Open House

Today my real estate agent arranged an open house event from 3-6pm, I did not know how big the coverage was, just felt I had to fix a few things around before showing to other brokers or potential buyers. I fixed 4 lights, drilled 2 holes and repaired a bamboo screen outdoor, plus last minute gardening for the entire morning, it was a lot of work to prep the house before showing.

He actually did a mailing for 1800 homes in my community plus the other two golf communities near by, he had over 50 people came to check out the house within these 3 hours, serving cheese, fruit and wine at the same time. Meanwhile, we retreated to the beach during the action with Samson the little dog. I don't think we ever have 50 people come into the house at the same time, I think the biggest group I had for party in this house was 34.

Feedback from the clients are mostly positive, everyone loves the outdoor zen garden, the dining room was a big hit inside the house. I had to hide away all the junks before people come it wasn't funny. In general, this house shows very well, it does not show good on paper / printed material, you would just have to be in the house to feel it. I doubted how many people really know about Zen, it involves a level of energy surrounding you, it brings peace, solitary and pleasure from within. And I tried very hard to deliver this energy through the garden.

There was 2 people who understand this energy, one is a broker and she mentioned her client keep requesting a house with a Zen garden; the other one is a resident inside my community looking to move into a bigger home with more backyard space, he stayed 2 hours throughout this 3 hours open house period of time, could not get over how nice it feels just hang around in the garden.

Now let's get lucky, get an offer then we could take off to go wherever we want to go and do whatever we want to do!

Social test for Samson

Victor's extended family had a shiver call (funeral jewish style) on Wednesday and Thursday, we attended both days and send our deepest condolences to the family members. During the second night's sitting shiver, Victor's elder brother told us to bring the dog with us, because his grand daughters would love to meet Samson. One of whom wants to be a Vet when she grows up later.

I wasn't sure how Samson would react in such a big group, the house had probably 20 adults and 8 kids. Samson actually enjoyed his time to be a social butterfly, running around group after group and begging for food from everyone with his cutest look, you know, one of those big eyes looking at you with a 30 degree head tilt while sitting quietly next to your feet.

While the rabbi was conducting the service and singing in Hebrew, Samson decided to join the rabbi with his awf awf tune, then I had to take him out of the house. That is the only time I felt Samson did not perform quietly, I guess he was just so excited to see so many people, so much smell from the food and 8 kids are jumping on top of him at the same time.

I was afraid there would be some nipping if the kids are rough on him, thank God Samson behaves very well, even 2 kids are very rough on pulling his tail or pretend to ride on top of him, Samson just ran away from them, did not growl or attempt to bite anybody.

Everyone could not get over Samson has only been with us for 4 weeks, every one was keep giving him treats and he was the only dog in the house, there is no other dog smell in the house so Samson did not mis-behave (did not pee inside the house).

He was able to follow simple command such as come, sit and paw; after he performs the drills then he would proceed to get his treat. This is a dog trainer program called "Nothing in Life is Free". It meant to make the dog work for his food / treat, make the dog do something before he gets his share, which makes a lot of sense.

Most children loves pet, some of them just aren't that sensitive to the pet's feeling. There was one girl keep trying to ride Samson as a horse, man he is only 12lbs, if the girl really accidentally ride on him I am sure Samson is going to break a bone somewhere. If Samson is a Mastiff then it is another story but he is just a little cockapoo!

Overall, his performance in front of a big crowd was great, he was not shy and he was not scared. He held his head high and engaging in smelling everybody, try to figure it out who has the best tasting food on their plate, then proceed to sit quietly next to that person. Victor's sister-in-law was trying to clean Samson after feeding him, he just ran away to sit by the next person's feet. She called Samson an "eat and run" dog.

Dog Behaviorist

I like animal but did not have the luxury to own one since I was little, mom and dad did not like animals at all, maximum tolerance I could have in the house were turtle, goldfish, rabbit.... living pets which do not demand a lot of personal care. After moving out as an adult, I had a cat named Brandy, now Brandy is living with my sister and nepthew in Hong Kong, still alive. Back then I was working and I knew I could not commit to a dog which involves a bigger portion of responsibility, a cat is easy, as long as there is food in the bowl and someone to empty the litter box, a cat is happy!

On the other hand, Samson takes a lot more work. A friend told me just to give Samson TLC and everything would be fine, this advice is very far from the truth. 100%of shelter dog have developed separation anxiety, based on the test of an animal behaviorist. (from one of the many books I read lately) Not all of them have problems so be abandoned, some owners move away, some owners get very ill, some owners simply could not spare the time with the dog anymore.... tons of reason, but a very large chance that the dog itself pose certain issues, it could be physical or emotional.

Samson has aggression issue, his actions could be labeled as dominance aggression / possession aggression / territorial aggression. He does not show his aggression to me, the maximum amount of aggression he showed was when I clean his paws from running around on soil / grassy area, he growls when I am cleaning him but did not bite me or showing teeth at me.

Samson also growls at Victor, especially when he is sleeping on my lap while I am reading, when Victor approaches toward me, Samson growls at Victor. Obviously Samson treats me as his possession, I belong to him at that moment on that chair, Victor is coming to get me away from him --- that would be Samson's thought process if I could have get into his mind.

First growls, Victor back off a step. I told Victor do not back off, stand firm and assertive, show Samson that you are the top dog in the household.

Victor steps forward toward me, Samson continues growling, I told Victor to give Samson a command, Samson froze for about 20 seconds then followed Victor's command to sit and stay.

There is no bad dogs, there are stronger dogs which needs stronger leadership; Samson is not the submissive one I ensure you that. But Victor made some mistakes along the way, he did not realize that. I told Victor do not play 'tug of war' with Samson, it encourages Samson's dominance instinct.

Sure enough Victor does not listen well, he played 'tug of war' with Samson when I wasn't watching. And every time if the phone ring or the computer calls, Victor left the playing scene with Samson successfully grab the toy in his jaw and run away. Samson starts to think I am stronger than this guy, I get to win in 'tug of war' all the times!

The wolf instinct in Samson urges him to challenge Victor's position, in order to move up in the packing order of the household. That is why and how it happened this morning, with the growling incident in the family room. I explained to Victor that you have to show Samson you are the top dog! You have to let Samson know there is no way he could challenge Victor's position in this house!

There is no bad dogs, Samson is a very strong dog emotionally and physically, just need stronger leadership to keep his aggression at bay. Victor voluntarily feeds Samson treats every now and then, it is a good move and Samson follows Victor to his office. In the wild, the top dog gets the food first, eat leisurely and finish the food, casually share the left-over with the sub-dominant dog in the pack.

Samson has to know he is the sub-dominant, he does not have to like it, he just needs to comply.

Over-do-er

Over-achiever seems like a very positive word to describe ourselves, both Victor and me; but I come to realize sometime Confucius was right --- do not do too much is good. Which this ancient chinese philosopher believes everything in moderation, it was good for the political control at that period of time, (about 2500 yrs ago) so whatever he said was endorsed by the King of Kings in China. At that time it was not one country of China, the region was splitted by Warlords and local Kings, people enjoyed the freedom of travel but they did not have the right to move away from where they come from / which Kingdom they belong to.

Anyway, I was reading these books about how to take care of dogs, decided I can do certain things to Samson, meanwhile he was taking a nap quietly on my chair, I decided to clip his nail on the dewclaw which is the dog thumb located on the side of the leg, not the actual paw. Sure enough I cut too much, I heard a high-pitch scream from Samson and there was blood on his leg!

I told him --- ok I am sorry, I am not going to treat him as my experiment anymore. I am not going to do too much to him. Just to feed him, walk him, pet him, play with him and clean him, do all the basics.

This one book I was reading was written by a re known Vet of the country, this Vet once approached the pet food companies to ask for funding of a research of chemical and preservatives effect on dogs. He was told "no one in this industry wants to know the answer", in order to achieve maximum amount of shelve life of their products, certain bad stuffs have to go into the dog food. As long as the level is low and not creating problem for most of the dogs then the companies are ok.

I was once involved importing food item from overseas, knowing there are so many codes to meet and the margin of error could be as big as 5%, that means if my label of food product say something, if the actual ingredient do not match it 100% it is ok, the FDA allows a deviation for about 5% after the first initial lab check. Afterward it is random check, could be one item per 5 thousand pieces sent to a lab.

This system is not that safe and give great window for food manufacturer to maneuver the content. My friend's boxer was sent to emergency room for food poisoning effect from eating a piece of chew jerky bought at PetCo a few days ago, the Vet said it was the artificial ingredients or preservative in that piece of dog snack that created all the problem. Well the mentality of the dog food manufacturer is if it hurts 4 dogs out from a hundred, it is ok.

not in my book though, nowadays companies are trying to make money so hard that the basic moral standard has diminished. Don't believe what the world tells you, most of the time you'd find out you'll get screwed 9 times out of 10!

p.s. samson is doing ok in dog food in the morning and home-cook food at dinner.

gourmet dog

I always oppose package food or process food, however, our lives is so busy that baking our own ham is literally impossible, so some process food is ok in my book, such as baked ham or salami. I do not have the facility to air dry my own salami but good news is one of Victor's friend from Connecticut makes his own salami once a year and cure at his basement, lucky me to be able to put in my order every spring.

