tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-170923342024-03-07T11:17:22.537-08:00Hello, I'm blogging at you now...Apparently I <b>am</b> this egotistical.Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-75078957053458595992015-08-08T10:29:00.000-07:002015-08-08T10:46:06.155-07:00Why I would not cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines ever again<h2>
Alaska Cruise</h2>
About a year ago my dear brother convinced me we should take our families on a cruise of Alaska. During the planning my sister decided she and her husband would come along too and we'd have a sibling reunion--fantastic! Norwegian has cruises that leave from Seattle, and so we booked an end-of-July sailing.<br />
In the main, we had a wonderful time. But here's what happened that convinced me never to cruise with NCL again.<br />
<h2>
Injury</h2>
Laurel had to dodge a fellow passenger while jogging on the jogging track and twisted her ankle. It promptly swelled up to mini-football size. My dear siblings Mike (physical therapist) Mary (PT assistant) and Tim (internal medicine doc) all said "oooh--get some ice on that thing right away". So Laurel, stoic woman that she is, set out for the ship's medical office.<br />
<h2>
Norwegian Crew's Response</h2>
<h3>
Get your own ice</h3>
Laurel found the office closed, and a sign directing her to dial an extension on the nearby wall phone. She did so, explained to the person answering (nurse?) what happened & asked for an ice pack. The nurse came and unceremoniously thrust two empty plastic bags at her, directing her to go up 8 decks to the cafeteria and fill them up with ice.<br />
<br />
That lacked in bedside manner, to be sure, but Laurel got what she'd asked for, so she took it in stride, ascended the 8 decks and got the ice.<br />
<h3>
Ace Bandage?</h3>
About two hours later it became clear that holding the ice against her ankle with her hands wasn't really working. The plastic bags were small and light enough that gravity was not much help in keeping the ice in contact w/Laurel's ankle. The swelling wasn't going down, and it was awkward as hell. "Get you an ace bandage, and we'll lash the ice pack to you so you get compression and ice at once." said the physical therapists. Doc brother agrees--good idea. By now my chivalry kicks in & this time I go down to ask for an ace bandage.<br />
<br />
The office is still closed, so I dial the extension & the following conversation ensues:<br />
<br />
<b>Me</b>: Hi, my wife twisted her ankle on the jogging track earlier, and we need an ace bandage for her.<br />
<b>Nurse</b>: An ace bandage? I can't give you that. You need to see a doctor to get an ace bandage.<br />
<b>Me</b>: Seriously? Well, okay--we're traveling w/my brother, who is a physician & he says she needs it.<br />
<b>Nurse</b>: No, no, no--if you want an ace bandage, you have to see <b><i>our</i></b> doctor, and doing that costs $184.<br />
<b>Me</b>: Are you kidding me? With all the money you're charging us to be on this cruise you can't give up an ace bandage without bilking us for an extra $184? That's outrageous!<br />
<b>Nurse</b>: That's correct--you must see our doctor to get an ace bandage from us.<br />
<br />
I hung up and went back to the stateroom. Nobody in our group could believe that they'd effectively charge us $184 for a stupid ace bandage (well, they could believe it, but all agreed that it was outrageous). I later went to the customer service desk to verify that what the nurse said was true, and they confirmed that no, they will not give you an ace bandage without seeing their doctor, and yes, seeing the doctor cost $184. I gave the poor woman a piece of my mind & stalked off.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirs3tQl_-wziwmd8KZ9hH3NaVnIFlpLIXx7lIqyLtkwP8WXlor9iwE-CHbGGTgsRmzVhIQR0vbJnmGyaQcOCCFsKkDnzbekwj4fK-QAEk0hcYj3IhLwRqBSctC1_5aL5zpqYLH2Q/s1600/IMG_3600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirs3tQl_-wziwmd8KZ9hH3NaVnIFlpLIXx7lIqyLtkwP8WXlor9iwE-CHbGGTgsRmzVhIQR0vbJnmGyaQcOCCFsKkDnzbekwj4fK-QAEk0hcYj3IhLwRqBSctC1_5aL5zpqYLH2Q/s320/IMG_3600.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<h3>
What's that--a sprained ankle? Cha-ching!</h3>
