You don't need a bodhi tree to know which way the wind blows.

After the noise of the holidays (I'm still stuck there, sorry! --we had the last of the big parties for awhile on Sunday, with piles of enchiladas and so forth, and a cake, and the Christmas tree came down), it's just me, the historian, and Bruiser, which means the little economy of our lives is rather circumspect. On the days I don't teach, I hang around with the B-dog for several hours, working at my online classes, before showing up for meetings; on the days I teach, he hangs around with himself. When we come home--or more precisely, when the historian comes home--Bruiser believes it's time for action.

It's been cold enough that the mud at the dog park is either frozen or at least not sloppy; but it's also cold enough that no one but Bruiser really wants to go to the dog park. For awhile, we had a workable compromise, taking him to the schoolyard nearby, but he's unpredictable--he could see another dog or some teenagers and think he needs to check them out right now, and no amount of calling or remonstrating will stop him. We don't want to see him run into the road. This state of affairs means that sometimes Bruiser has to get his action by bringing us various things with which to stage a tug-of-war.

We hate to disappoint him. Maybe Bruiser has better tools for dealing with disappointment than I do--he never pouts, for instance. (He does, however, dismantle things with his teeth--maybe pouting equates on the unproductiveness scale.) Whereas I found myself nearly unbearably disappointed by two facts: one, the slate of Law and Order: Criminal Intent episodes with which I had intended to divert myself last night were all episodes I'd seen before, and two, the Jazz played horribly last night.

I could practice non-attachment and meditate upon the impermanence of all things, including new episodes of L&O:CI and good basketball, but I find that generally, the best solution there is to go to bed early and hope for better luck the next day. Last night, I dismantled several magazines (though not with my teeth) before finally giving in and exercising the reset option.