Melicious Details

And then a vampire joined the meeting.

I think Alan Ball is a brilliantly creative writer and director. His HBO show Six Feet Under was one of my favorite series of all time and for many years the ring tone on my phone was the show's theme song.  His newest and even more fabulous HBO series, True Blood, is about vampires who co-exist with humans in small-town Louisiana.  The theme song is riveting, and is now my new ring tone. 

Enough of the backstory. The true story I was going to tell is this:  last week my business partner and I were at a very important meeting.  We were trying to make a good impression, and attempting to be all cool and professional. I've discovered that being both cool and professional are hard for me to do at the same time.  In this case, Being Professional means you make sure your phone does not ring during an important meeting.  It means you take the time to double-check your phone before you go into the meeting to make sure it is turned off.  And then you check it one more time.  But I was too busy being cool and forgot to turn my phone off.  See?  Clearly I can't multi-task.

The meeting was going pretty well and the person we were meeting with was in mid-sentence when the True Blood theme song suddenly gushed from my purse. Everyone froze, and there was a shimmer of tension in the room while two pairs of eyes looked at me like "can't you learn how to be both cool and professional and turn your effing phone off when you're in an important meeting??" But before I could exhale, the guy we were meeting with started to smile and says "Hey, isn't that the theme from True Blood?" 

Sometimes being professional is way overrated.

But how deep is it really?

During my month of traveling all over the place, we visited Agra, India, home of the Taj Mahal.  Since you no doubt already know exactly what the Taj Mahal looks like, I am posting two photos of other things you will see in Agra.

I loved the colors and fabrics of the beautiful saris worn by the Indian women, despite the fact that they highlighted my lack of taste and elegance while wearing traveling clothes purchased at REI. I won't be posting any photos of those.

But this sign!  Our Indian guide blamed it on the British.

He hates that the buttons on the remote are so small.

Whenever Tango sees or hears dogs on TV, he always go over to watch.  But the other night, when The (Insert Brand Name of Dog Food Here) Dog Championship was on, he took TV watching to a whole new level.

As you can see, he created the optimal viewing solution by climbing up on the table and making himself comfortable.  In this photo, he is helping judge "Evan" the Pharoh Hound.

But he was really not impressed with the Standard Poodle.

Tango stayed on the table for over an hour, watching all of the different breeds parade around the ring. I am hoping he noticed that show dogs are able to walk on a leash without making ridiculous high pitched growling noises or lunging/snarling at every dog they saw, which would be an excellent example for him to follow.

Teddi Times Four

When you don't have any children, you can turn one of the bedrooms in your house into something else.  Like a yoga studio, which is (really, I swear) why these walls are mirrored. Now that Teddi is almost completely blind, she often walks directly into a corner.  It's too bad she can't see the special effect she's created.