The Graves Touch and Three Days of Fun

First of all, my apologies for not updating the blog until today, however, I've been so busy over the last three days that my little paws haven't had time to navigate the QWERTY. Second, be advised that this is a long post...you young readers might want to break it up in sections. I'll make it easy for you and categorize my recent adventures based on the day.

However, before I begin, I still could use your help in the BISSELL MVP contest. Please take a second and vote for me here: http://www.bissell.com/redirect.asp?page_id=47101&Pet=4900.jpg

Thank you, and now on to my usual canine insights...

Thursday, February 28:

The best thing about this day was the Butler men's basketball game against Wright State at Hinkle Fieldhouse. If you noticed, my friend and videographer Kelly, from The Indianapolis Star was on hand to shoot some additional footage for my video profile which is due on their web site sometime this month.

Also, for as much trash as I talked about Rowdy the Raider, I actually got along great with the guy. I guess it's easy to do when you're winning, but it surprised even me. I don't know if you can call it a "Reagan and Gorbachev" relationship by any means, but it's something anyway.

The Dawgs won the game and as a result, sealed the regular season Horizon League championship...a feat they have done six times out of the last nine seasons! They celebrated by cutting the nets down in Hinkle and posing for pictures with the Dawg Pound and yours truly.

Friday, February 29:

Leap Day! I told my dad that technically we shouldn't have to go to work that day because it was an extra day and that wasn't in our contract, but he made us go anyway. I suppose it was a good thing as we got some things accomplished.

One thing we did was created a YouTube page for me so that I can upload all of my Emmy Award winning home videos for everyone to enjoy. Check it out and save it to your favorites: http://www.youtube.com/butlerblue2.

I will continue to post videos periodically so check back early and often.

Then, the mail arrived with a special package for me, from Amazon.com. It was a web cam. Or as I like to call it a "Blue II Cam," or a "Blue TV." That's right, if my blog and YouTube.com sites weren't enough for all of you devoted fans, soon you'll be able to watch live streaming video of me doing exciting things like sleeping.


My dad got the web cam all hooked up and ready to go and I think we'll use ustream.tv to host the broadcasts, but YouTube just announced that they are venturing into the lifestream hosting realm, so we may end up switching. Unless ustream.tv comes up with a significant multi-thousand dollar contract to keep us. Regardless, I'll let you know when we go live with the video stream.

After all of that, it was KIRBY TIME! Kirby is my best friend and every other week or so, on Fridays, he comes to the office to visit. Named after the late Kirby Puckett of Minnesota Twins fame, Kirby is a one year old Maltese/Shih Tzu mix and belongs to Butler student, Jessica Butler (no relation to Ovid). Although, I look more like Kirby Puckett than Kirby does.



We're kind of like the Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon of doggy friends, but it works. Kirby likes to bounce around and bit my neck rolls and ears while I like to growl and bark at Kirby and dare him to get the toy that's in my mouth. It's strange, but we like it.




I have some video of Kirby and I up on my YouTube site. In case you are really lazy, I'll include one for your viewing pleasure below. Keep in mind, we are just "play fighting." It looks and sounds a lot worse than it is. No Michael Vick activity ensued.

After playing with Kirby, I was exahausted, so I pretty much slept for the remainder of the work day. But, later that evening it was back to work with an appearance at the HRC for Butler's annual Freshman Skits.

I was asked by Kappa Kappa Gamma to be a part of their skit. Typically I get asked each year to be in somebody's skit and I'm happy to oblige. I will upload a short video of that on my YouTube page.

Saturday, March 1:

After getting to bed late, I was up early and headed back to the HRC for Butler's 16th annual Bulldog Jog. The Butler University Student Foundation and Alumni Association put on the 5K race as a fundraiser for student book scholarships. I'm all for literacy and physical fitness so it seemed worth my time.


In spite of the event's name, you'll see no actual Bulldogs jogging. I would venture to say that my 3.1 mile time would be somewhere north of an hour, so I left the running to everyone else, including my dad. I was mainly on hand for PR.


Dick Wolfsie of WISH-TV CBS Channel 8 was on hand doing live spots from the event so I got a little TV time as well. Again, see my YouTube site for some video of that.

The race went well and participants exceeded the 200 mark, which was great! Race results can be reviewed here: http://www.butler.edu/alumni/index.aspx?pg=4393

After that, it was a quick nap and back to campus for the Butler men's basketball game against Detroit. It was Senior Day at the game as well as Hinkle Fieldhouse's 80th birthday. I even did tricks at center court during a timeout, ran after my bone a couple times, as well as took pictures with the seniors and their families, but perhaps the most noteworthy event was the fact that senior guard, A.J. Graves, actually pet me during the announcement of starting lineups.

You may remember my earlier post regarding A.J. and his desire, or lack thereof, to pet me during starting lineups. Well, he decided that Senior Day and some 120 starts were as good of time as any to show me some love.

The event was so monumental, David Woods of The Indianapolis Star wrote about it in his Butler Notebook as well as his Butler Insider blog, and the folks on the Butler Basketball message board took note too.

In spite of additional cheers from the crowd for finally giving me a pat on the head, A.J. went for only two points, the lowest of his Butler career. Oops. Sorry A.J. At least you tried it once. You don't have to pet me ever again. It's cool . I'm not mad at it.

But, it seems to have worked for other players. Take for instance, Pete Campbell who started, gave me a pre-game rub down, and then went off to make 8 of 12 three pointers. Nicely done, Pete.

So what does all of this mean? Nothing.

The first day of the month also means that the Butler News Flash was sent out to email inboxes world wide. If you don't receive the News Flash, you should. Email me at blue2@butler.edu and I'll make sure we get you signed up.

Okay, I think that covers just about everything for now. Today, I think I'll mainly rest and spend the day at home getting ready for next week and the Horizon League Tournament. I feel a bath in my future, but my mom said that if I was good, then I might be able to get the skateboard out for practice. We'll see.

Finally, the sound of chirping crickets and my lap top cooling fan is deafening...please feel free to use the "comments" feature. I enjoy the feedback and questions.

Blue II