(Aaron again)
Reminder to myself for the future: https://fortress.wa.gov/lni/bbip/search.aspx
Been looking into getting some electrical work done, so this is helpful to make sure the people I speak with are licensed (and for how long they’ve been doing their stuff…)
While I am at it: http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/permitstatus/default.aspx – look up Seattle Permit History on a house or building
I (Molly) want everyone to know that I didn’t just get a bone as a gift – I got my first email! I am so hi-tech for a dog!
Hi Molly,
My mom told me that one of her friends got a new dog that I can maybe play with, but she said you’re a little scared right now. I know what that’s like, I got pulled off a farm and brought to the city by this blonde lady, but turns out she’s pretty cool, so hang in there.
Mom tells me your new people are great and will give you a wonderful life! I hope this bone will help you feel a little more comfortable while you adjust.
Can’t wait to meet you!
- Balko
(Aaron says – thanks Lauren!)
(I am sitting next to Aaron right now, who came home early from work to play with me, since I am still a bit scaredy-cat; it is the first work day for my people, after all. I really like the toy Balko left with Aaron to give to me though – thanks Balko!)
Now I have something to say, so I will type with my paws instead of just speaking to Aaron and having him type for me:
“po,khhji”
That’s all. I don’t like typing, apparently. It’s not nearly as exciting as licking myself
We’re at war!
“On behalf of the student body, Student Union has declared war on the University of Washington,” said SU President Neil Patel. “We’re tired of being confused with the University of Washington. We’re in St. Louis, dammit.”
Best line of this article (and no offense to my Husky friends is actually meant):
They are also distributing free T-shirts emblazoned with, “University of Washington wasn’t even on my list of safety schools.”
As I mentioned in the previous post, yesterday was our first day with Molly. Now time for a rambling post on our experiences with her in our first day:
We started by meeting her foster mom at PetCo to do a drop off, and Molly immediately was ready to jump in our car and go. She was a quite good girl on the whole drive, pretty inquisitive, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Getting home, she was freaked out about coming up the stairs, but nothing that a treat and warm praise couldn’t solve. She loves exploring the house, but so far, definitely prefers to be in the same room as one of us (I think she’s partial to me, but that could just be the fact that I am awake more hours of the day!)
So far, she doesn’t seem too interested in toys, but she loves to eat her food! She wasn’t in the mood to go to the bathroom yesterday, which Kelly (the old foster mom) informs us is normal for a dog switching homes, but so far today she’s done both the #1 and #2 outside (she was already house-trained), so problem solved! We even figured out her sign for bathroom – hang out by the front door, slight wimper. (she’s not a barker by any stretch)
While she doesn’t seem to be a huge toy fan, as of yet, but man, she devoured her bone this morning (actually a Flossie, but same basic idea). It was actually really cute – she walked up to the bedroom (Joelle was still sleeping), quietly grabbed it, brought it downstairs to our living room (where I was), and just started chomping down. I was enthralled to watch!
Speaking of sleeping, she made it through the night on her bed (she’s used to sleeping in a crate, so having a bed-area is a great new find for her!) She was unsure of what to do in our room at first, but then quickly settled down and laid on her mattress and slept until about 6:30 this morning – only waking up when I walked out the door.
We were told she was a scaredy-cat, but so far that doesn’t apply to other dogs- the two dogs she’s met walking she walks up to sniffs around – they seem to get along with any sign of aggression – one in particular I am very happy they get along; as they are a couple doors downs dog, we will see them quite a bit… She is definitely scared of everything else though – birds, squirrels, loud noises, rooms, etc… If not scared, just not understanding what these things are.
One thing we’ll need to work on, though, is she’s very scared of entering new buildings – we tried walking her into the Pet Store to get her a name tag, and she wanted nothing to do with it. I think that’s just a socialization issue though – she hasn’t had a lot of experience on loud busy streets like Queen Anne; in our neighborhood, noises are everywhere, so over time, that will get much, much better!
Joelle and I have been talking about getting a dog for a while, and yesterday was the day Molly joined us in our family! She’s quickly adapted, even having a Facebook page already (really, a dogbook page, but same basic thing!)
