Rottweilers Ate My Laptop — Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

December 9, 2008 by kathi

And to think I believed the biggest change in my world in December 2008 would be the closing of Maurice Lenell Cookies in Norridge. This is still a big change, although one that I have been resigned to since the bankruptcy organization and subsequent sale of the bakery to an Ohio company earlier this year. Thankfully, the company store is still open for this year’s holiday season, and thus my annual trip to get cookies for the office and my husband’s firehouses went as planned. And the cookies still taste the same as I remember from every single holiday that I’ve lived in northern Illinois. No wonderful bakery smells when I drove up to the store though and that was truly sad for me.

But enough about the cookies.

Remember I wrote back here about corrupt sleazebag Illinois politicians? Well, this morning I wake up to the news that Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff have been arrested on federal charges, including alleged attempts to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder. The sad thing is that no one I’ve talked to about it is surprised. Or if they are surprised, it’s only at something like the timing, or at the specific charges being emphasized by the media.

One of my other earlier concerns, that of Obama bringing Illinois machine politics and corruption to Washinton, might not be so big now, though. Here is a quote from one of the news releases:

In a conversation with (chief of staff John) Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them.”

Lots of stuff to read on the whole sorry mess at the Chicago Tribune site.

Speaking of the Trib, there’s another big change. They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday. Again, not a really huge surprise in light of trends in the newspaper industry all across the country for some years now. Sad to me as a former journalism student, even though working for the Tribune has not been part of my personal dream for decades now.

And one last change, another one that’s obviously been coming for a while, but something I didn’t really think would happen just so soon: no more Polaroid instant film. I’m not one of those “loyal and passionate” Polaroid followers described in the CNN article. I didn’t have a Polaroid camera as a child, although I remember whining for a Polaroid Swinger (and now the commercial jingle is stuck in my head, beware the YouTube link within the Wikipedia link!) and getting a Kodak Instamatic instead, and actually being okay with that.

I do have a Polaroid OneStep camera still in good working condition. I bought it a long time ago – early ’90s, maybe? – to take pictures of our few “nice things” for insurance purposes. I like to take pictures but I’m not a great, or even good, photographer. Hence, the Minolta Maxxum instead of a Nikon or Canon film camera, and on the digital side, old and new Nikon Coolpix point and shoot cameras instead of a digital SLR.

But as usual, I digress. Back to Polaroid in my life. Every so often I go back to take classes at DePaul University’s School for New Learning with the idea of eventually finishing the B.A. I started umm… a very, very, very long time ago and for which, in my defense, I have not yet had a need for. I had some arts requirements that needed to be fulfilled, and in Winter Quarter 2005-2006, one of the classes offered was “Artistic Issues in Instant Image Photography.” This was one of the most enjoyable classes I’ve ever taken, despite having to go out in the dead of winter to take pictures, and as anyone who has ever owned any vintage of Polaroid camera, cold and instant photography do not mix well.

The syllabus for the class is online in case you’d like to see:

http://www.snl.depaul.edu/WebMedia/People/AI_333.pdf

And so are my 10 photos for the final assignment, Landscapes (Urban/Rural):

http://www.flickr.com/gp/89937445@N00/D3Zk4c

I really should put those in Polaroid style frames, and maybe I will, but not just this moment.

FTW?

December 7, 2008 by kathi

When exactly did the most commonly used meaning of “FTW” become “for the win”?

Since I am old, and have also been a member of the motorcycling and biker communities (I say both motorcycling and biker because to me, while those communities definitely overlap, they are not the same) for quite a while now, the original meaning of “FTW” – “f**k the world” – is still the one that first pops into my head. I don’t know if it actually originated amongst outlaw bikers, or if it was just most frequently used by them during my impressionable years.

I may have been living under a rock, but I really didn’t notice this until a few weeks ago. I was reading an online forum that I don’t normally frequent, and came across several usages of “FTW” that made no sense at all when the original breakdown of the acronym was plugged in. I went in search of an explanation and that is when I found that “FTW” doesn’t mean “FTW” any more to a fair number of people, mostly those who are way younger than I am.

