Miles Losing His Hearing

I think Miles is losing his hearing. He’s old, and I was worried that he was getting to be ‘Old & Stubborn’ as well of recent. It just seemed that his behavior was such that he was deciding to “not hear” me when I was calling him or such. I had internally wondered whether it was actual hearing loss, or selective hearing loss; but I had just sort of accepted it was the latter.

But I still did wonder. And this morning, I think I got my first unequivocal proof that it is indeed actual hearing loss.

He’s a lab. If you have ever had labs, you know they’re food hounds. And if you’ve never had labs, now you know. Yes, they will happily eat until they explode. These are not dogs you can free-feed; Any food available is food that is consumed, it’s really that simple. Anyway. Our dogs eat well. Not only do we get them all-natural dog foods, but they also get our scraps & waste, which itself is all-natural & organic. This morning, it was eggs. The Girl thought that her eggs tasted funny (she’s a bit paranoid about spoilt food. “A bit” might be an understatement). So she left half of them on the plate, and since I ate mine and didn’t find anything wrong with them, I went to give the leftovers to the dogs. All the dogs but Miles were already in the Kitchen. So I called Miles.

He didn’t come.

This is unlike Miles. Where there’s food, there’s Miles. That’s just… Well it’s like cosmic law, dammit. I check around the corner, and he’s just sitting in the middle of the living room. Show him the plate and he comes like his butt’s on fire. Food still motivates him; alright!

But why didn’t he come when he was called? Well in this case, listening and coming when called leads to reward, and he knows it. And if it’s still highly-motivating for him, the only real answer is that he’s actually losing his hearing. I tested again about two minutes later, when all the dogs but he were outside. He was standing right next to me, sniffing the floor for food, and I called to him softly. I kept getting louder until he heard me. And it took a few tries before his ears perked. And even then, he wasn’t sure he was called, he was perking up to listen close to make sure he heard something.

Poor Miles. 12 Years old now, and he’s finally getting old. He’s going deaf, he’s getting slower, he’s getting a little grayer. At this point, he probably only has like a decade more to live.

OK you’ll have to excuse me; I have to go and give him a hug now.

Oldest, Least Funny Joke in HISTORY

OK so let’s set the stage: You’re outside washing your car or truck or van or horse & buggy, right? Someone, probably a neighbor or three, or maybe some guy that isn’t even from around your parts, sees you.

What’s the punchline?
“Hey you want to wash mine next?” or something similar.

Hey look, it’s not funny. It’s not cute, it’s been done before, probably a couple of times at least just today before you yourself said it again. It’s telegraphed, too easy to spot, and the polite smile & chuckle you get in return is actually code for “die you flaming moron.”

If you want to handle the situation even remotely well, avoid this classic “joke.” Maybe just mention that the car/truck/van/horse & buggy is looking clean, maybe even mention that yours needs cleaning too, if you must say something about it. Maybe even skip all that and just go for acknowledgement, as in “I see you’re cleaning your car/truck/van/horse & buggy today.”

But whatever it is you do, avoid the “wanna wash mine next” joke. Please. America is depending on you.

Apple Opposes Prop 8 in California

Late last week, Apple joined Google in publicly opposing Proposition 8 in California. For those who aren’t aware (what, are you living under a rock?), Proposition 8 is a ballot measure that is designed to change the constitution of California to specifically prohibit marriage between homosexuals.

Disclaimer: I’m a straight male.

I’m very proud of Apple. They, like Google before them, worded it correctly: it’s not a matter of marriage and whether you personaly support or oppose homosexuality, it’s a matter of civil rights. Passing this measure is a step in the wrong direction: it codifies hatred, making it legal to deny equal rights to a class of people based on a trait that doesn’t harm anyone else. Do I think homosexuality is ‘right’ or correct in any fashion? No. I do believe that it’s a genetic ‘malfunction,’ if you will. But I don’t believe that being homosexual somehow makes someone less a member of civilized society. They’re different, yes, but so am I, and so are you, and so is everyone else. If we don’t protect everyone’s right to equal protection of the law, then we have no room to complain if our personal rights are infringed or even expect that OUR protections afforded by the law are even valid.

I believe in equality for all, with the exception of those who would impose onto another. So long as the homosexuals are not trying to take marriage away from others, what’s the big deal? If it doesn’t limit your rights, do you have any real place to limit theirs?

I swear, it’s like Plessy v. Ferguson all over again, just sub gays for blacks.

