Overconsumption of cheese dip provides moment of Zen

A few words of advice: It's a bad idea to try to eat your weight in cheese dip just because it's Super Bowl Sunday.

My friends the Haseldens (Mark, Alison and their sweet little beagle, Bailey) were kind enough to open their kitchen and living room yesterday for a small Super Bowl party, and I took way too much advantage of the spread. I have a well-documented weakness for good cheese dip, and their shindig featured two equally delicious varieties. As I sampled the gooey cheesy goodness, I kept repeating "Super Bowl calories don't count" in the hopes that saying it over and over would make it true.

Alas, it did not. And today I feel like crap. But oh, how decadent it was to give in to Super Bowl cuisine!

And how sweet it was to see Bill Belichick defeated! I have nothing against the Patriots, really I don't. And I do feel for hardcore Patriots fans like my pals on the Morning News photography staff. But my lingering bitterness for Mr. Personality's coaching job for my beloved Cleveland Browns forced me to pull for the Giants. (I wonder now if he'll bench Tom Brady, as he did Bernie Kosar?) Plus, Giants legend and Florence native Harry Carson and his family are great people. I had the pleasure covering his Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio in 2006. Plus, the Giants organization has been partnering for years with its local pet rescue groups.

That brings me to the actual point of this blog. I've edited Chuck Tomlinson's stories about the Florence Area Humane Society's animal shelter plans (published today) and about the plans for Florence County's pound, and it's really hard for me to be objective.

As I've mentioned before, my little family is made up of three cats -- all rescued. One is from the FAHS shelter. My heart hurts for the pets who don't have loving homes and for the people who try to make their lives in shelters as loving as possible.

Last week, we had two disturbing stories that struck a chord with me. One was about the trial of a Florence man accused of killing a 3-month-old boy. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in jail. The other was the story about two men accused of starving two family members: an 84-year-old woman and her 62-year-old daughter -- the grandmother and mother of one of the men.

No matter how many stories we publish about crimes against the innocent, those who cannot speak for or defend themselves, it's hard for us not to be affected. I think we in the newsroom have developed a sense of gallows humor to help us cope, but really, we can't say there aren't stories that move us. We can stay up for 24+ hours covering tragedy, but we can't say that alone is what exhausts us. Covering bad news for any length of time takes both a mental and psychological toll.

The stories about the animal shelter, the death of that baby and the circumstances of those two starving women got to me.

They also made me appreciate the fact that I have three sweet cats to greet me at the door every day when I come home and to wake me with their purrs; the fact that I've made it to age 35; and that my parents and kid brother would do everything they can to keep me safe from harm, and that I would do the same for them.

I can even appreciate this morning's cheese dip indigestion.

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