Early-Late Housewarming

It's hard to believe, but we are already halfway into September, over three months since we moved to LA. We have been Californians for a whole entire quarter of a year! Can you believe it? So, Don and I finally got our act together, and organized a housewarming party. Which we sent out to all 10 of our California friends. Six people made it (plus me and Don makes 8) and the others were mostly excused for being out of state at the time. We had a really nice time and loved the opportunity to introduce folks to our new home who had not been out to see us yet. Thanks Cindi and Dave and Ed and Jill for making the drive! We had plenty of games for entertainment but ended up spending the time relaxing and visiting and eating - lots of eating. Don and I grilled up some super tasty salmon on the weber (the first decent fish I've had since we left Washington) and Matt and Camille brought some awesome gourmet bratwursts which were voraciously devoured. We also had a nice greek pasta salad and some tasty garlic bread. We finished off the meal with a hearty slice of cheesecake and I followed Jill's bright idea to sprinkle it with mnm's which was awesome! And of course, let's not forget all of the appetizers and finger foods. I don't think there was a person there who did not reach the pleasantly full state of being.

After our lovely Saturday get together, Don and I lazed most of the morning and leizurely took care of the after party cleanup - an easy job since we were bad environmentalists and opted for the evil paper plates and plastic cups. But we were sure to recycle all of the pop cans and beer bottles! Sunday, having fulfilled all of our social needs for the weekend, Don and I were in the mode to lay low and enjoy each other's company just the two of us. So we had an at home date day where we spent the afternoon organizing our D&D miniatures collection. Don found a website where you can enter your collection and it will randomly generate warbands for you. This was a very exciting discovery as it can sometimes take an hour or more to organize a team just to play a 20 minute battle. So we got in two quick games in half the time it takes us to usually play just one. Plus it adds another element of chance to the game that is kind of exciting. The first game I creamed Don, and the second game was a bit closer but Don was definitely in control of the board from start to finish and his strategy definitely won out. The warband generator aside from saving time is also quite intelligent. It really puts together teams that play off of each others strengths so it is exciting to see what it comes up with and I can't wait to play some more games when we get a chance.

And of course we finished the day with our well named "couch portion of the evening" - our time of night where we sit on the couch with the dogs and watch our programs. Our current shows that we are watching are Heroes, Supernatural, and the 4400 - all on DVD so don't spoil the newer seasons for us! Heroes is pretty catchy and we are definitely getting into it. The 4400 has some interesting things happening but I'm not addicted yet. And I'm still not sure about the Supernatural. I think it's an interesting idea but not very well executed so far. I'm told it gets better so I am waiting it out to see what happens. Personally, I can't wait for the new season of Battlestar Galactica to come out. I thought it was going to be in October but somebody the other day said it's December now. Ugggh! Battlestar is the only show we like enough to watch it in it's current season. Since we don't have cable, we download the shows off of itunes which works for me because then we still don't have to bother with commercials.

The countdown continues to Seumas' surgery this Friday. I'm feeling a little better about things but mostly because I'm just trying not to think about it. Jeremy and Katie's dog Max (three legged beagle\yellow lab mix) stayed the weekend with us while they were out of town. The dogs mostly get along but Seumas is always having to fight that biological urge to make Max his girlfriend. He always did go for the blondes. I think his relationships with other dogs will be much more relaxed after his surgery. He is naturally a social dog, always interested in other animals and other people. However, other dominant dog types don't always appreciate his overly "friendly" behavior. So maybe now he will be able to relax and socialize easier without having to overcome the mating drive.

Snip

I just made an appointment to get Seumas neutered next Friday. And I feel horrible! For one thing, I'm scared that something could happen to him and how horrible would it be if we lost him during an unnecessary surgery. I know these veterinarians do this all the time but still, surgery is surgery and there is always a risk. For another thing, I hate the idea of causing him pain and discomfort and it makes me feel like a bad mother. And finally, I'm also going to be kind of sad to see those little balls go. There's nothing more comical than looking across the room and seeing Seumas' bottom half sticking out of the blanket airing out his little doxie package. I know it sounds really stupid, but it's always been a part of him and his identity and it's hard to let go of. Deep down I know that this is what's best for him and that it will help him to be a more healthy balanced dog, and me to be a more responsible pet owner. But knowing I'm doing the right thing does jack all for feeling like I'm doing the right thing. Whoever would have thought that this would be so hard? I still remember the day I picked Cordy up from her surgery when she was still a 6 month old puppy. Her bandage from the IV looked so big on her little leg that it looked like she was wearing a tiny pink cast and her eyes looked like she'd been crying from the soothing ointment they put on her during surgery. Why does being a good mother have to involve doing things that cause physical pain to your babies?

Perfect Weekend / Perfect Evening

It's the quintessential get to know you question: Describe your idea of the perfect.... date/evening/weekend/getaway. Well, I am a simple person. I just had the perfect weekend followed by the perfect evening.

My idea of the perfect weekend includes minimal, if any, social obligations with lots of free uninterrupted time to relax, read/watch movies, and clean my house. That's right, I said it...my idea of the perfect weekend includes cleaning my house. That may seem strange to some people, but it is not the actual cleaning that I enjoy, it is the after effect of the house being clean. It gives me a calm soothing energy and replaces feelings of chaos with a sense of control. I think if I had a neurosis it would definitely be obsessive compulsive disorder but lucky for me, I am relatively sane. Anyway, not only do I love the feeling of being in a clean organized attractive looking home, but I also love the time it saves me during the week. When I live in an orderly environment, I feel more efficient, more productive, and more inspired all the way around. I am likely to exercise more often, cook more often, save more money, enjoy the company of my husband and other guests, and sleep sounder at night.

So, as I said earlier, while I love the clean house, I don't love the actual cleaning part. So I have devised a cleaning process that makes it more enjoyable. It's my work/reward system of watching movies and cleaning in intervals. I actually set a timer and start by watching my movie for 15 minutes, then pause the movie and clean for 15 minutes. That way I get to play as much as I have to work and it can keep me going for longer periods of time. Don hates it when I do this. But he is smart enough to stay out of the way and entertain himself so as not to get charged with too many chores. He did, however, brave Costco for me on a Sunday to bring back Toilet Paper, Paper Towels, and a couple of months supply of Coke. My hero!

So this weekend was perfect. I had relatively two full days of cleaning my house with the perfect break on Saturday night when we went over to Camille's and she cooked us an amazing dinner and dessert as we watched movies, visited, and then I even fell asleep on her couch. Of course this worked perfectly with my weekend of cleaning as it saved me from not only not having to cook dinner myself, but I also didn't have to clean up the dishes afterwards - thanks Matt! Plus, it was awesome company. And I got to see Matt and Camille's new apartment now that they are all moved in (which is looking quite adorable and orderly itself, what now with the upgrade to a two bedroom, everything is so spacious and clean and nicely decorated). I also got to meet their adorable new kitten Ali.

I finished the weekend with a scrubbed, vacuumed, dusted, and windexed house; a spotless kitchen, dining room, living room, both bathrooms, and master bedroom; and every last bit of clothing, sheets, and towels we owned, cleaned, folded, and put away where they belonged. And it felt great! I even took before and after pictures of the house and will have to post them when I get some time. The only rooms I didn't get to were the gaming room, the spare bedroom, and the office (big surprise) so I am hoping to tackle those this coming weekend.

So, if that is my idea of the perfect weekend, you must be wondering what my idea of the perfect evening is. Well, my idea of the perfect evening was exactly what we did last night. First, you have to start with a nice clean house. Check. Second, as soon as you get home, you get the exercise portion of the evening out of the way. Last night I ran 45 minutes on the treadmill while I watched the first episode of Season 4 of Buffy. Check. Third, you get the dogs some exercise so that they will be calm and peaceful for the rest of the evening and not annoy you while you are trying to relax. So Cordy and Seumas got their own 45 minute tour of the neighborhood last night. Check. Fourth, you make an awesome healthy but very tasty dinner and clean the dishes as you dirty them so that there is not a huge pile in the sink to work on after you finish eating and are ready to relax. This is a good time to involve your partner as it's much more fun to cook and clean together than it is by yourself. Check. Fifth, you eat your awesome dinner together at the table that is normally covered in papers and junk but isn't today because you cleaned it off over the weekend. You maybe even light a nice smelling candle. Check. Sixth, it is time for the couch portion of the evening where you and your partner relax together with your pets on the couch and watch your favorite t.v. shows for an hour or so. Last night we watched two episodes of The 4400. We just started the second season on Netflix. Check. Seventh, go to bed happy and tired but read a chapter in your book before you fall asleep. Last night, it was Harry Potter IV. Check. I give you...the perfect evening.

