Home Graffiti About Sitemap Visual DevWork Email Brian GPG Key

GRAFFITI -- August 22, 2005 thru August 28, 2005 >> Link to the Current Week << Last Week << Mon   Tues   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun >> Next Week Search this site : Welcome to Orb Graffiti, a place for me to write daily about life and computers. Contrary to popular belief, the two are not interchangeable.     About eMail - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so clearly at the beginning of your message.

MONDAY    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
August 22, 2005

1934 - Good evening. It was a trying day yesterday. The good news was that after a time-out in the crate, Yugi came back out to join the party, and behaved himself quite like a gentleman ... until later in the evening, when we noticed that he suffered an attack of diarrhea. Trust me, you don't ever want to deal with a large shaggy dog with diarrhea. Thereafter, I basically kept him outside until he'd done with pooping forever. Then armed with plenty of warm soapy water and paper towels, I did enough of a cleanup job that he could be allowed back inside. We took a minor chance by letting him stay the night in our bedroom, but between having to clean a carpet or leaving a dog to deal with the same problem in a tiny crate ... well, I talk tough, but I'm not cruel.

He made it through the night, and I fed him just enough to get by, as most of the sites I found talk about cutting way back on food as a good option. Then, instead of crating him for the day, I put him in my workshop (concrete floor, easy potential cleanup) with a blanket, a bowl of water and a chewbone. There he stayed while we packed up Barb and Shirley for their drive back to Michigan. Then we packed suitcase and laptop bag into the truck, and I took Marcia to BWI for her California trip. She's there until Friday.

Yay, Yugi, he made it through the day, too, without an accident. I gave him a spot of early dinner, then we went outside and rambo'd around for a while getting out some of the energy that all puppies (even pony-sized puppies) have. Then I took him upstairs, walked him into the shower stall, and gave him a bath. Truly, not one of the more pleasant experiences in recent memory, but he did very well. He's not nearly as squirmy in the water as either Lucy or Molly. With the warm (and fortunately much less humid than of late) weather, he's drying well, and behaving nicely. I'll give him another couple of scoops of late dinner in a short while, then run him around outside again. I'd best do that soon, before the sprinkler kicks on.

See you tomorrow!

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    TUESDAY    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
August 23, 2005

AM sometime - Good morning. The dogs did well overnight. I've continued with putting Yugi down in the basement for one more day while we wait to see how his tummy troubles have resolved. I may just keep that up, as I don't want to crate him away from water for 10 or more hours at a shot, and I'm pretty sure the pitch of his barking would set off the glass-break sensor of the alarm system. So there we go.

Not much else to report, the chores got done, I fed myself, and slept a reasonably decent night's sleep (given that Marcia's not home). Today I've got a machine to refurbish to spec for an incoming employee, a new eval-build of our software paired with RHEL to test out, and more fun than you can shake a stick at. Always. Have a good one!

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    WEDNESDAY    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
August 24, 2005

11:38 - Good morning. Bloody busy, I've been working on customer support issues since mid-evening yesterday. I'll post later if I have time. Ciao!

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    Wed    THURSDAY    Fri    Sat    Sun   
August 25, 2005

0700 - Good morning. By the time I was done with work and dogs and dogs and dogs and dinner and dogs, I was whacked - no energy left to post. Yesterday went well, I think. I was covering for someone out of the office, unexpectedly, and the job got done (with loads of help from everyone else, I just kept bulling on ahead, and drew people along in my wake to clean up the messes I made. Their clean-up made things work...

On Monday night, I happened to look outside at precisely the correct time to catch the sunset in full swing. I loped upstairs, dodging dogs, snagged the camera, and ran the course in reverse to sneak out the front door before they caught up. Then while all three lovely specimens of canine magnificence whined and yapped at me from behind the windows, I shot a number of pictures. Of those, these two I like best. This Kodak isn't great at low-light without settings that I've been unable to decipher. I keep promising myself I'll read the book, but tomorrow is always tomorrow, eh? Still, pretty skies and lots of reds!

