Our ugly dog, Sandra, gave birth to three puppies who are just as ugly. But they’re puppies, and puppies are always cute when they’re that tiny. Wait a few months and their cuteness shall come to pass, transforming them to full-fledged ugly askals.

But why do we love these askals to bits? For one, Sandra was Papa’s dog when he was still alive, and she’s one of the things that remind us dearly of him. Every time I see her grow a few inches longer (and taller) I would always smile and silently tell Papa how big his favorite dog is now. She’s a menace but most of the time we overlook that fact about her. Except during the times when she successfully chews off her leash and jumps on top of the table to gobble up what’s supposed to be our ulam for lunch. Or when she runs inside the house right after she has gotten her paws soiled from walking in the mud. Or when she leaves (more) chew marks on our sofa and sandals — She can really get into my nerves!! What was my point? Oh yes, despite all these, we still love her. And she’s a good guard dog.

Her three pups (I’d rather not mention their names here because my little cousins gave them the most horrible names, lol) are almost two months old, and it’s almost time for Mama to give them away. I’ve only “bonded” with them for a month, but I already feel sad when I imagine they’d have different masters soon. I asked my mom if we could at least keep the furry black one and give the other two and Sandra away. But of course we can’t give the mother away. Who would want a big ugly mongrel?

It won’t be long til I would need to say goodbye to these puppies. It may even be before this week ends. So I’m writing this entry to at least keep a remembrance of them. I really hate saying goodbyes. Even if it’s to pets.

What’s wrong with me??

Even so, last night was a very sentimental time for us. Now that Belle, my other hamster, is alone, I feel the need to play with her once in a while so she doesn’t feel lonely. Before going to sleep last night, I took her cage up to my room and put it on the table beside my bed so we can just be with each other. She didn’t make the usual ruckus she and Jingles used to make, she just quietly sat in one corner. Then when I woke up this morning she was frantic inside her cage, desperate to get out. I placed her in my hand to stroke her fur when I realized she was making this faint, but very distinct sound that I’ve never heard before. It’s like she was crying!

My hammies have stuck by me since July 2006. Since then, we have moved apartments and I have transferred from one job to another three times. When I first found out that the life span of hamsters is just, more or less, three years, I got terrified for my little ones. I dreaded the day they would die of old age. And now the end is near…

Funnily enough, when I got my hamsters at the pet store two years ago, I thought they were male and female. It was only last year when Riz, after peeking under there, told me that both of them are actually a she! That put the mystery of why they don’t mate to rest. I took it as a relief because I didn’t want to have a bunch of hamsters multiplying every few months or so. I’ve been told that hamsters tend to commit suicide when their mate is gone. Since Jingles was not so much a mate as she is a “companion” to Belle (as they are both females), I’m hoping the suicidal tendency theory doesn’t pan out for her.

I was talking over a cup of coffee with Sarah this morning about our emo hamsters. Like everyone else, she has had her share of losing beloved pets. She had a hamster and a rabbit who killed themselves after their mates died, she had a turtle who ate her two smaller turtles (imagine that!), she had a dog who got inflicted by some kind of disease, and another dog who they had to put under euthanasia. She even had a crocodile! It was supposed to be a sad talk but we kept laughing at how silly we get when we are affected by our pets’ passing. At least I’m not alone in this.

I just wish that Belle would not get too lonely now that she’s all by herself. Farewell, Jingles…

Belle and Jingles

Past posts about Belle and Jingles:

• New Hamsters – August 3, 2006
• Hammies’ New Home – November 22, 2006
• A Dream Come True – December 19, 2006
• Geeking out with my Hamsters – March 7, 2007
• Hamster-rific Breakout – May 11, 2007
• Circus Hamsters – June 9, 2007

Update (9/7/2008): Belle passed away sometime in the morning. :’(

The “Buy me!” face that made me fall in love

Meet Leila, my 2 months old Chow Chow! Well, actually, she’s not mine. The boyfriend’s been wanting a pet Chow Chow for years so this is really his dream being realized. But I’ll be adopting her from time to time, so I’d like to believe that she’s also mine. Think of it as “joint custody”. Ha. Tonight, I’m keeping her.

