Oh my, your post made me smile. I have sooo been there, too. Pet ownership is expensive, but worth it ;)

Whao — that sounds like a very high energy breed mix. I would choose another breed combination. That kind of dog won't be happy spending all that time in a crate all day and will eventually make you miserable. You need to think more "couch potato" than "energizer bunny".

I went with Feedly. One click, blink-of-an-eye, and it was done. All my feeds from Google Reader transferred seamlessly, starred items and all.

I am also a big fan of large, monthly paper calendars, but it would be so awesome if all my toys were able to talk to each other. Like if my fridge could tell my phone when I'm running out of milk...