Here’s what I think: anyone that votes “Yes on 8,” to limit the rights of others, should wake up the next morning to find out that they actually voted to limit their own rights, and not be allowed to… Do stuff they want. Hey, if it’s OK to limit other people’s rights, clearly it must be OK to have someone limit theirs too, correct? The ol’ “good for the goose, good for the gander” play.

I already sent my ballot in. No on 8, of course. Also, Barack Obama for Prez. Go America & personal freedom!

Random Bob, now playing "Bad Daddy"

On our eventual landing at the river yesterday, we role-played a little. I played the part of “bad daddy,” and the dogs played the part of “scared little children.”

It was bad on my part, but also? Oh-so-funny. Although, ahem, I didn’t actually get to laugh at the situation, The Girl did, as I was the “doer,” and thus she was the sole beneficiary of the funnies. Doesn’t that make her more culpable than me, anyhow? She’s the bad guy here really, I think. Anyway. The story.

As we landed on the river, I let the dogs out to roam the span. But I didn’t really feel much like parking it and picnicking at the exit/entrance from upper levels to lower levels, just in case we ended up with company, and also so that the dogs would not have such an easy path to follow to an out-of-sight street. So I stayed in the Tacoma and ventured further down the bank to find a nice deep spot for the dogs to play in, with a nice landing for us humans to sit on. The dogs were occupied with the mommy so they weren’t too concerned with my driving away.

Of course, I had to do something about this, no?

I found a spot, then drove back to pick up the mommy. I had a smile so she knew I was up to no good, but I didn’t quite tell her, just told her to get in so that we could drive to the spot I had selected. Made the sure dogs were not in front of us, then I took off like a… well, like an off-road truck on rugged riverbed, but fast enough that the dogs apparently got worried as hell that they were being left behind. Like I said, since I was doing the “doing.” I had to keep eyes forward and concentrate on not driving us into a rut or the river or something, but The Girl got to enjoy the heck out of the ordeal at the dog’s expense. Apparently, they freaked out and started charging for us as fast as they could. I imagine was hilarious, as The Girl was laughing as hard as I’ve ever heard her laugh, to the point of breathlessness.

When we stopped and they caught up with us, I let the tailgate down to sit on, and they took it upon themselves to jump on up, so as to make sure they went with us. Took a minute or two of convincing that it was just a joke and they were safe to roam and frolic, but they got the point, I think.

Does that make me a bad daddy? No, I don’t think it does. A case could definitely be made for The Girl being a bad mommy though. I mean, how rude; laughing so vigorously at the puppies’ expense. She should be ashamed.

Off-Road Trekking, kind of, but mostly river-trekking

Safari Trekkin’
Today we were trying to decide what to do since we both (The Girl & I) had today off. We finally decided to trek through some trails we hadn’t seen before. These were not hiking trails but driving trails, so there you have it. I found about 3 local trails on trails.com. I had to sign up for a trial membership to get the details, and it wasn’t worth it, but that’s history anyway, so on with today’s news.

The trail took us up through hills that we hadn’t even known existed before today. It was rather cool. These were steep slopes intertwined with rolling hills, dotted with cows at pasture and the occasional farm house. This was all quite removed from any town and was really rather impressive. We want to move to someplace very, very similar, in fact. What we saw was what we want to see daily. Today was sort of a reminder of what we’re really after in life. I want to be a semi-successful farmer, dammit, and go off-roading and hiking & trail-forging twice a week, and work cattle and land the other 5 days a week.

Anyway, this wasn’t as much 4x4-ing as I had hoped for. I could probably have made it with an Accord or a Taurus or something, albeit not as fast. And since it was essentially blockaded on either side by “private property,” there wasn’t anywhere to pull off and picnic like I had hoped, and let the puppies frolic in the open fields.

Sort of. See, it’s pretty open and yet wooded in places. And not only that, but there’s no buildings or homes or people for miles. Next time, some time in the future, we plan to totally squat on someone’s land for an afternoon and picnic. And maybe let the dogs try their hand at cattle rustling. Ha ha, OK maybe not the cattle rustling, but we’ll find a spot and frolic, frolic all day long!

But we’re not quite through yet.