Christmas Comes Twice a Year

Don and I have made our Christmas plans. It's still three and a half months away but I'm excited already! With our families coming from different states and us living separate from them all together, it is always a challenge to figure out how to spend the holiday season since we can't be in two places at once. Usually, when our work schedule allows us to get away (unlike our first married Christmas in Bellingham that we spent just the two of us - still one of my most special Christmas memories - Don spoiled me) we try to split the difference by doing Thanksgiving with one family and Christmas with the other.

Of course it sucks living so far away from our families. I do get jealous sometimes when I think of Terri and Matt raising Amber in Eugene where they live 5 miles from both sets of Grandparents. And I do wish that could be me. It would be nice to be able to see both of our families all of the time, sharing not only the holidays together but getting together on the weekends and even living close enough to meet for lunch! I think this will become even harder when Don and I have kids eventually and have to raise them all by ourselves without all of the first hand family support that lucky little Amber gets to have.

But getting back to the holidays, you learn to make the most of what you have and in some ways it is kind of nice to be able to indulge fully in the holiday season whether in Oregon or Idaho and really enjoy that time with the family that you are with rather than having to drive back and forth from one house to another. I do hear stories from friends - married couples with children especially - how living close to family doesn't make the holiday scheduling any easier. Instead of just choosing here or there - like Don and I do - it is more like, here, there, around the corner and back again- 48 hours, 32 relatives, 6 houses, and 4 Christmas dinners later can turn a Merry Christmas into a very chaotic Christmas that is hard to enjoy in the happy relaxing vacation mode that Don and I usually get to enjoy ours.

Well, for the first time ever, Don and I will get to enjoy Christmas with not one but both of our families. Don and I are having not one Christmas this year, but two. We were able to work our schedules such that we are flying to Boise Friday the 21st and will be there through the weekend and Christmas morning. Then Christmas afternoon we fly back to California and arrive at 4:30 to spend Christmas evening and the rest of the week with Kristy and a few of her friends (including my 30th birthday on the 27th of December) who will be out here enjoying a nice holiday vacation in our sunny state. I think it will be quite an interesting and exciting holiday getting to have Christmas with Don's family and then come back home and do it all over again with mine. I also think it will be a crazy experience to go from snowy Christmas in Boise back to sunny Christmas in LA. Talk about two different worlds! But I can't wait!

The jury is still out on what we will do for Thanksgiving. Don and I will both have the 4 days off but after looking at tickets this late in the season they are already a little too pricey especially after purchasing the Christmas tickets. So it looks like we will be staying here in California but if anyone wants to come out here for Thanksgiving we would be happy to host! Any takers?

Good Start

Last night was our first night of gaming for our Eberon Campaign in 4 weeks. Missed one week due to traveling, skipped one due to low energy, and one week we play tested the Quick Start guide to the new Demonhunters RPG (super fun). So it was like coming back to an old friend...with old friends. :) We had some very strange encounters last night that were quite interesting to role play especially from the perspective of my character who has a bit of a fascination with the dead. We came across the aftermath of a battle in which the entire battlefield was littered with casualties but some magical element in the land had perfectly preserved all of the bodies even though they had died years ago - very erie. It was pretty devastating and hard will oneself to move forward even in a fictional world. Kudos to the Game Master. Anyway, we had a good session as always, beat some bad guys, and after the experience points were awarded last night my character leveled! So I am now a 4th Level Elf Cleric. And now we must game a lot and game hard because I just realized I get some really cool spells when I get to 5th level!

I had a nice dinner planned of fresh sandwiches and watermelon and was planning on being healthy but when Matt and Camille showed up with the Hard Apple Cider and Chips Ahoy Cookies that went right out the window. Plus, Katy made these awesome green tea truffles but those were from the South Beach Diet cookbook so at least they weren't too bad for you. So I went a little overboard with the snacking and a lot overboard with the cider. But this morning I made up for it by getting up early and walking the dogs before work. It felt really good to be out when the air was still cool and damp and of course the dogs loved it too. They even did well considering I walked them both at the same time which is usually a bit of a challenge. But I just put one on each side of me and for the most part they kept in line. It makes me want to try to get up early and take them out more often.

So now I have arrived at work. I figure since I am off to a productive start of my day I will try to keep that running and get some good work done today here at work (after I finish blogging of course). I don't have many deals pending today so I think I will do some more organizing of the office and then split my time between reading my leasing books and putting some more work into my training manual. Then, assuming I can still keep my productive streak going, I hope to spend some good time cleaning and organizing at home this weekend. We have been in the house long enough now (3 months) that we have started to acquire more STUFF and so instead of the prestine house we had when we first moved in and everything had a place where it belonged, we are now starting to get a build up of clutter. So hopefully we can get everything back in order again and get clean flow of calm energy flowing through the house again. This will make me a much happier person and far more relaxed which I'm sure Don will appreciate as I have been most unfortunately quite edgy and irritable this week.

Back to School

Well, it is official. The school year has definitely started. I can tell because my nice non-highway street commute is now suddenly congested all around the 15 schools in between my house and work. So I have been experimenting the last couple of days trying to find the easiest route to take around all the schools with the least congestion. Also, with back to school season, two days a week I am now primarily by myself at work as my instant message buddy, my sister Kristy, is now back to her part time student status and taking classes during working hours when she could be at her desk talking to me! Can you believe it!

Anyway, although it has been a few years since I have been a student, I do still get a little excited thinking back on the start of a new semester and nostalgic for being a student again. But I guess the process of learning doesn't have to stop just because one is not paying thousands of dollars a year to attend university. I'll just have to spend a little more time perusing the library, squeezing in time to read my Leasing books at work, or getting more into book clubs and the like. But the beauty of it is, this I will get to do without deadlines and a grade hanging over my head. I don't even have homework! I guess there is some benefit to not being a student anymore. :)

Meez

Post Labor Day

Well, we got Kristy safely on the plane yesterday and here we are back to regular life and the working world again. Don got back to the working world much sooner than I did at the 5:30 hour where as I'm still an 8 to 5 gal. Actually, it's more like 8:00 to 4:00 most of the time.

I had a chance to balance the checkbook this morning and found out we did not go too far overboard this weekend. Still wish we hadn't spent the 80 dollars on the mediocre (if not bad) sushi but you live and learn, hey? Don and I recently joined our friends here in a "No New Doodads" Campaign. Doodads are those items that you spend money on which fall into the non-necessity category. All of our core group here in California are trying to save money for one reason or another. For Don and I, we have decided to join the "No New Doodads" kick until we pay off our credit cards (which financed our move to California). Practicing a little fiscal discipline is never an easy thing but it does help when you can join together with the support of your friends. When you are all in the same boat, it helps a lot because you don't have to be the one couple that stays home when everyone else goes out to a nice dinner or expensive events. This way, you can all plan fun inexpensive things to do together where you have just as good a time but don't spend lots of money. Since we started a couple of weeks ago we have already paid our Credit Card debt down by over a $1000 dollars. At this rate, we would love to have the whole thing paid off by Christmas time. It is something to shoot for at least.

I'm still basking in the highlight of the weekend - our trip to Santa Monica - and itching to go back and check out some of the other beach scenes now that I've had a taste. Next time I go back I think it would be fun to do with a group of people. Also, it would be nice to pack a picnic lunch and bringing an ice chest full of cold beverages is a definite must. With public parking only $8.00 for a full day, it can be a really reasonable way to spend a day especially in the heat of summer. Speaking of the heat of summer, our heat wave is finally coming to an end. Today it dropped ten degrees to 100 and tomorrow it is supposed to drop another ten back down the the 90 again. I can hardly wait! My house has definitely started to suffer as the heat zaps your energy to do anything. Plus, with the heat emergency, our lovely governor Arnold begged us all to conserve energy and not to use heavy household appliances such as washers and dryers unless absolutely necessary. Good enough for me! I wish politicians would ask me not to do my laundry more often! It was my patriotic duty to let it pile up like it has!

Labor Day Weekend

As you can tell by our post yesterday, Kristy picked an interesting time to visit ... during a heat emergency. Since I picked her up on Friday we have had temperatures around 110 each day. It definitely limits the kinds of things you can do to entertain your guests and the energy you have to do them with. California is not as interesting a place to visit when you can't go outside. Theme parks are out. Gardens and parks are out. Walking and tours are out. Cooking is definitely out. In fact, movement of any kind, well let's just keep that to a minimum.

But we have managed to keep ourselves relatively entertained. I picked Kristy up from the Burbank airport on Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. and was pleased to discover how tiny and convenient it was. From the outside, it looks no bigger than the Eugene airport. And, I gave myself 45 minutes to get there to account for traffic, and it only took 15. Which meant I got to sit in a parking lot for a bit and start on Harry Potter IV. (I've already finished the first three.) From now on, whenever possible, Don and I will definitely try to do most of our flying out of Burbank as opposed to the crazy LAX.

