As my major infrastructure project continues apace, Parker is keeping me company. I know I've posted lots of photos of him sleeping in my office, but I'm so happy about it, and he's so adorable, why not post another?

Another photo of Parker at one of his favorite places in the world. We stopped by the dog park Saturday afternoon, but we arrived after everyone else had left. He may have missed his buddies, but he also seemed to have a good time:

Lisa might have a point about those paws. We've had him almost two months, and in that time Parker has grown 71%, from 7.7 kg (17 lbs) on September 1st to 13.2 kg (29 lbs) yesterday. Even since the last Puppy Pounds update, he's grown 20%:

After enduring Parker chomping on my office rug for half an hour, I finally took him for a walk. First, he hates the Halti, so instead of doing his business on the grass he tries to get the Halti off:

I love Parker's play group. So does Parker.

In today's FoxTrot strip, Jason reveals a truly scary Hallowe'en costume. (The strip is now shown as Flash so I can't steal post it here for you. I'll update the link tomorrow.)

The CTA is replacing a 102-year-old viaduct in Evanston this weekend. I think the process is kind of cool. They started Friday evening and they'll finish Monday early in the morning, in time for the Purple Line to take people to work. I suppose it helps that they have an extra hour to work tonight.

This is the result of their first 15 hours or work:

Congratulations to Anne's home-town team, the St. Louis Cardinals, winning the World Series against the team that the Cubs last played for the same title. As a Cubs fan, I had some difficulty rooting for the Cardinals (the teams' rivalry goes back to the beginnings of professional baseball in the 1880s), but since the Tigers are in the American League I managed to do so.

Also of note to St. Louisians, it was on this day in 1965 that engineers completed the Gateway Arch.

Illinois changes to Standard Time at 2:00 tomorrow morning, making today's 7:19 sunrise the latest until December 29th. Despite the cold, I trekked over to Dawes Park in Evanston to see it:

We're trying an experiment. Parker is spending the whole day at Inner Drive Technology World Headquarters.

Also, just because this came out the way it did, I challenge both all of my readers to provide an appropriate thought balloon for the hardly-working office puppy:

Cintas, a uniform company (they make and launder uniforms for nurses, security guards, etc.), has decided to follow a DHS proposal—it doesn't have the force of law—that encourages employers to fire workers who have Social Security-number mismatches or in other ways fail to re-verify that they are authorized to work in the U.S. The effect of this action will be to intimidate immigrant workers, legal or not, and help them keep their payroll costs down.

The thing is, this is none of the company's business. The affected workers may have legal problems with the IRS or with ICE, but for all practical purposes this doesn't affect the company one way or the other. I don't think Cintas can make a straight-faced claim that the legal status of a minimum-wage seamstress or launderer threatens their business. On the other hand, if their workers worry that in addition to having an expensive and frightening experience with Immigration they also might lose their jobs, they'll be a lot less likely to agitate for a living wage or safe working conditions.

One of my long-standing clients, a labor-rights organization, has documented so many of Cintas' anti-worker policies (starting with poverty wages) that this is really only the latest, not the worst. So if you ever have to rent uniforms for your business, don't use Cintas.

Our ivy looks cool, so I thought I'd share.

We have a routine. At 5:30 every morning, Parker dances on my head, and I shove him back to the foot of the bed. At 5:45, the alarm clock starts playing Morning Edition, and Parker dances on my head again. Flash forward to 6:30, and we're at the dog park, usually all three of us, where Parker has a tremendously fun time with all the other dogs.

Then we head back to the house. He's a pretty smart dog, and he can tell when we're getting ready for work. Sometimes Parker gets locked in the bedroom, but other times he comes to the office with me. I believe he has not only a strong preference, but also an understanding that not every day is an Office Puppy day: