Random Neural Firings from a real DogMom.

Dance of the sugar Plum Fairies on Glass Harp

2011-12-23T09:31:00.001-05:00

WOW.

Wallet-friendly, eco-friendly fabric softener alternative

2011-10-11T09:48:00.003-04:00

I was reading The Simple Dollar the other day and they mentioned using white vinegar as a fabric softener alternative. They did a comparison of costs for it, and the cost-worthiness of it over fabric softener boiled down to "depends on how much you use". The prescribed substitution use is "one cup of white vinegar per load". I'm assuming that is for a top-loader, which uses much more water, detergent and fabric softener. I decided to give it a try.

I used as much white vinegar in my (front-loader) machine as I usually use fabric softener. When the load was done, my laundry smelled...nice. CLEAN without all the overwhelming fake-floral scents of commercial fabric softener. Nice! Soft? Yeah, not a bad job, and considering that I usually only add fabric softener because otherwise our laundry smells horrible (like musty old water).

Considering that using fabric softener means I'm either oiling my clothes (liquid) or waxing them (dryer sheets), neither of which is environmentally friendly and is kind of disgusting when you think about it, I think that white vinegar is a good alternative, and one I think we'll be using a lot more in the future.
And to keep clothes from getting all staticky in the dryer, I highly recommend dryer balls.

Cool, free stuff!

2011-09-26T09:30:00.003-04:00

I was looking through Craigslist the other day to see if we could find a new phone for Kev for cheap. His got wet a while ago, and while it still mostly works, it's developed a few...quirks. So since it's not urgent that we get him a new phone, I'm trolling Craigslist to see if we can find an acceptable one for cheap. I know, good luck.

While I was looking in the "electronics" section, I saw someone listed a Garmin GPS for $15. Really? Well, okay, it's a GPS / PDA (Garmin plus Palm) and it's kinda old, but hey, it's newer than the ones we have. So we drove out to meet the owner and check out the possible purchase of a "new" PDA. Unfortunately it wasn't charged. At all. So we couldn't verify that it worked. After some discussion, the owner offered to take it and charge it and if it worked we could arrange to meet her in Auburn to buy it, but she decided that she really didn't want to make the trip out to Auburn, so she said, "how about you just take it. It's only $15. if it works, great, if not, well, I'm sorry for wasting your time."

We got it back home, charged it overnight, and....it works! Yay!

Then we were helping with the Church Cleanout on Saturday, and I heard one of the guys talking about Walnuts. Baroo? Walnuts? Turns out he has several Black Walnut Trees and offered to give me a bunch of walnuts. So I got some yesterday, and apparently we may get more today.

Incidentally, one needs to let Black Walnuts sit for about 2 weeks after peeling them before cracking. Right after the green husk comes off is something I would not touch on a bet. Ew.

Jeremy had fun up north!

2011-07-25T12:53:00.001-04:00

Jeremy loves to herd his Kong.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetie

2011-06-27T05:06:00.001-04:00

I love you...

Plant a tree - for free!

2011-06-24T10:31:00.003-04:00

Odwalla is sponsoring a "vote for your state to plant a tree" campaign. Just click here: http://www.odwalla.com/plantatree then follow the instructions on their website to have them donate money to plant a tree in YOUR state!

Mimi Burns Band

2011-02-17T10:05:00.002-05:00

Attention, Celtic Rock fans: the Mimi Burns Band will be playing at Come2Go at 323 West Baker St. in Fort Wayne, starting at 7:00pm on Saturday, March 5. They'll be recording for their upcoming DVD. Everybody come and be loud! They'll also be collecting a free-will donation for a group that's working in Haiti: http://www.echonet.org/

Here's a sample of their music: "Gypsy Dance".

Jeremy in the Snow

2011-01-27T14:22:00.003-05:00

Jeremy had a great deal of fun on Vacation. He discovered that SNOW, when deep enough, will aid his research into AntiGravity Experiments.
By which I mean that he had a blast hurling himself into the air and landing in snowdrifts deep enough to bury himself in. He bounded through the snow, chased it, dug in it, and generally had a Very Good Time. He was really bummed when we came home - not enough snow, and of course we left my mom and dad -- his NEW FAVORITE PEOPLE -- behind.

Here's a few pix of him enjoying himself in the snow.

The Muppets and "Popcorn"

2011-01-12T09:02:00.001-05:00

Enjoy!

Privacy on the Internet - HAH!

2010-12-30T14:18:00.002-05:00

Just found out about a site that aggregates your personal data and displays it to anyone that knows your name.
http://www.spokeo.com

Go there, enter your name (and your location - optional) and search. They've got your address, a map of your location, the people that live with you, and a lot more data. This isn't just "easily found information from elsewhere on the internet", either - I found out that they included information about me that is not easily found on the internet, because it's linked to a misspelling of my name that is only in ONE place, and that should only be available to someone with access to my account information for that particular file.

If you have signed up for memberships anywhere (including places like Kroger, Sam's Club, etc) or if you have credit cards, Debit Cards, or any other electronic presence, you'll benefit from checking out what this site has on you.
You can remove your information from their listing easily - copy the URL for your information, click on the "Privacy" link (very small text) underneath the map and enter the URL, a valid email address for you, and the Captcha text. You'll be emailed a link to complete the removal process, and once you click on the link, your listing is removed.

The Muppets: Ringing of the Bells

2010-12-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

How to Wrap A Cat For Christmas

2010-12-17T15:02:00.001-05:00

The Problem With Talking Animals

2010-12-17T09:46:00.001-05:00

Star Wars meets the Princess Bride

2010-12-10T12:58:00.002-05:00

There's enough here to make every geek happy. And it is full of awesome.

For some reason, this seems very familiar

2010-12-03T12:31:00.001-05:00

Opening Day!

2010-11-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today is opening day for Gun Season in Indiana, so I thought I'd post this to commemorate the occasion.

I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe

2010-11-10T15:50:00.004-05:00

...when a friend sent me this. Since I thought it was so hilarious, I figured I should share it with anyone who reads my blog - and preserve it for posterity.

This apparently was a thread on a Usenet Newsgroup or a messageboard somewhere:

Anne V - 01:01 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Okay - I know how to take meat away from a dog. How do I take a dog away from meat? This is not, unfortunately, a joke.

AmyC - 01:02 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Um, can you give us a few more specifics here?

Anne V - 01:12 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - They're inside of it. They crawled inside, and now I have a giant incredibly heavy piece of carcass in my yard, with 2 dogs inside of it, and they are NOT getting bored of it and coming out. One of them is snoring. I have company arriving in three hours, and my current plan is to 1. put up a tent over said carcass and 2. hang thousands of fly strips inside it. This has been going on since about 6:40 this morning.

AmyC - 01:19 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Oh. My. God. What sort of carcass is big enough to hold a couple of dogs inside? Given the situation, I'm afraid you're not going to be create enough of a diversion to get the dogs out of the carrion, unless they like greeting company as much as they like rolling around in dead stuff. Which seems unlikely. Can you turn a hose on the festivities?

Ase Innes-Ker - 01:31 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - N I'm sorry Anne. I know this is a problem (and it would have driven me crazy), but it is also incredibly funny.

Anne V - 01:31 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Elk. Elk are very big this year, because of the rain and good grazing and so forth. They aren't rolling. They are alternately napping and eating. They each have a ribcage. Other dogs are working on them from the outside. It's all way too primal in my yard right now. We tried the hose trick. At someone elses house, which is where they climbed in and began to refuse to come out. Many hours ago. I think that the hose mostly helps keep them cool and dislodges little moist snacks for them. hose failed. My new hope is that if they all continue to eat at this rate, they will be finished before the houseguests arrive. The very urban houseguests. Oh, ghod - I know it's funny. It's appalling, and funny, and completely entirely representative of life with dogs.

Kristen R. - 01:37 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - . I'm so glad I read this thread, dogless as I am. Dogs in elk. Dogs in elk. Jaysus.

Anne V - 01:41 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - It's like that childrens book out there - dogs in elk, dogs on elk, dogs around elk, dogs outside elk. And there is some elk inside of, as well as on, each dog at this point.

CoseyMo - 01:49 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - "dogs in elk, dogs on elk, dogs around elk, dogs outside elk" This is, possibly, the ultimate tagline.

Anne V - 01:56 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - you may have it. Me, I have the dogs, and the elk. The tagline is available.

Elizabeth K - 01:57 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - # Anne, aren't you in Arizona or Nevada? There are elk there? I'm so confused! We definately need to see pics of Gus Pong and Jake in the elk carcass.

Anne V - 02:03 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - I am in New Mexico, but there are elk in both arizona and nevada, yes. There are elk all over the damn place. They don't look out very often. If you stand the ribcage on end they scramble to the top and look out, all red. Otherwise, you kinda have to get in there a little bit yourself to really see them. So I think there will not be pictures.

CoseyMo - 02:06 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - "all red." I'm not sure the deeper horror of all this was fully borne in upon me till I saw that little phrase.

Anne V - 02:10 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Well, you know, the Basenji (that would be Jake) is a desert dog, naturally, and infamous for it's aversion to water. And then, Gus Pong (who is coming to us, live, unamplified and with a terrific reverb which is making me a little dizzy) really doesn't mind water, but hates to be cold. Or soapy. And both of them can really run. Sprints of up to 35 mph have been clocked. So. If ever they come out, catching them and returning them to a condition where they can be considered house pets is not going to be, shall we say, pleasant.

CoseyMo - 02:15 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - What if you stand the ribcage on end, wait for them to look out, grab them when they do and pull?

Anne V - 02:18 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - They wedge their toes between the ribs. And scream. We tried that before we brought the elk home from the mountain with dogs inside. Jake nearly took my friends arm off. He's already short a toe, so he cherishes the 15 that remain.

CoseyMo - 02:19 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Oy.

Anne V - 02:23 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - vey iz mir

Linda Hewitt - 02:30 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Have you thought about calling your friendly vet and paying him to come pick up the dogs, elk and letting the dogs stay at the vets overnight. If anyone would know what to do, it would be your vet. It might cost some money, but it would solve the immediate crisis. Keep us posted.

ChristiPeters - 02:37 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Yikes! My sympathy! When I lived in New Mexico, my best friend's dog (the escape artist) was continually bringing home road kill. When there was no road kill convenient, he would visit the neighbor's house. Said neighbor slaughtered his own beef. The dog found all kinds of impossibly gross toys in the neighbor's trash pit. I have always had medium to large dogs. The smallest dog I ever had was a mutt from the SPCA who matured out at just above knee high and about 55 pounds. Our current dog (daughter's choice) is a Pomeranian. A very small Pomeranian. She's 8 months old now and not quite 4 pounds. I'm afraid I'll break her.

Lori Shiraishi - 02:38 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Bet you could fit a whole lot of Pomeranians in that there elk carcass! Anne - my condolences on what must be a unbelievable situation!

Anne V - 02:44 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - I did call my vet. He laughed until he was gagging and breathless. He says a lot of things, which can be summed as *what did you expect?* and *no, there is no such thing as too much elk meat for a dog.* He is planning to stop over and take a look on his way home. Thanks, Lori. I am almost surrendered to the absurdity of it.

Lori Shiraishi - 02:49 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - He is planning to stop over and take a look on his way home. So he can fall down laughing in person?

Anne V - 02:50 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Basically, yeah. That would be about it.

AmyC - 02:56 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - no, there is no such thing as too much elk meat for a dog. Oh, sweet lord, Anne. You have my deepest sympathies in this, perhaps the most peculiar of the Gus Pong Adventures. You are truly a woman of superhuman patience. wait -- you carried the carcass down from the mountains with the dogs inside?

Anne V - 02:59 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - the carcass down from the mountains with the dogs inside? no, well, sort of. My part in the whole thing was to get really stressed about a meeting that I had to go to, and say *yeah, ok, whatever* when it was suggested that the ribcages, since we couldn't get the dogs out of them and the dogs couldn't be left there, be brought to my house. Because, you know - I just thought they would get bored of it sooner or later. But it appears to be later, in the misty uncertain future, that they will get bored. Now, they are still interested. And very loud, one singing, one snoring.

Lori Shiraishi - 03:04 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - And very loud, one singing, one snoring. wow. I can't even begin to imagine the acoustics involved with singing from the inside of an elk.

Anne V - 03:04 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - reverb. lots and lots of reverb.

shechemist - 03:09 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Stop! Please Stop! I almost peed laughing so hard. Reverb! *hawl* Oh my. I have these...images and now sounds that will haunt me for the rest of the day. And I will start giggling. and it will scare my cow-orkers.

Anne V - 03:15 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - I'll tell you the thing that is causing me to lose it again and again, and then I have to go back outside and stay there for a while. After the meeting, I said to my (extraordinary) boss, *look, I've gotta go home for the rest of the day, I think. Jake and Gus Pong are inside some elk ribcages, and my dad is coming tonight, so I've got to get them out somehow.* And he said, pale and huge-eyed, *Annie, how did you explain the elk to the clients?* The poor, poor man thought I had the carcasses brought to work with me. For some reason, I find this deeply funny.

Linda Hewitt - 03:16 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Since no solution appears in sight. Why not get this moment preserved for prosterity by calling the TV stations. I bet they would love a human interest story like this. Having the TV stations there will also take the edge off of the situation with your urban company plus it will give you lots to talk ... laugh about. No worry. You and your guests are going to have a great time.

AmyC - 03:18 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Oh, god. I can't breathe!

Kristen R. - 03:19 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - I know, Amy! I just printed this to show to my friends. Do you mind, Annie?

Grace Newton - 03:44 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Anne V, now that I've wiped the tears away and have my breath back, I hope you're still there. Have you tried pouring something harmless but doggie revolting over the elk habitat? Diluted pepper sauce maybe. BTW, the reason I'm posting on a thread I've never appeared in before, a link to your story was dropped at Rick's Bar in the Politics folder. If it's any consulation, you're famous!

wordninja - 03:46 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - smooooootch I've got tears of laughter comin' out of my ol' eyes.
B

erry Gold - 03:51 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - hey...This could be a $10,000 kodak moment. Get a video cam and record the event then submit it to America`s Funniest Home Videos. Opportunity is a-knockin` here.

Abigail Quart - 07:27 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - . I've emailed it to my future brother-in-law (maybe HE will be able to read it to my sister without laughing hysterically) and read it to my Mom (while laughing but she just made me start over).

