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Archives : Jan’04 Feb’04 Mar’04 Apr’04 May’04 Jun’04 Jul’04 Aug’04 Sep’04
Fri Sep 24 14:37:46 2004
I picked up a gameboard for Go sometime back. My son and I played it a few times, but there are some scoring points that I still don't understand. When I get time I'll study that page and see if it becomes clearer to me.
Mon Sep 20 11:30:40 2004
Holy hell. I now have a new quest in life. I shall one day be a "Tetragrammaton Cleric", master of Gun Kata. How cool would that be!?!
Hi-YAH, Pow! Pow!
(via Lilek's Bleat)
Update: Minor problem. The martial art in question is fictional. Therefore, I'm revising my quest. New quest: See the movie Equilibrium from whence was born this 'martial art.'
Mon Sep 20 11:16:11 2004
September 11th
I just now got the pictures up from how I spent my September 11th. I would have blogged about it sooner, but I wanted to make sure the pictures were included.
I spent the day decidedly un-terrorized, enjoying my freedom, thankful that I live in this country. I mentally noted that the terrorists have utterly failed to invoke terror on anyone, expect maybe themselves and a few crazy hippies and barking moonbats. I was also thankful to have met two new friends, Leah and Toby. We (Leah, Toby, Ginger, Bella and I) went to the pool, which was having a "Doggie-Day" – you can bring your dogs swimming! We had a romping good time. Leah managed to stay out of all of the photos (she was the one taking the pictures) and so you'll just have to trust me when I say she's awesome.
Sat Sep 18 16:51:13 2004
Today I picked up Toby from Leah’s house. I’ll be dog-sitting him for her until Thursday. Toby is a German-Shepard Collie mix and he weighs about 80 lbs. He’s a little bigger than both of my dogs, but I think Bella (my runt Newfie) might be a tad heavier. He’s eight months old, and still has a lot of puppy in him.
When he first got here he insisted on checking out the entire house. He’d sniff around, and every door he came to, he danced in front of as if to say, “Open this! I need to see the other side!” (I speak dog very well) I don’t let dogs upstairs, so I didn’t open that door. He’s got it marked now as the door to watch for when I’m not looking. If he gets a chance, he runs upstairs and tries to check out everything as quick as possible before I catch him. I need to pay attention and keep it closed.
We already had our first near-disaster. Toby has a little bit of a bad habit in that he guards his food. His food container was sitting right next to the mouse cage and stand. He must have smelled his food in there and started getting a little protective of it. Ginger, clueless, was following me around and got too close to him. Battle ensued. Toby spun around to face Ginger, and his ass-end toppled the mouse stand. The 10-gallon glass aquarium that the mouse lives in began to fall in slow motion. I dove over the raging dogfight and caught the aquarium just before it hit the ground. It still hit, but I decelerated it enough that it didn’t break. The mouse and all his cedar were in a disheveled pile in the corner of it, his running wheel came loose, and the top popped off. I quickly set the aquarium on the table and turned to address the dogfight. It was already over. I’m not sure who won. Ginger was looking ashamed, and Toby was no longer guarding his food. Maybe my diving between them broke it up, or maybe they worked it out on their own, I’m not sure. Anyway, I moved the aquarium to my son’s playroom, where I can close the door and keep it safe.
In other news, Toby is already beginning to respect the gate I have to the kitchen. I frequently gate my dogs in the kitchen, and they don’t try to jump the 2-foot high gate that I put there. When Toby saw this, he scoffed at it and hopped right over. I pounced on him, growling (like I said, I speak dog very well), picked him up, and put him back over. He got the message, and didn’t try it again. That is, until he thought I wasn’t looking. Repeat procedure, and so far no more problems. I’ll test him more later.
Also, he’s not very clue-full about being on a lead. My yard is not fenced in, and Toby doesn’t recall very well, so I make sure to have him on a lead when out in the yard. He gets tangled up easily, and likes to get you tangled, too. It’s obvious he takes his lessons from cats, with the snakey-thru-the-legs thing. (Imagine a German-Shepard going this…)
But, all in all, I’m having fun. It’s been a while since I’ve had to train a dog, and I’ve taken for granted how trouble free my dogs have become (besides all the hair!) This experience will keep me sharp, let me brush up on my dog-language skills, and hopefully help Leah out as well. :)
Sat Sep 4 16:48:58 2004
I had a fantastic evening last night. I did something that I've only ever done once before in my life, and the results were more that I expected. Sorry, no more details.
In other news, I shredded my abs again today. I unloaded two one-ton loads of dirt from my truck with my usual "I sit at a desk all day and I crave physical labor!!" zeal. Great workout on the arms and abs.