When it comes to dog food, I feel no dog in the world should eat the same food every day and night, I strongly suggest to make your dog human food with supplement such as multi-vitamin and chewy bones for its dental health. Now the difficulty comes when I have my own dog, I wish I could give Samson my food everyday, realistically it won't work because if I travel somewhere, Samson would need to eat dry food in a boarding or doggy day care facility. To feed Samson all human food now would create potential problem later.

But he wasn't responding well to the Science Diet I chose for him, the food bowl can stay there full for 5 hours untouched. I decided to make a change, after consulting my friends with dog, I was recommended Nature's recipe.

I feed Samson all dry food in the morning, mix with a little hot water to make it warm. 2 nights ago, I cooked a big pot of shredded pork, jasmine rice, pea and carrot, chopped spinach, egg white (left over from using all the yolk for ginger bread cookie dough) and celery chopped fine with some chicken broth and water. Samson possibly knows I was cooking for him, stood right next to my feet while I was cooking that big pot of his wet food.

I saved a quart in the refrigerator for the next 3 days, the rest I divided in small portion and freeze it, I could use a small package and heat it up in the microwave later on whenever I want it.

At night, I feed Samson half of the wet food I cooked and half of the store-bought dry food, he loves it! I also mix 1/8 of a teaspoon of vitamin C powder in his dinner. I noticed a difference in his coat, suddenly the coat becomes very shiny.

I also added equal part of shredded beef at the wet food before I heat it up at the microwave, so there is plenty of protein from the meat source, carbon hydrate from the rice and fiber / minerals from the veggie. Many dog owners was told switching their dog's diet would create diarrhea and upset stomach, Samson seems very ok with the switch, he did not have this problem and seems very happy to eat human food than one dry dog food fits all style.

His all time favourite is my gingerbread man, once I take it out from the cookie jug, his eyes would not leave my hand! Second favourite is Victor's gluten free honey cake, Samson would chase Victor inside the house for the crumb of that homemade honey cake! Too much sugar is no good for dog or human, indulge a little bit is ok for all of us; the less harmful sweet form for dogs are honey, natural brown sugar and molasses. (not for puppy though)

As a shelter dog, one won't imagine Samson is also a cheese connoisseur; his tail would waggle in a very fast pace when he smells Jarlsberg, Parmigiana Reggiano, Mozzarella, Provolone or sharp Cheddar....literally any cheeses.

Perhaps one day Samson could become a dog-food critics, telling other dogs what is good to eat what is not! That'd be funny!

Last post of this month, still Samson related

Today is 11/30/2010, last post of this month, sorry for the non-dog-lover, it is all about Samson again. Well, I have been busy in taking care of him while Victor is feeling better.

Samson is now officially adopted by me and Victor, I am happy that we have found him and he happens to like our household. Even there was some dangerous moments (biting Victor), Victor realized it was probably his fault to force himself onto Samson while he was still new to all these actions / environments. Now they are all cool, Samson would follow Victor while he is munching something, hope there was a crumb here and there which Samson could lick on.

I digested 7 books in 10 days about dog's behavior and training, one book about grooming technique, the rest are all technical handling. I actually read all of them in great details except one book I found it was cruel to train the dog the way the author suggested, which was the Kolher Method I believe, encourage to hold the food for a few hours late or crate the dog for a long time before starting certain training section, I personally found it was very disturbing and un-humane, I did not finish reading that book.

In order to achieve true harmony inside the house, a packing order and certain rules must be enforced. Samson knows very well that he was not allow on bed sleeping with us, his own dog bed is along the side of my night table. At the first few nights, he whined and hope he could get on bed with us, Victor was soften because we allowed our dear friend's dog (the other good-looking cockapoo) on our bed, now we do not allow our own dog to go on our bed?!

The reason here is packing order related, I need Samson to know Victor is the man of the household, he deserves his spot next to me and no one can take away that spot, even my favourite dog, in relation to Victor's important role in the household, no one should challenge that position. You'd be surprise how many dogs growl at the husband and loving to the wife, it becomes a challenging situation if the dog thinks it can get ahead.

Samson now response to another command --- come when call. I would let him out at the yard, call him from a distance and he would come back to me then I would give him a treat. This command is very useful if the dog may gets in a dangerous situation, you would have to call out loud then expect the dog come running back to you. But you would have to bond with the dog first, it does not work if the dog has not put his trust on you yet.

Some people might think all these trainings are too harsh for the dog, just let the dog enjoy itself and have some love and attention from me, that is so not true. In order for the dog to gain the maximum amount of joy, freedom and happiness in a household, proper training is essential. For example, after Samson response to "Come when Call" consistently, he gained the freedom to run unleash on a 80 yard wide par 5
fairway while Victor and I are walking. Because I know whenever I call him, he would run right back to my feet, which he did, and every time he did what I expected I make sure Samson gets lot of praise and a dog treat as encouragement.

In fact I saw a lot of joy in his eyes while I let him run without a leash, his tongue was just hanging out on the side of his mouth and ran like a greyhound, it was quite a scene. Somehow when you get a dog out from the shelter, the dog was either being abused before, or someone just dumped it there for whatever reason, the dog feels very insecure. And that is what I see in Samson's eye even in the most comfortable moment inside the house, he couldn't help himself but think: Yeah I feel warm and fuzzy now but later Joey might just dump me like my last master did!

It will take time and patience to melt this insecurity away, but I am confident that Samson can do it!

wonder dog

We did it by instinct to change the dog's name from Buddy to Samson, the reason why we did it because Victor noticed the dog does not response well when we called his old name, sometime it turns its head away if it wasn't looking at you. We just did it without thinking too much, by start calling him a new name --- Samson, and everything around this name is positive and happy. Yesterday I was flipping on this book named "Adoptable Dog" about dog training or education to a shelter dog. It mentioned as followed:

"Naming or Renaming your adopted dog, does it matter what you name your newly adopted dog? And do you have to stick with the name he came with, if you know it?

Dogs are adaptable creatures. You can feel free to choose a new name for your adopted dog if you like. After all, you are giving him a new life - one where he won't roam and where he will get nutritious food and regular health care, appropriate training, and lots of love. These may be much bigger changes for your dog than the name he once knew!

It's also possible that an old name has lots of unpleasant associations for an abused or neglected dog. You may not know what those associations are, of course. A new name is actually an excellent idea for a dog of this sort. It will be one of many signs that a better, happier life has just begun.

Be sure to make only positive associations with your adopted dog's name. A common mistake is to correct a dog by yelling his name. Your dog's name should never be used in this way. It will only teach the dog to ignore you when you use his name appropriately - to get his attention or call him to you."

A day before thanksgiving, I was busy with grocery-shopping. I came home after 2pm and was hungry so I started the stove in high heat to reheat some chicken soup for lunch. After I did that I went back to the car to unload all my shopping bags, totally forgot the stove was on with a small pot of chicken soup.

While unloading from the car, I noticed the fountain was running low, starting to refill the water ... and doing other things at the front yard. Suddenly Samson was barking like crazy behind the door, I thought he was just barking because our next door neighbour's landscaping crew is working around the yard. So I opened the door to gave him a quick yell "stay", he still bark but in a lower tone.

After awhile, I opened the door to walk inside the house; Samson was barking un-controllable, I tried to discipline him to tell him "no barking crazily"! He ran into the kitchen and sat by the stove looking up.

I then realized my pot of chicken soup was boiling all over the place, it was over-flowing on the stove along with the heat that creates a burning smell. Good news is I wasn't using a Gas stove with real fire, that the soup could put off the fire and the gas may just leak into the air, a trace of spark could light up the house with an explosion!

Now I understand Samson was trying to get my attention that something in the kitchen is burning! He wanted me to go take a look of it and I ignored him and tried to discipline him, what a silly me!

Well, I gave him a big piece of dog treat afterward, to award his excellence in smelling the difference!

Approval granted

Victor is not an animal person, I know it all along and he emphasis it that he is allergic to the hair. His kids from the previous marriage got dogs, every one of them had dogs, big or small, from maltese to golden retriever. However, they got dogs after they have their own family, not when they were living with Victor.

Even I saw other dogs I liked at the shelter, in order to execute my plan, I know I have to get a cockapoo to minimize the risk. When I first met Samson, he was not quite energetic, almost seems a bit depress compared to other dogs in the kennels. But he did not bark like crazy like other dogs at that moment, I gave him a treat through the wire of the kennel, Samson took it slowly and bring it back to the corner and ate it slowly. Victor had experience handling cockapoo for a few weeks for our good friend, and he liked that dog very much. In order to make him accept a dog in the household, it has to be a cockapoo.

Foster care for Samson is a good plan to start, because I am not just bringing home a dog and shovel my decision down Victor's throat. I told him I am just volunteering for a period of time, to foster this dog until someone adopt it which is true. But as a foster mom, I have the right to adopt Samson first if someone see its profile on the internet and suddenly want to adopt. So it buys me time to let Victor gets to know the dog, it also buys me flexibility to re-confirm Victor does not react to the hair-shedding issue before I actually bring a dog home.

