So much to catch up on!

Papa has been so lazy lately and wouldn't help me update my blog for the past 6 weeks. And yet he still has time to play golf (3 times this month already)...

The cherry blossoms were amazing this year. With the warm weather we had in March and early April, the sakura were much more beautiful than in previous years and stayed with us for longer than usual. Mama and papa took me for a walk every night near Meguro River for o-hanami!

We also went to Yutenji Temple to see the cherry blossoms there...

...and to Yoyogi Park...there were quite a few people there to say the least... Even Meguro River was really crowded, especially on weekends. Mama and papa had Turkish kebabs for dinner a few times but it was so hard to walk along the river because of the people...and when you're my height, it's even more dangerous...but I have a good view of everyone's footwear. A few weeks ago, papa went to dinner with a few friends to an Italian restaurant, Il Pinolo, in Ginza. They were able to bring their own wine (no corking charge!) and the chef matched the meal to the wine. The 3 of them made it through 3 bottles of wine! The food was excellent and papa highly recommends this restaurant. Can you guess which bottle papa brought?
2 weeks ago, mama and papa went to see Corteo by Cirque du Soleil. They really liked the show although papa mentioned that he thought Dralion was better. As they were walking out of the building, papa thought he saw one of the clowns walking in front of him but it turned out to be a simple case of a fashion faux pas...some people really shouldn't be allowed to dress themselves.

The Formula 1 season has started again!!! Who would have believed that Jensen Button would win the first 2 races and be leading the championship??!??! I guess it goes to show what an average driver can do when he has a faster car due to an interpretation of the rules which allows the Brawn (formerly Honda) team to use a part which may or may not be legal...

Papa made Fettucine Carbonara with Veal Diane a few weeks ago. Man, I wish he'd share some with me.
I've been having a great time playing with other JRTs at Jonan-jima Park...

...and playing with my toys (which no one else is allowed to touch)...

...and keeping away from papa when he mentions anything about cleaning ears...
...and spending time playing in the sun on the roof balcony...Hello? Anyone home??? Will someone come out and entertain me???
...and then curling up for a nap with (on top of?) papa...
Papa calls me an old man just because I like to keep warm by wearing my favorite futon while I walk around the house.

But would an old man be able to do this??? I think I scared this Doberman! Of course, given our size difference (I'm somewhat bigger than him), it isn't surprising that I had him on the run!

Huh???

OK, so, I can't help myself and papa won't let it rest until we get this off our chests. Korea is up 1-0 in the final game of the first round of the World Baseball Classic this evening. 8th inning, 1 out and Ichiro singles. With the meat of the order coming up, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th batters, the manager of the Japan team, Tatsunori Hara (roughly translated means "Freakishly Asinine"), inexplicably calls a sacrifice bunt...huh??? What was he thinking? Did he learn baseball from a video game? Or from "Baseball for Extreme Dummies"? Is that a meatball that he uses for a head? Sure, he gets Ichiro in scoring position, but at the expense of sacrificing a batter who's hitting .500, followed by a .364 hitter, and he guarantees himself 2 outs. I may be a Jack Russell Terrier, but even I know stupidity when I see it.

Then he switches pitchers. Darvish, a natural starter during the regular season, came in fresh as a reliever in the 8th and struck out the side. Again, inexplicably, the manager changes pitchers and Japan barely survived the top of the 9th, only managing to get out of the inning with a very lucky double play.

If Japan wins the WBC this time, it will be due to the skill of the team despite Hara. If they lose...well...Hara-Kiri??? :-)

Funny thing...none of the post-game sports casts that I saw showed the bunt. I feel like I'm living in a controlled news environment like North Korea...

Have mercy...

We've been watching the World Baseball Classic for the past few days. Japan looks strong again! I'm hoping for a repeat of the 2006 WBC! Yesterday, Japan crushed Korea 14-2. It was a massacre. I couldn't even bear witness to the bloodshed...

It was the first time in Major League baseball that I've seen the mercy rule applied after 7 innings. Who even knew there was such a thing??? Papa mentioned something about Little League rules...

