It's always "Kevin, Kevin, Kevin"

Congratulations to Kevin!! He got a new job! He'll still be working at Crowe Chizek but is moving out of the computer support center and will be heading up Crowe's new SharePoint Server. He'll be in charge of designing and maintaining the system for the entire company! It's a pay raise, better career track, and he doesn't have to work on weekends anymore! We can actually plan day trips now. He officially starts November 1, but begins training October 1. I'm so proud of him! Because of the new job, he's holding off on applying to MBA programs for a year or two. He's still planning on taking the GMAT though. We're both really excited for his new job. Kevin has also been contacted by someone wanting to use one of his pictures on Flickr for a book he's writing on PhotoShop. In exchange, he'll give Kevin a free copy of the book. Go Kevin!

Happy birthday to my mom! She celebrated her 35th birthday this week. :) Here's to many more!

As for Riley, he's still doing great. We had our second obedience class last week, which was a bit of a waste of time. Riley does great around humans. He listens to us and obeys, even with distractions. Jeff, the trainer, tried to distract Riley from his sit and stay command by bouncing a ball by him or calling to him, but Riley stayed put. He even stayed when Kevin would leave the building. Jeff skipped ahead to training weeks three and four, and Riley passed them all within half an hour. After that, Jeff was out of ideas. We spent the rest of the time talking and playing with Riley. Kevin showed Jeff all of Riley's tricks. Jeff wants to video tape Riley at our next class as a demo for his website. Riley's a very smart dog; his major failing is with other dogs. He loves to socialize with other dogs, and he'll completely ignore you when he's with another dog. That's where we need the most help. For our next class, Jeff is bringing a "distraction" dog so we can work on Riley's problem.

I attended another agility class last week. I think our neighbor wanted company more than anything, so I went. I took Kevin's camera with me and took some fun pictures of the dogs. The trainer was impressed with the pictures and would like us to take more for her website and brochure. In exchange, she's willing to reduce the price of classes. Once Riley passes obedience school, we'll sign him up for the agility classes. Riley and I have been walking in the mornings with our neighbor and his dog Gretchen. He's been teaching Riley some of the agility tricks (actually, Riley tends to follow Gretchen around and does whatever she does). Riley does really well with the jumps- I can't wait to get him to the real obstacle courses.

As for me, not much is new. I'm still working a lot, and classes are keeping me busy. I have been getting my exercise- Riley's walks last up to an hour and a half now that we're walking with our neighbor and his dog. The park near our house is beautiful and very big. We mostly let the dogs wander around off leash as we walk around the park. I had a check up with my allergist. He's baffled that I don't have any allergy symptoms even though I'm allergic to everything. He told me to count my blessings.

That's it for now.