I have long avoided joining the wearables of tech, worried about the loss of privacy and control of so much of my data. I knew it would be convenient, but I have been wowed by what it can do for me
Giving in to the Inevitable – Apple Watch
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White trash neighbors
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Living in South San Jose is pretty great, for the most part. Great house, mostly great neighbors, and amazing weather are all positives. But the negatives come out twice a year. There are several rental properties in our neighborhood, and they are often rented by giant wads of fuck. Case in point: Last night, New Year’s Eve, we knew there would be fireworks. There are always fireworks here...
Our new addition – Lizzie
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It should not surprise anyone who has been paying attention to this blog that we had to say goodbye to Garrett in January, at the ripe old age of 13. Since then, the house just hasn’t felt right. Sure, it is nice to not have to worry about feeding, and keeping the yard locked and safe, and to be certain to not stay out too late. But all that convenience pales in the absence of a buddy. To...
The final rest for Tate
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The bad day happened. No, not the actual decision and act to send Tate across the rainbow bridge because his seizures were escalating, and he was beginning to suffer the consequences. That was not a good day, but at least we could comfort ourselves knowing that we did the best we could for him. No, the call came from the vet, Tate’s remains were ready for us. Wow, a ton of bricks...
Sad Days
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As anyone who knows me in real life knows, I have rescued Greyhounds. I have donated a lot of time and money to the southern Arizona Greyhound Adoption org, and ran their website for a few years. Last Tuesday, we had to put one of our greys to sleep. He had long suffered from seizures, big, scary grand-mal epileptic seizures that had been increasing in both frequency, and in numbers (clustering)...
Jackasses ruining the Dog Park
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Dog parks are great places in general, however there are some people who screw it up. Today, we had one of those days. When we got to the park this afternoon and it felt a little off. There were three people there and 5 dogs. One group grabbed a couple of their small dogs and left (not uncommon, we have greyhounds, so small dog owners are nervous). The three remaining dogs were a german shepherd...
The Drive
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Over the 4th weekend, I took a couple of days off (Thursday and Monday) to drive my dogs from Tucson, where they were staying at a pet lounge, to our new home in San Jose, California. The drive was fine, we rented a big Dodge Grand Caravan, as we wanted there to be enough room for the boys, and all the crap they need (beds, food, water, our bags, etc). Although Barbara was worried that it would...
Bad dog owners
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Owning a dog comes with certain responsibilities. Most people have a good grasp of these responsibilities. Keeping them licensed (if required), getting their rabies vaccination, keeping them healthy, feed them quality food, the usual items. But increasingly I see lots of evidence of bad dog owners. I talk about dog feces left in the landscaping of the neighborhood. There are laws, there are signs...
Facebook “Promote” post – Don’t waste your money
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I manage a couple of facebook pages, one for my employer, and one for a non-profit that I work with (Southern Arizona Greyhound Adoption). I am constantly barraged by Facebook to “promote” a post to extend its reach, and get more responses. We recently took in a hound who had an injury on the racetrack, and we are doing some fundraising to cover the not insignificant vet costs. Our...
Our furkids: Tate Edition
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Our family is complete with two furkids. We have adopted retired racing greyhounds, and made them completely spoiled. Greyhounds are some of the sweetest, laziest, dogs you will ever know. Both of ours are couch potatoes, and are often ridiculed for being the slowest walkers. We don’t mind. However, there are some downsides to the Greyhounds. Their upbringing and time on the track is...