So after picking up Kristy, and getting her back home with a quick tour of the house and greeting of the pups, I had to muster up the energy to head back to work and put in a few hours of face time. This was very difficult as picking up relatives you haven't seen in a long time at the airport definitely puts you into "I've already started my vacation mode." Anyway, work wasn't that bad, I got my month end reports and invoices done, caught up on some email, balanced my checkbook, and played some computer games. In other words, it was very relaxed. So Kristy got to rest up a little bit from her 3:30 a.m. wake up call and then by the time we met up for lunch, my boss said I could pretty much take the rest of the day. So of course I did! We had lunch at the Armenian deli which I am so fond of and was excited to share with Kristy. Then we decided to go to the grocery store and pick up some frozen treats to surprise Don and his staff with at work. Our surprise was greatly received. So we hung out a bit with Don in his office and Kristy got to see where he worked too. As we tried to figure out what to do with the rest of our evening, we decided that we would escape the heat by going out to Sushi for dinner and then renting some movies to watch in our lovely air conditioned home. Unfortunately, we have yet to find a decent Sushi restaurant here in California. So we tried a new place and it was not much better than the others. We left a little disappointed but at least it was better than trying to cook something ourselves.

Thankfully, we had a little bit more success at Blockbuster. We ended up renting Fracture with Ryan Gossling and Anthony Hopkins which we watched Friday Evening. It was a really good movie with some very clever twists and big payoff at the end. I highly recommend it. Also we rented Children of Men which we watched Sunday Night. This was one I had been wanting to see for a while. I would say that the plot was interesting but not totally compelling, and the ending was kind of abrupt and obscure. But some of the shots they got in the movie were really impressive - like continuous single shots that went on for minutes at a time without cutting away. The planning that must have gone into those was truly impressive. We also rented The Good Shepherd which we still need to try and watch today before Kristy has to head back to the airport. Kristy bought some movies as well including Man of the Year with Robin Williams which I have been wanting to see for some time. The premise is that a comedian announces on a farce that he is running for president and then ends up to everyone's surprise getting elected. This movie is worth it alone for the debate scene in which we see a brilliant showcase of the way the elements of truth in comedy can so poignantly address some of the more difficult political problems that people are otherwise afraid to talk about or address openly.

So we did spend a lot of time watching movies this weekend, but we also found a few other things to do as well. Saturday was our big trip to the Santa Monica beach. In order to get the full effect of the day, Kristy and I decided that it would be best to head out in the early morning where it would be easiest to find parking and orient ourselves to the different options before it got too hot and crowded. After the week that Don had and his definite need to catch up on sleep, Don decided to stay behind so he could recooperate a bit and meet up with us later in the afternoon. So Kristy and I arrived at the beach around 9:00 a.m. It was exciting to see how close we actually are to the beach, Santa Monica at least. We are only 10 miles away and with traffic flowing freely it didn't take us more than an easy 15 minutes to get there. Parking was a breeze and we were able to get front row parking right on the pier which made it easy for us to stop back at the car throughout the day to drop things off or grab extra towels, etc.
While it was still cool, we decided we would head up to the street and check out the shops and stuff. We found a little Visitors Kiosk and got some good pamplets and maps with options to check out in the area, but most importlantly we got some good advice on where to go for breakfast. We choose a nice little cafe called the Cafe Crepes. It was hard to select just one thing, everything on the menu looked so delicious and reasonably priced too. In the end, Kristy and I decided on the same thing. We both ordered the breakfast bagette, which was a breakfast sandwich with scrambled Eggs, fresh basil, tomatoe, avocado and bacon served on a fresh whole wheat baguette. It was so delicious, it tasted like everything had come fresh from the garden picked in the last two minutes. Of course we accompanied it with two tall refreshing ice waters.
After we energized up with breakfast, we did a little window shopping along the Promenade which is a fun street with lots of shops.

I say window shopping because both of us were on a spending budget. They had a good mix though of spendy shops with more reasonable priced ones. Also, they had the cleanest most well organized Old Navy I have ever been to. I told Kristy that next time I wanted to go to Old Navy I would drive all the way to the beach and pay for parking just to come to this one. Everything was hanging nicely on the racks where they belonged and the dressing rooms were not a zoo. This even on Labor Day weekend! Also there was a really fun Toy and Hobby store that I would love to go back to some time where we spotted some old childhood favorites - Kristy's old Darth Vador, and the Sylvanian Figurines Terri and I used to collect as kids.


Here is Kristy next to one of the Giant Chia Pet fountains on the Promenade. After we finished touring the shops on the Promenade, we checked out the local Saturday Market where we got some tasty samples of super fresh watermelon, peaches and perfeclty ripe pink grapefruit. We thought about picking up a watermelon but decided it would be dumb to have to carry it a mile back to our car and that we should just stop at the grocery store on the way home.

By the time we got back to the beach it was a much different picture than before we had left it. Kristy commented that this was more people than she had ever seen at the beach in any single place. Looking out for miles, you could see crowds of people every where you looked. We picked out a little spot for ourselves where we layed in the sun for a bit, and then decided that it would be nice and refreshing to to just walk along the shoreline and let our feet get wet.

It was pretty impressive, though there were thousands of people there, nobody got in each others way, there was so much beach that it was easy to find your own spot. It was fun to see all the kids having so much fun in the water, running into the waves and then running away from them, building sandcastles and then seeing them get washed away. There were people speaking all sorts of languages, people sunbathing, people body surfing, people hiding under the shades of their umbrellas. But everyone was there to have a good time and to escape the heat. The cool refreshing water and the blessed fresh air breezes have me itching to go back with friends some time soon. After wading our ankles along the beach for a mile or so, we decided to head up to the pier and check out the fun time options. Standing at the edge of the pier out over the water the breeze was almost cold. It felt awesome! Finally, before we called it a day, we decided to split a funnel cake and spend a few bucks at the arcade. With our four dollars in quarters, we got in a game of air hockey (I won!), fooseball, a couple rounds of the basketball shooting game, and skeeball (I forget who one those ones...;).

It was hard to top our fun at the beach since it is the only place in California that it was cool this weekend. But we did also make it to church on Sunday and tried a new restaurant that I have been interested in called - The Good Earth Cafe - as in the Good Earth Tea that you can buy at the grocery store. Well, this restaurant definitely made up for the Sushi Flop. It was awesome. Again, we had a hard time picking just one thing. It was full of healthy fresh food options and Don and I can't wait to go back. We may have to make a Sunday morning brunch routine of it after church.

If you would like to see more photos of our weekend trip to the beach I have started a new Webshots account (it is bigger and more flexible than the Flicker). Just click on the Webshots Link. I will be adding to my albums as I have time so check back for more pics in the future. I hope everyone has had a nice Labor Day.

Hot Poetry

I am hot.
H-O-T ... Hot.

Snowy mountains. Icicle branches hanging in the frigid mountain air.

Whole body plunge into glacial mountain lake. Numb from cold. Can't feel my toes.

Cool breeze in my face as I skate on the Ice. I fall down. I stay down. Ice cold on my face. Tongue stuck to ice.

Making snow angels in the snow bank. In the nude. Rosie Pink Cheeks. Goose bumps.

Watermelon. Gazpacho. Frozen Margaritas. Ice cold lemonade. Snow Cones - Blue, Green, and Yellow. Dairy Queen. We treat you right.

Antartica.

- An original poem by Cindy and Kristy Messler trying to escape the 108 degree weather.

Yes, I am still Alive

I have been told by several people that I have not been blogging enough and have been instructed to get back to it as soon as possible. So here I am. August was quite the busy month for us. With Camille's exciting birthday weekend - fancy dinner, movie, and day at Knott's Berry Farm - followed by fun 6 day trip to Gen Con, and now happily the expected arrival of my sister, Kristy, tomorrow morning for a fun filled weekend it has definitely been an exciting month. Squeezing into that a combination of strange allergies/colds that Don and I have been suffering from (more so Don) and thankfully a job that is finally picking up the pace a bit, I haven't had as much time to spend blogging as I did the first couple laxidaisical months here.

With the start of September things should be slowing down a bit - at least on the social front. So far we don't have any other traveling plans scheduled likely until at least the holiday. With Kristy here this weekend, we will finally get the chance to do a little bit of touristing around town that we have wanted to do but haven't made the time too. Kristy gets the honor of being the first family member to come and visit us in our new home. Any takers for second place????? Actually, Don's Mom, Grandma, Sister, Dad and Step-Mom have all talked about planning a trip out sometime in the fall but nobody has settled on specific dates or bought plane tickets yet. Of course we are excited to see people and share with them our lovely home and life here.