Language evolves over time, and I guess acronyms do, too. I’m not saying this is good or bad, but it sure was confusing to me at first. I do have to admit a bit of relief at learning the alternate meaning. Some of the forum posts which had me confused were on political topics and it was a bit disconcerting to see what I first read as “[insert political candidate name] f**ck the world!”

Aside from that, to some it apparently means “f**k the what” as in “WTF” backwards, but that is just dumb. I will digress for a moment though. I have lived in two places where the “th” sound is not acknowledged (Honolulu – as in “Da Kine Talk” and Chicago – as in “Da Bearss” and “Da Bullss”). At my workplace, we actually use “WDF” to flag things that need further clarification. A “WDF” Post-It on an expense report item, for example, would not be a welcome sight. Oh, yes: “WDF” as in “what da f**k” in case it wasn’t glaringly obvious. Like I said, no “th” here.

Thirty days hath November (30 of 30)

November 30, 2008 by kathi

Thirty days hath November. Thirty days hath NaBloPoMo. And with this post, I’m done with NaBloPoMo 2008. Yay, me, for successfully making it through the entire month!

It has been a very long time since the days when I thought I might want to write for a living. I’m long since out of the habit of writing, daily or even weekly. Despite a journalism scholarship oh so very long ago, my writing is not all that great and it was really a struggle for me to stay interesting. I’m sure I failed at that several times during the month.

I don’t plan to blog daily for a while. I just don’t have enough inspiration to turn out a good solid read every day. I will try to stick with blogging in general, but I think I’ll be most interesting and satisfying to myself and others if I try for one to three good posts per week.

I did enjoy the challenge though, and of course meeting a few new online friends and finding a few new blogs to read. Thanks to all who were here alongside me! Congratulations to all who attempted NaBloPoMo, and bigger congratulations to all of us who finished!

Happy Birthday, Axel! (29.5 of 30)

November 29, 2008 by kathi

Happy second birthday to our beloved Axe (V-rated Precious Gems Axel vom Viersen)! His stubbornness and challenge to our dog training skills is exceeded tenfold by the love and laughter he brings to us the rest of the time.

Somehow this cute little puppy…

…has evolved into this handsome young man.

Many thanks to Denise and Gary Pluta for this wonderful boy, and for entrusting us to help him fulfill his potential whether that turns out to be champion known by all, or just the best family dog ever.

Pieces of my life (29 of 30)

November 29, 2008 by kathi

Today I finally completed the task of moving my life from my Palm and various scraps of paper to my BlackBerry, and syncing BlackBerry with portions of my online presence. In the process of reviewing my available BlackBerry features, and updating my to-do list before moving it over, I’ve discovered some annoying stuff that needs to be fixed. Nothing to do with the technology, everything to do with carelessness or stupidity on either my part or more so, on someone else’s.

I am 99% sure that I was sold a more expensive mobile data plan than I really need. Shame on me for not going in there already knowing the differences between Verizon’s various data plans, but more shame on the customer service rep for not coming up with the right solution given the answers I gave on how my work email is set up and what functions I expected my BlackBerry to perform. So that’s got to be taken care of sooner rather than later.

Also, there is a health insurance issue that should have been easily corrected, yet apparently nothing has been done. I have been covered under my husband’s insurance for 7 years. I have not been covered by my own company’s group plan except for the first few months of his employment while waiting for him to be able to add me to his plan. Yet, all of a sudden, after 7 years of properly handled claims, they decide that my primary carrier is the company that I have not been insured with for almost that entire time. I called 2 weeks ago when the problem came to my attention. I was assured it was a simple matter and that it would be taken care of in a few days. Um, not so, apparently. I hate wasting time on multiple calls about the same issue, especially when someone said it was “easy” to fix.

And I have to stop doing this. Not like I don’t have enough to do already, and still I have spent time today looking for a Rottweiler theme for the BlackBerry. Not finding one to my liking (yes, there were a couple of them available) I then spent time looking for information on how to create my own. Stop me before I hurt myself!