Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

When did I get this old?

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Every year since 1998, just before school starts in the fall, Beloit College releases its Mindset List. Its stated purpose is to remind teachers of cultural references that may be obsolete to the incoming freshman class. Its real purpose appears to be to make me feel extremely old, almost to the point of writing them to suggest a name change to the “Beloit College When the Hell Did I Get This Effing Old List.”

This year, the item the headline writers seem to be stuck on is the one about writing cursive. Apparently most members of the Class of 2014 can’t, so I’m wondering how they sign letters… except they probably don’t write them. Or checks… except they probably do all their banking electronically. Okay, never mind!

This year’s list didn’t strike as many nerves with me as some of the past ones. Cursive writing and the abundance and normalcy of Korean cars are much less significant to me than some of the past touchstones, which not only touched me but rocked me on my butt.

Class of 2002:
They have never feared a nuclear war.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS. (When we were in college, herpes was the most-feared STD. What a world.)

Class of 2006:
Cyberspace has always existed.

Class of 2008:
There have always been night games at Wrigley Field. (This was a huge one for me, even though I’m not and never will be a Cubs fan. I remember all the talk about tradition, economic survival, and modern sports. I don’t even like baseball but do like living in one of the few cities with a old-time baseball stadium still standing.)

Class of 2010:
Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.

Class of 2011:
MTV has never featured music videos. (Another huge one for me, because I miss music videos and hate hate hate the 24/7 (sur)reality shows.)

Class of 2012:
For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead. (I was at Stevie Ray Vaughan’s second-to-last concert at Alpine Valley. It cannot have been that long ago. Can it?)

I feel really, really old now. I’d better go and lie down!

(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 17 of 31)

Oliver observes National Take Your Cat to the Vet Week

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This week is National Take Your Cat to the Vet Week. I have to admit that most of our cats do not get annual checkups for much of their lives. Since they have all been indoor cats, and two of them actively feared leaving the house, their vet visits were kept to a bare minimum until they were seniors.

Oliver was determined to observe this week, and in fact, he got things off to an early start by requiring a vet visit on Saturday. He had a small lump on his nose that looked dark around the edges and seemed to have grown over the course of a week. Any type of canine or feline lump that isn’t obviously attributable to injury or insect bite is reason for us to overreact wildly due to lumps on past pets turning out to be malignant.

Unlike some of our past cats, Oliver is not scarier than the Rottweilers when dealing with the vet. Dr. B was able to examine him easily. He thought it was most likely just an almost-healed scab from an injury, but there was also a small possibility it could be ringworm. He took a skin scraping to do a fungal culture and we’ll know the results in a week to 10 days.

Oliver’s nose looks a lot better already, though, so I’m thinking (and hoping) it was just a healing injury that looked a little strange.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 16 of 31)

Random dog training notes

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After a full week of oppressive heat and humidity, today was a gift with a high of “only” 83°F. It’s been a wonderfully cool and breezy night as well. Not quite cool enough to be “Rottweiler weather” yet, though!

There was one very unexpected benefit to last week’s heat. For our “Brilliant Recall” lessons, I have been aiming to do very short, more frequent training sessions with both dogs. I’ve been trying to shorten our rally and obedience training sessions as well, since I’m not always good at stopping at the right time before boredom sets in, and at a point where we can end on a high note. But the heat guaranteed that all of the outdoor training sessions would in fact be short and sweet.
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Friday the 13th

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No bad luck today. No broken mirrors, no planes fell on us as they were practicing for the air and water show this weekend, no injuries, illnesses, or curses. No real good luck either.

I miss the days when a black cat would cross our path repeatedly on Friday the 13th and every other day. I think Yuki knew when it was Friday the 13th so she could make a few extra circles for luck. She never did say which kind.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 13 of 31)