The dog house

There are many perks to working for a video game company...

(thanks to Kim and Ashley for this awesome montage)

I still remember waiting at reception for my first interview here, self-consciously early and over-dressed.  A little white bundle of Bichon came tumbling down the stairs with his owner in tow and I was in love.  Yes, the games are Epic.  Yes, the people are phenomenal.  Yes, I had left consulting to return to school after confronting the reality that the highest form of life I could keep alive on my 4 days out of town 3 days back routine was a guinea pig... and even that didn't turn out so smoothly after picking up corporate digs in West Village.  The day I got the offer, I asked my would-be supervisor if he could check on whether my would-be coworkers were cool with a would-be mascot.  Then I got Kai (pictured).

But over time, it became clear that the warg streak ran strong with Kai and her eventual sidekick Rho.  They were a pack.  They knew who had a seat in our open office cubes and would chase intruders (particularly those wearing hats or pushing bikes).  We discussed redoubling dog obedience efforts, perhaps enrolling them in extra classes, but the hours on call at work undermined our resolve.

To contain the pint sized predators, MacGyver outdid himself, making these super-stylish "Graymane Saloon" swinging doors.  Such an elegant solution to Klee Kai containment without forcing fellow cubemates to step over unwieldy baby gates or get tangled in tie outs.  But alas, the doors had many admirers (and concerned facilities caretakers).  After a poorly considered nip, the dogs are under Halladay House arrest.  The saloon doors are waiting for their next epic installation, next to plans for at home agility course obstacles.  GG.

Kai's Victorian Door

I am catching up on blog posts. Belle and I have had this week off of work so quite a bit has gone down here @ Halladay.

Kai likes to use the bathroom very (by MacGyver standards) early in the morning. When she starts running around the house in the AM someone better open a door or there may be a crouton on the carpet. It was time for me to put in her very own door. The designs of dog doors kind of suck. Most all are ugly white plastic and essentially hideous. We planned to mask the hideous white plastic with some real wood trim to match the style. What I did not account for was the thin center of the door is too thin for the trim boards to cover the plastic. Instead I just butted it up against the plastic and bottom of the door. It also hides the shims I had to put in to make the dog door stable/tight to the top side.

These things are pretty easy to install. I drilled 1/2" holes on each of the corners then just jigsawed the opening. The wood trim got sliced on the new chopsaw and nailed in place with a finish nailgun.

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