The weather has definitely kicked into high gear here the last couple of days - in the 100s and upper 90s. I had to move my basil plants over to the shade this morning because they were starting to suffer. The dogs don't seem to mind the heat. Even when it is 100 degrees outside, the first thing Cordy does when I let her out in the evenings is, well obviously go to the bathroom, but the second thing she does is find herself a nice spot in the grass to stretch out on and sunbathe her little bare belly. Seumas on the other hand spends his time inspecting the perimeter of the yard and hunting for insects in the grass. Between the heat and the allergies we have been working through, we have definitely suffered on our training routines with the dogs. I am hoping that while Kristy is here we will be able to be more consistent with walking them in the evening since I will be excited to show off our neighborhood anyway.

Don put up some posts about our trip to Knotts Berry Farm and our week at Gen Con so you can read the updates on his blog. However, the one thing he did not mention was that we got to meet and spend time with the accomplished actor Jason Marsden in the new upcoming animated Dragonlance Animated Feature to be appearing on the SCI FI Channel. Jason Marsden has an IMDB list about a mile long and if you check it out you will see that a good majority of it is Voice Acting on many well known shows (my personal favorite - the Gummi Bears!). Well, when we met him we realized why. Because the guy is about 4 feet tall. I am taller than Jason Marsden and I'm not taller than anyone! Anyway, he was a really neat guy. He came to our showing of Dorkness Rising and absolutely loved it and said he would be thrilled to work with us someday. Apparently his wife and he own a Yoga Studio in Burbank which he invited us to come and check out sometime.

So tonight is gaming night. Everyone is on diets now so it makes it more difficult to just run home and order pizza for everyone. I actually have to put a little more planning into it. Don put out a couple of steaks to thaw this morning (I think he forgot we would be feeding 6) so I am going to pick up some chicken from Costco on the way home and we will BBQ Steaks and Chicken and people can decide which they want. I will probably just pick up a ready made marinade also or something. And maybe even a bagged salad. Don said he has a bit of prep work to do for the session when he gets home as he has been working very long days this week, leaving the house around 5 am and working to about 5 pm. So it looks like I will probably be Grill Master tonight.

Well, I've got some more work to do and want to get my desk cleaned up before Kristy gets here tomorrow so it looks nice when she comes to visit me at work. I'm sure by the end of the weekend we will have lots of pictures to post from her visit. Have a nice Labor Day everyone if I don't talk to you before then.

Get a Grip!

O.K. So today work was CRAZY. And I don't just mean crazy as in so busy I couldn't keep my head on straight. I mean crazy as in literally PSYCHOTIC. So apparently the owner of the company is a difficult man to work for. He is the guy that pays me but who I never actually work with because I have the one job in the actual company that he knows absolutely nothing about. For the most part he leaves us alone down here (where we have been delegated to the basement dungeon) and lets Steve and I run our little operation and basically trusts us to do it right. Well, Mr. Moneybanks insisted several months back that we do a loan for his "friend" against the advice of our credit department. And of course, as we suggested in the first place, now the loan is in default. We have been working with the guy along the way collecting small payments at a time and trying to drag it out while he gets his act together, as the owner instructed us to. Well, all of a sudden he is done waiting and he wants this taken care of NOW!

So my poor boss Steve is running back and forth upstairs and downstairs all day being called into his office and chewed out and demanding that this be immediately rectified while I am racing through internet adds and calling collection agencies all day long to find out who can get us what he is asking for and save Steve's head from the chopping block. Apparantly, we were not the only ones to receive this happy treatment today. It sounds like the whole company was getting chewed out for one reason or another all because Grumpy broke his bleeping Blackberry and was in a bad mood. So of course while everyone else in the company was getting chewed out, lucky me stayed down in my little hidey hole and did my best to help save Steve's skin.

Anyway, it's not so bad, since again, the man doesn't know anything about equipment financing therefore he can't micromanage and basically leaves us alone to do our thing down here. And even when he does go bezerko it doesn't effect me that much directly. But it sure makes for a high strung environment being around such insane stress levels. While it hasn't sent me fleeing exactly, it has helped me to clinch what I was already suspecting before, that this is not a place that I see myself long term and has given me enough license to start at least looking at and entertaining other opportunities. I would hate to leave my boss to fend for himself and in an ideal world I would like to be here until we had grown enough for me to get all of our procedures running smoothly and have trained some really good replacement staff. Even if we never make it strong as a business, I could still get another 6 months to a year out of this job on a really nice income. Which is actually the perfect opportunity to comfortably start looking and marketing myself out there with enough patience to wait for that perfect job.

Rumblings

Last night I woke up around 1:00 a.m. to a shaking bed, rolled over to Don and said, "Well, I suppose that was our first earthquake." News reports this morning said it was magnitude 4.5 centered in Chatsworth. Pretty light from where we felt it. Didn't even wake the dogs. Welcome to California.

I have to say, I am a little ashamed at myself. It's 64 degrees outside and I'm actually cold. I've only been living in California for two months and now I need a sweater to go outside in 60 degree weather! But I am quite pleased with the forecast this week. Highs in the low 80s for the next 5 days. Now that is quite a treat. I am especially pleased about the weather report because I recently made a commitment to myself to forego using Airconditioning in my car unless absolutely necessary. And it's really not as hard as you think it would be. I don't have to drive really long distances so I just roll the windows down and bring a bottle of water and voila - save some money on gas and reduce my carbon footprint.

Don and I are going to have to finally bite the bullet and get another car sometime in the next year. It has been so nice not having a car payment for the last four years but alas, our cars are getting older and it is not so practical to drive a truck in the city. We will keep the truck for now but get a commuter car for Don. The problem is we are at total odds as to what kind of car to get and how much money to spend. This when we are trying to save for a house. It is hard to think of forking over 10/20/or 25K that could have gone towards a down payment and bought a lot more house. Well, the good news is we still have at least 6 months to a year to decide as we pay off the rest of the debt from our move and save for the car.

What day is it???

Last night husband arrives home around 5:30. Walks in through the front door emanating vicious aura. Goes straight to bed and collapses face first on pillowtop.

Wife tiptoes into bedroom, "Babe are you o.k.?"

Husband turns head, peels open one eyelid, gets out "horrible headache."

"Did you take anything?"

Shakes head 'no'.

Wife goes to medicine cabinet. Brings back Advil. Gets husband to sit up long enough to administer three little candy-coated promises of relief. Husband falls back into bed and straight into deep REM coma.

Wife walks past bedroom doorway a few times. Deep sleep, slow heavy breaths, no movement. Wife decides to entertain herself by watching movie and eating Dorritos. Dogs cuddle. Evening twilight sets in. 7:30 p.m. timed evening lamp turns on.

Floor creaks. Dogs' ears perk up. Husband appears in Living Room hallway squinty-eyed and barely conscious. A look of utter confusion, eyebrows perplexed in the shape of a question mark, husband performs the mighty act of willing vocal cords to ask in groggy voice, "Do you have the day off?"

Wife stops crunching mid-dorito, looks up at husband with own question mark on her face, "Honey, do you think today is Friday? It's still Thursday night. You just woke up from a nap and I haven't been to bed yet."

Husband tries hard to process information through foggy brain. Looks like wife just told him the year is 2022 and we are Republicans now. After long careful thought process responds, "Are you serious? I was sure it was Friday morning and starting to panic because I was late for work."

"Yes, honey, I'm sure."

Shoulders relax a bit. Looks relieved but still barely conscious.

"I'm sure this is all very disorienting from where your standing. But from where I'm standing this whole thing is really quite adorable, you understand?"

Husband releases a slow squinty eyed grin.

Every once in a while it's fun to see your partner in a new light, and be reminded why you love them.

***

The other day I turned the calendar. I can't believe it's already August. As of tomorrow, Don and I will have been at our new jobs for two full months now. So far we are finding that we are quite happy with our new lives in California. The "honeymoon" phase has not yet warn off as we continue to enjoy our new home, our new opportunities both professionally and recreationally, and the new and renewed friendships we have made here. I have become very comfortable with the pace of our lives here. Time and space feels different here to me. I find myself living much more in the moment day to day. Weeks go by faster than weekends. Evenings feel longer than days. Sleep feels plentiful. As we have sought to achieve better balance for our dogs by walking them every day, I think we are achieving more balance for ourselves too. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with living on our own and feeling more in control of our lives - physically and financially. But I also can't help but thinking that this state - California - is having more of a positive impact on me than I ever expected it. If you ever would have told me that I was going to love California, I never would have believed you. Maybe I'm the opposite of what happens when you take a person who struggles with depression and puts them in a rainy cloudy environment and they become even more depressed. What happens when you take a happy person and put them in a sunny environment, do they get even more happy? I could get used to this.