Even though the prescribed trip was sort of a bust in the picnic arena, we did end up finding a place to park it along a river on the way back. A ‘main’ road back ran along a river and I managed to spy a little trail that led down to it. It was a hairy little trail, very tight and fun (!), and it landed us in prime location to hang out, have lunch, and let the dogs run around and play a little. This wasn’t some little creek, I mean this thing was some two football fields across, from bank to bank. Now since it’s fall and not spring, there was plenty of exposed bedrock, so we had a nice wide swath to park it on. All-in-all, it was a fun and productive day, despite the crappy directions of the trails.com “guide”. I don’t plan on getting into that, but just take with you that the road we found was quite less than expected, and also hidden behind a layer of verbal retardation that took two grown adults 30 miles & an hour to decipher.

The trial membership shall be cancelled shortly. Bleh.



New photos up
No new albums or anything, but I got a few good shots of the new guys and wanted to post them. Chase, especially. I haven’t had good opportunities to get many quality shots of him; black’s always hardest. But today all the variables were working in his favor, so I pulled of a good two or twelve at least. Check them out, huh?

Replacing my 3 year-old Salomons with the Help of zappos

First, the background
I’ve been running & hiking in Salomon XA Pro’s for 3 years now. When I first saw them, I thought they were the most hideous shoes on the showroom wall I was looking at, and the price! I was pretty sure I could find a decent hiking/running hybrid for less than that. Well I tried on literally every other pair, and in a fit of despair pulled out a set of them and slid them on.

It was love at first lace-up, if you can call it that. One of the things I love most about the shoes is the lacing system itself: you don’t lace them up like normal, you pull the laces – which are connected across – tight, and then slide a locking mechanism down. The excess lace tucks away into a pocket on the tongue. It’s awesome. It’s fast. It’s consistent. It doesn’t need readjustment! It’s almost flawless. If you’ve ever been camping and had cold hands and needed to tie your laes, you know the plight: it’s cold, it hurts your fingers, and you don’t have the dexterity to pull it off like you would like to. Well with the Salomons that’s not an issue any longer.

And they just felt “right” as soon as they got on my feet. None of the other shoes felt right. These were everything I could want in a shoe, and honestly? If I could wear them to work, I so would.



Second, getting the correct ones
They now make a couple of varieties; the normal ones and a Gortex-lined, waterproof variety. Well since they’re “Waterproof” and more expensive, all the local outdoor shoe places want to push them. Problem is, I don’t like the waterproof variety. They suck, and I can explain why.

Waterproof sounds good in theory, but the problem is – especially for an ankle-high shoe – if you encounter water, it’s going to get in the shoe. It’s going to go over the shoe boundary and inside. Which means that then, you’re foot’s wet, and it’s going to stay that way. So what it means is that yeah, they’re waterproof, so long as you don’t actually come across water in amounts that are worth mentioning.

Hey I like the thought too, it just doesn’t actually work.

So I prefer the regular ones. They breath really well, and drain really well, too. I use them as all-purpose shoes; they are my hiking boots/shoes, my trail running shoes, and my river shoes. Yeah, I will go straight into a river with these guys. See I know they will get wet, but I also know that they’ll dry out really fast, so I avoid the sloshy feeling of other shoes, especially “waterproof” varieties by sticking with the regular, breathable variety.

I’ve read about ONE instance where the Gortex makes sense: in sand. If you run along the beach or through fine-sand areas, the “waterproof” models will keep sand from seeping through into the shoe. And honestly I do run in a few places that I have problem with this, but I can just deal with it and hose them out when I get home; after all, they dry out fast, remember?



Third, the company
Some of you have probably heard of and used zappos.com before, so their mention isn’t news necessarily to you. I’d heard of them before too, but hadn’t used them until the day before yesterday. With just one hiccup, I can’t say I have anything but positive things to say about them.

I originally placed on order for red in 10-½. They didn’t end up having them, so they gave me a $20 credit on my next order, which I placed the next day for the same shoe in yellow or whatever color (it’s just highlights, I don’t really care. Picked red and/or yellow because those colors were on sale for an additional $20 off in the first place). But I f*cked up! I forgot to apply the coupon when I placed the new order, so I had to call them and get it straightened out.

Upon calling, I spoke with Darren. He looked up my order history, informed me of what happpened on the initial order, and then applied the $20 discount for me. THEN, he went even further and upgraded my free shipping option to OVERNIGHT shipping, still for free. So by the time all was said & done, I had my $125 Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultras for $82.60, and I have them on right now, 26 hours after I ordered them.

Needless to say, but so shall I anyhow: Kudos to zappos, and they’re highly recommended by the ‘bob.



