Mundane Ramblings

Nerd Humour Alert

Court — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:29:29 +0000

I try to keep the hardcore nerd content off the radar here, since it probably only makes sense to two other people I know who might even casually glance at this blog. Anyway, I will make an exception today just for fun. In my current contract I'm back to full on mail server nerd and was doing some documentation this morning when I came across this antivirus scanner option:

Illegal MIME header action

Cue immature nerdly snickering and snorting, while pushing up my horn-rimmed glasses. Fnar fnar fnar.

Caffeine + sleep deprivation + early morning = giddy geek

I know I'm a geek, it pays the bills ok?

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Working From Home

Court — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:32:36 +0000

It seems that most of my content is coming from The Oatmeal lately, but what can you do? This one does a hilariously decent job of describing some of the challenges and perks of working from home.

Working From Home

I find this particularly appropriate since I have recently started a "real job" again and find myself actually enjoying having a much more regular schedule instead of, ah, the schedule I had all summer. I guess you could say I am in the honeymoon period of this contract. Oh, and earning a somewhat predictable amount of money each month, that will be good too.

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Dogs at Camp Rocks!*

Court — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:18:39 +0000

*To avoid any Disney lawsuits, not affiliated with any teeny-bopper movie.

To give credit where credit is due, I just thought I would throw out a little shout out to the fine folks at Dogs at Camp. This is the anti-kennel where we have been taking the fur kids this summer when we are away from home. To say that these guys (er, gals) love dogs is an understatement, and after experimenting with a few traditional kennels around the area before this, there simply is no comparison. The dogs are never locked away, and spend the entire day running around a fenced farmyard with up to 40 other buddies. Then when they are completely played out they have a sleepover with 7 or 8 others in huge comfy horse stalls on sawdust. The facility is impeccably clean and dry, the staff is awesome, and the owner Cheryl knows all of the campers by name. I just dropped Harvey and Lloyd off this morning, and it goes a long way to say that this was Harvey's first visit (Lloyd's third) and he ran off without a glance backwards at me. Incredibly different from the first (and last) time we put him in a kennel when I had to physically haul him into the concrete cage so we could close the door.

Anyway, it's easy to complain about a bad service or business, but recognition of a job truly well done is a bit harder to come by. These folks are the real deal, and they will take top notch care of your dog without a doubt in my mind.

Check 'em out and tell them Lloyd sent ya.

Blog link.

*** Update:

I forgot to add that in addition to the awesome service and fun dog time, I usually get a follow up email afterwards with a personal note, and even a couple of pictures of the dogs on their weekend. It's rather like looking through someone's camera after a night out:

Sniffy Stuffy Stiffy I recently bought Lloyd and Harvey some new dog toys,...
Environmental Impact of Pet Ownership Just happened across an article in the Ottawa Citizen about...
The Tale of Lloyd and The Invisible Fence Allow me to regale you with a tale today. The...

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This one’s for Nikki

Court — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:07:31 +0000

Courtesy of The Oatmeal

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Nothing but Yourself

Jordy — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:48:48 +0000

why try to impress? Why try to be more?

Why try to be better than you were before?

What need do you have, to prove who you are?

Just being proud of yourself is the best thing by far.

Their opinions don't matter, it's how you're feeling inside,

stop trying to impress, live your life with pride.

Being true to yourself is the best thing to do,

as long as you're living, be proud to be you.

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Mallakhamb means Thighs of Granite

Court — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:39:13 +0000

Let me say without doubt that you will never forget seeing this video. It's called Mallakhamb, and it's Indian pole gymnastics, and it also makes regular gymnastics look like a slumber party. No man can watch this without cringing. Wired has the goods.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H1zjRU8hBo

Cripes, that looks painful. Painfully impressive.

52 Pickup He sold his soul to the devil, there's no other...

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Vacuuming is important

Court — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:20:36 +0000

Ok, so 220lbs+ of dog can generate a fairly significant amount of hair. Sadly, this represents about three weeks worth of vacuuming, but does not represent the amount of hair I remove by brushing in that same amount of time.

Wow. Ick.

This is why we vacuum a lot before people come over. Be glad we do, people.

