Oh, hey, everybody.  So, I was just hangin’ out this afternoon in my new x-ray pantsuit and monitoring the neighborhood when I saw some kids walk up to the building across the street, yell “trick or treat!”, and then get handed TREATS by the bozos who opened the door!  WTP?!

All these years I’ve been doing all this work, Jimmy-ing, going down, staying, leaving it, finding it, sitting in my bed, trying to get one measly treat per feat of strength from my parents, when the people across the street will just HAND ME TREATS with the mere threat of a trick?!

I HAVE TO GET OUT THERE.

 Ooof.  If I could just…climb…

Maybe if I squeeze to the left…Ergh…YOWWCH!

Um, could somebody please take me outside?

Well, the PugSlope Headquarters and all of its residents survived Hurricane Sandy unscathed.  We were very fortunate – our power stayed on and there was no damage to our apartment due to wind or rain.  Sid thinks it’s because he’s oh-so intimidating, but the truth is we were just lucky.

Don’t mess with me, Sandy.

 Now we’ll be doing what we can to help things get back to normal in NYC, and we hope that some of you can help out too.  If you’re local, shelters across the city are taking donations of clothing.   And from anywhere in the country, you can automatically donate $10 to the Red Cross by texting REDCROSS to the number 90999, or you can donate larger amounts at www.redcross.org.

And, on a lighter note, Sid emerged from the hurricane with his gentleman’s dignity in tact.  The poor guy went almost 18 hours without doing any business in the apartment, even after I encouraged him to do so by setting up a very appealing indoor pee park:

Luckily, when we woke up at 8am, the winds had died down enough to get him outside.  Poor guy barely made it to the sidewalk!!

OMG EVERYBODY THIS HURRICANE SANDY THING IS CRA-CRA-CRAZY!

I’ve been doing a lot of Googling, and apparently a hurricane is a gigantic storm with really strong winds and it has an eye or something.  Like this:

Mom says I shouldn’t worry because we’re totally prepared and there’s all sorts of extra food in the house and a gazillion baby carrots in the fridge (I’ve yet to see any!) and my safe crate is all set up, and the bathtub is full of water, and we have five flashlights even though we only have two hands to hold them, but I’m still feeling a little like this:

I bet if I had a peanut-butter Kong bone I’d totally be feeling less panicky right now.  Hint hint.

Good luck to everybody who’s in Sandy’s path! Stay safe and stay dry!

Sid’s been the center of attention since his b-day earlier this month, and amid all the craziness of 1000 Pugs weekend, he also had two special non-pug (i.e. human) visitors.

It was Payton‘s ‘rents, Tim and Christy! They were in NYC for the last leg of their multi-city Remembering Payton tour and the NY/NJ 1000 Pugs photo shoot.

As soon as T & C set foot into PugSlope HQ, Sid knew he was in for a treat. Especially when he noticed the bright-colored gift bag Christy was toting. Like most of his flat-faced bretheren, Sid assumes that any bag or box that enters his domain (our apartment) is undeniably his. This time, he was actually right.

If I get close enough, I think I can see through the wrapping paper.

The first gift was a plush IntelliBone which is one of those puzzle-type toys that Sid goes ga-ga over. Plus every little component has a sqeaker inside so his mind was definitely blown.

It didn’t take Sid very long to pull all the plush donuts off the center bone, at which point he decided to show off by coyly using the bone as a head-rest. Yes, we are now justified when referring to him as a bonehead. Wah-wah.

This is how we store our bones on Planet Cool Sid.

Of course, we couldn’t just let him sit there all smug with his little peanut head resting on that bone. So we put the donuts back on. And he took them off again and proceeded to perch his head, victorious, on the bone again. After repeating this process a few more times, Sid was losing steam. By the end of night he just laid there like this:

Every five seconds or so, he’d gently squeeze the bone, just to confirm it was still there in his mouth and that he wasn’t dreaming.

But the excitement wasn’t over just yet. Another package was pulled from the bag. Inside was a framed photo of the fabulous Miss P herself along with a very special confidence shirt.

This shirt is actually the one that Payton is wearing in the photo. We were all moved by this very thoughtful gift (even Sid blushed – though he’ll never admit it) and were so glad we got to spend some time with such a great couple.

Okay, everybody, listen up.  This is New York City.  And in New York City, you gotta know how to be COOL around people who are famous for doing all sorts of awesome things.  These famous people are called CELEBRITIES, and when you see a celebrity, you’re gonna want to take a photo with them because it’s sooooo exciting to see a celebrity, but it’s soooo NOT COOL to ask a celebrity to take a photo with you.  Here’s how taking photos with celebrities works on PLANET COOL SID.

1.  Stumble upon a celebrity.  OMG OMG OMG LOOK MOM IT’S PUGLET FROM THE DAILY PUGLET!!!!!

 2.  Tell your parents to get the camera ready, and then nonchalantly sit as close to the celebrity as possible without actually making eye contact with the celebrity.  Can you sit under the celebrity?  Even better!

 3.   Smile for the camera!!

Ta-da!!!  Now you have a SUPER COOL photo of your and your new best friend [INSERT CELEBRITY’S NAME HERE]!  Pass it around at cocktail parties for a great conversation starter!! Post on your Facebook page to make Mr. Pickles jealous!!  Stare at intensely when your self-esteem is feeling low and daydream that you’re in an awesome buddy cop movie together!!!  IT’S SO COOL TO BE COOL!!!

In addition to the excitement of 1000 Pugs last Sunday, and Sid’s Birthday Week, we’ve also had a special guest spending a week-long holiday here at Camp Pug Slope.

It’s none other than Stella Boo McMuffin – the pint-sized sister of Eddie the Pug from San Francisco.

I think Sid may have met his match when it comes to “food motivation”. Stella takes food VERY seriously. And coincidentally, her favorite treats are baby carrots – which you know we already have ample supply of here at PugSlope H.Q.

Aside from Sid being a little particular about which toys Stella can play with, and claiming her little bed as his own, they’ve been getting along like old fur-riends.

It’s still technically Birthday Week here at Pug Slope as Sid’s 7th Birthday was just last Thursday.

About a week before the BIG DAY, he gave us a list of potential gifts he would like (and I quote):

1. Giftcard from MrChewy.com

2. Baby Carrots (like 10 bags min.)

3. Another batch of Plush Potatoes (yellow is my favorite color)

4. Jar of Peanut Butter (left on floor with lid removed)

5. Framed black-and-white portrait of T-Buttz and I looking all romantic and stuff

(NOTE: Puhleeez do not get me any more CONFIDENCE SHIRTS. I have like 2000 already and also I’ve already got enough confidence without  them – remember how I scaled Mount Couch sans shirt?!)

Much to his surprise, we actually appealed to requests #2 and #4 (though not is the requested quantities) via his Birthday cake,  which consisted of a cored & peeled apple topped with peanut butter, a crunchy venison treat, and 7 baby carrot “candles”.

Sid was even more shocked when something large and billowy was pulled out from its hiding spot and placed on the floor in front of him.

Being a gentle-pug of leisure, he knew exactly what this item was and what he was supposed to do.

This is mine.

While he was occupied with fluffing-up his new bed, we were able to covertly slip in and purloin his old, crusty, stinky bed (complete with peanut butter remains mashed into the fabric). We’re hoping he doesn’t notice.