So...

So.. everyone knows I love dogs. I love just being around them, they make me happy, less stressed. Sitting at the dog park yesterday evening - which by-the-way we were there for three hours, lucky Chloe! - I just felt content. Like all is right with the world because I am sitting here watching adorable dogs play together and what could be better than that?

Dogs don't discriminate, they don't judge, they just are. They live and play and romp and run and they don't let the world bother them. Everything is THE BEST THING EVER. Dinner time? I AM SO EXCITED AND HAPPY. Walk time? YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PERSON! Nap time? I LOVE BEING AROUND YOU.

It's like she is the only one in the whole world who is never disappointed in me, never sees me for anything less than the Most Wonderful and Special Person Who Walked the Planet. She follows me, like my shadow. Even when I am just sitting on the couch, she prefers to be near me, to be touching me, instead of across the room on her bed. If I get up, she looks to be sure I'm not leaving and if I do leave, she follows, because wherever I go must be the best place to be.

When so many other people have expectations of me, some I don't ever feel I can reach, it's nice to know there's this one person being who will never be let down, who always thinks the best of me and strives to make me happy.

I forget who said it, but if there was one quote I had to live by most, it would be this:

In a perfect world, every dog would have a home and every home would have a dog.

So.. sometimes I feel like the guy on the Kleenex commercial, the guy with the blue couch and the box of tissues and people sit and tell him their stories, and they cry and he listens. Except, I'm not sitting out there inviting people to come up and tell me their life stories.

People will come up and make the usual comments. "That's the biggest dog I have ever seen." "Is that a Dalmation?" "How much does she weigh?".. The list goes on. And then, you'd think after they pet her, got their stupid (and often uneducated) comments out of the way, they'd walk away, letting us continue on with whatever we were doing.

No. Somehow they start talking about all the pets they have ever owned or known. And you'd think ok, sure. My dog reminds me of their dog. But then they start talking - dead serious, this happened on Sunday - about the dead animal they saw on the side of the road that morning. Um. Do you really think I want to hear that??

I just don't understand how me taking my dog for a walk out in public somehow makes people think I want to hear about their life story and stand and listen to them. I'm out for a walk, not to stand out here with a stranger I don't care about.

Anyway, the only thing I've figured out that works is to just walk faster and try to get away before they can make their comments. Or maybe I should start saying to people, "Yes, yes she does bite. Stay away."

So.. Chloe and I get together with other Great Danes in the area for weekly meet ups (and our "mini meets" with a couple Danes closer to home during the week). Typically our meet ups are just at various dog parks in the area, but they also do hikes on trails now and then. We had never participated in any of these, due to timing and other committments, but we finally were able to attend a nice hike in Auburn. And, maybe because I got a sunburn recently working in the yard, I put on sun screen.

And not only that. I was the girl who had sunscreen in her pack, to let another person use when she realized she needed some, too.

The walk itself was fun, about 2.5 miles round-trip. The only negative was it was HOT out and there wasn't a ton of shade. But before we turned back, we went down to the water where it was nice and cool. Too bad the whole trail isn't closer to water.

So.. last night towards the end of one of the shows we had Tivo'd that we always watch together, Josh's phone rings buzzes. I pause the show, and wait. "I'll be on in a minute," he says as he hangs up. I unpause the show (there were only a few minutes left in it). He gets up and leaves the room, going to the office where he remained the rest of the night. I knew that this was what the call was, but I was upset anyway. He couldn't even wait out the remaining five minutes of the show? And what of the other two shows we taped Monday that we haven't watched yet.

I put on Big Brother (which has really sucked this season, btw) and watch it alone.

If this happened now and then, it really wouldn't bother me. But the fact is, it happens all the time. Like, today. He tells me we need to leave work by 3:30, even sent me a meeting reminder so I would know to start getting finished up around 3:00. But, he decides he wants to leave early, so we do somewhere around 2:45. So he can be home in time to WoW. I'm ok with leaving early, because I can do pretty much all my work from home it makes no difference. But then, as I'm sitting here in the office working he asks, "Are you downloading something?" His connection must be slow. And yes, I'm uploading something. For work. This is my job.

I get so frustrated that WoW is his priority, that it's what he schedules everything around. And it doesn't care what I want, or what we are doing. They call, and he is right there. And anything I wanted to do, or was doing goes out the window. He agrees to go do something with me and then backs out because he is playing, or because he stayed up all night playing and is now either still asleep or just too tired. He has no problem talking to and playing with these people, these strangers, for hours and hours, and yet won't come with me to meet new people who could actually become our real life friends.

And then, he'll complain. About how he doesn't even want to play anymore sometimes, how the people he plays with are frustrating or annoying. But, who wins out when it comes down to me vs them? They do. Every time. I've spent so much time dating men who don't make me a priority, and I've spent so much time trying to get myself out of that bad habit. And here I am, with my best friend, and it's the same old story. The sad thing is, in a new effort to communicate better, I tried to talk to him about it. But nothing changes. And I don't know what to do about it anymore, except just pretend I don't care.

So.. my phone comes with unlimited pix and txt, and it's a good thing it does. I txt more than I talk; all day, through the night.

Texting is just so much easier than calling; short & sweet, to the point. And you don't have to reply til you want to. It's easier to avoid going out with someone you don't like, because between their txt saying, "want to hang out tonight?" and your reply back saying, "sorry, plans with friends" you can make those plans by texting a better option. It's not like if someone calls you are allowed to say, "can you hang on a minute while I call someone I'd rather hang out with, and I'll let you know if I'm free then?" Yeah. Doesn't fly over too well. Although it also doesn't give super thick-headed boys a hint, either.

The other best thing about texting is that you can send pics (and videos!) which can be highly entertaining. On the phone you can try to describe something going on, but via txt you can send that picture right along, and afterall, a picture IS worth 1,000 words.

Texting while driving ("TWD"), however, is not a good idea. I got in a slight accident yesterday due to this, but no one was hurt, no harm done to either car, and the woman was super nice, swapped info and said she'd let me know if she noticed anything but "everything seems fine!" and drove off. Yay for people who don't try to make a big deal out of nothing (seriously, we were going less than 5mph, the light had just turned). Anyway, TWD is actually worse than driving while drunk, so I'd suggest to all to try to cut that habit - even if you don't live in California where it will soon be illegal.

And little makes this girl feel better than to hear that sound of a new txt (or, the rumble of the phone on vibrate, as it has been for a few weeks now because I got tired of going back-and-forth when I was at work/home) and seeing a message like, "Happy Friday." Now that, my friends, is the way to start a day at work.

Txt, it's the new black.