Side note:
My foot has shrunk over my life. And not just that, either. First, I now wear a 10-½ as I stated earlier. But it’s not that my foot magically got smaller, it’s that the proportions and shape have changed over my years. I used to wear a 12 or so, but was also extremely flat-footed. Like, extremely. My footprint looked like the bottom-up view of my foot. You could see everything. However, as I’ve aged, I’ve actually developed an arch. Nothing major, but anymore I’d say I have what would be considered a normal arch.

Kind of interesting, I thought. Most people go the other way in life, ending up flat-footed with age. Huh.

McCain in the Final Debate of 2008

Well that’s done now. So what did we get out of it all?

McCain can’t do anything but “attack” and lie. Which is both dumb, and smart, I fear. See, he’s not talking about the issues, he’s instead attacking character. Well whether Obama’s a gentleman or an old fart is of less concern to me than what his stances are on policy. Not talking about policy means that you’re not telling me what’s better about your platform than his. However, fear seems to be a powerful sway over the regular constituency. And it helps when the only policy issues he brings up he lies about, too. Combine fear with the other guy’s policy which you’re lying about, and that can be a deadly combo. Refer to election 2004, and election 2000.

I am seriously tired of hearing McCain conflate Obama’s tax scheme with “raise your taxes.” It’s simply not true. He’s trying to drive people to vote for him by insinuating to them that their taxes will go up if they vote for “the other guy.” It’s old. It’s tired. It’s much like McCain around 2pm in the afternoon, methinks. And it’s just not fair. Look, I want to debate politics, of which “policy” is root. To me it’s more important to hear how you think your plan will be better than to hear about how you think ACORN is perpetuating the biggest voter fraud scam in history (which isn’t true in the slightest; if anything they’re the victims of fraud, having paid people to register voters and they essentially getting paid for not doing that. And he knows it).

And the whole thing about his butthole being hurt because Obama didn’t repudiate the statements comparing him to George Wallace? Untrue, too.

You know, last week he gained some major points with me for having set his rabid supporters straight about his nationality & such; this week he pretty much undid all of that. I mean, I wasn’t going to vote for him anyhow as I disagree with about 90% of his policy stances, but at least I could respect him as of last Friday; that’s not the case as of this Thursday, though.

Ho-hum. Doesn’t matter anyhow. I’m registered as a permanent absentee voter. And mine’s since been sent out. Even if Obama came out and said he endorsed McCain too, the vote’s already almost literally in the bag.

Apple Releases new MacBook Lineup

What I like about the new Apple MacBook lineup
The MacBooks – even the bottom dwellers – are now all-aluminum. This is awesome because having had an aluminum PowerBook before, I can attest that they’re much easier to keep clean. They are also LED-lit, which makes them brighter, and also means that they will be “instant-on,” meaning no delay from the time they light to the time they are full-brightness. Also: they ALL have backlit keys now! Like like like!

One of the things I think I LOVE about the news guys is that they did away with the standard trackpad. Now they’re made of glass, and instead of having a button at the bottom, the whole thing is a button. Click anywhere and it’s a click! Simple! Ought to make clicking & dragging especially easy.



What I dislike about the new Apple MacBook lineup
There are downsides, however. Number one is price. They seem to have gotten more expensive, which is a boo-hoo for me. The other is the fact that the processor speeds are actually slower than the last iterations. The top-end is the same, but the entry-level is now 2.0ghz, where before it was 2.2ghz.

This is partly made up for with the faster graphics processor and also the faster memory bus, but still – couldn’t you have at least stuck with the same speeds, Apple?

And, that’s it for my short list of dislikes.



Buying decisions
It’s been only about a year since I bought my current laptop. Is it worth replacing? No. I like the upgrades, and I shall have them in due time. However there’s not enough lacking in my current rig to really warrant the handful of $100’s that it would take to get the new guys.

So, I’ll wait. Unless I can find a sucker willing to purchase mine for close to the original purchase price. Any takers? It’ll be a collector’s item soon enough: Black MacBook? They don’t even make them anymore!

No? No one? Dammit.

Fun with Palin Headlines & Republican-Bashing

“Panel Finds Palin Abused Power, Broke No Laws”
That was the headline, folks, but, well… The very first line of this article reads as so: “A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state's public safety commissioner.”

So, I guess I’ll be the one to ask: How do you unlawfully abuse your power, but have broken no law? Is that even possible? Isn’t the definition of Unlawful sort of that by its very nature, you’ve broken a law?

Wow, you gotta hand it to those republicans; they can spin anything into a win.



