Doogie Howser

This video is proof that my dog Reggie is very trainable. She listens and can learn new commands. Yesterday I was chatting with my dad, hoping he'd be able to teach her to hunt in the week that we are home for Christmas break. She loves to chase birds; clearly her instincts are right on. However, I think my pa thinks that Reggie is too independent and might not be easily trainable.

As this video demonstrates, Reggie is trainable. The "wait" command is not an easy one, but one we're working on diligently since last week when she ran out on the trail path and almost caused a biker to crash. Yikes! It was a close call but also a wake up call. With the "wait" command getting closer and closer to perfect, there'll be no more running out on the path when bikers are approaching!

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

...okay, not so much in San Diego but tomorrow is the first of December. Which means I'll be heading home for Christmas break in just about 19 days. I'm so excited to go home, spend time with the family, and just relax for a week or so. My sister Elle Belle and her beau Greg are driving down from Cleveland, and Reggie is joining me on the flight, so it will be one big family hang out. I'm very excited! In fact, so excited, I've already started the countdown.

One thing that is kind of a bummer about being in San Diego is you don't really get the change of seasons. The "chilly" days in winter mean I probably have to close the windows in my room at least part way because it might be in the mid-50s when I wake up. Granted, it will probably be in the 40s and 50s in Virginia, so it's probably not much cooler, but maybe we'll get a freak snow storm on Christmas. That would be nice. It would be reminiscent of Erie, PA...I can remember it snowing every day for a month straight in Erie.

Family, get ready because here I come. And I'm already almost done with the Christmas shopping. What did people do before the Internet?

Reggie, Hagar, and R/C Cars

Hoi Ning = Food Genius

Here is the Thanksgiving feast that foodie Hoi Ning cooked up for Judy and I yesterday. Judy told me that Hoi Ning was quite the foodie, but I was still under-prepared for this meal: turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (they didn't make it into the picture), green beans, kale, brussel sprouts, stuffing, and mac and cheese, followed by dessert including corn ice cream and my favorite, pumpkin mousse (topped with ginger snaps). A serious food coma ensued. We were happily watching the "House Hunters" marathon on HGTV. Here's to good friends, and especially good friends who also happen to be great cooks! It makes it a lot easier to spend the holidays away from your family.

The Turkey

Hagar and Reg: Animal Killers!

Here lay the remains of many-a-stuffed animal. I think Jen even bought a Santa Claus and a reindeer to prep for the upcoming holiday season. But lo and behold the dogs had their way with them. Given that Hagar lives with these stuffed animals, I'm going to speculate that it was my own little angel Reggie that was responsible for most of the damage. I did see them tear several apart playing tug a war.

House and dog sitting has been fun so far - the kids keep each other plenty busy, although I do start to feel sorry for Hagar when he gets tired out. He is a little more chill than Reggie, who's still a puppy, and I get the sense he starts to get annoyed with her bugging him when he's trying to relax. So far the biggest lesson learned is to hide the squeaky toys before bedtime so I don't wake up at 3:30a to the sound of one of them...

New Clients: Good for Business, Bad for the Blog

Loyal Blog Readers:

I'd like to thank each of you for continuing to follow the blog despite its recent lack of new postings. Things at work have been super-hectic in the month of November. New clients are good for business but have proven to be bad for the blog thus far. Hopefully things will slow down a bit at work and I'll get back to two to three new postings on the weekends...

Sunday Night on Nautilus Street

Okay, this was more like Sunday afternoon and Sunday night. Reg makes a great foot warmer.

Food Poisoning Rejuvenates My Football Fervor

It was a beautiful weekend in San Diego - the sun was shining, it was the usual 68 degrees, and there were some killer waves. However, I spent most of the weekend on the couch, still in recovery from the food poisoning incident. The unexpected upside from the couch potato behavior was all the great football I got to watch. I think it usually takes me months to watch as much football as I watched this weekend. And it gets addicting - one game just rolls right into the next. An unexpected benefit of living on the West Coast is that you can get up, take your dog for a walk, and start watching football, because a 1:00p EST kickoff means football starts at 10:00a on the West Coast.

The college games on Saturday did not disappoint - I watched Florida top South Carolina, then some of the Alabama/Mississippi State game, then smaller parts of several other games. I think Tim Tebow ran for more yards than any of Florida's running backs. He is really fun to watch, even though I typically despise University of Florida sports. There were also some controversial calls - the Notre Dame fumble that was ruled a fumble on the review (I thought his arm was in forward motion) and the Arizona/UC-Berkeley call. The Arizona QB threw the ball, had it batted right back at him, caught it, and threw it again. Apparently the second throw was illegal. It was devastating to the team - it pushed them out of field goal position and the Cal Bears eventually scored another TD and marched to victory.

Today's NFL games have been interesting but I think I prefer the college games. It was fun to watch Big Ben struggle against the Bengals (Who Dey! Cincinnati peeps), and San Diego had its way with Philadelphia. If I keep getting sick, maybe I'll be auditioning to be an ESPN sideline reporter because I feel like I've learned a ton about the teams and players.

The Food Poisoning Incident

The last few weeks have been challenging from a health perspective. I was trying to fight off the flu while traveling (which I think I did relatively successfully), only to come home and succumb to food poisoning. And it was not pretty.

Wednesday night I made it home at a decent hour, took Reg out for a walk with Jen and Hagar, and then decided to cook for a change. I had a nice steak I thawed out from Ralph's. Since I don't have a grill, I decided to cook it on my stove top rather than broil it. Although it was cooked medium in most places, there were a few spots that were pretty rare. I'm attributing my pain and suffering over the past couple of days to the undercooked meat.

Let me tell you, if you've never had food poisoning, thank your lucky stars. And try to keep that streak going by continuing to fully cook your meats. Not sure when the next time I'll be having a steak/burger/etc. will be...

Great Sports Weekend

This weekend has been a great one to watch sports! First and foremost, the Carolina soccer team beat High Point Friday night and then Georgia this afternoon to advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA soccer tournament. Somewhat surprisingly, the UNC football team enjoyed a big win over Miami this weekend, in what sounded like an interesting game (but unfortunately SportsCenter had no highlights).

In NFL action today, the Bengals topped the Steelers in Pittsburgh, the Chargers beat the Eagles at home, and I'm currently enjoying the Tom Brady/Peyton Manning duel on SNF. Not too shabby.

KD: Finance Geek or Furniture Desinger?

That is the question that these finely re-finished pieces of furniture pose. After several weeks of labor (okay, really two weekend days of hard work), I finished my wood re-finishing project. This piece here has been with me since my days at 3389 Hoover Heights and made the journey from Harborcreek to Cincinnati to La Jolla.

Given every piece of wooden furniture in my bedroom seems to be a different color, I decided to consolidate a bit. I was also spurred on by Reggie chewing on part of the base of this dresser. Although you can still tell the base is a bit uneven, Reggie's chew marks are much less obvious after the DeWalt sander had its way with them.

If I had known how much work it would take to re-do these pieces of furniture, I might have just purchased new furniture. However, now that all is said and done, I'm glad I undertook the project. Just make sure if you're ever thinking of re-finishing furniture you allocate plenty of time, cover everything on your deck (there is an insane amount of sawdust that comes off these things), and wear a mask. Otherwise, you'll be sneezing for days.