Amelia Meets Grandma

From Grandma Georgine Vists

Amelia got to meet her Grandma Georgine for the first time this week. It was a fun time. I think they both fell in love.

From Grandma Georgine Vists

Contacts

From Gateway Park

I first got glasses, 15 years ago when I was in the 7th grade, since then I have worn glasses nearly every waking moment. Partially because my eye sight had deteriorated to the point where I would need mega coke-bottle bottom glasses, and partially cause I had never tried contacts before, time I decided to give contacts a try. Amelia's new found love grabbing my glasses also made switching to contacts seem like a good idea to try.

So far I love them. Why I waited so long to try them will forever remain a mystery too me. They far more comfortable and easy to put in then I feared they would be. Still after living about half my life glasses always on, not wearing them is a strange experience. I am a major fidgeter, a lot of my fidgeting used to involve my glasses, now when I reach absentmindedly reach for them they are not there, which feel weird in an almost indescribable way. Taking a shower also feels very odd, I took me a while to realize that the reason that showering seemed oddly different was that for the first time in years I could actually see things while showering. Bizarre.

So based on the early returns, not withstanding a few torn contacts, that my experiment with contacts is a smashing success.

From SanDiego

Kyai'u

My parents had to put their dog Kyai'u down today. While this comes as no surprise, he was over 15 years old and on his last legs seemingly for years, it still makes me very sad. He will always hold a very special place in my heart because he was my first dog, and has been part of life for a little more than half of my life.

We got Kyai'u in 1993 when I was in 7th grade, for a long time prior to that my brother and I had been begging my parents to get a dog. We finally won my mother over and my father while not explicitly supporting getting a dog dropped his opposition (despite this opposition he would soon become one of Kyai'u's biggest fans. So minutes after my father left town on business trip, we were in the car on the way to get a dog.

As 13 year old boy, a toy poodle was certainly not my first pick when it came to dog breeds. But I really didn't care, I was getting a dog and could not have been happier. Bringing Kyai'u home is without a doubt one of my favorite childhood memories.

Kyai'u was a great dog, he was smart, loyal, affection, and despite very small size believed has was the toughest dog on the planet (an attitude that almost got him killed more than once). He was everything that a dog should be, and was case in point why dogs are considered man's best friend. Throughout my junior high and high school years one of my favorite of my days was taking Kyai'u on a walk after dinner. He was my loyal friend what more could I have asked for.

While it makes me sad that my time Kyai'u has come to end, I feel better knowing that he lived a life will lived and that my life greatly enriched by his being a part of it. He truely fufilledhis purpose as a dog.

Good dog Kyai'u.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Tupperwear!

Amelia has acquired many toys in the five and half short months that she has been alive. She loves most of them, but none of them are her favorite toy. That honor goes to the humble tupperwear container. As fare as Amelia is concerned nothing compare to the joy of tupperwear. She can easily manipulate it, hold it all kinds of crazy angles, it has plenty of corners and edges to chew on, and the way she can see things through yet not reach through and touch what she is seeing blows her mind. So huzzah for tupperwear.

Kicking off Marathon Training

Now that the weather has cooled off a bit. I have decided to begin training for my next marathon. It now been a year since my last one, and I am beginning to feel the itch to run one again. So yesterday afternoon I went for a relatively easy 12 mile run. Dang, is it nice to be able run in the afternoon again.

Cutting through the soft sand of the open desert is always very tiring. It always reminds me of those dreams where I am running but my legs don't work right and feel bogged down. Still running though such soft sand is an excellent workout.

I love running along the railroad track because of the line of salt cedars that the railroad has planted as a windbreak creates some rare shade. I do find it ironic that while railroad is spending time and effort maintain its windbreak of salt cedars a few miles away along the river versions agency are spending a lot time and money trying to eradicate salt cedars which are a horribly invasive non native species.

Often when running along the railroad track a train will come up from behind me. This is no real safety issue as I run well off to the side of the tracks and can hear the train coming long before it gets to me. Still the engineers always see to think it is necessary to sound the their whistle when they are just a few feet behind. Damn, that almost make jump out my skin.

I love running through the farmland this time of year, all the lettuce and broccoli fields are so pretty, such multitude of shades of green. I also really enjoy the strong salad bowl smell that these areas have, for example when running by broccoli fields the smell broccoli can be almost overpowering. But in a good way, it is such a green and alive smell that I love.

I love running along the canals that crisscross the area. Not only only are the beautiful, they area always accompanied by canal service roads which make the perfect place to run. The are flat, not paved, run for miles, and have next to no traffic.

The Scourge of Baby Pattern Baldness

Amelia is balding faster than a 40 year old man.

From more amelia

3 Days old

From 7-5 amelia

6 weeks old

From August 11 Amelia

3 Months old

From bath time

4 Months old

From Reaching

4.5 Months old

From Tupperwear

Today