Monday Morning Cage Match IV:Heavily armed VTOL ground-attack aircraft vs. AWW WOOKIT THE WITTLE BABY.

For the first time in the history of the Cage Match, I've got a dog in the fight -- a literal dog in the fight, come to think of it -- but I'll try to be as objective as I can in judging the battle royale of Harrier vs. Terrier. No animals will be harmed in the production of this post.

	[Boeing/BAE Systems AV-8B] Harrier	[Boston] terrier
Price	$30-35 million	$300-$1,000
WINNER: Terrier
Lineage	Hawker P.1127, first flown in 1960	Bull-and-Terrier and various breeds of bulldogs, first bred in the 1870s
WINNER: Tie
Original purpose	Ground/naval attack	Pit fighting, catching and killing mice and other vermin
WINNER: Harrier
Cuteness	Negligible	OFF THE CHARTS
WINNER: Terrier
Lethality	Considerable	Generally only to stuffed toys and Milk-Bones
WINNER: Harrier
Biggest drawback	Not supersonic	Gassy
WINNER: Harrier
Notable owners	Armed forces of the United States, Italy, and Spain	Rose McGowan, Famke Janssen
WINNER: Terrier

FINAL SCORE: Harrier 4, Terrier 4. From which we are forced to conclude that both are equally awesome.

News and weather.

So, about last night:



Yup, that's snow in Birmingham, folks. And it just figures that the one time we get a potentially campus-closing accumulation of snow, it's the day before I'm scheduled to go in for surgery and miss a couple days of work anyway.

Yeah, about that: I'm going into UAB Hospital Monday morning for some relatively minor back surgery. Nothing potentially life-threatening, they're not going to be messing around with my spinal cord or anything, but enough to render me pretty much inactive for a day or two. So if you don't hear anything on here in the next couple days, that's why. But once I'm back up and (more or less) running, I'll let everyone know in this space.

All right, enough of that. More snow:









That last one is a cell-phone picture of Champ, The World's Most Fearful Dog ®, experiencing snow for the first time. He was too afraid of the snow to venture into it to relieve himself, which meant he waited until he was back inside my apartment to do so. Top score, Champ. I couldn't be prouder.

Monday night Bostonblogging.

Haven't done a lot of pandering to the dog lovers out there lately, so here are some pictures of Champ and Jenna going about their daily routine, which mainly involves sleeping on various surfaces.



Yes, I think I'm wearing the infamous red pants in the above picture, which may explain the slightly fearful look on Jenna's face.