Use It or Lose It

I started off the week with a strong motivation to accomplish much. Including at work. This is a hard motivation to muster since there are not a lot of things that immediately need to be accomplished but much that can be done nonetheless. It's amazing how much time one can waste in a day. There are so many more productive things I could be doing than wasting hours surfing the internet. Am I going to stop blogging? Of course not! But there are so many hours of unproductivity that I would like to transform into productivity. (Blogging is at least somewhat productive.) I want to take advantage of the time that I have rather than let it slip away into a past memory of wasted time that I can never get back. And that's one thing that you can never get back... is time. You either use it or lose it, and I want to use it!

So I bought a couple of books recently on Equipment Leasing and plan to start using my down time to further increase my knowledge and make myself more useful for when things do start getting busy. It is such a specialized industry that I am in, so many accounting laws, tax consequences, etc. to keep track of. Since I worked with the loan side of things before more than the leasing, I'm realizing that there are all sorts of things I can learn about this complex business I am in - a very specialized knowledge that will make me quite the commodity - even more so than I am now. Much of it I am already picking up on just in conversations I have with my boss and in reviewing the different leasing software options out there. But there is much more to learn of course. So today I cracked out the books at a couple of points in the day when things slowed down and I found that I didn't have anything else to do, or at least nothing that I was interested in doing at the moment. Great idea, except I found my mind wandering and having to read the same paragraph over and over and over again. I guess it doesn't work using it as a backup plan for boredom, as boredom has already set in and my mind is not in working and processing mode. So I need to start setting goals for myself to get to a certain point so I can read - make the reading my reward to work towards and then a goal for myself to read to a certain point. That way I can keep a certain momentum going and hopefully overcome this blackhole of time and space that is sucking my professional life away.

I know, you are all saying 'woe is me,' what a horrible problem to have - a job that is too easy, with lots of time to relax in a day, and a boss that doesn't care how I spend my time as long as I get my work done (which takes about one hour out of my eight hour day). I know the tables will turn some day, that I will be working late every night trying to get deals done when we have a couple million in the pipeline and aren't quite ready to hire additional staff. It's precisely then that I want to be able to look back and see that I'd done everything I could to take advantage of the time while I had it. Well, it's 4:00 and my boss just said let's close up and go home. I can't argue with that now can I? Good night all.

Progress Report

Last night, Don and I got the first disk of the first season of the Dog Whisperer and watched the whole thing - all nine episodes! So far, all of it is pretty much the same advice, approach, and techniques as he gives in his book, but it is still very insightful to see it in practice with real live subjects. Don has started reading the book too now that I have finished it and after watching a few episodes, he was able to take the techniques and took Seumas on his first one on one walk last night and they did beautifully together.

After the first full week of training with the dogs, I am so impressed and so proud. If I were to give them a grade on their leash progress, I would give them an A. It is exciting to see how well they respond to direction, and how much they crave it. Just like people, dogs seek fulfillment. Dogs are working animals and they need a job to do. When they sit at home all day with no direction, they get a lot of built up frustration and have no way to release it. This results in unhealthy behaviors such as chewing on household items, over excited energy jumping up on people, or fixations on certain toys or activities.

Cesar is really good at helping people understand that the dog's problem behaviors come from an unhealthy mind. And that unhealthy mind is usually created or at least reinforced by us, it's pack. When a dog has problem behaviors, people usually try to correct the behaviors with dog training. Dog training teaches the dogs to obey commands such as sit, stay, down, heel.... These attempts at training are often met with frustration or temporary fixes because they merely try to change the dogs behavior rather than addressing the source of the problem and are often met with poor results or temporary results.

The source of the problem is in the dog's mind. The problem may be fear, anxiety, aggression, frustration, or dominance issues and these things must be addressed in the mind first and then the behavior will follow. First you have to establish that you are the pack leader. For a dog who is fearful, insecure or anxious, there is no reason for them to be afraid in any situation if they trust you and are concentrating on following your command. For a dog who is dominant aggressive, obviously they are not going to follow a command unless you do the work to establish that you are pack leader first.

The good news is that a dog's mind is not nearly so complex as a human's mind. Unlike human beings, it doesn't takes years of psychotherapy and thousands of dollars to help rehabilitate an unbalanced dog. Cesar says that a dog has three very simple basic needs to achieve a balanced state of mind: 1. Exercise; 2. Discipline; 3. Affection. And always in that order.

I think, of all the things I have learned from Cesar so far, the only thing that makes me feel bad is that by not setting firm boundaries for the dogs and being a strong pack leader, I did not realize that I was contributing to an unhealthy mind and creating an unbalanced dog. Out of my love for them I gave them too much freedom and affection without strong leadership. Since they are such small dogs, there were not a lot of things that I needed them to do for me. It was o.k. if they jumped up on people when they came in the door because they were so small that they couldn't do any damage. It was o.k. if they barked a bit here and there because it wasn't too loud that it bugged the neighbors and I always could just throw them in the kennel if it got too annoying. What I realize now, is that even though I didn't need those behaviors from them, they still needed the boundaries from me. Without rules and limitations, they didn't know what was or wasn't expected of them. They had no job to do, no purpose, and no way to expend their anxious energy and pent up frustrations.

It is amazing to see the transformation in them since we have started working with them on a daily basis. Finally by walking with them every day and teaching them to heal they have a job to do. Their job is to walk beside their owner following my lead while we migrate. If I stop, they stop, if I speed up they speed up, if I slow down they slow down. It makes me so happy to see them trotting along beside me with their heads held high. They are so excited to be able to please me because they understand what it is that is expected of them and finally someone is telling them what to do instead of having to be the ones to make the decisions. It also gives me incredible joy after our walks to see them in deep relaxation mode with all of their nervous energy burned off, laying down, happily, peacefully and submissively, enjoying life in a much more balanced way.

Even though I feel bad that I didn't stand up and be the pack leader that the dogs needed me to be sooner in life I don't have to feel too bad about it. The other thing I have learned from Cesar is that dogs are always in the moment. Though humans may carry around baggage from past experiences, dogs do not. Unfortunately, humans often make the mistake of assuming that they do and these assumptions are then projected onto the dogs and can then hinder their rehabilitation. Because dogs are a live-in-the-moment-species Cesar believes it is almost never too late to rehabilitate an animal. Because of this he has been able to help rehabilitate and save many animals who have been deemed hopeless causes and were headed for death row. I think in our culture, almost everyone has grown up with the old proverb, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." Because of this prevalent myth in our culture, before reading Cesar's book I believed that at just 2 and 3 years old, I had already "ruined" my dogs and would be stuck with their behavior for the rest of their lives. Thanks to Cesar, by helping me to understand my dogs needs a little bit better, in just one 30 minute walk, I was able to see a dramatic difference in both Cordy and Seumas. That's how much time it took them to get the message and respond to their deep need to be led. By continuing these daily physical and mental exercises, I am excited that I will be able to give them a much happier life than they had before.

Now that we are seeing such progress with the daily leash exercises, the next step for Don and I will be to sit down and decide what the rules of the house are going to be. Will the dogs be allowed to jump on on people when they come to visit or do we make them sit quietly until released? Can the dogs be in the bed with us or on the furniture, and if so when? Do the dogs eat before or after us? What do we do when the dogs bark? The good thing is that there is no right or wrong answers to the above questions. As the pack leaders of our domain it is up to us to decide. But for those "freedoms" that we do allow, it still has to be on our terms and it needs to be consistent, otherwise the dogs will not understand it as a rule that we have set, but they will think of it as their own domain where they get to decide what they do and don't do.

Updating Profile

I'm in the process of updating my blog profile and I'm trying to figure out how to get this picture posted to my profile. I think first I have to post it here and then go back into edit mode and copy the html URL. Let's see if this works. I know it can be done since Camille has one on her website.

Weekend Highlights

Friday Night - we did nothing. Nothing includes not making dinner. (We had leftover lasagna from the night before.) Not doing the dishes (sitting in the sink from the night before). Not exercising. And not walking the dogs. It was awesome!

Saturday - a little bit more interesting. During the day we managed to get a few things done. I actually got my desk cleaned off in our home office - gasp! For those of you who know me well, especially Emily if you are reading this, you know how much I hate to clean off my desk and how incredibly messy it can get. This is a major accomplishment for me. I have to thank Netflix on-demand for helping me to get my desk cleaned off. I had an afternoon of watching documentaries on my computer to keep me interested while I got my work done - interesting but not too interesting that I could tune in and out of while getting my work done. I watched "Maxed Out" a documentary about America's problem with individual and national debt. And I started this very wierd documentary called "Hell's House." Similar to a haunted house, this is a controversial "multimedia fire-and-brimstone performance designed to give its audiences a glimpse of what awaits those who stray from the path of a strict Christian life, put on by the youth members of a church outside Dallas." Yes, that's right I said youth members. Gross and disturbing. And I totally watched it. Aren't you ashamed of me?