Turn out Samson had performed very well, despite a few accidents and biting event. Be realistic, if I were the dog, I might just bite too because I am in a totally new environment, we should have give the dog more time to adjust before we get too close to it. Now everything works out very well, Samson is getting more comfortable and less insecure, knowing if we leave the house for a few hours and we would come back eventually.

This morning when I was drinking my coffee, Victor asked:
"wow this guy is back to sleep again?"
"yeah, he actually needs about 14 hours of sleep a day." I replied

"do you like him? do you want to keep him?" he asked me
"I would love to."

"even I am a bit allergic to his hair?" Victor asked again.
"you are fine, you are just telling yourself this way, you had no problem when the other cockapoo in the house for 3 weeks." I replied.
"For me to keep Samson, you have to like him too, not just me." I pushed.

"I like him, he is a cute little dog." Victor said.
"Does it mean I can keep Samson officially? is this my thanksgiving gift? X'mas gift? or Channuka gift?"

"Whatever you want."

A Dog's Day

The dog has adjusted to our schedule, it knows I will take him out for a quick walk before 7am after I got my first brew of coffee. Yesterday we took the dog for a long walk on the golf course's cart path while the course was closed for play, it took about 1.5 hour and it had no trouble keeping up with us, it occasionally stopped and sniffed a little bit but catch up with a run afterward, so we didn't feel like we had to wait around for the dog at all.

Samson has a lot of "Cocker Spaniel" in him, this breed was used to "flush", which means chasing bird or small animal out from bushes then the owner / hunter can shoot the target. It does not kill or retrieve the games at all, I had hope that Samson could one day go outside to the driveway and bring the newspaper back to the door for me, unlikely this could happen. It was having great fun by chasing all the birds on the golf course yesterday, Samson looked so content after the walk with bird chasing, he must think he was employed with a purpose.

Then I had to take my grown-up goldfish to relocate to a friend's home, let Samson meet her big 2 years old boxer girl for a play date. Upon arrival, Samson already knew he was going to meet Bella (the big dog) again, he could not wait to jump off the car. I was a bit nervous to see Samson meeting so many children at my friend's house, there were about 8 kids at that moment, Samson did not bite or behave badly, it just ran away through the bottom of the gate! I had to chase the dog for 2 blocks!

I was so relief that Samson behaved in front of a group of children, that means it can be trained to trust children again even Samson was abused by kids before. This is a big step forward, I let the children fed Samson treats all along, it is always easier in bribery.

Report Card after 10 days

It has been 10 days of Samson checking-in, here is my report card for him, a little 4 years old boy cocka-poo:

Numbers of accident inside the house: 5 pee in various spots
Numbers of accident inside the house after 4 days of arrival: 0

Longest hour to wait for bathroom break: 11 hours
How long does it take to finish his bathroom business outdoor: 20 minutes round trip

Ability to swim: Yes, accidentally fell in the pool on the first night
Ability to social: Yes, but mostly ladies, Samson likes to play with girls

Obedient training: Yes to Joey, No to Victor
Obey Commands: Yes to stay / sit / go potty

Any phobia responses: Yes to other big dogs while walking on a leash, Samson was charged and bark like crazy.
Yes to look out the window and see strangers, also barking like crazy
Yes to children

No phobia responses to loud noises or bad weather or animals on TV or overly submissive.

Separation anxiety: Yes, does not like to see us go out without him
Possession protectiveness: Yes, does not like others to take his toys

Biting record: Twice, Victor was the victim for both times, trying to pet Samson from up above while Samson is in a protective mode
Ability to make up afterward: Yes, with a treat

Willing to be handled or groomed: Yes to Joey, able to brush, hair-trimming, apply ear-drop and front paws nail clipping not the back paws
Willing to be petted by strangers: Yes to ladies with a treat, men is ok sometime with a treat, successful rate varies. Samson did not like the teenage male waiter at the Gallery Grille where we had lunch outdoor on friday.

Love to go for a ride: Yes, but not left alone in the car for more than 15 minutes
Love to go to the beach: Yes, but do not like to be cleaned afterward

Love to get a treat: Yes, almost anytime; recent favourite is Victor's gluten free lightly salted rice cracker
Love to beg at the dinning table: Yes, will use his cute big eyes to look at you while you are eating, with a slight head tilt while sitting quietly and wiggle the tail slowly. If no responses, will do a stand with 2 back legs only and both front paws on your chair, in order to get closer to the food you are eating.

Manner inside the house: Very good, no biting on my expensive shoes, no chewing on window treatment, no investigating garbage bin, no jumping on furniture without permission, no barking all day long, nothing was destroyed in this 10 days period, no jumping on guests arrive at the door, able to go into his crate with supervision.

Manner outside the house: Just OK, likes to pull me with a leash during our walk; over react to other big dogs, have no clue to walk with a leash around big object therefore always tie up something in the way, likes to roll around on dirt or grass therefore require my cleaning service afterward ......etc.

Overall rating: in a scale of 1 - 10, Samson scored 8, still needs training on obedience, response to strangers and other big dogs and learn how to trust again!

Samson's beach day

Samson again

If you are not interest in animal, these posts lately might have bored your eyes. But I had to write about it, the purpose of my blog is to preserve memory for myself, one day if I get alzheimer's disease and become forgetful, I could always come back to read what had happened before.

It has been a week since Samson moved in, a little cocka-poo shelter dog. He had a few clashes with Victor, another alpha male in the house; but I am hopeful that they would make up the relationship later on. The key is communication, understanding and respect each other's space.

Instead of reading dog training tips here and there on the internet, I decided this is not enough and I don't know how to communicate with Samson, to properly train him in order to get him to do what I want. He is no youngster, a 4 years old stubborn self-obsessive cocka-poo with tons of attitude. Well this becomes a challenge for me to teach an old dog new tricks! I went to the Palm Beach Gardens public library to get 7 books related to this topic, will digest all of them within 3 weeks in order to carry out a successful rehab program for Samson.

Samson has shown trust in me, he remembers who took him out of the shelter. Victor feels he is just a chop-liver in the house now because even the dog won't listen to him. ^_^ I just responded to him if he was the one to go pick Samson up at the shelter, Samson would react the same to him as to me.

Samson now understand 3 simple commands, stay / sit / go potty. He is not like my dear friend's cocka-poo we watched before, can pee / poop on demand at the backyard. Samson needs a good 10 minutes consistent walking in order to do his big business. Victor invented a no pick-up method is to open up a supermarket shopping bag real wide, lay it down on the lawn while Samson is getting in position, sure enough the droppings fall right in the center of the shopping bag, then we can tie it without a mess to dispose it.

There were 5 accidents inside the house in the first few days upon his arrival, I suspect the purpose of those pee was to mark his territory, Samson did not know this is his house he was going to stay so he marks it; once he understands he is sleeping here, eating here and playing here, he made no accidents afterward. He was able to hold it until we come home from golf and lunch, it was about 7 hours wait for him. Also he was changing to a new schedule, he wasn't fed at the same time as he was in the shelter nor being let outside at the same time, it is reasonable for him to adjust for the first week to a brand new schedule, so we forgave and forgot his accident.

So far he is doing good, he is just a bit sensitive to strangers approaching, this could be a golfer he saw from a distance out the window, then he started to bark like crazy, I now learn to distract him from that state-of-mind by using a toy that makes noise, I squeeze the toy then Samson follows the noise to retrieve his toy, forgot about barking at that stranger. Victor confronted him once while Samson was barking, his hand came down from top of Samson's head, Samson turned around and gave Victor a big snap! The key here is try not to confront his feeling, to distract him from that state-of-mind is the best method by far; if you must touch the dog at that moment while the dog is in the guarding mode, make sure your hand comes from down under his chin so the dog can view your approaching motion very clearly. Otherwise a sudden move from up-above like what Victor did, would receive a bite in return.

Face Off - Victor and Samson

It has been 6 days since I took Samson home from a "No Kill Shelter", it is grateful that I took it in and shows affectionate to me most of the time, not so much to Victor. So a friend suggested to have Victor feed it, walk it a little bit. Yesterday I was out golfing in the morning, Victor walked Samson and when they arrived home, he tried to clean Samson's legs and paws because it walked on dirt.

Samson must got beaten by the back left leg before, it showed tremendous aggression to Victor and both of them had a face-off right at the front door. Victor grabbed it by the neck and push it down to the floor, it has a lot of force and struggle try to turn around to bite Victor, making this horrible groaning noise and showing teeth. Samson has to submit itself to the leader of the pack in order to have peace afterward in the household, who is Victor at that moment.

Victor held it down for about 2 minutes, then Samson started to soften and became submissive, then Victor let it go, it ran back into the house. Victor then try to make up with the dog, to give it a piece of treat, Samson wouldn't take it and walk away! Obviously it submitted but still mad at Victor.

Victor gave an hour for Samson to calm down, then approached Samson again to pet it and offer it another piece of treat; Samson paused a little bit and ate the treat. At the same time, Victor spoke to it in a very soft tone to explain what he was trying to do, did not mean to hurt you, just want to clean up your dirt on the paws so you don't lick all this bad thing back into your mouth, then you may get sick afterward bla bla bla.... just speak to the dog very softly.

They made peace after that, I was so relief. From then on, Samson let both of us touch his back leg!