Then tonight I realized that there was a ... thing going on between our fickle fixed fluff-head, Molly, and this young pony masquerading as a dog. September-January romances are doomed, but they're dogs, what do they know. It's cute, though, and Molly seems to enjoy the attention, except when Yugi has decided that her ear might look better on the floor over there, instead of attached to her head. Then a snarly-battle erupts. Often, then, Lucy joins in. When the noise and fury have abated, Yugi looks chastised, Molly looks embarrassed, and Lucy is spitting out Yugi's fur, and looking around, "Anyone else want a piece of this? You? You?" In another life she was clearly either a New York Cabbie or a Wise Guy. I've not gotten a picture of the end of a melee round, but I might before Yugi's week in purgatory is up.

Question for the audience... Would Pat Robertson be deported from the UK under new Anti-Radical Deportation and Ban Rules? Now I got my hackles up when the local news-radio station started saying that Pat Robertson was advocating murder. Murder is a crime between individuals. Assassination is a tool of state - always has been, always will be. But in today's pussified society, one can't be in a position of any power at all, and speak that sort of truth. Hell, when we were sending cruise missiles and SpecOps teams in to dispose of Hussein, was that War? Murder? Assassination? I'd have called it the latter, since the goal was to kill an enemy political leader. Now Chavez doesn't seem like a very nice sociopath (Aren't all world leaders sociopaths of one kind or another?). But I've never though much of Pat Robertson either. I've got an idea. Put them in the arena with a short sword and shield each, and we'll run the Spartacus Scenario. Then whatever happens, it'll be good clean American-Reality-TV fun!

Okay, two more working days to the week, the sooner I get this one done with, the sooner it'll be Friday. The dogs have had breakfast and I can roll. See ya!

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    FRIDAY    Sat    Sun   
August 26, 2005

2125 - Good evening. Happy Friday, and Marcia's home! She flew in on a red eye, and was at her desk here by noon, working two conference calls and a bunch of documents. That wasn't the original plan, but it worked out. Me? I had another busy day, and got interesting bits done. Tired, and glad the week's done. See you tomorrow.

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    SATURDAY    Sun   
August 27, 2005

0923 - Good morning. The dogs (primarily Yugi) were not into staying asleep this morning. I was up with them at 0630. So I brought them down, sent them outside to handle their business, and fed them breakfast. Then I brought Lucy back upstairs and put her on the bed with Marcia for a continued sleep-in. Molly, Yugi and I went back downstairs where I had coffee and a bite to eat while watching some of the tube. Now everyone's awake, and it's time to either start planning my day, or go back to bed. I'll go for the former, but the latter is quite tempting.

So, on tap for today... I want to finish stripping and get started on the staining of our coffee table. I have a couple of computer-ish tasks to take on, and I want to pick up a newer, cheap DVD player for the living room. The nice, older 5 disc carousel model that we have now isn't too happy with writable DVD media. Okay, time to rock and roll. Catch you later...

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    SUNDAY  
August 28, 2005

1135 - Good morning. Micro-post for the moment. The Sunday weekly shopping is done, and I've got to get Yugi's gear collected - Dodge is on his way over to pick up the big galoot. Yesterday, for a short while, Yugi emulated a lapdog. That is, his hind end was in my lap, and his head was on my shoulder. We've had a bit of fun ... enough to know that we don't need a puppy. Adult, well-mannered rescue dogs are just fine. I'll be back in a while. Some chores to be done after sending Yugi on his way!

1422 - Hmmm. While I wasn't watching, Katrina's gone and become a Category 5 hurricane aimed at New Orleans. I suspect that the next few days are going to be good days to be anyplace but the Big Easy. The storm surge is predicted to be up to 28 feet above normal tidal highs. That should put paid to the levee system that protects New Orleans. Good luck down there, folks. Get out of town while the getting's good.

