Hi Coco

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My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

This is my first time seeing Coco since late November 2016, which is literally nine months ago. She came along with my parents to the airport when they came to pick me up from O’Hare, and she actually recognized me walking up to the car and literally leaped out of the car when I opened the door to get in.

Hi Coco

Hi Coco

Hi Coco

If you can’t tell, yes, Coco is also a Yorkshire terrier, just like Mango. But, Coco is a lot older – she’s no longer a baby – so her hair has fully gone through the color-changing process, so she is tan and silver instead of black. But yes, when she was younger, she was indeed much darker.

 

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Surprise, I’m going to Chicago

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And of course, the day that I chose to travel had to be a day it was storming in Illinois.

Surprise, I'm going to Chicago

Surprise, I'm going to Chicago

Unfortunately, no first class upgrade this time, but it didn’t really matter – I’m thin and flexible enough that I can actually get decently comfortable in regular economy seating. But, what else was unfortunate that didn’t quite fall under the “didn’t really matter” category was the fact that we couldn’t fly through the storms in Illinois.

One amazing thing about me living in California now is that there are barely any poor weather conditions. Now, of course, when it does end up raining, everyone drives at 50% of the speed limit because apparently they’re terrified that their cars’ anti-lock braking systems will all fail, but that happens very rarely. Illinois, on the other hand, has storms all the time.

Our pilot wanted to avoid going through high winds, so we ended up going around the storm.

Literally.

Surprise, I'm going to Chicago

Notice how I was flying from Los Angeles International Airport, which is in southern California, but somehow approached Chicago from Wisconsin … yes, we literally had to go that far out of our way to avoid storms.

 

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Mango got his first haircut

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My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

An interesting thing about Yorkshire terriers is their changing hair color. Baby Yorkshire terriers are generally mostly black, but as they age, their hair turns more silver and tan. This usually happens as they get closer to adulthood, but for Mango, it seems to be happening a lot earlier.

Mango taking a nap after his first haircut

You can’t really tell the difference from that photo, because he still looks pretty black – this was taken after his haircut and bath, which clearly exhausted him. The color change most likely isn’t noticeable because he’s curled up in a ball, and the lighting in the bedroom wasn’t really that great.

But, if you take a look at this “before and after” comparison photo that Karen posted:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BX6799Ng_h3/

Yes, that is still the same dog. I actually like him a lot better like this – he actually looks like an alert and intelligent puppy now, rather than a shaggy old man.

 

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I finally found a place that sells raw lamb

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My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

Albertsons. It actually wasn’t that hard.

Homemade lamb

Ever since I moved to California and tried lamb, I’ve really liked it. I had never had it before when I was still living in the Chicagoland suburbs, and I thought the flavor of the meat and fat was interesting. The lean meat itself wasn’t too noticeably distinctly different, but mixed in with a bit of lamb fat, it had a very unique flavor.

In an attempt to eat more lamb, I searched a bunch of different areas, and ended up getting lamb at a few different restaurants. But, lamb (possibly due to the fact that it isn’t often ordered) was noticeably more expensive than any other meat, and seeing as I cook pretty often at home, I wanted to find some raw lamb that I could just throw into a frying pan and prepare on my own.

I looked at a few grocery stores at which I often shop, and none of them had it … but then I realized I forgot one of the most obvious locations – Albertsons – and found it pretty quickly in their “unique meats” area. This is a small section in their regular meat area where they stock lamb, veal, grass-fed angus beef, and other meats that are a bit different than the normal beef, pork, chicken, and fish.

It actually wasn’t substantially more expensive either, so I guess that means I’ll be able to eat lamb a lot more often now.

 

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Expectation vs. reality

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Expectation vs. reality

 

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Mango the Model

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My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

We had a professional photographer/videographer come out to one of our team houses for a photoshoot and filming session, and of course, we had to get Mango in on the action. We had Mango be Tempo Storm’s sponsorship model for SecretLab, Red Bull, and SkyTech:

Mango the Model

Mango the Model

Mango the Model

Mango the Model

 

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