There is an event that happens everyday, yet no two are alike.  It is free yet it is one of the most precious things on Earth.  It is beautiful but few will stop to admire it.  There are many things in life that fit these descriptions, but being a space physicist, I am partial to sunsets.

I am taking advantage of the later sunset times of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere and have been taking Toby to the beach everyday to admire the daily occurance.  Today's sunset was particularly golden!  I LOVE how the rays turn Toby's fur into pure gold. 

I also enjoy my time with Toby at the beach after work.  On weekdays, there are only locals at the beach, jogging, cycling, or walking their dogs.  And it never fails that someone will come up to us to pet Toby.  He loves the attention from strangers.  Sometimes another friendly dog will come up and sniff at Toby.  I am lucky that Toby gets along with everyone and everything!  I don't have to be one of those dog owners who has to retrain their dogs all the time. 

As the Sun sets on August, I hope everyone had a wonderful month and look forward to a terrific September.  I will leave you with a little anecdote ...someone once asked the famous American physicist Richard Feynman how he can see beauty in anything anymore since he knows how nature works.  Feynman's response was, the more knowledge you have about something the more you can appreciate its true beauty. 

Cheers!

Old enemies have become new friends.  Remember Toby's nemesis?  This is our little neighbor boy cat, Lucy.  Yes, I said "boy cat".  I don't know why he's named Lucy either!  Two days after Toby's major oral surgery, he's almost completely recovered, his swelling has completely gone away and Toby can't be happier.  It's like he's a strapping two-year-old again! 

Besides his bad tooth, maybe the vet has also removed Toby's grumpiness towards little Lucy.  When we came back from our time at the dog park, we bumped into Lucy hanging out at our driveway.  Lucy is an extremely friendly cat and loves to come up to me.  Toby was very calm today so I made him lie down and hang with Lucy while I took a few pictures.  Lucy was initially nervous about Toby but soon realized that the gentle giant wasn't going to chase him today. :-)

I woke up Thursday morning to a horrible sight.  Half of Toby's face was swollen to a point that he looked more like a Bull Terrier than a Golden Retriever!  Needless to say, I freaked out.  I tried to touch his face but Toby started growling.  For a gentle giant like Toby to growl at me, I knew he was in some kind of pain.  So I called his vet and got the earliest appointment they can give me.  I had a few minutes to spare so I checked online and found some dog cases similar to Toby's and a few mentioned allergies or infections.  I also suspected a gum infection but couldn't get his mouth open to see.  Once we got to the vet, the nurse took one look at Toby and burst into laughter!  I was very surpised at her reaction but that actually made me feel a little better...I hadn't realized how tense I had been up until that point!  When the vet came and took one look at him, she knew it was his tooth.  After examining him, it was confirmed that he had a major tooth infection from a cracked tooth.  So it was decided that he needed immediate oral surgery to extract the tooth and get a full mouth cleaning.

I was very stressed about the surgery...there's always risks invovled.  So the vet sends me off and told me that she will call me once they get out of surgery and that I will be able to pick him up later in the afternoon.  I then drove to work not realizing that I was wearing my tennis shoes with my slacks!  It was quit an agonizing 2.5 hours as I waited  for the called from the vet.  Luckily, the surgery went well and the vet told me that I could pick Toby up later that afternoon.

When I picked Toby up, the poor kid was still so drowsy from the anesthesia that he couldn't get out of the car when we got home.  I had to put a big box down by the car door for him to step down on.  He just slept most of the night. I fed him canned food for dinner and he loved it!  At least he hadn't lost his appetite. :-) 

One day after the oral surgery, Toby is in full recovery!  He's soooooo much happier, I can see it in his behavior!  He came running up to greet me when I came home from work today, he has a bounce in his step when he walks.  It pains me to think that he must have been suffering from the toothache for at least several days, if not a week!  For the past several days, he didn't even want to go to the park to see his friends...the whole time I just thought he was being lazy.  I feel so awful!  Now I know to watch for behavioral changes as a sign of illness in dogs.

