My Mom and Kofi Annan

A couple days ago I was able to take a picture of my mom and the former head of the UN, Kofi Annan. We were doing our usual morning walk around Lake Geneva and happened to find Mr. Annan doing the same! He was a very nice man and even complimented my mother on how nice I looked along with my friend Chico.

Later in the day we ran into this cute black pug, Casia. She was visiting from Fribourg.

I thought she was a little too forward with me. I mean, I am a gentleman you know! I think she was seduced by my Chicago tough guy look with my new blue harness. Peace out!

SONY DSC-T20's are JUNK

Well my fellow bloggers, I hope none of you have this Sony DSC-T20 digital camera! I purchased this camera in June of 2007 (just over one year AND of course now out of warranty) Sony has had a mechanical lens failure in SOME of their DSC-T20s. The problem manifests very specifically by vibrating (like a cell phone) and of course you can't take a picture! The big gripe is their customer service is GOD AWFUL! After numerous phone calls and several managers later I was transferred to the National Customer Relations Center (NCRC). In the end I'm still doling out shipping and paying half of the fee for repair. All this because my camera does not fall into their current serial numbers for the recall. I don't think a $400 dollar camera should be seen as disposable after one year and I think SONY should have much better customer service. They now have a customer who will never buy a SONY anything again if I can help it! Be warned my fellow photographers!!!! Thankfully, my husbands Nikon of 3 years functions great and I'll be using this for future posts.


(photo courtesy of crave blog at http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9992505-1.html)

Another satisfied SONY customer (NOT):
koolwhipp7 July 16, 2008 11:40 PM PDT Excerpt from crave blog
"Seems Sony has a problem with cameras lately. I also question the customer service and have decided to look elsewhere for my electronics as well as digital cameras. Customer service is one of my top considerations for purchasing electronics. Sony especially should be standing by their products. I purchased a DSC t-1 camera about 4 yrs ago and it was a great camera at the time, only found out that it had a defective CCD that affected quite a few cameras. They supposedly have a customer service and repair service for this particular model...but after numerous emails and tech live support along with promises that they would be shipping a return box and label to send to the repair center that never showed up - we have finally thrown the 500 dollar piece of metal into the trash. I have since purchased a nikon DSLR (great camera - we'll see if this will need service in the future) 2500 dollars and a canon 850IS for my son. Sony wasn't even a consideration...not surprised that they have another camera with possible defects."

Another Fine Day at the Park

Chico and I spotted this strange lookin' dog today! He's five months old and was attacked by another dog hence the bandages.

It turns out he's also got some serious breathing issues so we were still a bit weary of this dude. Fortunately, his psyche wasn't damaged and he's quite friendly.

Later in the day we ventured a bit farther to the left bank and ran into this gang of dogs. A fine time was had by all! Peace out!

Gorgeous Geneva Day!

The view from the boat on our morning commute to the park!

Moi riding the little boat.

The Rolex of dog poop bag dispensers/disposal?!

I wonder what Rolex would think of this?

Alsace France

The grapes were almost ready for harvesting. Don't they look scrumptious? Oh how I wish a dog could eat these things.

Here we are at a local Saturday farmers market.


Oh my sweet Josephine! Isn't she magnificent?! I met her in Strasbourg and she was just the sweetest thang!



My daddy likes to slobber all over me so I have to tolerate this. Here you can see it's just another slobber fest outside the Strasbourg church.


Bruce, the pug, was a bit of a hyper child. He is three and also from Strasbourg.


Finally, we made it back to Geneva and I was so happy to be home.

A few more Alaska pics.

This is how I ride for the 9 hour trip to McCarthy Alaska. I love my car seat and it's especially nice when we are on the last 60 miles of gravel road!


I'm surveying all that could be mine.

The summer wasn't all fun and games. As you can see, I was not a happy camper with this dreaded cone on my head!

Off to Alsace France!

Raoul sun bathing
Originally uploaded by pug freak

Well, we are off and traveling again. I'm going to hit some vineyards and check out those fine French dawgs! I'll post on my return Sunday.

Peace out!

Highlights of my trip to the USA this summer.

My buddy, Bo, did a great impersonation of a chicken!


Friends from Seattle sent me this Bark for Barack muscle tank that I sported around McCarthy Alaska. Here you can see one of my Alaskan friends, Sami.


Another great July 4th in McCarthy, Alaska. I was still recovering from my tumor extractions, though.


Of course I always travel in style, so you can see my awesome car seat that allows me to watch the view without having to raise my head! What more can a pug ask for?



Man. Bucktown in Chicago is full of black pugs! Here's the usual crowd(Diesel, Chase, Benson, and me) at the park!


I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be left so I just went ahead and climbed in the luggage!