Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Axel’s birthday, as well as Freya’s, also falls within the usual time frame of this vacation trip. As most of you know, right now he’s on the road in search of his AKC championship, so is not at home in Chicago anyway. But had we been back home today, we would have made a short-ish trip (about seventy miles) to Kankakee, IL to celebrate his third birthday together. And as it turns out, we would (and are!) also celebrate Axe going Winners Dog at today’s Kankakee River Valley Kennel Club show and earning another point towards his championship.

Yesterday, he got a visit from his “grandma” Denise and “aunt” Gina. He didn’t win yesterday, but I know he was happy to see some of his extended family.

Happy birthday to our “puppy boy”!

(NaBloPoMo | 75% Challenge: 271 of 274)

I did manage to make it through last year, but it’s just not happening this year. I’m not great at getting online on any kind of timetable when on vacation, and particularly not blogging and tweeting.

Oh, well! Congratulations to all NaBloPoMo’ers who are on the way to victory!

(NaBloPoMo | November ’09: FAIL | 75% Challenge: 270 of 274)

As you know, I follow only a few TV shows. Rescue Me and Mad Men were done with their seasons before our vacation started. Not the case with Sons of Anarchy, with two episodes to go. The final one will be airing when we are in the air somewhere between HNL and ORD. We are missing tonight’s episode because FX is conspicuously missing (hmmm, along with AMC, I now notice) from Dish Network’s Bronze package.

I never really considered FX and AMC to be premium offerings, but seeing as they, along with USA, have given us some of the better shows over the last couple of years, maybe they are!

Oh, the unreasonable request? Should be obvious… please try not to spoil me until I catch up via a hopefully timely Comcast On Demand!

(NaBloPoMo | November ’09: 24 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 269 of 274)

No majors for Axel this past weekend, and just one point. It is a needed point, though, and brings him to a total of 7 points. On to Kankakee after Thanksgiving.

Our office squirrel became a media star thanks to JR’s continuing photography vigilance. He got a very cute shot of the squirrel adding more stuff to the nest, and sent it in to Channel 5 news for the viewer photo segment during the weather report. It was shown during the 10 PM news on Nov. 18 and printed in the Sun-Times the following morning.

(NaBloPoMo | November ’09: 23 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 268 of 274)

It seems like I’ve spent a lot of time so far this vacation dealing with technology.

Dan’s BlackBerry was delivered the day before we left, so a good part of Friday was spent getting it set up. I am not sure why a brand new phone is delivered with an older version of the operating system and desktop software, but it was, and that took a while to update. Also, there is no quick and easy way to get contacts from a Motorola phone to a BlackBerry, especially if you don’t want to involve Outlook. All is good now though.

There are three Dish Network satellite receivers here at Mom and Dad’s, but only one gets used daily. After a bad moment trying to reconnect the oldest TV, with the help of (non-outsourced! yay!) Dish phone support, all was working again. Well, almost. Apparently Dish receivers have to be reactivated if they are not used regularly. Sigh. Another phone call, another wait. All is well again so can’t be too upset for now.

(NaBloPoMo | November ’09: 22 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 267 of 274)

Rainbows are just prettier in Hawaii. Even in the city, in Honolulu…

…even over an industrial park.

In Rottweiler news, the lovely Freya turns six years old today. I still think of her as my “puppy” and always will. We are almost always in Hawaii on her birthday and Axel’s as well, a fact that makes me sad even though we enjoy spending Thanksgiving week with my human family. Party when we get back, though… promise!

In a technology failure (and eventual success) note, all of the posts that didn’t make it to light here over the last few days should now be visible.

(NaBloPoMo | November ’09: 21 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 266 of 274)

So is it “you can’t go home again” or “home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in”?

Inquiring minds are wondering.

(NaBloPoMo | November ’09: 20 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 265 of 274)