Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

X-treme sports or AKC championship?

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In addition to being an aspiring AKC champion (and getting ready to leave on Oct. 25 to go back out on the show circuit), you know that Axel also found a new interest in x-treme sports this summer. Well. At least he learned how to catch a frisbee and play inventive games with Jolly Balls of different sizes.

This afternoon, he demonstrated his potential for beach volleyball.

Dan is excellent at putting a ball or frisbee exactly where it’s supposed to go. I attribute the catching skills of our past and present dogs to this, because during the teaching phase, the ball goes exactly where the dog is able to catch it more often than not. So what happened today was not the result of a wild throw.

It is, however, what happens when a dog grows up with a cat. Axe uses his front paws in play more like a cat than a dog sometimes. You’ll notice the 6-foot wooden fence in the linked photos. Dan threw the large Jolly Ball well short of the fence, to a spot where Axe could catch it (yes, he often tries to catch that large ball) or just retrieve it on the first bounce. Instead, Axe whacked the ball with both front paws, sending it flying over the fence and clear to the other side of the neighbor’s yard. These lots are 30 feet wide, so we were quite impressed with his skills. Hopefully the ball will get thrown back at some point.

Just wish I had a photo of that impressive slam!

EDIT: The ball did come back, but not by the most direct route. Jagoffs.

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 9 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 231 of 274)

TV break

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If you’ve stopped in here before, you know that none of my favorite TV shows are on Thursday night, so you might be wondering why I’ve picked tonight for a TV break. I’m catching up, thanks to TiVo, Comcast On Demand and Hulu.

In general, I like the concept of On Demand and it allows me to keep up with some shows that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to keep up with. I do have a gripe about how Mad Men has been handled so far this season, though. The HD version always appears right on time, shortly after the scheduled episode is aired. The non-HD version sometimes doesn’t appear until a week or more later. We’re not planning to replace our non-HD TV until it truly needs to be dumped, so I hope that Comcast wakes up to the fact that we’re far from the only subscribers in that situation.

For a couple of weeks, it appeared that Sons of Anarchy wasn’t going to be an On Demand show. Thankfully, that did not happen, and all of this season’s episodes were added starting about two weeks in. This has really become my main must-watch show. I saw it described somewhere as “soap opera for bikers” and it’s that, but deeper, too. My one disappointment so far is that rogue FBI Agent Cohn was killed off in the first season, so there’s now no reason for the Sons to travel to Chicago to hunt him down. I would have loved to see shows filmed here, even though the chances for that would have been extremely remote for a number of very good reasons.

I’m disappointed so far in Dollhouse. I was so glad it was renewed for another season, but the first two episodes really haven’t lived up to the promise I saw in the last few episodes of the first season. I’m even more disappointed in this year’s crop of medical/emergency medical shows. I’d be hard pressed to tell you whether Mercy or Trauma contains more stereotypes and recycled plot lines. Three Rivers seems slightly more promising. I guess I’ll give them each another episode or two to grab me. If they even make it that far, that is.

The show I didn’t expect to like and find myself liking way too much is Glee. Judging from on- and off-line conversations about the show, I’m far from alone in that feeling. My favorite musical numbers so far: Maybe This Time (you did know I’m a huge fan of Cabaret, right? I know it’s a bit out of character) and It’s My Life/Confessions.

I thought I might like The Good Wife and I planned to watch a few episodes anyway because it is set and partially filmed in Chicago and the suburbs. I actually do like it, and glad it’s an On Demand show, because it’s on at the same time as SOA. I wasn’t a huge fan of Julianna Margulies as Carol Hathaway, and I really hated the last legal drama she starred in (I can’t even remember the name) but I’m pretty much liking her as Alicia Florreck.

That’s enough TV talk for now if I plan to actually catch up on the watching!

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 8 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 230 of 274)

Is your credit card in your possession?

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That question is pretty much never followed up with good news. This time was no exception, or should I say the good news was that a charge of almost $1,000 to my credit card made by some jagoff that is in no way authorized to use it was declined by the card issuer due to its suspicious nature.

Thank you, Citibank Fraud Protection people. They were right on top of this, and when I remarked that the time frame for receiving my replacement card seemed a bit long, they immediately offered second day air delivery at no charge. Yay for a good customer service moment.

I’m very much aware of the rules for safe credit card use. Statements are fully destroyed upon reconciliation. New solicitations (I really don’t want any more credit cards) are fully destroyed upon receipt. I do make a fair number of online purchases, but only from known sites that appear to be secure.

I’m posting this mostly to vent about thieving jagoffs and to remind everyone that even if you are knowledgeable about credit card and information safety, and do everything possible to keep your information safe, it’s still possible that someone, somewhere, will get to it despite your best efforts.

I’ve had something like this happen before. I doubt I’m being targeted since the last time was several years ago. The circumstances were very similar. A large-ish charge was made to a store in a foreign country, probably over the phone since my credit card was still physically in my possession. The charge did go through that time, but was promptly reversed upon my phone call to customer service.

Since then, fraud protection has been stepped up quite a bit, at least by the credit card companies I use. I’ve had a couple of legitimate purchases questioned because they were larger purchases made out of state, while on vacation. Considering what just happened, I’m good with a little bit of suspicion now and then.

Note to self: Remember to make posts public or get that automatic posting thing working! It’s not a big deal this month, but next month is the “real” NaBloPoMo and it would not do to miss any postings, especially if there’s actually a post written, but not made visible!

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 7 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 229 of 274)

Someone to watch over me

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This month’s NaBloPoMo theme is Haunted.

I prefer to think of it not as being haunted, but being visited and having someone to watch over me. I don’t know that I’ve ever been graced with a visit from any of my family on the other side. Or more likely, life and logic have caused me to lose the ability to see or feel anything from that side.

As the month goes on, I want to write something about each one of the people and animals that I hope are haunting me. Forgive me for not starting tonight. It has been a long day.

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 6 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 228 of 274)

Dear charities that I sometimes donate to…

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I don’t want to sound like a giant jagoff, but I just want you to know that there is only so much I can donate each year to the various causes that I support, including yours, no matter how many times you phone me or mail me.

I don’t much like talking on the phone in general. I especially dislike talking to anyone trying to part me from my money, even for a good cause. When I ask to be taken off the phone list, please do it without trying to make me feel guilty about it.

Particularly if you are a nature or environmental charity, I am also not getting a good feeling from the huge amounts of paper you waste in the attempt to guilt me into donating more. Did you note that I donated online last time? As in no paper involved on my end except for the single sheet I printed out to reconcile my tax records? And that I gave you my email address as well as a postal address, so you could easily avoid sending me all that paper?

Please know that I believe in the power of individual giving, and that I will donate to my chosen causes to the best of my ability. But please. Make it easier for me to think you’re spending everyone’s donations wisely and not on overhead.

Thank you,
Your occasional donator

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 5 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 227 of 274)