Over the Top Pet Adoption

So, as I get closer to living in America again, I have gone through certain "I want" phases. For 21 1/2 months now I have wanted a dryer. For 21 1/4 months I have wanted a steady supply of Dr. Pepper. In April, I wanted an SUV. As May turned into June I began to want a house, rather than an apartment. My latest want phase, a mere 5 days from boarding a west bound plane, is a dog.

As my "I want a dog phase" has turned into a mild obsession, I have found myself looking for dogs on the internet. Tonight I surfed over to the Greater Birmingham Humane Society and began looking at dogs. As I read their adoption articles, I thought, "This is a little over the top." I'm all about pets being a part of the family. Don't get me wrong. The GBHS makes it out to be the biggest decision of your life though.

The articles got to the point where I was almost turned off from pet adoption. I'm glad I kept reading though and found the snippet on outdoor dog safety. I expected to find "the dog could escape" (which I did), "the dog could be affected by the weather" (which I did not), and several other things. The following gem is what I DID find and I laughed hysterically.

"Dogs that spend most of their time outdoors are at risk for a variety of reasons. They could escape from the yard and become lost; a disgruntled neighbor could throw poison over the fence or spray the dog with mace or pepper spray; or the dog could be stolen and possibly sold to a research facility or dog-fighting ring." [emphasis added]

Seriously? Has anyone actually ever experienced a disgruntled neighbor throwing poison over your fence in an effort to kill your family pet? Do research facilities buy dogs? I'll give them the dog-fighting ring, but only because I am from Alabama after all.

The moral of the story (ok, maybe not moral, but my opinion) is that if you want to get a pet, you should take care of it. It is, after all, part of Creation, but come on people. Let's put our priorities in the right places and not make pet adoption harder or more serious than legislation, or human rights, or the Gospel.

The Dumbest Question Ever

"Would you ever consider going back?" Are you serious? Have my actions not displayed anything about myself? For the sake of all things pure, do not ask me "Would you ever consider going back?"

"Goodbye" is a bad word...

Tonight I said goodbye to my closest local friend here in East Asia. What do you say to someone who has become a brother in two short years, but you're at the moment where you may never see each other again? You simply make goodbye count.

Hey, Nathan, you should write a book...

Over and over again people tell me that I should write a book. I have no idea who in their right mind would waste their money on a book authored by yours truly. Probably no one. Since that's the case, I've decided to give the blogosphere another whirl.

For the past two years I attempted (but failed) to chronicle my humorous overseas experiences here. The only thing I can tell you to expect on this new blog is a bunch of randomness. It may be funny, serious, or just thoughts from the quirkiness that is myself. I hope you enjoy and I hope this gets me out of having to write a book one day.