs into various outfits, I would totally buy this one from Anthropologie. Cutest thing ever.
The downside? It would take Hudson Bo Budson exactly 5 minutes to rip off and ingest every single one of those pompoms. 
and oh, I lied... I'm totally that mean.
One of my best friends is currently on match.com and while I'm really proud of her for getting out there and being open minded, I am hereby forbidding her to accept any more dates without my pre-approval. And no more giving out your number. This isn't because I think I might actually know a guy she's going out with this week back from my college days--he's nice from what I remember. It's that other one, Courtney. No way. N-O. Hell to the NO. Nein. Don't make me come to Little Rock.
There is a restaurant here in town called Hyde Park Grill that serves the best french fries in the world. These fries are square-cut, dipped in buttermilk and peppered flour and then fried in peanut oil. At least that's the theory we've come up with after tasting approximately 500 pounds of them. They come with a "special sauce" which, like most "special sauces" is basically thousand-island dressing and mayonnaise. The sauce, yeah, not so great, but I'm telling you: these french fries make life complete.
Why am I thinking about Hyde Park French Fries right now? Because the paper reports today that a Hyde Park Grill is opening less than 2 miles from my house. It will be ready in April. If I eat nothing but vegetables until then, do you think I can get away with eating nothing but Hyde Park Fries for the rest of the year? how 'bout if I walk to and from the restaurant? 4 miles for a plate of fries: that'll even itself out, right??
Perusing through Dog Fancy yesterday, I saw this. . I usually bathe our monsters in the kitchen sink. This has become less ideal as a.) we are actually now caring how much dirty dog water gets on our kitchen floor and b.) Hudson is now too big for it. Aaaand, this hooks up to the washer water valves. So Cool.
I got chomped this morning. It was my own stupid fault. Rule #1: when you have two dogs about to fight: get the hell out of the way. Don't stick your hand in the middle of them like a dumbass. If you must break it up, use a broom, use the water hose to douse them with water, use anything but your bare hand. Trust me on this. Don't think you can move quicker than the dog. I got this from a blind 24lb cocker spaniel. (Blind, I tell you!). All because I forgot about that bare hand thing for just a split second.
holy crap this hurts.
(I love thee, Netflix)
Movies I watched this weekend:
Millions One of those movies that manages to be touching and sweet without making you want to stick a fork in your eye. And that Alexander Nathan Etel--you just want to stick him in your pocket and take him home. Loved it.
The Brothers Grimm Hmm. Well, I didn't actually make it past the first 30 minutes. really really bad. I love both Matt Damon and Heath Ledger as a general rule, but peee-uuuw, this stunk.
The Constant Gardener This is a pretty slow moving movie at first, and just when I thought I might be bored, dammit, I was hooked. It was really heartfelt and complex and not at all what I expected. If Ralph Fiennes isn't nominated for something, I'll be shocked.
In other viewing:
The AKC/Eukanuba National Championship. Okay, I might have fallen asleep during the hound competition, but I was awake for the rest of it.
This article on CNN declares " Study: Waking up like being drunk". Heh. Um, why yes. Especially if you've been drinking til 4:30am and then wake up at 6:30am. Then, you might actually still be drunk. Not that I've ever done that.. Recently.
Stacy and Katherine go on amazing trips. Sometimes, I want their life. Except the Memphis part. just kidding.
This is a guy I went to grade school with. He's my god-brother. I might actually be one of the few people who doesn't call him "Bone". I'm pre-Bone. (that sounded vaguely nasty, but get your mind out of the gutter). Check him out and call him on his spelling.
Peebo keeps saying he's going to come down sometime for a visit.
I have a love/hate relationship with the neti pot. Oh you know what it is: that little genie's lamp looking thing you use to clean out your sinuses. It's practical in concept, painful in execution. At least when I use it. I don't know, I guess I could be using it wrong but I don't think so. I use the right temperature water and only use sea salt. But once that water hits right were it needs to: OWWWWWWW. Crap, that hurts.
But then I feel so much better. So much less sick. So much less full of phlegm. Like I can breathe again without people hearing me wheeze from 50 feet away.
I am SO needing to use the neti pot right now and SO dreading it. Allergies suck.
Oh. my. god. Did you see that??? did you see that game?? wow. I am so freakin' hoarse right now. I also think I might have to go in for a heart examination because with about 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter and we were still down, I pretty much thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest. Congratulations to Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart and the whole USC team for playing an amazing game. Austin is freaking going crazy right now. I'm at home in my office and we can hear fireworks going, horns blaring, people screaming. It's just awesome.
New Years: bleh. I was all anti-going out this year and went to bed at 10pm... Only to be awakened by my neighbor's huuuge fireworks display at 11:55. We haven't had rain in, like, 6mths and there's been a couple of weeks of out of control fires in Texas. So, way to send sparks flying, jerkwad.
Red Robin: I only mention it because one of my favorite blogs (Austinist) mentioned going there and actually finding the food to be okay despite the fact that it's a chain restaurant. Sam and I went there a few months ago. I think I still have a headache from how noisy it was. Obnoxious, obnoxious place. Not recommended for anyone over the age of 10, or anyone scared of people dressed as big assed birds. I'm also still trying to figure out why they had tv's embedded in the floor.
The game: Game? What game? My office was a ghosttown after 3pm today. Everyone going home to tailgate. I'm putting the Call in Sick number at about 40% tomorrow. More, if UT wins.