So what does this puppy and I have in common? We both just loooove to sleep.

“ZZzzzz…”

Click to view Youtube video.

Cool, isn’t it? I’m trying to get my pet hamsters to watch “Tic” do his (or her) thing. I’m sure they’ll learn to do it too in no time…

Belle: “Uhh, you’re kidding, right?”

Jingles: “Hey, it looks simple enough.. I think I can do it!”

Jingles: “Woohooo!”
Belle: “I can’t watch..”

..Or not. Haha :up:

The Crime Scene

Ironically, it was Jingles who did most of the dirty work. He dug that hole using his teeth and claws for months but it was Belle who had gotten out! I can just imagine Jingles trying to squeeze his body out of it first, but since he is so much stouter he probably pulled himself back and went back to chomping some pellets and corn — leaving Belle to savor all the glory!

Fortunately, I have this big rectangular container made of plastic that I bought two weeks ago. I made it their temporary home while I’m still figuring out what to do with them (Should I just throw them out? LOL). I don’t want to buy them the same kind of cage because shelling out some 1000+ bucks just so they could chew on its walls again and make a hole is too much! Clearly, those feisty rodents haven’t learned the value of money.

And if damaging their cage is not enough, Belle also found something soft to nibble on while she was out of the cage and I was asleep. I left my PC on overnight the other night because I was downloading the latest Heroes, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy episodes. When I woke up, I saw that the download has been interrupted and the Internet was out. I tried to unplug and plug my LAN cable a few times but to no avail — so I just headed to work thinking Smartbro is probably just down again. It was only when I got home last night that we discovered that the plastic coating and the wires of the LAN cable was horrendously chewed on.

Good thing I have the free wi-fi I can use temporarily. Haha. Just kidding.

Crimes: Attempted breakout and Reckless Imprudence
Sentence: Life imprisonment

Although I should also probably mention that if you’re a Globe subscriber like myself, just loading the home page of your WordPress blog might eat up a huge chunk of your credit. Unless the size of your home page is only a few KB, then maybe it wouldn’t cost that much. Globe charges the use of GPRS per byte that runs on your session, so it’s probably wiser to use Smart, which charges only P10.00 every 30 minutes. And because I am a Globe subscriber, it goes without saying that when I tried the WordPress WAP thingie it consumed almost my entire account balance (which wasn’t much really) that the first time I tried it just might be the last time. lol. It’s nice to know I have an option though… Say, I’m stuck in a place where there’s no computer and no Internet access?

***

As another attempt to increase the popularity of our clients’ websites through viral marketing, our SEM team at the office are also taking on opportunities presented by the Web 2.0 world or Social Media sites. I haven’t completely made up my mind about SMO/SMM in general since it has its own pros and cons, but I don’t really wanna talk about that. I just wanted to share this witty message posted in the confirmation page of Squidoo after I was done setting up a lens:

I find it funny because my hamsters ARE usually the only ones who watch me while I “work” at home!

“Feed us, you good-for-nothing geek!”

I’ve never been a morning person (I can hear some people mumbling in agreement), but I’ve always wanted to be one — (because it feels more “normal” that way. Haha.) And now that circumstances require me to be up by 6:00 to 8:00 in the morning, I am enjoying the discipline I’ve set for myself to come to work early. It’s been 3 weeks, and so far, I’ve done a good job, yay! But I will continue to cross my fingers, lest I fail in this commitment of mine to be punctual, which I am very much known for. LOL.

Little by little, I’m getting used to the new office and new set of people I am with everyday. Hopefully, it’s just a matter of time until their hardworking, goal-oriented nature would rub off on me — their professionalism still remains quite new and shocking to a sleazeball like me, haha! PPC, web analytics, and other areas of search engine marketing now boggle my puny mind but I love the thought that I’m learning something new, somehow. I didn’t know my head is still capable of absorbing new information after its long inactivity. LOL. Just kidding.

