September Update

Mochi is now in NYC. He arrived via air at JFK (many, many thanks to Darren, Dan & Mel!!!) about a month ago. I then had to leave him in the kennel for a week as both Aisha and I were travelling.

Aisha is now back at home and the Mochster is home also. I'm in LA for another week as my father has been hospitalized due to a stroke. He is recovering ok from it as his mental faculties seem fine. He has some detoriation in his motor skills (which were already poor due to the advancement of his Parkinsons). The really bad news is that the doctors have found what is probably a cancerous growth in his right lung. If it has metastasized (i.e. spread to other parts of his body) then that's a death sentence. The initial prognosis is poor. Things ain't looking too hot.

My thanks to all my friends, family and co-workers who have expressed good wishes to us and my immediate family.

I'll be in SF the following week for work. It'll be a pretty hectic three months as I will be travelling quite a bit. I'll maybe be able to see Mochi half of the time as a result.

What gives me hope is that my mother, sister, Aisha and I have been throwing around the idea of potentially chipping in for a house in or around Berkeley in the future. Minimum timeframe for us to return to the Bay Area would be five years out as Aisha is in the process of completing her schooling and starting her fashion career in NYC. Our original long-term plan after NYC was a fashion hub somewhere in Europe (London, Paris or Milan). Given the change in my family situation, this will be revisited as time progresses.

Mochi is adjusting very well to being an ultra-urban dog. Berkeley looks like Yosemite compared to NYC. There ain't no grass. We consider ourselves lucky to have trees on our street. The silver lining is that there is the Carl Shulz park (sp?) and dog run a few blocks away from the apartment and I take him there religiously. Downside is that there ain't no grass or dirt in the dog run either. The large dog run is covered in pebbly gravel. Mochi does NOT like this. It is akin to walking in kitty litter. He does not like to walk in it, let alone run in it. He prefers to hop on the bench and let the other dogs visit him.

With all the travel and time away from Mochi due to our move and work, Moch has developed some symptoms of separation anxiety. The moment I step out to run some errands, he'll start baying like there's no tomorrow. I can hear him from the outside of the building as well as from four flights down. I've bought a muzzle both for his and my sake. It wouldn't do any good for either of us to be homeless.

What I do is if I step out of the apartment and he starts his antics, I go back in and muzzle him. If he stays quiet, he has free range of the apartment. It sounds draconian, but it works. After just two days of this, he understands that if he isn't quiet, I'll give him a cup of SHUT THE HELL UP! (movie reference courtesy of Aisha). He's been mostly good since.