The Bow Wow Hilton

I AM NOT CRAZY!!! Where and when did I discover this? The minute I got hired at the PetSmart PetsHotel! That's right! A hotel for dogs and cats! You may call it a kennel, I call it the Bow Wow Hilton!

Whe you walk into the PetsHotel, you walk into a true hotel lobby complete with fireplace, comfy chair, magazines on the table. At the PetsHotel, you are greeted just like any other hotel guest....after, of course, we talk to your "baby", Fido! We give the "guests" treats, playtimes anything to make their stay at our hotel comfy! It is amazing!

I love working here! It is here that I realized I am far and away not the only human who treats their dogs like one of the family! Heck, some of these dogs check into the facility for a weekend with more crap than I take to New York for a week!

It's great to work with dogs! Playing with them in "doggie day camp" is just like being the noontime aid on the playground. I will never forget Joey, the chihuahua who "policed" the daycamp! He would sit on my lap, always on the lookout for any shinanagans, and the minute a disagreement or scuffle would break out, he would jump down, break it up with a bark that clearly laid down the law and then came right back to his post on my lap. Then there is little Chloe, an adorable Bichon. She's the playground cutie pie, always popular with the fellas, cute and she knows it! Our wonderful "rat pack" of puggles and beagles, Sox, Jaxson, Buttons and Bubba Joe are the little rascals in dog form: mischevious and playful! It is so fun to watch this group and all the others in action! I swear, doggie day camp is no different than the ones with humans! CRAZY!!

I love this job! It is a gift to have a part-time job working with dogs! Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

Procrastinator's Lament

FIRST DAY PART ONE-JULY 30

I am the world's worst procrastinator! I know it! I am sitting here on my bed with the XM 70's Soul station on, blogging while my world goes to heck in a hand basket! It's the morning after I woke up at 3AM realizing that my life is dwindling away and I haven't accomplished anything! Oh, sure...I am having a great time but I don't have the career I want, don't have a relationship...don't have much outside of the love of some awesome friends! I can't procrastinate while wallowing in denial anymore!

Today I am going to do 3 things: I am going to go to the gym before work and ride the bike for 20 mins (while reading "The Secret"), develop a budget and review my resume. Tomorrow I am going to take that resume and send it online to every entertainment job I can find that I am even remotely qualified for. I am going to sign up for the job search functions on every studio website in town and soon, I am going to have my job in entertainment while I am out of debt and on my way to my goal weight! Better yet, I AM going to have that job at either Warner Bros Records or Universal Music Group! Why not go for the dream job?! After that I am going to start on my novel, the one I have been procrastinating writing my whole life and actively post on that online dating site!

I can't be a overweight customer service rep who's financially inept the rest of my life. I know I am cut out for more. I just have to quit being afraid of success and let it happen...help make it happen. That starts today.

FIRST DAY PART TWO-AUGUST 7

Yahoo! I finally finished my resume and I'm going to send it off to Warner Bros. in answer to the perfect job posting! All I know is that I can hardly stand my job! What makes people think that because I work for the company they aren't happy with they can treat me like crap? I am sure these are perfectly respectable humans who aren't happy that their 16 year old caused their auto insurance to skyrocket! Fact of the matter is I don't give a shit and I am doing something about it! So I am sending the resume off and hopefully when I get back from camping/Newport Jazz Fest I will be on my way to a new job! One that doesn't require me being abused by my fellow man...or woman!

SUCCESS WITH "THE SECRET"-AUGUST 28

There has been a book out for a few months called "The Secret". It took the wisdom of Norman Vincent Peal and the marketing power of Oprah and became a phenomenon. What it is in a nutshell is the power of positive thinking. What you think comes back to you.

I'll admit I have had the book for months and haven't given it more than a passing flip through. It just seemed to require more effort than I was willing to put into figuring it all out. But something must have sinked into my subconsciousness while flipping pages in that book. I started telling myself on the way to work that the day was going to go by quick, the customers were going to be nice, it wasn't going to be busy and you know what? All those things happened!
So I tried this concept on a slightly bigger scale. I told myself and the universe that I would have a job like the one I had at HealthNet and I would have it by Labor Day. I posted my resume on Monster and answered ads entertainment and non-entertainment alike. Within a week and a half I had my first interview and when walking out of that office, I said "this job is mine". Five hours later, I had a offer.

I am now the Liscense Administrator for DTS, Digital Entertainment. It is a job very simular to the one I had at HealthNet. Pay is slightly higher and the benefits are wonderful. Even more wonderful is I start next Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, something I also threw out to the universe. With the last day of my work week at 21st being on Wednesday, I knew I could get a 5 day holiday weekend if I asked to start 9/4! SCORE!

