Tag: Berkeley

Matrix Kev and Bat Berk.

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween. I didn’t go out this year, but did manage to throw together this Matrix-y look for the day. Pretty lame, I know, but most people got what I was going for after it turned dark and I was still wearing the shades. I also tried once again to get Berk to wear the Batman costume I got him a year ago, but he’s still not having it…I suppose that speaks well of his character.

Lost in Translation.

So I finally received the Bowlingual translator that Berk earned a few months ago and…well, as you might expect, it’s a bust. Unless I’ve been wildly misreading Berk’s behavior for years now, the translator appears to be randomly guessing, with the same string of barks eliciting diametrically opposed emotions. In other words, it’s useless, unless you really want to interact with your dog via a Tamagotchi. (Although, to be fair, when I just had to crate Berk for a slew of barks at a dog on the street, the Bowlingual responded, “You just don’t get it.”) That might in fact be true.

Red Skies and Bluegrass.

Hey y’all…busy weekend over here in these parts. Aside from a final orgy of TIME-reading to put an end to my summer research work, I also went to go check out the Creative Time fireworks show, where I spent most of the 4-and-some-odd minutes trying to prevent Berkeley from having a coronary (Lousy judgment on my part bringing him…I thought he might enjoy night in the Park, but he clearly thought he was back on Hill 243.) And I got to see St. Felix Station, my friend’s great bluegrass band over at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg (and was delighted to find said candy store has a weekly trivia night…booyah.)

Start Spreading the News.

Hey y’all…after a massive amount of traveling, bill-paying, and errand-running over the past 48 hours or so, I’m now back home in NYC. While I’m a bit melancholy that three weeks of sun and fun are over, there is something to be said for having Berk at my side and the world at my fingertips again…no more dial-up, booyah. At any rate, I’ll post some vacation pics here once I get all my images organized…in the meantime, expect updates here to resume normal schedule.

Finding your Power Human.

“The idea is to figure out what a dog was born to do — herd, hunt, retrieve, sit decoratively on laps — and find ways to do it.” Slate examines the burgeoning world of dog fulfillment. What Berk was emphatically not born to do was spend three weeks in a kennel, but ah well. These are trying times. He’s been in the joint before…he can handle it. (And, while I’m on the subject of canines, I also enjoyed this self-medicating dog story from Drudge.)

Berk earns his keep.

So I just got back from a rather lucrative 1-hour “dog psychology” marketing session in Uris Hall (a.k.a. the Columbia business school), which I signed up for after seeing a flyer earlier in the week. For one hour of hypothesizing what Berkeley would say in various situations, I got a free lunch, $50 in cold, hard cash (we’re going to have to make a trip to the pet store), and a coupon for a free (and somewhat goofy) $120 Bowlingual dog translator, to be redeemed when they arrive Stateside in August. Apparently they’re trying to come up with a stock of English phrases for the US release. So, if you happen to buy one of these and it tells you your canine is saying things like “I defy you,” “The madness has come upon me,” and “Your coming here is as the footsteps of doom,” you’ll know why.