Dogs and Kennels

So I'm musing about dogs, and spas, and kennels. What would posses a person to own a dog in NYC? Even a little one?

Because dogs are social, outdoor animals bred for herding sheep, hunting vermin and generally getting up to lots of outdoors, active type stuff. And, as we all know, New York, with it's concrete, high density and lack of general outdoors anything, is far from the best place for all that stuff.

Growing up as a child in New Jersey, we had a dog. Cleo, a temperamental, demanding little Shetland Sheepdog. She never could get over barking at Squirrels, or birds --- and she couldn't be let off the leash lest she run away and never come back.

So it must come down to companionship. That we all need to feel needed, and wanted, and that is a universal. So we would splurge on a doggy day care because we want our dog to be happy as they can be.

So, what if the message here was -- despite the higher cost -- your dog was happier if they went to a specific place everyday -- and thusly the unique selling proposition, if you will, is that your dog will love you more. How do you show that? What would a dog do to show their appreciation?

How about bring you not just the paper, and your slippers to your bed, but starbucks coffee and all the daily publications in new york? Hold the mirror for you while you shave? Bring you more toilet paper in the crapper? Hang a "welcome home from work, master!" banner on the front door? Clean up their own feces off the sidewalk? Make coffee in the morning? Pay your bills? Give massages? And if that, what's a dog massage look like? Fix the plumbing, paint the apartment, dust, mop, vacuum, brush the cat, babysit, cook you dinner....Maybe that works with the welcome home master banner...sew your buttons back on a shirt or jacket, pick up the dry cleaning, go grocery shopping, do the taxes, recycle, wash the car, wash themselves (dog in a shower?)

The Watched Pot Syndrome

A simple thought, really.

But, in telling the story of my proposing to my fiance to friends last night over dinner, I was struck -- again -- by the strange phenomenon of the watched pot syndrome.

By this, I mean the inevitable cause and effect that occurs whenever you need something to happen: A job to book in, a contract to sign, a cheque to arrive, or in may case, for the phone to ring, and it just won't. You're watching the pot, and it just won't boil, hence the old adage.

In this particular case, you need the phone to ring to let you know that the ring is done, so that you can finally propose to the love of your life by the absolute deadline of Christmas. And it's Christmas Eve morning. And, after checking your phone, you see that you haven't missed any phone calls. So what do you do?

Well - you take a shower, and lather up. Make sure to use a lot of shampoo, and -- this is critical -- bring the phone into the shower. Because that is how you insure the phone will ring. As it did. And the ring was just as beautiful and unique as I had hoped it would be. Thank you Jenny at Julius Cohen Jewelers for making it happen.

But about this watched pot syndrome: It is simply further proof that time is elastic? The same way that a moment an last an eternity - or a day or week can fly by in a flash? We can control the way we experience life; our sense of satisfaction and enjoyment by structuring our own reality. In a way, it's a different way of thinking about the Romantics obsession with the "Spark of the Divine" that we all posses. Perhaps, we are more Godlike than we believe.

Or maybe I'm just hungover.

A new logo...a new era?

Mostly, I just wanted to see what this looks like...I'd love to write bunch, but it is positively pouring rain outside, and I am completely swamped with work inside.

There really are never enough hours in the day - I am always pushing for more productivity, for my fingers to fly faster and with greater accuracy over the keyboard, bigger coffees, faster downloads, quicker messengers -- oh, I live in manhattan.

I kinda like the logo, though.

Any thoughts?