Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

The deep feeling of relief that my family and friends in Hawaii and on the west coast of the United States were not affected by last Friday’s tsunami was soon overwhelmed by the horrible news and images from Japan.

I don’t talk about it very often here, but I am of Japanese ancestry. I’m sansei (third generation, or second generation born in the United States) and way more American than Japanese. I speak very little of the language and I’ve only visited Japan once. But there is still a real connection for me, as I believe everyone has with the land of their ancestors.

Many years ago, my brother and uncle were looking into our family tree. As it does for many Japanese-Americans, some of our branches break off with the records lost in Hiroshima during WWII. It is sad to think that there is a part of my past I’ll probably never be able to find, but the records were lost so long ago, long before I was born. It doesn’t even compare to the man I saw interviewed on television earlier this week. This Japanese man has been living and working in the United States for quite some time. He saw the village where he is from completely destroyed. He said he doesn’t believe he will ever go back, as he wants to remember it the way he last saw it. I can’t even imagine how it would feel to lose my hometown like that. Nor can I truly imagine what it would be like to be separated from any of my family members, two- or four-legged, in such a devastating natural disaster.

That brings us to today’s Paws for Japan, spearheaded by Pawcurious and BlogPaws. Human lives are important (and yes, I am donating to help people as well). But because animals are important to so many of us humans, the animal rescue teams now in Japan need our help as well. Please consider donating to World Vets to support that goal.

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An amazing-to-me number of people are all bent out of shape at the news that their zodiac signs have changed with the addition of a 13th constellation, Ophiuchus. I guess if I believed in astrology and actually thought that my personality would or should change to that of another sign, I would be upset, too.

I haven’t acknowledged the Western zodiac in years. If anyone starts talking about horoscopes or wants to know my sign, I tell them I am an Earth Dog and that is where it ends. I do acknowledge the Eastern zodiac (so proud to be Asian, our zodiac did not change) even though I don’t actually believe in it much more than I do the Western version. I find it completely amusing and appropriate that I was born in the Year of the Dog. I’ll let you do the math and guess what year that would be.

Interestingly enough, three of the six past and present resident Rottweilers are also Dogs. Well, of course they are dogs. I am still talking about the Eastern zodiac. Heidi and Oscar were Wood Dogs, and Axel is a Fire Dog.

I found a Chinese zodiac site describing each of the Five Types of Dog and I had to laugh at the Fire Dog writeup. It is so Axel!

“A highly dramatic and attractive type of Dog who will be thrown into the limelight by his alluring yet friendly personality.” — Well, he’s not really that friendly, but he’s very dramatic and attractive enough to be an AKC Champion. He was definitely thrown into the limelight as he chased his my championship dreams.

“He will be defiant and rebellious when forced to do something against his will…” — This pretty much describes every Rottweiler, I think.

“…but he will be very popular with the opposite sex.” — That gives me some hope for his success as a stud dog!

I’ve mentioned more than once that I don’t like baseball. I make a major exception in my baseball dislike to enjoy and appreciate the Little League World Series when a team from Hawaii is playing (I would probably make an exception for a team from Illinois, but only if friends’ kids were on it or if it were from our sector). And even better, this year that team is representing the United States and playing against Japan in the big game tomorrow. Very happy and proud for the Waipio Little League team for one of the best comeback stories of the year!

However. I am truly offended by the crass comments coming across Twitter that insist on comparing the Hawaii-Japan matchup to Pearl Harbor. Yes, Pearl Harbor. How freaking inappropriate is that? I thought the Sugar Bowl revenge comments following the wins against Georgia were somewhat tasteless, but they pale in comparison to the Pearl Harbor comments.

I don’t think I’m particularly humor-impaired. But I’m sad to see there are quite a few people out there who are class-impaired.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 28 of 31)

Having nothing ready to say tonight, once again I turned to my search strings to see if anything amusing has popped up. Well, my search strings are just not funny any more. I didn’t even get any new misspellings of “Rottweiler” for your amusement.

My search strings tell me that I still get a lot of traffic from people looking for updates on Mary Wild and Lora Hunt, though. The most recent updates I could find are far from amusing.

On July 1, Mary Wild received what many would consider an extremely lenient sentence for her neglectful actions which led to the death of seven show dogs she had been paid to handle and care for. On July 21, she supposedly received a lifetime suspension from the AKC. This has not yet been confirmed anywhere that I’ve seen, nor anywhere The Dog Press has been able to find, either… and AKC isn’t talking. Why? I know that I would personally feel better if AKC had something to say about an incident like this one.

