My neighbor, an old lady, has an Affenpinscher (image to the left). I have to tell you that it’s one of the ugliest type of dog I have ever seen. The one she has is even uglier that the one on the picture. When I first moved in I thought it was Satan visiting my neighborhood.

Back to the point. She said that the dog was ill and that he had been a few days at the hospital because of his problems with the bronchus. Like she didn’t expect that from the beginning. If the nose is almost at the same line as the eyes and as pushed in as it is, you got to have some problems sooner or later.

I don’t get why you decide to continue to breed these kind of animals, you are giving birth to deformed creatures that will suffer from what mankind did to them, starting from their birth. It’s the same as with cats, have you seen those Persian cats? It’s horrible! Stop the animal cruelty damnit!

And also, don’t humiliate your cat or dog by putting stupid clothes on them. If the clothes doesn’t serve a purpose for the animal it shouldn’t be wearing it!

I’m a fellow reader of Galadarling.com and today Gala posted something really thoughtful that I thought I could share with you. It’s really something that everyone can relate to.

Gala’s 10 Rules For Everyone

1. Accept yourself. Now. As you are. In all your wonderful imperfection, with all your delicious flaws, regardless of past failure or pain. Stop delaying approval of yourself. You will not be a better (or worse) person when you’ve made your first million, or when you have legions of screaming fans, or when you have a baby. Love yourself now. Forgive yourself now.

2. Take care of yourself — whatever that means to you. From buying a pet to going for long walks with your best friends; from getting a weekly manicure to leaving your abusive partner. You deserve it — & you deserve to feel good.

3. Assert your sexuality. You don’t just choose an orientation & that’s the end of it. Things change! Go with your whims! Buy toys, read manuals, learn tantra, do whatever you want to do. It will keep you youthful, as well as making life more fun.

4. Put the same effort into developing your personal style as most other people put into following trends. In a few years time, when you have a wardrobe full of incredible coats, beautiful shoes & mind-boggling jewellery — & everyone else only has “basics” & recent trends to work from — you will thank me!

5. Develop a strong enough sense of self that you are truly living your own life. Have faith in yourself, believe in yourself, even when your spouse/parents/friends are telling you to go in the opposite direction. At the same time, stay fluid, stay open, or you’ll stagnate. Keep pushing, keep questioning. We stop growing as people when we stop asking questions.

6. Be good to people. Take the moral high-ground. Resist the urge to “get revenge”. Avoid gossip. “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, & you help them to become what they are capable of becoming.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.)

7. Take risks. Change your hairstyle, date someone younger, buy a fabulous sports car, move to Paris, open a bakery, make new friends! Take responsibility for your life, your circumstances, your choices. It is not anyone else’s fault.

8. Shirk that boring obligation to wear ‘appropriate’ clothing. Everyone looks better when they feel good in what they have on their back. Wear a ballgown to the supermarket & a suit to the baseball if it makes you happy!

9. Learn from the best. Take makeup lessons, see a personal stylist, ask your hairdresser the best way to blowdry your hair & watch your manicurist carefully. Even if you don’t do these things professionally, there is no reason why you shouldn’t benefit from their experience.

10. Smile. Be grateful for what you have. Appreciate your life.

It’s really something worth thinking about, don’t you think? Kudos to Gala for making my evening a bit lighter!

Now there are flyer’s everywhere about the upcoming circus that’s coming to town at the end of the month. In the last few years I have been actively boycotting the circuses. Those with animals. Think about those elephants, camels and the rest of the animals that are trapped inside small cages that they have to travel mile after mile in. It makes me sad when I think about it.

I tell everyone I know that they and their kids shouldn’t go to circuses that features live animal acts. I would rather want them to go to a well maintained zoo or wild animal reserve, where they actively care for the animals and their future.

What are your views on circuses?

Nowadays there is a lot of talking about how to be a successful blogger. There are advice and tips everywhere. The most common advice is that you have to choose a niche.
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Google owns Blogger (Blogspot), everyone knows that. But we all Blogger bloggers miss the statistics module that for example Wordpress.com blogs already has. Since they’re in the same family I think it would be a good idea to implement Google Analytics with Blogger. But you never know, it might show in the future.

However, if you want to track your visitors on your Blogger/Blogspot without putting up a linkback-image to the tracking-service on your blog (that’s so 90’s!) then Google Analytics is the tool for you.

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Like I mentioned before, it is good to have backups of your content in case something goes wrong. Let’s focus on another side of file protection. You are aware of that basically anyone can get a hold of your private information right?

SecureZIP - The next generation of ZIP
SecureZIP is the tool when it comes to protect your files and private information, weather it be bank statements, medical reports, tax records, passwords and other personal stuff or protecting emails and attachments, SecureZIP is the tool for you.

It also integrates with Microsoft Outlook with ease and it will automatically encrypt, digitally sign, and zip email messages and attachments for you automatically.

Wile it will protect your information it will also continue to leverage all of the benefits that come with file compression. Hence the name ZIP.

Using this tool would definetly take a weight of your chest when thinking about sending something that’s rather personal through your email. These days you never know who will read it!

SecureZIP is right now offering a free license of their full software for a limited time at www.securezip.com! All you have to do is to submit your email address and then you will get an email that contains the download link.