But it was the right thing to do putting Korea out of its misery. Funny thing is that Korea came back today and blew China away 14-0, and again the mercy rule was applied after the top of the 7th when China failed to score. Papa is not a fan of the mercy rule. These are professionals, not children...well...actually they quite often act like children...and whine like children...and they're very, very selfish...and they like to yell and scream at umpires when they don't get their way...OK, OK, so perhaps there is a need for the mercy rule after all :-)

It's been raining almost all week. I was wishing I could go outside but papa wouldn't walk me in the cold, slushy rain. Wimp. He was pretty disappointed that his golf day was canceled today. Me? I'm just longing to go outside...

So I just sleep in...

...and watch papa cook...

...and then sleep some more...

Today, mama and papa said I stink so papa gave me my monthly bath...and then he brushed my teeth...but when he tried to clean my ears, well, that was the last straw, so I found a safe place and waited him out. Eventually he relented and I was able to escape alive with my dirty ears in tact. Tomorrow will be another day. But for today, I'm safe and happy and feeling pretty good about myself!
So happy in fact, that I have had some extra energy to burn off...

And now it's bed time!!! Oyasumi nasai!!!

Fun in the Sun

Check out this picture from a few weeks ago in Tokyo at Jonan Park. Notice anything weird? Look closely at the people...more specifically, what they are wearing...in the middle of February...hmmm, something just doesn't seem right when it is over 20 degrees Celcius at a time when it should be about 5 degrees or less...but I'm not complaining. It was an awesome day! Too bad it's been cold and rainy the past 3 or 4 days. It was nice last Sunday though. Papa played golf and it was about 15 degrees. The nice weather didn't really help his game though.

I met a friend at the park. I love the way he sits! I'm not sure of his breed (maybe a Cairn or Yorkshire Terrier?) but he reminds me of an Ewok from Star Wars Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. He could even pass for a mini Chewbacca.

I'm trying to learn how to be happy and smile...
Papa says my smile is worse than the Canadian Liberal party leader, Michael Ignatieff...

Mama and papa went out for a Valentines dinner a few weeks ago to an Italian restaurant called Cascina Canamilla. The food was exceptional! The only problem was that the food was so good that mama and papa kept forgetting to take pictures of the dishes so they only have a few.

Ravioli in a basil sauce:

Pasta in a cheese sauce with beans:

Dessert:

Today was pretty nice, although it has cooled down a lot recently. We went to Komazawa Park for an hour. I love playing with the big dogs like me! I also made a few other friends. I always get along with Airedales and I was lucky to meet one today.

I also had a race with a French Bulldog. They're a lot faster than they look!

Last night, we watched a Japanese movie called Detroit Metal City, obviously named after the Kiss song Detroit Rock City from their 1976 album Destroyer. It was a pretty funny movie about a small town geek who goes to Tokyo to try to become a pop singer but ends up as the front man for a death metal band and starts to develop multiple personalities. Papa rated it a B on Yahoo! Movies. It might have been a B- but papa liked the cameo appearance by Gene Simmons.

Sweets!

A few weeks ago, mama bought papa a warm, new fleece outfit to wear around the house so papa gave me his hand-me-downs. It was a little worn out and tattered (to say the least) but papa managed to put it on me...now he says I really look like a homeless person living in Shinjuku...


Remember that deal on strawberries that papa wrote about a few weeks ago? Well mama decided to buy one. They said it was actually really good and very sweet. A little on the expensive side but it was definitely the best strawberry papa has ever tasted. Mama took a picture of it beside a lighter to give you a sense of its size. It was almost as big as a small apple! Papa said it looked like my head...whatever the heck that means...

A few days later they got dessert at a local bakery and had it with ice cream and espresso. Sweet!

I wasn't allowed to eat any sweets so I found a nice, comfortable place to chill out...


Last week, papa made some peanut butter cookies. I did my best to help him bake...And in the end, thanks to my great skills as a pastry chef, I was able to guide papa to the final result, and were they ever delicious...or so I hear...Last weekend, we went to Komazawa Park to enjoy a sunny day at the dog run. I met a Corgi who just wouldn't leave me alone. Mama and papa were pretty amused. This Corgi followed me around for about 30 minutes. I couldn't shake him. He was like my shadow. I wonder if he was a stalker!



