Fresh of the heels of my dog's death, I'm happy to report some good news -- mainly:

• (Contract) Job offer from Nintendo; potential start date is 4/6
• We'll be getting a substantial tax return this year -- much larger than I expected
• Our Disneyland trip got slightly changed to a different package, which will save us $800
• I got promoted from 1-stripe to 2-stripe blue belt at my BJJ school, http://www.nwjja.com
• I'm meeting with some folks next week to discuss some more freelance writing for some casual video games (which I can thank my long time buddy Paul Peterson for helping to hook me up with)
  

It will be good to get working again, but at the same time I've got mixed feelings. I've enjoyed being a 'house dad' for the last 9 months or so. (I've only been unemployed about 3.5 months, but prior to that I was working almost exclusively from home.)

Hence I'm not completely looking forward to returning to a 9-5 type gig, commuting, and no doubt a severe compression of my free time as a result of day job + extra projects.

On the other hand, the new job should allow us to go forward with a house re-fi to take advantage of the super low mortgage rates, and pile up some cash n' stuff. Paying bills and eating is good. =)

But I'll miss my sons -- taking Kazu to school, and being home for them in general. Sigh.

I'm sure we'll all manage.

On March 20th, 2009 -- the first day of spring -- we had to euthanize Baku, our beloved dog for the last nine years. He had developed an aggressive bone tumor about 2 months ago. We kept him comfortable for as long as we could. He lived like a king in his final months. I cried briefly right after I made the appointment.

He was the kindest, gentlest dog (a Lab/Great Dane mix) I've ever known. He was amazingly smart. He easily learned all the standard dog tricks and commands, and I suspect if I'd ever wanted to take the time, I could have taught him to open the fridge and grab me a drink. When we adopted him, I was told that many of his litter mates had gone on to be service dogs.

He loved chasing frisbees and tennis balls. He was afraid of children, except for our own -- whom he was amazingly patient and tolerant of. I will always miss his guttural, howling "talk" when he was excited to see us.

He used to sit with me downstairs on Friday nights while I watched Battlestar Galactica. Last night, all I could do was hold his empty collar -- a closed and now profoundly symbolic circle.
When we got into the car to take Baku to the vet for his euthanization, my CD player just happened to be playing "Space Oddity" by David Bowie, followed by "Come Sail Away" by Styx. It just started to play "Turn the World Around" by Harry Belafonte when we arrived at the vet.

When we arrived at around 3:10PM, a flash storm poured rain down on us as we tried to get Baku out of the car.
That same storm felled a tree, crushed a pickup, and caused a motorcycle accident and a power outage -- right next to my mom's house.

After Baku had passed on and my wife and I managed to stop crying, we returned to the car. The CD player resumed playing "Turn the World Around" by Harry Belafonte.

When we returned home, my oldest son Kazu was in tears. I guess he's old enough now to understand what was happening -- more so than I thought he would.

It was about 5:00PM when I took my youngest son Katsuya to my mom's house so she could watch him while I went to my jiu-jitsu class. It was then we discovered the felled tree and other problems caused by the very brief storm. News crews, police, the fire department, and various city utility trucks were all at the scene still sorting out the mess. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

It was 3:10PM on March 20th, 2009 that we had to take Baku in so he could die peacefully, finally free of pain.
But the world -- or my world at least -- raged that very day, that very moment at the loss.