SageAgainstTheMachine

I went for a hike up at Buttermilk Falls here in Ithaca (great trail if anybody is familiar with it), partially to clear my head. Along the way, I encountered a young couple with a 5 year old daughter and a little Australian Shepherd puppy out for its first walk. I guess the universe just felt like rubbing it in my face. Seriously though, it sort of just reminded me of the circle of life. Life ends, and then begins anew. I had my First Dog experience, and now that little girl gets hers. Someday my child will have his/hers.

No, Shipley is white so he gets an exemption. It's actually an interesting dynamic...Texas players are stereotyped as being lazy, but white players are stereotyped as being "high motor". It just doesn't fit!

Maybe you can answer this for me Buftex, as I'm not familiar with the Celtics front office...who the f*ck thought that taking a team built on chemistry and adding Rasheed Wallace to the mix was a good idea? I mean, maybe he doesn't play enough minutes to hurt the team THAT much, but his style of lazy whiny play is so far gone from the ethos of the 2008 championship team that it's ridiculous. GO BOBCATS!

Sadie was a real dummy too, but we loved her for it because she tried her best. She saw the mailman through the window every day for 14 years and still barked every day like there was an invasion on the house. FedEx, UPS, other dogs, people jogging by...they all got the same treatment*. I never minded the barking too much though, because I know she was just (in her mind) protecting us from all the evils of the world. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she would have died for us without so much as thinking about it. In that way, dogs offer a genuine loyalty that we almost never find among us fellow humans. *For whatever reason, the garbageman was the exception. She never once barked when they came around, and if she encountered a garbage truck on her morning walk she would excitedly wag her tail. It was the weirdest thing.

Happy birthday Chef! Don't go easy on the wine

That's beautiful, man. And here I thought I was all done with the crying.

Thanks, man. Agreed on all counts. Even though this is a Bills board, it's more than just that, especially here on OTW. Good luck with your dog. Hopefully he still has some good time left. I'm trying to remember how much of a blessing it is that Sadie lasted all the way to 14 years (all her brothers and sisters died early from a kidney defect that's common with her breed).

Thank you. As soon as I get a house (college bachelor pad at the moment), one of my first priorities will be finding a puppy. Sadie was a Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, so I might try to find another one of those, though they are pretty rare here in the States.

We've got a cat too, actually...my parents were never cat people, but we found her in the middle of an intersection close to our house, trapped in a pant leg that her previous owner had tried to use as some sort of sweater. We tracked down the owners, and it turns out the pieces of sh*t were tired of the responsibility so they drove her far away from home and just dumped her...so we kept her. Funny thing is, the dog and the cat became inseparable. I'm away at school, but my understanding is that the cat is absolutely beside herself.

Thanks eric, I appreciate it. She'd been sick for a few months, so it wasn't shocking news...but it still hit me like a ton of bricks. I've been lucky enough to never lose a member of my immediate family yet (my grandfather died years before I was born), so this is my first truly personal experience with death and it blows.

RIP Sadie Sage 1996-2010...the best dog she knew how to be. I remember getting her as a puppy when I was 7. Worst part is, I wasn't there when she was put down. Had to find out on the phone.

Newsflash, bud. Not every word that ends in consonant-s has to have an apostrophe.

When they run the background check on me, do you think my embarrassing record of supporting Trent Edwards will come back to haunt me?

Wait... you're name's not really Doctor Dankenstein?

Mushrooms are great. Unlike a lot of other stuff (coke, heroin, alcohol, cigarettes, even pot in some cases), I've never heard "Yeah man, mushrooms ruined my life." Non-addictive, usually not a negative trip, good stuff. But hey, it's just another substance that the government arbitrarily decided we can't handle.

I'm going to get slaughtered for this, but I have never laughed at the 3 stooges. Apparently it's supposed to be something that 100% of guys like, but I just find it to be humor for the lowest common denominator.

Not true. Albert Pujols, Lebron James, Tim Duncan, Mariano Rivera, Martin Brodeur, Drew Brees, etc...all cold-hearted assassins on the field, all friendly wonderful human beings off the field, all at the top of their sport, all champions. There are other examples too, but those are the 6 that came to mind. You don't need to be a douchebag like Tiger or MJ to excel.

On a scale of Carlos Mencia to 10, Cook is a 3. He's not as miserably unfunny as some people claim, but he's definitely more of a performer than a genuine comedian. His spastic style fits the instant gratification model of entertainment that seems to be preferred these days.

Phil played mistake free golf...that'll get you the win at a place like Augusta. Congrats to Phil!

Thank you! It's a common misconception that the song contains no examples of irony. Some of the lyrics are not ironic, yes. But... It's a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break It's like rain on your wedding day It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife He won the lottery and died the next day Mr. Play it Safe was afraid to fly...and the plane crashed down All of those things do, in fact, represent irony. "Ironic" is a big pet peeve of mine, because it's not an obscure word but I'd estimate that 10% of our population knows how to use it correctly. Most people use it when describing something unfortunate or coincidental. "Ironically, I lost most of my money on a bad investment." "I love the White Stripes too! That's so ironic." Nope.

These people thrive on negative attention. The only way to truly defeat them is for everybody to ignore them. Won't happen, but it's the only way.

Lucky the pit bulls didn't go for the kid's throat...not that the reality of the situation is that much better. Poor kid.

Ok then, go hit 500 balls and tell us how you're feeling the next morning.

You make some valid points. But the bolded parts prove that you either don't know what you're talking about or you're fabricating stuff to try to make your points. There are opponents, obviously. Your fellow golfers, and the course itself. Strength training is all but compulsory at the highest level. These guys aren't jacked out of their minds, but they do concentrate on their arms and core quite extensively. Sure, you have guys that are out of shape like a lot of other sports. But if you think John Daly isn't lifting weights, you're kidding yourself. The golf swing required to drive the ball 350 yards straight down the fairway does imply athleticism. Club head speed is all about torque. Saying that Couples and Watson can't jog a half mile is ridiculous. Especially Watson. The man is incredibly fit for his age. Wouldn't surprise me if he ran 5Ks, half-marathons, etc. I'm not saying golfers are athletes on par with tennis or hockey players. But your attempts to degrade the athletic elements of the game really miss the mark.

Ah, so not only do you know that there is a god...you know his will! It must be nice for God to have a right-hand man like you. But just for ***** and giggles, let's follow your logic. - God is perfect - God, being perfect, would want to create perfect things - Human beings are God's perfect creation - Evolution is unnecessary, and thus imperfect - Therefore, the imperfect process of evolution could not have created humans Let's think of some other imperfect things...how about war? Tay Sachs Disease? Black people? Didn't God create those things? Does that mean he's imperfect? (I included the last one so I could relate to you a little better).