Toby's face is still swollen but I do see it go down slightly a day after.  The vet tells me that it will take several days for the swelling to go down.  The picture on the top was taken last Sunday, the picture below was taken Thursday morning.  He still looks more like the picture below, but hopefully in a couple of days my boy will return to his handsome self! :-)

Who are these two crazy kids at the beach?  They happen to be my parents in their mid-twenties in Taiwan, I believe.  I think it was sometime in the mid-sixties.  My parents are the first generation of Chinese to marry for love.  In fact, even my mother's oldest sister had an arranged marriage.  That means the parents basically selected who you were going to marry and the decision was likely NOT based on love.  So my mother and father were extremely lucky to have found each other and fallen in love. 

I found some pictures of my parents from the mid-sixties when they were just newly weds taken on trips they took all over Asia.  It was such a pretty era, so formal.  My mother always wore nice dresses, not unlike the ones you see on Jacqueline Kennedy.  And my father always wore suits or slacks, never jeans!  it was just different times then, a much more romantic era I think. My mom still thinks you have to dress up to go to the airport! 

Since my parents are now in their 60's and are not tech-savy, they've left their old pictures in photo albums that do not preserve paper photos well.  So I took a day this weekend to scan most of their pictures and store them online.  I put together a nice little album for them.  Of course they don't have access to the internet and can't view the album!  But you can here.  Click on the images to see a larger image.  Some people think I look like my mom, but most people tell me that I look more like my dad, what do you think?  I actually look most like my youngest aunt...my dad's youngest sister.

Feynman is officially 2 years old.  By officially, I mean that I adopted him two years ago but he is probably at least a few months older than that since he was full grown by the time he got to the pet store.  That's quite amazing for most fish...and from what I can find on the web, Betta fish's average life span is 2-3 years old. 

I have definitely noticed Feynman's behavior changing in the past few months since I brought him home from work (aka his retirement).   He used to swim up to see me when I put my face to the tank.  He also used to look forward to eating and would swim at the surface gulping down his food pellets with vigor.  But for the past few months, he spends all his time sleeping.  He would twist himself up into the plastic plant and not move for days on end.  Bettas have to breath air to survive, so he sleeps close to the surface for easy air access.  I would have to drop the food pellets right by his face for him to eat a couple.  Other times, I'll find him just lying at the bottom of the tank,  occasionally swimming to the surface for air.  But he would sink to the bottom imediately, as if he's exhausted from the effort to surface.  I also find that Feynman has become a little senile at times.  He'll swim over to me as if he wants to eat.  When I drop the food pellets into the bowl, he'll eat one or two, then he would all of a sudden stop moving and I can tell that he just fell asleep in the middle of eating!

I am saddened by the decline of Feynman's activity level, but thankful that he still seems to be in good health.  I am also thankful that Feynman has lived this long already but I can't help but feel greedy and hope that I will have him for maybe another year.  For now, I am taking lots of pictures of him. :-)

Some days I just want to burry my face in the sand.  This is one of those days...

Don't you just hate it when something that has been working for years suddenly stops working?  If you have to use a computer you know exactly what I mean.  Toby Cam is down.  Yes, I know that Toby doesn't move much during the day anyway, but I just hate it when something just stops working!  Hopefully, I'll fix the problem in a few more days.

Kim made the poster to the right from some web tool she found online.  She's always so creative.  I love the text...click on the image to see a larger version.  It is so appropriate for the picture of Toby digging at the beach.  I will print this out and post it outside my office at work.  :-\

Since it's been so hot lately, I decided to buy an umbrella for my backyard.  Simple right?  Actually it was quite difficult to find an umbrella to my liking!

Since my backyard is so small, and all of my patio furniture is small, I wanted a smaller umbrella.  What I really wanted was one of those Starbucks umbrellas!  I didn't want anything fancy, no cranks, no tilting mechanisms.  And I wanted wood, not aluminum or metal.  I also didn't want to pay more than $100.  For the past several months, I kept looking into other people's yards to see what umbrellas they use, I asked all the people at the dog park what they have in their backyards.  It seems like most people paid over $300 for their umbrellas.  Earlier this year, I found some really cheap umbrellas, under $50, from Ikea's website.  But procrastination got to me and by the time I got myself to Ikea, they were all sold out.  So I visited several local patio furniture places and couldn't find anything I liked.  Most places sold huge metal or aluminum umbrellas for way too much!

In the end, Target Online came through for me again!  I found this wood umbrella in a handsome blue for $60 and the base for $30, also at Target.  It works with ropes and a simple locking system.  It 's lightweight and easy to open and close.  It took Target less than a week to deliver both the umbrella and base!  I couldn't be happier with the purchase.  Toby barked at the umbrella only once...then he decided that it could stay in our backyard. :-)

When Toby and I visited Kim, Duke, and Eddie last weekend, we also went down to the dog beach at Huntington Beach.  As most of my friends know, I've strived to be "normal" most of my life.  But most of my friends just reply, "You're not normal."  Hm...what are they trying to tell me??  Turns out, maybe they were right.  I just realized that even my dog isn't "normal!"

Here are some pictures I took when we were at the dog beach.  Time and again, Toby's behavior just confirms that he's not a "normal" dog.  Could it be that I've somehow influenced Toby??  Could it be that my friends are right and that Toby is abnormal because of me??  Well, take a look for yourself and you tell me if he's a normal dog!

Here's a picture of a normal Golden Retriever and Toby on the beach...can you guess which one is Toby? :-)

Other dogs.

Toby.

But in the end, I was still very proud of Toby.  Even though he didn't get into the water completely, he was brave enough to get his paws wet!  Luckily, the waves are extremely gentle at Huntington Beach and Toby could step gingerly into the water.  He still preferred to stay on the dry sand but was willing to get his paws wet in order to walk near Kim and I.  At one point, he even stood his ground when the water level rose up to his elbow!!  I had to use the towel to wipe his paws dry before he got back into the car!! :-)

All I can say is, he would never survive a "Katrina" incident. :-)  And hey, isn't "normal" just a setting on the dryer?

Dog versus telescope...Toby was not happy that this big red beast is in his dining room.  He started to bark at it.  I had to inform my little dorky boy that this is the famous Astroscan, mommy's new toy.  It finally arrived in the mail along with the tripod.  I took a day to just stare at it on my table and read all the booklets that came with it.  Having never owned a telescope in my life...this was a big moment for me.  Afterall, I've wanted to study astronomy since I was 6 years old.  So I anxiously waited for nightfall tonight.  Of course it didn't even get dark until ~8:30pm! I started setting up the telescope hours before, and moved it out to my little backyard.  The second the sun was low enough I saw it...gleaming in the south-western sky, like a diamond. I knew it was Jupiter even before I looked at the sky chart.  And just as easily, I found it through my telescope.  What I saw through the eyepiece took my breath away.  There it was, Jupiter with four of its largest moons, all aligned next to Jupiter.

Jupiter has tons of moons (over 60) but the 4 largest moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Calisto) are known as the Galilean moons.  Galileo Galilei was the first person to observe and discover the moons of Jupiter ~400 years ago with a telescope he had made himself!  To think that what I saw tonight is what Galileo first observed 400 years ago just takes my breath away.

There was also a full moon out tonight so I got to see the moon too!  But to my dismay, it was actually too bright when viewed throught the telescope.  It was still spectacular, but it will be much better to view a new moon.  So I will wait a bit for another moon viewing.

Look how gorgeous the Astroscan look next to my fireplace!  But alas, with Toby hanging out in the living room all day, I decided to keep the Astroscan in my office upstairs. :-)

Hi everyone!  Since it's been so hot lately, I decided to take up Kim's invitation to bring Toby down to her house for some pool fun with her dogs Duke and Eddie.  Poor Toby, he had no idea!!  Toby has never swam before in his four years of life!  And I'm sure everyone knows of Toby's aversion for water.  But this time, I was determined to get him into the water and swim. 

Kim tells me that it took Eddie two years of living with a swiming pool to finally swim.  Even now, Duke will only swim because his beloved ball has fallen into the pool.  But I was determined to get the Golden Retriever out of Toby.  And with the help of Kim's waterproof camera and her excellent photography, we captured a brief but extraordinary moment for Toby!  Do you see that nervous smile on his face?  Enjoy pictures from Toby's big swim day!

After much struggle and lifting, Kim managed to get Toby (first front paws then butt) into the pool.  And yes, Toby resisted but realized that we were determined to get him into the pool.  Duke (left) and Eddie (right) looked on and provided emotional support to their buddy Toby.  At this point, Duke and Eddie had already been in the pool.