I also started working with Seumas and Cordy on their leash training some more. I spent a good half hour with each of them and Cordy was a very quick study. After two half hour lessons she has it completely down. I am so proud of her! Seumas on the other hand is a different story. He understands how it works, but doesn't want to submit to my command. I hate to say that he's starting to lose some of that sweet-natured puppy personality and becoming more agressive. He has started barking at other dogs on our walks and on Saturday he even barked at a baby in a stroller. BAD DOG! This means I'm going to have to work with him a lot, and also it means he probably is going to have to finally get the snip-snip that he's been lucky enough to avoid for the first two years of his life.

Of course the funnest part of our Saturday is when Matt and Camille came over and joined us first for a gourmet dinner at Fatburger (yummy) and then for the highly anticipated movie Harry Potter V! An evening well spent. As Don and I are lazy bastards and have not read the books, we only have the movie to go on and we quite enjoyed this one. My favorite is still the 3rd movie but I haven't had a complaint about any of them that I've watched so far. What delightful stories and how fun it is to watch the children grow up on screen.

Sunday was another great day. Don and I made it a date day for the two of us. We went to church in the morning and afterwards we tried out one of the spas in our neighborhood and each got a full body massages. This was supposed to be a surprise that I had planned for Don earlier in the week, but the company called our house on Saturday to confirm the appointment and Don answered the phone. Oh well, surprise foiled but still very enjoyable experience. After our massages, we headed down the boulevard and picked the first establishment that looked good for an afternoon lunch. We ended up choosing a place called the Amazon Bar and Grill. As you can guess, the restaurant had a Caribbean style cuisine theme. Inside, the bar was completely covered with fake foliage, flowers, trees, plants, and a gigantic waterfall/wishing well in the middle of the room. Don and I both ordered shrimp dishes and I drank two tall glasses of pineapple juice because my massage therapist told me that it helps prevent the buildup of lactic acid which causes the soreness after a massage. And I think it may have worked because I am not that sore today. After that we browsed a couple of shops close by and then headed back the house where we both took big fat afternoon naps. So romantic! When it cooled down a bit in the evening, I got my training lessons in with the dogs and while Don took care of some laundry, and then we finished off the weekend with a couple more episodes of our current program that we are really into - Rome. Fascinating series!

So it was quite a lovely weekend. And here we are back to Monday. Have a good week!

Reading List

So I am currently in a moment of inspiration to bring more literature into my life. Perhaps it is because I am now a member of one of the most extensive public library systems in the United States - the Los Angeles Public Library. This means access to thousands of titles which I get to read for free. The free part is what I really like.

Since I joined the library a few weeks ago I have finished two books - Cesar's Way (dog psychology non fiction) and How to Cook a Tart (fiction murder mystery about a cookbook author and her disfunctional family). I also checked out and watched the movie TransAmerica - quite interesting and very strong performance by the lead actress (sorry, I don't know her name.) Right now I am starting the book "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" by Dai Sijie and I have ordered a hold on the Book "Dune" by Frank Herbert which I can't wait to get my hands on.

The thing about this library system is that though the individual branches are small, there are somewhere around 50 of them all together, so the interlibrary loan is the way to go. The problem is, though I can get my hands on just about anything out there, I don't really know what is out there worth getting my hands on. For the most part, I am a go-to-the-shelf-and-browse kind of person, but I definitely do not plan to travel to all 50 branches to see what's out there. And the library catalogue search has never really been all that helpful to me in randomly searching for inspiring titles. If I already know what I'm looking for, then great tool to have around. If I don't know what I'm looking for, then not so helpful.

This is where you come in... If anyone would be willing to help me in compiling a reading list I would greatly appreciate it. If you wouldn't mind recommending two or three titles of books that you have really enjoyed and a short description of why it was such a good read to you, this will greatly help me. While I'm inspired to read, I want to read as many good books as I can to keep the streak going and keep my interest. They can be fiction or nonfiction, though in truth I'm more likely to go for the fiction first. They can be light or serious, after all, I did enjoy the Nanny Diaries just about as much as I enjoyed Siddhartha. And they can be long or short, so long as they are a page turner.

I have a problem of not reading frequently enough and since it is so spread out I have a hard time getting into the story because I can never really get drawn into the momentum of it. Since I've moved to California, I've gotten into the habit of reading for about 20 minutes or so when I go to bed. I'd like to build on this and I need some great books to keep me coming back for more. Plus, I'm just plain curious to know what it is all of you like to read and who reads what so I know who to discuss which books with as I'm making my way through them.

For what it's worth, if any are interested and are working on your own reading list, some of my favorite books have been The Chronicles of Narnia and The Clan of the Cave Bear series also known as the Children of Earth series by Jean M. Auel which is a fictional anthropological masterpiece that takes place in prehistoric times.

Little Bear

A picture from Amber's first trip to the zoo. How jealous am I that I didn't get to be there?! Well, I definitely will get to be there on her first trip to Disneyland!

Picture again provided by Kristy.

Beautiful Girl

Who has the cutest niece ever? I do! I do!

Pictures provided by my sister Kristy on her recent trip to Oregon.

The Mind of Dog

So I recently checked out a book from the library called Cesar's Way by Cesar Milan - known as the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. If anyone has seen The Dog Whisperer show, you know that this guy knows his stuff. He is able to get amazing results with what most people would term problem dogs with serious issues. Often times, he is a last resort for dogs with dangerous tendencies facing euthenasia because no one else has been able to get them to respond.

The most incredible thing about Cesar is that although he is so successful at rehabilitating dogs, you only have to watch one or two episodes to realize that the problems do not rely in the dogs, but in their owners. We as dog owners, create the very problems and behaviors in our dogs that we are trying to get rid of. We create what Cesar calls "issues" in our dogs by unknowingly reinforcing unwanted behaviors and by not understanding our dogs basic needs and instincts as a species. For this reason, Cesar calls himself not a dog trainier, but a dog psychologist.

I know that word psychologist sounds kind of cooky. The term "Dog Psychologist" makes me think of some kind of new age pet psychic who comes in and tries to read your dogs mind or seance with their past lives to determine the original source of their psychological damage. Well far from it. In fact, Cesar himself says that the main source of our problems with our dogs in the United States (interesting perspective coming from someone born and raised in Mexico and viewing our relationship with our dogs from a foreign perspective) is that we humanize them. We try to solve our problems with our dogs using human psychology.

For example, Cesar says that when a dog shows fear around other dogs, possibly cowering or whimpering, many owners' natural responses would be to pick them up and give them affection and a feeling of safety - much as we would a human child. Cesar says that this would never happen in the wild in a dog pack. Weakness is not to be accepted or encouraged. A weak member of the pack weakens the entire pack and threatens the safety of the entire group. Instead of reinforcing the fear by giving affection at a weak moment, in a dog's world, a dog is more likely to gain the benefit of overcoming the fear by its owner maintaining a strong assertive energy that there is nothing to be afraid of and continuing through the dog park as if it were no different than any other situation. If you respond to your dog's fear by catering to it and cooing over it and removing the dog from the situation, you validate their fears and show your dog that you are not in control of the situation.

Anyway, the above is just one example but basically it demonstrates that as a dog psychologist, Cesar is dedicated to understanding dogs from the perspective of their own species, and by understanding the psychology of a dog's mind - how they make connections and associations, how they interact and socialize, what their basic needs and instincts are - we as owners can then interact with them in a way that will help them to be more balanced, better behaved, and more fulfilled as a member of the pack that we have chosen to bring them into.

So in a matter of a couple of days I have already blown through more than half the book and I am already seeing results with Cordy and Seumas. With Cordy being such a nervous dog, I am particularly interested in learning how to be a better pack leader to take some of that pressure off of Cordy who I know often feels responsible for our safety as a family. She shows this through her nervous barking and the body language around unfamiliar situations and especially unfamiliar noises. She has been this way ever since we got Seumas and wanted to protect him from potential dangers. By using the calm assertive energy that Cesar talks and setting more boundaries for the dogs in our household I think Cordy is beginning to relax more and feel protected under my leadership.

The other really important thing that I have learned so far from Cesar's book is how important it is to walk your dog. Yes, everyone knows that all dogs need exercise and there are many ways to exercise your dog. Seumas loves to chase his ball and Cordy would choose the laser pointer over food any day. (That's saying a lot for Cordy!) And those are both good ways to get some activity and mental challenge in for your dogs. But they do not take the place of walking. Dogs by nature are free roaming animals. When we bring animals into our lives as pets, we take away that freedom and we limit their mobility. Even if you have a big backyard, Cesar says that is like having a really big kennel for a dog. Dogs need to be able to get out of the house and explore their surroundings. I noticed that the dogs were very nervous after making the big move down here. They didn't really start to relax until we started getting them out of the house and gave them a chance to explore their surroundings. Now they are becoming more comfortable with their environment. Their "hunting adventures" have taught them that we live in a safe neighborhood with other friendly dogs and friendly neighbors.

