Bidi’s World

It’s been quite a challenging experience adopting Rocket. He is so full of energy and still has a lot of puppy in him so he’s easily distracted. He did show signs of being a quick learner though and the idea of some formalized training instruction appealed to me.

Eight weeks ago we started Beginner Dog Training classes at PetSmart. I really didn’t know what to expect going into it. I have a hard time approaching unfamiliar social situations to begin with but it wasn’t like I was going alone. Rocket was with me.

The other dogs in the class were about as diverse as Rockets heritage. They ranged from toys that would fit into the palm of your hand to a head strong but loving Malimute. There were a couple dogs about Rocket’s size too which was a treat for him as it give someone for him to play with.

Our instructor, Ashley, was amazing. I found her instruction easy to follow and she was very approachable as well. I found it easy to ask her questions and she always had an informative answer. After the first week I was already seeing results. The course uses clicker training with positive reinforcement. I questioned how well this would work for Rocket at first but it didn’t take long to convince me obviously.

Wednesday, being the last class, was graduation for the dogs. We had a little test where we demonstrated the various commands we learned over the last eight weeks. Then we had a couple fun competitions to see who could “stay” the longest as well as who had the most tail wag. We also got to show off any other tricks we’ve learned and Rocket’s buddy Tate showed us a new one, “Dance”. Finally all the dogs got ice cream and graduation pictures. I’ll post Rocket’s picture when it arrives.

By the end of the course Rocket would “sit”, “stay”, “down”, “come”, and even “beg”. We still have more work to do to refine his responsiveness and to this end I must remain diligent about continuing his training. I think perhaps in late summer I’ll see if I can afford to enroll us in the intermediate class. Ashley seemed to think he’d do well with it.

• Synaptic System Failure (0)
• Bidi’s World Microblog Digest for 4/14/2008 (0)
• Bidi’s World Microblog Digest for 4/02/2008 (0)

I had a truly amazing year in 2007. As the year went on, I got more and more ambitious. By Christmas I had so much going on I think the creative part of my mind just shut down.

I would wake up in the morning and think about all the things I wanted to do during the day and it was a very long list. I’m only talking about the things I really wanted to do too. There was also all the things I had to do. It got so bad that not only did I start using a calendar but I even scheduled stuff out into 2008.

Indecision over what needed doing first became a huge problem and all the while I kept thinking of new projects and endeavors I wanted to start which just added to the confusion. By the time December came around all I wanted to do was focus on our Christmas vacation trip to my parents and nothing else. The blog, podcast, gaming, and everything was on hold at this point.

Here we are in the new year and I’ve finally had time to think. I’ve decided it is time to focus my priorities and here is what I have planned for 2008.

It’s time to wake up JD’s Musical Alchemy and get back to reviewing the music I love so much. Putting the show together was becoming a chore and taking away from the enjoyment of finding and presenting the music. This was mostly because I kept trying to find better ways to improve the quality at the cost of more labor. My goal for this year is to keep it simple so I can focus on the music.

I have a hand full of motorcycle trips scheduled for 2008 already including a rally in Eastern Oregon. Except for the occasional weekend ride I’m going to stick with what I have scheduled instead of trying to fit in every event available this year.

Last year I found a cool gaming group that seemed to focus on “organized play” games. Shortly after hooking up with them the coordinator for the group stepped down from his role. I had thought I would be able to help put together game days to keep things moving but it looks like I won’t have the time to learn enough about the games to really do a good job scheduling events. I should be able to fit in the occasional game though and I hope to be able to referee a campaign at some point with a system I’m familiar with.

I’m having a blast gaming with the family too. In addition to continuing to play World of Warcraft with the wife, we purchased a Wii just before Christmas and picked up a few new games over the holidays. The Wii has a very different style of console gaming and I’ll go into that in more detail in another post. I have also picked up a number of table top games for the family to play together.

We also have a new addition in the family. Rocket is a one year old Lab/Aussie mix. He’s smart, friendly, and a huge ball of energy. We started basic training this week at PetSmart and even after just one class I’m already seeing progress. While Rocket is a family dog, much of the responsibility falls on me as it was on my insistence that we adopted him from the rescue group.

The last thing I want to do is work on my painting. Last year I decided to get back into painting in water colors. This year I hope to continue that and perhaps even take a class or two. My next Christmas my goal is to be able to make my own hand made holiday cards.

So 2008 is perhaps going to be even more busy than last year. It is my hope that it will be better organized than last year though.

• Bidi’s World Microblog Digest for 3/17/2008 (0)
• Working hard on the podcasts (0)
• Lamenting for a polyhedral life style (0)