On my way home from convocation Sunday, I made the left turn into our apartment complex when something caught my eye. Two grad students stood outside their apartment. No really, they were just standing there maybe talking. What struck me was that their dogs, or somebody's dogs, were hanging around there too for a minute, just sniffing each other. One was a yellow lab and the other some sort of husky type dog. Normal enough, you might think. Suddenly, one dog started mating with the other. And what were the humans doing? Just watching, perfectly still, arms crossed.

The lesson: never double date with dogs. Things might get awkward quickly.