I guess it takes a lot of patient to understand what a dog is going through, Samson has been locked up in the shelter for quite some time, I guess it is about 6 months. Samson was in the second shelter for 4 months so I assumed it was at the first county shelter for 2 months, just a guess. Did not know who beat the dog and where it was beaten before, it was very hard for us to understand its thought. I just try to simplified its life by showing him trust, love and caring; I am sure Samson feels it and understand its life is in good hand now, no one is going to beat it again.

After the face off, now Samson would go to Victor's office and ask to be petted, which is the first time I see it happening, what a big difference!

New Foster Dog - Samson

A playdate for Samson

Today I am going to deliver my goldfish to a dear friend's two daughters, meanwhile I figure it could be a good chance for Samson to meet a play date, Bella.

Bella is a big girl, she weights over 80lbs and has a very good-looking tiger pattern on her, she is a 2 years old boxer with tons of energy. I worry would they get along to play together because Samson is only 11 lbs and a small breed cocka-poo with the toy poodle version, facing this giant girl may scare him on the lawn!

Bella didn't know why she had to wait in the lawn at the backyard of her own house. Well, we let Samson comes into the house to take in the scent of Bella before they meet, so he is expecting her already, just not quite sure how big she is. It was funny when they meet, Bella just could not wait to tease Samson to play chase and run in circle, she seems thinking "Size doesn't matter".

Samson was not too crazy at the beginning, it takes him some time to warm up and then they really start to run all over the place, it was fun for me to watch how they interact with each other. Samson seems quite social, did not get scare of Bella's size, Bella just happy there is someone she can play with.

After an hour or so of playing, we went grocery shopping at 3 different places and got gas before we get home. I would say Bella really wore him out, he was so tired he was just lying in the middle of the kitchen floor and not moving. When it gets to dinner time, he was so hungry that he finished his bowl in 2 minutes I would say, I have never seen him eat so quick.

It was also a good experience for Samson to meet two nice children, so he now know not all children are bad, there are good children who loves animal and do not abuse. Let's see how this rehab going, if he is a smart dog, he should learn pretty quickly by just observing.

We also found out Bella was very gentle on Samson, she knows she has the upper hand!

From Buddy to Samson

Last night was the first night we went out for dinner after the dog checked in, also the first time he would be separated from us for a longer hour. I purpose to let me confined in a smaller space such as the laundry room, so he goes to sleep there, if any accident happens while we are not home, it is still very easy to clean up that small area.

Victor's suggestion was to let him roam free inside the house, he feels like this is his house already, if I confined him when we are away, it could make him feel distress and do not like the fact that we have to leave the house for a few hours sometime. He said eventually you have to trust him. I smiled to myself knowing my plan has move one little step forward.

I said ok, if he makes an accident, you are responsible for it. He said ok.

We went to the Greek restaurant at jupiter, it takes a half and hour to go there, so I figure one hour on the road, one and half hour to eat, we'll test him for 2.5 hour the first time. The next test would be golfing up to 6 hours if we have to stay for lunch somewhere afterward.

Victor asked me is Buddy his real name?

"I was told it is from his original owner, and I read his medical record since he was born from a vet at Lake Worth, his name is Buddy." I answered.

"He seems does not response well with his name when we called him." He said.

"Are you suggesting we should give him a new name?" I asked.

"Yes, how about Charlie?" He said.

"No way, doesn't sound good." I replied.

"how about Charles?"

"What? that is the same as Charlie! how about Max?" I said.

"Max is good, easy to call, come over here Max!" he is rehearsing.

"But I want something have a meaning or symbolize something." I said

"How about Samson? he is strong, when I was walking him today he pulled me, almost dislocate my shoulder, and he has a lot of strength and character in him." he suggested.

"Samson it is! a good name, symbolized his strength. I want him to rehab here for 3 weeks to see if he can improve from whatever problem he had in the past." I pushed a little bit.

"He is a smart dog, I am sure he can do it." Victor is unguarded, I had to take this chance asking:

"So now you are going to give him a new name, are you willing to give him a new life at this thanksgiving?" I pushed.

He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling at the restaurant, saying: "here you come, we'll see how he does."

Haha, I know my position has moved up, it is now Samson's performance to determined if he can stay.

Meanwhile as we were driving home, we discussed if there was an accident, where would it be? I said don't worry, there won't be any accident, because you trusted him.

Sure enough when we got home, no accident! He was sleeping at the family room under my recliner where my blanket was on the floor, he had his toy with him on my blanket.

"Good boy, Samson, Score 1!"

Foster Mom's report 2

I was desperately looking for a groomer on the day Buddy arrives, because I want him to look his best when he meets my husband, Victor. I was unable to get him groom by a professional groomer in that afternoon, they were all closed for the day after 2:30pm. So my friend who has 2 small dogs gave Buddy a bath, he smelled nice afterward, we cleaned up his tear stain. The next day, I figure it is the weekend coming up and unlikely I could get an appointment, I decided to give it a shot to groom Buddy myself. I went to PetSmart to get whatever I need to get the job done.

He reacts very clam during my non-professional grooming period. I did it outdoor on my dinner table under the sun where he can feel the breeze, I tried to make it as pleasant as possible. He moves a bit here and there but I just wait until he settled before I move my scissors around with a comb. His left ear is clean but his right ear has wax built up, I used an ear cleaning drop and some Q-tip with dipped alcohol to clean up the wax on the outer ear, I did not dare to go in too deep so I just let the ear cleaning thing to do its job.

I had no problem clipping his nail on the 2 front paws, he doesn't like me to raise his 2 back paws, I guess I did not know how to position him, he is definitely ok to let me clip his nail. I used to do this to my cat in Hong Kong.

Before the "Frontline flea and tick's treatment" arrives in the mail, I gave him a medicated collar to kill the flea and tick if there's any exists.

I found out he is a great swimmer on the first night, he accidentally fell into the pool during his sniff and pee pee time, he was able to follow my voice and swim very steadily to the steps of the pool, walked out with style and shake off the water! Voila! He knows how to swim!

In the future, I will be absent in the morning due to golf, so I am trying to establish a schedule for Buddy to understand. I wake up between 6:30am to 7:30am, the first thing I do is to let him out, while he is peeing, I point my index finger toward the ground and use simple word such as "GO POTTY", in order to remind him this motion and word means a request. Upon the second he puts his leg down, I gave him a treat and praise him lavishly.

I also use this index finger motion whenever I "Request" him to do something, and I give him about 30 seconds to response. Buddy is a very smart dog, he gets it very quickly. I do it on requests of "Stay", "Go potty", "Surrender". I will stay with these 3 for the first week, move up to another level later.

I won't feed him breakfast until my husband wakes up at about 7:30am to 8:00am, Victor has to feed him with 1/2 cup science diet dog food, which my friend Betsy has 2 small dogs highly recommended. I will only feed him dog food in the first 2 weeks, later may introduce him to real human food throughout the day such as chicken breast, carrot, romaine lettuce, red bell pepper or broccoli....etc.

This weekend I did not plan any activities but just focus on getting Buddy used to the new environment only. So even I am available to walk him in the morning, I won't do it because I won't be able to walk him in the morning later on, I will walk him after 2pm.

While Buddy eats breakfast, I will eat my breakfast at the same time so he knows this is the time zone we do this together.

Then I will find some chores to do around the house, such as feed the fish, gardening at the front, do the laundry....etc. In order to make him understand hey I have work to do in the morning. At this morning period, I will let Buddy out once or twice to avoid accident. At 2pm, we'll start our long walk in the neighbourhood, so he knows I will walk him sometime in the afternoon in the future.

He is also very good in guarding the house, last night was garbage night and I am sure the raccoons were out for dinner. We went to sleep at about 9:30pm and he barks like crazy at about 10:30pm, I woke up and followed him out to the sliding glass door, turn on the light outside to scare the whatever animals, then I praised him for being alert at night.

If there is a scale to rate a dog from 1 to 10, Buddy is reaching the mark at 8, he only has to do better on the issue of "marking his territory" and "follow simple human request", he will reach a mark of 10.

Foster Mom's report

as a foster mom, I am obligated to write a report about Buddy, to his original trainer at the shelter - Quin.

Hi Quin,

I appreciated your help in getting my first step to become a dog owner, allowed me to be a foster mom for Buddy as the first step. He is my first dog, I am learning from him at the same time he is learning from me.

You mentioned the procession issue about Buddy, yes, Buddy has this issue and I feel he was firm when I was with you at the shelter while we did our trial walk, later on in the evening on the day I took him home, he submitted to me, I asked him to "Surrender" and put my index finger out, gave him about 30 seconds, he puts whatever toy / treat was in his mouth next to my feet. Since then he did not show any aggressions toward me, but he still shows this reaction to my husband.

Our friend's suggestion is to have my husband feed him, that is a good idea. Buddy start to trust him on the second day, which is the day my husband started to feed him dinner.

Buddy was house trained in his previous owner home, I am sure. But being in the shelter for a while, he forgot what he suppose to do. I am starting to house train him again as if he was a puppy. He had one accident in the bedroom next to my pillow on the floor and on the carpet at the same time. It looked like he was marking his territory, I was there at the moment so I acknowledged what he did, took him out immediately and cleaned up the pee. He did not do it in the house after that (yet). But he did pee twice in my friend's house when we paid a visit, where 2 other female dogs were present, Buddy marks his territory again twice within 1 hour.

