The 2007 Formula 1 Champion: Kimi Raikkonen

We've been waiting a while, and Kimi Raikkonen finally won the F1 title!!! Way to go, Kimi!!!

Roots , Rats and Fame

Mama bought me a new training collar and leash today! It even has my name embroidered on it (ROOTS, not HAFFMAN). Green is my favorite colour so that's what mama got for me. The collar is supposed to help me not pull too hard when we go for walks. I tend to pull the leash and try to walk faster than mama and papa which they say is really annoying. Unfortunately, we couldn't go for a walk today due to typhoon number 25. It's pretty windy outside and the rain is coming down really hard. Luckily, I got my exercise today at obedience school. During today's agility class, I had papa sweating pretty hard. I'm pretty good at running through the tunnel and jumping the bars, but I still have trouble with the slalom and see-saw.


Last night we watched Ratatouille. What an excellent movie! It reminded papa of when he worked in a restaurant many years ago. The movie was quite an accurate portrayal of what's it's like working in a kitchen and being in the hospitality industry. There is so much pressure to create original dishes while satisfying the palates of customers. I liked the movie even though papa said that I look like Remy (the main character).



Some time ago, I mentioned that I had a photo shoot to appear in a magazine. The magazine was issued recently and mama and papa appear with me in the photo! They're kind of shy so we edited the photo a little, but it doesn't matter because I'm the main feature anyhow. This issue of the magazine is full of tips for training puppies as well as things to do and not to do with your dog. Since I was a little freaked out by the camera flash during the photo shoot, I only appear in one photo. I think I was supposed to be in 6 or 7 shots playing with toys. It worked out well though because mama and papa got to be in the magazine with me instead of only me playing with toys. I'm on the brink of hitting it big!!!

Pumpkin Head

When papa came to Japan 13 years ago, Halloween was almost non-existent, except among gaijin. This year, wherever you go there are signs of Halloween. Papa calls me Pumpkin Head now, whatever the heck that means. Mama bought me a cool orange toy that looks like a pumpkin and I love playing with it but papa says it looks like me. Halloween is still a little different in Japan than in North America. Kids here don't really go trick-or-treating to collect candy, but many stores sell Halloween candy and other related products. In any case, I'm not holding my breath for any candy...apparently it's not good for dogs..but I will go trick-or-treating for some tasty chicken snacks! Papa cooked 2 chicken breasts for me today which should last me for 2 weeks.

This morning, we had some work done on the condo. In fact, we had to have the whole living room re-wallpapered. From the beginning, the wallpaper here has been the worst. There have been so many mistakes made by the builder (Tokyu Kensetsu) with respect to the wallpaper. From the first inspection until now, we have had to have the wallpaper fixed 3 times. Papa says it's very shoddy workmanship by people who don't take pride in their work. Anyhow, the whole living room was done today so we'll wait and see how it turns out. It still doesn't look very good but the guy who fixed it said that it will take 2 or 3 days for the wallpaper to set after which it will be fine...papa is very skeptical...

After the wallpapering was done, papa took me to Yoyogi Park for a few hours. There were so many dogs there! In the dog run alone there must have been well over 100 dogs, including about 10 Jack Russell Terrorists! I ran around for almost 2 hours. My favorite trick was annoying dogs that were 5 times my size and then hiding behind papa when the big dogs got angry at me. Papa let me stay in the space reserved for big dogs because the small dog area was full of poodles and other assorted yappy dogs. Besides, I'm not really that small...am I??? I can hold my own with a German Shepherd...as long as papa is somewhere nearby.... :-)

Mama couldn't come to the park today because she's not feeling well and has a fever and sore throat. I hope mama gets well soon!!!

Tonight is the final F1 race of the season. Good luck, Kimi Raikkonen!!!

Also, good luck to Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching game 7 of the American League Championship tomorrow! Go Bosox!!! If he needs help, then put me in - I'm ready!!!

