Saving Daylight

Our Office Manager puts out a memo reminding us that daylight saving time starts this Sunday (3/8). But, this is only in the US. France and the UK won’t change to DST until 3/29. Brazil has already changed to DST on 2/15, and Hong Kong doesn’t have DST. So, it will be fun trying to figure out who is at what time in the next couple of weeks.

What’s TIME any way? There seems to be no standard around when DST should start or end or should there even be one at all. We are all kind of playing with our own time. Why do some countries have DST and some don’t? Hmmm... I'll need to do some research.

Daylight saved but not time. I’m not complaining though. I wish we are on DST all the time. Right now, to gain extra daylight means I have to get up extra early. It will be good to have “the night is still young” feeling. Although we may lose an hour of time on Sunday, we will gain more with one additional hour of daylight. There’s so much we can do in that one extra hour of daylight:

• Gardening
• Walking
• Reading
• Washing car
• Eating outside
• Simply enjoying that there is light

Dexter’s Tale: A Day in the Park

Robert and I took Dexter to the San Mateo doggy park last week figured that we should let him get used to being with other doggies.

We've taken him to Point Isabel couple of times but he did not have a chance at full play. For one, he did not have all his shots. Two, it was right next to open water and we weren’t sure if he was going to jump in and swim away.

The doggy park at the San Mateo Shoreline Park looked to be a safe place for his first social outing. It was clean, spacious and enclosed by chain-link fence. It was even divided into big dog and small pooch areas and a rest area for their people too – very thoughtful.

SET ME FREE! We first didn’t want to let Dexter walk off-leash. Never have done that with him outside of the house and didn’t know how he was going to behave being with so many new dogs. So for the first 10 minutes or so, I kept him on the long leash while he got acquainted with his new friends. One dog person suggested that we set Dexter free and let him play at will. She said the doggies would know that he was a puppy and would treat him accordingly. Dexter would have a chance to use his puppy skills naturally. Besides, where could he go anyway? Good point. So Dexter was set free.

DOG GONE WILD. Actually, Dexter behaved beautifully. He was friendly, curious and playful. He had no problem with doggies licking him all over. He did not bully little dogs and he endured the big ones checking him out. Won’t be for long though… Dexter will be bigger than any of them in no time soon.

It was a blast seeing the doggies at play. They knew exactly what to do and their communication to each other was amazing. It was fun watching them wagging tails, taking turns chasing each other around and the most important sniff-sniff - and respectfully too! It was controlled chaos.

These were the lucky dogs who got love and attention and the luxury of play. I thought of the million more doggies in the shelters and wished they could all have such an opportunity…


Dexter was exhausted and as dirty as he could be at the end. He is now officially broken in.

Oldie but Goodie

I found a "Vanilla Infusion Kit" on sale the other day. The instruction said to infuse the vanilla beans with vodka for 4-6 months before using it. Then, I can keep replenishing it with more vodka up to 7 years.

7 years, huh? Gee, I will be more than half of a century old in seven years, and you?

ANYTHING GOES. Have fun with infused vodka. I did it with blueberries before. Just put washed berries (make sure they are dry) in a big jar and filled the jar with vodka. Store the jar in the closet for at least 2 weeks and you will end up with very pretty blue-purple vodka.

Beauty grows and flavor develops with time. Aging is not a bad thing. Enjoy!

God Bless

I went to a Buddhist temple with Jean yesterday. It's been a while since I visited one so I was happy to have this opportunity.

The temple was tucked away on a residential street. It looked like an ordinary house from the outside but it was a big hall inside. I was amazed by the number of people who went to pray bringing with them flowers, fruits and assorted offerings to the Gods. Jean told me that many people have heard of this place and some have come from afar.

The temple was crowded with people. It looked chaotic yet in an orderly fashion. Everyone seemed to know what to do and everyone was focused on making his/her prayers heard. It was busy, buzzing but not noisy. Every person there, including me, all wanted something from the Gods. They must be very busy listening to us mortals' needs and wants.

What to do? Many feel helpless and lost in this difficult time. So much not within our control. Who knows what would happen tomorrow? Praying seems to be a good way to lessen our fear of the unknown. It's nice to be able to have an one-on-one with the Almighty.

In reality, Gods can't solve all of our problems, but they give us strength, comfort and a sense of direction. I walked away with a renewed hopefulness that things will be all OK. Just do my very best. God will be there to watch over me.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Puppy, Incoming

What Does It Mean? Sleepless nights, constant watching, can’t leave him out of sight, can’t go anywhere without taking him along, going to the vet, feeding, and scooping after him…

The New Kid: Dexter. A little 14 weeks old Great Dane that RK and I found on craigslist on 1/24/09. He has already had 2 families since his birthday on 10/1/08. We hope this family is where he will grow up to be a happy doggy.

RK and I didn’t expect to pick up a puppy. We were looking for an older dog – like Max and Dudu. We found Dexter by chance. His previous mom said that her older dog just would not allow him in the house. We went to her house to check him out. One look and we knew that he was destined to go home with us. The puppy eyes did it...

We have forgotten what it takes to care for puppies. Max came to us when he was one year old and Dudu about four. They were both very calm and required little training after a brief “orientation.” So, it was a reality check when Dexter came home.

It’s like being parents. RK has the tasks of taking care of him since Dexter is with him and I have the tasks of looking for puppy social groups and training classes and we only do puppy talks now. Ugh!

Yet, we miss you, Max, Dudu.