My friend Joe works with an animal communicator to translate demands and negotiations between him and his dog, why she should poop on the paper and why she will not poop on the paper being the chief topics of discussion. On the verge of opening U.N.-style diplomacy with Goblin, I complied a few weeks ago when he asked for photographs of my dog and me that this communicator could use to establish contact. I emailed them so he could print them out at work and was in turn informed that everyone in his office thought Goblin was absolutely adorable. A couple of people (a couple of people!) felt I was mildly attractive.

Earlier this week, I put a photograph of Goblin online, and Rob transmitted the URL to his sister, along with that of this blog. She later emailed me rapturous paragraphs about my dog's appeal and happened to mention that, oh yeah, my blog was OK, too.

Last night, after an astounding performance of Shakespeare in the Park, Rob and I came home to walk the dog. We had traversed only a short distance before one of the stars of the play (Zach Braff, who played Sebastian in Twelfth Night and is the star of TV's "Scrubs") came strolling down my street with two companions. Seeing Goblin, he exclaimed how adorable she was and continued on. He did not spare me a glance, which is fine because I have not spared his television program a glance, but come on now. Enough is enough!

What has Goblin got that I do not?