Play Meter

B I G TheBIG a ndSMALL SMALLof o fit i t The and l ・圃圃 V A L E R C O G N PLAY METER PLAY METER d a n e s. hadtwo twoof o f themand andsoon s o o nfound f o u n dout o u t danes. II had them t h a tall a l lthat t h a tland l a n dwas wasaacomplete c o m p l e t ewaste w a s t eon on that t h e m .Although A l t h o u g hthey t h e ycould c o u l dhave haverun r u nto t otheir t h e i r them. s c o n t e n t o n a c r e s o f w o o d e d g r o u n d s h e a r t heart's content on acres of wooded grounds,, t h e ysettled s e t t l e dinto i n t othe t h etwo twochairs c h a i r sin i nmy myliving l i v i n g they r o o m a n d w e r e s o o n p む t o f t h e d e c o r . room and were soon part of the decor. B u tthey t h e ywere weregreat g r e a tdogs, d o g s ,and andII vowedI'd I ' d But vowed n e v e r o w n a n y o t h e r k i n d o f d o g . T h e y never own any other kind of dog. They watched mykids, k i d s ,dared d a r e danyone anyoneto t oget g e tout o u tof o f watched my 出 e c a r u n l e s s I W 出 r i g h t 出 e r e , a n d t o o k n a p s the car unless I was right there, and took naps r i g h talong a l o n gside s i d eof o f mydaughters. d a u g h t e r s . right my My d a u g h t e r B e c k i i s n o w 2 and My daughter Becki is now 266and h a stwo twogreat g r e a tdanes. d a n e s .Like L i k emy mytwo, t w o , has s l e e pin i nher h e rbed bedat a tnight n i g h tand and h e rssleep her's campout o u tduring d u r i n gthe t h eday dayon onthe t h eliving l i v i n g camp b o y f r ie nd room couch. c o u c h . My Mysister's s i s t e rsboyfriend room ownsaa h o t e l ,and andhis h i stwo twogreat g r e a tdanes d a n e s owns hotel, s t a y i n t h e l o b b y g r e e t i n g g u e s t s . stay in the lobby greeting guests. Whenhe hebrings b r i n g shis h i sdogs d o g sto t ovisit, v i s i t ,he he When 出 e t h e f o u r d o g s f o r w a l k s a n d B e c k i t and Becki take the four dogs for walks o n t h e l e v e e g e n e r a t i n g a f a i r a m o u n on the levee generating a fair amountt o f s t a r i n g .II meanwho whowouldn't wouldnt s t a r e of staring. mean stare a t f o u r d o g s e a c h w e i g h i n g c l o s e t at four dogs each weighing close too 200pounds! p o u n d s ! 200 B e i n g u s e t obig b i gdogs, d o g s, o f t e nsaying s a y i n g Being useddto often I d n e v e r , e v e r h a v e a l i t t l e b a r k i n I'd never, ever have a little barkingg s n i p p i n gdog, dog , twas wasquite q u i t eaasurprise s u r p r i s e snipping iti w h e n m y y o u n g e r d a u g h t e r M i n d y when my younger daughter Mindy'ss b o y f r i e n d gave g a v e her h e r aa little l i t t l e snow-white s n o w ‑ w h i t e boyfriend Pomeranianfor f o rChristmas C h r i s t m a slast l a s tyear. y e a r . l o o ke d Pomeranian IIlooked a tthe t h elittle l i t t l e lumpof o f f u rand andcould c o u l dhardly h a r d l yform f o r m at lump fur d o g ＇ o n m y l i p s . My f e a r w a s t h a t h e w o r d the word "dog" on my lips. My fear was thatt someonewould wouldstep s t e pon oniti tor o riti twould wouldsneak s n e a k someone o u t t h e d o o r a n d w e d n e v e r s e e i t g o . out the door and we'd never see it go. Thepup pupsoon soonwon wonus u sover. o v e r .My Myhusband, husband, The w h o s t a n d s a b o u t 6 5 a n d w e i g h i nthe t he who stands about 6'5" and weighssin 4 0 0 ‑ p l u s r a n g e w a s s o o n t h e b i g g e s t ( p a r d o n 400-plus range was soon the biggest (pardon s a f f e c t i o n . S h t h e p u n ) t a r g e t o f l i t t l e B a i l e y the pun) target of little Bailey's affection. Shee wouldsleep s l e e pon onhis h i sshoulder s h o u l d e rwhile w h i l ehe hewatched w a t c h e d would TV o r s n u g g l e i n h i s a r m s f o r a t u m m y r u b . TV or snuggle in his arms for a tummy rub. I i 抗l edog dogbarking" b a r k i n g "isi sannoying a n n o y i n g Theyippy y i p p y"little The t h eone onething t h i n gthat t h a talways a l w a y shad hadme me andit's i tsthe and 凶m ingII wouldnt wantaalittle l 削除 tiny