Plus, walking a dog is one of the best exercises you can do to establish your position as pack leader. Cesar says always make sure that you enter through the door before your dog and that your dog does not walk in front of you but beside or behind you. This is the proper order of dominance in packs in the wild. If your dog walks in front of you than they are asserting their dominance - they are walking you not the other way around! I have been working with Cordy on her leash manners and she is already starting to show some improvement. Yes, this is Cordy we're talking about! Cesar has a whole chapter in his book dedicated to working with a dog on a leash and I can't wait to read about it in further detail as I can use all the pointers I can get. This is not an area of strength for me but with some new tools and dedication to do the training, I think we can make it work.

Anyway, if you can't tell yet, I highly recommend this book whether you are a dog owner or not. Dogs bring so much joy to so many people's lives. This book gives a lot of great understanding to how to create an environment that a dog needs to be a better balanced dog resulting in better behavior for us and more fulfillment for the dog - a win win situation!

Red Means Stop

Today in the mail we received a lovely piece of correspondence from the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Enclosed was a picture of Don running a red light. Taken from four different angles. And a ticket to pay $381.

Now that's just not fair!

Gaming!

Gaming Session #2 occurred of our yet-to-be-named campaign last night at our house. After two gaming sessions, we have officially broken in the den and can now start referring to it by it's proper term, "The Gaming Room." It really is a nice space to game. With laminate floors, wood walls, and high ceilings, it is by far the coolest room in the house temperature wise. One whole wall is lined with book cases and of course there's an entire book case dedicated to gaming books. Plus plenty of room for the essential gaming accessories - maps, minis, and mini bar.

Last night, our new friends Katie and Jeremy, introduced to us by our friend Rian, also joined the campaign. In addition to Camille they are also first time gamers. It definitely brings a freshness to the game to play with new people who are still learning and thinking unconventionally. They had some really good ideas and definitely added to the group both in and out of game! It is fun to have found such a great pair of kindred spirits.

I'm really excited about this gaming group. For the first time in a while ... actually maybe for the first time ever ... I think we have a group that is more intellectually strategic than battle heavy. In our group of 5 players, we have an elf cleric (divine magic/healer), a half-elf favoured soul (divine magic/healer #2), a half-elf rogue (sneaky and stealthy but quite squishy), a half-drow sorcerer/warrior (magic user with big nasty axe), and a Warforged Knight (Damage dealer but too honorable to play dirty). I think it will be interesting trying to solve our challenges creatively rather than just running in with our swords and killing everything in sight. On the other hand, we did almost have a total party wipe out last night from just two mangy rats. True, they weren't just any rats, they were horrid rats, but still how embarrassing would it have been if we were taken out by a couple of rodents before we had even accomplished our first mission. Last night we achieved our first objective, scored big on lots treasure, and several of us leveled as well. Leveling is exciting when you are playing a magic user because you get to cast more spells per day!

Me likes this new gaming group! Can't wait for our next session! And of course am getting excited for GenCon. I'm feeling the urge to invest in some new lucky dice ;)

Back in the Saddle Again

In the words of my secret lover, Steven Tyler, I am "back in the saddle again" with my exercise routine. Since our big life transition occurred my life has been a bit sedentary. I've become a little soft with the lack of exercise and the constant eating out and I was starting to feel it. So I took the opportunity of going back to my regular work week this week to resume my daily schedule of hitting the treadmill when I get home. I had a good routine going on this schedule back in Tacoma and managed to lose about 10 pounds over several months. Since coming here I have definitely undone some of that work and am excited to get back on track. This after work treadmill routine works out well for me for a couple of reasons:

1. I don't have to get up the motivation to go somewhere to work out. The treadmill is right in my house and I don't have to pack a gym bag or find parking or spend time driving anywhere.
2. I don't have to get up early - I was never one to win the battle with the snooze button when it comes down to the choice of sleeping later or burning calories.
3. I don't have to depend on anyone else - while some people do better with a workout partner to motivate them, I do worse. If my partner is busy, sick, or unmotivated, I latch on to that as an easy excuse to skip myself.
4. It is a good way to unwind at the end of the work day and to transition into evening relaxation time. Don and I both get home around the same time. Don gets to decompress and unwind from his day usually on the computer while I decompress by getting my blood pumping and burning off some steam. Then we usually make dinner together and relax either by watching a dvd or reading or gaming or something. But we both find our together time a lot more enjoyable after we have had a chance to take care of some of our own needs at the end of a long work day.
5. I get to watch t.v. on my treadmill. Currently I going through the first Season of Dark Angel - recommended to me by my friend Jessica in Bellingham. It's not as bad as Charmed or Smallville but it's definitely not going to win any awards based on script. You can tell it was designed for a younger audience. But it has Jessica Alba in it and she's incredibly cute which is not a bad motivator when you are trying to work out. So I'll keep at it and see how it turns out. The show only lasted for two seasons so it won't take long to get through it and then I can start something else.
6. If I workout right when I get home, I don't snack until dinnertime.

In fact, now that I have started working out again, since I have appreciated how much better I feel physically with some cardiovascular activity, I have started to take pity on the dogs and been getting them out for walks after I finish my own workout. So last night and the night before they got to take a lap around the neighborhood. Last night we scored big when we came across an older couple in the neighborhood out for a walk. Since they don't have dogs of their own to spoil, they bring dog treats with them on their walk and give them to all of the dogs they come across. Cordy can't wait until we meet up with them again on one of our evening walks. Anyway, not only do they love the walks as all dogs do, but they are so much more at ease when we get home. Their nerves are calmer, they are more relaxed, and they will lay down on the couch and cuddle with us while we watch a show instead of trying to get us to throw the ball a thousand times.

The Great Outdoors

Today is a little taste of home. Believe it or not, the sky is overcast and cloudy, the air is crisp and moist. I'm celebrating by having a cup of coffee which I almost never drink. I'm sure it will burn off soon, but there is a 30% chance of thundershowers. I hope we get them. The one thing about the sunny weather all the time with no rain is that everything seems so dirty to me. No rain to wash away the dust.

This weekend Don and I bought a carwash kit for our car and washed the vehicles. Actually, Don washed the vehicles while I scrubbed the barbecue down (both were in great need of a little detailing). When I got in my car to drive to work on Monday I almost didn't recognize it. I could actually see out the window. You really have to keep up on washing your car around here, no cloudbursts to do it for you and the dirt builds up quickly. Plus, washing your car is kind of an enjoyable way to spend a little time outside in the warm sun. Since we have gardeners to do all of our yardwork for us, this is our one outdoor chore. That and picking up dog logs.

I've noticed that though I have not spent anytime sunbathing I am already starting to get a tan just from the little time I spend outside doing errands and such. The criss-cross pattern of my REI sandals has become a permanent tattoo on my foot. The weather this week is supposed to hold steady in the 80's (as opposed to 90's and 100's) which will give me the opportunity to spend a little more time outside. Last night I took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood and I have some errands to do during my lunch breaks this week which will be cool enough to walk to instead of drive if I want.

I've started to think about trying to grow some fresh herbs at home - maybe some rosemary, basil, oregano, mint, sage, lavender, tarragon and thyme. I'll have to do some reading and find out what kind of plants grow well in California. Since they took out the Hot Tub in the backyard (the landlord moved it over to her house next door) we have a perfect little clay Sunporch that's not being used and there are a bunch of empty planters sitting all around the front and back porch that are just begging to be planted with something. I've never had much luck growing things in the past but I figure it's worth a try if it means I might have the opportunity to have such a convenient supply of fresh herbs to cook with. Looks like I will be making a trip to the library soon for some research materials. Maybe I will make this my weekend project. If anybody has any good tips for growing herbs outdoors in planters I would welcome any and all advice since I know absolutely nothing about keeping plants alive and have been known to kill even cactuses (plural?). But maybe that was just because I kept it on top of my heater in my dorm room.

Back to Work

It's Monday and back to the working world again. I never thought I would say this, but the highlight of my vacation was the Transformers movie that we went to yesterday. It was unexpectedly really really good. It had the action and excitement of Terminator 2 with some really interesting fun characters and good humorous and serious moments. But I can't describe it as well as Don did in his blog so if you want to hear more about it you should check out his blog.

Though it is always nice to be on vacation, the thing I am looking forward to about going back to the work week is being on a regular schedule. I definitely do better on a routine with time that is regularly scheduled. I waste less time, spend less money, get more accomplished and enjoy my down time even more. This week I have some definite goals I want to accomplish. My goals are to work out after work at least 3 days, but hopefully even 4. I also plan to cook dinner every night instead of eating out. And my goal is to not spend any money on non-necessity items until the weekend. So there you have it. Let the week begin!

