Dog for Chrismas

Ok don't take it the wrong way:-) We took care of a dog for our friends when they went away for Christmas. It is also a trial date for us to see what it is like to take care of a dog if, sometime in the future, we may get a dog:-). All in all, it was a great experience, especially for Takeru. It also taught them what it takes to be responsible for a living thing. We also took her for a run at Shoreline trail. She was very thrilled in the beginning and run fast, but quickly she run out of steam and I had to carry her while skating:-) Some video and photos of the time we spent with Beef.

Beef running close-up (took by dropping the camera to dog's viewpoint)



Beef chasing another dog on the run.



Takeru and Beef are both sleepy...


Beef sleeping on my lap and serves as my hand rest:-)


Beef is wrapped up in her blanket.


Beef and Takeru Christmas pose.

Vivaldi RV 108 Largo

Ruri has been preparing this piece for sometime, now she has to listen to the recordings of different musicians to pick a style of ornament to mimic. It's great to see her actually trying to interpret music and begin to play it around. Baroque music gives a lot of room for the musician to interpret, they can be so different depending on how they add ornaments etc. Anyway, next year when she finish all three parts, she will give a concert with a recorder quartet, I'm really looking forward to it.

Crash of the season

Ok, maybe over hyped, I did loss some skin but a minor scratch...I'm supposed to skate outdoor today with a colleague near our office, better hide them:-)

During the pair passing drill (every two people passing each other then one drop back and a new pair starts). As I was ready to pass the guy went down in front of me. It seems that I had a lot of time to react as I can see him losing balance in slow motion, but I was in the middle of the pass and just buried my skate into the poor guy and crashed over him.

A few minutes later, Ruri was doing the same drill and the girl in front of her went down side ways (no idea what she was doing:-) Ruri did a jump that looked like someone doing long jump on track and field: arms in the air with a walking motion over the fallen comrade. She also landed safely. We were very impressed, as this really needs very fast reflexes and agility.

Only if I also jumped, I wouldn't have lost my skin:-)