Linda Hewitt - 07:30 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - Annie, what the latest status on the dogs and the elk? Did you get your camcorder out to record it for all time?

Abigail Quart - 07:44 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - . *no, there is no such thing as too much elk meat for a dog.* As tagline potential goes, I feel the above has much to recommend it as a political metaphor.

Kali durga - 09:25 pm PDT - Sep 9, 1999 - HAR EHAWEROIUPSGN HAR HARR HARR HARR EEEEEEEAAA THIS is hysterical! elk ribs and doggies who can't be moved!!? I thought I was taking a break from the 'WACO' THREAD!!! BUT IT'S THE SAME DAMN STORY in metaphor!!!!! eeeeeeeYOWWWWWW red meat, can't let go...doggies in heat over a carcass...JESS like the Koresh crew RENO, CLINTON, RENO RENO RENO ELK ELK ELK DOGGIES AFTER RENO ELK. De (kali) THANX y'all and good luck with the doggies n elk. and i do mean 'N'

Terri-Lynn S. - 03:50 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - Anne V, thank you, thank you for the absolute, without a doubt best laugh of the week. I nearly peed in my pants reading about the dog/elk situation, and I must say you are keeping a remarkably cool head about everything. Update us, please!

AmyC - 05:22 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - How are you holding up this morning, Anne? I hope the dogs weren't out on the carcass all night, snoring and singing and whooping it up like sailors on leave.

CoseyMo - 06:39 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - Anne might not be around today. Which sucks - I *need* to know the end of this story.

Colette - 06:50 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - I would think the dogs are being bathed and the carnage in the yard is being cleaned up so as to keep preditors away, like mountain lions and bear; if she lives "out"

ChristiPeters - 07:07 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - OK, I'll just join the lot of you and wait until she has the time to relate... ... the rest of the story. (I really must learn to resist these impulses)

Jill F. - 10:35 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - Oh, I am crying laughing. I didn't think she could top the Indian food story.

CoseyMo - 10:43 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - Never underestimate the potential of a household containing Gus Pong. This last day and a half, I have begun to accost people in the office corridor, like the Ancient Mariner, in order that I may have the pleasure of relating his exploits. I tell the tale to people who are not even dog people and who merely look at me strangely and back away. I will say that listening to Annie makes my own houseful of dogs look like a Paradise of peace and civilization by comparison ... which is lucky for Tanya the Spazzed-Out Doberman in particular or I might've killed her by now . Her quirks -- such as her deep and abiding phobia regarding doors -- now seem positively benign.

marcia watson - 10:50 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - The suspense is killing me. You don't suppose that the dogs have dragged her into the carcass and are holding her hostage?

CoseyMo - 10:57 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - She said something about a long weekend off for Rosh Hashanah, so we may just have to sit tight till Monday. Worse for me as I'm on the East Coast and have to wait till well into my day before I can expect the latest :-)

Grace Newton - 11:04 am PDT - Sep 10, 1999 - I deeply regret I'm not a cartoonist. The images conjured by posts to this thread over the past two days cry out to be immortalized. Elk drunk dogs carousing atop rib cages, whooo. Got to stop, my family thinks I've lost it as it is.

Danielle Duperre - 07:25 am PDT - Sep 13, 1999 - Ok, Anne, holiday weekend's over. Talk to us!

Linda Hewitt - 08:34 am PDT - Sep 13, 1999 - The world is waiting Anne to hear the latest on Dogs 'N Elk.

Anne V - 08:37 am PDT - Sep 13, 1999 - So what we did was put the ribcages (containing dogs) on tarps and drag them around to the side yard, where I figured they would at least be harder to see, and then opened my bedroom window so that the dogs could let me know when they were ready to be plunged into a de-elking solution and let in the house. Then I went to the airport. Came home, no visible elk, no visible dogs. Peeked around the shrubs, and there they were, still in the elk. By this time, they had gnawed out some little portholes between some of the ribs, and you got the occasional very frightening glimpse of something moving around in there if you watched long enough. After a lot of agonizing, I went to bed. I closed the back door, made sure my window was open, talked to the dogs out of it until I was sure they knew it was open, and then I fell asleep. Sometimes, sleep is a mistake, no matter how tired you are. And especially if you are very very tired, and some of your dogs are outside, inside some elks. Because when you are that tired, you sleep through bumping kind of noises, or you kind of think that it's just the house guests. It was't the house guests. It was my dogs, having an attack of teamwork unprecedented in our domestic history. When I finally woke all the way up, it was to a horrible vision. Somehow, 3 dogs with a combined weight of about 90 pounds, managed to hoist one of the ribcages (the meatier one, of course) up 3 feet to rest on top of the swamp cooler outside the window, and push out the screen. What woke me was Gus Pong, howling in frustration from inside the ribcage, very close to my head, combined with feverish little grunts from Jake, who was standing on the nightstand, bracing himself against the curtains with remarkably bloody little feet. Here are some things I have learned, this Rosh Hashanah weekend: 1. almond milk removes elk blood from curtains and pillowcases, 2. We can all exercise superhuman strength when it comes to getting elk carcasses out of our yard, 3. The sight of elk ribcages hurtling over the fence really frightens the nice deputy sheriff who lives across the street, and 4. the dogs can pop the screens out of the windows, without damaging them, from either side.

ChristiPeters - 08:42 am PDT - Sep 13, 1999 - ROTFLMAO Annie, you should write a book of your dog-adventures! I know it probably wasn't funny to live through and, really, you have my sympathies, but it is hilarious reading!

AmyC - 09:53 am PDT - Sep 13, 1999 - Oh, Anne! What a way to ring in the new year! If you ever want to expose the Gus Pong Adventures to a wider audience, I will give you free space on my web site (holistichound.com -- but don't look yet! I'm almost done with the new redesign!). You could put in pictures and sound files and all manner of nifty things! The world needs Gus Pong!

Anne V - 09:58 am PDT - Sep 13, 1999 - What I am is really grateful that they didn't actually get the damn thing in the window, which is clearly the direction they were going in. And that the nice deputy didn't arrest me for terrifying her with elk parts before dawn.

AmyC - 09:59 am PDT - Sep 13, 1999 - Imagine waking up with a gnawed elk carcass in your bed, like a real-life "Godfather" with an all-dog cast.

Anne V - 10:01 am PDT - Sep 13, 1999 - There is not enough almond milk in the world to solve an event of that kind.

Seriously?

2010-11-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

I was looking through the Computer listings on Craigslist and I saw one that said they were selling a computer monitor. Read the listing, and....ya gotta wonder about some people. You really do.

Dear Craigslist person,
A computer monitor has one function. That is to display the video output of the computer. That's it. That's all it does. You've got to be kidding when you say you're selling a computer monitor with a "broken display" but that "works great". No....no it does not. Its only function, that of DISPLAY, is nonfunctional. Therefore it doesn't "work great", it is BROKEN. The only other possible function of a monitor that doesn't display anything is "incredibly inefficient space heater", and I don't think anyone's going to pay you for that.
Sincerely,
Me.