Meantime, our President has restated his resolve for us to finish the job he committed us to starting in Iraq. Going in may have been madness, but bailing out would be far worse - we're in it for the long haul, I fear. But I agree, we stay. We support our troops, and give them the tools as well as the moral and emotional support to do the job right. During the past week, DoD announced the deaths of 23 more soldiers who gave their lives in service to the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan:

• Sgt. Nathan K. Bouchard, 24, of Wildomar, Calif. died on August 18, 2005, in Samarra, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV following a mine assessing mission.
• Staff Sgt. Jeremy W. Doyle, 24, of Chesterton, Md. died on August 18, 2005, in Samarra, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV following a mine assessing mission.
• Spc. Ray M. Fuhrmann, II, 28, of Novato, Calif. died on August 18, 2005, in Samarra, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV following a mine assessing mission.
• Pfc. Timothy J. Seamans, 20, of Jacksonville, Fla. died on August 18, 2005, in Samarra, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV following a mine assessing mission.
• Spc. Blake W. Hall, 20, of East Prairie, Mo. died on August 21 near Baylough, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during patrol operations.
• 1st Lt. Joshua M. Hyland, 31, of Missoula, Mont. died on August 21 near Baylough, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during patrol operations.
• Sgt. Michael R. Lehmiller, 23, of Anderson, S.C. died on August 21 near Baylough, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during patrol operations.
• Pvt. Christopher L. Palmer, 22, of Sacramento, Calif. died on August 21 near Baylough, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during patrol operations.
• Sgt. Willard T. Partridge, 35, of Ferriday, La., died on August 20 in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
• Lance Cpl. Phillip C. George, 22, of Houston, Texas, died Aug. 18 from enemy small arms fire while conducting combat operations near Taleban, Afghanistan.
• Pfc. Elden D. Arcand, 22, of White Bear Lake, Minn. died on August 21, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq, where his M915A1 tractor pulling a 7,500-gallon tanker accidentally rolled over.
• Staff Sgt. Brian L. Morris, 38, of Centreville, Mich. died on August 21, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq, where his M915A1 tractor pulling a 7,500-gallon tanker accidentally rolled over.
• 2nd Lt. James J. Cathey, 24, of Reno, Nev., died Aug. 21 of injuries caused by an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations near Al Karmah, Iraq.
• Pfc. Ramon Romero, 19, of Huntington Park, Calif., died Aug. 22 when the vehicle he was in was struck by an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations near Fallujah, Iraq.
• Sgt. Joseph C. Nurre, 22, of Wilton, Calif., died on Aug. 21, 2005, near Samarra, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his M916 tractor during convoy operations.
• 1st Lt. Carlos J. Diaz, 27, of Juana Diaz, P.R., died on Aug. 23, 2005, in Baqubah, Iraq, when enemy forces detonated an explosion near his position.
• Staff Sgt. Victoir P. Lieurance, 34, of Seymour, Tenn. died on August 22, 2005, in Samarra, Iraq, when he was conducting patrol operations and an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV.
• Sgt. Joseph D. Hunt, 27, of Sweetwater, Tenn. died on August 22, 2005, in Samarra, Iraq, when he was conducting patrol operations and an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV.
• Master Sgt. Chris S. Chapin, 39, of Proctor, Vt., died on Aug. 23, 2005, in Ar Ramadi, Iraq during combat operations when he was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire.
• Spc. Hatim S. Kathiria, 23, of Fort Worth, Texas, died on Aug. 22, 2005, in Baghdad, Iraq, where an enemy rocket impacted near his position.
• Sgt. 1st Class Trevor J. Diesing, 30, of Plum City, Wis. died on August 25, 2005, in Husaybah, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position.
• Master Sgt. Ivica Jerak, 42, of Houston, Texas. died on August 25, 2005, in Husaybah, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position.
• Cpl. Timothy M. Shea, 22, of Sonoma, Calif. died on August 25, 2005, in Husaybah, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position.

Honor their lives, their sacrifice. Thanks! See you next week.

Top  /  Email Brian

Last Week << Mon   Tues   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun >> Next Week

Visit the rest of the DAYNOTES GANG, a collection of bright minds and sharp wits. Really, I don't know why they tolerate me <grin>. My personal inspiration for these pages is Dr. Jerry Pournelle. I am also indebted to Bob Thompson and Tom Syroid for their patience, guidance and feedback. Of course, I am sustained by and beholden to my lovely wife, Marcia. You can find her online too, at http://www.dutchgirl.net/. Thanks for dropping by.

All Content Copyright © 1999-2011 Brian P. Bilbrey.


Except where otherwise noted, this site is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.