Visitors from Boston

As advertised, my friend Andrew and his girlfriend Alison came to visit this past weekend, from Wednesday through Sunday. I'll attempt provide a day-by-day recap of what we did...

Wednesday and Thursday I worked, so they kept busy during the day. On Wednesday night, we all went to the Mariners game, and as expected, Safeco Field made a fine first impression on the out-of-towners. The M's even won for a change! The good luck continued after the game as, rather than taking the bus home as I had planned, my friends John and Steph (also Ballard-ites) saw me at the bus stop and offered me a ride home. Saved me about 30-45 minutes, I'd guess.

Thursday night after work, we met up with Tim and Jenn for some Smokin' Pete's BBQ near my house. After dinner, we went to one of the stranger shows I've ever seen. It was called Jet City Improv/Twisted Flicks, and it consisted a 70's movie (starring David Hasselhoff, no less), with voiceovers from the improv team (which wasn't really improvised, since they knew what was coming). I laughed anyway, and had trouble reading whether Andrew and Alison actually enjoyed it. They were shocked, if nothing else.

Friday was our day to go sailing. Up until this point, the weather had been a mixed bag -- some sun, lots of clouds, and a little drizzle. Our sail over to Bainbridge Island was quite nice. There was decent wind and the rain held off till after lunch. Naturally, when the rain came, the wind died. That didn't stop us from motoring over to the Seattle waterfront and then all the way back to the marina, soaking wet. Even more naturally, the rain stopped about 3/4 of the way home (even though the wind didn't start up). Andrew and Alison were exhausted Friday night, perhaps because of the time change and perhaps because of the activities, so we stayed in.

Saturday we were hoping to go hiking, although the weather forecast was for rain. True to form, it was dry with breaks of sun in the morning, so we decided to make a run for it. While I would've enjoyed taking them to one of the two nearby National Parks, I opted instead for a closer, shorter hike on which we could bring Sadie. This turned out to be a good idea, since we got a late start, and of course, it started raining about halfway to the trailhead. We hiked it anyway, and even found a geocache at the top (Andrew's first, my ninth). Sadie provided a good bit of entertainment when she encountered snow for the first time. Words can't really do it justice, but imagine her lying sideways on the snow, with her head and body flat on the snow and her legs pedaling and propelling her forward. She did this for a good 5-10 minutes before returning to normal dog-in-snow behavior. Yeah, we got soaked on this hike, but it was well worth it in my opinion. We topped off the day with a nice seafood dinner at Chinook's.

On Sunday, the sun still refused to make an appearance (up until this week, we had had maybe one partially rainy day all month). We made an attempt to get some half-priced tickets to Teatro Zinzanni, but our pancake breakfast gave us a late start and we were unsuccessful. Plan B was to go see "Thank you for Smoking" (second time for me), and that turned out to be very enjoyable for all. We stopped at Pike Place on the way home to pick up some Copper River salmon to cook up for dinner, before I took them to the airport for their flight.

One of the funnier moments of the weekend actually happened while we were packing the car. I took Andrew's suitcase outside and left it near my car, and when I went looking for where Sadie had run off, it disappeared. Turns out a pedestrian assumed it was free for the taking, and walked off with it (completely full). Fortunately, I was able to flag him down and inform him of the error of his ways. It had to be out there for maybe 2 minutes. Granted, there are times that I'll leave freebies on the corner for anyone who wants my junk, but a full suitcase? Come on now!

A breakthrough!

Sadie and I just went on our late night walk, and she didn't pull, not even once! This is amazing. I needed to record it.

Perhaps it had something to do with her rolling around in the grass earlier while playing with my friend's pug? Maybe???

Catching up...

It is nearing the end of May, and as I haven't written in a while, I probably ought to let my avid readers know what I've been up to. It certainly hasn't been for lack of excitement.

