Awesome Pet Names

A few months ago I asked "What's in a Name". Naming something is a big deal whether it's a wing of a hospital, a baby, or your new puppy. The only difference between them is you can have much more fun with the pet’s names. I hate it when people give their pets a person name. It's such a waste. You can name it anything and you decided Max. Terrible.

When I was little, we only had fish and a little dog. We named the dog Oreo because she was black and white. No, it's not the greatest name ever but it's a solid dog name. As for the fish, I think we named them by species, there was Glass, Shark, and Jumper (Jumper was the fish that would jump out of the tank when you fed them.) If I were to name a pet now, I’d probably name it an inanimate object like Light Switch, Eyelash, or Hatchet. Another great thing to do is add prefixes or titles to the pet names like mister, doctor, or captain. Some of my favorite pet names given out by my friends are Fatty Iris, Ninja Steve, and D.O.G. (pronounced Dee-O-G).

Every year the Bandfield Pet Hospital gathers pet names from across the country and comes up with the ten best names. Here they are.

10. Alyssa Butter Scooch
9. Baron Von Doodle
8. Cookie Fudge Rainbow
7. Emperor Chewy Teddybear
6. Lord Godrick Von Mousenberg
5. Honey's Lil Midnight Moonshine
4. Chairman Meow
3. Beetle Juice Monster Pants
2. Sir Goose Slobberalot
1. Fatty Mcbutterpants

My favorites are Fatty Mcbutterpants, Chairman Meow, and Emperor Chewy Teddybear. Whenever you add Fatty to a pet’s name, I think it's funny. Chairman and Emperor are new titles that I never thought of using for a pet name. So next time you bring your little bundle of joy home (no, not your kid) have fun with the name, your pet might end up on this list.

Video Only Killed The Radio Star, Cell Phones Killed...

Music has most definitely changed since MTV and the video era. Maybe video did kill the radio star but I think it just changed what and who the radio star is. What video did is nothing compared to what the cell phone is doing. Cell phones are making some activities and items so irrelevant that people under the age of ten will be completely oblivious to things that used to be everywhere.

One of the biggest examples of that is the payphone. Cell phones have wiped out most of the pay phones. If I asked my 7 year old cousin what a payphone was, I don't think he'd have the slightest idea of what I’m talking about. Cell phones have made the word payphone nearly extinct.

Some other items that the cell phone has killed off are gaming devices, portable music players, newspapers, and cameras. When I was in 6th grade I was so excited Christmas morning when I got a N64 or a cd walkman. Now what's the point of having a Gameboy (I think they are actually called Nintendo DS now) or an IPod? You can play Madden on your phone and listen to your personal playlists on your new fancy cell phone.

But that's not the only thing that cell phones destroyed. They also took away some parts of growing up. I remember in middle school passing notes to girls I liked. I was so excited to get a note back from her, waiting all class period to find out if she'd want to get an ice cream cone after school. That anticipation and fun nervous feeling is gone. Now you'd just send her a text and get an instant response and immediately update your Facebook status to OMG Ice Cream 2morrow w new girl!!!!!!

I think the biggest thing that cell phones have done is kind of a double edged sword. In one way you are always connected to the world but that connection to the world can take away from the relationships that are literally right next to you. For example, this Easter I was sitting on a couch with my brother and sisters. We were all talking when they took out their phones and started playing a game on their phones and stopped contributing to the conversation. So even though we were right next to each other, we might have well been in different states.

I know there are good reasons to have the new phones and I'm sure someday soon I'll join the 21st century and get a smart phone. But for now I'm ok with actually talking to people, getting lost sometimes, and carrying around my cassette tape walkman listening to the Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star.

Opening Day for Baseball and Relationships

It's a great time of year. Spring is right around the corner. That means warmer weather, longer days, and plants blooming. And like in Disney's Bambi love is in the air, or is that the smell of hot dogs and burgers on the grill of baseballs tailgaters? It's probably both. Not only is baseball America's past time but it's also great for relationship analogies and advice.

One of my favorite things about baseball besides the game is all of the parallels that can be used when it comes to relationships. Like "I finally got to second base," or "he is a real home run." The analogies for relationships that can be drawn from baseball are endless, fun, and often time commonly known.

Not only can you use baseball analogies when it come to relationships but you can also find some great advice in the great American game too. Here’s a few hints that I like.

You shouldn't show him/her up. Like in baseball if you spend too much time watching your homerun the next time you’re up to bat you're going to get a fastball right at your ear hole. The same thing goes for relationships. If you try showing up your significant other in front of their friends or family, your going to get an ear full from them next time they have you alone.

Have a set of signs. In baseball you always have the guy on third base who's rubbing his tummy and scratching his head. He's telling his players to run or stay or swing or bunt. It's not a bad idea to have some sort of signal with your significant other too. Something that will help them get out of a bad conversation or if you have kids have a signal to pause and reconvene in the kitchen so you can get on the same page. They can be helpful and could be fun too.

Remember you're on the same team. If a star player gets hit by a pitch more times than not his pitcher is going to have his back and going to go after the other teams star player. The same goes for your relationship, you have to have your partners back. Also celebrate their accomplishments just like ball players do after a teammate goes deep.

And one of the most important ones - You can't win them all. Even the best baseball teams only win 60% of their games. It's a long seven month season and if you get too discouraged over a few tough times, it'll hurt you over the long run. The same thing goes for relationships. You're never going to win every argument. Sometimes it's better to just suck it up and move on to the next day. If you let things linger, It could make for a long season.

Mother Nature's Power

Mother Nature can be pretty tough. For those of us that live in Wisconsin, she spits snow on us, freezes our butts off, teases us with summer, then spits more snow on us, then turns up the heat and humidity and then repeats her torture. However, a year’s worth of her torment is nothing compared to what she is capable of doing in a single moment.

I'm talking about the fury that can be unleashed by a natural disaster like a tsunami, hurricane, thunder storm, or tornado. It's almost twister season in Wisconsin but in the south they've already been hit. The tornadoes that hit Texas this week have left many with damaged homes and several injured. We've been told of the power of these natural disasters and seen animated recreations in movies like "Twister" and "The Day After Tomorrow." But this video from Dallas is truly startling. It looks like a miniature set with toy truck trailers flying about but this is the real thing. So next time you think Mother Nature is picking on us for a cold snowy day, be thankful and hope you never have to see this in your backyard.