Events

This morning Parker hit a couple of huge milestones. First, as of today we've had Parker for three months. That's, what, almost two dog years? And my how he's grown: And then, almost in celebration of the anniversary, Parker's universe changed overnight, causing at first some consternation, then glee. This morning Parker saw snow for the first time: Anne reported that he first wouldn't go near it, then he probed it with his paw. At that moment there was a thunderclap, which rattled him. But after only a...

From Australia, via Poynter: The annual Walkley Awards for journalism were rocked by an attack on stage on Thursday night at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. Controversial crikey.com.au writer Stephen Mayne was attacked by Sunday Telegraph columnist Glenn Milne. Mayne had just finished awarding the best business news report to the Australian Financial Review's Morgan Mellish when Milne rushed up onto the stage and accosted Mayne, pushing him off the platform and onto the floor. Why doesn't anything this...

My poor couch. I have no idea why Parker wants to kill the Ikea couch I've had for almost ten years, but he does. He has now started working on the main cushions, having tired of the armrests and the pillows. Only, he has to work a bit to get there: On a related note, does anyone need a slightly-worn blue denim couch? Near mint condition! Bit of trivia: Yesterday's Daily Parker was my 500th blog post of the year.

Parker stayed home today, which is why today's Daily Parker includes perhaps more personal information than I generally share. I have a spare laptop, so I was able to set up the ParkerCam in our bedroom today. So here he is, in his Safe Place, proving that he's cuter than all get-up even when he doesn't know anyone is watching: This shot is from earlier today. I didn't use a more recent shot because the little darling found a pair of my boxers, and that is simply too personal for this blog. Finally, for...

The temperature is holding at 14°C (58°F) right now, but I have a feeling it's about to cool off considerably: For comparison, it's 8°C (47°F) in Rockford, which is about 100 km (60 mi) from here; 5°C (41°F) in the Quad Cities (250 km, 150 mi); and already -2°C (29°F) in Des Moines, 450 km (300 mi) away. The temperature change could be staggering. Kansas City has seen a 22°C (40°F) drop in the past 24 hours, from 20°C (68°F) to -2°C (29°F): Yum-O!

The latest from the best president we have: "There is one thing I'm not going to do. I am not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete," Bush said in a keynote speech at the University of Latvia just before a summit of the NATO defence alliance. (Emphasis mine.) What about this, though? It's all so confusing. (Via Talking Points Memo.)

It's still 16°C (61°F) in Chicago, which is more like September than November. But apparently there's a change in the air: Can't wait. But for now, I'll enjoy these wonderful temperatures.

As promised, I brought both the dog and a camera to the Dawes Park dog beach this afternoon. (I forgot bags though. Oops.) It's a freaky-warm 16°C (61°F) today, so while Parker and I both found it a little too chilly for a dip, we both had fun with the other dogs (including his friend Louie from his morning play group). Here he is conteplating the vastness of Lake Michigan: A little later, after some heavy wrestling with an American bulldog-boxer mix named Quincy, Parker seemed pretty happy (and...

Parker, ever the office puppy, got his first experience on a beach this afternoon when we walked over to the Dawes Park dog beach. He met a whole bunch of new dogs, had a great time, and has now deposited his sand-covered butt on my office carpet. It's 13°C (55°F) right now, and it may be this warm again tomorrow. If so, I'll bring Parker—and a camera—back to the dog beach. Now I must brush my jeans off.

A member of the Windows Vista team explains (via Joel Spolsky): I worked on the "Windows Mobile PC User Experience" team. This team was part of Longhorn from a feature standpoint but was organizationally part of the Tablet PC group. To find a common manager to other people I needed to work with required walking 6 or 7 steps up the org chart from me. So after 12 years, you still have to go to the Start menu to stop the computer.