This last weekend was typically busy, although probably not all that exciting to read about (especially with no pictures). I rushed home from work Friday night in time to take Sadie over to the shelter to get some obedience tips. After that, I came home to meet two friends and Tracy for dinner (she cooked some marvelous mac n' cheese), and discuss plans for both the upcoming July 4 cruise to the San Juans, and also the deck that I planned to construct the next day.

Saturday morning started with an early trip to the airport to drop Tracy off for her European vacation. After coming home to plan out the day's events (from stopping at Home Depot to getting my emissions tested), I picked up Vince and brought him back to my house to meet up with my friend Adam. Together, we hoped to finish the deck frame.

As the day wore on, we made substantial progress but it was clear we were not going to be able to hang all the joists. I underestimated just how long it would take to get the base blocks level, and then we ran into some problems hanging the first few joists. By the time we called it quits and ate some pizza around 6:30, we had hung about 5 of the 10 joists, and I was exhausted. Sadie seemed exhausted enough too, having watched us do all the work while tied to the yard waste bin nearby. I saved enough energy to put together for an invite to Tracy's graduation party on June 4. Let's hope the deck is finished by then and a grill is purchased! While we were doing the work outside, my friend Nate was painting Chong's old room, as he plans on moving in there as soon as it is done. In other news, I learned that my other roommate, Andy, is moving out at the end of June. As you could see, between refinishing a room, building a deck, taking care of a dog, cleaning a house, preparing a party, and still trying to have a social life, my life is a complete whirlwind. Imagine if Tracy were in town! ;-)

Sunday I wanted to get Sadie some exercise, but I had to clean the house while I had the chance. I was planning on getting together with my friends Todd and Marie to go to the U-district street fair. However, they agreed to go with Sadie and me to the dog park first, and then help me hang those last few joists. We eventually made it to the fair for a little while before it started to drizzle, causing me to cancel my sailing plans for later that evening. Naturally, the rain never found its way to Ballard, so I used the evening doing some weeding and mowing.

Right now, I'm still trying to get the decking on -- a few pieces came pretty warped, making it hard to screw them in straight. I feel confident I'll get it done, even though I've got some friends in town from Boston through the holiday weekend, and Tracy gets back on Wednesday. I have some pictures of the deck progress, but they're not on my digital camera (Tracy took it) and I don't know how to get them off the memory card.

Now was that at all interesting Emily? :)

The Notorious D.O.G.

Full Name: Sadie Lou Troublemaker
AKA: Missy, Missy Lou, Missy Troublemaker, Troublemaker
Charged with: Irrational Aggression at the Strangest Times

This is the dog I am fostering. If you came to visit her, you might wonder why I haven't adopted her yet (more on that later). She's very sweet and seemingly well-behaved, loves to cuddle and (95% of the time) responds immediately when you reprimand her, is house-trained, and has even cut down on the whining that used to wake me up every morning at 5:45. She's adorable, intelligent, doesn't beg for food, gives great hugs and kisses.

However...

She has an alter-ego. We've named it "troublemaker", because it seems to embody everything that she is. She's a puppy, so she is naturally curious. Occasionally she even dresses up in a blue outfit to conceal her identity and cover her tracks.


However, the moment you put a leash on her, she morphs into an attack dog. Whether it be a cat, squirrel, dog, or just another person that looks at her wrong, she'll bark, pull, and lunge, disregarding anything you do to try to abate her. She is, in a word, WILD. As I learned this weekend, she is aggressive toward even the most docile of dogs (Tracy's family's), making it very difficult to leave her with someone for the weekend. Even after going on a normal walk with another dog, she couldn't help but nip at the ears, embarrassing me beyond belief. Yes, she needs obedience training. Personally, I think she needs an obedience miracle. She has an uncanny ability to turn her ears off right when you need her to listen.

SO, given that I like to take my dogs outside the house as much as possible, this is basically an irreconcilable difference. I'll probably get suckered into putting her into an expensive obedience class -- after all she's an angel 95% of the time -- but I'm not optimistic. We shall see.