Pictures of Kiyomi at 6 weeks old (click any image to enlarge):

To watch Kiyomi live from her kennel in our townhouse, check out:

Kiyomi!

as link in the banner above on our blog to make it easier to watch the webcam directly from our blog.  Since it’s streaming live video, you’ll need to use Internet Explorer in order to watch Kiyomi.  It’ll prompt you to “download an ActiveX control” before you can watch it.

For other pictures of our little girl, check out:

flickr: Shelties! [16 photos]
pictures of Maggie, Brice, Laddie, Kaelie, Jordan, and Jen.  These pictures were all taken by Walt Bodycomb of the Shelties that he’s adopted from Carol Howell of Jade Mist Shelties in Davidsonville, MD.  These are all brothers and sisters from different litters (same lineage) to Kiyomi..

flickr: Meet Kiyomi, our Sheltie [11 photos]
for pictures of Vicky, Kiyomi, and I taken when Kiyomi was just six weeks old.  All of these pictures were taken with the camera flash turned off so that the strobe wouldn’t hurt Kiyomi’s eyes.  Up until 10-12 weeks, puppies are still growing, with their 8-10th week being their most easily traumatized while earlier than 8 weeks being the equivalent of a newborn.

Kiyomi will be coming home with us tomorrow (Wednesday, July 1st, 2009) at 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US, GMT-5). Vicky & I plan on taking plenty of pictures of “Kiyomi’s First Day Home” which we’ll upload to this blog, flickr, and facebook tomorrow evening.  We’re both very excited and feel like proud new “puppy parents” to have Kiyomi join our family.

On September 2nd, 2008, I wrote about my theming efforts on this website as part of the entry “Sun, Moon, and Stars (in my eyes)“.  Since then, I’ve upgraded WordPress on my server several times, bounced between various WordPress themes and upgraded the sidebar widgets several times.

What you see today is the latest incarnation of my efforts. I’m now running:

• WordPress 2.8 as my blog engine,
• AJAXed WordPress 1.28 as my WordPress framework,
• iBlog 2.2.5.1 as the theme,
• facebook connector 1.2.1 as the “latest visitors” widget,
• WP-Cumulus 1.2.1 as the “tag cloud” widget,
• WPtouch iPhone Theme 1.8.9.1 as the rendering engine when blackberry or iPhoneOS 1.x-3.x is detected.

All these components come together very nicely to present you with the website you see today.  I’m really pleased with how quickly it’s loading now and how nice it looks.

Theming dual-displayed Windows Vista Business Edition for Portal…

Using WindowBlinds7 with the Old Republic theme and the Portal soundpack for SoundPackager, running Windows Vista Business Edition on my Dell Latitude D630 with two 1400×900 LCD feels more like playing Portal than it does using Windows.  Every day is a computer game when using my laptop?

On the plus side, I doubt many of my co-workers will easily figure it out unless they’re also a gamer.

Mogwai prefers the Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader over a stack of hardbound books, but that doesn’t keep him from enjoying an afternoon in a warm, sunlit library.  To see where else Mogwai’s been, check out Mogwai’s Scrapbook.

Reading Kafka on the Shore on the DC Metro…

My current Haruki Murakami collection on the Sony Reader PRS-700…

I downloaded Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore a few months ago, but just recently got around to reading it on my Sony Reader.  I’m glad I did.  Haruki Murakami might be Japan’s answer to Neil Gaiman or Clive Barker when it comes to “magical realism.” (surrealism?). Despite mixed reviews and the ambiguity of Kafka on the Shore, it’s a fantastic (literally and figuratively) novel and has me wanting more from Murakami.

Having finished and thoroughly enjoyed Kafka on the Shore, I’m torn between reading Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman or After Dark next.  I think I might read his short stories before jumping back into another novel.

Several of friends, family, and co-workers have asked Vicky & I for an easier link to our “Kiyomi Cam” so they can watch our puppy.  I’ve added:

Kiyomi!

as link in the banner on our blog to make it easier to watch the webcam directly from our blog.  Since it’s streaming live video, you’ll need to use Internet Explorer in order to watch Kiyomi.

Using a wireless webcam, we now have streaming video so we can watch Kiyomi while were away from home (such as when we’re at work).  When watching the KiyomiCam, you’ll need Internet Explorer (sorry Firefox and Safari users) because the ActiveX component for streaming video requires IE.  If you get it working from another browser, please let us know!

To watch the KiyomiCam, check out:

• KiyomiCam*: Kiyomi on the Web *requires Internet Explorer

Kiyomi won’t be joining us at home until the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1st, 2009.  Kiyomi’s typical daily schedule should be something like the following (NOTE: all times are Eastern Time [US], GMT-5):

• ~5:00 AM – Waking up, taking a walk, getting fed, taking a walk
• ~11:00 AM – taking a walk, getting fed, taking a walk
• ~6:30 PM – taking a walk, getting fed, taking a walk
• ~9:30 PM – taking a walk, going to bed

If you don’t see her, she might be in her crate, walking around the house (if we’re home), or taking a walk outdoors with us.

Pictures of Kiyomi as of Saturday, June 20th, 2009 (click any image to enlarge):

Shetland Sheepdogs (Shelties) grow to be about 15-25lbs as an adult. At 6 weeks, they are typically 4-6lbs in weight. Our little girl, Kiyomi, is only 2lbs and will grow to be about 10lbs according to our breeder.  She’s currently about a third the size of her brothers and sisters.  She’s an adorable little girl.

To see all of our pictures of Kiyomi, see:

• flickr: Meet Kiyomi, our Sheltie [9 photos]