My friends, both Pixie and I appreciated all the well-wishes you passed along this week. She’s doing much better, as this video illustrates. I couldn’t just leave all you geeks hanging.

Last Sunday, I woke up to see that Pixie had discharge coming out of her eyes and they were swollen badly. I took her to the pet emergency room. She was initially diagnosed with Conjunctivits, which turned out to not be the case.

On the third trip to the ER with her in the middle of the night Tuesday night, we were referred to a specialist. She was taken to the Animal Eye Clinic in Seattle. I can’t thank them enough for helping my puppy. The care she received was fantastic.

Pixie was diagnosed and I was reassured that there’s no permanent damage. Pixie has an amazing disposition. Kat will tell you she’s a big cuddle bug.

There were times I felt it tough to remain composed. I felt so helpless. Wicket and Pixie are my family, and I love them as unconditionally as they love me.

Thanks much to my good friend Betsy Weber for sending baked noms to the pups. Thank you to ALL OF YOU for your support and well-wishes.

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The community is worried about Pixie, too. They decided to post photos of their own pets to support MY pet’s treatment and recovery. How cool is that? Once again, I’m reminded of the power of bringing people together.

Thank you, everyone.

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Hopefully you’ve taken time to stop by our software center lately.

One of my dogs, Pixie, woke up this morning and seemed to be having problems with her eyes. I took her into the vet immediately, fearing the worst. Her vitals checked out, but the doctor said it’s likely either allergies or some kind of conjunctivitis.

Either way, it gives me the opportunity to tell you about something you might want to know if you’re a pet owner – pet insurance. It’s worth getting if you love your pets half as much as I love mine. Lucky for me, after looking a few options and meeting one of their liaisons at BizTechDay a few weeks back, I picked up Trupanion. Out of all the pet insurance options out there, it seemed that they were the only ones which allowed me to set my own deductable – from $0 to $1,000 (and the premiums were adjusted accordingly).

This video was posted to the YouTube channel on Sunday, and is being posted to the blog on Monday. Pixie is a little better today, but still not completely out of the woods. Still, after I take her for a follow-up visit, I’ll submit the claims to Trupanion and wait for the money to come back to me – even this quickly after getting her covered.

How do you cover costs for the unknown? As Wicket and Pixie get on in years, I have to be a lot more mindful of these unexpected vet visits (and potential prescriptions). I’d hate to get stuck in a situation where I wouldn’t be able to bail them out of… well, I don’t even want to think about losing these two.

If you’d like, please have your own pet leave a video response wishing Pixie to get well soon!

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Pixie is a lot of fun to watch when she’s sleeping. She seems to have extremely vivid dreams. I can’t help but wonder at times what’s running through her mind when she’s asleep and reacting to her dreams this way.

Maybe she’s dreaming of more tasty treats? Perhaps she’s thinking about a nice, fresh lawn (since the grass in the backyard was just replaced with new sod). I bet she’s tossing around a new toy, though. Just look at those hind legs move!

What dreams do you think are in Pixie’s head?

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Actually, I think that’s technically a Day Bed – but I only seem to lay on it at night, so I’m probably using it wrong, anyway.

Despite being asked by all the popular girls if I would go to the prom with them, I ultimately decided to take McDuff as my date. Actually, it’s all a lie – I didn’t go to the prom. I stayed home and finished up a LEGO set, instead.

How do you like that hot car I had back then? The license plates were pretty awesome, I know. I should have kept using those same ones all these years. What was I thinking getting rid of them!

My mom was worried during the shooting of this video about my getting dog hair all over my tux. She wasn’t too pleased later in the evening when I changed clothes and she found that the tux was covered in dog hair, after all.

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Yes, this video will get a million views. Why? I don’t know! Pixie isn’t sure exactly what’s going on, but that’s ok. She’s often clueless when it comes to funny sounds emanating from my office.

Hey – it’s not my fault that she tends to nose around my desk when she shouldn’t!

[awsbullet:funny pet tricks]

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Wicket and Pixie hate this time of year. They’ve decided to join the Army!

Wicket has dreams of becoming a First Class Poop Trooper. Pixie wants to go on an Afghan Hound peacekeeping mission. Together, they’ll stage the furriest military coup ever seen!

What’s wrong with having a little costume fun every Halloween? The Star Wars stunt has been seen on television shows the world over. They

[awsbullet:halloween+pet+costume]

I don’t know what it really means, but Wicket’s doing it.

Wicket and I both love bacon. If you don’t like bacon, then maybe you’ve never had GOOD bacon. It’s also inspired other products on the marketplace, so I decided to try nine of them. There’s everything from jelly beans to toothpicks to bacon soap! Which one will you try first?

The lip balm is something I don’t recommend. It smells like bad pork – and tastes about the same. The bacon-inspired jelly beans aren’t bad, though! They kind of taste like pork ‘n’ beans!! The bacon floss smells like the balm, so I decided to try that out on Wicket. He seemed to like it – I think.

The bacon-flavored toothpicks… I actually needed them to get the jelly bean goo out of my teeth. Again, they smell like that nasty balm. Sadly, they taste like wood instead of bacon. What about bacon gumballs?! They don’t smell bad, so maybe… yes! They taste sort of pork-y, and close to a bacon flavor! Finally!

The bacon mints smell so bad that even Wicket wouldn’t lick them. However, I tried them. They tasted minty, believe it or not. Sadly, once I chewed it up, I tasted something other than mint – and it wasn’t something good.

That brought me to the strawberry-flavored gummy bacon. Strawberry and bacon together say what?! The smell was sort-of strawberry. But it also smelled like plastic that had been sprayed with a pork scent. It didn’t taste like anything remotely strawberry-related. It’s pretty much icky.

I think I’m definitely going to stick with real, honest-to-God bacon.

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I love my dogs, as most of you already know. Pixie and Wicket are my babies, even though they’re a few years old now. I spoil these dogs, and treat them like they’re my children. Heck, they ARE my children.

When Pixie fell asleep in my arms, I couldn’t resist taking a video capture of her. She looks so peaceful, doesn’t she?

Life is good at times.

Do you have pets? If so, what kind? Have you ever taught them any tricks? I love my dogs Wicket and Pixie – they’re my kids. They are usually quite smart… almost too smart at times. They pick up on new little tricks pretty easily, unless they’re just in one of those moods where they think they’re the boss.

This treat I was holding was going to make Pixie huge in a matter of seconds. I was serious – and proved it! I gave her the treat… and she magically grew to about five times her normal size.

Maybe I should’ve been a Chemist!

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What you won’t find in my house are kitties. I’m just not really a cat person. Funny, I know, since my uber awesome assistant is named Kat. However, she’s human, and not of the feline variety. I suppose that doesn’t count then, does it? It’s not that I don’t like kitties, they just aren’t my cup of tea. I’d rather have dogs any day!

What kind of pets do you have – or have you had in the past? What are your favorite to have – and why?

Pixie spent time on my lap this evening in the office while I was checking out everything that you all posted today. She barked approval when we came across a link we wanted to share. So tonight… the roundup is courtesy of Pixie!

• Can Bill Gates take on hurricanes and win?
• What are the social classes of the “unpopular”?
• The Better Business Bureau is warning of social network scams.
• What will 2010 hold for Norton?
• Is GM gearing up for total failure?
• Have you verified your Twitter account?
• Magnetic brain stimulation can improve learning.
• How should you securely dispose of an old hard drive?