This past weekend, as we were about to drive to see one of mama's friends, we couldn't start the car. It appears the battery died due to the cold weather lately and the fact that we haven't driven for a few weeks. The Nissan dealer was really good about it. They came to our place, helped us start the engine and then recharged the battery for free. It took 24 hours so in the meantime, they lent us a Nissan March. Papa wasn't very impressed with the colour and refused to drive it so mama did all the driving last Sunday...

Google Gaffe...

The explanation for yesterday's mistake made by Google...
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-site-may-harm-your-computer-on.html

Google...the new Microsoft???

Papa thinks that Google must be exclusively hiring ex-Microsoft employees...how else can you explain why a Google search for "Google" would result in a Google warning that it's own page may be dangerous??? Google warns of its own page, "This site may harm your computer."...boneheads.....


Papa said that if you look up Microsoft in the dictionary, it should read:
Microsoft noun. A blunder so incredibly stupid that it brings into question the very existence of the one who made it. i.e. During sudden death overtime in game 7 of the championship series, although under no pressure from the opposition, Bob shot and scored on his own goal to lose the game, prompting the crowd to break into a chant, "microsoft, microsoft, microsoft...".
adjective. A descriptive of something that functions unacceptably and completely counterintuitively. i.e. As John put his microsoft car into drive and turned right, the car suddenly went backwards, turned left and then the dashboard lights turned blue...
verb. To do something so dumb that it defies any credible explanation. i.e. Jane admitted that she microsofted and voted for Stephane Dion in the Canadian Federal Election.

It seems that every search result on Google may harm your computer...someone's a little paranoid...

I'm sure it's a bug and Google will fix it soon but to make a mistake like that is very unprofessional. I wonder if they tested whatever change they made before they put it into production...

It's been a busy start to the year but I finally got papa to help me post a blog today. He's been busy with work and has had a pretty tough month given the current economic turmoil...and it's only going to get worse.

Fortunately, there may be hope. Unlike Canada and Japan, the US has elected what appears to be a strong leader in Barrack Obama. Papa and I watched the inauguration on CNN. It was inspiring to hear a political leader with vision and charisma, someone with conviction who is committed to change. Time will tell how his presidency goes, but given who his predecessor is, things can only improve. The meatball we have leading Japan probably scores lower than a snake's belly on IQ tests and the Canadian leader has as much charisma and vision as my stuffed animal friends.

A few weeks ago, mama and papa went to visit mama's parents. It was a beautiful day and they were able to see Mount Fuji during their drive. When they got there, they went to a local temple to pray for a good year. It was packed with people but mama and papa were able to make it close to the front. It's tradition to throw money as a donation into the box near the front of the temple before saying a prayer but mama and papa didn't dare get too close to the front because some of the elderly people didn't quite have the arm to throw coins the 10 or 15 yards required to get the coins into the box. Many of the coins ended up hitting the people near the front of the crowd in the back of the head!
I love this samurai guy! His name was Hijikata Toshizou. Click on the link as his story is quite interesting...

There were a lot of food stalls. The one that papa likes best is tako-yaki.

Speaking of food, I love to sit and watch papa cook. He often "accidentally" drops food which I am quick to gobble up.

Last week, mama and papa got dessert from a pastry shop in Roppongi Hills called L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. They had the cake with espresso. I wish they would share with me :-(

Mama and papa found a new way to keep me busy and out of their hair...



Mama and papa always make fun of me when I'm sleeping. Is there something funny about how I sleep?
A few weeks ago, we went to Yoyogi park to play at the dog run. There were a bunch of Jack Russell Terriers there and so we decided to play tug-o-war with an old glove. We had about 20 spectators cheering us on along the outside of the fence. It was a fierce struggle but in the end, all the practice I get with papa playing tug-o-war paid off and I was victorious!!!



Last night, we finally watched Kung Fu Panda. What a great movie! Papa's niece recommended the movie and sent it to us from Canada. It was a lot of fun to watch and we were surprised at all the famous movie stars who voiced the characters. Papa had to re-watch parts of the movie to listen to the voices so he could see if he could recognize them! Thanks, Lexie!