Month: May 2002

irock

I was flipping through Macworld and found a blurb for the irock300W, a miniture radio transmitter that plugs into anything with a 1/8″ jack, and broadcasts the signal in FM. I have to get one of these. I think my dad already ordered one. Imagine how nice it will be to hook up the iBook in the car, or the desktop to my stereo. The digital life rules.

Apple auctioned off a bunch of warehouse stock, and I was going to bid on an iPod, but I didn’t want to spend over $50. (dog just had surgery) Sadly, the starting bid was $75, and closed somewhere near $300. Someone had bid on all 39 of them.

Pileated Woodpecker

This morning outside the library I ran across two pileated woodpeckers. They were chasing each other around the trunk of a tree, and didn’t seem to care that I was staring at them. People walking by didn’t seem to care that I was staring at anything either. However, when I ran down and grabbed a digital camera and started taking pictures, people noticed. I guess when you have a camera, you aren’t just a crazy person.

I shared the pictures with the library staff, and was surpised at how delighted people were. I guess everyone likes birds.

My boss recently hired another mac user. It’ll be nice to have someone who agrees with me about how good macs are rather than just how bad microsoft is.

Stink of infection

Yesterday we became concerned when Barley started to stink like he had trenchfoot. We cleaned his incisions with diluted peroxide, but the smell only got worse. Since his incisions were somewhat puffy, we were worried that he was infected inside. I thought of a myth character called a wight, which is a stiched together corpse that walks around and explodes on people, infecting them (gross).

This morning the smell returned, and it turned out to be just his compressed rawhide bone. I smelled the bone, and it was just about as bad of a smell as you can imagine. We haven’t thrown it away if you want it.

Barley Returns Home

We picked up Barley this morning after his night away. Dr. Munjar thinks the TPO went well, and we may have difficulty keeping him immobile.

I’ve added pictures of the ordeal, and I’m using my new web format. Like it?

Naturally, we’ll keep taking pictures. Sarah brought some get well gifts over, but Barley will have to wait to play with the squeaky hedgehog. Rats..

Bald Butt

Barley went into surgery today. It was was quite painful to leave him, especially once I turned back and saw him straining to follow us with a shocked look on his face. Dr. Muhnjar called to tell us that the surgery was successful, and that he’ll most likely gain full access and motion in his right hip. Whew.

If you’re bored, check out this great doodle tool. There are some very creative people out there.

Fletcher’s bike garage

I’ve updated Fletcher’s Bike Garage with a fancy new design. I’ve also marked two of his bike for sale. He’s selling his BMW with grand plans for a new touring oriented dirt bike (Honda XR 650) If you’re in the market for a nice bike, check out his Beemer.

Why I hate 5¢ deposits….

Some people don’t like storing the cans, some people hate how sticky it gets, some people don’t like the smell (I do), but no one seems to enjoy the 5¢ deposit on bottles & cans in Oregon.

I hate the deposits because I shouldn’t be paying for the management of someone else’s containers. Coca-Cola exists because they can cheaply distribute their goods to people in bottles and cans. If you want me to drink your product, make an effort to get your cans back. I don’t want to pay for it. I don’t want to store un-crushed cans (machines can’t read the bar code of crushed cans.)

I think besides the revenue that the deposit generates, it creates an off-the-record sort of welfare. I guess it encourages people to pick up cans & bottles, but leaves no reason to pick up the other stuff. Gov. Kitzhaber even wanted to add a 3¢ tax on top of the bottle tax for state park & stream restoration a couple years ago. Can you imagine paying 8¢ on top of each beverage you purchase? Coke & beer really aren’t necessary to my life, but I really like them, so I guess I’ll keep paying the deposit, storing the cans, and walking them back to Fred Meyer, feeding them to a machine, then waiting for a clerk to come the unrecognized bottles.

Audio Books & worker productivity

I’ve been listening to Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets while working on the WebCT page. I’ve been surprisingly productive, partly because I’ve been so interested in the work I’ve been doing, but maybe there’s some productivity increasing apsect to listening to children’s fiction. Probably not, but I’m enjoying it anyway.

My friend and former roommate Ben is in town for a toxicology seminar. We’re going to meet him at Bridgeport for dinner. I hope he’s enjoying Portland.

Law School – 1 year down

Michelle finished her last final yesterday, and is now a 2L – That’s a way to say second year without having to spend any extra effort saying “second”. Remember, for Lawyers, time is money, and those extra letters cost an additional 30 cents for a high powered lawyer.

Last night we got together with a bunch of other happy 1 & 2Ls and had sushi before going downtown for a school sponsored show. They provided free drinks and food, and it was a cool scene, if somewhat loud for hundreds of L’s who were rejoicing together.

Honors
Michelle got an honors in her Legal Writing class. We’re so excited that everything we’ve said in the last 12 hours has had “honors” attached to it. …”can you turn out the light…with honors…”

Barley’s Hips

Barley, our “chesapeake bay retreiver”, has pretty severe hip dysplasia. We took him to a specialist, who conceded that we might be able to get along without surgery if we are careful about his activities and such. This was somewhat relieving since the recommended surgery, a TPO, costs about $2200 per hip.

Since the initial visit, Barley’s gate has quickly degraded, and he’s walks with his front legs splayed out in a V, and his back legs are very loose. We put him on Cosequine, and I want to blame that for making him all loose, but that’s virtually impossible (according to the vets…)

So, it looks like Barley’s going to have hip surgery. I’ll have to sell my Apple stock, which should cover most of it, unless he ends up needing the surgery on both hips.

I think what’s most frustrating is the lack of options we seem to have, and the lack of time to make decisions. Technically, we could skip the operation, but he wouldn’t be able to go hiking and play with other doggies. Who knows, maybe a miracle cure will surface in the next week and a half…