I will no longer be updating Iron Guide (see below). Instead, I am now writing at my new, personal blog. Though that will be about some of the newer things I'm doing in life, if you want to see updates about Louie, Lester, and now Dusky, add me on Facebook -- there's enough ridiculously cute pictures to go around.

OK. So, clearly, I'm dead. This blog, at the very least, is. I cry uncle.

In the past several months, much has changed. Lester has grown up and gone out on his own, back at advanced training in Boring. I finished the Ironman. My start-up is very much in all-systems-go mode. I have a new puppy: Dusky. There's a new blog. (I won't be uploading pictures of Dusky or Lester to my blog. Instead, they'll go to on my Facebook. If you want to see them, add me -- Kushal Chakrabarti, I'm obviously pretty easy to find.)

And, most importantly? Lester is graduating. He'd been steadily working through the ranks and phases back at Boring, and I just heart last week that he'd been matched with a partner and was graduating October 18th. I haven't met or spoken with his partner yet, but I'm sure he and Lester are getting along like peanut butter and jelly. (Lester always was quite the schmoozer.) They're graduating together next Saturday, exactly a week from today.

I, sadly, will be on the other side of country, presenting at Pop!Tech 2008 and launching Vittana. I'm actually really sad -- I was actually considering flying back to Oregon for a day to see them graduate, but there's just no feasible way to make it work. Hopefully, one of these days, I'll get to see my old boy one more time. It's decidedly bittersweet: on the one hand, it's a huge honor to be invited to Pop!Tech and it's incredibly exciting to see things taking off for Vittana, but, on the other hand, I was really looking forward to seeing Lester again.

The last picture I have of my boy, taken the morning before we drove him back to Portland:



He looks so grown up, doesn't he?

This is will be my last post on Little Lester Pester / Iron Guide. I've made a lot of new friends writing here and it's been a great story. I've been (and will keep) following everyone in guide dog world, albeit a bit more silently. Though it's about some of the newer things I'm doing in life, I'll still occasionally write about Louie, Lester, and now Dusky too. If you want to follow along about the boys -- old and new -- I'd love it if you came along.

It's time I crossed out "In Training", isn't it? Lester is graduating in 7 days and I finished my (first) Ironman just over a month ago. So, in death, this blog will now be known as Iron Guide (In Training). It's almost poetic, in a way.

Labels: Dusky, Ironman, Lester, Louie

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