A Note from Olive

Oh, HI!!

I want to tell you about my day.

It started off pretty normal. Got up, went poop, ate breakfast, hopped up on the bed, inspected the shower and then got stuck in my crate - I hate that part :(

When I got out of my crate again I got to go out on the balcony for a while and clean it with my tongue - I like that part. Then I listened to the birds. Then I came back in. Then I went out again. Then I came back in. Then I went out. Then I came in.

Then I pinned my lady person to the floor and tried to suffocate her with my tongue. It did not work.

Then I needed to poop again, so I rang the bell on the door. We walked to the mail box. I LOVE walking. Lady person walks SO SLOW, but I use a leash to make her go faster. I can pull slow lady and sniff at the same time. I LOVE smells, they are great... and dirt, that's good stuff too, you should try it.

Then we returned home and played for a little while. I love my green ball and my blue squeaker. So much fun. So hard to decide which one to play with, but I manage.

Then I went out on the balcony again. Then I came back in.

THEN we went to the off-leash dog park. This is my FAVOURITE!!!

I got to play with SO MANY puppies. I played with the golden. We had a great time wrestling and doing front rolls and chasing. Then we went across the bridge where there were 3 puppies my age. We had lots of fun chasing. Jasper was there. I've played with him before. Normally he is lazy and I have to nip his legs to get him to play. He did better today. Fast learner.

Next I decided it was time to go to the river, but then this GIANT mud puddle came out of nowhere and SUCKED me into it - I brought the other 3 puppies with me. We had a great time. I laid in the water underneath a puppy and rolled around. AAHHH! SO MUCH FUN!!! Then I ran to the river, then back to the puppies, then back to the river. Then I played in the sand. There's just so much to do. The mean lady tried to make me go in the water, but I refused. I do not like swimming.

Then lady and me played chase along the path and I won. I was WAY ahead!

Then the mean lady put the leash back on me and put me in the car. I got her back though. If I pull the leash at just the right time when she is on the apartment stairs I can make her tip over. It is very fun to do.

When we got inside she stuck me on the balcony again. I did not want to go. I told you she is mean. But I used my puppy-dog eyes and she let me back in eventually.

Now I'm going to take a nap on my pillow.

Bye.

Ecological Footprint

I just calculated my ecological footprint on EarthDay.net and thought I'd share the results. The Ecological Footprint is an estimate of how much land and water people need to support what they use and absorb what they discard. The Footprint Quiz figures out your footprint, and then lets you compare it to what other people use and to what is available on this planet.

Here are my results:

To calculate your ecological footprint follow the link at the top of this post.

New Stuff

A couple new things. There are some new pictures of Olive:

Olive, 5 months

She got hurt last week at the dog park when she was trapped under another dog and was limping for a few days, but is doing much better now. We tried to make her rest her leg which made her kind of crazy because she was bored and full of unburned energy, but we all survived. She was very excited when she was allowed to go to the dog park again yesterday and was whining in the back seat more than usual on our short drive.

And in other news, Lindsay has a new haircut!

Her continued learning classes are starting soon. Her first class, "Designing Effective Websites," is next Thursday.

She finished her second sewing project a couple of weeks ago. It's a pillow/bed for Olive, who hasn't quite figured out how it works yet. ;)

Tim has started doing overtime at work, but it should only be for a few weeks. He also played Ultimate Frisbee with some people from work on Wednesday and is still sore. :)

We've both got a bit of a cold right now. Hopefully we don't get too sick.

Who & Lindsay?

Oh, that's right I'm supposed to update this blog once in a while too.

I don't have a whole lot to write about. Lindsay does a great job of covering most of it, and posting pictures. (Thanks, Honey!)

Unfortunately that just makes it harder for me to think of new stuff. Let me see. We (finally) hung our curtains. True, there is only one wall with any sort of colour or interest, but now that it's done I think it's one nice looking wall. I'm sure Linds will update our Picasa albums with a more thorough view of our apartment, but here's one shot to show my handiwork.

Fortunately, you can't see the first set of holes I drilled in the wrong places. Even if they did show, we have Photoshop and we're not afraid to use it. In fact, here's another picture just because it has been a while since I last had a chance to play in Photoshop.

Work is going well. Every industry has it's pros and cons and right now I'm really enjoying all of the things that are better in the games industry. Stuff like brainstorming ways to define a character by his movements or how to distinguish one character's silhouette from another, or just the coolest way to get from point A to point B. I also love starting up the game and seeing all of the animation in context. It's totally different when you can interactively control those animations and see them from other angles. It's almost like your creating a living thing that feels very awkward and piecemeal at first, but grows into a cohesive, working machine by the time it's done. Film and television are strictly linear. The end product is what it is and that's all it is. A game is different every time you play it.

As for the cons; well, like I said, it's a bit ungainly at first. Sometimes you animate something for a day and then spend 2 days trying to get it to implement into the game properly. Or if it's a new feature it could be several days or even weeks before it starts working in any recognizable manner. There are so many variables that can prevent something from working correctly and you really have to get to know the idiosyncrasies of this game that started long before you got there. Then, just because you get it working is no guarantee that it won't get broken somewhere down the line.

You may be sick of hearing about Olive, but too bad, there are more pictures coming anyways. She's about 2.5 times the size she was when we adopted her, but she still has her puppy cuteness and gets lots of compliments wherever she goes from people who don't know her like we do. She got sick last weekend, probably because she ingests everything she can get her little whiskery mouth on. The results were rendering our puppy poop bags totally useless so we put her on antibiotics and are feeding her a "bland diet" for a few days. At least the "Fecal Parasite Screen" reassured us that she doesn't have Giardia, which can apparently take months to get rid of.

Olive's New Toy

This is my first completed sewing project. It's a squeaky plushie for Olive and is supposed to look like a "hunny" jar. The innards are the remainders of previously deceased plushies. It has two layers of fabric (white polyester under the pink Pooh print) and is double stitched in a vain attempt to prolong its inevitably short life. I made it yesterday afternoon, gave it to her around 7:00 and by 8:30 it had a hole. It did outlast the "super-tough" alligator plushie purchased at Target, but not by much. Olive has made it her mission in life to destroy all plushies as quickly as possible.

I have a student ID #

I've signed up for some Web Design and Development classes at Bellevue Community College. They mailed out a catalog for their continuing-ed program and there were several 1-2 day classes that interest me. I signed up for 4 of them (Designing Effective Websites, XHTML 1.0 Level 1, XHTML 1.0 Level 2 and CSS Level 1), with 2-3 more of interest to me that I will take during the summer or fall quarter. Classes take place between April and June. YAY!!

Snoqualmie Falls

Just wanted to share some pictures from our hike at Snoqualmie Falls a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Snoqualmie Falls