Sunday, August 26, 2007

99 in the shade...

It's still unbearably hot here. 15 or 20 minutes into my daily walk, I am ready to go home so I walk slowly until mama and papa turn around and bring me back to the nice air conditioning. Last week, the heat gave me an upset stomach so papa made me chicken okayu. It was so good!!! Mama mixed it with my regular food so I had some home cooked gourmet food for a change! Papa calls me spoiled, whatever the heck that means... Anyhow, my stomach was better within a day and I am able to eat regular food again, but luckily for me, papa made too much okayu and he froze the leftovers so I still get to eat it even though I am not sick!!! OK, OK, maybe I am a little spoiled :-)

Since it's been so hot lately, mama prepares a wet towel for me to cool down after my walks but papa wraps it around my head and calls me an old women. He says I look like I should be selling fruits and vegetables by the side of the road in the countryside. I prefer to wear the towel around my neck because it looks like I work on a construction site. It's a little more manly.

My photo shoot at my dog school went fairly well last week...kind of...sort of...well, actually it was a little scary. When we got there it was great! I got to run around without a leash and check out all of the cool camera equipment and the white background screen. All was good until the flashes started going off. That kind of freaked me out and I wouldn't go in front of the cameras anymore. The photographers, the teachers, mama and papa all tried their best to get me in front of the cameras on the white background screen again but I wouldn't go there. Even when they tried to bribe me with food I wouldn't budge. Finally, papa calmed me down and picked me up and did the pictures with me. Mama also joined us and the 3 of us took the pictures together. That made me feel better and I wasn't as scared of the flashes. It's so much better when mama and papa are beside me. We don't know how the pictures turned out though so I don't know if I will be in the magazine next month. I hope I will be...I mean, how cute am I? :-) Just look at this face!!!

Yesterday, mama and papa both bought me a new toy! It took me just under 5 minutes to break the one mama bought me and then, in a moment of inspiration, I was able to break the toy papa got me in 2 minutes and 47 seconds!!! A new world record!!! Obviously papa doesn't know me very well! Luckily for me, and contrary to what papa says, I believe money does grow on trees so I don't have to worry because I know mama and papa can buy me new toys all the time!!!

Today, we went to the indoor dog run again because it was 34 degrees outside. I met a few wild and crazy pugs who I hung out with for a while until they left. Then I met an Italian Greyhound. To say he can run fast is an understatement. I couldn't run as fast as him even in my dreams! Unfortunately, there were some yappy Poodles there again. My goodness but are they ever loud and annoying. And they are no fun to play with. All they do is yap,yap, yap and then run away. I think I made one of them cry!!! Yay, 10 points for me!!! Anyhow, yappy and annoying...I think that's what the word "poodle" means...

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Hot, hot, hot...

Wow...it's been in the mid-30's for over a week now. Tomorrow is supposed to be 36 degrees (that's 97 degrees Fahrenheit for those of you still using the ancient ways) and over 90% humidity. Luckily, mama and papa leave the air conditioner on all day for me or I would be well done by the time they got home from work. I don't mind the heat, but the humidity is a killer. Papa took me for a walk this evening but after 30 minutes I was ready to come back home. He let me off the leash for a while when we were in an enclosed parking lot so I was allowed to run around and play fetch. I'm not very good at fetch though. I love chasing the ball when papa throws it but it's a pain in the butt to bring it back to papa so I just leave it where I caught it. It's fun making papa fetch the ball. After a long walk in this heat, I love to get home to the air conditioning and lounge around on my sofa...

Papa's parents sent me an email today asking about our (my?) car. It's a Nissan Dualis. We got the 20G model in Cafe Latte Beige.

Papa says I'm too violent...no way!!! Me??? I just like having fun, and if the toys can't take a little rough play then too bad for them, they get what they deserve. Besides, why do toys need legs anyhow? If they were smart, they would use those legs to run away when they see me coming! But since they don't run, I guess they don't need their legs! Anyhow, mama and papa buy me an endless supply of toys so I'm not worried. I have 2 boxes full of toys now! Mama and papa say that they spend more money on me than they do on themselves now. I doubt it but that's what they say.

Papa has been reading a lot lately. I like spending the afternoon on the roof balcony with him while he reads. I stand guard for him to make sure he is not disturbed and can concentrate on reading. If anything moves, I bark like crazy and make so much noise that whatever moved will go away and not bother papa. I know that he appreciates me helping him relax by barking to keep away intruders like blowing leaves and dragon flies. He always says to me, "Thank you, Roots, you're a good boy...now shut up!"...whatever the heck that means...

