In other words – AWESOME.

But I did want to give a plug for the breed as an excellent family pet–our Pyr male is 140+ pounds and just about the most mellow, goofy dog you will ever meet. Given their size, they are a relatively easy to find via rescues–people buy the cute widdle puppies and then freak out when they grow into ponies.

Mikey @37: When I was about six years old, my family had a giant white dog that was mostly Irish Wolfhound. A huge suck, and yes, large enough to ride around on (though I never did; that dog galloped).

Our next dog was a mutt that had been abused by her first owners and nursed back to health by her second owners, who had to give her away because she kept trying to herd the neighbours’ cows. Part herding dog and also part husky, she never feels it is a proper walk unless she is simultaneously chasing after something and pulling you along. We suspect she is also part dingo/coyote/wolf. Er…yes, a rescue mutt is the way to go. More complicated, maybe, but just as lovable.

From Stanford alumnus and former ASSU leader, Steve Phillips

Begin forwarded message:

From: Steve Phillips
Date: October 30, 2008 10:55:54 AM PDT
Subject: Talent Bank for the Next President

In 5 days, the President-Elect will begin in earnest the process of
selecting the people who will staff the next Presidential Administration.
The team of people who serve in the Administration will automatically
comprise much of the formal and informal political leadership of the country
for the next two decades. If history is any guide, the enormity of the
challenges of putting together an administration and addressing the pressing
problems of the day will not allow much time for the kinds of outreach and
recruitment that are necessary to find the best talent within
underrepresented communities.

To address this problem, I am happy to announce that I am working with UC
Berkeley’s Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute for Race, Ethnicity and
Diversity (Warren Institute) on a project to identify a diverse pool of
talented candidates for public service in the next Presidential
Administration.

The objective of the “Diversity in Democracy Project” is to develop a list
of 300 highly qualified, experienced professionals and provide these names
to key officials to help in the very difficult job of staffing a new
Administration. I’m chairing the advisory board of this project, and
working closely with Maria Echaveste, former Deputy Chief of Staff to
President Clinton, to connect our list of diverse candidates to the official
Presidential Transition efforts underway now.

I’m reaching out to you and others who may know talented people who would be
interested in serving the next Administration (yourself included!). We’re
seeking resumes of diverse, talented and experienced individuals with an
interest in public sector service and a demonstrated interest in and
commitment to issues of social and economic justice. We are especially
seeking people of color, women, LGBTQ individuals, and people with
disabilities, as those are the groups most often overlooked in these kinds
of processes.

Please forward or have resumes sent to talentbank@stevephillips.com. If you
would like to nominate people and don’t have their resumes, please send
names, email addresses and phone numbers to the same address,
talentbank@stevephillips.com, and we can follow up with them. Feel free to
circulate this message and the instructions for submittal to your own
networks, but please let us know who you are forwarding to so we can try to
avoid duplicative messages.

To be fully considered, resumes must be received no later than November 20,
2008. We will ensure all resumes get into the Warren Institute process.

Thank you in advance for your time and your help in achieving this critical
goal. If you have any questions, please email me or call (408) 540-6073.

In Solidarity and Hope,

Steve Phillips

I am so, so happy that they’ll be rescuing.