I am Very Pleased With Myself

2010-11-02T12:27:00.002-04:00

For now, anyway. This weekend I:

- Roasted a chicken, which we had for dinner on Saturday
- Made Chicken Pot Pie from scratch (including the crust, thankyouverymuch) for dinner Sunday. We both decided that MY from-scratch crust tasted way better, and was way flakier than the Pillsbury already-done ones. :: smug ::
- Made Chicken Stock from the bones of the chicken
- Made chicken soup from the stock and little bits of chicken. I did buy the noodles.

And it's really good chicken soup, too. Plus, there's still enough leftover chicken for another meal, and enough leftover soup for 2 more meals. Well...one meal, now, because I had some for lunch. AND I still have 2 containers of stock in the freezer! Omnomnom.

I did it All By Myself, too. We did the chicken the same way I do turkey - oil it, foil it, then roast it, and it worked out fairly well. Kev did help me oil-n-foil. And he made the bread that we had with dinner. But I'm pretty pleased about this - I came up with the ideas myself, I planned and executed them myself, and dinner turned out real tasty for several nights in a row.

Jeremy the Scientific Dog

2010-10-04T12:36:00.003-04:00

Subtitle: Our Dog Can't Swim.

We were finally getting around to putting the lid on the pool yesterday and Jeremy decided to "help". Jeremy's version of "help" evidently consisted of the following thought process:

Mom and Dad are out here.
We always play out here.
They have a big piece of crinkly plastic stuff.
And they're moving it around.
ZOMG IT'S A NEW GAME I MUST POUNCE ON IT RIGHT AWAY!

So he leaped, and pounced, and....discovered that a pool cover that is floating on the top of the water will not infact hold a 60 lb. dog above the surface of said water. He also found out that it's impossible to swim in 50-degree water because the cold just sucks the life right out of you. WE discovered that he is still THE most agreeable dog we've ever had because the only thing Kev could grab on him was his collar, and pulled him up toward the deck, at which point Jeremy got a foot on the deck, and helped haul his soggy, stinky self out of the pool.
After which he decided that this was a good time to:
Zoom around the yard
Play-attack the rest of the pool cover
Play-attack the bungees for the pool cover
Play-attack the cord tying the pool cover to the deck posts
Play-attack our hands
And anything else he could think of to try to distract us from playing this shiny new game without him.

So he got sent into the house, where he promptly set up whining to be let out. Tough noogies, dog, we got a pool-covering to finish. Once we finished up, of course, we let him out again - and he promptly ran up on to the deck, and...tried to walk across the pool cover. He got one paw off the deck and onto the cover and I yelled at him so he backed off (probably the fact that the cover didn't support him helped, but I'm not certain).

He's a very scientific doggie - he must explore this strange new substance. Perhaps this time it will support his weight! Perhaps it will develop its own anti-gravity field! Perhaps it will suddenly metamorphose into a sturdy, solid, weight-bearing cover!

Meanwhile, we are accompanying him on his journeys to the backyard until we are certain he's done researching the Pool Cover.

He also got a warm bath and now smells minty-fresh, which doesn't impress him in the least.

More Jeremy Pix

2010-09-29T15:30:00.002-04:00

Otherwise known as "this is MY chair and I will LASER YOU WITH MY EYES if you try to take it!"

And here's a short video of Jeremy playing TugBall.

Welcome Home, Tom

2010-09-14T12:44:00.002-04:00

Finally found the right pic for the occasion, even though this blogpost is a bit late.

Glad you made it home safe, buddy.

Aroo! Happy National Dog Day!

2010-08-26T09:39:00.001-04:00

August 26 is NATIONAL DOG DAY. Enjoy some time with your canine pals!

Facebook is once again removing your privacy

2010-08-20T12:21:00.003-04:00

Facebook recently unleashed a new feature called "Places". Without warning, everyone on Facebook is automatically "in" as soon as you check it out. And, unfortunately, it allows your location to be displayed to the entire Facebook world at large.

Here's a blog post on how to fix it.

I am about thisclose to just removing my profile on Facebook permanently. MY privacy and my location are my business to reveal, not theirs.

if you haven't checked your privacy settings in a while, you may also want to make sure that your "location" is set to either Friends only or disabled so that Facebook doesn't share your info anyway.

Jeremy's favorite Game

2010-08-16T10:50:00.002-04:00

Here's a couple of short vids of Jeremy playing his VERY MOST FAVORITEST GAME EVER. TUG.

Welcome, Jeremy

2010-08-05T10:52:00.003-04:00

We went to the Humane Shelter on Monday (I took a personal day) and applied for a new dog. We wanted to make sure we got The Right Dog, so we had a list of criteria, such as "already fixed" and "housetrained". We saw a few online that we wanted to check out. One was a gimme - a beautiful Siberian Husky bitch that Kev just fell in love with immediately. Me too, to be honest - she was gorgeous with a great personality. Unfortunately, they also told us that "she chews a lot when left alone". Hrm, we went through that already with Lobo, and I'm not relishing having to redo my entire wardrobe every 3 months because the dog decided that my shoes and underwear were New Doggy Food Groups.
So we asked about the other one that we'd looked at online. "Oh...um...he's kind of unadoptable...isn't he?" one of the shelter people asked the Manager. She said, "well, no, but...see....he's Food Aggressive."
We looked at each other. "Is that all? Our previous dog was too."
Them: "REALLY? {BIIIIIIIG SMILE}"
So...we met him, and they took our application, and apparently all our references checked out (and our Vet said Very Nice Things about us) -- (and thank you to Pastor, Kim and Ron if the shelter called you, since you must've said Very Nice Things about us too) so we brought our new dog, Jeremy, to his New Home.

He'd been there for over 5 months...and they were getting new puppies in and running out of space. Since he'd been "almost unadoptable", I have a feeling the only reason he was still there was because they were really fond of him too, and really WANTED him to go to a New Home.
We were warned, of course, that he'd probably take a few weeks to warm up to us and get used to us, but within an hour he was demanding butt scratches and tummy rubs, and playing with us. He had a single "accident" and we now know that he REALLY shouldn't have gooshyfood. (yeah, ew)
Fortunately for us, he really IS very much housebroken, he's OK with us leaving for a bit and he just settles in and either waits by the door for us to come home or sneaks into the bedroom and sleeps on our bed while he waits. :: snickering ::
He's also the cheapest dog in the WORLD to give treats to, since he thinks Ice Cubes are the BESTEST TREAT EVER. He's very smart - he's already sussed out where the treats and Ice Cubes are stored, so every time he goes outside and does his bidness, he comes in and stands in front of the pantry (where the treats are) and if I say "no" he trots over and stares at the freezer!
Incidentally, he's NOT food-aggressive that we've found - I moved his food bowl around WHILE HE WAS EATING and he didn't have a problem with it. He waits for us to tell him he can eat when we feed him, and he takes his treats very politely instead of snatching them. I think he may be "food aggressive" around other dogs, but since we don't have any that's not really a problem, and we've dealt with it before (Kai was the same way). He's still a bit pushy about being interested in people food, but if he's told NO he backs off right away and waits for you to give him something, so we're working on training him that the only food that he can have is what's on the floor or what's specifically given to him. He's a bright pup, he'll get it, and then we shouldn't have too many problems with Doggy Nose Prints in people's plates.
Here's pictures from his first day and a half at Home:

Relaxing on the floor

Waiting at the door for Kev to finish mowing the lawn

Whatcha doing? Is it something interesting?