He has very good manner, he does not bark unless he feels I am being threatened, which he barked at the security guards and the shop-keeper at PetSmart like crazy when I talked to them. I then ask the guy to shake hand with me, continued to talk to them, Buddy's reaction subsided after about 60 seconds.

He does not jump onto furniture without permission, he does not chew shoes or window treatment or investigate the garbage or tear my decorative pillow in pieces; he has been behaving very well, with good manner. He just does not understand simple command such as Sit, Down, Paw ......etc. Which I think I can train him later, I want him to get comfortable in the home first, it has been a lot of new things for him, I just stand very firm on 'potty training' right now, the rest I'll start a week later.

Buddy has very good social skill, I took him to my friend's house who got two big female labs where he paid his hello then mind his own business; I took him to another friend's house who got two small female dogs (havanese & papyllon), he played with one of them and did not show much interest to another one.

He may feel a bit insecure now, which he gets nervous when he does not see me in sight. I tried to put him in the crate just a few minutes and walk away from him, then he would bark and make a crying noise, then I would talk and tell him "I will be right back" where he does not see me but close enough to hear my voice. He quiet down a little bit and wait, I then make sure I showed up like 5 minutes later to open up his crate and praise him like crazy.

I think it would be helpful to make him not afraid of the crate, and have faith that I would always go back to get him.

Regarding to the children who think Buddy was not friendly, my personal opinion is mis-communication among them. Buddy makes a strange noise when he wants to play, he also shows a sign of nipping like a puppy would do normally. These are signals of how he feels at that moment, not an aggression towards others. He is absolutely very friendly, very affectionate and able to trust. He is a good boy as far as I am concerned.

Buddy has behaved unexpectedly well, I am very positive that he would want to stay with us to be one of the pack, hopefully I can give you such a good news in a few weeks. Thank you so much.

Veteran Day - Buddy

The shelter volunteer has to come to my house to check if it was suitable as a foster parent of Buddy, so the lady followed my drive all the way from Wellington to ibis. I was so relief to see Victor's car was not in the garage, that means the chance of him ruining it on the scene was 0, I can then proceed with my plan.

Buddy was surrendered sometime in the middle of the year, he is 4 years old born on 8/11/2006, his very original owner became seriously ill, could no longer care for him, turned him into Palm Beach County animal shelter with all his formal medical record from a Vet at Lake Worth.

The County jail kills if the animal sits too long without adoption, Buddy is cute and they call a "No Kill" shelter at Wellington to take him in, Buddy was taken in at Wellington on 8/26/2010.

One family with 2 kids adopted him once in early September, this family returned Buddy in 2 weeks, the comment was Buddy is not friendly, he bit the kids.

The other volunteer who cares for Buddy's cell told me he was house-trained, but he has procession issue. During my trial walk with Buddy at the shelter's fenced in back lawn, he showed the procession issue when I try to take away the toy from his mouth, he scratched my hand, there was no blood but it wasn't the best impression.

I figured he was frustrated, he was in this shelter for 3 months already, he now get to go outside and play but I took away his toy, if I have to think in a dog's prospective.

That is a good shelter, but again there are so many dogs they have to take care of, Buddy is not getting any personal attention he needs. He does not react that crazy with treats when I gave him, he reacts very well with praise. When I walked into his cell the first time, there were 30 other dogs barking at me and jumping up and down in their cages, I guess they want my attention, may be a chance for them to get out for freedom. I turned to Buddy, he was quiet looking up at me, just bring his nose up to the edge of the cage, I put my hand down to let him smell me, then I gave him a treat, he took the treat and hide at the corner of the cage, ate it a few seconds later.

He has to learn to trust me too, I am sure he was dissapointed that he was abandoned.

Golf in China

I was watching the HSBC world challenge throughout the weekend, was held at SheShan Golf And Country Club in Shanghai China. SheShan means west mountain in Chinese, this course location is west of the city next to an old quarry field. It was opened in 2004 and that was the last time when I was in Shanghai, in 2004.

One of Victor's friend from Philadelphia has been living in Shanghai, they live in a villa inside a golf and country club back then, they have 3 children and all are going to international school, I visited them and had dinner with them while I was there alone. They do not play golf but they like the lifestyle of living inside a club and it gives better space to raise a family in a hustling and bustling city. Shanghai house 29 million people, it has more people of California and New York state combined.

I was staying at one of the newest hotel the "Grand Hyatt" back then, it was the tallest building in Shanghai, overlooking the city with gorgeous view, has really good restaurants and clubs on the top floor. I remember I wanted to get a drink after dinner, I had to show my room key in order to get into the club, there were probably many girls try to get in there to meet 'someone special'. A regular room rate was US$ 300 / night and I stayed 4 nights only. I went to the club every night for a drink, had to show my room card every single time. And I could not believe how long that line was, I was amazed. Then a year later the Four Seasons opened, took away a lot of business from Grand Hyatt, I did not go back to Shanghai ever since.

Golf becomes the trendiest sport in China right now, new courses and golf developments are being built every where. Any business owners would join a club for social purpose or try to make their deals on the golf course. Caddies are mostly ladies though, I would say a good 95% of caddies are girls there. I guess business owners are mostly men in China, prefer to be pampered by women on the golf course. Many people have asked me why didn't I considered to move back to China, I like golfing there but the air quality is extremely poor, it isn't funny. The hazy sky you saw on TV this weekend is there all the time, it doesn't go away, that is the smog from all the factories burning something everywhere, Hong Kong is slightly better because it locates on the coastline.

I am not sure if people noticed the background noise from this golf tournament, I am not new to it and it bothered me every time when I had to visit China, it is the drivers love to blow their horn no matter what they do and when is it in China. They blow the horn when cutting the lane, they blow their horn when passing, they blow their horn when they think you drive too slow, they blow their horn when they drive into the alley...etc. It could be 1 am at night, they don't really care, they just love to blow their horn.

The commentators tried to explain this golf club is located next to a very busy road, in fact it is next to a highway. The truth is no matter where you are around the city, you hear the horn ALL THE TIME. That is why I had to pay more money to stay at the Grand Hyatt because they have double window to block road noise, otherwise I could not sleep there. Now 6 years later, double window becomes a standard in all newer hotels in Shanghai, back then Grand Hyatt was the only hotel offered this feature.

This seems like a very nice course, I am sure the professional golfers are used to block out certain distraction such as road noise like this. On the other hand, I am not sure how I would feel during the middle of the swing or putting through my ball, you hear "Beep Beep Beep" from a truck! I guess I should learn how to block out distraction like this too, definitely beneficial.

Karate Kid

I don't remember if I saw the old movie Karate Kid, I seem to remember a little bit but not very clear, perhaps I was very young back then, I remember the first movie I saw was "JAWS" in the theatre and I had nightmare 3 nights in a row then my mom blamed my sister so badly for taking me to watch such a horrifying movie.

Last night I watched "Karate Kid" new version with Jackie Chan and Will Smith's son, it was somewhat a family feel-good movie, I like to watch those before I go to sleep, I hate to watch too much fighting or killing or conspiracy inspired scene before I go to sleep. It is also a good habit to keep a good night sleep, do not put your brain into a too-active level 3 hours before your bedtime, everything has to be very calm and quiet. Normally we watched nature channel or something related to the universe, nothing has a real conclusion, Vic can't deal with animal eating scene so sometime NatGeo is not on the menu, he had this old sensation when he was a kid, he imagined animal from Africa is walking out from one of his wall in the bedroom to chase him and eat him.

Back to the "Karate Kid", the kid throws his jacket around. This is not a big deal as far as American parent was concerned, it is a big deal in a Chinese family I can tell you that. This action symbolized a selfish act, disrespectful to the person who has to pick up after you, all you care about is yourself but nobody else.

The first lesson he has to learn was to pick up your jacket, put it on, take it off, throw it on the floor, pick it up again....a cycle of motion repeating itself.

The kid thinks it is stupid, he wasn't learning "Kung Fu", he wanted some real action with punching and kicking.

He did not realize what he was doing with the jacket was the basic motion of "Wing Chung" hand's action. It was by far the most powerful close-contact Kung-Fu one can imagine, Judo from Japan was a copy from "Wing Chung" and Bruce Lee was an expert of that line.

Anyway, it was also his first lesson about Kung-Fu, a Chinese tradition --- of Discipline. I think my mom would be very surprised if she is still alive, hearing me to talk about "Discipline". I was the most "un-disciplined" kid in the family, everyone follows mom's order except me, I always had my own mind to do my own thing. Somehow it worked out fine, but I listened to my elder brothers and sister complaining all the time, which I was the luckiest among them.

Discipline, I did not understand its true meaning til I get to about 28 years old. Then I realized what mom teaches us was very important, discipline inside the household brings stability to society, which was a sense of responsibility to an individual in a healthy way.

Which I did not understand until I picked up golf at that age, discipline means so much in improving, self-control and respect to others.

One wonders why American kids are so wild in public and the parent don't know what to do, it lies in the teaching of discipline. An action of throwing your jacket around is not tolerable in my household, everyone knows its place and what he / she suppose to do once you walk into the house. The truly successful discipline method is the one like my mom used, does not have to make a noise, just give you a look and you immediately pick up your jacket, very effective.

