First Pets, the presidential kind...

I know that I promised fewer political posts, but I'm afraid that I stumbled upon something that is just too bizarre not to share... President Bush has a portion of his website dedicated to his family's pets -- two scottish terriers and a black cat. One of the dogs, Barney, recently became famous for biting a reporter... Something which would've sentenced a normal dog to death, but, when it's the president's pet, is apparently completely kosher. The Bush family's other dog, however, is the bizarre one. She goes by the name Miss Beazley, a.k.a. Beazley Weazley. The name would be cute if it were owned by, say, an eight year old, but it's instead owned by the most powerful family in the US. A family powerful enough and with enough money/time to burn that they can put together a webpage detailing their dog's favorite hobbies, which apparently include tap dancing, watching Duck Tales, and learning to read by the third grade. I've included the whole transcript below:

Miss Beazley Bush

• Nickname: Beazley Weazley
• Breed: Scottish Terrier
• Birthday: October 28, 2004
• Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.
• Owners: President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush
• Parents:
  • Mother: Bethz of Black Watch Elizabeth
  • Father: Clinton of Champion Motherwell Alberta Clipper
• Favorites:
  • Treat: Cheeseburger
  • Playmate: Willie the cat
  • Pastime: Tap dancing
  • Part of the White House: The Oval Office
  • Cartoon: DuckTales
  • Books: Junie B. Jonesseries by Barbara Park and Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald
• Goals: Miss Beazley wants to learn to read by the third grade.

Original page is here. I'm all for treating pets like they're part of the family, but, come on, they are not children.

Samsung i760

So, last week, my boss offered to purchase me a new phone on the company plan. I believe this is merely a trick to get me to use my cell phone for work, but, being a sucker for fancy gadgets, I decided to go ahead. We went to Verizon and picked up a fancy new Samsung i760, a Windows Mobile smart phone which the Wikipedia article proves is more amazingly awesome than I had first suspected.

I'm not too crazy about the Windows part of that, but I wanted a phone that could be extended pretty easily. With a Windows Mobile phone, there's a plethora of simple apps out there that I can install for free. If I'm willing to spend money, I can get even more. In fact, if I'm ever feeling particularly adventurous, I can even get a version of Qt for Windows CE, which would allow me to even write my *own* applications, such as the interest calculator I just demonstrated.

For the moment, however, I'm just enjoying having an internet device the size of my hand. It doesn't quite replace a computer, but it's getting there. Unfortunately, it appears that (as usual) Verizon is behind on the times.