ss_blog_claim=bf53c2c2a6b5e4b759eb9b46babec032 Stephen the dog: September 2007

Friday, September 21, 2007

Vacation


I am going on vacation. That is right my A and R are letting me take a trip with N and G. I get to go to New Hampshire. It is going to be so much fun. I have heard there are lots of woods to run around in up there and tons of animals to chase. While I am away I will not be updating here so you will all just have to get along without me for a week.

I know it will be hard but I am sure you can make it. If you like send me an email and I will be sure to answer it when I get back. Stephenthedog(at)gmail(dot)com

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Yuck a letter to Star market



Stephen the Dog
woof Bark LN
Barkington bark bark 10025



September 18, 2007
Seafood Manager
Star Market
Main St Barkington bark bark 10025

Re: Sept 12th Seafood purchase.

Dear Sir,
On 9/12/07 My A bought 1.5 lbs of fresh Coho Salmon from your store, along with several other items. I am not sure exactly how many items but I know he went through the express line so it had to be less than 10. He takes the express line very seriously unlike some other people.
Anyway when he got home the salmon was place in the refrigerator along with the other items. At approximately 7pm we opened a half gallon of organic milk which was purchased during this trip and found it to be curdled. Obviously this was frustrating but it does happen and the milk was returned the next evening at around 6pm.
After returning the milk my A returned home and began cooking dinner. We were having fresh salmon with a crab and blue cheese stuffing, fresh bread, asparagus and home made crème brulet for desert. Or so we thought. I guess in all truthfulness my A and R were having the dinner listed above and I was having kibble. Yes I it is not fair they always shaft the dog.
Anyway my A had everything cooking and was just getting ready to stuff the salmon and throw it on the grill. When I heard and expletive come from him mouth that I will not repeat. It seems he had opened up the salmon which had been in the fridge for less than 24 hours and it smelled awful, additionally the center of the fillet was the consistency of apple sauce. This is not good. Salmon is supposed to be firm and should turn flakey when cooked as you well know also it should not smell. For once in my life I was happy to be having kibble.
We had to stop dinner, and take the salmon back to the store. This being the second trip to return product from the 9/12/07 shopping trip we were none to happy. It would seem that about 20% of the products purchased on this trip were bad. My A did ask to speak to a manager when he was there and spoke to a woman who told him she did not eat seafood so did not know what it should look like. Anyway I digress. The bad milk and multiple trips to return spoiled food just add to the frustration of having a dinner ruined.
My concern is that the salmon that was purchased was obviously bad before it left the store. My A never noticed it because he never touched it nor was he able to look at it closely. It was wrapped up behind the counter and handed to him in a sealed plastic bag. However one of your seafood employees would have had to have picked it up, weighed it and wrapped it up. The problem should have been noticed during this process and this fish should have never been sold. I also would assume that the display case is checked from time to time to ensure that there is no spoiled food sitting out on display.

I don’t understand how this could have happened this situation is not only frustrating on my part but potentially dangerous had my family eaten that fish.
I am willing to bet that this is the first letter you have received from a dog. I am sure it is a little weird and maybe funny. However I assure you the situation is not funny at all. My family has previously had only good experiences with the seafood dept. However this one incident has shaken our faith in your store and your dept.
I would really love to give Star Market and the seafood department another chance but I don’t feel comfortable without some kind of assurance from you that this will not happen again.
Currently I don’t feel comfortable buying seafood at you store nor am I comfortable not informing my neighbors of this experience.

Yours sincerely



Stephen The Dog
Cc: My A

Monday, September 17, 2007

London Food

I don’t eat out much but when I do it is important to me that I get a good meal. There are some truly terrible places to eat out there. Fortunately there are also some good ones. I have a secret for finding all the good ones and I am going to share it with you.

In London
London or really anywhere else in the world you can look up reviews of restaurants. These are honest unbiased reviews which are super helpful to weed out the crappy places to eat.

London restaurant are really tough because I don’t have a lot of experience dinning in the UK so this site is really helpful. Just reading the reviews makes me hungry. I wonder if there are any great kibble stands in London.

This site gets a Stephen rating of 7. Check them out





Thursday, September 13, 2007

woo hoo a contest

The Internet is filled with Contests and give aways. Do you know you can get a free ipod all you have to do is fill out 14 pages of stupid surveys then sign up for a credit card and buy like $200 worth of stuff on that credit card. Hmm thanks but no thanks I don’t have time for that.

Anyway I ran across a new contest today. It is run by David Airey, an Irish designer who aims to create the best logos. His logos are really good.

The prizes for this contest are pretty sweet totaling about $4000 in value. I really want to win the logo designed by David. I think my ODD needs a really awesome logo. I wonder if David can do something with bones, lightning and maybe a fire hydrant. I have been trying to work up a logo on my own but my lack of thumbs is really holding me back.

