Prizes…coming up later today.

If you have a business, or have an idea for a Puppy Prize, please share!  We would love to feature your business and give away something nice to the readers.

If interested, please email FridayPuppy@gmail.com with the subject:  Puppy Prize

My mother’s middle name is Jude… named after St. Jude, and her favorite little bundle of joy (ME!) was born on St. Jude’s day… October 28th.   Crazy, right?

St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes.   Meaning, when all other avenues are closed, he is the one to call upon, and his help often comes at the last moment.   Or so claims LuckyMojo.com  Nevertheless, St. Jude, in my opinion, is one of the better saints out there.

Well, in addition, there is a wonderful organization called The St. Jude Children Research Hospital which is a great pediatric research and treatment facility.

THIS FRIDAY@ 5:30 at the Pearl Street Pub in downtown Albany, NY, there is a fundraiser for The SJCRH called “The Hey Jude Street Party”.  It’s going to be a fun night with lots of music by the Beatles and Paul McCartney  (performed by The Students and The All Paul Show).

Suggested donation is $10.

If you can’t make the party, but would like to give to this wonderful organization, please CLICK HERE.

My girl friends with their maternal instincts, and my guy friends with their hatred of condoms, have really messed up my life.  I miss the beer pong days, and the spontaneous trips to “the Big Apple”, my friends who would stay up until 5:00 in the morning and then go eat chicken parm at a Greek diner in Latham.  Those days are gone.  Now it’s like, “he’s walking!  or…She just said the word “poop”!”  or  “we might move to Delmar into a beautiful ranch with a driveway.”    vomit.

I was trying to watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey Reunion episode (let me just say that I haven’t been this excited about a single hour of television since Britney Spears comeback performance at the VMAs in 2007), and as I’m sitting on the couch, I hear a song playing from under my man thighs.

What was the song, Matt?  Fine, I’ll tell you.

I sat on my friend Christy’s kid’s toy that was wedged in my couch cushion, along with my wasabi and soy flavored almonds by Blue Diamond (yum) and Kay’s Pizza crust.  Her son has a toy guitar that plays songs when you graze any one of the 4 billion multi-colored buttons on the toy.  And when I sat back into my couch, I heard the guitar start to play…. “Fruit salad… yummy yummy”.

Apparently there’s this musical group (or cult, I don’t know what it is) called The Wiggles.  They scare me.  But they have a song called “Fruit Salad.  Yummy yummy.”  and it gets stuck in my head and won’t leave it for weeks.   I was at dinner tonight at a restaurant in the Lower East Side, and the waitress said they have a “fruit salad” special.  And I said “Fruit salad… yummy yummy”… but sang it to the tune, as a JOKE to myself.  And one of the women at the table exclaimed, “Oh my god!  I love that song.  Do you have kids?”  So I said, “Waiter, another martini please.  Kettle One.  Dry with olives.  And please shut that lady up.”

I will say that I appreciate the fact that the song is trying to encourage kids to eat fruit.  Although I personally hate fruit salad, I applaud them for not having a song called “Fruit Roll-Up.  Yummy yummy.”

Anyway, here is the toy and the song…

Yesterday, someone stole my Weber Genesis grill right out of my back yard.

Jerk.

Every time someone steals something from my house, I kick myself for not building that moat.   I mean, who would have the balls to steal someone’s grill?!  A grill feels like such a personal item.  It would be like someone stealing my toothbrush.   (For the record, you can steal my floss.  I never use that stuff.  How can anything that makes your gums bleed that much be good for you?)

You can also take my coffee maker, my Advil PM (that stuff is the devil’s work), my Soloflex, my skinny jeans (don’t have the legs for them), and while you’r'e at it, you can take my Dexter:  Season 1 and 2 DVD set.  I can not get into that show.   I think there’s some straight porn near the Dexter DVDs.  Take those, too.  Gross.

Although, my Aunt Pam says that a problem is not a problem if it can be solved with money.   Not that she’s a Rockefeller or anything, but rather, there are real problems in life, like sickness or death, that can’t be fixed with a bank check.   So when I hear that my grill was stolen, yes it sucks, but I’ll find another one on sale.  At least I have my health, my family and my friends.

…and a beautiful, pair of size 10 1/2 Gucci leather shoes that I planned on wearing with the aforementioned skinny jeans… if anyone wants them.

