let the year begin

I look at today as the first day of my new year since I was still caught up in celebration of the holidays with family until today. Now, I can start those resolutions.

One resolution was to get at least 30 minutes (preferably more though) of exercise a day. I started out the day by walking Ava to Stark Street Station and back via Mt Tabor and its wonderful dog park. She was exhausted by the time we got home and so were my legs. After nearly a week of physical inactivity (I don't think I even left my parents' house even just to step outside on Sunday) and two hours of sitting on the plane BEFORE the 4+ hour flight even began, I was not prepared for a significant walk but I feel great for doing it. And Ava will get used to it.

My new thing today though was taking Ava to Dove Lewis to get her type to see if she would be a good blood donor  It turns out that Huskies are typically universal (there are 13 dog blood types!). There are good benefits for Ava for doing it (free blood work, etc. and a free toy every time) but we were really just doing it to help out since she's young and in excellent health. Plus, as gay men, we can't donate. It's a crap policy and I did a paper on it's ineffectiveness and prejudice my first year of grad school but maybe it will change soon.

Anyway, I'll find out soon if she can donate. In the meantime, we had a great day together and I missed her so much. We went shopping for a new harness since her pretty purple one broke just minutes after this photo and then I had to by a new collar since her old collar clashed with the new harness. It's a new year so she should have a new look anyway.