September 24, 2007 at 8:16 am · Filed under Family, Pets
Our big beautiful pup Enid passed this week. She was 13. She had problems with her back and legs, and we’ve spent the last few months lifting her 80 pound body off the ground so she could get around. Her body finally said enough was enough. It’s hard, we miss her a lot, but at least she is no longer in pain.
Isn’t she beautiful? Most people have such a bad image of rottweilers, and there were certainly many that were afraid of Enid. She was big and could growl and menace with the best of them - her specialty was letting you get close enough and then bark right in your face - but as soon as she knew you she was happy to have you around.
The first two years of her life were spent in a puppy mill run by a horrible woman by the name of Ingrid Pierson. The Humane Society ended up rescuing all the rottweilers she had, Enid included. At the time of her rescue she was almost 2 years old, was nursing what they presumed to be at least her second litter of puppies, and weighed only 45 pounds. The OHS nursed them all back to health, and once Enid’s pups had been weaned they allowed us to adopt her.
She was really intense, those first few years with us. The first day we went to work after adopting her we came home to find our couch mutilated. She loved to lay on your lap. She loved to play with her giant ropes and gnaw on her giant chews and bones. She hated being outside in the rain. This was rather silly, because when we would take her for a walk or hike she would find any excuse to lay her overheated body in the nearest puddle, pond, or creek. When you’d ask her to shake a paw she would lay her big old foot in your hand, and if you gave her a squeeze she’d squeeze her paw right back at you. She harbored a lot of anger towards the vacuum, feeling the need to defend the carpet from it whenever I pulled it out. The front of it is all marked up with scratches and bites.
She was exceptionally wonderful with the kids. They tugged on her, sat on her, played with their toys on her, and dressed her up in all manner of costume (okay, so I played some small part in that last one). She was an enormous beast who thought she was a tiny lap dog, and one of the most gentle and sweet dogs I’ve known. I’ll miss her big brown eyes. We love you, Enid.
I finally went and saw my paintings at the Clackamas Corner Library - it was weird to see, and they were a little small for the space so it looked a little awkward. But still, paintings hanging in public, can’t complain too much. Plus they made me nice tags.
I was getting my haircut at Barberama and was talking to my stylist about what I’ve been up to, and I mentioned I was going to try and get my art up in local coffeeshops and cafe’s and the like. She encouraged me to bring a couple paintings down to the shop so in a fit of bravery I brought down three paintings. The owner and other stylists liked them, so there they hang. It was that easy!
September 16, 2007 at 8:12 am · Filed under Media, Tech
Recently D listened to the audio of Wil Wheaton’s keynote speech at the Penny Arcade Expo (aka PAX). PAX is a gamer’s conference, and Wil, already a proud geek, has been a gamer since he was a kid. D said the speech was great, and I finally had the chance to listen. He was right. Wil is a passionate storyteller, and this speech was part gamer speak, part waxing nostalgic for the games of yore, part parenting lesson, part politics. He makes some great points on the social aspects of gaming, and how it worked to keep his family unit close and the lines of communication open.
I paused and typed and paused and typed to get this little snippet, which I thought was spot on.
I’ve heard parents complain that video games are bad for kids or harmful to their emotional development, but I have never seen a video game reduce a kid to tears as effectively as one of those screaming hyper-competitive little league parents. I have never known a kid to feel like crap about himself because he can’t win a pokemon battle, but I’ve known plenty of kids whose parents make them feel like they are worthless because they don’t want to play football.
You can listen to the speech here. For a shot of Wil in action here is a little montage someone made of the speech:
September 14, 2007 at 3:09 pm · Filed under Family, Kids
I recently got a package in the mail from my Aunt, who was the principal caretaker for my Granny before she died a few months back. Granny had set aside her jewelry for her great-grandchildren, and wanted XM to have this ring as they both were December babies. It is a turquoise, with two tiny pearls on either side. Pretty neat…I’m sorry that Granny could never meet Xiao Miao, but I’m happy that even in her last few months of a 90+ year old life she was willing to immediately accept a tiny little Chinese whirlwind into her heart.
September 12, 2007 at 8:59 am · Filed under Kids, School
O started kindergarten this week. If it was technologically possible to harness the power of his excitement, we could have generated enough electricity for the entire state. Here he is with a new haircut, Star Wars backpack, and laptop lunchbox.
He is in a MandarinImmersion program, which means he attends full day kindergarten instead of the typical half day. In the morning he attends “regular” kindergarten in a class that is mixed with the neighborhood half day kids and kids in the Mandarin program. After lunch he goes to his Mandarin only class, where the teacher speaks almost exclusively in Chinese to them.
Here is his first lunch, which consisted of hummus, pita wedges, lentil salad, banana chips, an oatmeal cookie and green juice.
He has homework from the Mandarin class, and so far he has come home and dutifully taken it to the basement where we have an old style school desk. He grabs a pencil and does his work at the desk. He is quite proud. He also loves to come home and chatter on and on about his day, which is really nice, and we’ll see how long it lasts. I know that I was the kid that answered “nothing” to my parents query of “what did you do at school today?”
Here is his first homework. Yes, we scanned it onto the computer for posterity. Shut up. He had to practice writing 1, 2, and 3 in Chinese.
I was a wreck in the days leading up to the beginning of school, but I managed to hold up and be strong on his first day. Strong, that is, until we went to the assembly that morning and watched him file in with his class, looking so little and overwhelmed yet so big. Unfortunately another mom saw me trying to pull myself together and in sympathy said “Kindergartener? Yeah, its hard, isn’t it?” Exactly the stuff I was trying not to think of so I could not make a scene in front of the whole school.
D and XM and I basically sat around all day counting the minutes until it was time to pick him up. It is day 3 now, and things are getting easier. XM did spend most of the first day alternately reveling in being the only child and asking “where’s Owen?”
We are settling into this new routine, slowly but surely. Pretty soon XM and I will start doing some classes and activities outside the house, but for now, we are learning to enjoy having a little time to ourselves.
This is so cool - Food Fight vegan grocery is moving to the corner of SE 12th and SE Stark, where they will be able to double their size (and if you’ve been there you’ll know it is tiny right now) and add more goods. Joining them on this venture will be a slew of local vegan and vegan-owned shops, including Herbivore Clothing, Sweet Pea Bakery, and Scapegoat Tattoo. One stop vegan shopping!
