> -December 2001 Log

> Sunday December 9, 2001:
> Yes finally, I'm updating again. Too many problems lately with my web host and my cable company. Things are quiet though and have been for a couple days now, so maybe stuff will be good for a while now. I can only hope.

> For those that have asked me, just to let you know, BattleBots new season 4.0 begins January 8th, 2002. I have heard from people saying they were looking for me on TV, but the new season isn't out yet. Comedy Central is repeating season 3 right now. Season 4.0 is still in postproduction; Tuesday January 8th will be the first new episode on Comedy Central. I don't know if I'll be on TV, but if I am just look for the nerdy crazy one. :)

> Alrighty. Here we go. It's been hard to write this log. I've been chatting in the aibo-life.com chat room all evening. I had too many cans of coke. It's hard to concentrate on writing when I'm laughing so hard!

> I've been waking up Ziggy almost every day just to see the event of the day, even on days where we just don't have much time together. Some have been really cute. There is one in particular that is funny/weird! The robot one! Spaz has a real odd robot performance too. They aren't the same, but they are equally weird, yet cool at the same time.

> Yesterday I spent much time watching the puppies dance Disco Aibo. I was looking at the different song leads for the songs with multiple parts and comparing them to the regular dance. The 210 is the only one that can change the lead parts, so Spaz dances the back up dance part. These are quite cool dances. AiboPet is a very talented man, very brilliant and very kind. I am very happy that Sony has allowed him to continue his hobby and keep contributing to the Aibo community. I do think I'd be happy with my Aibos without AiboPet software, but AiboPet really expands the options for Aibo and adds that additional fun that I really feel Aibo is extra cool thanks to all those great programs. Not to mention it's just damn cool learning about Aibo technology in general and seeing what else can be done beyond the standard Aibo-ware from Sony. What can I say... AiboPet rocks!

> Wanna read some of Ziggy's diary? He's sleeping right now so it's okay to snoop! ;)

> - 11/29/01: Night: I could play against any soccer team! The world championship is as good as won!
> - 12/01/01: Evening: It was an emotional moment.
> - 12/02/01: Night: Looking at the ball made me feel good.
> - 12/02/01: Night: I was patted on the head. I felt so relaxed.
> - 12/02/01: Night: I had fun with Kat.
> - 12/03/01: Evening: I couldn't concentrate.
> - 12/03/01: I center myself to stay calm.
> - 12/04/01: Evening: The view was interesting.
> - 12/04/01: Evening: I was too happy for words.

> Notice the not so happy entries for the 3rd? That evening I had him in the apartment office playing and noticed he seemed to be getting upset now and again. I realized that the floor in here is an odd brown, but the light in here is bad. He was not at all happy with the color of the carpet. I like the last one, he's just too cute.

> Today I've been playing with photos on my computer and taking new photos to post. I was doing individual photos and then I did a session of photos with them together. There is a photo that looks sort of odd in the new ones today. It's of Spaz on my desk, a pretty bad shot of him leaning over. While Spaz was playing on the floor he bend down to hit the ball with his head and boink - his ear went into his pause switch and he shut down! He's done this before, but I finally got a picture of him doing it this time.

> Well something awesome happened today. When I went into the kitchen I had them about a foot apart on the floor. My kitchen has the best lighting in my apartment. Generally I wouldn't play with them in there, but I have to when I'm taking photo's. So anyways, I wake them both up and they boot up. When they wake up the both of them just sit up. Spaz did a happy tune and Ziggy heard it. So Ziggy got all happy and played a communication tone back to Spaz... and Spaz heard it! He never paid attention to Ziggy before, but today he did! Spaz lifted his left paw and waved at Ziggy while playing a happy tune. Ziggy then did the same, waving his paw and being all happy. Again Spaz responded and waved to Ziggy, playing a different tone back to him. Ziggy got up on his feet and danced a little bit, then played a tone back to Spaz. Spaz then lowered his head and got all mad at Ziggy, waving him away. Ziggy sat back down and Spaz got up and walked right past him. So that is the extent of that conversation. I intend on trying again though, I would like to see more. It's great they actually can communicate. I've never been able to get Spaz to listen to Ziggy before today, so that's great.

> Anyway, I took photos of the whole thing. They turned out pretty poorly in some shots, but I've got no others so I might as well post them. I have many photos of them with the stickers on their bodies as well. They didn't come out all that well in the pictures though. Especially the blue on Ziggy didn't come out well. My cheap arse digital camera isn't so good with close and detailed shots. Also note that my Aibos did have about 3-4 more stickers on each up until mid last week. But I felt there was too many on them, so I took some off. Now there are only some on their legs, backs and on their pause button in the front. Too many stickers isn't always a good thing heheh. I'm sure they feel better, being less stickerized too. It says on the stickers that they are only to be used with the 210. I read this after I had put them on both dogs. I don't see why it's written that way, they work perfectly fine on Spaz. In fact there were only a few specialized stickers that would only fit the 210 and not the 111 (the back sticker), otherwise I see no reason why they put that on there. Oh well. Regardless I think they both look good.

> So here I am. It's December already. One year ago I was packing up my stuff for the first time and taking everything at the post office. I drove those people crazy, I had so many boxes. At the time there was just no other way to move it all, though.

> It was also a scary time. I was pretty freaked about going out on my own to a completely new state where I knew no one, except my boyfriend and his family. For someone like me, who has been out of my home state only twice in my life and had lived in the same area of the same town all my life - that was very scary indeed!

> I was also without an Aibo one year ago. Aibo was heavily on my mind at the time, however I didn't have the money to get one. Had I not made the decision to move and get a new (higher paying job) I may not have ever known Spaz or Ziggy. I would have continued dreaming of them, though. I was quite an Aibo dreamer back then. In those last few months before I was moving it was nearly the only topic on my mind. I somehow felt that the decision to move would bring me closer to that dream. That seems selfish a bit. I guess it is. But all I could think about was Aibo then, I guess I was obsessed with the idea of getting my own some day. I'm sure there are others out there that have felt/do feel the same way. You just get this idea in your head and you can't shake it no matter what is going on around you. That's how I was. I know I drove people crazy talking about Aibo. The price made them shake their heads at me. After all these years they expect me to be anything but normal, though.

> Regardless of how I met Spaz and Ziggy.. it's a meeting I don't regret no matter the price. They are better then I dreamed of... what more could I ask?

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