Author: Dick

A man with the winning name of Septimus Winner wrote that enduring ode to lost canines everywhere: “Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?” This seems to be the question that millions of Americans are asking with regard to Vivi, the missing whippet showdog, who escaped captivity at JFK Airport in New York.

Yes, Vivi Fever has become the new national obsession and I am happy to play my very little part in it. That bit part is a result of news aggregator, Topix.net, picking up some of my posts about the wayward whippet. Why this online news distributor picked up a post from a blog that is mainly read by four good friends and a couple of prairie dogs is beyond me. But since I have unwittingly (as in nitwittingly) become a voice of authority on this story, people from all over the world are checking out EFD to see if Vivi has been found.

To answer your question: No, Vivi has not been found, not to my knowledge at least.

I don’t know what that means for Vivi. I have read whippets are known to take off and hide for days. Vivi may have stowed away on another plane and could be living la vida in Puerto Vallarta for all we know. I thought that perhaps someone might have dognapped the whippet but that doesn’t seem to be the case as far as what I’ve read. So hopefully, Vivi is safe somewhere having a good dog laugh and will eventually return to its peeps and we can obsess over something new.

Sam Cooke summed it up almost 50 years ago with his song “Wonderful World.”

“Don’t know much about history
Don’t know much biology
Don’t know much about a science book
Don’t know much about the French I took … “

Well, I know a little history and I know how to read a science book. But I never took French and I don’t really know that much biology (with the exception of mammalian reproduction).

I wish I knew a little more science this week as yet another tech writing project is kicking my ass. I look back at high school and college and wish I would have learned more science, along with more math, meteorology, more Spanish, et cetera. Sometimes I wish I had applied myself more to my studies instead of the studious pursuit of the party universe.

But alas, I cannot turn back the hand of time. For if I did — I probably would just piss it away having a good time again. Why change a winning formula?

Just as the blond cable news goddesses doggedly track the missing white girls, I am steadfastly following the disappearance of Vivi the missing Whippet dog. It seems the psychics have arrived in New York to find the Westminster Kennel Club merit award winner, according to the Chicago Tribune. It also was reported that some dog crap has been found that is possibly like that of a Whippet. (Personally, I don’t want to KNOW how they know that)

It seems as if about the time that I found and added to my blogroll the site, We Made Out in a Tree and This Old Guy Sat and Watched Us, the posts abruptly ended. It is a blog on which people send in weird, funny, or weird and funny comments they hear or overhear. I am happy to report that the blog is up and running again and has such new goodies as “The Danger of Foreign Babies,” as well as continuing favorites like: “Statements Made in Casual Conversation That Sound Like Country-Song Titles (Vol. XIII).” Check it out.

It is amazing the strange political dynamics that can take place during a congressional election year. A case in point is the hubbub (great word!)over the company seeking operations of six major U.S. ports. The company is a state-owned firm of the United Arab Emirates.

Both Democrats and Republicans appear to be siding against the president on this one, saying that allowing the company to take over port operations in these cities significantly threatens national security.

Perhaps one of the weakest arguments — at least to me — is that two of the 9/11 hijackers were from the UAE. And? And the overwhelming majority of those terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, as is Osama bin Laden. I don’t see us putting up a blockade to keep tankers full of Saudi oil out of our country.

I am sure there is more to this story than meets the eye. I hope so because it would be sad to see that the only issue bonding congressional Democrats and Republicans is a case of xenophobia. I guess I’ll just have to see where this hubbub leads and who will be the lead hubbubers, which sounds sort of like whale blubber and that rhymes with pool … in an alternate universe … I suppose.