Playing TUG with his Boodabone.

Oh So True

2010-07-26T13:28:00.001-04:00

I used to be owned by a Siberian Husky, and as a devoted doggy slave, I can definitely attest to the truth of this one.

A Video about my company

2010-07-23T13:59:00.002-04:00

This is a nifty video about what my company does.

Too Short A Time

2010-07-22T15:39:00.002-04:00

Ten years ago, in May of 2000, we brought home a half-grown puppy, about 6 months old. We called him Kai, and Kevin and Kai worked together long hard hours to teach him all the things he needed to know about how to get along with others.
For ten years he enriched our lives, and he brought joy to everyone he met. Kids could hang off him and he just loved it. They'd follow him around and he'd eat up the attention.

A few days ago, he started bleeding somewhere in his mouth. It wasn't much, and he'd had some periodontal issues in April, so we didn't think much of it, but it wasn't stopping, so we made an appointment with the vet today.

At 3:00 this afternoon, the vet took a look inside his mouth and gave us a look as well. He also gave us some very bad news. Melanoma. It had grown so much, and so fast, that it had started causing problems for Kai when he tried to swallow - even water. If it hadn't already started to metastasize to his organs, it would very soon.

We made the difficult, but obvious decision, and had him put to sleep before he started suffering.

We will miss you forever, beloved Kai.

We will see you in heaven - for in heaven there are no tears, only joy. And if that doesn't perfectly describe a dog, then I don't know what does.

The Wrinkled Ladies Video

2010-07-09T12:58:00.003-04:00

A video celebrating age and all the things that come with it. OO-rah!

Merrick Pet Care Recalls Beef Filet Squares 10 oz Bag Due To Salmonella Risk

2010-07-08T12:23:00.000-04:00

More information about the recall here.

The Muppets do "Ode to Joy"

2010-07-07T13:08:00.000-04:00

Happy Independence Day!

2010-07-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

It just wouldn't be Independence Day without a tribute video...and what better video than the Muppet version of "Stars and Stripes Forever".

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Canada Day!

2010-07-01T14:30:00.000-04:00

Only on eBay....

2010-06-14T09:56:00.003-04:00

Only on eBay will you find a computer's HARD DRIVE referred to as an "accessory". Y'know, guys, most of us think that if you're listing a "laptop" it should include things like "Memory", "Hard Drive" and "Battery". Otherwise it's just a pretty shell (or, hey, not-so-pretty. I've SEEN some of those things you're listing) and it's not really a LAPTOP.
At least list the thing as "for parts" rather than "USED", you morons.

Also: Dear eBay, I specified Condition as "New" and "Used" rather than "UNSPECIFIED" for the sole purpose of EXCLUDING "NOT WORKING". What part of "Condition=Not working" is included in the set of "Condition=New" and "Condition=Used"? Honestly, what's the point of having both of those conditions AS WELL AS "Condition=Not Working", and giving me the choice to filter on those particular conditions, if you're not going to actually filter on the conditions I select?

Mondays

2010-06-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

Pixar Short : PRESTO!

2010-06-09T12:33:00.001-04:00

For those of you that haven't seen it, this is the pre-movie Pixar Short that was featured on the Wall-E DVD.
PRESTO!

Kai's favorite pose in the Summer

2010-06-08T12:37:00.000-04:00

FREE Audio New Testament

2010-06-04T13:01:00.001-04:00

LCMS World Mission and Faith Comes By Hearing are combining forces to make the New Testament available on Audiobook - for FREE. They offer over 300 different versions of the New Testament.

http://lcmsbibledownload.com/

An Excellent Use of a Day Off

2010-06-04T12:36:00.003-04:00

I may have to take a Day Off later on to do this.

New GPS kitty isn't working out the way they'd hoped

2010-06-03T12:23:00.003-04:00

I have a sneaking suspicion that a certain friend of mine is gonna really like this one....

:: waving :: Hi Tom....

This picture is just perfectly captioned

2010-06-01T12:46:00.001-04:00

I can absolutely see any Siberian Husky doing this.

OCD Dogs

2010-05-24T12:42:00.000-04:00

Tool Glossary

2010-05-21T14:30:00.002-04:00

Since we're going into Spring, which is traditionally the start of Home Repairs And Spring Cleaning Season, I thought I'd post this handy Tool Glossary.

DRILL PRESS:
A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat
metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest
and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted
project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could
get to it.

WIRE WHEEL:
Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the
workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and
hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to
say, "Oh, shit!"

SKILL SAW:
A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS:
Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation
of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER:
An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor
touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW:
One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board
principle... It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable
motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more
dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS:
Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt
heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer
intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH:
Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in
your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel
hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race..

TABLE SAW:
A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood
projectiles for testing wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK:
Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have
installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under
the bumper.

BAND SAW:
A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to
cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into
the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the
outside edge.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST:
A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything
you forgot to disconnect.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER:
Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for
opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your
shirt; but can also be used, as the name
Implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER:
A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common
slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.

PRY BAR:
A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or
bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER:
A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is
used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts
adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

UTILITY KNIFE:
Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard
cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on
contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles,
collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts.
Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use..

Son of a bitch TOOL:
Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while
yelling " SOB " at the top of your lungs. It is also, most
often, the next tool that you will need.

Holy cow, does this ever look familiar

2010-05-21T12:43:00.000-04:00

For Tom

2010-05-18T12:23:00.002-04:00

Saw this pic and I HAD TO post it here for Tom, just in case he didn't see it elsewhere. Hope this brightens your day a bit, buddy - and keep yer head down.

Remember the dumpster Geese?

2010-05-18T06:00:00.000-04:00

They're back! Only since the Dumpster is gone, they decided to set their sights even higher - so they perched on top of our building. Sassy little geeses, ain't they?

Alarm Clocks

2010-05-17T12:57:00.000-04:00

Oh how true....

Calling All Women in the Fort Wayne area

2010-05-17T10:00:00.002-04:00

Do you like to dance? Would you be willing to help out a local music group? They're filming footage for their music video, Gypsy Dance, on Saturday May 29, from 7am - 11am at Franke Park. Details are here.

I can say from experience that they're a great group. Their music is unbelievable.
So if you're in the area and want to dance for their video, show up and help out. :)

Not Invented Here

2010-05-14T13:49:00.005-04:00

"Not Invented Here" is a webcomic about programmers, and, incidentally, testers and management. I think it is hilarious. I love Fang, the Tester.

My current favorite is this one: (click on it to see the whole thing)

You can see the archives and the entire strip at http://www.notinventedhere.com

Since it tends to have little "story arcs", I recommend starting at the beginning, of course, but if you don't want to do that, at least start at the comic shown above:
http://notinventedhe.re/on/2010-04-26

You can also get an email subscription of it, or an RSS feed of it, so that it shows up in your inbox daily!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T06:00:00.002-04:00

Found this Tom Lehrer video online and it seemed to be disturbingly appropriate for Mother's Day, somehow...

Happy Mother's Day!

The Arrogant Worms say Happy Birthday!

2010-05-05T06:00:00.000-04:00

Spring is here!

2010-05-04T09:20:00.001-04:00

Hope you enjoy this Tom Lehrer video celebrating spring.

Scully the Great needs one a these things.

