Day Trip w/Elaine

Elaine made her first visit to the "new" Petco in town. It was a better place for her because it's still not busy midday. We did not have to worry about other dogs or too many kids. We were going to the park afterward but changed our mind (rather I changed my mind). This parking lot was up the hill and isolated. We end up walking around the mini plaza instead. Elaine did well considering she is still confused about walking on my left instead of my right.

That's what I get for not knowing any better when I first leash trained her. She got used to walking on my right. Now, I'm trying to retrain her to be on my left so we can go running (safer for her to stay on my left).

Rolling Easter Sunday

Danika gave me an Easter egg she decorated at her dad's family's gathering. It's a Snow White theme.

In other news, we had a rolling earthquake this afternoon around 3:40 pm. It was the longest quake I've ever felt --- rolling sensation and luckily, not very strong. The epicenter was in Mexicali 7.2 magnitude and we felt it in OC! Lasted about 40 seconds.

Elaine & Hands-Free Leash

Notice the slack leash! First walk with hands-free leash in public. Elaine tried to go after a barking dog but quickly came back to my side. Progress!

Danika - Stretching Her Face

We got out of the clinic early today. I still had quite a few emails and phone calls to make but decided to re-energize with a run before settling in for another couple hours of work tonight. It was a good run. Ran 3.44 miles around the neighborhood -- and no pain! The last 3 runs have been great -- not sure if it's because I'm having at least 2-3 days (sometimes 4) between runs to recuperate or what. Wish I can run 3 times a week but things are so crazy at work that I've been only running twice a week. Oh well. At least they have been nice pain-free runs. Once things calm down, I'll sneak in a third run for the week.

Danika has taken to joining me for my post-run stretches. It is becoming a nice auntie ritual. She counts to 10 four times while we hold each stretch. Today, she recited her ABCs instead of counting; quite a creative kid, eh?

She scraped her knees earlier in the week so could not bend her knees well enough for some of the positions. She got bored counting and watching me so she started doing all these funny faces -- claimed she was stretching the muscles in her face!



Sweet silly kid.

Fuzzy Picture but Still a Favorite

My favorite picture of a picture of my brothers and sister this past Christmas. My nephew Andre snuck in (second on the left in the red shirt).

Daisy - Morning Walk

Elaine's New Rope Toy

Update 03/01/2010
Looks like Elaine prefers the old rope toy after all. I've trimmed and removed the ends of the old toy as it got too worn and scraggly. But she still likes it better than the new rope. The new rope falls apart easily too. Same brand. Guess they don't make them like they used to :)

It's the Little Things

Forgot to buy more peanut butter for my PB & sliced banana sandwich for breakfast. Banana slices on dry toasts just don't look right so I mashed the banana with a fork and spread it on toasts.

Yummy!
Just the right amount of sweetness.

Why did it take me this long to discover mashed bananas!?!

Re-Discovering the Outliners

I've enjoyed writing the product reviews for work. I get to spend more time doing things with Elaine that I probably would not have otherwise. She continues to amaze and surprise me with her eagerness and cooperation. The other perk is refreshing and improving my writing skills.

I used to write a lot for classes in high school and college. The writing tapered off in veterinary school and almost came to a complete stop after graduation. Medical records are written with abbreviations, notes, and incomplete sentences. Unless I'm writing a referral report, paragraphs have no place in medical records. Frankly, I think the other doctors prefer the abbreviated versions, not the long proses.

One reason I took up journal writing was to practice my writing skills. Actually, it started as a way to practice handwriting skills as that, too, was falling on the wayside as computers took over most aspects of my life. Hence my interest in paper journals and pens. I soon learn that even though my handwriting is still pretty good, I had forgotten how to write things coherently and succinctly. I still don't do it well but, at least, I am working on it and blogging is a good outlet for it.

Outliners had always been a great help with my writing. I used Bonsai back in the days when I thought it was the answer to my GTD implementation (I was wrong). I was clearing out my Palm OS application folder when I came upon Bonsai again. Lo and behold, within minutes, Bonsai spat out an outline for the Canine Vehicle Safety Restraint System review.It feels good to have a big picture of where I'm going with the review. The ability to carry this outline in my Treo is a bonus. I've been known to get the writing bug while waiting in lines, dental appointments, etc... With Bonsai, I can access the outline and work on the review on my Treo. Bonsai has a lot of feature (to do's, etc...) but I'm only using it for the traditional basic outliner.

I stopped looking for a jack of all trade software. Why use an outliner to manage tasks when I already have something for that?

I'm using an outliner to create outlines. Big revelation, I know :)

Year of the Tiger