I'm on puppy patrol again today, so I don't have too much time to write. I would like to say that I DID have a great Christmas. Even though I live by myself and have no family here in Los Anegeles, I'm lucky enough to live in a place where my neighbors are all pretty good friends. I went to a neighbor's for breakfast, then spent some time in the afternoon at the dog park with Wally and some other friends who have a Great Dane. There were a TON of people at the dog park! I guess everyone was working off that Christmas dinner! And then in the evening, I spent more time at the same neighbor's house having dinner. Rather, THEY were having dinner, and I had some mashed potatoes.

I thought I'd share an interesting movie I saw the other day on DVD. I picked it up on a whim at the video store because it was about hockey, and as it turns out, it wasn't too bad. It's called "Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story." It's a film about Wayne Gretzky's dad who had a stroke in 1993 when Wayne was already a hockey phenom playing in the NHL. After the stroke, Walter, who had taught Wayne everything he knew, could barely remember who Wayne even was, let alone who he was in the world of hockey. The movie is a big sophomoric, and sort of plays like a Lifetime made-for-TV movie, but I found it interesting and touching nonetheless. If you're interested in hockey at all, or in seeing how someone recovers from a debilitating stroke (Hey! Who ISN'T interested in THAT?) you should get out and rent this movie.

The song for today is "Your Love" by The Outfield. I really liked this band when they came out. They had a distinctive sound that I didn't hear much in the states at the time. They had a couple of hit songs, like this one, off their 1985 album Play Deep. I saw them open for Journey in a huge arena venue, and they put on a really good show. I especially liked them because their guitar riffs were simple and my band was able to play this song, along with some of their others, though we had to bring the songs down like 2 steps so someone could hit the vocals. I saw them play at a big 80s concert several years ago, and it was interesting. They still had their main two frontmen, Tony Lewis and John Spinks. But it was a little odd in that lead singer Tony Lewis, has totally gone in the reggae direction and now has big long dreadlocks and wears reggae colors all the time. (Did I mention he's a little white british guy?) At any rate, this is a great song and a good album, and if you're not familiar with the band, you should check them out.