2010-04-30T12:40:00.000-04:00

Nature UPDATE

2010-04-27T10:48:00.001-04:00

I found out the white ones are called "Dutchman's Breeches". Love the name.

Nature, Nature Everywhere

2010-04-27T06:00:00.001-04:00

These are a couple of flowers we saw when we were out hiking in Bicentennial woods. The first ones caught my eye because they look sort of like hearts, and sort of like some sort of odd angel. No clue what they are, but they sure are neat.

These are pretty purple ones I took pictures of to try to figure out what they are. Right now I know that...they sure are purple.

And this is the view from outside my window at work. Nice dogwood trees! And later on, after the berries come in, the birds just FILL these trees, going after the berries. I love that.

Them buggers really DO eat everything...

2010-04-26T10:48:00.002-04:00

Saw the weirdest thing today on my way into work. Saw a Canada Goose, perched on a Dumpster, honking for all he was worth. Apparently he was telling his buddy, still on the ground, what a great find he made, because suddenly his buddy flew up to join him in Dumpster-diving.

I took some pix with my PDA, but since it's an old PDA and it was cloudy, the pix aren't that great. But still, here they are.

Ah, the joys of living with a dog...

2010-04-24T12:40:00.000-04:00

Doctor Who, Guinea Pig Style

2010-04-24T12:33:00.000-04:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

snicker

2010-04-23T12:29:00.000-04:00

see more Lol Celebs

Awww

2010-04-19T12:53:00.001-04:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

If you like Steampunk

2010-04-16T10:24:00.000-04:00

You'll love this video.

Steampunk SPAM!

Software Review - "Reggy"

2010-04-14T11:26:00.002-04:00

GEEK ALERT.
If you've never heard of regex, (regular expression), don't want to know, couldn't care less, then just skip this one. If you've never heard of it and are interested, here's the wiki article on regex, so you have a starting point and aren't totally lost.
It's basically a way to match text to a particular set of criteria, like "find all the vowels" or something like that.

I was looking for a simple Regex evaluator so I could test them and make sure that my expressions actually worked before I used them in automated testing. I didn't want my tests to fail just because I programmed the tester wrong!

And I swear, "reggy", the Regular Expression evaluator is the best thing EVER for this. http://reggyapp.com

Can't recommend it enough. You key in your expression in the top box, enter your text /whatever you want to match on the bottom, and it immediately shows you what (if anything) of your text matches your regex. Fabulous.

Dear Googles

2010-04-13T15:13:00.002-04:00

Dear Googles,
When I specifically request some sort of software and include the search terms "for Mac" or "for iMac" I'm not kidding. Please stop returning pages and pages of links for software that is Windows-specific. Thanks.

Robert A Hall is Tired, and I am too

2010-04-01T13:10:00.001-04:00

He's tired of people telling us how horrible and mean and terrible the United States is, tired of being told how mean and stingy he is and in general, tired of people running us down.

Check it out at his blog entry here.

It's long, but it's worth the read. Amen, sir.

Boy does THIS look familiar

2010-03-31T12:38:00.001-04:00

Since we've been taking Kai for a walk every night, this is pretty much exactly what he does...every night...

see more dog and puppy pictures

You gotta try this stuff

2010-03-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

If you do, you'll never try another powder again. This stuff is GREAT. And considering that I have tried practically every powder in existence, trying to find one that I can actually FIND in the stores that is NOT expensive and that I am NOT allergic to, I know what I'm talking about.
And it's got a great name, too. Really, who WOULDN'T want to try Anti-Monkey Butt Powder?

Seriously, it's great stuff, and I highly recommend it.

I made rice yesterday

2010-03-29T13:01:00.002-04:00

All by myself, I might add. And not that nasty instant stuff either - this is the "oh it's so hard to make right and it'll be all clumpy and icky and sticky" rice. Basmati rice, in fact.

And it came out GREAT, thankyouverymuch. Sure, it TOOK an hour to make, but hey, that's how long it's SUPPOSED to take.

For the record: Chipotle & Lime marinated chicken breast chunks and 2 bags of frozen steam-veg made into a stir-fry and then served over Basmati Rice which I made all by myself without any supervision or ANYTHING, did I mention that? is really darn good.

I wanna have it again. Mmmmmm.

Oh So True

2010-03-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

Crowning Moment of Awesome

2010-03-24T15:21:00.000-04:00

Dr. Who - from "Voyage of the Damned".

An interesting site

2010-03-24T08:36:00.003-04:00

There's a guy out there named Paul Myers who offers a free e-newsletter. It's mainly geared toward people who are doing online business. Not just "big biz", but the entrepreneur. It's a lot of common-sense stuff with a good analysis of why certain things work the way they do on the 'net - and how you can benefit from them (or be hurt by them.)

Be prepared to think if you go to TalkBiz News, but it's worth the trip.

Power to the Penguin!

2010-03-22T12:38:00.000-04:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

This sort of thing doesn't happen in Linux. ;)

The Noseprints of a Giant Hound?

2010-03-19T11:53:00.001-04:00

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So...comfy....

2010-03-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

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This video is made of win

2010-03-03T14:19:00.001-05:00

Rube Goldberg lovers will adore this video.

I know a few people that'll like this one...

2010-03-01T13:05:00.001-05:00

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What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

2010-02-16T13:02:00.001-05:00

This is always the question adults ask kids. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" When I was a kid, I had no fricking clue what I wanted to be, but I thought I should go into teaching for some odd reason or another. When I got to college, I discovered that I don't really like people en masse all that much, I really don't much care for people under the age of about 25, although exceptions can be made for certain ones, and therefore actually going into TEACHING is probably a Very Bad Idea.

So, I farted around for a while trying this or that. Accounting? Okay, yeah, don't ask them why we log the same transaction in a billionty different places. Makes 'em cranky. Hey, my dad said, why don't you do what I do? Hm, that sounds like a good idea. So for a while I worked on auto design. Yeah...I designed and packaged car parts. Hey, it's a living, I worked on computers, it was interesting, but ... meh, not really what I envisioned doing, ya know? It was a job.

Sort of wound up doing some Computer System Admin stuff by accident, and Data Management, and some Technical Writing, which eventually got me a job that was TEH SUCK, but it paid the bills. I went from that one to the one I have now.

So now I have this job, instead. If you'd asked me 15 years ago if I'd ever have a job like this, I'd have laughed in your face.

A job that's completely Salaried? You must be out of your mind. They can work you as much as they want and you never get paid extra for it. Nope, you want me to work more than 40 hours a week, you better-by-golly be PAYING me for it.
Yeah, I work as many as they need, and this is the first job I've ever had that I've been WILLING to work "as many as they need" - including overnight (I've come in at 9am one day and not finished up until 6pm the next night), through the entire weekend (that was a VERY long week...I think it was 10 days or so long), stayed until 2am 3 days straight...and none of it is paid overtime. I'm Salaried, and I work as much as I need to in order to get the job done.

Work for a Startup? Not on your life. I know there's no such thing as "job security" but damn if that's not ASKING for trouble.
Yeah, I was Employee # 15 when they hired me. We've got 21 now, and #22 is coming next week.

Take a paycut to work somewhere else? Hah, right.
Best move i ever made.