I don't know what Kim said to Toby, but after a few seconds, she managed to get Toby's butt off the steps and took the plunge.  But look at Toby's face!! The poor kid, he looked so unhappy and confused as to why he was being punished. 

Look at Toby go!!! Once he realized that there was no way out of this, Toby started to doggie paddle!  He was so textbook, didn't splash around too much. 

I was completely surprised by Toby's swim form.  Seeing him swim made me so  proud and happy.

Notice Toby's worried look...

Even though Toby grunted like an angry old man the whole time and only swam a tiny circle before climbing back onto the steps, Kim gave him tons of kudos.

Toby was so exhausted after his little swim that he just sat on the step of the pool.  I thought that since it was such a hot day that he would prefer to sit under water.  I also thought that once he swam that he would love it and want to swim all day long.  Ok, that was too much wishful thinking on my part. 

When I got distracted, Toby snuck out of the pool and ran over to the other side of the backyard and lay as flat as he could hoping that no one would see him.  Even though he did a terrific impression of a bear skin rug, I managed to find him.  Look at his frown! :-)

After taking some time to do a little swimming myself, I thought it was time for Toby to get back into the pool.  It was also too hot to be sitting on the cement.  Even with the heat, I was met with some resistance...so I pulled out the leash.  That was met with more resistance...

I didn't want to make Kim have to drag Toby into the pool again, so what to do??  Kim usually entices Duke into the pool with a tennis ball.  But there was nothing Toby was obsessed enough with for him to go into the pool for...or is there?!

In the end, I had to whip out the Ace in the hold...milk-bone!!  Toby's one obsession is doggie milk-bone treats.  I had forgotten to bring any dog treats with me so Duke and Eddie were nice enough to give one to Toby.

Toby wanted the cookie so bad...but resisted getting into the pool. He kept pacing around the pool, even tried pawing at the cookie. 

The cookie always wins...Poor Toby found himself once again in "cool" water.  Look at his unhappy face!! I didn't realize how much he hated swimming!

Eddie apparently sensed Toby's misery and gave Toby a simpathetic nose bump.  It's like he was saying, "I understand brotha!"

In the end, Toby broke out his trump card on me...the sad-dog look!  I gave him a hug and let him just sit in the water on the steps. 

Even though Toby only swam once, I was so proud of him!  He had good doggie-paddle form and now I know that he can at least swim enough to survive in the pool. 

Dispite Toby's sad face, it was a terrific day of fun by the pool.  The weather couldn't have been better, the pool water was warm, and everyone had a great time.  I hadn't been swimming in more than a year and it was refreshing after the heat wave we've had to endure the past few weeks. 

I still can't help but believe that one day, Toby will learn to relax more in the water and maybe even like swimming...

Hey wait a minute, is that a smile I see on Toby's face??! 

Happy Summer everyone! :-)

Remember my little work space? Eventhough I had set up a little "office" area in my living room for printing and scanning purposes, I didn't get a chair for it...until now.  I wanted something really small so I can tuck it away when I'm not using it.  I also wanted it to be cheap, ususally chairs are very expensive.  I found a $3 beach chair at Ikea but they were sold out, of course!  So last weekend, I went to Marukai to do my grocery shopping and guess what I found?!  A little red folding chair for $8!!  It is so cute and very functional, even has a back!  I grabbed all 4 remaining chairs in the store.  I was even worried that other shoppers were going to steal them out of my shopping cart while I wasn't looking.  This chair is even better than the Ikea one I was going to get...the other one has a cloth seat.  This one folds up nicely and look how it fits perfectly next to the wall.  Finding the perfect product makes Amy very happy. :-)

Isn't it handsome?  Being a space physicist, you'd think that I've had a telescope since childhood.  But believe it or not, I've never owned a telescope...until now.  Thanks to S's pushing, I've finally purchased a telescope.  A little jealousy didn't hurt either...S recently bought a very fancy telescope that just made me envious.  However, I don't live in an area that would warrent such a nice telescope...all of the optical zoom and light gathering power would be wasted on city lights and smog.  So I decided to buy the much-touted Astroscan from Edmund's Scientific.  I ended up spending ~$300 including the purchase of a tripod for the telescope.  This telescope is the best bang for the buck, boasting an award winning optical design and easy to use tracking.  It is very difficult to track a small object in the sky since it will move out of the field of view of the telescope in matters of seconds sometimes.