Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

Winning is good

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A while ago I entered this Twitter giveaway by my VPS provider, Wired Tree:

Guess what?

A Hybrid server is a lot more server than my current sites generally need. If you compare the specs to my current VPS512 you’ll see what I mean. But it will still be nice to move up. I’ve had the occasional out-of-memory errors and those likely won’t be a problem once we’re on a server with 2,048MB of RAM as compared to 512MB.

Of course, even if I hadn’t won the giveaway, I would still consider myself a winner. My personal sites, and those of my company, have been on WiredTree VPS servers since May 2009. It has been a happy and trouble-free 18 months. I am more than satisfied with our low-end VPSs and the fact that even with our low-end servers, I am still treated like a high-end customer in terms of response time and quality of customer service. Thanks, WiredTree… for everything!

(NaBloPoMo | October ’10: 21 of 31)

Westminster dreams

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I was sorting through some dog-related mail and email, and buried somewhere in there was the news that premiums for the 2011 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show had been mailed out earlier this month. This is the first time I’ve ever owned a dog that is eligible to enter. As an AKC Champion of Record who is eligible for Best of Breed competition, Axel could go and run with the big dogs.

“Eligible” and “competitive” are two very different things, of course. And I don’t think the money and time for a trip like this is going to fall out of the sky by the closing date. But it makes a nice daydream. I think the ultimate dream for many of us psycho dog people is winning Best in Show at Westminster handling a dog of our own breeding. My modified version for the moment would be my handler placing in the Working Group at Westminster with the first champion that I’ve owned (no Rottweiler has ever won at Westminster, and only one has ever won the Working Group, so that is the realist modifying the dream).

We won’t enter, of course. But it’s still a nice dream.

(NaBloPoMo | October ’10: 19 of 31)

From the photo files

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Nothing looks sweeter and more peaceful than a napping Rottweiler puppy and its older sibling.


January, 2004. Oscar was 9 years old. Freya was 7.5 weeks old and this was her third day at home.


February, 2007. Freya was 3 years old. Axel was 9 weeks old and this was his second week at home.

(NaBloPoMo | October ’10: 18 of 31)

We don’t wear no stinkin’ costumes…

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As I mentioned yesterday, the current Rottweilers are not clothes-wearing dogs. Actually, neither were most of the past Rottweilers. Oscar would let you put a hat on him. He would sit there, usually even long enough so you could focus a camera. And then he’d shake his head and send the hat flying before you could snap a picture. His timing was impeccable. It is truly ironic that my favorite photo of him, and the image I have tattooed on my shoulder, shows him wearing a bandana.

That kind of limits the possibility of cute dog outfits for Halloween. I thought about teaching them some cute trick, but you know I haven’t had much success with that either. Remember our “stop, drop, and roll” that I was supposed to have ready for this month, Fire Prevention Month? Well, we are still stuck at “stop, drop, and wiggle around on your back like a giant upside-down worm without actually rolling over.” That does not make for a very impressive video. “Stop” and “drop” are real solid, though. Guess we didn’t totally waste our time with obedience and rally training!

Dan got Axel to “jump to the left” and “step to the right” tonight, although the step looked more like a jump out of the way. So maybe we can teach him to do the “Time Warp” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Not sure I want to go there with the “pelvic thrust that will drive you insaaaaaane” though!

(NaBloPoMo | October ’10: 17 of 31)