My job description isn't so much a description as it is a suggestion? NO, I like clear direction, thank you.
Yeah, see, I'm the ONLY person here who has this job, and they kind of created it at the same time they hired me. So my manager and I have been kind of making it up as we go along, and as more things come down the pike ("Hey...here's something we didn't think of...that sorta sounds like something she's doing...give it to her..."), regardless of whether or not they ARE "supposed to be" my responsibility, if they sound like something I might be working on or need to do anyway (or if there's nobody else even CLOSE to doing anything like it) then it's my job. Morphing Job R Me.

Wait, you're telling me you'd want me to be ENTIRELY responsible for an ENTIRE PRODUCT LINE working? No way, that's FAR too much responsibility. AND everyone's going to hate me for it? Uh-huh, I'll be out in the car, waiting for you to come up with something I might ACTUALLY want to do.
I am THE Quality department for our entire line of software. My responsibility is to break it, break it good, find out HOW I broke it, break it some more, document the crap out of all the carnage, and then toss it back toward our developers, who will pick up the pieces and make it work - at which time I break it again. It's my job to figure out exactly HOW to break it, exactly how our CUSTOMERS could break it, and then ensure that won't ever happen, as much as I can.

The hours are long, the pay is...less than I was making in my previous position, I'm fairly certain that everyone's going to hate me before I leave each day, and I'm loving the hell out of it.
Sure, it's busy, but...it's fun. I feel useful, I have a lot of fun "deconstructing" the programs and applications, and I FINALLY understand why someone would actually VOLUNTARILY take a job where they stayed late, did a lot of extra work, and even take some home with them - without extra pay - just to make sure "the customer is happy".

I really dig my supercool new job. Almost 6 months here and the shiny still hasn't worn off.
But I refuse to grow up. OUT, maybe, but not UP.

EXCELLENT shootout goals

2010-01-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

Two awesome shootout goals by the Detroit Red Wings. This is some great stuff.

GREAT puck handling

2010-01-19T12:58:00.001-05:00

Check this out. AWESOME puck handling.

Product Recall

2010-01-18T14:22:00.002-05:00

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, manufacturers of items such as Tylenol and Rolaids, announced a voluntary recall of several of their products.

FDA release here, PDF of all recalled products here.

White Christmas

2010-01-05T13:11:00.000-05:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

A Christmas Song for you

2009-12-23T13:53:00.001-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas, 2008

2009-12-15T13:47:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again! Time to post the latest Straight No Chaser 12 Days of Christmas video!

For all you Cat servants out there...

2009-12-02T13:06:00.002-05:00

Cat Food Recall:
Diamond Pet Foods has issued a voluntary recall for Premium Edge Finicky Adult Cat and Premium Edge Hairball Cat because they have the potential to produce thiamine deficiency.

Read the rest here.

Mornings.

2009-11-30T09:31:00.001-05:00

Funny Blog Find

2009-11-29T15:05:00.002-05:00

I was looking for the Rubber Ducky Nativity when I stumbled across this blog: Going Jesus: The Cavalcade of Bad Nativities. It's along the lines of the Bad Vestments Blog - they post a pic of the bad nativity and make a snarky comment or two. Check it out.

Wow. Job Review and Updated News

2009-08-31T14:04:00.002-04:00

Well.
First, my Job Review. I love my new job. It's very busy, and very intense, but they parked me in front of a computer, essentially said, "here's the software. Break it and tell us how you did it" and let me go to it.
This. Is. GREAT. I can break things and find out how they work and WHY they work that way, and I don't have to fix it. It's a great place to work, too - the people are very friendly, the dress code is...incredibly lax ("please wear clothes.") ... I've been calling it "California Casual".
Footwear optional.

And I just got the news that the Awful Office ( a/k/a "the previous job") came in and announced that they were shutting down the project and they gave everyone 2 weeks' notice - TODAY.

:: blink ::
:: blinkblink ::

Okay, God, I might not be always thrilled with Your timing, or HOW you do things, but...thanks.

Thanks for keeping me at least marginally sane through all that crap. Thanks for the way things worked out. Thanks for my AWESOMELY COOL NEW JOB.
And thanks that I didn't have to freak out about "ZOMG what am I going to do now".

Announcement

2009-08-14T18:38:00.000-04:00

I.
GOT.
THE.
JOB!!!!!!!!

Coolest. Demo. EVER.

2009-08-04T09:27:00.000-04:00

Bobby McFerrin on the Pentatonic Scale in your brain.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

An article on Introverts.

2009-07-23T13:11:00.001-04:00

Totally. Agree.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200303/rauch

Yyyyyup, that's about it.

2009-07-23T06:45:00.001-04:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

Futility

2009-07-21T06:27:00.000-04:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

William Shatner

2009-07-01T12:16:00.001-04:00

Thought this was appropriate too.

Happy Canada Day

2009-07-01T12:08:00.001-04:00

Ran across this one while I was searching for "o canada heavy metal". While it's not quite what I was looking for, there is in fact a lot of heavy metal in the video, and I believe it's far more appropriate for today than what I originally searched for.

Thank you.

Seems appropriate today

2009-06-30T06:06:00.000-04:00

For Cynthia

2009-06-25T11:52:00.000-04:00

IF COMPUTERS WERE WORLDS...

2009-06-24T10:29:00.003-04:00

Apple's would be vaguely roundish with a bite taken out, and would be called "iPlanet". Lots of people would say they wanted to live there, because it was so pretty and there was no crime or violence, but very few people would actually do so, hence the lack of crime and violence. The majority of people who say they wanted to live there cite the high prices of real estate, high landing fees, and generally complain that iPlanet is far too expensive for the average person.

LINUX would be shaped essentially like a pear, with slight protuberances on the sides. Laws would change any time a citizen submitted a suggestion. The name would occasionally change, too, and different areas of the planet would disagree as to which name was best.
The planet would be generally self-governing, freewheeling, and have a fairly low population.
It would be free to land here, and in fact free to live here, but each person has to support themselves. In fact, they customize and terraform the land to suit their needs...or sometimes, just their whims. Eventually, they'll probably change it to something else altogether. Maybe paint it chartreuse.
People not living here mutter vague things about how difficult it is to live there, and how they'd be too afraid to do so.

MICROSOFT would be densely populated, have the highest rate of crime of any of the three planets, and would advertise that it was open to everyone. However, to land on the planet, you'd have to buy a docking interface that only Microsoft supplies, and you'd have to present paperwork proving that it wasn't a copy.
First-time visitors to the planet are struck by how green and lovely things are, but residents have long since discovered that at least some of the green is painted on.
The planet routinely suffers from violent earthquakes. The government calls this "planet rebooting" and insist that the planet will not function properly without the quakes.
Immigrating to, and living on, planet Microsoft is easy, and the government is working to make things easier for you all the time. Long-time residents will complain about this constantly, saying how much BETTER Microsoft Planet XP was. Well, after the Government issued a couple updates so that they would stop getting randomly burgled and made ill. So I guess it was really Planet XP, Service Pack 2 that was the better Planet. These in turn will be mocked by the even LONGER term residents, who say that nothing beats Planet 3.0.
Then there's the people in charge of City Planning and Infrastructure, who insist that no, really, Planet NT was superior.
Everyone agrees, however, that Planet 98 and Planet ME were just BIG mistakes, as they eagerly await the next Planetary Makeover.
Nobody is quite sure what to make of Planet Vista, although rumor has it that Planet 7 is coming out soon, and it should fix all the problems that Planet Vista had.

