We took the long drive from Vancouver to Langley to check out the pug puppies. I, of course, was doing so reluctantly. After all, it was Thursday, we were leaving for Montreal in two days, and we couldn’t expect our dog-sitter to take care of an untrained puppy for two weeks. Could we? I assumed that would be the deal-killer.
By the time we met arrived at the breeder‘s house, there was only one pug left – the runt of the litter, a roly-poly bug-eyed puppy that bolted the second Fondy got close to him. He was, without a doubt, the unfriendliest pug I had ever encountered. We had, however, brought Jelly along to check out her disposition toward a possible new addition to the family and, to my surprise, the two got along famously, bounding around the room, crawling all over each other. This was bad. I threw Fondy an anxious glance. She was already pulling out the checkbook. “Whoa whoa!”I tried to slow her down. It would be irresponsible of us to leave this new puppy with the dog-sitter. “No problem,”Fondy replied. “We’ll bring him with us.” I suppose I should have seen that coming.
We called him Maximus, after Russell Crowe’s character in Gladiator. And for those first few months, he was a little menace – using Fondy’s Manolo Blahnik’s as chew toys, surrendering the security deposit on our rental by gnawing on walls and uprooting the carpet, and leaving scattered little “presents” for us to find. He was mischievous but darn cute as evidenced by the hordes of cooing Japanese girls who would descend on us every time I took him out for a walk. And so, he became “the handsome one” and, like a kid fully aware of his good looks, he took advantage. If you were a guest in our house and your lap was free, Maximus would find it. And if you failed to notice him or give him the attention he wanted, he would bat you with his paw until you did.
Although he’s mellowed with age, Maximus is still the most stubborn of the trio, distant when you want to be affectionate with him, seeking affection when you have other things to do. He’s loving, laid-back and, apparently, incredibly popular at doggy daycare. Whereas Jelly is aloof and Bubba is yappy and confrontational, Maximus is adored by tremulous terriers and brassy boxers alike. He’s also the chunkiest of our trio of pugs. How many calories in those Manolo Blahnik’s anyways?
Questions?
Cel writes: “Ever tried Vegemite?”
Answer: Nope. From what I understand it’s an, uh, acquired taste. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try it though.
Peter writes: “If you were to assign one word for each episode in the first half of Season 4 of Atlantis […] what would they be?
Answer: Adrift (desperation), Lifeline (gamble), Reunion (roots), Travelers (rivalry), Missing (missing).
Shawna writes: “What are the odds of ever seeing an actor from the original series on Stargate?”
Answer: At present unlikely, but you never know.
4ps writes: “Some of your fans are in the process of making a type of “fanclub” area in your honor. However, we were wondering if you would mind if we used some of the pictures you’ve posted on this blog.”
Answer: Really, your visits to this blog and the comments you leave are fan club enough. That and the occasional chocolates and doughnuts sent to the production offices.
Anonymous #1 writes: “With Atlantis and SG1, do you ever interact with the stage crew and go down to the sets?”
Answer: I do on occasion but I’m usually in the production offices, writing or dealing with production issues. Thankfully, our seasoned directors can handle most any problem that crops up on set.
Arctic Goddess writes: “Were you aware that there is a movement afoot to have Paul McGillion play a young Scottie (James Doohan’s character) in a new star trek movie about a young Enterprise crew? If you were writing that movie, who would you choose to take on those roles?”
Answer: I wasn’t aware but I’d love to see it. As for who I would choose – Paul, natch.
Anonymous #2 writes: “Hmmm. I guess we’ll know when we see how many episodes Torri’s in. I’m still betting that the information certain people have is accurate.”
Answer: Again, with all due respect, the fact that Weir is not a regular would suggest that she will be appearing in fewer episodes in season four. As for any presumed knowledge of the exact number of episodes the character will be appearing in – that’s quite a trick considering we haven’t even sat down to discuss the back half of the season.
Kliggs writes: “Sometimes I don’t like your magic 8 ball’s answers. Ever think of trading it in for a new one?”
Answer: Yeah, I’m thinking of going with the Sarcastic 8 Ball instead. Sarcastic 8 Ball says “If you say so, buddy”.
Melissa Risenet writes: “What do you think makes a good server, and what’s the worst experience you’ve ever had with one?”
Answer: I like friendly, upbeat servers. So far as I’m concerned, an open personality goes a long way toward smoothing over any minor bumps in service. The worst experience I’ve ever had? Well, there was the time I went to a birthday dinner with friends and had a server step up, take only my order, and leave. Soon after, a second server took everyone else’s order and left. Later, everyone received their meals but me. When I inquired with our server (the second one), she asked me who had taken my order. I pointed to the first server to which she replied: “Oh, he wasn’t supposed to take your order.” I was out of luck.
Anonymous #3 writes: “Don’t you feel like you’re selling out the Atlantis fans to make people who watched SG1 happy?”
Answer: Not at all. As I stated in a previous entry, the decision on the Weir character was made BEFORE the decision to bring in Carter. If it hadn’t been Carter, it would have been someone else.
Lor54 writes: “I did make said truffles from a recipe of my own devising. I couldn’t find a recipe I liked. The secret is using good chocolate, of course!”
Answer: They were sinfully decadent. What kind of chocolate did you use?
Jenny Robin writes: “Big Joe, how was your day?”
Answer: Pretty good. Joe Flanigan swung by the offices today to give us his thoughts on a couple of scripts. He LOVED Travelers. No surprise there. I worked on breaking down the first part of the mid-season two-parter, then joined Carl, Alan, and Martin in the writers’ room to re-break the last two acts of Martin’s latest script to incorporate Rob’s Lectoresque notion.
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