"The Secret". I have the book in my bag and I am actually going to read it! This thing really works! Next stop, MegaMillions! Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

A Dogs Life

Michael Vick, pro football player is indicted for funding a dogfighting ring. DMX, platinum selling rapper has his compound out in the Arizona desert raided and abused dogs were found along with the charred remains of dogs that were killed. I am sure these high-profile animal abuse stories aren't the only ones, just the only ones involving millionare assholes who have no regard for another life or most likely, even the law.

Just when I thought I wouldn't be able to watch the news again, along comes a story of the most unlikely dog lover! I don't know about you but I would not take someone nicknamed "the queen of mean" to be a dog lover. But there it was, right on Yahoo news: Leona Helmsley leaves dog 12 million dollars! Finally, a news story about a dog that made me smile! 12 Gs left to a dog named Trouble! Imagine the trouble he could get into with 12 million bucks! He could pee on the carpet every day and have it replaced! He could shred the couch and replace it with a custom couch made out of Milk Bones! Speaking of Milk Bones, does a dog with 12 mil eat canned food or steak tartar every night?

Personally, I would love to see Trouble turn his life around and use his new found fortune for good. He could become an advocate for misunderstood pit bulls and Rottweilers everywhere! He could fund ads to let people know the joy and benefit of the uncondtional love of a dog. Trouble could use his money to assure no-kill animal shelters everywhere never run out of money or that they soon cease to exist because dogs and cats will have homes. Maybe he could educate animal owners to the responsibility of spaying and neutering. The possibilities are endless.

I am hopeful but realistic. I do expect the money to go to Trouble's head and he will shortly be seen in US Weekly stepping out with Paris's chihauaua or Tori Spelling's pug! It's a dogs life, after all Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

Roughing It LA Style!

I am of the belief that there are two kinds of camping: "real" and "wussy". Wussy campers load up all the comforts of home and head out in an RV. They sleep inside, watch TV, cook on a real stove. "Real" campers sleep in tents, have no idea what's going on in the world as they have no TV or radio and cook either on a little tiny propane stove or open flame. I am a real camper! I have no problem getting dirty, leaving the world behind, cooking on a fire and needing quarters to heat up the water in the communal shower that's down the trail!

My friends and I spent days on a beach in Ventura County. It was wonderful days of relaxing, cool breezes, enjoying each others company, fresh air and just being away from the daily grind. We hung out at the beach during the day and played Rumikub and roasted marshmallows at night. Yes my friends I was feeling like a true camper out in the wild, roughing it!

That is until I woke up my first morning and had an "lightbulb" moment! I realized that I had a car and that the Starbucks at Trancas (Malibu) wasn't that far, maybe 15 minutes up PCH! So this big, bad rough camper girl went for it! There I was, at the Starbuck in one of the most pretentious cities, checking email on the Blackberry, using a "real" bathroom and drinking her latte like it was the last drop of coffee on earth. I was back to civilization! It felt good! But so did getting back to the campsite and leaving reality behind again!

I think i'll add another category of camper: the hybrid camper. One who likes to rough it as long as she can have the occasional latte and access to the Blackberry! Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

Random Good Morning Thoughts

Rolled out of bed, down to the coffee pot which was auto-set to brew at 7:30, turned on GMA, and Lordy be, it's John Mayer and Eric Clapton! GOOD MORNING to me!
Thoughts while watching:

--God, that's an amazing amount of people up early in NYC on what is probably a muggy AM! Part of me wishes I was there, a HUGE part of me is grateful for TV and YouTube!

--Eric is a huge inspiration to John! What is that like, playing with your idol and you are only 29??? Geez! Eric is looking over at John like a proud dad! How cool must it be for him to know he's inspired guitarists everywhere!

-- Is watching/listening to John play witnessing the birth of the new Clapton?

--Funny how I never considered myself a blues girl but both my fave guitarists (Mayer and Sambora) are HUGE Clapton fans! Hummmm......

--KILLER guitar solo from John during "Crossroads"......WOW!

--If this music thing doesn't pan out for Mr. Mayer, Ambercrombie could use a new model!

--John rocks the bedhead! It's hot!

--Thank God he used the brain he has and dumped JS!

--Man I have to get this weight off before the "Stalker Cruise".

--At least I gave temporary thought to the music....