I am looking forward to this contest. It is a simple drawing so you don’t have to worry about getting points or competing against the great unwashed masses who inhabit the internet. I always hate losing out to that 400lb guy living in his parent’s basement, subsiding on Twinkies and diet coke. That is right cooldude94@loser.com or should I call you Isaac I know all about the Twinkies.

Well wish me luck and check out David’s site. If I ever get to Ireland I will definitely look him up. I wonder if there are a lot of pirates in ArrrLand.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Cycling Fashion


I have a question. As you all know I spend a lot of time staring out the window. It is the nature of being a dog. I don’t have thumbs so I can’t open doors, if I could open the door I would go outside. I can’t so I stare out the window, however I do want to go outside which is one of the things that separate me from a cat.

Anyway I have noticed a bunch of people riding bikes past my house. What is up with Bike Clothing? Why do people have to wear the skin tight black shorts and the super tight shirts? The kids that ride bikes don’t wear that stuff only the adults.

I can almost understand the shorts. That seat looks really small and uncomfortable so some special shorts might make sense. Do they only make those shorts in black? I am guessing white would be a really bad color but green or blue might be ok.

My bigger issue is with the shirts. If you are 300lbs and riding a bike do you really need a skin tight shirt? I don’t think so. I do however commend you for getting off you fat butt and out on the bike. That is awesome I am very proud of you and I almost feel bad for making fun of you. However I don’t really need to see you immense body squeezed into a tight little shirt like an over stuffed Italian sausage.

If you are 300lbs you are not going to win the Tour de France so a shirt that cuts wind resistance is not going to help you. Also unless you are in a race do you really want to wear your fast shirt? You don’t see swimmers shaving their bodies to practice. They only do that before the races, they train with hair.

Now I don’t want to just complain I want to be constructive here so I am offering a solution.

Cycling needs to have some kind of hierarchical system of shirts plain and simple. Karate has this type of system for belts and it works great. You start with a white belt and work your way up to a black belt. This lets people know how good you are and gives you goals to work for. I think cycling need to follow this path.

The tight yellow shirt should be a goal, not something you can just pick up off the shelf after the sales guys has pointed out the reinforced Schwinn that will hold you 300lbs plus frame.

I don’t know about you but I don’t think that just because you can throw a wad of sweaty bills down on a counter you should be able to wear a skin tight yellow shirt. You should have to earn it through hard work and determination.


Imagine the following how much easier it would be to talk to someone in a bike shop



Rider 1: “Hi what kind of a rider are you?”

Rider 2: “I am a skin tight yellow shirt rider”

Rider 1: “Cool I am a baggy sweatshirt rider but am going for my t-shirt next week”

Rider 2: “Awesome I remember when I went for my T-shirt. Remember to keep focused and never hit the front wheel brake without hitting the back 1st”

Not only does this solve the fat guy in a little shirt issue but is sets goals for people. People need goals.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Storage bins

Man I love storage bins. They are great. Part of the reason I like them might be that I keep my food in them. Every time my A opens a bin I think I am going to get feed. I actually start to, droll when I hear the bin open. So yes Pavlov was right.

There is a great site out there for
storage bins They have some really awesome bins. I would love to get this bin http://www.carguygarage.com/10stbiwira1.html. Imagine how much food I could store in those 10 bins. I wonder if we stored more food I would get feed more? I hope so.

I personally like blue so would have to go with the bins in blue.

Carguygarage.com takes VISA, MASTERCARD and American Express so ordering is really easy.

If you need storage systems check these guys out they have a ton of storage systems and can fit any storage need.




Thursday, September 6, 2007

.


Unfortunately I have some sad news to report. My Pal Norman is no longer at home. He has gone off to play with his brother Roger who I unfortunately never had the pleasure of meeting.

It has been a tough week and my A really did not take it very well. I tried the best I could but he still had a rough time with it as did my A’s family.

I learned a lot of neat things about Norman and will share a few.

Did you know Norman got to ride in the back of a police car? Not many dogs get to do that. It seems that he and Roger decided to take a walk by themselves. They got about a mile and were picked up by the police. I don’t know why the police would want to pick up two dogs out for a walk but they did. They even got to stay the weekend in jail. To complete the experience Norman even decided to go on a hunger strike.

Did you know Norman could catch any ball thrown at him? My A used to throw tennis balls as hard as he could directly at Norman and Norman would catch them. I can’t imagine trying to catch a tennis ball moving at 70mph with my mouth. Norman could do it though.

Did you know Norman could dive off the side of a pool? My A keeps trying to teach me to dive. Norman apparently was the master. He would launch himself off the side of the pool to get retrieve a ball.

Norman knew a ton of really cool stuff and got to do some really neat things. I only hope that I can live up to his example and be as great a dog. I have some big paw prints to fill.


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