My, how they’ve grown!

A year (or seven) in two dogs’ lives: A few photos of Kona and Jasmine over the past year. 132 pounds of love.

Pesky Habit

Habits. They follow us everywhere, every day. We begin each new year vowing to change them.

I’ve been thinking more about my habits. Of course, the bad ones, like repeatedly falling weakly to the “all u can eat” M&M dispenser on my co-team member’s desk. It’s strategically placed right in my path to-and-from the restroom.  And, let’s not forget the big bowl of assorted chocolates in the office that someone or something mysteriously recently kept re-filling overnight. Temptation is everywhere.

Then, there are those good habits we adopt such as taking the time to exercise DURING the workday. Luckily, I am a part of a company that encourages good habits. Adopting a new, good habit is easy except for when you want to replace it for an old, bad habit.

As a Product Owner, I constantly think how users will interact with the software we design: How does it impact their routines, is it intuitive, and does it encourage them to change poorly-practiced habits?

Which brings me to The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Before now, I never really thought about habits and how they form. Apparently, without any input from us, the brain will try to make habits out of every routine, to save energy and enable us to devote our noggins to more critical tasks such as devising the next hot start up concept. Training your brain to change a habit is the challenge.

Enjoy the diagram below. I have it posted in my workspace and hope that, over time, it will inspire me to change my pesky habit.

The Gamification Blog

Check out Gabe Zimmerman’s blog, The Gamification Blog, “one stop for the latest news, insight, research and commentary on gamification. Come here to find the best technology providers, read about the most exciting companies, attend one of our events and workshops, or just connect with experts.”

 

 

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Sisters

When I am tending to Kona and Jasmine, encouraging them to “get busy” or tending to my chores as they attempt to remain calm, I often begin humming this song.

As the holidays approach, I always look forward to watching this movie again and again.

If he is close by, Ken joins in. Then we begin to sign in unison, the two whole words that we have memorized. I imagine that if the dogs were more like us monkeys, Kona would enjoy jazz, like Miles Davis, and Jasmine would belt out show tunes a la Ethel Merman.

There, now it’s in your head…hum away.


 

Funnels of Love

No, not those funnels. Rather the type that invaded our house last Tuesday. Hard, plastic, evil funnels attached to cute, cuddly puppies. Better known as Elizabethan collars, they are really torture devices for both master and pet; they bruise legs, mark up walls, and have turned both the dogs and monkeys into intolerant, impatient, crabby, crazy creatures. When in her kennel, Jasmine now barks incessantly, her high pitched, “I need attention and now” bark. Unless, she is tired or asleep. Sweet, lovable, “all I want to be is a good dog” Kona has converted into an instigator. The problem? They are prohibited from the rough and tumble play that only canine siblings can appreciate.

People suggested alternatives. They mean well, but anything less would be toast and rendered useless as we attempted to stop a frustrated dog from ripping open a suture. Consider that within the first twenty-four hours, we had reinforced the evil funnels with generous amounts of duct tape.

So we walk to manage the chaos. Walking is both good mental and physical exercise. My parents walk for hours at a time. They have walked all over the world for more than fifty years. I have meant to ask what their most interesting walk has been. Christian tugs the girls along on separate jaunts around our neighborhood each morning. Our evening routine once again involves a walk. We reconnect, which is important. It makes us better parents. Even time away from the pups includes walking; our tour of national parks and monuments this summer will involve hiking.

Kona and Jasmine are now genetic cul-de-sacs. Ken says one day they will thank us for this. But not anytime in the immediate future.

What’s in a name?

Kona as in coffee, Jasmine as in tea. Two Golden Retriever sisters. Ken suggested Hazel and Gracie, in homage to two hurricanes that battered the South Carolina coast decades ago much as we anticipated our girls would unleash their energy onto our home. Cute, catchy, I thought. But Jasmine it would be for “curly girl.” Why? Because Christian liked it, that’s why. And, Kona for “Bella Jr.” Kona means lady in Hawaiian. I liked it; it stuck.

“Coffee, tea or milk?” makes me think of stewardesses…I mean, flight attendants… which leads to planes and travel. I love to travel. I obsess about travel. I was three-months-old when I was headed on a transoceanic adventure to Australia. When, as my mother tells it, a young nun played her guitar and sang to me to keep me from crying. I recall the days when a 17-hour nonstop flight was unheard of. What’s the allure? Tell me who would not find it intriguing to stop for refueling in Tashkent, U.S.S.R., where a plane from far away was so coveted by the natives peering from behind a chain link fence? Or look forward to stepping out into the bright tropic sun in Pago Pago, to peruse the puka shell necklaces displayed on the tarmac, sold by native women dressed in muumuus?

So, Coffee, Tea, or Dog…a record of our lives, our family, our adventures with our new pups. A way to share, reflect, remember, laugh, and maybe even cry. Fear not those who do not covet Canis lupus familiaris as I will write about other topics too such as travel (did I mention that I really, really like to travel?), food (need I say more?), architecture (trust me, it’s big), kidz stuff (ok, PRE-teen stuff), and even work (technology is cool and inevitable so embrace it!).

We are experienced pet owners (I’ll write about Pawley later). But little did we know about the culture of DOG TIMES TWO.  Follow us on this adventure…