Events

Did anyone else remember that a year ago today (Feb. 13 in the U.S.), Dick Cheney shot someone? How time flies...

So I'm walking home at 8:15 pm, and I hear Civil Defense sirens. I'm just old enough to find the sound chilling. When I was a kid, CD sirens meant "tornado" or "Soviet missile attack." They sounded for about two full minutes, which I thought was gratuitious. See, Evanston, Ill., sounded their CD sirens tonight to tell everyone to move their cars, just in case people missed the 20 cm of snow on the ground (parking restrictions take effect after 5 cm of snow). I also found out, this storm has dropped more...

So I'm in my office, working on stuff, when all of a sudden my speakers go haywire, then dead. Yup: Parker bit right through the speaker wire, destroying the best computer speakers I've ever had, which were about $150 back in 1998. Destructo-beast from Hell, that's what he is.

You know, sometimes I forget things. Today, for example, in getting Parker to give my boots back to me and rushing to get to the play group, I forgot the ParkerCam at home. So, Parker is in the office, but this is probably the only office-puppy shot we'll have today: And how was the play group? Well, take a look outside Inner Drive World HQ's office window and imagine: That's the view from 6:40 am CST (1240 UTC). What you can't see clearly are the 42 km/h wind gusts. At least Dexter and Key, two of...

The temperature in Chicago hasn't gotten above freezing since the 27th, and we're getting more snow—50 mm so far today. At least it's warmer: for 7 of the past 9 nights the temperature has fallen below -18°C, but right now it's a balmy -3°C. Oh, who am I kidding? Syracuse, N.Y., has over 30 cm of snow on the ground, which is nothing compared with the 3 m reported in parts of nearby Oswego County. And up in Crane Lake, Minn., it's -31°C, and not likely to get warmer any time this week. I guess it's not...

It's amazing how long the hand puppet has survived, despite Parker's best efforts: Yes, it's still around, but completely emptied of Hollofil and turned inside-out. This has the interesting side-effect of exposing the squeaky part. Maybe "interesting" isn't the right word, as I didn't feel "interested" in it after Parker spent ten minutes wandering the apartment chomping on it (squeak squeak squeak). Parker still has some anxiety about the new place, which manifests in an inability to be alone for more...

It seemed like the perfect toy: a hand-puppet with extra padding and a squeaky, so that Parker could play with our hands and (a) not really compute that hands are involved and (b) not bite our hands to shreds. When finished with the toy, we put it back in Parker's toy basket. Well, last night, Parker decided to play with the toy, and as is his wont, he disemboweled it: Maybe if it had a Kevlar coating it might have lasted longer...

It turns out, despite a brief plateau in January, Parker continues to grow by about 600 g per week. He's now up to 22.4 kg: I feel much better now about getting him the "large breed" puppy food. But he still seems so small next to the labs at the play group...

Ordinarily I would not be happy to wake up at 5:15am. Today, however, I was overjoyed, because except for a brief moment around 1:30 when I had to shove Parker's fuzzy butt out of my space (he was laying across the bed almost completely), we both slept through the night. My hypothesis from yesterday confirmed, I will now spend at least an hour a night running him ragged. It probably helped also that everyone—and I mean, everyone—was at last night's play group: Boo, Scotchie, Hannah, Dexter, Buck...

I love Parker. Who wouldn't? I mean, look at him, sleeping so peacefully: But last night around 2:30am he was neither peaceful nor adorable. In fact, from 2:30 until about 4:30, he whined, chewed my comforter, squeaked a toy repeatedly, barked at random intervals, and went outside twice—without actually descending the stairs into the yard. By the way, this is the second night in a row that Parker has confused 2:30 with 6:00. If he does it again tonight, I don't know what I'll do, since killing him seems...