SnowPaku

Finally, the snowfall Paku has been waiting to hit his adopted homeland arrived in late February. Paku didn't waste any time in enjoying the precious flakes-- he made do with the 3 or so inches that fell on Baltimore and quickly made a friend to pal around with in the snow.

Oh, Paku-- think back to the winter vacations of your youth-- shooshing down the hills at Hakuba Goryu and Kurumayama Kogen in Nagano Prefecture....

Paku in Peru

Paku visited Lima for the first time just after Thanksgiving, and happily basked in summer for the entire month of December. When Mom cruelly insisted on leaving Peru for the bitter cold of barren Wisconsin just before Christmas, Paku put his foot down and refused to return. Grandma was very, very displeased with Paku's decision, but was unable to guilt him into leaving South America. He made friends with a black labrador, and shared his apartment until Mom's return in mid-January. Who knows what he got up to when she was back in the States...when the cat is away, the mice will play!

You can see why Paku was so resolute; here he is happily sunning himself (as he did nearly every day) on a balcony overlooking the lovely Parque El Olivar (the park of olives, though Paku was never able to actually find an olive anywhere in the park). It is perhaps a bit surprising that Paku remains so pristinely white after so much sunning, but this was taken on one of his first days; so we shall see how well the delicate Paku complexion stands up over time to the intense Peruvian sun.....

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Paku indulges in frivilous fantasies involving automobile ownership

Paku attended the Philadelphia International Auto Show this weekend at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Paku has yet to come fully to terms with the fact that when he takes up residence in New York City in four months it will no longer be practical for him to own his beloved Honda Accord, let alone get himself a new car.

Naturally the first stop at the auto show for Paku, whose early life story was recently dramatized in the motion picture "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift", was at the Tuner Salon where the generous people of Scion issued Paku a new Scion baseball cap.

Paku very much admired this tuned up Scion xC, however, he found it to be insufficiently orange in color with much, much too subtle rear fins.

After reflecting for a few moments on the street racing of his youth, Paku contemplated a future as a family Paku and tried on a minivan and a few SUVs for size.








Quickly abandoning thoughts of a lifestyle requiring a vehicle with more than two doors, Paku found some cars that are more in keeping with his image.

Pakus Discover Further Evidence Extinct Giants Once Roamed the World (or Part III: In Which Pakus' Philadelphia Adventure Continues...)

Our intrepid Pakus were strolling past the Municipal Services building during their tour of Philly (Philly Paku was taking Baltimore Paku to show him who is responsible for his weekly bamboo delivery), when they came upon a rather stunning archaeological find, oddly hidden in plain sight. Scattered throughout the plaza were game pieces, obviously relics of some former Brobdignagian race of giants who once roamed the earth. Shown at the left was the first game piece they came upon, from the game Sorry. Paku had to employ the assistance of a passerby to hoist him ontop of this massive game piece. Paku was astounded that since this game is meant for children as young as six, the implication for the size of this former giant race was mind-blowing.

Intrigued, they explored the plaza further, eventually unearthing two game pieces from the classic board game Monopoly. Both Pakus couldn't stop themselves from hopping up into the wheel barrow to pose! Philly Paku had no sooner suggested a game between the two pandas than Baltimore Paku put the kaibash on it. Never play Monopoly with someone in business school (its not that they'll win, but they'll spend the whole game lecturing at you!).

Pakus felt that this race of giants likely had inferior intellect to the man that walks the earth today, who in turn has a subpar intelligence when compared to the Giant Panda. They also theorized that the giants were probably driven into extinction by battles and wrestling matches between sibling giants over who got to be the car piece in Monopoly. Either that or they went for a walk and accidentally all fell into the Grand Canyon.

Lastly, the Pakus happened upon a few remaining pieces from what must have been the giants chess set. Amazed as they were that these giants could have had the intellect for this game of kings, the Pakus were rather overwhelmed by the rudeness of a passerby whom they enlisted to take a photo of Paku with the knight game piece.

Needless to say this "whimsical" posing was not appreciated by either Paku.