I went into work today… I was planning on just dropping off the brochures, so the entire fam came along for the ride. I was going to take John to a local donut shop, where they have excellent cake donuts, but the joint was closed. Then, the boss called and I got sucked into prepping presentations. Frickin’ A. But John was a good sport about it– the whole thing reminded me of grad school when he’d come down to visit me in Florida and he’d end up waiting for me for HOURS while I ran my experiments. Anyway, I finally got out of there just before noon. We hit Fuddruckers. Gotta give it to them for making damn good burgers on fresh buns. Tasty. Afterwards, we checked out a new park on East Bay– Dry Creek. Basically, it was like going to a farm with acres and acres of open fields and mountains… and with grazing cattle even. Remy and Martin were in heaven frolicking around. When they happened on a small herd under the shade, Martin started barking (he never barks!). We were surprised the dogs didn’t run away once the herd (of three) started moving.

We continued on our hike up the path. The weather was beautiful: sunny and breezy and you could see so much of the area (Hayward, San Mateo Bridge, even SF) below. The bad thing was that the fields were littered with dung piles. And even worse, Remy and Martin had a thing for rolling around. I knew they were up to no good, but John thought I was being too hard on them: they’re just dogs–they like to roll around in the grass. Uh yeah, until Martin came running up to us soiled in fresh shit all over his back, ears, and brand new harness! And let me tell you: John is the biggest shit phobe. Poop is like blood— when he sees it, he gets all dizzy and grossed out. So that kind of put a damper on things. We decided it was best to head back. Luckily, we found a stream and the dogs, overheated and thirsty, plopped right in. Yes, I washed the shit off of Marty. Touched it and all. What could I do? It was fine. It was like washing a baby’s diaper or something. No big deal. Of course on the drive home, John was still trippin’ about the fecal matter on my hands. “Don’t touch me.” Total wussy pants.

We were pretty active today. In the afternoon, we shot some hoops at the local courts. Man, I suck! Never sucked this badly. I was throwing up all bricks. Kind of lost interest pretty quickly. I think I’m going to focus my efforts on tennis now. That and look what I just discovered: Landrollers, the same things Caesar Milan uses. Yeah, $250 is a pretty big price tag… I’ll be scouring Ebay and Craigslist for the next several weeks. Then again, the big 4-year anniversary is Friday… may just have to treat myself. The reviewers say Landrollers are much easier to use for beginners. I love the fluidity of rollerblading, but unfortunately, I’ve never been able to pull that shit off. I am embarrassing in rollerblades– with me, it’s all about abrupt, jerky movements. Landrollers could very well be the answer…