AKC’s No Response on Mary Wild

On July 22, Lora Hunt also received a shockingly lenient sentence for her criminally reckless choice to paint her nails while driving which led to the death of motorcyclist Anita Zaffke. She is serving only 18 months in jail for that crime. She is now asking to be freed for up to nine hours every Sunday to attend church services in her hometown. I cannot even think of anything to say that is fit to print on this one.

Please, searchers. Look for something else.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 24 of 31)

Every year since 1998, just before school starts in the fall, Beloit College releases its Mindset List. Its stated purpose is to remind teachers of cultural references that may be obsolete to the incoming freshman class. Its real purpose appears to be to make me feel extremely old, almost to the point of writing them to suggest a name change to the “Beloit College When the Hell Did I Get This Effing Old List.”

This year, the item the headline writers seem to be stuck on is the one about writing cursive. Apparently most members of the Class of 2014 can’t, so I’m wondering how they sign letters… except they probably don’t write them. Or checks… except they probably do all their banking electronically. Okay, never mind!

This year’s list didn’t strike as many nerves with me as some of the past ones. Cursive writing and the abundance and normalcy of Korean cars are much less significant to me than some of the past touchstones, which not only touched me but rocked me on my butt.

Class of 2002:
They have never feared a nuclear war.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS. (When we were in college, herpes was the most-feared STD. What a world.)

Class of 2006:
Cyberspace has always existed.

Class of 2008:
There have always been night games at Wrigley Field. (This was a huge one for me, even though I’m not and never will be a Cubs fan. I remember all the talk about tradition, economic survival, and modern sports. I don’t even like baseball but do like living in one of the few cities with a old-time baseball stadium still standing.)

Class of 2010:
Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.

Class of 2011:
MTV has never featured music videos. (Another huge one for me, because I miss music videos and hate hate hate the 24/7 (sur)reality shows.)

Class of 2012:
For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead. (I was at Stevie Ray Vaughan’s second-to-last concert at Alpine Valley. It cannot have been that long ago. Can it?)

I feel really, really old now. I’d better go and lie down!

(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 17 of 31)

My heart breaks a little bit every time I hear of a firefighter or police line of duty death, no matter where in the world it happens. But my heart breaks wide open when that loss is here at home, and from the Chicago Fire Department.

R.I.P.
FF/PM Christopher Wheatley
Chicago Fire Department, Truck 2
August 9, 2010

Deepest sympathies to his family, his fiancé, and his Chicago Fire Department brothers and sisters.

We all know the wheels of justice turn slowly. Sometimes I wonder if they are really just spinning out and going nowhere.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’ve been following two court cases for the last year. One was that of Mary Wild and the show dog heat stroke deaths which resulted in a shockingly lenient sentence for Ms. Wild including no jail time, far from the eight years in jail plus $8,000 in fines that could have been imposed.

The other was that of Lora Hunt, who could have been sentenced to five years in jail for reckless homicide in the death of Anita Zaffke. Ms. Hunt is the nail polish killer, who, because she was painting her fingernails while she drove, rear-ended and killed Ms. Zaffke, who was stopped at the light on her motorcycle.

Sentencing was yesterday. And in this case, too, I am saddened and disappointed by another too-lenient sentence. Ms. Hunt received only 18 months of jail time. Not only is this far less than the maximum penalty of five years asked for by the prosecuting attorney, Ms. Hunt is also allowed to leave during the day for work, community service, and counseling. What the hell is that?

Here is a link to news coverage at ChicagoBreakingNews.com: Woman whose nail painting caused fatal crash gets 18 months

I’m also dismayed by some of the public comments on news reports and blog posts about this case. “Ms. Hunt is truly remorseful” and “is also suffering” and “people committing worse crimes on purpose are getting lighter sentences” — these statements may all be true, but none of them are reason not to impose the maximum possible penalty in this case. I truly cannot think of too many things more reckless than painting your freaking fingernails while driving, and if that caused someone’s death, it should be punished with an appropriately long jail term. Then again, these are probably the same people who had no problem with Ms. Wild’s suspended sentence because “it was dogs that died, it was not like she killed people.”

I especially fail to understand the thinking that because we have problems with more serious crimes, lesser ones should not be punished appropriately. I definitely agree that more serious crimes are a problem. I live in a city where three police officers were shot and killed in the last two months, so yes, there are huge problems. Punishing all crimes appropriately should be the issue. And in Ms. Hunt’s case, the maximum penalty allowable would have been most appropriate.

I truly admire Greg Zaffke II and the entire Zaffke family for their grace and class throughout this whole ordeal, and they remain in my thoughts.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 23 of 31)