Personal

Libby's been exercising, reading, playing Sodoku, tending to her upside-down tomato plants, and probably playing some Wii. I've been exercising, cleaning up some backups, and plan on doing some coding this afternoon. We know how to celebrate our country's independence!

We've been busy helping Dory stay healthy and find her a new home. Libby's been to Arizona and back where she gave a presentation about her research. I've been working with TriPUG to see if we can re-invigorate attendance and presentations.

Merry Christmas to all from Park City, Utah.

Libby's back from New York again and picked up 3 dachshund puppies for us to foster. Gabe, Alice, and Izzy warm our hearts daily. Lily and Marshall are doing everything they can to be good big brothers and sisters.

In other news, Libby has put a great deal of work into building up the content in her website TrainaDox. She'll be putting all sorts of training and DRNA information up there.

It should be a busy next few months including John and Angel's wedding in Champaign in September, the Carrboro Weiner Dog Day at the beginning of October, and the Mid-atlantic Dachshund Picnic in October.

We've just returned from a lovely trip out west to see Houston, Las Vegas, The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, and Park City. We had a great time including camping for two nights in Zion and Bryce Canyon Nation Parks, seeing Jack and Sally (Libby's aunt and uncle in Vegas), and meeting up with Libby's family in Park City. It is, however, wonderful to return the comfort and routine of home particularly recharged with fresh air and the outdoors. I will be putting up the photos (and videos) soon.

Libby completed her Prelim review of her doctoral research on Friday. Her committee really put her through the ringer, but her project was approved and she's excited about getting going. They did want to nail down some of her specific goals which she'll be working on starting this week. Congratulations to Libby!

About two weeks ago Libby noticed a lump on Lillian's posterior and we took her in on Saturday February 11th to have it examined. Our vet felt and then aspirated the lump and was disappointed to find some granules in the sample. Unfortunately, these are characteristic of a mast cell tumor. Lily had a mast cell tumor removed a few years ago from the back of her neck. We were able to schedule her for surgery on Monday February 13th to have the tumor removed. The surgery was very sucessful and it was excised with an ample margin.

Today, we heard the results of the pathology. They confirmed that it was indeed a mast cell tumor grade 2. We'll be taking her to an oncologist as soon as we can. From what we've read there are a number of tests we can do to determine the extent to which the tumor has spread. The small size of the tumor, the successful surgery, and the long time between these incidents are all good signs. Obviously we've been worried about her since we heard this, but we can only hope for the bset and do everything in our power to assure her speedy recovery.

Over the weekend Libby attempted to arrange two adoptions. One turned out not to get along with the other dog. The second person just wasn't quite ready until she'd spoken with her family. While they were hear meeting the fosters, another DRNA member also picked up a fear aggressive pup, Amigo. As everyone was on their way out Amigo was cornered and bit Libby's hand pretty badly. Today she ended up at the doctor to get some antibiotics. Tomorrow she heads out to New York to collaborate on some research.

This past weekend Libby and I put a great deal of work into the house. Libby cleaned up all kinds of dog stuff, reorganized it in the garage and cleaned. I got to pull wire for new surround sound speakers in the bedroom. In addition, we installed pulls/handles on all our kitchen cabinets and drawers.

October has come and gone, which means I'm now a year older. During October we also enjoyed a visit from Libby's sister Elly, spent two weeks with just Lily and Marshall, enrolled both Marshall and Lily in training classes. Marshall will complete his "Pre-agility" course in two weeks, and Lily will be taking the CGC test at the end of her course. At work, we've released a new version of our software without too much fuss. We even managed to bill people for their next month of service successfully. Libby and I are both looking forward to our Thanksgiving break!

Libby mentors two sixth graders, only one made it for this trip, through the BOOST program at Duke. These students are those who have shown excellence in Science & Math. As part of this, they plan some related activites, and others just for fun like swimming, movies, etc. We departed on Saturday morning to meet the BOOST crew. The bus took us all to the Duke Marine Lab just outside Beaufort, NC . The lab treated us to very tasty food, sparse but homey accomodations, and a very fun time. We got to take a boat trip out in to the water, do some dredging for sea creatures, and pick through the results. On the way back we stopped at the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park for lunch and a hike. We had a great weekend and took many pictures.

Today we had our dining room floor changed from carpet to hardwood. In the past, we've always had the dining room blocked off with gates and x-pens to prevent the dogs from entering and peeing everywhere. The hardwood allows us to use this room full-time! It looks and feels like a new house. The wood matches seamlessly. Libby stayed home today to supervise the installation. After they left around noon, she took the initiative to go get paint, paint, and clean up before I even returned home. The room is now a nice green color. We've put our bookshelves and table back into the room and put most of the stuff back in as well. I look forward to making it a den where I can go and work while staying near to my dear wife who typically hangs out in the family room or bedroom. Pictures coming soon.

Pictures now up.

In Park City we enjoyed rafting, mountain biking, hiking, and great food. I particularly enjoyed mountain biking and will be anxious to try it again either here or next time we return to the mountains. The downside here is there's no ski lift to carry us up the mountain.

We came home late Wednesday night on a direct flight from Salt Lake City to Raleigh thanks to Delta. The heat in Park City wasn't nearly as bad as here. Luckiy we have air conditioning to help. We're both extremely tired from the trip, the time change, and two very busy days at work for me.

thursday night, I flew to Denver, CO via Houston, TX. The next morning Libby's family (minus Elly), Ethan's girlfriend, Martha, and I then drove from Denver to Park City, UT yesterday. We arrived at Libby's family's home in the evening to find the home at 92 degrees. The family has been considering installing air-conditioning. It does get pretty cool at night, around 60 last night but we had trouble getting the circulation going sufficient for cooling off the upstairs.

Otherwise, we're greatly enjoying the views, company, and time off!

Libby celebrates her first quarter-century on this planet today. We've celebrated by dining on Thai food and playing Boggle. Tonight we learned that: vox, ross, tron, rosh, kay, kays, mew, lido, dole, and bier are all english words according to one of the many sources on dictionary.com. I'd like to thank them for their resourcefulness as they allowed me to get a few more points in the game. Unfortunately, Libby still beat me every round without resorting to making up nearly as many words. Either way, Happy Birthday to my dear wife.