Day 5

It is Day 5 of my 5 day weekend. I wish I could say that I got a lot accomplished, that I got out and saw some new things, or that I played really hard and made the most of my vacation. Well I didn't. I did get a few chores done and a few errands done and played a little. But I also spent a lot of wasted time veging and getting lost in t.v. land on our new huge screen t.v.

Today we are going to see Transformers at the Arc Light with Matt and Camille and Camille is making dinner for us afterwards. It will be a nice way to finish off the weekend. Didn't even make it to church this morning. Man am I lazy...

Entertaining

Of the many fun things that we are enjoying about our new life in California, I am finding that one of the things I love the most is entertaining. I love having people over and feeding them. Maybe it is because I love food so much - good food - and enjoy sharing my love of good food with other people. So many people don't take the time to cook or try new things and I like to introduce them to my favorite recipes or things that sound interesting and different. Maybe it is because we have such wonderful friends who are so appreciative when I cook for them, who even do the dishes for me when they are done. The compliments make me feel really good about my cooking talents, but also, it is the genuine expressions of people enjoying food- it is nice to have played a part in creating that joyful experience. Maybe it is because of all of our talented friends who do so many artistic things - filmaking, acting, singing/songwriting, photography - that cooking is my one artistic creative talent that I am good at and enjoy and find passion in. Maybe, also, it is because for the first time in a long time Don and I have a home of our own that we are not sharing with other people. We actually have space to entertain and we don't have to worry about invading other people's space. And we love our home and we love sharing it. Maybe also it is because everyone is so spread out and social outings take an effort to drive across town, sit in traffic, guzzle gas, that I want to make their journey out to see us worth the effort and looking forward to coming back again. Truth be told, Don and I have had the opportunity to entertain a lot lately at our place and have not had the chance to get out ourselves and make the trek to see other people as much as we should have. I promise we will. But in the meantime, thanks to all who have graced our home and allowed us to host and share a bit of our new life with you and what brings us happiness. Thanks for letting us entertain!

Week of Fun

Don and I have quite the stretch of fun going on.

Saturday we had an amazing Dinner with Matt and Camille, and Camille's dad, Richard, and sister, Katie. We went to this amazing little Italian Restaurant down the street. They were PACKED! It's a good thing we had reservations, I got the feeling that some of the folks had been on the wait list for more than a scant yawn. They sat us in an octagonal table right in the center of the room. It was like everyone was eating centered around our table... pretty funny especially given how many people they had managed to fit in that crowded little one room restaurant. I was actually sitting at another couples' table, with my back turned to them of course. I was glad I didn't have long hair or it would have been dangling right in their dinner plates. Anyway, once we began to order and receive our food I figured out just why it was so crowded. Their food was delicious!!! They served Bruschetta as an Appetizer and Katie accidentally ordered some fried calamari. I say, "accidentally" because she meant to order some steamed oysters but her eyes slipped down the page and since everything was in Italian she didn't realize that she had ordered the calamari until it came. No harm, no foul, the calamari was very good too. Richard also got us going with a couple of nice bottles of smooth Italian Chianti. Not the cheap kind either. It was very nice. After scouring the impressive menu for about 15 minutes and sending the waitress away a few times because we couldn't decide on just one thing to order, Camille and I finally decided to split two dishes because we wanted to try the pizza and the pasta. So Camille ordered a pizza with ham, fresh mozarrella, marinated mushrooms, black olives and artichokes, while I ordered the homemade spinach ravioli in saffron sage sauce. OH... MY... GOD! The pizza was good but the ravioli was one of the best pasta dishes I have ever eaten. Don orded a cioppino soup with a pretty impressive presentation - and for garnish - an entire lobster in a halfshell sitting right on top of the tomato base. Can I say, "Wow"? As if we hadn't indulged enough, we finished off with a round of desserts which we all tasted and enjoyed, crem brulee which you needed an ice pick to crack (mmmmmm), Spimoni Ice Cream, Peach sorbet plated on an actual halved peach slightly frozen, and, of course, tiramisu. It was quite the lovely evening. Once we returned to our place we visited and played with the dogs until we were all comatose from our full bellies when poor Matt had to wake himself up and drive everyone home. Cordy and Seumas of course were delightful entertainment as they tend to be for their guests and Don and I are taking bets on how long it will take for Richard to get a wiener dog. So that twas Saturday.

Sunday, we did the church thing in the morning and a trip to Borders. And then Ben flew into town in the evening. Don and Rian picked him up from the airport and then he came over and we watched the newest version of the DemonHunters Orientation Video and visited for a bit. The DHOV is looking great by the way. Some really exciting performances, great camera work, and really cool editing are turning this thing into something far better than I think was originally expected. I can't wait to see it released.

Ben will be back over again this evening. Then tomorrow night we have a get together in Studio City - Rian is moving back to Portland for a few months so people are getting together to hang out with him before he leaves. Wednesday, Don and I both have the day off of work. So far no set plans for the fourth of July but I'm sure it will involve barbecuing something. Thursday night is day one of our new D&D campaign with Matt and Camille. And then it's Friday already. Of course, this is the week where I have Wed-Friday off so it is shaping up to be a pretty nice week.

Focus and Patience

Don and I saw the movie Black Snake Moan recently. We both loved it. It was very powerful with the music and amazing strong characters, the best new movie we have seen in a while. We will definitely buy this movie. See it if you get a chance and tell us what you think.

So I finally decided on a character to play in our upcoming D&D campaign starting this Thursday. Don is running the campaign and Matt and Camille and I will be in the campaign. I decided that I wanted to play a cleric of a Buddhist persuasion. I wanted to come up with a character with a really strong motivation and a well developed identity. I sometimes struggle with the roleplaying part of D&D, interacting with other characters and still being true to my character. Sometimes, it is because I haven't developed my character's personality enough to know what they would do or how they would react in a given situation, other times it is because I know how they would react but if I do what my character actually would do in that situation, it might be harmful or at least not beneficial to the group.

I had a harder time creating a character for this campaign than I ever have before because I wanted to play a character that I was more interested in personality wise than mechanics wise. Usually, I create a character based on the fighting style I want to engage in or whether or not I want to use magic and what kind of skills I want to be good at. Then I try to come up with a personality to fit that. Well, this time I did it the other way around. I wanted to pick a character that I was really interested in getting behind their thoughts and their actions - what they thought their meaning and purpose was in the world, what their background and history was going to be all about. I thought it would be neat to find a character that was different from myself, but whose ideas and experiences I could care about and learn from.

I have always been drawn to monastic traditions. Monasticism has a sort of romantic idealism for me. The elements of devotion, of study, of self-sacrifice, prayerful and poetic are things that speak to and quiet my soul. I recently had a discussion with a friend about Buddhism. He was somebody who stated that he himself felt that he was not a religious person, but that if he were to align himself with some sort of philosophy he felt very drawn to a lot of elements of Buddhism. It struck me after thinking about it for some time that I wanted to make this the defining element of character. Obviously, I am a Christian woman and that is the faith and belief system that defines me. But I thought it would be neat to be able to explore this profound religion through another character and see what inspiration it might bring to my own life.

So Don and I went to Borders yesterday and I bought Herman Hesse's book, Siddhartha which I haven't read since High School. I decided I would read it as research for my character. It is a short book but the kind that you have to take your time to read, to mull over the pages, meditate on them, experience them, take in every word. So last night I read the first chapter. In it, Siddhartha is well loved, well cared for, and well schooled. He brings everyone around him happiness, but he himself is not fulfilled. After meditating, he decides that he must leave his family and start a new path. He is going to join the Samanas and learn what he can from them. His father of course, is reluctant to see him go and at first does not grant his request. But Siddhartha stands firm. He roots himself and will not be moved until his father finally grants his request. The path he must follow is greater than the will of his parents. I think the thing that is most inspiring about this chapter is the focus that Siddhartha has. Despite the forces against him, his focus never deters from what he knows he must do, what is the right thing to do, and he is patient because he has faith that since it is the right path, it will come true.

I think those are two things that could help all of us, especially me, no matter what your religious affiliation is - Focus and Patience. I know in my own faith I have lost focus on some of the things that are important and a big reason for that is that I lost patience. In this chapter of Siddhartha, I think it shows us that patience is not born out of a lack of urgency. The things that need to be changed in this world, the injustices that need to be righted, are very urgent things. Rather, here, it seems that patience is born out of confidence - Siddhartha's confidence that he knew this was the right thing to do, Siddhartha's confidence that his father knew it was the right thing to do, and Siddhartha's confidence that eventually his father would do the right thing. For me, this means having faith that no matter what forces I come up against, that God's Will will be done in the end. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but that when we set a course to follow God's will, that our determined presence in the face of those who would oppose God's will has an effect, an effect that leads to change. It is a change that comes about from being moved internally by change of heart, not externally by means of force, otherwise patience would not be necessary.