Mr. Pump is Getting Excited

Only two weeks until Halloween now. I have purchased enough candy for the visiting children (I did this in September during an OCD episode).

Our biggest change from last year is putting the electric light inside the pumpkin on a timer. I use the timer that was in the sukkah, having just taken down the sukkah.

.

.

Gators Gets Some Press in Mark Trail

.




.


Well, as it happens, I Usually Detest Mark Trail's comic. The artwork is primitive and the 'plots' are sophomoric.

It also is so pro-environmental as to make me vomit sometimes.

But, of course, if the comic is about alligators, well that's another story.

.



.



.

.

Gate Reads About His 'Client'

Apparently Alligator's work preparing briefings for Judge Sotomayor was done well because on Aug 6, the full Senate confirmed her nomination to the Supreme Court.

Alligator gets most of his information from the on-line world but decided it was important to see how the Washington Post would cover this event.

He may have been secretly hoping they would mention his name in the story.

Coke Pauses for A Family Event

Although Coke Bear actually prefers his job with the Coca Cola Company to spending time with his family, he nevertheless likes to occasionally appear with them. It's good for his image.

Here he is with Ms. Coke Bear and their two babies.

What Coke Bear may not realize is that there is no genetically plausible way his son (the one between the two adults) is actually his.

So apparently Ms. Coke Bear has perhaps been enjoying some 'me' time also.

Hissy Looks For a Case

After the discussion between Alligator and Hissy and Alligator's decision to continue, for the time being, working in the Office of Legal Council, Hissy was a little unhappy.

So he decided to do some research.

Here his is looking for assssbesssstosss in the cat's water dish.

Gate Confers With Hissy

Alligator was so bummed out by the experience with Joe Biden's office that he is exploring other career options.

Here he is with Hissy, who is a lawyer representing people suing asbestos companies (or as Hissy says it, assssbessssstosssss).

However, Gate ultimately decided to stick it out a bit longer at the Office of Legal Counsel.

Gate Needs Some Wine

Alligator was assigned to give a briefing to the VPOTUS. He prepared his .ppt and made sure to get in all the talking points his boss had said to use.

The briefing would cover all the work the OLC had done to prepare for the congressional hearings Judge Sotomayer was going to have.

The VP, Joe Biden was to come to the OLC at 100pm. However, he didn't show up. Alligator waited and waited and waited.

It was 400 pm and Biden hadn't come. Then Gate got a call from his office.

"Did you use the talking points?", Gate's boss asked.

"Well no..." Gate started, intending to say why.

"Then you are in big trouble." said Gate's boss who hung up.

Gate called the office of the VPOTUS and they said that Biden should be there soon.

Gate stayed at the office until 900pm. Then he called the office of the VPOTUS again and this time they told him that Mr. Biden was out of town all day and couldn't make the briefing. They were 'sorry' for the inconvenience.

Gate Does Research

Gate's first big job in the Office of Legal Counsel was making sure they thoroughly researched all the speeches of Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

This was necessary because subsequent to her nomination in May, people were a bit upset at some of the things she said.

So his job was to:

1. Come up with excuses or plausible misunderstandings for every possibly offensive thing she had ever said, and

2. Make sure there weren't more speeches out there needed similar servicing.

It was a messy job.

UGA thinks about it

Grad asked UGA if he (UGA) would provide some security while he (Grad) begins to work out a 'deal' with the hedge fund.

UGA said that he was quite capable for providing security for this.

Grad was still a bit hesitant but the hedge fund offer was pretty good.

.
.

Grad Confers with Coke

Graduation Bear decided another conference with Coke Bear was needed. The earlier conference resulted in Grad getting a job with a Hedge Fund but the work was difficult and degrading.

Coke discussed the work he does consulting for a big corporation. The nice thing about this is that once you know dirt about the corporation, they will pay you to consult with them as long as you don't dish the dirt out to the world.

Grad was very interested.

Gate Camouflage Leads to a Change

Alligator sometimes likes to camouflage himself on the dining room table. This works best when we have a green table cloth (although the picture makes Gate's hide grey).

Anyway, Gate was being inconspicuous and decided to make a change and move to the Office of Legal Counsel, a unit within the Department of Justice that, among other things, acts as a legal service for the President.

Another Headline that UGA Likes

Today there was an article in Israeli National News, the following headline and story was made.

Terrorist Captured by Dog

In another headline:

Dog alerts HV couple to pre-dawn blaze when flue fire combusts outer wall wood

Diane Knapik, Guest Writer news@andersonvalleypost.com
Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Don and Norma Madison of Happy Valley are thankful that their family pet, April, had the good sense to wake them to the danger of a pre-dawn house fire." align="center" border="0">

DOGGONE HERO:
Don and Norma Madison of Happy Valley are thankful that their family pet, April, had the good sense to wake them to the danger of a pre-dawn house fire.

Battle of the News Stories

For some time, UGA (also known as George-dog) has been reminding us of the event in Maine that produced this headline,

"Dog Saves Owner After Cat Starts Fire"

(I can't get the Bangor News article so I used the UPI version which has a different headline).

In that event, the owner was using a kerosene lantern and the cat knocked it over.

Recently there was a recent story from a Seattle newspaper with a different twist,

"

Bremerton cat saves elderly owner from smoky fire"

In this story a woman slept through her smoke/fire alarm but was awakened by the cat pawing at her face.

UGA says this story is not believable because it is impossible to sleep through a smoke alarm.

and then today, according to KansasCity.com, a dog chewed through a computer wire and almost started a fire, the headline was,

Just ask the cat: Don't let dogs out with computers

the rest of the article read,

A dog chewing a laptop computer cord started a $105,000 Olathe fire Wednesday that almost killed the family cat.

Firefighters rescued the soot-covered cat, Tater, from the burned duplex and got him back to his family.

A woman and her young son were home when the dog chewed through the cord and caused an electrical short that ignited the couch, firefighters said, and then they and the dog left the home.

Tater stayed inside until firefighters saved him. They said he seemed well-tempered for a cat covered with soot. No word on whether the dog showed any remorse.

Gate Joins the Govt.

Gate Nominated for Post in US Fish and Wildlife Admin.

After his help to the transition team, Gate had been working the net when he got the call. His country needs him. You might think a ferocious predator would serve in Homeland Security (Everglades Division) but you'd be wrong. The new Administration wanted him in the Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Administration. Perhaps they expect some tough interdepartmental fights and it's good to have an alligator on the team.