HAMMAS

In spite of my growing fear that my blog will turn into an online version of the neighborhood grandma showing everyone pictures of her extended family, here's another post about hamsters, via a reader email:

Hey Willis,

As one of your Israeli fans, I read J&W!, Shortpacked! and TNI(!) on an update-to-update basis, and have since shortly after IW! ended. I also read all of your newsposts. Which is why I was completely shocked when I saw you write "Today Maggie and I got our HAMMAS." You see, Hammas is an entity I would rather you and Maggie (and really, anybody) not get, being Israeli myself. Imagine my unending relief when I realized that I was simply not yet awake, and had misread the word "HAMHAMS."

So, Willis, thank you for not supporting a terrorist organization, and I apologize for the moment in which I thought you did. And please, don't ever, ever adopt a terrorist organization (unless Galasso is leading it).

Thanks,
fishamaphone

Ultra Hamster

Today Maggie and I got our HAMHAMS. Maggie drove up to Toledo this afternoon to pick up a pair of often-handled 3-week-old females for us to take care of. They're very tame and very very tiny.

September 19 is not only Talk Like a Pirate Day, but it's also the third anniversary of the beginning of our eDating. (She asked me out in pirate-speak.) So, basically, we decided to celebrate by having kids. A pair of daughters. Maggie named the slightly larger, greyer one "SNKRS," and I named the smaller, darker one "Annie." I resisted the suggestion to name mine "Mocking Laughter" to complement Maggie's name. (Or "LOLs," really.)

I also resisted the suggestion to name mine "Ultra Hamster." They're too small to affix wings to, you see.

Impending hamsters

For a long while we've been meaning to ask if our apartment, which generally doesn't allow pets, would let us have a hamster or something, and at Maggie's urgent insistence, I finally put forth our inquiry. And, woo, we can! When she returns from her visit to her parents, hamster shopping we will go.

The video above is one I took on my camera a year or two ago when Maggie, Steve-o, and I were visiting a pet store. The fun thing is, you can do this over and over. The hamsters will keep on doing it eternally. Amusing lil' buggers.

Graham suggested I name our impending pet "Ultra Hamster." Maggie tentatively agreed, on the condition that a fashion a tiny pair of wings to put on him. We don't even have the thing yet, and already the abuse is planned.