We started our search at the Seattle Animal Shelter last weekend, but weren’t immediately drawn to any of their dogs. We quickly jumped on Petfinder.com (great resource by the way!) and did a search for other dogs available within a 3 hour radius; Joelle really wanted to find a dog from a rescue league or shelter rather and I agreed – adult dogs are much easier, plus it’s nice to be able to do a good deed by finding a dog who needs a home!
We were drawn to Molly immediately by her Petfinder posting (her old name was Mama, but that was only her name for 2 months), a rescue dog housed with the Washington German Shepard Rescue League (though she is not a German Shepard) and had a great series of back and forth emails last week with the League, the Foster Mom, and and the house-checker-outer, and last Tuesday, we drove up to Marysville to meet her; We were smitten right away by her looks, good behavior, and other temperance. She was going to be our dog!
Joelle had mistakenly called her Molly instead of Mama when we saw her, and was fixated on that name from then on. I really wanted a name with a Hebrew connection and sort of wanted a grandmother-esque name for some reason, so Molly works – while not the most Jewish name in the world, it at least tangentially comes from Hebrew – according to naming web-sites, it means wished-for child in Hebrew, so at least it is something!
Pictures obviously! Next post will be a write-up of our first day together… (Click on the picture for larger pictures)
Here are some pictures her foster mom (Kelly – thanks for everything!) had sent us of her playing with some other foster puppies on Friday:
Spent some time this morning to upgrade to WordPress 2.5 for my blogging software – shouldn’t be any obvious issues, but let me know if you see any problems reading articles. (I am using this post as a test to make sure everything is set up, so feel free to ignore this )
Not so bad to upgrade, but a couple of key things:
We’re Hiring! I am currently looking for a few openings for my team at Pure Networks and wanted to spread the word – we’re a great place to work, and are really making good traction. I’d love to hear from you if you are interested… let me know! (We also have non-dev positions open – checkout http://www.purenetworks.com/aboutus/careers.php for more)
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Yeah, yeah the Division I men’s tournament is still going on (and my bracket is in shambles; that is what happens when you have both USC and Duke in your final four and they’ve already dropped out. My championship game is still there, however – North Carolina over Texas).
But who cares – in much more important news, WashU (my alma mater) won their first ever Men’s Division III national tournament in resounding fashion – 90-68 over Amherst. So as far as I am concerned, this year’s NCAA Tournament was a resounding success. Go Bears!
Coolest two things about this: a) CBS Sports showing highlights during their Division I coverage last night – that’s a likely a first for the school. b) Being at the sports bar with Joelle, watching Duke throwing away their game last night, I realized we had DirectTV at our table; I quickly scanned around, and found the game on CSTV. So while all the other fans were crying away the Duke loss, I was able to cheer like crazy! Cool
For more, see the following news articles:
As I mentioned previously, tonight was Purim, the Jewish Festival of Lots. For a full description, Wikipedia, as usual, has a pretty good description: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim
There are quite a few traditions around the holiday. The main one’s important to me are:
In honor of the holiday, our local group (Kavana) had a Purim event this evening, filled with all of the above, for kids and adults alike. We both participated in the reading of the Megillah, so it was an even greater honor.
Joelle and I took the opportunity to dress up, and went with costumes that we had found while we were in Israel shopping. We were walking down Ben Yehuda Street (the main shopping street in downtown Jerusalem) and came upon a costume shop. Joelle found a Shtreimel black hat, as often worn by Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, decorated with peyes (ritual very long sideburns/sidelocks – Orthodox men have them due to a prohibition against shaving). Taking a liking to this idea, Joelle decided to make a whole costume out of it, and correspondingly, I was forced into a women’s outfit (dressed as an Orthodox Jewish Grandmother – we found the wig at the same store, augmented by a Value Village run).
Even better, this fulfills a bet I made with a friend awhile ago; to dress in drag for a holiday (he meant Halloween, but close enough), as he tends to always do this in exchange for him shaving off his beard of many years. Can’t remember why I agreed to it; but it is now complete!
Pictures, of course – aren’t we sexy!
(Click on the pictures for the full versions)