I'm Proud to be a Hoosier.

2009-06-23T06:09:00.003-04:00

Yep, I said it. Our poor state has been the butt of many jokes - for not being asinine enough to follow the crowd and switch our clocks every year, then when our government gave in to peer pressure, for doing the logical thing and allowing each area to have their time zone coincide with the time zone of their largest / most influential economic area.
And, lately, for having a State Treasurer who stands up to the United States Government.
And because of Richard Mourdock, never have I been more proud to claim I'm from the same state.

EVERYONE has heard by now of the upstart State of Indiana and the State Treasurer's foolish, silly, outrageous bid to stop the Chrysler bankruptcy. He was painted as an idiot, a man who would Stop The Progress Of Capitalism And A Free Market Society. If this doesn't go through then Chrysler would go under, and then you won't get anything, you silly silly man.

That's the spin we heard from the media, who got it from the United States Government. And now...The rrrrrrRRRREST Of The Story.

First, a little explanation. There are two types of creditors for companies, just like there are two types of creditors for people. "Secured Creditors" and "Unsecured Creditors". Secured Creditors are exactly what you'd expect - just as with individuals, the Secured Creditors are the ones who are "buying" part of your debt with the understanding that they will get paid first should you declare bankruptcy, and that they'll get close to 100% of your outstanding debt to them. Only after the Secured Creditors are paid does any leftover money go to the "Unsecured Creditors". That's the way it's been for over 150 years. That's the way Bankruptcy works, and that's the way the Bankruptcy laws are written.

The State of Indiana, along with several other small investors, were Secured Creditors for Chrysler. They had purchased BONDS in Chrysler, not stock. These small investors were owed approximately $300 million when Chrysler wanted to declare Bankruptcy. There were also several LARGE banks that were Secured Creditors, to the tune of a few billion dollars. All the rest of Chrysler's Creditors were UNSECURED Investors. This is important.

The federal government stepped in a few months before Chrysler declared bankruptcy. THEY, not Chrysler's Board of Directors, decided that Chrysler would declare Bankruptcy. And when they did it, they organized it so that a Special Interest Group who was an UNSECURED Creditor would get the lion's share of the bankruptcy funds.
SECURED Creditors were being offered a mere 29% of their investment. TWENTY-NINE PERCENT. Think about that. Do you think your MORTGAGE LENDER would accept a mere TWENTY NINE PERCENT of your debt to them because you'd decided you'd rather pay off your parents who'd loaned you money?
Well. The Secured Investors set up a howl about this, because it was flying in the face of 150 years of financial precedent, and bankruptcy laws. Predictably, the loudest objectors were the Large Banks, which had most of the Secured Debt. 29% of a billion dollars is quite a lot of money, but then again, 71% of it is even MORE money, which is what they stood to LOSE. Suddenly, mysteriously, every single one of those Large Banks, who had coincidentally received Government Buyoff ... ahem ... BAILOUT Funds earlier, went quiet and dropped their lawsuits. It was left to the Smaller Creditors, the ones who had invested $300 million - the Hedge Funds, the Retirement Funds, and the local funds - to stand up and say "NO, this is WRONG."
So, they did.
And again, one by one, they mysteriously dropped their lawsuits. Mourdock says they were threatened - some with death threats - and that it's documented. However it happened, pretty soon the only one left was...Richard Mourdock. Who steadfastly refused to give up. He pressed the lawsuit on behalf of the State of Indiana, on behalf of the Indiana Teachers' Union, on behalf of the Firefighters' Retirement Funds, and incidentally, on behalf of all the people who had dropped their suits. We know what happened after that - the Governmental Spin Doctors went to work and painted Mourdock as a fool.

He lost his case, but he hasn't given up. He's still giving interviews about this issue, because it's an important one. Your government is overturning decades, and sometimes centuries of laws for their own convenience, to satisfy THEIR ideas, to forward THEIR political agenda. They're not serving the people and upholding the laws anymore.

Oh yes, and the entity that got the lion's share of Chrysler's Bankruptcy money? The UNSECURED Creditor that the United States Government decided should be paid off first? Why, it was the UAW.

You can read a May 31 interview with Mourdock here.

Here's an interview with him. The interview starts at about 2:10

(If that video doesn't show up, you can see it here.
Thanks, Mr. Mourdock. Even though you lost your case, THANK YOU for standing tall in the face of threats. THANK YOU for standing up for our country and our laws.

My Little Pony - Apocalypse Pony

2009-06-22T16:34:00.002-04:00

This is just so wrong. Ron, here ya go - Apocalypse Ponies!

The NOM NOM NOM song!

2009-06-20T12:04:00.001-04:00

As soon as I saw this, I thought, "dang...this is irritating as heck. I need to post it on my blog and expand its irritation radius!"

So here it is.

Random Neural Firings from a real DogMom.

Dance of the sugar Plum Fairies on Glass Harp

Wallet-friendly, eco-friendly fabric softener alternative

Cool, free stuff!

Jeremy had fun up north!

Happy Anniversary, Sweetie

Plant a tree - for free!

Mimi Burns Band

Jeremy in the Snow

The Muppets and "Popcorn"

Privacy on the Internet - HAH!

The Muppets: Ringing of the Bells

How to Wrap A Cat For Christmas

The Problem With Talking Animals

Star Wars meets the Princess Bride

For some reason, this seems very familiar

Opening Day!

I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe

Seriously?

I am Very Pleased With Myself

Jeremy the Scientific Dog

More Jeremy Pix

Welcome Home, Tom

Aroo! Happy National Dog Day!

Facebook is once again removing your privacy

Jeremy's favorite Game

Welcome, Jeremy

Oh So True

A Video about my company

Too Short A Time

The Wrinkled Ladies Video

Merrick Pet Care Recalls Beef Filet Squares 10 oz Bag Due To Salmonella Risk

The Muppets do "Ode to Joy"

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Canada Day!

Only on eBay....

Mondays

Pixar Short : PRESTO!

Kai's favorite pose in the Summer

FREE Audio New Testament

An Excellent Use of a Day Off

New GPS kitty isn't working out the way they'd hoped

This picture is just perfectly captioned

OCD Dogs

Tool Glossary

Holy cow, does this ever look familiar

For Tom

Remember the dumpster Geese?

Alarm Clocks

Calling All Women in the Fort Wayne area

Not Invented Here

Happy Mother's Day!

The Arrogant Worms say Happy Birthday!

Spring is here!

Scully the Great needs one a these things.

Nature UPDATE

Nature, Nature Everywhere

Them buggers really DO eat everything...

Ah, the joys of living with a dog...

Doctor Who, Guinea Pig Style

*snicker*

Awww

If you like Steampunk

Software Review - "Reggy"

Dear Googles

Robert A Hall is Tired, and I am too

Boy does THIS look familiar

You gotta try this stuff

I made rice yesterday

Oh So True

Crowning Moment of Awesome

An interesting site

Power to the Penguin!

The Noseprints of a Giant Hound?

So...comfy....

This video is made of win

I know a few people that'll like this one...

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

EXCELLENT shootout goals

GREAT puck handling

snicker