The Daily Parker

Oh, poor puppy. Today is the Big Operation. But even as the vet was leading him away, he had no idea what she was about to do to him. There are just too many interesting smells at the animal hospital. And he was probably hoping someone would feed him, since we "forgot" this morning:

The worst part: No dog park for a week! Poor little guy.

Parker is at home today, so nothing new on the ParkerCam. Tomorrow is his Big Operation, which we've tried to explain to him to no avail. Poor guy. I'd like to say that this photo is him being worried about the Big Operation, but no, it's him watching a mourning dove take off:

This snapshot of Parker sniffing around the back yard was going to be today's Daily Parker:

But then he decided to help me with the laundry:

(I hope our downstairs neighbor doesn't read today's entry...)

I'm trying an experiment: the ParkerCam. It may not be around long, and it's only going to be on when Parker is in my office. Still, if it's running, it will update every 60 seconds. Sometimes you'll just see my office floor; other times, such as this writing, you'll see a sleeping puppy.

I'm back in Chicago, but I'm looking forward to my next visit to San Francisco. Here's one more from our walk Saturday:

(Click on the photo to see it full-size.)

Reggie (below) gets to walk on or near a beach almost every day. Today I got to tag along.

Here's the actual walk:

For some reason, on this trip I've taken a lot of photos—782 so far this weekend. Digital photography is wonderful like that. Plus, had I only 36 shots per roll at a cost of about 33c per photo, I might not do a lot of experimenting. On the other hand, I might have a higher proportion of good shots. On the third hand (?), the shots I've posted this weekend are only the highlights, as my "hit" rate is somewhat better than 2%.

From one of today's posts at Talking Points Memo:

Was anyone besides me delighted to note that the last two Republican senators to concede were Burns and Allen?

I'm visiting my dad this weekend. Three guesses where he lives (and no cheating):

Here's a great idea (via AVweb): using Microsoft® Flight Simulator as a training aid:

Here's how Microsoft Flight Simulator as a Training Aid helps aviators get the most out of every hour in the air or the virtual skies:

• Student Pilots can use the information in this book to enhance book-learning, review specific concepts and skills, and in preparing for formal flight instruction.
• Certificated Pilots can complement real-world flying with additional hours in the virtual skies, upgrading flying skills and learning about advanced aircraft and procedures.
• Flight Instructors will discover new ways to use Flight Simulator as a teaching tool in ground school classes and pre- and post-flight briefings.
• Virtual Aviators (Flight Simulator hobbyists) will learn more about real-world flying and enhance their enjoyment of virtual flying.

My dad got a copy of the latest Flight Simulator version for his birthday, and even on his old clunker of a computer it looks incredible. On his computer it's a little jumpy as the display sometimes lags behind the simulation, but if you're training to do holding patterns or instrument approaches, the realistic ground display isn't helpful anyway.

Someday, when I have oodles of time, I may pick up a copy for myself.

Pacifica is quite a ways from the dog park, so I didn't get to play with Parker and the gang this morning. Still, I've puzzled over two phenomena about Parker's play group: first, the preponderance of male dogs whose names end in "-er," and second, that almost all the dogs are either black or yellow. Here's Parker with his friends Boo and Tucker:

(The surprised expression on Boo's face resulted from his mom stomping on his leash.)

The black dogs are all different sizes and shapes. For example, no one would confuse Boo with Tucker:

But the yellow dogs present a problem. Three of them are Labradors of similar sizes, and until Monday all three of them wore blue collars. (Buck, opposite, now has a lighter-color collar with a zig-zag motif.) At any distance greater than one's eyeglasses prescription it's nearly impossible to tell them apart.

In not-quite-unrelated news, today is Sesame Street's 37th birthday.