More Karma

Ever since I wrote my last post, Karma has been an absolute angel. She's perhaps the easiest dog I've ever cared for. Unlike most other dogs that get distracted by just about anything, she can go on a walk for half an hour, not pull at all, and ignore virtually every moving thing around her (cars, people, birds, and even other dogs!). She enjoys going to the dog park and occupying herself by intruding into other dogs' playtime, and has even been known to come once in a while when you call her. She's also very excited every day when I get home from work, and that's always nice. She's only with us for 4 more days, unfortunately, but it won't be long before we have a dog of our own!

The Dog Who Cried Wolf

Tracy and I are in the middle of a 3-week dogsitting gig for some friends of ours from Orange County. We're almost to the point of having a dog of our own, but in the meantime, we've had to rely on other people letting us care for their dogs while they are out of town. Between dogsitting and fostering, we've seen all sorts of personalities come and go (Tutu, our last one, wouldn't let me go anywhere near her). Our current dog, Karma, has an incurable case of the whines. Here she is, acting like an angel (which is the case much of the time):


Unfortunately, though, each morning around...oh...an hour before I want to get up, she interprets each movement I make as a sign that I want to go take her on a long walk or run, and lets me know this by whining. Normally, when a dog whines like this, I assume he/she has to go out, but with Karma, I got over this notion pretty quickly. I'm hoping that I don't misinterpret her that one time where she actually does have to go out, but in the meantime, I am nicknaming her the "Dog who cried wolf".

Lots of Travel!

It's been a while since I posted anything new in this space, and most of the reason is that I just haven't had a whole lot of stuff going on. But in early June, all that changed as I had two consecutive weekends out of town.

The first weekend was actually a 4-day weekend, where I joined my friend Kevin and several of his friends on a sailing trip to the San Juan Islands (in Washington). There were ten of us total, divided between two very luxurious sailboats (a 46' and a 49'), which meant very comfortable sailing, eating, sleeping, and of course, partying. Even better, the winds were favorable the whole time, and the rain not only held off for the first few days, it was actually quite sunny and pleasant. Here's a link to some photos that one of my fellow crewmembers took.

This past weekend, I went to Houston for my brother's "graduation" from his general surgery residency. Amazingly, my whole immediate family and even some a niece and some nephews were there too. It was predictably warm and humid the whole weekend, but I didn't mind it too much. The highlight was definitely the awards dinner at the Four Seasons on Saturday night, where my brother took home more individual awards than I've ever seen someone get. Apparently, he's quite the surgeon and has an extremely bright future ahead of him. We're all so proud!

In other news and notes, Tracy and I will officially be returning to Seattle a year from now when she starts her endocrinology fellowship. That's very good news, since it was the first choice for both of us. Also, in October, if everything goes according to plan, we'll be welcoming a new puppy into our household. Personally, I've been wanting one for years, and now that I am pretty "settled down", I think the timing is right. Plus, no more trips in the immediate future after our honeymoon, so that should ease things a bit I'm hoping.