18th Aug 2008
The Olympics, the weekend, and Ichi
Well, first off, I retract any statements I’ve made anywhere about 8 gold medals. Apparently the goal of them produced fantastic ratings, better acknowledgement for swimming (which my alma mater would enjoy I’m sure) and got athletes to the pool that wouldn’t normally be there (Kobe, LeBron, etc.). So go USA and WAR EAGLE. Auburn picked up 13 medals in swimming. Last I checked, we had 14 total….which, if you are obsessed with the Olympics like I am, would place us 11th in the medal count if Auburn were a country. Not bad at all.
On to more relevant stuff….I got a dyson to take care of the fur. And Ichi got in a fight. Mom and Dad came up Saturday and my former youth minister causes me to make wacky Olympic related macros. Gotta say, he’s kind of right about the Bird’s Nest looking like a doughnut. Especially when you apply the doughnut portion of
the picture 
Click more pictures of Ichi and details on her fight. Oh and a somewhat review of the dyson animal that I got. And the doughnut formerly known as the Bird’s Nest.
See I told you he was right. Suddenly the stadium looks kind of tasty doesn’t it. Is this the first public appearance of my wacky heavily influenced humor?
Anyway, more relevant things…like Ichi’s fight.
See, Ichi and I went to the dog park yesterday. Ichi loves to run flat out, which is usually severely hampered by her leash. So I try (somewhat unsuccessfully) to take her to the dog park at least once a week. Somehow, these plans are often foiled by the rain.
Well, yesterday I was not foiled and we made it, big jug of water, ball, and treats in hand. It didn’t work out like we expected. The first time we went, it was a marvelous time for her. She played and played and ran and ran until she was about to fall out from puppy heatstroke. This time she successfully picked a fight (she likes to be chased). She was doing really well for a while, looking like an Auburn runningback with all the fake outs and quick turns to avoid the other dogs (2 of which were akitas). The “doing really well” lasted about 3 minutes or so. Eventually the 2 akitas and 2 other dogs (including a brown dog) teamed up. They had her circled and Ichi looked more scared than I’ve ever seen her. This wasn’t the “I don’t want you to cut my nails mom, so I’m gonna fidget until you think I’m afraid”. It wasn’t even the shiba scream. It was somewhere between a scream and a whimper and she was very low to the ground with a “OH NO, I’m gonna die” look on her face.
See, that brown dog didn’t appear to be just playing. Ichi was WAY over her head. So the owner of the akitas (who were just playing) and I went over to break up the fight. I still don’t know who owned the brown dog. She held the brown dog while I got Ichi out of the fray. Ichi wrapped herself around me and held on for dear life. Afterall, it’s one thing for that dog to attack another dog, it’s another for it to attack me. That would have gone far less unnoticed by the other owners.
Ichi and I went over to the area with all the owners and for the rest of the time she was very hesistant to play and wouldn’t run at all. The most she ran was to different segments of the fence where she egged on the small dogs in the small dog area. Everyone petted her and told her how sweet she was. A few folks asked what kind of dog she was, and one actually knew what a Shiba was, just had not seen a black and tan one. As I mentioned, there were 2 akitas and Ichi. Combine that with a few other dogs with similar characteristics and there were SO MANY curly tails at the dog park. Hilarious.
Post fight, ichi and I hung out a little bit and then went back to the house about an hour or so after we had gotten there. The rest of the night Ichi was glued to me. More than usual that is. She was her playful, bouncing self in the apartment but she absolutely didn’t want to leave my side. I presume I’ve earned quite a bit of trust and maybe, just maybe, she’s learned not to pick fights.
Now, onto the dyson. I have pictures. Everyone seems to swear by this thing so I went ahead and got it. First I vacuumed my bedroom floor and while it didn’t look any different, being the least trafficed area of the apartment, BOY did the dyson pick up a lot. See picture for proof. Hopefully this helps mine and Ichi’s allergies.
Ichi’s totally checking out the vacuum. Now, that looks like a lot right? I swear, the area of my room that had been vacuumed at that point was probably 4×7. Ichi was very interested in the floor afterwards. She wasn’t at all sure why it no longer smelled like her. I have about 18 pictures of her sniffing the bedroom floor. I think she was also pretty amazed I let her in there for a significant amount of time.
Additionally related to Ichi, my parents came up this weekend and Ichi didn’t try to attack them when they went into “her room” and she didn’t bark at them at all. Granted, they’ve probably spent the most time around her when I wasn’t, but still. I was happy. Ichi was ecstatic. They rounded the corner while we were on our walk and Ichi ran straight to them, all jumpy and bouncy. She knew exactly who they were.
While there, they hung my coat rack and mirror (i’ve only been in my apartment for like a year), dad taught me how to use my drill a bit more, we went “shopping” at Bridge Street, saw Tropic Thunder and the 501st at the Monaco, and went to Rosie’s where I gave dad a new appreciation for barbecue chicken nachos.
Tomorrow starts my first day back in school but my first day in school but not AT school. Not sure how it’s gonna go. I know everyone keeps saying “you’ll do fine”, but I’m a worrier, so I’m worrying. At least watching the Olympics has given me a chance to do some serious multitasking. I’m almost ready for the start of football season/Dragon*con. I need to get to ordering Ichi’s jersey. We have to match afterall. She’s been preparing by ripping the tail off her elephant and pulling out the stuffing and ears off her second tiger, who I’ve named Mike.
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