Monday, June 22, 2009

Close Encounters of a Cook Kind

Went to see David Cook last night!! I went with Anne (my new buddy from work) and we had a most excellent time. (Bill & Ted reference, anyone?) It was at the Cotillion, which is this cozy, round, ballroom kind of venue with tables around the outside and a big open space in the middle facing the stage. That area seemed to be filled with a lot of uber-fans and drunk people, so Anne and I took a nice little spot at a table on the side. We still could see WAAAY better than we would have at any arena, so it was cool! 
David's voice was even better in person than on TV or CD's. Not hoarse at all (like I would expect it to be, since he's touring like crazy). Very crisp and powerful.  I was impressed with the way he dealt with the crowd, too. He was relaxed, personable and funny. But while they did a great, rocked-out cover of "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight," Anne & I both wished he would have sang "Always Been My Baby" like on Idol. Alas, he did not. 
Our seats weren't too far away from the stage exit, where the band had to cross the hall to get to the dressing room. (Yeah, poorly designed.) So after they left the stage the first time and everyone was cheering for an encore, Anne suggested that I go over and wait by where the door was so I could get a picture of David coming back to the stage. Thought this was a pretty good idea myself, so I eagerly headed over there. I was almost immediately joined by a handful of security guards and quite a few other fans. We waited with anticipation, cameras poised, hearts pounding, excitedly staring at the door. Then...all of the sudden the door flung open...and out came....some hispanic guy. Dang! That threw me off my game and I was completely unprepared for DAVID to follow right behind the guy! Shoot. So while I saw him very clearly with my own two eyeballs, my picture turned out beyond crumby. This is what I got, AFTER much altering and lightening on the 'puter.
Do you see him? He's the dark black blur on the left that is moving AWAY from the camera. You can make out his head, his back, his elbows, and his legs. It's him, trust me. *haha* I could never be a paparazzi. :^/

I loved this blog from a local DJ, talking about meeting David Cook's new puppy that he had backstage with him! I can totally relate to what she did...and it made me like David more knowing he's a dog person. :) (Since I can't link directly to the exact post, I'm talking about the one titled "I Am The Biggest Nerd!" although she did say she's going to post pictures soon.)



Wednesday, June 17, 2009

It's in the genes


What I'm about to tell you will probably solidify my place in your minds as a complete wackadoodle pet owner...but I don't care. Because when I found out I could have a DNA test run on my mutts to find out what breeds are in their heritage, I couldn't wait to do it. And Jeremy was psyched about it too, so we submitted some of Cubby's & Wrigley's blood (that Dr. Olson drew at the hospital...we didn't like do it ourselves! Duh!).

There are a lot of companies doing this nowadays, but the one our clinic uses is called Wisdom Panel. You can visit the website if you wanna know all the little details about how it's done. Basically they look into the dog's DNA and decipher the genetic codes and badda bing, badda boom, you find out what your dog is. That's the simplified version. :)


Here are the results!


Wrigley

We've always thought that Wrigley was a mix of maybe a Rat Terrier and Italian Greyhound (especially before we fattened him up). And maybe some other kind of terrier too. As it turns out, Wrigley's heritage includes:


(Can totally see this in his body structure and probably hair type.)

(This is where we were getting the Italian Greyhound thing from. Just a bigger, hairier version. Possibly the source of Wrigley's polka-dotted skin?)

You can see the face shape similarities when he has his ears back. See?

(Reeeally?? Hmmm. We can only assume this is WAY back in his lineage. *haha*)

(This surprised us, too. But perhaps it's the Doxie gene that makes him plump up so easily? *wink*)


Cubby's turn!
When we purchased Cubby from the shelter, we were told that he was a Chihuahua mix (it was their best guess), but we also thought he probably had some Pomeranian or Long-haired Dachshund in there too. But really, we've been mystified by this question for as long as we've had him. Well mystery solved!!! Cubby is a mix of:

(But of COURSE! Why didn't we see this sooner? The coloring, the fur type, the curly tail, the long-ish body! Its so OBVIOUS now.)
I got especially excited when I compared these two photos (Just change the face and it's the same dog!):

(*haha* Hilarious. Is this where he got his face shape? I kinda think so.)

(Hmm..you've got me!)

And the best one of all...wait for it...wait for it....



(NO WAY, right? Well it's waaaay back there in his heritage, like earlier than the Great Grandparent level. They did point out that Cubby did not have the same "size" gene as a Lab. Duh. *haha*)

So there you have it. Kinda neat, huh? It's especially fun to look at the temperaments of each dog and compare the similarities. If you have a mutt, I'd recommend you try this out! It's a bit pricey, but if you've always wondered what your dog REALLY is, it's so fun to find out. And the folks at Wisdom Panel were extremely helpful. (Cubby's lab results originally came back as ONLY Labrador, which naturally I wasn't satisfied with. So I e-mailed them and got an almost immediate phone response. They gave his blood sample to their top geneticist for further testing, and that's where the rest of the results came from.)

Now the only problem is when people ask what kinds of dogs they are, I feel obligated to run down the whole list! Like people even care? *haha*