It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that Easter has been canceled, due to Chazz’s brutal maiming of the Easter Bunny today. The attack was caught on film…cover the children’s eyes:
Life must go on however, so we had a wonderful Brazilian barbecue, and even gave Chazz a bath. I’m off to bed as I have to wake up early to pick up my aunt and head over to Jenn’s to watch the kids hunt for eggs. Cheers!
Nearly 3 months after the Puppedential Debates, the Obama’s still don’t have a dog! There are actually two new children’s books about the subject. We’ve been in the grip of this national emergency for months now! Take a look:
…
The End
Claudio and Ryan are driving up the coast for Spring Break this week with Victor & David so Chazz is with me. He’s still only 5 1/2 months old, but he’s really never been left alone, save for that hour in January when he decided to take up reading:
No touch, no talk, no eye contact. Practice this rule when you leave and again when you return. By doing this, you are letting your dog know that your separation is not a big deal. For some dogs five minutes of “no touch, no talk, no eye contact” can solve the problem. For others, you may have to start practicing the rule an hour before you leave.
Say goodbye long before you leave. If you are having trouble practicing “no touch, no talk, no eye contact”, take a moment to tell your dog how much you will miss him and share affection long before you actually leave. Remember, this display is for you — not your dog! Your dog won’t be hurt that you didn’t kiss him goodbye before leaving for work.
Practice! Start out small; leave your dog alone for five minutes. Then the next time, expand the time to 20 minutes. Then an hour. Continue increasing the time until you can leave your dog alone for a full 8-hour business day.
Maintain calm-assertive energy. This is crucial! Don’t feel sorry, nervous, or concerned. Project the confident energy of a pack leader. Let your dog know that everything is going to be alright.
Other that that incident though, we’ve had a good week. While taking these photos, rolling in the grass at the Pacific Design Center however, I lost my phone.
When I realized it had fallen out of my pocket, I went back to find it and someone had already picked it up. I sent texts, but never heard from anyone. I needed a new phone anyway, so this is what I got:
Here are a few more photos from Chazz’s Spring Break: 
As you may know, I spent most of my Valentine’s Day at Traffic School….Gay Community Traffic School to be exact. The whole day was kind of surreal. I woke up early to walk Daisy (I’m still dog-sitting) and clean the house a bit as my brother was arriving tonight with his girlfriend, her two kids, and their dog. Traffic school started at 9:00 and was just down the street. It took place at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center, which is partly why they called it Gay Community Traffic School. The other reason was because it was SO GAY! Even though there were a few straight people there (including an Iraq War veteran), pretty much everything about this class was totally queer.
I removed his name from this photo, as I don’t want him to get in trouble. After all, he gave us lots of breaks and let us out an hour and a half early. Shhhhhhh.
From 9:20 to 10:00 we went around the room and introduced ourselves and told everyone what we were “in for”. Most of the people were there for red light tickets, crossing to get in the left turn lane or speeding. The instructor referred to us as “criminals”, and promoted the “Lifetime Membership” for traffic school incessantly. The most I learned all day was in those 20 minutes, because I found out where all the speed traps and ticket cops were in LA! At 10:00 we took our first 30 minute break. After the break, he spent the first 20 minutes talking about “Octo-Mom“. I kid you not! I secretly videotaped a bit of it. To wit:
Then he handed out a “sign test”. We took it, without discussion, and then it was time for our 90 minute lunch! LOL.
That exercise took about a half an hour. One more easy multiple choice test (about nothing we had talked about) and it was time for our afternoon 30 minute break! 
While we took our last test, our instructor napped
Me and my Valentine, Chanel
Mamma Mia
Tiffany & Daisy
Claudio & Ryan came up with Chazz on Friday. It’s only been 3 weeks since I last saw him (when he “read” my animal books), and my how he’s grown! I’m still dog-sitting for Daisy through the end of the month. Daisy is 9 years old and I’m sure the last thing she wanted to do all weekend was contend with a playful rambunctious puppy. She was a trooper though, despite her impatience at times. I think they secretly had crushes on each other. Just look how they were sleeping in bed with me when I woke up yesterday morning. Luckily I had my camera by my side:
We almost dropped to our deaths in this parking garage elevator….then noticed the permit expired in 2002!
