After years of discussion, we have decided to take the plunge and become a two-dog household. As I have mentioned in the past, we have to consider MrsBlue's allergies in this regard, which originally helped us settle on Hudson the wonder dog, our allergy-friendly (if not strictly hypoallergenic) Airedale Terrier. This has helped MrsBlue make the case for a breed she has long favored, the Standard Poodle. In addition to not further aggravating MrsBlue's allergies, this breed will also be a great match for us an many other ways... A large standard will be a bit taller than Hudson (helping him withstand the rigors of playing with the energizer bunny of high energy dogs), he should be as smart as she is (to help avoid becoming the household doormat), and he should be a bit generally mellower that Hudson (who is not the terror that some terriers can be, but she has been known to get a bit worked up at times).

Going through all this lead to the conclusion that we wanted a male Standard Poodle, hopefully black. It was about a day later that I ran into someone joining the morning pack that Hudson runs a local trail with who had a black standard poodle puppy. It turns out her breeder, whom she adores, only breeds black standards, and when we spoke, it turned out he had a litter on the way, and that all the females were spoken for, but he could promise us the largest male in the group (do you know that the opposite of bitch in canine parlance is dog? -- Creepy). Anyway, it's just all come together like it was meant to be, so we are heading up to visit the breeder today to see the expecting mom and the pending pups' sire, and if all goes well, we should be bringing home our new friend during Christmas week!

Links of the Day:	SPACEWAR. 35th Anniversary of the Internet Homepage. Clientcopia.
Stories of the Day:	Dog saves woman's life by calling 911. Thanks Donovan. Police: Woman exhumed boyfriend's ashes. Thanks NEMI. Town to officially pardon executed witches.
Science!:	Did Gutenberg Really Invent the Printing Press?? And did he really star in Police Academy? Gigantic cosmic corkscrew reveals new details. Like how to open gigantic cosmic wine bottles. Don't Knock the Birdbrains.
Media of the Day:	Chocko Party - Good Good! Thanks Nic. Lacquer. Fastest cross-county trip you'll ever take. Thanks Craig.
Image of the Day:	That guy who whines about hating sand. Thanks Nic.
Auction of the Day:	With Sadness, Houdini Artifact Collector Puts It on the Auction Block (registration required).
Follow-ups:	Hitchhiker gets 1m web listeners. More doubts over plan for allergen-free cats.
	Thanks Mike Martinez.