Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

Miscellaneous (27 of 31/62 of 274)

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It’s the end of a week in which I feel like I haven’t gotten much done. Some of these thoughts need expanding (and some of them will get their own posts in the future), and others are too long even in the short version. Anyway, here goes:

  • Note to self: In the future, don’t let too many versions of an operating system go by before doing an upgrade, budget or not. The Snap Server upgrade has turned into a really nasty project, and could have been prevented by spending around $500 two years ago. I can’t remember what we did spend that $500 on, either.
  • I wonder if an animal communicator would be able to get Axel to say why he hates one of our neighbors so much. Or would he just say the same thing one of my past bosses used to say: You can’t like everyone, there is a certain percent of people who are just idiots that you have to hate and you don’t have to have a real reason.
  • My old Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop, Freya-chewed corner and all, has moved on to a new owner. My “too old and too slow” is someone else’s “just enough to get by” and that isn’t all bad.
  • I really do wish there was such a thing as a pet fat transmogrifier. Axel could use the pounds that Freya needs to shed, and Annie could use Oliver’s extra pounds as well.
  • In the process of correcting someone for referring to Spam musubi as “Spam sushi” I found myself admitting to having a $200 rice cooker. Well, I do. And the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice cookers are just about worth it. The model I have even cooks brown rice properly. Not that I ever eat brown rice; being a third-generation Japanese-American I eat normal (to me) short-grain Calrose rice practically every day. The other issue I have about Spam musubi is that all of the Internet recipes claim that you “need” the musubi press to make them properly. What, these people are too good to use the Spam can or… OMG! their HANDS? Then again, a novice musubi maker is not going to compress the rice properly with only their hands, or worse yet, make round musubi, so maybe it’s better they buy those cute little presses. Round musubi are only for funerals, although I think that might be a regional thing so I might be in the minority at being horrified when anyone makes them for everyday food.
  • I have once again procrastinated on getting all of the tax stuff in to the accountant. I don’t know why I hate doing that task so badly. Perhaps I can get my husband to do it next year. Or more likely, not. We have opposing viewpoints on whether a large refund is good or bad. I absolutely hate to get a refund or pay additional taxes of more than a couple of hundred dollars. To me, that just means poor planning and in the case of a large refund, that someone other than us had the use of our money for the year. Not acceptable. Anyway. Everything will be ready to send in on Monday.
  • Once again, the Rottweiler wrecking crew has gone from insane perpetual motion to adorable sleeping  angels. It’s like they run out of gas all of a sudden around 11 or 11:30pm and flop over to nap right in their tracks.
  • Speaking of flopping over and napping, what a great idea that is! Good night, all!

Nothing to give (26 of 31/61 of 274)

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I have nothing to give tonight.

Nothing to say, unless you count some earlier profanity directed at Axel, who was A Very Bad Dog, and Freya, who was A Very Bad Dog’s All-Too-Willing Very Bad Sidekick. It might be the other way around.

Nothing was actually destroyed except my hopes for a peaceful dinner, so I’m well on my way to being over it. The dogs, of course, are over it already. They look like sweet angels when they are napping, instead of Very Bad Dogs.

Again, the kennel website (25 of 31/60 of 274)

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I know this is a recurring theme, and it really shouldn’t be. I shouldn’t be so “stuck” on this, yet here I am, still with a digital stack of comps and photos and not much else. Yes, sad to say, I still don’t have a kennel website.

I guess it’s good then that I also have no breeding plans (not that I would ever breed a dog whose health checks aren’t yet complete, but not all of you know me well enough to take that for granted), because I’d have no place to promote them.

By the way, this is also my proof that having all the whiz-bang digital tools you could ever want at your disposal means nothing if you can’t or don’t use them to best advantage. I upgraded very recently to Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium so I really have no excuse for slacking, do I (well, except for having to learn to use it but as a Photoshop user since v3 and a DreamWeaver user since Studio 8, I guess it won’t be too convincing)? This also reminds me that I haven’t yet talked about that upgrade here, and I’m sure at least a few of you are interested in how I’m liking it. Not to mention that I still need the opportunity to vent about the circumstances that caused me to upgrade this month, rather than at a more financially feasible moment.

Axel wants to be like all the other show dogs and show dog wanna-bes, and have his own page full of brags and plans. All right, fine, Axel doesn’t really care. He doesn’t get online much that I know of. I want him to be like all the other show dogs with pages full of brags and plans and beautiful pictures.

Kick me, hard, so he… umm… I… we? can have this.

Note to self after the fact: No one will see your posts if you do not PUBLISH them and make them PUBLIC. Kick me, harder, for this, too.

More soundtrack of my life (24 of 31/59 of 274)

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I have quite a few songs on my playlist that are from movies featuring fictional bands. I will blame this partly on the fact that The Monkees, the ultimate made-for-TV band, were a big part of my childhood. The rest of the blame lies on the movies or songs themselves: they might not be great art, but they are great at making me smile. And even as much as I like Spinal Tap and 2ge+her (MTV’s send-up of boy bands which didn’t last nearly long enough), it’s not about satire either, at least not for this part of my playlist.

And those songs?

“On The Dark Side” from Eddie and the Cruisers: John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band got compared to Springsteen and the E Street Band a lot when this movie came out. I have been a Springsteen fan for a long time (in case it is not obvious from my domain name – brilliant-disguise.net if you are reading this on LJ). As for the movie, I love Tom Berenger (even as Aaron Noble in Third Watch, which is a stretch). And I like Michael Paré, at least in this movie and one other…

Streets of Fire which is one of my favorite movies and favorite soundtracks. The plot is nothing new: biker gang kidnaps hot chick singer and her ex is summoned home to rescue her. The visuals and casting and yes, the music, make it something special. “Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young” and “Nowhere Fast” are my favorites, followed closely by “Countdown To Love”. By the way, did any song of Jim Steinman’s from that time NOT have the sound of a motorcycle revving somewhere in the background? This movie also has one of my favorite quotes: “Everywhere I go, there’s always an asshole” which sadly is true in most places in real life as well.

“Break My Heart” from Spectacular! Yeah, I was surprised, too. Funny what turns up when you are bored and clicking the remote or the mouse. I would not generally expect to find a fun, perfect-for-the-car song like this from a Nickelodeon movie, but hey, there it is.

Two days of my schizophrenic musical taste is probably more than enough for most of you, so tomorrow will feature a new and exciting topic. Or something!

Soundtrack of my life (23 of 31/58 of 274)

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Because I am old now, I don’t keep up with music the way I used to. In particular, I don’t keep up with music videos because I really don’t know when and where to watch them any more (except online, of course, which is sometimes difficult depending on the state of my connection and age of my computer at any given location). Sometimes I actually get nostalgic for a time when MTV played music videos most of the time and I could have it on as background noise instead of the radio.

So I had no idea that Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” video was filmed in Hawaii, or for that matter, anything at all about the video, until I saw the latest issue of Hawaii Magazine.

I love that song. The first time I heard it, I wondered which Hawaiian singer had something new out. It has the same feel as a lot of the contemporary Hawaiian music I like. I didn’t know of Mraz’s connection to Hawaii as a frequent visitor, but I would say he definitely “gets” what life there is about. Even though I’m not personally familiar with every one of the locations in the video (I haven’t visited Kauai since I was very young), it still feels like home to me.

Anyway. Read the article and watch the video!