Sigh. After 14 long years, my childhood dog passed away this morning. She hadn't been doing well lately, and the vet said that Sparky most likely had kidney failure, liver failure, or cancer.

We got her when I was in sixth grade. Though she had the propensity to occasionally gobble down an entire Domino's pizza when nobody was looking, she was devotedly loyal and protective. We were never sure what breed she was, but were convinced that she had some Australian Cattle Dog in her, based on her temperament and physical features.

It's especially sad to see her go, because she really was one of my last vestiges of childhood. She was with us all through middle and high school, and she made the exodus from my mom's house in 1999 with me and Kyle. Throughout college, teaching, and living in DC, I only got to see her sporadically. But when Kyle or I came home, she would immediately jump all over us and then proceed to growl, chase, and play with us just like she did when she was a puppy. It was both sad and heartening to see her this last holiday when it pained her to play, but did it as best she could for a minute or so.

Anyway, according to Wikipedia, her lifespan in human years was about 87 years. Not a bad run, Spark. You'll be missed.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers seem to often mention various states in their songs. I wondered which states made the cut through the entire Chili Peppers catalog, so I downloaded all of their lyrics and parsed them for state names. Here is the result:

AL, AZ, CA, IN, KY, LA, MI, MN, MS, ND, NJ, OH, PA, TN, WI

Looks like it could be some weird political trend.

I should note that one song mentions Kansas City, and I didn't count that as Kansas (or Missouri). Also, one song has the below lyrics in it. Given that it doesn't make reference specifically to NC or SC and that Carolina is most likely the name of a person, I left it out as well.

All in favor sign the waiver
Bloody carolina won't you
Take another look inside

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