t i n ydog, d o g ,but b u t c claiming wouldn't want t h e j o y s h e b r i n g s t o o u r h o u s e h o l d f a r o u t ‑ the joy she brings to our household far outw e i g h sthe 出 eaggravation. a g g r a v a t i o n. weighs I t h a s n t b e e n a y e a ryet, y e t ,but b u tIIcan c a nsafely s a f e l y It hasn't been a year 出 a t 佃 1 y b a l l o f f u r w i t h l e g s i s a v i t a l p 訂t s a y say that tiny ball of fur with legs is a vital part mademe merealize r e a l i zeone one o four o u rfamily. f a m i l y . Butit's i tsmade of But t h i n g . We n e v e r w o u l d h a v e m a d e t h e e f f o r t thing. We never would have made the effort I i 悦l e d o g l i k e t h a t b e c a u s e o u r m i n d s t o g e t a to get a little dog like that because our minds 1 4 14 0 ＼ W henmy mytwo twoyoungest y o u n g e s tchildren c h i l d r e nwere weresmall s m a l lwe we hen 句 W a a a a a a y o u t ‑ i n ‑ t h e ‑ l i v e d o u t i n t h e c o u n lived out in the country. Waaaaaay out-in-them i d d l e ‑ o f ‑ n o w h e r e c o u n t r y . T h e r e w a s l a n d middle-of-nowhere country. There was land a sfar f a ras a sthe t h eeye e y ecould c o u l dsee. s e e .The Theperfect p e r f e c tplace p l a c e as t o h a v e t h e d o g s I ' d a l w a y s l o v e d ‑ g r e a to have the dogs I'd always loved-greatt 0 00 0 0 0 0 EDITOR 0 FROM THE wereclosed c l o s e dto t othe t h eidea. i de a .ItI twas wasonly o n l ythrough t h r o u g h were c i r c u m s t a n c e s t h a t s h e l i v e s w i t h u s n o w . A n d circumstances that she lives with us now. And i tstoo t o obad badthat t h a twe wenever ne v e rknew knewhow howfun f u nand and it's f u n n y f i v e p o u n d s o f d o g c o u l d b e . funny five pounds of dog could be. Butaren't a r ent weall a l llike l i k ethat t h a tin i nsome someway wayor o r But we a n o t he r .We Wehave hav eformed formedopinions o p i n i o n son onwhat what another. l i k e, whatwe'll weItry t r yand andwhat what welike l i keor o rdon't dont we like, what t r y ,and andnothing n o t h i n gwill w i l lchange changeour o u r wewon't wonttry, we m i n d s .We Weget g e tstuck s t u c kin i nthose t h o seopinions o p i n i o n sand and minds. w o n ' t be n d . won't bend. H a v e y ousaid s a i dthat t h a tredemption redemptionjust j u s twasw a s ‑ Have you n t f o r y o u ? D o y o u l o o k a t c e r t a i n i d e a s o n't for you? Do you look at certain ideas orr gameswith w i t h aaclosed c l o sedmind? mind?Have Haveyou you games f o r m e d i d e a s a b o u t t h e i n d u s t r y t h a t d o nt formed ideas about the industry that don't b e n d ? O u r i n d u s t r y i s e v o l v i n g a n d t h i n g s bend? Our industry is evolving and things t s e e m p o s s i b l e , l i k e n e t w o r k i n t h a t d i d n that didn't seem possible, like networkingg andbeing b e i n gaapart p a r tof o fthe t h eInternet I n t e r n e tare a r elurking l u r k i n g and aroundthe t henext ne x t c o r n e r .With Withso s omuch muchnew new around corner. t e c h n o l o g yand andso s omany manyinnovative i n n o v a t i v eideas, i de a s ,II technology wasaalittle l i t t lesurprised s u r p r i s e dat a tthe t heattendance a t t e n d a n c eat a t was nonew new AMOA.Sure Surepeople p e o p l emoan moanabout about"no AMOA. p r o d u c tor o r"everything's e v er y t h i n gsso s oexpensive" e x p en s i vebut b u t product" c e r t a i n l y t h e s e a r e n o t r e a s o n s t o g i v e u p o n certainly these are not reasons to give up on l e a r n i n geverything e v e r y t h i n gthere t he r eis i sto t oknow knowabout about learning w h a t l i e s a h e a d . what lies ahead. t h i n kit's i tstime t i meto t ocuddle c u d d leup upwith w i t haafew few IIthink 町r n e w i d e a s a n d g i v e t h e m a t u m m y r u b . P r e new ideas and give them a tummy rub. Pretty s o o n y o u m a y r e a l i z e t h a t i t i s , i n f a c t , j u s t soon you may realize that it is, in fact, just . & . r i g h t f o r y o u . A right for you. NOVEMBER1996 1 9 9 6 NOVEMBER