adventures in puppy-sitting

yesterday, i got together with ruth and her dog athena, a hungarian vizsla. russell and athena had a playdate at the dog park near ruth's house. russell is a small dog, as evidenced by the photo. that is only half of athena. they had a fun time at the dog park running around and playing around with the other dogs. russell was definitely one of the smallest dogs, but he played really well with all the big dogs, until this one short-legged dachshund-looking jerk dog kept biting at russell as russell tried to play with him. the other dog was pretty aggressive - though scrappy russell held his own. we promptly removed russell from the play area and took him for a walk. since we was insanely dirty, i dropped him off at petsmart for a bath. he came back all clean and no longer stinky. love it.


i've been taking him around my neighborhood for walks. it is amazing how total strangers will just come up and introduce themselves to you when you have a dog. seriously, i think i've met more people in the neighborhood in the last few days than i have in all the years i lived here. here he is sitting on a rock near my parents' garage. right behind is his potty lawn.


russell is a face-biter/face-licker. when you play with him, he likes to jump up at your face. my brother andy likes to play around with russell. earlier this evening, he was playing with russell and getting him all riled up, knowing that russell likes to go for the face. sure enough, he suddenly jumped up and bit andy on the nose, making a small puncture - circled to the left. i felt like it was an "i told you so" moment; andy was not so amused.



with all the activity, this is what russell looks like around 9pm. pretty darn cute. more pictures can be found here. the only thing that is not cute is when he farts in his sleep, which he does a lot. then he is back to stinky russell.

puppy-sitting

i'm watching wendy and josh's boston terrier puppy, russell, for a few days while they're at a crusade conference (the hotel doesn't allow dogs). taking care of a puppy is almost like taking care of a baby, except russell doesn't nap, and there's no swing to put him in to occupy him for awhile, nor can i stick him in a baby pen. and, i'm still debating whether i prefer picking up puppy poo or changing diapers.

i'm totally exhausted, but we had a good day. i'm coming up with ways to exhaust russell, like taking him to this big, fenced-off dog park wendy mentioned.

merry christmas!

as i'm on vacation, i've finally been able to update/upload my photos. lots of stuff has been going on since august and here are a few of them:



i finally got to see the hollywood bowl - it was awesome! and the sound of music was pretty good too with smallville's jonathan kent playing captain von trapp and arrested development's jeffrey tambor as max.




judy and timmy got married! plus, judy and i both started teaching in our own classrooms.





there were a lot of birthdays to celebrate in september and october: emily, timmy, me, naomi, and judy. here's me and my roommates + gilbert and tim outside of bcd tofu house after my birthday dinner. i'm holding fuji apples from joe - as he said it, "to make up for the ones you didn't get from your kids."




bridesmaid for shiv and gar - easiest gig as a bridesmaid to date. it was great catching up with friends that i hadn't seen in quite some time. being back up here and seeing friends and hanging out makes me miss it all so much more than i already do.

more photos here.

sheep for ore?

after months (potentially years) of resistance, i finally gave in and joined the craze of playing settlers of catan. i will admit, i've mocked it to no end. i remember watching christine, kelvin, noah, and co. play a few years back and thinking it was a weird game. the exo-crew has been really into the game recently. i found out that most of my friends/family in both seattle and portland have been playing it for awhile now too. i suppose it was inevitable. i have to confess, it was pretty fun. i suppose we all mock what we do not initially understand.

i also learned that this game is from germany and won a few awards for "best game." incidentally, another game i recently played, ticket to ride is also from germany and i think it won the same "best game" award. those crazy germans and their oddly enjoyable games.

crazy - in one week

last thursday, i was getting ready to leave the apt for LAX to catch my flight home. susan suggested i check my flight online to make sure it was on time. i looked up the flight info and nothing came up. not good. after some more frantic searching with zero results, we started to suspect that it was cancelled. stinkin' united. and as i start calling customer service, they call me and leave me a message that my flight is cancelled - less than 2 hours before. i was super mad. more so when the lady on the phone told me that the next flight to portland was the next night. she offered to get me to medford. i had to explain to her that medford is not at all close to portland - that it is about 5 hours away by car. i explained that flying to seattle would make more sense than flying to medford. she replies by putting me on hold and finding a flight to seattle early the next morning. i explained to her that getting to seattle wasn't the point - i needed to fly to portland.

as i checked other airlines, i found out that alaska was still planning on flying out, so i made united refund my ticket and i bought a last minute ticket through alaska. by then, it was just a little past 8 and the flight was at 9pm. tim and jessica helped me get my bags stashed in susan's car while i tried to print out my boarding pass. susan got me through 405 traffic to LAX 20 minutes before take-off. i ran in and luckily found out that the flight had been delayed by 20 minutes. i had enough time to cross through security and my bag would definitely make the flight. did i mention that my checked bag exceeded the 50lb limit? boo. i had to pay $25 extra for the 8.8lb overage. i blame my mom and dad's request for 2 all-region dvd players from focus plaza in alhambra. anyway, the flight was really turbulent, or so i gathered by the clapping and cheering from passangers upon landing in portland. i slept through everything. what can i say? i was exhausted from a full day of teaching plus the hassle of a cancelled flight. i guess portland had 40mph winds. my dad picked me up past midnight and i had to go with him to the restaurant before i could go home. most of the area around the restaurant had lost power. my dad had promised that it wouldn't take too long, but it did. i was so hungry that i started to eat the fortune cookies. so sad. i finally got home around 2am and had real food. this is the craziest travel ordeal i've ever had. i hope i have no more like it.

