Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

Same time, last year

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Last year, Axel was on the road chasing his championship dreams (ok, fine… my championship dreams). Freya and I were getting ready for her second UKC Rally Obedience trial, hoping to finish the first level and wondering if we could make it as far as the advanced titles.

This year, I’m wondering how to keep Axel busy and happy at home, now that he’s chased and caught that championship dream. Sometimes I think he misses showing. He’s a very “look at MEEEEEEEE” kind of dog. I don’t want to send him out to chase a grand championship, though.

This year, instead of working towards advanced titles with Freya, I’m wondering how to fix whatever went wrong over the spring, or whether to just let her retire. I wish she could tell me what she really wants, because I think it might not be the same as what I want.

(NaBloPoMo | November ’10: 10 of 30)

Pumpkin shortage: yes or no?

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Somehow I managed to completely miss talking about Axel’s sieger show in September. We had a few bad technology moments right around the show date, so there wasn’t much blogging in early September in general. I also wanted to post a photo from the show, as well as talk about his critique. But I still haven’t seen any show photos, and I really wanted to post the photo along with the critique so everything makes more sense.

So what does Axel’s show have to do with the pumpkin shortage? If you have a dog like Axel that is prone to occasional dietary indiscretions, or one like Freya with a mild case of IBS, the pumpkin shortage was a bad thing indeed. Canned pumpkin is one of the best remedies for either diarrhea or constipation in dogs. I know that sounds strange, but it has to do with the fiber in pumpkin helping to regulate things in either direction. And it should go without saying that if you are unsure of the cause, a visit or at least a call to the vet is still the best course of action. If, like us, you can attribute any unpleasant output to overindulgence or a known condition, canned pumpkin is your dog’s good friend.

Even though it was apparently well-covered in the media, I somehow missed the fact that there was a canned pumpkin shortage. So a few days before Axel was to leave for his show, he was suffering from a minor digestive upset, and I went to buy some pumpkin. I went to three different stores and at the last one there was a sign mentioning the shortage and that they expected to have pumpkin back in stock in about a month. Whoa. That would be an eternity when your dog is exploding. Fortunately it was a very mild upset, and one skipped meal and one bland meal got things back on track in time for trouble-free traveling.

So when canned pumpkin returned to the stores last month, I got a couple of big cans. And by most accounts, the shortage is now over. Then I saw yet another source, where CNN was reporting as late as October 24 that the pumpkin shortage was not in fact over.

I don’t really care about pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving or any other time. But I do want to make sure my dogs’ butts are covered. Today, it was Freya’s turn to need some pumpkin love, so there goes some of our stock! What’s the real story… shortage or not… anyone know?

(NaBloPoMo | November ’10: 9 of 30)

This and that

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  • I don’t really get Tumblr yet, but it seems like a good place to put things that are too long for Twitter or that perpetuate this blog’s recent identity crisis. So here goes with Rottweilers Tumblrd My Laptop.
  • Even though I’m probably one of the most antisocial people on the planet, I spent part of today checking out the RockMelt beta. RockMelt bills itself as a “social browser” and is tightly integrated with Facebook and Twitter. It’s based on Google Chrome which is already my secondary browser so it was definitely worth a look. Marc Andreesen’s involvement was a bit intriguing, also. I’m liking it ok so far, except that it seems to turn on my Facebook chat at random, whether I want it on or not.
  • My Hybrid server prize from WiredTree is happily chugging along. The cutover from my VPS was totally trouble-free. I asked for the cutover to happen anytime between November 1-5. They scheduled me for November 1 at 1 a.m. I got a reminder email on Halloween night at about 10 p.m., and another one at 12:59 p.m. advising me that the upgrade had started, followed by another one not quite an hour later upon successful completion. Have I mentioned how much I love WiredTree? My business also has email and website hosted with WiredTree. Today I had to put in a ticket for an email issue. I got a reply in two minutes. Yes, minutes. I love these guys.
  • Doesn’t look like we’re back on track with the Rottweiler and computer related content yet. But here comes a Rottweiler to help. I think I’d better let it do what it wants. It outweighs me.

(NaBloPoMo | November ’10: 8 of 30)

Fall back

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I grew up in one of the few places in the United States that does not observe Daylight Saving Time. So until I was 18, I never had to do the “spring forward, fall back” thing. After way more than 18 years of living with the time change, I suppose I have no excuse for not taking it in stride.

But as usual, I feel somewhat disoriented with a body clock that didn’t reset automatically like the computerized clocks. Fortunately, the dogs did sort of reset. They must have been tired, because they slept in for almost the entire “extra” hour. At least that was helpful.

I understand the origins of Daylight Savings Time, and the supposed reasons for its extension a few years ago. I still question why we are still observing it, especially since there seems to be no hard evidence of any energy savings.

(NaBloPoMo | November ’10: 7 of 30)

Pet blogger, or … what?

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We’ve been very light on pet-related content lately, so I haven’t added us to the Saturday Pet Blogger Blog Hop this week (it’s Week 27, and the link will take you to Life With Dogs and the links list).

The Rottweilers are annoyed, because they think everything should be about them. And they’re almost right. We’ve been having an identity crisis here, and I need to get back to our true purpose: talking about Rottweilers and computers, either separately or together.

One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I don’t write much, or well, about the simple joys of living with Rottweilers (or the complex headaches, either). And make no mistake, these dogs are truly family members first and foremost. But most of what I write is about our training, competition, and health matters. Right now, since we’re not actively training and competing, and everyone is healthy, I feel like I have nothing much to say. Even when we are training and trialing, it seems as though there is always someone out there saying it better (not to mention doing it better).

I’m going to try to get back on track with more pet and computer content soon. I’m sure I’ll get over this identity crisis. Just not today.

(NaBloPoMo | November ’10: 6 of 30)