Off to the OC fair! Happy Friday, everyone! Hope yours got off to as good of start as mine did!
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Lessons In Dating Learned At The Dog Park

I was at the dog park the other day with my two favorite dogs I don't own, Molly and Bentley. M and B are two of the most awesome, gorgeous Golden Retrievers you will ever meet. While watching them relate and play at the park with their fellow dogs (and humans) something dawned on me: Dating should be as simple for humans as it is for dogs.

Maybe there is something to this butt sniffing thing. With dogs, they sniff once or twice and if there is no interest, they move on! They inherently grasp the concept of "they just aren't that into you" and it only takes a minute! With humans it takes days, months, years! Why do we hold vigil with Blackberry in hand, thinking he'll call.....email...text! Dogs don't! Yet, they never seem to manage to find ways to breed, if they are able.

I think that's the secret to dating. One sniff...or date...and that's it! One and done! Wish it was that simple, or isn't it? We will see because I am going to quit threatening to do it and jump right into online dating! I have a couple of free accounts and some of them are actually generating interest so keep an eye on this space and i'll let you know how it goes! Maybe my dark haired, hysterically funny, brilliant, civic minded, borderline geeky but wickedly talented guitar player is out there on Yahoo personals. Stranger things have happened! Just check YouTube for verification of that!

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Musical Friendship

I have these friends. They aren't friends in the "lets hang out and have coffee" sense but they are my friends through the music they make, the music that has been the soundtrack for my life for the last 21 years.

When Bon Jovi broke onto the music scene in 1986, I was out of my mom's house, getting my first apartment and trying to make my way in the "real world". Their first album "Slippery When Wet" became a hiding place from all that was scary about that real world. I would put that album on and hide behind the good time, nothing is wrong with the world feeling in their music. Their music has been my solace ever since! In the 21 years we have been friends we have gone through successes and failures together (their successes are a little more immense than mine but it is what it is). They have gone through girlfriends and marriages, I have gone through roommates and friends. They have toured the world, I have toured Southern California trying to find the perfect place to live (Chatsworth is the winner). Through it all I could always depend on them to be there and took pride in the feeling that I would always be there for them. Or would I?

A funny thing happened on that "Lost Highway". Something that I never thought would happen. While waiting to see how Richie Sambora's tabloid romance would shake out and how far into Country the band was going to go, I found a new soundtrack. One that is bluesier, funkier, newer! It is a sound I haven't heard before. It's a sound played from the heart, not the wallet and it has me completely addicted! To top it off, it comes complete with tabloid romance all it's own so my US Weekly subscription wouldn't go to waste! A new musician discovery! Cute, young! A funny, smart, environmentally conscience blogger! ANOTHER FREAKIN GUITAR PLAYER!! Yikes! I swear...crack couldn't be more deadly to me than a cute, funny guitar player!!

While I was diving in, finding all there is to know about my new musician I let my friends sit on the sidelines. While catching up on 8 CD's/EPs and various live shows, the release date for the new Bon Jovi came and went with barely a notice from me! I switched up my MySpace page to say "hey, look at this new thing I found"! My mornings were spent Googling to see if this was the hour John and Jessica TRULY broke up for good. Who has time to watch all those Bon Jovi appearences that are stacking up on the TiVo? Not me! I am in the discovery phase, that time in a new crush where it's all new, interesting, unknown. The fun part!

Maybe this has less to do with the new musician discovery and more to do with the fact that I was afraid this was it for me and my friends Bon Jovi! Maybe I was in denial about them "going country". What if they did and I would have to disown them! What if this ment that the band "sold out" for the cash and stopped being true to themselves? I felt guilty! I am deserting my friends! They have always been there for me, why am I bailing on them? I have more than one real friend, I can have more than one musical friend! So I finally bought "Lost Highway" (three weeks after release date...**sigh**....never waited that long before). I put it in at the beach and listened. To my extreme relief, it isn't country at all! It is the same Bon Jovi I have loved for 21 years! Catchy rock with hooks that reel you in and not let go! YIPPEE!

In full honesty I must admit that I only listened to it once all the way through and then put "Continuum" back in where it's been since June 10th! Here's the thing: Bon Jovi music is like my favorite warm blanket. I may not use it all the time but I do like knowing you can pull it out whenever you need it. I like knowing I can depend on the comfort that their music has always provided and will continue to do so.

I no longer worry about deserting my musical friends. I have always felt that the mark of a true friend is if you can pick up where you left off after not speaking for a while and the friendship sustains you as much as it always did! When you can do that, you know you have a true friend. Bon Jovi are and always will be my true musical friends. Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.