I need to add the words, “& Pet Motel” to the Hotel Careyfornia sign above!
Tuckered out after a long day at the beach
David & Hyun Ju arrived at the Hotel Careyfornia on Tuesday by way of Germany. Hyun Ju had actually flown from Korea to Germany and then they flew to Los Angeles together from Hamburg. When they arrived, they were hungry so we decided to walk down the street to the local sushi bar on the corner. I had taken Chazz to the dog park for about 2 hours to make sure he was tired and that he would just sleep while we were gone for an hour. Unfortunately though, before David & Hyun Ju arrived, I had picked up all of Chazz’s toys and put them in his little toy box. I don’t know if he just forgot where his toybox was, or if he was just pissed that two new people came to the house and I left with them…but this was the scene I returned to:
Talk about puppy dog eyes!
Admittedly I staged this photo, but he really tore out the page on Animal Aggression!
Last night we had dinner on Sunset and took Chazz with us. I guess he got what he wanted. He even got a trip to Pinkberry afterwards where I practiced keeping him off leash while we were inside. He did so well, though he did manage to slip into Pinkberry a few times!
It’s a big day here in Hollywood, as the Golden Globes start in about 3 hours. Santa Monica Blvd. is jammed with limos already. To celebrate, I took Chazz to the dog park where he met what could have been the Golden Globes mascot, a Golden Retriever mix named Brockton. (Here’s a video of them playing if you’re interested.) Yesterday, he had a playdate with his friend Weho, and also met one of the stand-ins from Marley & Me!
Faceoff!
Get him Chazz!
Got him!
Can’t we play some more??
I want to thank Tom & Cathy for a most spectacular gift they gave me that I alluded to last week. It’s an Eye-Fi wireless SD card. It saved me so much time last week in San Francisco because the pictures I took automatically went to my Xanga wirelessly (through Picasa which I had synced to a web album) without even having to download from the card! What a time-saver. All I needed to be was at least 30 feet from my computer. As long as my camera was on, the pictures got uploaded instantly and automatically. Pretty cool! Thank you both so much. 
I saw this picture of Obama yesterday and thought it was really nice. Did anyone catch the “Puppedential Debate” on The Daily Show the other night? Anderson Cooper is pretty damn funny. I met him last year at a book signing and he was really friendly (I didn’t meet his his boyfriend). If you missed it, check out “The Road to the Doghouse” The last frame is my favorite! Hilarious.
The two big hits with the kids on Christmas morning, were Spike the Dinosaur and Lucky the Puppy who responds to a multitude of spoken commands, as this video will attest:
Our Christmas was better than little Bobby’s: (See warning below.)
After the presents and a yummy Christmas lunch, I headed home to meet Claudio & Chazz for a movie. We saw Valkyrie and both really enjoyed it. Here are a few Christmas pictures. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Peace!
Lisa found the perfect stocking stuffer for me!! Among my other notable gifts were, an Earthquake Preparedness Kit, Tempur Pedic slippers, Mamma Mia, a Pendleton shirt, “Be the Pack Leader” by Cesar Milan and a Facial Spa!! (These looks aren’t all natural!)
Last Christmas
Last Christmas, I gave you some shrimp,
The very next year,
I threw it away.
This year,
To save me from salmonella,
I’m cleaning out your freezer.
As a single guy who lives alone, I go out to eat a lot because I don’t really like cooking for just myself. When I do buy things to eat here, they often go bad and sit in my refrigerator or cupboard for months….sometimes years. The other morning Ryan made some pancakes and wondered why they didn’t taste as good as normal. When he looked at the box of pancake mix, he saw that it had expired over 2 years ago. The same thing happened all weekend; with salad dressing, olive oil, vinegar, jam, mayonnaise and more. ALL expired; some much more than two years ago. 
My standard response every time they asked how old something was:
As promised here are the rest of the Chazz pictures from our Christmas tree trimming extravaganza and his first trip to the dog park:
After playing with Weho (as shown in the video above), he was pooped!
Ryan & Claudio before the movie….downtown LA in the background
Christmas at The Grove
Stale pancakes for breakfast!
Sunset before the big storm
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
“Everyone is in the holiday spirit [in New York]. Coming to work today, I saw two strangers sharing a cab. One took the tires, one took the radio.” — David Letterman
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