I'm a lucky dog!

In the 1968 movie, Funny Girl, Fanny (Barbara Streisand) and Nick (Omar Sharif) steal a private moment alone while attending a party, and they soon discover they are both a little lonely. That's when Fanny sings the words, "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world..."

Now, you might find this shocking, but I'm not a fan of musicals (Grease being the exception). Regardless, here's a clip from Funny Girl... try viewing it without jabbing a pencil into your ear. I dare say it cannot be done.

You might also find this shocking, but I'm not a fan of Barbara Streisand. Nope. Never have been. I know, I'm surprised by this revelation myself. She's so talented but just doesn't do it for me. So, you might be asking yourself, "then why is Bogart blogging about Barbara Streisand?" Well, allow me to explain by way of short story. Gather 'round kids... Bogey's gonna tell you a tale. You might want to grab yourself a cup of hot cider before I start. Go ahead... I'll wait.

Ready?

Once upon a time last night - at 1:15AM to be precise - I couldn't sleep, so I wandered out to the office where I found Stew swilling Labatt Blue beer and surfing the internet for graphic... design software? Really? Graphic design software? Trust me, I'm as shocked - and confused - by this as you are. Anyway, I sat down next to him, and we modified our search for stay-at-home dog and dad websites and blogs. Low and behold, we came across the At-Home-Dad newsletter, written by Pete Baylies (author of The Stay-At-Home Dad Handbook, which would make a great gift for any at-home dad OR dog... hint-hint... buy it here). On his blog, Pete has a Best New Daddy Blog Contest, so we decided to submit my blog for consideration. Then after Stew discovered there were no more beers in the fridge, we retired for the night (only to be awakened by Claire four hours later). Upon checking email this morning, I discovered Pete accepted my blog for entry into his contest! Additionally, despite my late entry, he added a nice little plug for me at his site. So, much like all the crappy movies that are released at the end of the year typically garner the most Oscar buzz, I'm hoping the timing of my contest entry is such that I'm able to bring home the statuette for the 2007 Best New Daddy Blog.

So, as you can see, I'm lucky for having stumbled across Pete's website. I need his site to learn about this contest, in addition to many other resources about which I was not aware. For example, film-maker Dana Glazer is working on a documentary about the evolving American father. It got me thinking that Mr. Glazer might want to include a bit about the evolving American at-home dog. I wonder if Mr. Glazer knows that in addition to being a primary caregiver to Claire, I'm also an aspiring young actor... who's available for commercials, print and broadcast media ads, TV productions and, of course, film. Call me, Dana!

So, Thank You to Pete and his website (check it out and buy his book)! Thank You Barbara Streisand for showing all of us that people do, in fact, need people... and dogs. But we can really do without cats, unless they are fans of my blog (so, a bark out to my cat frenemies, Lexie and Sammy). And Thank You Claire for being the best part of my life and this blog! Speaking of Claire, I'd better post a photo of her since this IS a blog about her. I don't want to get disqualified from the contest just one day after entering due to a lack of baby content! Please note: Claire does own other outfits, but it seems she's always wearing a pink shirt and bib overalls whenever the camera has fresh batteries, so cut me some slack.