That is probably why you rarely find an Asian household have kids DUI, fighting in school, involves in crime......etc. Everyone seems to know his / her place in the society, the training started early, at home while I started to walk. It was called "Discipline".

Food Stamp Discussion

It was my last day at Eastpointe Country Club, I was scheduled to play with a Canadian lady who comes down early for the season. I thought it was the last day, let me just play very relax and pack my clubs afterward, did not prepare or thinking of playing competitively.

However this Canadian lady lost to me in the championship last year, and we did not play together ever since, perhaps she wants a re-match. Upon the first drive, as we were driving down the fairway, the conversation goes:

"What is your handicap these days." She asked me.
"I think it's six point something."
"Then what is your course handicap at this tee?" She asked again.
"it is seven or eight, between the white tee and the red tee, there is only one stroke difference." I replied.

"So how many strokes are you giving me today?" She asked me.
"None." I smiled and answered.
"What? I thought we have a game, my handicap is 16 and you should give me 9 strokes. You'd be surprised how close this match could be!" She was in disbelief, she could not handle my rejection.

"I don't give more than six strokes." I replied once again.
"How can that be? In order for us to compete fairly, you have to give me 9 strokes!" She just don't handle rejection well.
"Then work harder at the driving range, chipping area and putting green, call me when you get within 6." I smiled.

"Oh I thought I have a chance today, to beat you with 9 strokes given." She might just try a little harder to push.
"You have no chance at all, I do not want to take your money. It's my last day here, just want to relax and play." I replied.

She doesn't let go, that's how we started:
"Why don't you just give me 9 strokes???" she negs.
"There are people lining up for food stamps in this society, why don't you become one of them?" I replied.

"What do you mean? this has nothing to do with the society, I deserve this 9 strokes from you." She insists.

"There are people who work very hard in the society to get what they need to raise a family or feed their elder parent; there are people who don't work and lining up for food stamp then cry to everyone they need help all the time. God help those who helps themselves." I firmly said.

"That is not true, you can't get benefits for more than 24 months, it is a new regulation. There are people who need our help in the society." She started to become political.

"I agree, I do charity, but it is at my expense and the budget I can afford. How much money the government is giving to a teenager who gave birth to babies nowadays? $650 a baby a month? well she figures if she pops 5, she gets a paycheck better than the one who works 10 hours a day at burger kings." I said.

"Wow you really sound like a true republican!" She said.

"I work hard, don't I deserve more? Isn't it what drives this country? It's called Capitalism. And I am actually a registered independent for your information." I smiled.

"I can not believe you don't give me 9 strokes." She still negs.

"Pay your 6 hours a week range practice, 2 hours a week putting and one hour a week on iron game; it would take you about 5 months to get within 6 strokes then call me. That would be a fairer game for you when you are truly ready, not now, with welfare." I replied and ended the discussion.

The end of the round, I played almost with my eyes closed, still 10 strokes ahead of her. The truth was I don't want to take her money, I know she stands no chance at all because my handicap is trending down, that means I consistently shoot a lower scores than my handicap dictated, it will keep trending down if I am keeping up with my practice regime until I hit the plateau.

I just do not understand, when I was a higher handicap player not long ago, I always enjoy an opportunity to play with a lower handicap player. I wanted to learn what they do, how they prepare for a shot, how they hit the ball, what do they do for putting, how do they handle the situation when they are in trouble....etc. I was always try to learn something, planning one day I am going to be just as good as this player I am playing with. I never asked for 9 strokes, or 10 strokes from someone who is obviously has a higher skill level than me, I treasured the lesson that I've learnt from playing together with this person. I still remember a few, even now, I remember what I learnt from them.

Perhaps that's how it makes me better and I will improve because I can always learn something from another better player.

Urban Golf

I had this dream like 3 years ago, it was such a weired dream that I still remember pieces of it now. My dream was me and 2 of my friends, we were playing golf in Hong Kong, I mean at the heart of the city, not a golf club in Hong Kong and the greater area around. We had to play as it lies, I remember I had to hit a drive curve left over a pedestrian bridge and try to land it at the middle of an alley, well I missed a little and the ball hit the handrail then bounce onto the roof top of some stores. The next scene I remember was me standing on the roof top and try to hit that ball over the gap of 2 big buildings.

It was such a weired dream, did not serve any purposes but just funny and 3 of us were very serious in the dream. We had to make all sorts of crazy shot over something or hit between something or try to land the ball on something.

This is not the craziest part, the craziest part is today I saw it on my google index page that it's Urban Golf Day.

What?! I didn't know there was an urban golf going on?! I had played this game in my dream and was pretty good at it.

Details please refer to this video, that was probably the way I played in the dream, the only different was I got a nicer swing than these guys, and I was playing urban golf between big buildings, it gets very close if you imagine the background of new york city's soho or tribeca area, and I was urban golfing in Hong Kong!

Perhaps I should try it in real life.
urban golf video link

Halloween

There was a year we could not give enough candy to the kids, I remember it was like the second year after we moved in, in 2005. There were parents driving their golf carts bringing the kids up to the driveway to get candy, or kids riding their bike with a hanging basket for candies.....

Nowadays everybody is on strategic planning, no one wants to come to my door because the houses are too far apart and both of my neighbours are not home all year round. I guess they feel it is a waste of energy to go into the end of the block or a cul-du-sac and only get one house as target. I had no one to ring my bell, no one, not one child!

The outdoor garden lights were on, and it was about 8:30pm; Victor went on to close everything. I said hold on a minute, perhaps some kids would come later on at night. He replied it is a sunday, kids are going out since the afternoon, it is almost 9pm and they are sleeping for school tomorrow, let's close everything.

Good news is I only bought 3 packages of candies, I remember last year I had 7 and gave it all to my cleaning lady because she has a 10 years old son.

Perhaps it is a blessings, from now on I don't have to worry about buying candies for Halloween. Because kids like to go to places with higher hit rate, I would call it; they can get the maximum amount of candy with least possible time, well this teaches them efficiency too I am sure.

I hope they are that efficient in their homework!!!

Chewy chicken

I was in the food market today, by the fish section and got my flounder. Here comes a young mom with her 10 years old boy, she points to the glass shelve and say:
"Look, it's octopus on the plate."

Her boy replied: "Eww." And turned his head away.

I said to the boy, "it actually tasted pretty good, pretty pretty good!"

He looks at me in doubt, still shaking his head a bit. The mother asks me: "How does it taste exactly?"

"It taste like a chewy chicken, with some texture in it, very good source of protein. This style right here was cooked with a teriyaki sauce, added some sweetness in it." I replied.

The store keeper interferes, that a free sample was offered.

The boy still turn his head away, thinking it is a gross food.

I said to the boy: "try it, it's free, and you get to try something new today. Be adventurous, you never know what the future holds?!"
The mother agrees but she wasn't trying it neither!

What I saw is the mother telling her son octopus is a gross food, putting a prejudice conclusion in his little head before he even try it, or willing to try it. I think if I am a mother, I would never tell my child my personal conclusion before he / she can try it and make a comment on his / her own.

I guess most people aren't that adventurous. Unlike it when I was a child, my parent encouraged me to try different things, go figure it out yourself, never set a limit to tell me what I can not do or what I should not try (except bad things like drug), always push the limit even when you think you have reach your peak.

By now, I think back and really feel happy that they let me try things I never imagined, I rode motorbike, I went diving, rock climbing, white-water drafting, bungee jumping, sky-diving..... I did all these before I was 24. Mom sometime just say it was dangerous for some action such as the sky-diving one, she was not crazy about it but she was there, always support me and tell me "BE ADVENTUROUS, you never know what the future holds."

honey follow-up

It even said so in the Torah, old testament in the bible - Quoted:

Honey is one of the oldest foods and in antiquity it was used as a substitute for sugar. The words of Torah are compared to honey, in that they are sweet (Tehillim 19:11), like honey (Devarim Rabbah 1:6). The honey-like taste of manna made it an appealing food for children (Yoma 75b).

Honey supplies energy at 64 calories per tablespoon, providing fuel for working muscles. Its composition is 17.1% water, 82.4% total carbohydrates, and 0.5% proteins, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. The carbohydrate content is mainly fructose (38.5%) and glucose (31%), with the remaining 12.9% of carbohydrates made up of maltose, sucrose, and other sugars (Khan et al., 2007). The energy-yielding properties of honey are noted in Ta’nach.

During a specific battle against the Philistines, King Saul declared a fast and forbad his army to eat. King Saul’s son, Yonathan, unaware of his father’s decree and weary from the battle, found some honey in the forest and ate it. His strength was reinvigorated and he declared that if the others in the army had eaten, they would have had more strength to fight the enemy and the victory would have been much greater (I Samuel 14:27-30).


Honey has anti-microbial activity and, thus, never spoils and does not need refrigeration. Honey discovered in the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh, King Tut, was tasted by archeologists and found to be edible (Khan et al., 2007). The hypertonicity of honey (due to its high sugar content), its low pH of 3.9, its hygroscopicity, and the presence of antimicrobial substances, collectively called inhibins, all contribute to its antibacterial and antifungal properties (Zurula and Lulat, 1989). Specific antimicrobial chemicals, identified as components of the inhibins, include hydrogen peroxide, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid (Wahdan, 1998). The antimicrobial activity of honey may explain the lack of decay of the body of the dead Hasmonean girl, preserved in honey for seven years by Herod (Bava Basra 3b).

