Introducing Veronica Mars the Dog

Say hello to Veronica Mars (the dog).

My wife has never been able to solely name a pet. She's the youngest of three kids, so the pets her family had were named by her older siblings. When we first discussed getting a dog, I jokingly said that we should name it Spider-Man, and the name stuck once we met the undersized dude. Ever since we bought our house, we've been in the market for another dog. Angela, throughout all of the talk of adding a new furry friend to our household, has been insistent that she get to name our new addition. For a long time, she had her heart set on French Fry, no matter the dog we inevitably get. I fully supported this because of my love of the cartoon show, Futurama, as I could call the dog Fry. Once the naming pendulum swung back my way, it would make room for me to add a Bender to our brood, allowing the two to have intergalactic adventures. Never mind that I'm thinking two dogs in the future, I wanted the opportunity for matching names.

We were also waiting for the right time to add a new pet. One of the many things life has taught me is that there's never a right time for anything. Things just happen because the universe is equal parts random, beautiful and ugly. Which is why, despite the fact that we've had a weekend trip in place to attend UFC 121 for months, we still decided to adopt a three year old tricolor beagle from Rancho Cucamonga Animal Care & Services, which is a local no-kill shelter. We've been checking the site regularly for the past few weeks, and "Sadie" popped up. The moment my wife saw the picture (which is not the picture above, unfortunately), she immediately thought the dog was on some sort of caper. When anyone thinks of capers in the Talbot household, Veronica Mars, a short-lived detective show that launched the career of Kristen Bell, immediately comes to mind. The name suits her well, another reason that my wife is awesome in ways that words can't fully describe.

How Spider-Man will react to Veronica Mars back at our house will be another matter for another day. The two met and didn't hate each other, which is a promising sign. The shelter has to spay Veronica Mars before we can take her home, and the earliest that can happen is Thursday.

Frosh
We began reading The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst. While reading the tragic tale of Doodle and his older brother, you'll be on the look out for details that lend themselves to larger meanings. The story chart, which is due Tuesday, Brockctober 25, will need to have ten of those details along with the larger meanings in order to receive full credit. Additionally, you'll need to create a theme statement for the overall story; hopefully the chart will aid you in doing so. Look for patterns and motifs, especially Hurst's use of color.

Seniors
Today we started our unit on Beowulf by looking at a brief history on Anglo Saxons. It was a pretty tumultuous time in what is now known as England, but it makes for some fascinating bits of information. We'll look a little bit more at the historical context of the time period in the coming days. The key thing to remember is that Beowulf represents a transition between the pagan ways of the past to the newer ideas Christianity represents.

BROCKTOBER COUNTDOWN
As excitement for Brocktober 23 continues to build, let's take a look at Brock Lesnar's debut fight in the main event of K1 Dynamite USA's show at the LA Coliseum back in 2007. Just three short years later, and Brock is the UFC champ. The amazing thing about this show is that the guy made his MMA debut in the main event of a major non-UFC pay per view. Sure, it did lousy business because any company not named UFC has a hard time doing anything right when trying to market a big event. Still, Brock Lesnar's debut!