Anyhoo, on to better news. You know how it’s usually one’s dream to be able to buy a house and a car with one’s own hard-earned money? Well, it’s the same way for me. But because, right now, that dream is an impossibility, I’m passing on my dream to the cute little ones…..

Last Sunday, with a little elbow nudge from someone, I was finally able to buy my poor hamsters a new home. It’s fun, bigger and colorful. Definitely a conducive place for the little ones to live and start a family in. LOL. They hardly sleep now because they play and run on their exercise wheel a lot. And believe it or not, last night Mr. Jingles was able to pop the top cover of the cage open! I guess I wasn’t able to close it tight before going to bed. He’s very feisty for something so small. We like to think of him as the hamster-version of Prison Break’s Michael Scofield — always trying clever tricks to break out of his little “prison”. Hehe!

They seem a lot happier now. Which in turn makes me happy too.

Speaking of Prison Break, I’m excited to find out what happens in Episode 12! If only the download gets a little faster..

***

I was bored so I clicked around Friendster for a little while. I viewed the profile pages of some friends, clicked on their Friends list, and from there added new friends who I didn’t have yet on my list. I don’t normally do this, and I actually have a thing against Friendster, but I was bored and it’s also nice to read about what my friends (and acquiantances) are up to these days.  I clicked some more, hopped from one page to another until, voila! I stumbled upon the profile of my high school crush! LOL. His face didn’t change at all and he still plays basketball, but strangely, I no longer find him attractive. Haha. He did remind me though of the fun I used to have with my barkada, just ogling watching him strut his stuff from afar, wondering if he even knew we exist… It’s pathetic, I know. But it’s high school, what did you expect?

Hmm. This does not change the fact that I think Friendster has now become very overrated. LOL. But it’s a good pastime.

I’ve been wanting to blog about my new pets! I bought them last Sunday (and, compulsively too, I must add) and I was so excited to bring them home. They are my first ever hamster pets. The only pets I’ve had in the past were dogs and a tankful of fish (initially, in salt water then I switched to fresh water since salt water aquarium is so hard to maintain).

As opposed to pet dogs, I never liked cats. It’s not because I hate them hate them, I think it’s mainly because, on some level, I’m scared of them. When I happen to encounter a cat, I always imagine that there’s more to those mysterious stares that it gives and that it will attack me ferociously with its sharp claws any minute. Exag! Or maybe I was somewhat traumatized after watching the Stephen King film Sleepwalkers when I was a kid. Lol.

I’ve always been a dog-person and I still am. I think they’re just the loveliest and friendliest pets (except for the big, mean ones). I still dream to have my own Labrador, Beagle or even a Chow-chow. But we all know how those kinds of pets cost in this part of the globe so they are out of the question. I even asked a pet shop worker once about the price of a Beagle and a St. Bernard and I was shocked to hear that they actually cost more or less 60,000-70,000 Php! That’s almost the same price as a pre-owned old model car.

So while I obviously can’t afford those expensive pups, I’ll gladly settle for 110 Php pair of hamsters for now. My male hamster’s name is “Mr. Jingles” from the movie The Green Mile. (Yes, I am aware that Mr. Jingles is actually a mouse. lol) and the female one is “Belle” coz she’s just so beautiful.

Here are some snapshots of ‘em…

Mr. Jingles and Belle

Exploring their new home for the first time

Dinnertime

Left: Mr. Jingles eating – Right: Belle sleeping

Tired after all the moving and settling down..

I think they’re just so cute and nice. However, just yesterday, Belle bit my finger while I was playing with her and Mr. Jingles bit Deej too when he was holding him. So I guess they’re not that nice hamsters after all. And to think I even bothered to buy them one of those exercise machines. Lol.