On a more pleasant note, the medicinal and therapeutic properties of honey were noted in the gemora. Honey was used as a wound salve placed on sores (Shabbos 76b, 77b, 78a, and 154b). Rashi (Shabbos 76b) noted that honey was placed on blisters that form on the backs of horses and camels due to the constant rubbing of the burdens they carry and was placed on abrasions on the back of one’s hand and leg. In modern medicine, honey has been of proven value in treating infected surgical wounds, burns, and ulcers and was successfully used in the postoperative management of patients who had undergone cancer surgeries. One report showed that skin grafting and amputation were avoided by local application of honey to wounds, which promoted healing, whereas conventional treatments failed (Zurula and Lulat, 1989). Other effects of honey on wounds include reduction of inflammation, edema, and pain resulting from burns. Several clinical studies on the usage of honey as a dressing for infected wounds reported that the wounds became microbial-free in 5 to 10 days.

It was reported that gangrenous tissue and necrotic tissue were rapidly replaced with normal tissue when honey was used as the dressing (Khan et al., 2007). Tumor development at the surgical wound site following cancer surgery was decreased by the pre- and post-operative application of honey (Hamzaoglu et al., 2000).

Apparently, there is a positive connection between honey and eyesight. In the incident cited above with Yonathan, after consuming the honey he stated, “See now how my eyes lit up when I tasted a bit of this honey” (I Samuel 14:29). Honey, if consumed after meals, was thought to be beneficial to the eyes; honey enlightens the eyes of man (Yoma 83b). Honey was used to treat the life threatening condition termed bulmos, induced by hunger. One of the symptoms of bulmos was weakening of the eyesight. For one who is seized with bulmos, we feed him honey and all other sweets, because honey and all kinds of sweets restore the eyesight of a person. Patient recovery from bulmos was indicated by restoration of vision (Yoma 83a, 84b). A Lebanese ophthalmologist, citing the ocular health effects of honey noted in the gemora as his medical reference source, reported that topical application of honey to eyes of patients improved visual acuity impaired by epithelial corneal edema (Mansour, 2002).

Many chronic human diseases have some association with oxidative stress. Antioxidants are protective chemicals that scavenge oxidants and free radicals, thereby absorbing molecular damage that might otherwise compromise the functioningof DNA, proteins, and essential lipids. Honey, with its high levels of antioxidants, may augment natural body defenses against oxidative stress, thereby promoting good health. “Given that the average sweetener intake by humans is estimated to be in excess of 70 kg/year, the substitution of honey in some foods for traditional sweeteners could result in an enhanced antioxidant defense system in healthy adults” (Schramm et al., 2003).

hidden miracle

Ever since Victor got home from the ER, he has been very weak. Though he told me not to talk about him on my blog, that he would like to remain anonymous, I would still like to bring this topic out because it is something magical.

Due to a toxin effect from taking too much antibiotic for his sinus infection, this particular problem attacks the tendon of his body, Vic had it first on his foot, then his wrist blown up like a 250lb man's hand, then his right shoulder and now his back. His appetite on food is getting better in the last 10 days, at least he does not have to follow a liquid diet, he can eat solid food and vegetable.

He has been on a website with newsgroup discussion with people around the country having the same problem with the same drug that he took, he read many stories that really scares him about the after-maths of dealing with it. Some people get better in 3 months and some just don't get better after 2 years.

Many people on this newsgroup reported having problem with Soy product, or an ingredient called "Letchitin", it exists in most sweet or chocolate, milk product or dairy related product. So Vic stopped drinking his soy milk and having his cereal in the morning, instead he makes "cream of rice" and put banana and strawberry in it.

So a week gone by, he did not get to take any desserts or chocolate. He started to complaint to me he needed something, something sweet. Then I looked into the pantry and found a package of gluten free yellow cake mix, I used this to bake a gluten free honey cake before and have boxes left over.

OK I said this is a treat, I am baking you a gluten-free honey cake. Of course it tasted great, last night was the first time he ate it, starting this morning the swollen of his shoulder had gone down and the pain from his back was subsided.

He ate some more when we came back from the golf course in the afternoon, then he said his pain has been lighter after 4pm or so. He was wondering what it was, I told him perhaps you had sex and your brain produce somekind of chemical in controlling your pain. I was kind of in the joking mode.

But he got really serious, he said it is definitely something I consumed, what did I eat that I didn't eat in the last 10 days?! I told him the only thing I could think of is the Honey Cake.

Honey! Yes, it's the honey miracle!

will post what is the good thing about honey on the next day.

National Forgiveness Day

I do not know half of these special days in United States, got Earth Day, Secretary Day, Children Day....this day that day to create awareness of some sort.

But this one is a good one, it is not made for massive merchandising, to sell cards or flowers; it is a time to reflect. And its main purpose is not just ask you to forgive someone offended you, it asks you to forgive yourself.

Many time in life we carry burden we did not have to, in golf it does the same thing. We are the one who stop us from moving forward, we are the one who expects the most from ourselves and put on extra loads and do not know how to forgive ourselves when we do make mistakes sometime.

Things happened and it may not happen the way we want to, we must learn how to forgive ourselves and let go.

There was a Zen story about a master monk bringing 3 student monks to a training, monk in Asia is not suppose to touch women, not even have direct eye contact as ancients instructed. Here by these monks are going to cross a shallow river, they saw a beautiful young lady holding a basket of food but staring at the water, she is so slim and fragile but the river's current is so strong, she is afraid to go across.

The master monk never thought of the consequences but to offer help to this young lady, she gracefully accepted and let him hold her on his back, he carried her through the river toward the opposite side. When they landed together, she thanked him and split the road.

The 3 students were speechless, they looked at each other and did not make a noise; until some hours later on the road, one of them could not suppress himself but ask his master:
"I don't understand, master, aren't we not suppose to touch women?"
"Yes, that is what we were taught, women represent temptation." Master answered.
"Then why did you carry that woman across the river? You both had close contact on the body, this is forbidden in our teaching!"

"My boy, that was 3 hours ago. I have already forgot about it, at that moment she needs help, didn't I teach you to land a helping hand whenever needed?"

"Yes you did, my master." the students nodded but still confused.

"The teaching taught us not to touch women because of the temptation posed, she is simply a person who needs help at that moment, did not pose any temptations to me, my intention was pure. I offered help yet kept my pure intention, it did not contradict our teaching. You are the one who contradict the teaching by letting it bother your mind in the last 3 hours! I let it go at the moment the lady landed on the ground. Now do you understand?!"

"Yes we understand now master, we created the trouble in our mind, if we let go like the way you did, it wouldn't make us so uncomfortable for 3 hours. As long as we keep our intention pure, we should shield ourselves from all other distraction."

Forgive and forget, don't put any extra burdens in our mind and our heart, that is what the story told I guess.

Voting

At the time I became a citizen, I should get my voting card immediately. I was pre-occupied with a lot of things to do around the house, did not submit my entry till the 5th of October. It was clearly marked on the form I submitted, it takes 29 days to be effective from the postmarked date versus voting deadline.

So here I thought I was late for the action on 11/2/2010, last weekend I received my voting card. Victor wants to vote early so I went to the early voting site with him yesterday, I told him I just got my voting card, he didn't believe it, he said now I can vote with him.

I told him No, because of the 29 dates deadline I missed it.

He insists I can vote because I received my voting card. He then said the passport mentioned 4-8 weeks process time, but I got it within 10 days, does it mean I am not allow to travel with the passport till that restricted period of time?

I disagreed with him, I thought this was because of counting the prospect vote issue. Every states are different, some states are 14 days, some states are 45 days. Anyway, I went to early voting with him.

While we were in the line, by the way it was more than a 30 minutes wait; we met a couple who lived in Costa Rica for 2 years, and they also lived in Ching Mai Thailand for 3 years, so we started talking about our trip.

At the time I sat down to register with a poll worker, she told me I was rejected!!!

I hated to say this to victor: "I TOLD YOU SO!"

silly golf cake

I had this idea like a year ago, reading a magazine and saw a cake was made in a flip flop shape just felt it was funny looking, it was the type of cake that makes you smile just by looking at it. Then I said to myself, I could transfer the idea to make a silly-looking golf cake, not necessary a flip flop but having a theme for the cake seems fun.

At that time, I had the 14th hole of Jupiter Country Club in my mind which is a nice par 3 over water with two deep bunkers guarding the front part of the green. Now that I am at eastpointe country club, the 16th hole re-assemble a similar look to it without much elevation changes.

Victor does not feel too well lately so I have some time in my hand to fool around at the kitchen. I drew 4 scratches then I expand the most reasonably looking one into a one to one ratio drawing on a piece of wax paper, which later I can trim the cake or create some mount around the cake following the real size wax paper drawing.

While I was trying to buy baking supplies at a local cake supply store, the owner share her cake creation album with me, actually it was the owner's sister, she did not bake the cake, her younger sister did but she showed me the album. Her version was pretty funny looking but technically it was just different color of butter cream frosting and different style of piping. I needed texture, forms and slope so I decided to go on my own.