I had 362 emails at my work address, 299 of them were for viagara or that guy from facebook who says he has gotten a hold of some naked pictures of me – like they are that hard to find. Then I checked FridayPuppy and I see that Matt seems to have been on a little writing vacation himself, posting videos and throwing parties, becoming a book celebrity and all. And I was going to post this spiel I wrote on potty training but…then I checked my gmail account and I had an email from a very close friend of mine asking me to say a few things about a great organization, the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

The Jerry Lewis Telethon was live this past weekend in the Capital District and my close friend and her husband volunteered at WRGB, the station that carries the telethon. They have a special place in their hearts for this cause and so do I. The MDA is the world’s largest non-governmental sponsor of research seeking the causes of and effective treatments for neuromuscular diseases – they sponsor 330 research projects annually. Although researchers haven’t been able to find the cure for any neuromuscular disorder yet, they are on the verge – a major breakthrough could happen any day (there are some very effective treatments currently in the trial phase)

The heartbreaking part about this neuromuscular disease is that it effects children – children who are unaware and so happy despite their challenges. It inhibits them from doing things that so many of us take for granted, walking, running, playing frisbee with your dog. It’s a devastating diagnosis sometimes and I can’t imagine, as a parent, the emotional roller-coaster attached to hearing that your child has a disorder that may impact his or her life forever.

So I wanted to thank all the volunteers who helped out during the telethon and all those who do support the MDA through donations and advocacy. If you’d like to donate yourselves please visit their website www.mda.org.

Saratoga Springs, 2010 (Canon AE-1 / 25A filter / Tmax 100)

Thank you to those of you who came to support Judge Helena!

Click HERE to read it.

until about 3 weeks ago, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a “book trailer”.

My friend Josh asked me if he could borrow my pickup truck and my dog for a book trailer he was hired by Harper Collins Publishers to film.  However, the actor that was hired for the job couldn’t make it, so Josh asked me to sit in.

I realize I’m not an actor, but that was a lot of fun, and now I can’t wait to buy the book and read the first page and a half before my a.d.d. sets in.

If you would like to buy this book, Scott Spencer’s “A Man In The Woods”… CLICK HERE.

The scenes by the way are filmed in Grafton Sate Park.  Isn’t it beautiful?

I looooove the dogs from this week.  Especially the one in the fridge.  That is such a great photo.

If you have a cute photo of your own little pup you’d like to see all up in this piece, please forward it along to FridayPuppy@gmail.com

As I’ve said before, please send photos that are not blurry and NO photos of dogs that have bright crazy red eyes from your flash.  Not only will I not put those photos up on Friday Puppy, but they give me nightmares.  Literally.  Or as I call them, “Nightpuppies.”

Usage:  (Hooker: “Dude, I know I just met you in the park, but you were screaming in your sleep.  What was that?”

Me:  “Oh my god, I’m sorry.  I was just having another Nightpuppy.  I write this insanely popular blog called Friday Puppy.  And people send me photos of their dogs and sometimes…”

Hooker: (interrupts me) “Stop.  You’re really freaking me out.  I’m just gonna call a cab. Do not get up.”)

I have also started putting the Friday photos in the “More Photos” section so that it doesn’t take up so much room on the home page.   Just something I’m trying.  I figured I’d keep you all in the loop.  If you hate it, let me know.  If you love it, send me some chocolate chip cookies.  From scratch please.  (I’ll know the difference).

I hope you all have a wonderful LABOR DAY WEEKEND,  and please take a second to vote for the Friday Puppy you think is the cutest.

Champagne and ice cream.

Champagne and ice cream.  Just saying those words puts a smile on my face and makes me go #3 in my pants.  I love champagne and I love ice cream.  Champagne and ice cream.

As you know, Veuve Clicquot is my favorite champage, although in a pinch I’ll guzzle prosecco.

Breyers Ice cream is my favorite store bought ice cream.  When I was working at GE, I used to eat hot dogs with salsa con queso on them for dinner, and then finish a ½ gallon of Breyers Cookies & Cream ice cream for dessert.  I was fat, single, working for GE, and a solid 2 on a 1-10 happy scale.

These days I have found a healthy way to balance champagne, ice cream, exercise, vodka, cigarettes, anxiety, and love in one sexy little package.

Coming up tomorrow night (Friday 9/3) from 8:00-11:00pm is a fundraiser for the Lark Street BID called Champagne and Ice Cream social.  It’s taking place at 245 Lark Street.  It costs  $15 if you CLICK HERE, or $20 at the door.  And they are going to have delicious ice cream (provided by Ben & Jerry’s!), and cold, crisp, fantastic champagne (provided by Chateau Frank).

I’d also like to add that I LOVE the graphic for this party.  Whoever is handling the artword for the BID lately is doing an amazing job.

For today’s early prize, we are giving away 2 tickets to this party.   If you would like to win these tickets, please be the 25^th commenter on this post.

If you would like to purchase tickets to this event for you and your friends, CLICK HERE.

Good luck!