Easy Game 2

This game is way too easy...56.62 seconds!!!

http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html

Easy Game

Papa's friend posted this easy game on her blog...no one was able to do better than 20 seconds but papa said it was child's play and was able to to do 36.939 seconds on his fifth try...this game is too easy...

http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html

In case there are disbelievers...

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

I am now 1 year old!!! My birthday was on October 11 so we celebrated it today. Mama and papa bought me a lot of treats and toys. At first, I knew they were doing something on the table but I couldn't quite see...it's tough having short legs :-( I tried my best to see what was on the table but to no avail. Finally, Mama and papa let me check out my birthday gifts...Mama bought me a big bag of treats and a birthday cookie with my name on it! I also got a baseball. Papa told me to learn how to play ball and earn a salary like Matsuzaka...whoever the heck he is...

Waiting to eat my birthday cookie! Or at least part of it...apparently I am getting fat...

I had my first agility class today! There were 4 events: jumping, tunnel, see saw and slalom. I was obviously great at all of them...almost...ok, ok, I wasn't really good at most of them...yet! I loved the tunnel and kept running back and forth through it, and I also loved jumping over the bar, but the see saw was a little scary so I didn't quite make it to the top. This training course is 4 weeks long so hopefully I will improve over the next few weeks. Papa is afraid that once I become good at these agility events, I will be able to jump over the barriers he puts up in our house so that I can't get into the places that I am not supposed to go into, especially when mama and papa are not home...and he's right to be worried...hehehe ;-) Today, mama was my handler but she was pretty tired by the end of the class so next time, papa will be my handler and we'll see what the old man has got! When we race at full speed, we are pretty evenly matched now so I am thinking I'll be able to take him soon. He keeps saying that he's in his prime now so we'll see... :-)
We got some of my treats today at a place called Dog Days. There were a few poodles there, and guess what...they were yapping like crazy...have I ever mentioned how much I hate poodles??? Well, I do. The words "urusai" and "yakamashii" were invented for poodles - probably by poodle owners! I can't believe how loud they are!!! I'd rather chew on tin foil while shaving my head with a cheese grater and scraping my nails on a blackboard than listen to yappy poodles...

Test

This is a test post using remote email to my blog...

伊豆

We just got back from our 3 day trip to Izu! Izu is one of the most popular resort locations in Japan, located south-west of Tokyo. It took about 3 hours to get there by car (but only 2 and a half hours to get home...papa has a lead foot when returning from a vacation...). We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Shikinokura located just outside of Shimoda. Shimoda is where Commodore Perry and his Black Ships first invaded...oops, I mean "came to" Japan to "negotiate" the opening of Japan and its ports to the US conquerors...oops, I mean US ships. In 1854, the Shogunate and the US signed a "peace treaty", which effectively ended Japan's 250 years of self-imposed isolation.

We got to Izu on Thursday afternoon and went to a place called Kawazu Bagatelle Park before checking into the hotel. It looks nicer in the photos than it actually was, and at 1,000 yen per person just for the entrance charge, it was a true rip-off. There were a whole bunch of roses (which I would rather eat than look at...), and not a whole lot else...unless you count the 50 or so gardeners...there were about 5 gardeners to each visitor to the place...no wonder it was 1,000 yen to get in. Next time I want to see roses, I'll go to the local flower shop...


After the rose park, we went to check into the Hotel Shikinokura. We got a room with a really great view of the ocean! The hotel has an Italian restaurant, a roof top dog run, a nice deck and another dog run in the forest! The staff there were extremely friendly and and the hotel was really clean. I definitely want to go back there again. We stayed for 3 days and 2 nights. The first night, every time I heard a noise, I would bark and make a lot of noise to protect mama and papa from strangers. I woke them up every 1 hour to make sure that they were safe. By the second night, I didn't start barking until 5am to let mama and papa relax for some extra time before waking them up. Papa was so happy at my ability as a guard dog. He kept saying, "thank you, Roots!!! Now shut the f%#$ up and go to sleep!!!"...whatever the heck that means...