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i drove up to seattle on friday afternoon and on the way up, it was snowing - somewhat blizzard-like, from jantzen beach to a little past vancouver. seriously...snow had gathered on my hood. it was really weird. and, in seattle, they had 80+mph winds, and most of the areas had lost power. actually...half of mercer island is still without power as of today. it was insanely cold for many people. i got to have dinner near the u-district and we stopped by capitol hill for dilletante's desserts before crashing at pam's house - where power, and more importantly, heat - returned just after 10pm friday night. sadly for chris and david, their power returned...and then went back out. but it did come back for real the next night.

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saturday morning was getting together with the bridal party and having manicures and pedicures. and then it was getting ready to attend dennis's memorial service. saturday was a day of such contrasting events and emotions.

the memorial service was wonderful. from the shared reflections from friends and family, it was so obvious that dennis was loved in abundance and that he had had such influence and impact in so many people's lives. he has given so much joy and fun to so many of us. he's greatly missed.

the evening was occupied by the wedding rehearsal and dinner. a pretty straight-forward and quick rehearsal. after dinner, most of the bridal party headed to the hotel where the reception was being held. shiv + gar and company (out of town fam/friends) had rooms there. we played ticket to ride, a fun game of strategy and building your own cross-country railway. somehow, i think the exodus would enjoy it - even if there isn't an aspect of trading ore for sheep. :) i got to crash with shiv in her really nice suite.

the next morning was all about getting ready for the wedding. we commandeered the bathroom to do hair and make-up. mama and papa wong brought us sustenance in the form of deli meat, cheese, bread, cherry tomatoes, clementines, and grapes. we were not starved. our first stop was pictures at seattle u. it was freezing. the fountain on campus had a layer of frozen ice. we were told to think thoughts of hawaii and look warm. :| it was FREEZING. after awhile, we lost all sense of feeling, so it was ok.

the wedding was beautiful. i teared up when shiv and garrett exchanged their own personal vows and when they hugged the parents. actually, even in the beginning when shiv's dad "gives her away." the reception was super fab too. they had a photo booth - a la amelie - and great food. it was so nice to see a bunch of friends all in one place. my favorite quote of the day came from one of the photographers in reference to shiv and gar - "they're weird...but they work." hahaha...probably because garrett makes crazy faces and expressions all the time and shiv's got a couple of her own as well.

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the last couple of days were just spent catching up with people. having dinner with melissa and crashing the boxwave christmas party at the westin, having my eyes checked, being offered my old job back during my school breaks, dinner with pam, che, jason, and kristie, hanging out at chris and david's very cool townhouse. very fun.

during this time, i am called several times on tuesday. i call back to find out that my mom had to go to the ER monday night/early tuesday morning for abdominal pain. turns out that it was just acid reflux/heartburn/indigestion. so...really, not a big deal at all. but, being the crazy people that they are, they call me to find out when i'm coming home and to have me drive back sooner because my mom needs someone to "take care of her." i'm still not quite sure how it makes sense in their crazy minds, but apparently it makes more sense for me to drive 3 hours to get my mom a glass of water than to ask my brother, who is upstairs...less than 30 feet away. and, she got mad at me when i asked her to clarify and explain what had happened. yea...i don't get it either.

i've decided that the only way i can feasibly move back to the northwest is when my mom drops the crazy. this probably means that i'll never be able to move back. bummer. i love my parents...really, but they are C-R-A-Z-Y. i'm hoping it is not passed on.

just one more day...

by this time tomorrow, i will be back home in portland. tomorrow is my last teaching day of the first semester. looking back, 4 months of teaching - half an academic year - have gone by so quickly, though living through it day to day seemed like it took years...

earlier, during my UCLA class, alexandra and i were talking to steph k. about how she could meet the korean guy friends of one of our co-workers. steph, who is cantonese, had this to say, "no, our flags have to match."


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here's dennis in top form - best man at a wedding in july with one of the cutie bridesmaids.


in the last couple of days, different dennis stories have been popping up in conversation and the one that sticks with me and captures one aspect of dennis's personality is this:

a couple of years ago, i got off of work and drove over to chris and dave's to hang out, eat, etc. when i buzzed the apt and walked up to the door, it was slightly ajar (i think). i pushed the door open to find a dimly lit room with candles and cheesy "slow-jam lam" music. chris and david were nowhere in sight. instead, there stood dennis. i walked in and yelled for chris and david to come out of whatever place they were hiding. all three of them started cracking up. i have to admit, it was a funny and unforeseen greeting. slightly mischevious and good-natured - just portions of the amazing whole person. he was also the best "what if..." game player - who weighed every decision quite seriously.

it is a such a huge testament to who dennis was when there are so many great stories and memories that friends have to share. he really did add so much to each of our lives - his friendship made it more interesting.

in loving memory

after school, i received messages that dennis wasn't doing very well. a few hours later, i got word that he'd passed away.

after a 1+ year battle with cancer, dennis entered God's rest. he's been fully restored and we can take heart in knowing that he has received the fulfillment of the hope we have in God. please be keeping his family and friends in prayer during this time.

countdown

9 more teaching days to go...