Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

Searching for an answer

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You know what we do here whenever we’re lost for a topic, don’t you? That’s right, the search stats page!

wiredtree provisioned in: I moved my VPS servers to WiredTree in May, and so far my experience has been overwhelmingly positive (see the related blog posts if you’d like). My first VPS server was provisioned in 2.5 hours from time of order to receipt of welcome e-mail with login instructions. My second VPS server’s provisioning was not quite so speedy, but the delay was primarily due to a screw-up on my part regarding the number to contact me for the required telephone verification. I have no experience with dedicated or hybrid servers and do not know how long those would take to be set up.

mary wild: I’m a bit surprised at the number of searches that still come here on that name. Unfortunately, I have no new updates to supply. The most recent article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was on July 6, and I’ve seen nothing since then regarding sentencing for the handler who caused heat-related deaths of seven of the eight show dogs she chose to leave in a poorly-ventilated cargo van overnight in late June. I do have alerts set up for this topic and others that I follow, and I will post should new information come in.

did michael jackson have a rottweiler: In the 15 years I’ve owned Rottweilers, I have never heard that Michael Jackson was ever a Rottweiler owner. Honestly. Does he really seem like a Rottweiler person? Jackson’s name does not come up on any searches for “celebrity +Rottweiler” or similar, so I’m guessing that the answer is “no.”

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 28 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 185 of 274)

Where were you when…

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During the coverage of Michael Jackson’s death last week by the mainstream and “new” media and around the blogosphere (you know, I really don’t like that word), there were more than a few instances where people said “I will always remember where I was when I heard the news of Michael Jackson’s passing.”

For me personally, it was not a “where were you when…” moment. I always thought those should be reserved for, well, more historical moments than the passing of an entertainer, no matter how significant. But then again, who am I to say what should be important to you?

The events in my lifetime that I would consider my “where were you when…” moments include President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 (five years old, home from school, adults all in shock, all of us glued to television or radio), astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon in 1969 (another glued to the television moment), the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 (working midnights, in a bar after work that morning, watching the news, then dead silence and someone dropped a glass and it seemed to shatter forever) and 9-11-2001. There are many other historical or personally significant moments that occurred between 1960 and now, but those are the few I consider most significant.

There were also a number of comparisons between Elvis Presley’s death and Michael Jackson’s death. August 1977 was the summer after my freshman year in college. That is a long time ago, and I don’t really consider it a “where were you when…” moment, but I do remember it well enough to marvel at how the internet and social media has really changed how many of us get our news.

I first heard of Elvis’ death in the car on the radio, and got more of the story later on television and from the newspaper. I first heard of Michael Jackson’s death on Twitter, and maybe it was just the old people like me who were also tweeting that we were waiting to hear it confirmed by some “real” media, which apparently means someone other than TMZ. I was leaving work, so my “real” media confirmation came from the CBS affiliate radio station WBBM rather than any of the usual online sources.

Hmmmm. So maybe things haven’t changed as much as I thought. But it is still fascinating how many of us got our initial report on Twitter, and went to other online sources first to get more information. We did turn on the television at work, but most of our hunt for news was done online.

(NaBloPoMo | June ’09: 28 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 155 of 274)

Another bit of my youth is gone

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Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson passed away today, and with them went another little bit of my youth.

Farrah’s passing was expected. We all watched her fight against cancer, and her work at educating the public about colorectal cancer and its prevention, and we are still hugely saddened at the inevitable outcome. Even more so for the many of us whose family and friends have also faced and beaten, or not beaten, cancer. And at age 62, she was far too young to have to leave this world.

We knew her first from “that” poster. Not too many guys around my age didn’t have that poster back then. I was totally blown away by something from an interview in Time magazine with poster photographer Bruce McBroom. He said “Farrah didn’t like the way she looked in a bikini.” Wow. Farrah. Slender, athletic, beautiful, and *she* didn’t like how she looked in a bikini? Wow.

Michael’s passing was a complete and total shock. He was my age. My. Age. We listened to the Jackson 5 all through elementary and junior high school. Tiger Beat and 15 gave him equal heartthrob billing with Donny Osmond. I still love listening to the old stuff (“I’ll Be There” is my favorite, in case anyone was wondering).

The image of who he grew up to be is just so at odds with the image I prefer to keep in my memory: the young man fronting the Jackson 5, with a natural look and not who and what he surgically morphed into later. Michael Jackson was an extremely talented, but troubled and fragile individual who left this world far too soon.

(NaBloPoMo | June ’09: 25 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 152 of 274)