The first day we got to the hotel, the staff told mama and papa that there was an onsen (hot spring) for dogs. Mama and papa took me there but I wasn't too impressed...until I saw all the toys! Papa found a ball and threw it into the onsen and, not knowing any better, I jumped after it. Was I ever surprised!!! It was my first time swimming. I jumped after the ball thinking that I was going to land on a hard surface, but instead I sank into the water and had to swim for the first time in my life :-( Papa said my eyes were as big as grapefruits when I found that I was in water instead of on the ground. Mama told papa to help me but papa was too busy laughing to help me so I immediately dog-paddled for the side of the pool and jumped out as fast as I could. Not a fun moment. Luckily, papa put a life jacket on me for my next foray into the water and I was able to almost enjoy swimming...almost...

On Friday, we went to the beach. The weather was perfect. About 26 degrees and sunny. The waves were breaking nicely and papa wished he knew how to surf (and that he actually had a surf board so he could try...). There were a bunch of surfers and we were wondering what they did for a living other than surf and spend time at the beach. Don't they work??? Then again, mama, papa and me were at the beach on a Friday morning so I guess we should give them the benefit of the doubt. The water was cool and felt so refreshing. It was my second time in the ocean and now I think that I'd love to live near the beach! The sound of waves breaking is one of the sweetest sounds in the world. The air was so clean and fresh, especially after the smog that we call air in Tokyo.




We went to a place called Dogs Garden Biwanoki after the beach. I met a new friend named Potato. She was fun to play with but she kept taking my frisbee from me. She was quite good at evading me and I wasn't able to get my frisbee back until her papa got it for me. Papa says I am a loser because I was defeated by a poodle...man, I hate poodles...


Here are a few more highlights of my first time to Izu:

You ever get the feeling that someone's watching you?


My special vacation dinner on Friday! Beef, potatoes, zucchini and pumpkin!!!


The Spanish run with the bulls...I run with the poodles...poodles are more dangerous (and yappy!). We went to Izu Dogland on the way home. Check out this cool dawg!!!


OK, OK, who let the horse into the dog playground??? He was actually a Great Dane...and he only weighs about 13 times what I weigh... I thought I was risking my life playing with him but he was actually very nice to me. By the way, what does "pint sized" mean?


Home at last!!! Nothing like returning from an adventure and sleeping with a watermelon as a pillow!!!

Oyasumi Nasai!!!

Vertically Challenged

Mama and papa keep putting stuff out of my reach. Unfortunately, my legs aren't quite long enough to see on top of my house so I can't get a look at what's up there. And whenever mama and papa think I've been bad (which is often), they put my toys on top of my house so I can't get them. Try as I might, I can't get them back so I sit in front of my house and bark until mama and papa get annoyed and give my toys back. My plan usually doesn't work and they just say "shut up, Roots!"...but who knows? Maybe some day...



To get back at papa, I like to steal his socks. I'm not quite sure the proper way to wear them though. Somehow, this doesn't seem like the right way...and what's that awful smell???





Mama and papa found a mutant grape yesterday. It must have been grown somewhere near where the nuclear power plant accident happened. It looked like a little purple snowman.



Last weekend, papa bought me 2 frisbees, one for indoors and one for outdoors. He doesn't think I am a Jack Russell Terrier because I didn't know how to catch a frisbee at the dog run a few weeks ago. Since it was raining this evening and we couldn't go for a walk, mama and papa taught me how to play frisbee in the living room! I was able to catch about a quarter of them!!! Of course, I was only standing 1 or 2 meters aways from papa when he threw the frisbee, and he practically threw it into my mouth so it wasn't that hard, but still, for my first time, I was good!!! :-)

Mama is off for the next 2 weeks for holidays!!! And papa will also take 6 days off over the next 2 weeks. We are planning on going to Izu this week for 3 days! I can't wait!!!