Turns out it was better-looking than the professional custom baker version, I would check later if it taste good though, the cake is going to my friend's two young daughters.

A friend was complaining that I made the cake out from cake mix (red velvet cake), well, it took 6 hours actively working around the kitchen just to fool around with the frosting, it will take 8 hours if I make the cake from scratch. I would say that is about the maximum amount of time that I committed to make a cake, the next project would be a wedding cake if it takes so much time! Anyway, Victor was amazed at the cake and said: "I've never seen anything like it!"

Summary of cost:

Cake mix $3
Pumpkin cream cheese filling $6
Marshmallow mini $2 (use as filling and also use to build mount of the slope)
Honey Graham Cookie $3 (crumble for bunker)
Eggs $2
Butter $5

Coconut sweeten $2 (rough --- mix with icing color green in a zip-lock bag, roast in oven for 15 minutes to dry afterward)
Rice Crispy $1 (crumble for cart path)
Licorice $2 (use as borders around the lake, use a carving knife to shape rakes)
Jello in blue $1 (use as lake, mold into a plastic glad box lined with plastic wrap, when the jello set a few hours later, un-mold onto the cake surface)

Icing color $3
Lady golfer $3
Green sprinkler $3 (fringe of the green and tee box grass)
Coconut oil $2
Jelly bean (tee box marker)

Creativity and Patience --- Priceless!

House Launched!

http://www.hometakesvideos.com/showcase/tour.php?id=1638&cat=tour&style=ub
you may have to copy the above link, then paste it on your browser. I have trouble to post a hyperlink through java script on this blogger site.



click the above link, should lead you to a video tour of the house, it did not show the guest rooms and their bathrooms entirely but it shows a little bit on the photos button on top right corner. Every looks pretty good except victor's office, it shows his coffee cup hanging on the desk top.

it took more than 3 weeks to get the house into its tip-top shape for photo-shoot, I am very happy with the outcome, this is the first step to getting a prospect --- at least get dressed up! If I wake up in the morning with thick glasses, did not wash my face and comb my hair, I am sure there won't be any prospects; same theory goes to getting a client to look at the house, it has to be presented well.

Let's see what happen next! I am getting excited

Chilean Miners

It was definitely a miracle, after 69 days being trapped under a copper and gold mine, 33 workers were successfully rescued.

From the trapped miners in China, North Carolina or the trapped soldiers under the submarine in Russia... no one survived, but this time, all 33 of them were saved, praise the Lord.

I was closely follow up with the news, it was truly an unbelievable rescue effort, joint venture from different countries, all work together under one goal --- is to free the miners.

Despite the help from all over, the 33 men themselves have to be strong enough to hang on. They voted a leader underground, who is the foreman I think he is 54 years old. He lead everybody to stay strong and connected, he told everybody if anyone starts to fight for the very limited resources and be sure they would all die together, he divided the food and water equally for the very first few weeks before people realized they are alive underground, he lead to pray everyday, he made everyone spiritually strong to hang on and have faith to believe they would be freed.

I couldn't imagine how lives were among these 33 men in 530 square foot closed space without sunlight. This would be a very good material for a movie and I will definitely go watch it.

The support from their family and friends are overwhelming, I doubted if they could hang on without having their support. The funny part was one miner has a wife and a girlfriend, today he wanted both of them present while he is being rescued by the capsule. Well the girlfriend shows up and cry in tears while seeing him alive, the wife did not present, she probably want him dead now after this event. ^_^

Just a reminder, if you are a miner; make sure you deal with one woman at a time!

Lean and mean

This is the last 3 days of Victor's medical treatment for his sinus problem, and he is going to consult an oral surgeon on Wednesday, worst comes to worst he would be undergo that sinus surgery and rest for 2 months afterward.

Yesterday was the first day he played 18 holes in 3 weeks, he got his hole-in-one on 9/24 and he did not play after that due to colitis flare up, he lost probably good 15 lb. We went out to practice on Saturday and he played 11 holes with me, then just hold the flag for me from 11th to 18th. He said feeling the fresh air is good. I cheered him up by telling him a dear friend of mine has to pay $150 each time when she visits a dietary doctor to try to shred 15 lbs, "you got it for free, victor! cheer up!"

He was laughing then.

Medalist golf and country club was very nice, the condition was better than the Ritz I would say. There's something about playing the golf course and not seeing many houses, feel more natural, more into the environment I am playing in, over marshland or around the lake, it was just very pretty and relaxing. I remember we went to see their houses when we first moved here in 2004, it had no sales office whatsoever, there was a trailer showing little models in a box and floor plan, I could not imagine how it will be 5 years later and I got scared when I looked at the scorecard, it was 5800 yard for the ladies tee and I was a beginner back then.

Even now I am much improved, still shot in the high 80's at the Medalist but I like the course very much. That resort course we played in Thailand called Springfield golf and country club is very similar but with mountains as backdrop, of course the condition is not as fine as the Medalist where the green rolls like a Persian oriental rug. But the overall layout with natural surroundings and forced carry marshland are very much alike.

I like an intimate club, where everything is smaller and everyone say hi to another. Rather than a gigantic club with thousands of people coming in and out every month. But I also don't like the fact that Medalist has such a small group of lady golfers, probably less than 15 actively playing, plus the men-rule-the-world kind of attitude. It is a men's club basically, the membership account goes to the man of the household and you are Mrs. so and so or you are the wife of someone, it is like saying you don't deserve your own title but an attachment of a male member. That is what I hate about traditional country club format.

In Asia it is similar too, the caddy service the men in your group first. If someone is pouring tea into your cup be ready this person will fill up the cup of the men at the table first. I protested it once at the club, they pay double the amount of store credit to the men's champion and I had half; luckily a month later I saw the credit amount was doubled to what it should be. Sometime you have to think, it is not the money, there is principle involves in certain things in life that you must fight for it, or you'd lose your ground.

natural remedy

Sometime it sounds very caveman like to believe in natural remedy, but it is the fact that western medicine heals one problem create the next. Personally I don't take anything unless the pain is unbearable, I may take a pill here and there, the last time I took a pain-killer was after a removal of my wisdom tooth and it basically knocked me out, I mean literally the pill did not kill any pains but just made my head very heavy and I went to sleep all day.

I had a stomachache a few days ago, followed by heartburn and bloating. Usually from eating too much in too fast a pace, or I did not move around after I ate a full stomach. Now that I remember it was the Ryder Cup, so I ate and sit on the chair to watch the Ryder Cup for a long time instead of moving around as usual. It lingered to the next day, I decided to make a soup that would make these problems go away. The key ingredients here are ginger, garlic and tons of white peppercorn, the rest is not important but I had to make it tasty so I put chicken stock with some fish ball and romaine lettuce in it, you could just use the broth with romaine lettuce if fish ball is not your favourite on the menu.

Miraculously, everything went away like half an hour after I drank the soup and chew on some cooked peppercorn. In ancient Chinese herbal medicine, peppercorn creates warmth in the stomach and expels gas in the intestines; ginger is the strongest natural anti-inflammatory from the earth. This combo just did its magic to me, but the true knowledge in Chinese herbal medicine is not one remedy fits all, it has to work on different body types. The body types mentioning here is not how we were built, it is how our inside of the body functions and an experience Chinese herbal doctor can tell by listening to your pulse, check your tongue's color, looking into your eye...etc. to distinguish what kind of body type you are, in order to give you the proper herb to heal that particular problem.

There are hot body type, cold body type, neutral body type and a mixture of cold + neutral or hot + neutral.

for example my body type is cold + neutral mix, ginger has always work for me; but my elder brother is a hot body type, if he takes ginger it will create problem for him. There was a time Mom made some special Chinese medicine soup for a very cold winter, it supposed to warm everybody up and encourage blood circulation. My mom, my father and I drank it and felt great but my elder brother drank it and he said he felt very hot inside, then he went to sleep a few hours later, he had blood running out from his nose at sleep. The conclusion was that soup did not suit his body type, it created heat on top of heat so the body had to channel it out.

The above remedy is not suitable for anyone has gallbladder problems neither, so we can not just listen to a remedy then use it, we must evaluate all facets of the herb and our own body before we try something.

Victor has been suffering from sinusitis and toothache, two of these problems together are very complex, you don't know it's the chicken or the egg. The sinus problem could be created from an infected tooth root giving pressure into the sinus area to create blockage; or he has the sinus problem all along but he feels like a toothache because the sinus and tooth share the nerve in the same area, it means it feels like a toothache but the pain is actually coming from your sinus.

After consulting two ear nose and throat specialist, he is going to visit another dentist and oral surgeon. It is like a gamble to determine who should you listen to, because the ear nose and throat specialists said it is the sinus problem, cut it open and see what's inside. The dentist think it is a root canal's issue so we can't be sure, both sides think they can operate on you and make the problem go away.

Meanwhile, taking all these very strong anti-biotic has creates problem for Victor because he has ulcerative colitis, these strong pills kill the possible bad bacteria but also kill the good bacteria in his GI. So in the meantime when he is dealing with all these confusion, he has to deal with a ulcerative colitis' flare up created by the pills which supposed to help his sinus / tooth problem.

never a dull moment.