Teddy bear hamsters

The other day Sandy was browsing the online animals at the local animal shelter and saw something new to him - a teddy bear hamster!

These are really Syrian hamsters - who knew they had hamsters in Syria? Anyway, I had a teddy bear hamster between the ages of 4 and 6. I know they are rodents but I have a soft spot in my heart for them.

You can tell that the blah life persists since I'm blogging about hamsters.

While searching for an adequate picture I found all kinds of other hamster-related stuff. For example, the hamster-powered night light (with custom low-RPM alternator). If I'd had one of these as a kid all that hamster wheel noise would have been for something useful and not just annoying.

I also found a darkly funny blog post about a deceased hamster entitled "R.I.P." It is complete with an obituary and a shot of his final resting place. Here's an excerpt from the obituary of Freddy Hamster Lewis, "Hamster spent his days sleeping, pooping, chewing, and grooming himself. One of his favorite hobby's was running and throwing his poop."

Anyway there's a lot of good information out there about hamsters if you're in the market. With the economy down like it is, I bet you could get a couple for a good price...

Not an internet addict!

Good news! I just took an online test to find out if I'm addicted to the internet (the irony...an online internet addiction test...). I'm in the clear. The results indicate "You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage."

Now that's out of the way I can focus on more pressing things, like the end of the world. Well, not the end of the world but certainly it's decline. I've just finished reading a book entitled Forecast and a National Geographic article about vanishing frogs. Both were equally uplifting.

Forecast pointed out that there is civil unrest, political upheaval, and natural environmental factors that are going to be exacerbated by the climate shift that is already upon us. That's right, it seems the temperature increases, warming oceans and weather changes we're experiencing now are largely due to CO2 emitted about 50 years ago.

Anyway, I could go on with facts and examples but suffice it to say that this is a well written book that connects the dots on international conflict and climate change. It's not what one might expect from a book on climate change forecasts - I don't thing there are any graphs or charts at all.

The frog article is just disappointing. Not because of the quality of the article (I mean come on, it's National Geographic) but because of the role of human actions in their demise. Oh sure, there's a fungus but there are also environmental effects that may have made the fungus infection easier. Here is a particularly telling quote from the article "It's no wonder some view our time on Earth as a mass extinction. Biodiversity losses today have reached levels not seen since the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago."

LOLdogs

My brain has officially turned to mush. I found the LOL dogs and LOL cats website and scrolled through silly pictures for the past 45 minutes. In the dogs category, I think this one made me laugh the most. Not all of the pictures provoked laughter - some were just stupid.

Why snackrifice?

As winter peters out here in Denver and spits some final snow-drizzle on us, I am becoming conscious of my need to stop the winter snacking. Of course, while I put this post together I'm cutting slices of raw garlic, wrapping them in pieces of deli sliced Swiss cheese and tossing in a fat free wheat thin.

I noticed the website on the box and had to check it out. On this website they try to appeal to what they assume is the average consumer's financially strapped situation. Why snackrifice? they ask, a Nabisco product and a Kraft product combo creates a cheap snack! Of course, especially since Kraft owns Nabisco - genius.

Speaking of financial - I am eager for other news commentary. The AIG, stimulus, financial meltdown, that 5% of experts say we're starting to come out of, is causing media fatigue or whatever they call it when people like me can't listen to it anymore. I mean as ridiculous as the coverage of Michelle Obama's arms was, it was a welcome reprieve.

Sorry, got to go, my cheese is on the verge of sweating.