“ Palin pre-empts state report, clears self in probe”
Can you even do that? I mean, how convenient, right? You’ve just broken laws (or not, I guess) by having been shown to have abused your powers, but everything’s OK because after all, you just clear yourself of any wrongdoing. Must be nice. Sign me up for that job. Hell, if she can do it, I refuse to believe that I cannot. Do I have to say it? Do I? OK, just one more time though:

Wow, you gotta hand it to those republicans; they can spin anything into a win.



However, they’re still losing
Which is great for America & Americans alike. Yes, even the rabid haters out there yelling falsities. Look dufuses, believe it or not (I know the answer to that one btw), we’re on your side. Yeah, it’s true. Look, Obama was right: you DO cling to your religions & guns, when in reality you should be clinging to a lifeboat. We’re sinking, people. Your current dire situations are not the cause of a black man or a liberal or a homosexual; you’re worse-off now than you were 8 years ago because of the “failed” economic policies of the Right. I say “failed” because honestly, it was a success for them. You think they’re you, that they’re on your side, but they’re patently not.

See this is the thing you have to swallow: they are not you. They may look like you, but quite honestly they’ve fooled you into believing who “the others” are: non-white, non-Protestant anyone. They’ve convinced you that it’s the niggers & the gays & “The Liberals” that are tearing apart the fabric of America. Bullsh*t. Look, gay marriage is not going to bankrupt your family. You won’t notice. Hell, no one’s even asking you to approve personally. I don’t. I don’t like homosexuality. But the thing is, it doesn’t really affect you the way your GOP wants you to believe. They tell you that they’re on your side, and that it’s all these other guys that are “different” that are the reason for your economic & moral decline. Sorry, but in reality, the reasons are plain & simple: money. They have it, and they have gotten it by taking it away from you, and giving it to themselves and their already-rich brethren.

The sooner more people realize that it’s been a game of misdirection, the sooner we all – you and I, the middle class, the majority of Americans – will be better off. I’m dead serious, folks. They say that it’s these guys over there that are creating your plight, all the while they’re reaching into your wallet and taking what’s yours; they tell you that they’re just like you and on your side, while rallying you against those that are noticeably “different.” This is a scam, because in actuality, the difference between the haves & have-nots is not color or sexuality, it’s merely money. YOU are different from THEM, the GOP. Your money in their coffers is all they really care about.

Think I’m lying? Look who’s being taxed the most. You. Look who’s being bailed out for being fiscally irresponsible. The Rich. They take your money, and they give it to the rich, after the rich have run through your life savings.

This isn’t a very fun game, now is it?

OK so now get over the blackness & the name; you know what you gotta do: Vote pro-American; vote Democrat 2008.

VoIP to become Reality?

It’s going to happen!
I ordered Vonage yesterday. With taxes, it will come in @ a hair over $19 a month. That’s a $31 savings every month. Or put another way, that’s two Round Table Pizzas a month. Supposed to be here shortly!



Maybe not!
There was an issue with trying to transfer our number over. Since Vonage relies on an internet connection and my internet is through my phone service… Well that poses a problem. I have to get the phone company to separate the two first. I envision problems trying to get this to happen properly.

Silver lining, though. I was investigating Skype as well, which is ALSO a VoIP service, but instead of using special hardware to plug your existing phone into your router & thus your internet connection, it basically just uses your computer as the phone. The the downside is that you don’t have a handset, but the upside is that you have a pretty cool speakerphone!

The other upside is that service – after I get ahold of a phone # for it – will be a whopping $5.50 a month. $5.50 a month! You know what that is? That’s another Round Table Pizza, baby, on top of the other two! There are catches, though, beyond the handset issue (which is a non-issue as we can get a headset for the ‘puter and be just the same about). For one, they don’t bill it as a home phone service replacement, because it’s not hooked up with 911 service. This is not really an issue for us, as we have emergency cell phones that will do 911 anyhow. The other issue, and probably the main one for me, is that the computers must be on at all times. Since they’re essentially the phone now, that means that if the computers are off, as are the phones. Not sure how I feel about that quite yet. There is one other issue that equally affects both; since they run off an internet connection – which requires a modem on a power source – if either a) the power goes out, or b) the internet goes wonky, we don’t have home phone. But hey, we got those emergency cell phones, right?

At this point, we’re considering it. Going to try and talk out the details, make a decision. We’ll either be letting the Vonage order go through and trying hassle with at&t to split up the internet service, or we’ll be placing a stop-order with Vonage due to difficulties with the phone company, and then jumping to skype.