Rob's Blog

Jewish Christmas

Well, no Chinese food - we went to a party instead, but did see a GREAT movie - The King's Speech. With Colin Firth and Jeffrey Rush turning in phenomenal performances. Yesterday it started to snow like crazy - probably about 2 feet in Montclair, NJ. Don't remember getting so much accumulation in years. So spent a cozy evening inside, making a fire, making s'more's (just can't get that chocolate to melt right!) and watching Fargo, which was great movie to watch on a snowy evening. Pretty  much snowed in today. Did some shovelling, but didn't do much good. But Rosie, our Portuguese Water (Snow?) Dog, seemed to love it. Our boxer mix, not so much!

BlogHer 2010

Just returned from BlogHer2010, the premier event for women bloggers, who cover topics such as kids and family, relationships, "green" living, coupon collecting and fashion. Quite a wide range from the approximately 2500 "bloghers" who showed up at the Hilton, in New York City, on Friday and Saturday, August 6-7. For the first time, Johnson & Johnson had a booth representing the company. During the previous 2 years at BlogHer, we sponsored a SAFE KIDS USA booth. The theme of our booth this year was "Johnson & Johnson, A Legacy of Caring", which celebrates our 125 year history of helping people lead healthier and happier lives. We invited attendees to tell their own "stories of caring", which we videotaped and posted to the Johnson & Johnson health channel on you tube. We had over 50 stories over the two day period, focusing on caring about family, children, helping others, charitable giving, and even a couple about pets. All in all, it was a great experience and a wonderful way to connect with people, and we hope to have a continued presence at BlogHer going forward. Here's one of the videos recorded, by Mom, Vera Sweeney:

 

 

Snow Dogs in Montclair

Wow, what a storm. Easily 18-inches. And no snowblower! Thank God for shovels, sons and good neighbors. Well, the dogs seemed to enjoy it, at least one of them.  

Rosie's first birthday party!

Rosie just had her first birthday last week. She's a wonderful, happy and healthy Portuguese Water Dog and loves retrieving, playing with her big sister, Beauty, and vocalizing. Having 2 dogs is great.

ROSIE

 

BEAUTY

 

It's a Dog's Life....

Speaking of dogs, I read an interesting book, "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle". It was an Oprah book, so predictably a little sappy, but it was impossible to put down, and there were some really great sections on dogs, fictional though they might have been. Then of course, there's Philip Roth's book,"The Humbling", yet another treatise on sex and death with which he's been obsessed in his last several books, as opposed to some of his earlier books where he was only obsessed by the former. Another good read, "What The Dog Saw", by Malcom Gladwell. Probably my favorite of all three.

I've got a bone to pick with you....

Our new puppy, Rosie, and dog, Beauty, spar over a chew stick.

Portuguese Water Dog Puppy Tug of War!

Yes, we have the now famous breed in our home, a 9-week old puppy, Rosie. Our "house" dog, a Boxer-Great Dane(?) mix has been extremely tolerant, and in fact enjoys exasperating her younger sibling.

Our New Puppy!

We picked up Rosie, our Portuguese Water Dog puppy, on Saturday, from a breeder out in Bethel, PA. I guess a picture is worth 1000 words!

CC, the TV-Watching Dog

My friend and colleague Jeff has a Golden Retriever named CC, who loves, no is addicted to, watching TV. Her favorite channel is Animal Planet, and her favorite program is Meercat Manor. She doesn't like the commercials though. This dog needs a Tivo!

 

 

New Puppies

Alright, let me make one thing perfectly clear. We decided to get a Portuguese Water Dog puppy, BEFORE the Obama's. And we're not going to name it either Barack or Michele. We recently lost our 16 year-old Wheaten Terrier, and although Casey can't be replaced, we wanted another dog to keep our Boxer-Great Dane-Hound(?) mix, Beauty, company. It's actually easier in some ways to have two dogs, since they are in fact pack animals, and calm each other down when there are no human "pack leaders" around to play with and steal food from. Anyway, we're trying to get a relatively calm dog, as Beauty is a handful, so temperment is going to play a big part in our, and the breeder's, selection. Here are the pictures of the girls, which we'd prefer. Aren't they Cuuuuuuuuuute?!