Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

The Sun-Times, the typographers union, and me

by

I am one of four owners of a small prepress production company. I started out in graphic arts and prepress production as a typographer shortly after I dropped out of journalism school in the late ’70s. I’ve always lived in a city with at least two daily newspapers. Even my high school newspaper was a daily during my years there (one of only five in the country then, and I’m not sure when it became a weekly). So obviously, the news that an impending buyout/rescue of the Sun-Times Media Group is being stalled by six members of the Chicago Typographical Union Local #16 is of great interest to me.

I was never a member of the typographers union. When I joined that sector of the workforce, hot metal type was well on its way out. My only exposure to hot type and hand-set type was in school. All of my work experience was with computerized cold type. There was a fair amount of resentment about the change itself, some of which was also directed towards those who were not around during the days of hot metal. People like me, who were young, female, or worse, both.

I am not really anti-union. My family members have been part of the construction trades union, teachers union, and firefighters union, and I can think of a lot more positives than negatives that came out of their union memberships. I respect what the typographers union did to gain better working conditions for its members in its early years, the longevity of the union, and its strength through most of its lifetime. It was just not a good fit for me in 1979.

Honestly I was surprised to see that there were as many as six union typographers still employed at the Sun-Times. I had assumed that all production had long since passed into the hands of editorial, advertising, and graphic design departments armed with their trusty Macs. I am amazed to recall that the union was once powerful enough, and it was, to demand lifetime job guarantees for its members. While I do understand some of the hateful comments being directed at the holdouts, I also have to ask: isn’t a union supposed to protect its members and help them keep what they fought for? And maybe this shouldn’t make a difference, but the annual salaries of $45,000 they are fighting to keep is regular-people money. Not financial institution bailout money, not automaker bailout money, but regular-people money measured in thousands not billions. Maybe less than you… or I… make.

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 13 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 235 of 274)

Ghosts of cookbooks past

by

I recently received two new cookbooks as a gift from their co-author. I had to stop and think how long it had been since I’d bought or requested a new cookbook. More about those two books in an upcoming post; there are some very tasty-sounding recipes that I am definitely going to try.

You know that I often go back to my ’70s vintage Hongwanji cookbooks for tastes from my growing-up years in Hawaii. I am not much of a cook, and the thought of cooking anything from The Art of French Cooking, let alone working through the whole book, would fill me with fear. But I was talking with someone about that whole Julie and Julia thing, and mentioned the French cookbooks that not only didn’t scare me off, but that I’ve actually used again and again over the years. The stained pages, handwritten notes and covers starting to tear a little all attest to that.

Those would be Pierre Franey’s The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet and New York Times More 60 Minute Gourmet. Check out the oh-so-’70s typography and layout on the original paperback cover! I guess we are much more impatient these days, and we must now have our “30-Minute Meals.” But an hour for dinner prep seemed pretty reasonable back then. The recipes are quite heavy on cream and butter by 21st century standards, but you can either substitute or remember that no one lives forever, and who wants to live without real butter anyway. The recipes are easy enough for just about anyone to make, and mostly within those 60 minutes as well. And they are so tasty.

I think it’s time to drag those out again. I am getting hungry just thinking of the steak with peppercorns from one of these books!

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 12 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 234 of 274)

Counting down the last two weeks

by

It seems like Axel just got home from his last road trip and now we’re getting ready to send him back out again. He’s been home since March 16, but it sure doesn’t seem like seven months have gone by.

Since he’s still current on his immunizations and licenses and hasn’t changed handlers, my list of things to do to get ready isn’t that long. I picked up his health record at the vet on Saturday when Freya went in for her nail trim and medicine refills, and I’ve already put it in an envelope with photocopies of his registration, pedigree, microchip information, license, and emergency and non-emergency contact information. I hope I remember the envelope. Not too much shopping to do either: enough food and topical flea preventative for a couple of months, and a couple of new toys that will take a couple of months to destroy.

This may sound silly, but we always practice a few things just before a trip. They normally have warm water and sometimes miscellaneous goodies mixed in with their kibble. I make sure they’re ok with eating it plain and dry, and not just in the kitchen, but in their crates, in the van, or in their crates in the van. They normally have the run of the back yard for potty breaks. Just before a trip, they get some of the potty breaks on leash, and get rewarded for speedier output. After standing in bitter cold with one of “those” females who thinks they can only potty in their yard in their special place while no one is looking, I will never again underestimate the value of teaching a dog to go on command.

Julia will spend a week or two on a show training “refresher course” before Axe’s first time back in the ring. And I have these last two weeks to make sure he’s learned all of the AKC Rally Novice exercises well enough to get through any trials that might be available at the shows he is going to.

Even with the relatively short list of things to do, this will probably still turn out to be a busy couple of weeks!

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 11 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 233 of 274)

Saturday Freya… that just doesn’t work, does it?

by

“Saturday Freya” just doesn’t work like “Friday Freya” so we’ll have to come up with a better name for Freya’s obedience class posts. The newly forming Rally Obedience classes are probably going to be on Wednesday evenings, so maybe we can have “Freya’s Midweek Mischief” instead.

We often have potential students visiting our class to observe. This is a great idea and I think everyone who is considering a dog obedience class should do this. It’s very frustrating being faced with six to eight weeks in a class with an instructor whose methods you are uncomfortable with, and an hour out of your life to observe a class before signing up is well worth the time. Our visitors today included a young family of four with two elementary school age daughters. Mom was very impressed with Freya, and I appreciated that she took the time to tell us. Freya was on her best behavior today and she really was working nicely. In the interest of truth, I did mention that Freya is almost six and that her younger, wilder days were not quite as impressive.

There were no private lessons scheduled for the hour after class, so we set up a simple Rally course for those who were interested in the upcoming Rally class. There are three of us who are planning and training for November trials, so the opportunity to do run-throughs and “spot” each other’s runs was great. Freya and I are hoping to earn the remaining two legs for UKC RO1 the weekend of November 14-15. Sue and Onslow, and Cathy and Jazzie and Lefty are planning for an APDT trial the following week. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend their trial since we will be leaving for vacation a couple of days earlier.

I hope I don’t confuse myself with the differences between the rules of the various organizations! As you know, I’m also practicing AKC Rally at home with Axel since he will be entered in Rally Novice whenever he is at a show where it is offered and does not conflict with the show ring times. Fortunately the similarities are greater than the differences so hopefully everything will be fine.

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 10 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 232 of 274)