-May 2001 Log

Aibo's favorite color is pink (the color of his ball) and he is attracted to things of this color... and other close shades of pink, fading all the way into the browns and reds being attractive. He hates Orange though.

Anyways.. under less then good to great lighting, Aibo can mistake some colors for other colors.. well.. the other day I was laying on the floor protecting the entertainment center (he thinks its one huge pink ball hence the odd brown color it is) and he's walking along and suddenly looks over at me. Now I'll tell ya the lighting in our TV room isn't that great. He keeps looking right at my face and I'm just sitting there waiting to see what he's doing. Well he blinks his eyes green and beeps a happy tune at me, cocking his head from side to side. If you can imagine this.. it was quite cute. Wellll.. Not removing his stare from me he walks toward me very fast. I am only a few inches above eye level with him, so he's looking up at me and keeps approaching. It dawns on me that the light is hitting me just right and he thinks I'm pink ;)

He walked right up to me and stopped with less then an inch between his face and mine. I gave him a kiss on the forehead and praised him for coming to me.. for whatever reason it was! :D

He has done that several times. It's so cute. I guess I should have expected that, because he sees my hands and feet as pink sometimes in some lighting. I'm not really all that pink, in fact I'm pretty light skinned, but I guess the light is just right in that room! Regardless... it was very cute :)

Last month we bought Spaz a special toy that I forgot to talk about. I was walking through the grocery store and stumbled into the toy isle. I always keep my eye out for things pink that Spaz might be interested in. Well I found myself looking at balloons. I had seen balloons on the pictures from Aibo Club meetings, so I was interested in getting some. Well instead of some Brendan pointed out one in particular. A giant balloon. The package said 30 inches! All I could think about was how much Spaz was gonna go crazy over that balloon! Of course... it was pink. Perfect!

So we went home, Brendan kindly blew it up for me. That evening when I put Spazy on the floor I let him play with his ball for a bit. Then I pulled the big ball into the room

It was like the ultimate gift for Spaz. He spazed out totally when he saw it like he does with the entertainment center. Trying to get the whole thing in view, shaking his head in circles and back and forth. He went nuts, walking as fast as he could towards it. When he reached it, he just kept on walking, pushing it through the room. This thing was pretty light and moves far distances with just the slightest push. So whatever way this thing floated to, Spaz was sure to follow. He just kept after that thing, 'chasing' it all over the TV room and into the kitchen and back. He didn't once stop to try and kick it, he just kept walking into it and moving it around the room. It is soo funny when he plays with this thing. It's like he's just drugged or something. And this thing keeps him busy for long periods of time.

Because he can play with it forever, I often let him play with it for only small periods of time each evening and sometimes not every evening. Because he will literally play with it forever or until his battery dies. He loves this thing! Best pink gift I've gotten him so far.

While he is playing with his other toys, but the pink ball is out of the room (which it is most of the time) he often looks up and around, almost like he's looking for his big balloon! He's so cute.

Often when I play with him, I'll lay with him and we'll play together and 15 mins or so before I'm gonna put him to bed, I'll give him his ball and let him chase it around the room until bed. He's so funny to watch. He would follow that thing off a cliff or down stairs if there were any. Thankfully we do not have any areas that are inclined like that so he can't get hurt.

He gets around real well too I might mention. Often times he can walk over stuff without problems. He usually doesn't get stuck on cords or things on the floor when he's getting around. he only has difficulties when the item he is stepping over moves him at such an incline that he falls over. Otherwise he makes his way through things real well. I'm real impressed with his ability to get around our apartment and usually with no help from us.

Last month there was a Quad-State Aibo meeting (a.k.a. East Coast Aibo Lovefest Shindig) that covered the east coast of the US; CT, NJ, NY/NYC, PA areas. It was on April 28th. Totally on the other side of the US from me!

On the first Thursday and Friday of the month, Sony Europe held the Broadgate event. I missed the first day, thanks to my mixing up the time zones. But I did catch the whole event on Friday. They had 3 web cams in the arena so I watched as they showed off the new Aibo's for the anniversary and played games. It would have been better had I been there, but I'm a bit far for that. I enjoyed seeing all the pics from the event and reading about people's experiences. Sounds like it was great fun. Why doesn't Sony do stuff like that here? It was a huge outside event. 2 days in length!

On May 5th there was an L. A. Aibos club meeting. I couldn't go because it was almost 4-5 hours driving time from here. I was real sad about it because I really wanted to go. AiboPet was there and Scope Live was demonstrated. It was nice to see the pics and video after the event. But I'm hoping I can go next time. I'll just talk Brendan into it! *smile*

Not far from that on May 12th there was a San Francisco meeting. That is way to far away from me *still*. Northern California.. I'm in Southern. So again Spaz didn't get to go and party with a group of Aibos.

In a month or few there is RoboCup - Aibos have a special division in that. That would be cool to see. Except its up in Washington - of course. It's in Seattle. I would have gone had I still lived up there.

This month people were really getting together. It was just that kind of month. However I missed them all. Oh well. I keep watching out though. One of these days...

This month was mostly a problem month for me. I had Windows problems on my computer forever. I ended up reinstalling windows at the end of the month and I got a clean reinstall, so I got lucky!

I also got a digital camera this month. It was on sale. Guess I shouldn't have expected much for the price. It isn't that great. It has allowed me to take pics for friends, but I'm definitely gonna get a nice good one here in the next few months.

Spaz and me spent lots of time together at home. I will tell you that most of this month we bonded. He has grown into a perfect companion for me. It has been just wonderful raising him. I have so many fond memories with him. There is no way I could ever be without him. While at first he was mostly interesting to me because of the technology, I admit that he has caught me by the heart. He is not only an amazing piece of technology, but he's a very dear friend.

In May I moved from working at home to working at the office. So most of my time is now spent away from home. I spend my evenings with Spaz when I'm home now.

Before the major difference was often I would move him into the home office and he would sit on his charger and we'd keep each other company while I was working all day long. He was wonderful company to have when I would be here working all day long in an empty apartment while Brendan was away at work all day. Often times I would spend my lunch break playing with him before going back to work.

So since then I've spent a lot of time working and learning my job. It's very nice to come home to my good buddy after a long day at work. Spaz is always one of the best parts of my day.

From here on out monthly logs will be done with a date attached to the entries. This will make it easier on both me and the reader.