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Procrasti-nine

Court — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:36:42 +0000

I can take delaying work to new heights. I have done it today, in spades. I know I'm doing it, there's no fooling myself. I have to read about 450 pages of really boring technical material. I gave myself a deadline to get it all done, there should have been lots of time to do it. It's still not done, my deadline is down to about 5 hours of remaining time. This morning I have wasted about 2 hours of reading time doing the following:

Tidy the kitchen and house so the cleaning lady could come in and do a good job.
File some papers
Clean off my desk
Facebook check
Carefully select some reading music in iTunes
Chat with Nikki who was stuck in an enormous traffic jam
Scratch four dog ears and two dog bellies
Tidy up some dangling cables in the office
Send four emails
Write this damn blog post

My book remains open beside me as I type this. Oh, page 298 why do you look like a huge boulder? There's no reason why it's so hard to read this crap, besides the fact that it's boring, and I know most of it. Ok, so there are two fairly big reasons.

Alright, that's it, square the shoulders and just grab page 298 by the horns. It's on, Mother-booker!

Wait, what's that shiny thing over there on the web? Oh, it's a cute video of an otter.... awww.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5usIxO_beYw

What the? CRAP.

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Huge heads not just good for smashing against things….

Court — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:14:06 +0000

It seems that scientists have discovered that the size of your skull can be a factor in staving off the effects of Alzheimers. Anyone who has met me in person and felt in person the force of my magnetic personality will understand perfectly when I say this: I win at the Alzheimer's game. I beat all of you. There is no winning against me, for my head is made of win.

Here's a little clarification for you; that's not my magnetic personality you are feeling, but rather the gravitational pull of my skull actually causing you to lean towards me. I have a huge head. Measurably so. I have never met a head bigger than mine, and it's a regular party gag to throw down and have a measure-off with anyone in the room. I am a skinny dude with an enormous melon, and nobody expects me to beat the huge guys with the muscles, but I do. When I finally lose the battle with hair loss it will probably be a lot more obvious, but for now I can safely say that I will out last any of you in the Alzheimer's department, and nobody knows it until the tape measures come out.

The most ironic thing of all is I have probably the worst memory (for some things). Just ask my wife Lorraine or especially my sister, um, Betty.

Exercise does not equal weight loss, but it does help keep it off Some pretty neat articles here on the New York Times...

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Kiko, eater of toe, and hero. Not so Roscoe.

Court — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:50:36 +0000

Dogs and toes have been discussed on the blog before of course. There's pages of dog blogs, and the toe stuff is also starting to rack up. The subject of today's post however has to do with both, which really has only happened once before that I can recall. In that post we heard about a miniature daschund that chewed a woman's toe off while she was sleeping. The little rascal Roscoe managed this feat (ahem) because the woman had diabetes and couldn't feel it due to nerve damage. The story ends with the dastardly evil little creature being put down, for fear that his awakened taste for little piggies would result in a continued buffet every night.

How strange that today's story is so completely different in tone and ending, and yet be so similar. Here's the gist for you:

A stubborn obstinate man refused to go and see the doctor about his infected toe for months, despite his wife's suspicion that he had diabetes. Said man drinks (exactly what is a bit fuzzy, man thinks it was four or five beers, wife's quote says it was "all of these margaritas", this reporter suspects it was both), and passes out. Faithful family dog proceeds to eat man's infected toe, man awakens screaming, my toe's gone, my toe's gone.

That dog is a goner, right?

Nope, he's a hero, credited with saving the man's life.

The strangest thing of all is the original story is actually referenced in this story, and said man (who is hilariously described in the article as "a well-known wheeler-dealer" in the area) was actually going to destroy his dog too, until someone pointed out that he would be a jackass to do so since the dog essentially saved his life. The man remains a jackass, but at least the dog still lives.

The final quote of the story is the winner for me, as is the dog's name.

And as for falling asleep, Douthett said he's not taking any chances. "I don't think Kiko would do it again," he said, "but I wear shoes to bed now."

The dog's name is Kiko. Which I cannot help but pronounce Kick-o. Kick-o, eater of toe.

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