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Fame and Fortune

Poor papa caught a cold earlier this week and had to take 2 days off work. The good thing was that he was able to finish reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He was disappointed with the ending and that's all he has to say about that.

Yesterday, mama and papa went to their friend's house in Kiyosumi Shirakawa to watch the Tokyo Bay fireworks. It lasted about 1 hour and 20 minutes and was comprised of about 12,000 fireworks. Papa said it must have cost millions of dollars. They had KFC, pizza and expensive wine courtesy of one of their friends who had opened an expensive bottle belonging to the host last time they all got together in March so she had to bring an expensive bottle this time to replace it :-) It was quite a good wine and everyone enjoyed it.


Today, mama and papa took me to the Pom Preece indoor dog run where I met another Jack Russell Terrier. He was as yancha as me so we had a lot of fun chasing each other around and play fighting. I kept stealing other dogs' toys again so papa was embarrassed and bought me my own toy to play with. It was OK but I still liked the other toys better. I just like what's not mine. After the dog run, mama and papa took me to Mogoo to get a shampoo and nail cut. They kept telling me I smell so that's why I had a shampoo.

This evening, mama got an email from my dog school saying that a magazine wants to take my picture next week!!! I am about to become famous!!! I will be in the September issue of the magazine. From there, who knows? Movies? TV? Hollywood, here I come!!!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Cheaters can finish first...

756 homeruns...hmmmmm...well, i guess cheaters can finish first. But in this case, I still think 755 > 756. To his credit, yes, Barry Bonds did achieve something big. Even with performance enhancing drugs, 756 homeruns is an incredible achievement. But is it fair? Of course not. Barry Bonds was probably always headed for the Hall of Fame, but now it will be with the dreaded asterisk beside his name, figuratively if not literally. Of course, he has never been proven to have taken, and penalized for taking, steroids, but come on!!! How can a pretty good hitter all of the sudden go on such a torrid homerun streak so late in his career and blast 70+ homeruns in 2001? He slammed 258 homeruns in a 5 year period between 2000 and 2004. Most players develop into contact hitters as they mature and gain experience. It is extremely rare that they develop into power hitters as they near 40 years of age. Bonds took steroids and it resulted in more homeruns. It's ridiculous to think anything otherwise.

Of course, the Babe faced controversy over corking his bat, but the media liked him so he was forgiven for a lot of his less desirable characteristics. No such luck for Barry. He is not very well liked, and has brought that upon himself. He would have had a lot less grief if he were likable and respected, but he has never earned it. When you cheat and you're an arrogant ass, you get what you deserve.

On the other hand, the great Hank Aaron never faced questions about corking his bat or taking steroids. There have never been any allegations questioning his integrity or natural ability. He played in a tough time for African American athletes and he still excelled.

Bonds' reputation is tainted and he is definitely no Hank Aaron. So hats off to Hank as the real and true homerun king. Bonds is not even in the same league. I may only be a puppy, but I know the difference between winners and losers.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Natsu Matsuri

Yesterday was the 中目黒夏祭 (Naka-Meguro Summer Festival). Mama and papa took me to see it and, as you can see, I was a little surprised by all the dancing, noise and people. The taiko drums were pretty loud but I enjoyed myself by barking along with them. We spent an hour there walking around and buying food for dinner. Mama and papa love the matsuri food, especially yaki-soba and yaki-tori. I hope they take me to more matsuri . Everyone has so much fun that it makes me feel really happy too. The sights and sounds and smells are wonderful.

After the matsuri, I was pretty tired but mama and papa went out to their friend's BBQ. He lives just around the corner so it's easy for mama and papa to get there. They got home late and, like last year after the same party, papa fell asleep on the floor. I think he had a little too much wine...

On the way home, mama and papa saw Kimura Takuya from the band SMAP! He was driving home in his white Hummer. He lives just down the road from us and papa wanted to say "hi" to him but he lives in a big house with a garage and the garage door closed before mama and papa could get there. I think one of papa's dreams is to become a member of SMAP. He so silly...and he can't even sing...

Today we went to the indoor dog run again! I had fun as usual, running around and stealing other dogs' toys. But papa kept calling me fat boy...like he's one to talk...Papa thinks I am too fat and can't run like a real Jack Russell Terrier. He laughed at me because the yappy Poodles could run faster. Even the Papillon was faster than me. Maybe papa is right, but I still don't like being called fat boy :-( And I don't like the yappy Poodles either.