So it seems to me that Norwegian Cruise Line looks upon a passenger injuring herself while underway as a revenue-generating opportunity. While you're at sea they have a captive customer base and so, just like the bottled water package they hawk at you to purchase while on board (among dozens of other packages, treatments and miscellaneous 'experiences') ace bandages are similarly marked way the hell up.<br />
<br />
This is not a business that I or anybody should want to patronize.Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-32274914591384847882012-12-02T19:08:00.003-08:002012-12-03T06:31:36.168-08:00Why I'm Returning My (Beloved) Windows Phone 8xIn which I explain my love of WP8, but why I'll be returning my HTC 8x.<br />
<h2>
Background</h2>
<div>
The 8x is the second smartphone I've owned. I got the first (an original Samsung Galaxy S on T-Mobile) about 2.5 years ago. Great phone, but I was very frustrated by the glacial pace of OS updates coming out for it (and then cut off completely after one major update). I'm technically inclined & so rooted/ROM'd it up to ice cream sandwich, trading the formerly-decent battery life and stability for updated OS. When our contract came up we decided to switch to Verizon & so needed new phones.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I love music. Love being able to listen to whatever I want, wherever I am. I've had some sort of personal media player since saving up paper-route money to get the Mura Hi-Stepper advertised in the Sharper Image catalog back in the early '80s. I also love subscription music--have discovered a ton of wonderful bands through my <strike>Zune Pass</strike> XBox Music subscription, and am delighted at the number of options I now have (rdio, spotify) for music subscriptions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I have an antipathy toward Apple products that I can't really explain, except maybe to cite the "apple tax" on their hardware, and the numerous frustrating experiences I've had with iTunes doing tech support for my wife & daughter's ipods. But I recognize that I probably would love the shit out of a macbook pro if I could bring myself to cough up for one.<br />
<br />
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<h2>
Things I like about my new phone</h2>
</div>
<h3>
The 8x</h3>
<div>
<div>
It's gorgeous. I would actually have preferred a Lumia 920 if I could have gotten it on Verizon, but the 8x is no slouch either. It's slim, elegant-looking and eye catching. The screen is absolutely stunning, and it feels great in the hand. The GPS (something that never worked very well on the SGS) is rock solid. It's got excellent cameras, front and back. I like that there's a dedicated camera button I can use to take pictures w/out having to unlock the phone. I really like that it works with the play/pause button on my headset, so I can pause & ff audio w/out taking the phone out of my pocket. (This is particularly killer when I'm running.)</div>
</div>
<h3>
Windows Phone 8</h3>
<div>
I love the lock screen--love how much useful information it shows, love that I can configure whether it shows details on my next appointment or on the last text I got. I love that it will cycle through my facebook album photos if I want, or ones from reddit, or ones I have on the phone directly. I love that it shows play/pause rew/ff controls if I have audio going (whether that's music, an Audible audiobook, or a podcast).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I love the home screen with its live tiles. I can send my wife a text from a locked phone w/one swipe and two taps. I can see her last facebook status w/just the one swipe. I can send my whole family a text or e-mail w/that same swipe & two taps. I love that I can pin, not just the music app, but my favorite artist to the home screen to start them playing w/a single tap. Or an album, or a playlist, or a podcast.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I love the light-on-dark theme that e-mail and search results have. I love the way text squinches up & then bounces back to let you know you're at the end of a web page or e-mail when you try to scroll past the end.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The keyboard is excellent. I expected to miss swype, but the predictive text is scary good--much better than swiftkey IMO. I thought I would miss being able to e.g., long-press the 'w' key to get a number '2' instead of hitting a shift key to switch the whole keyboard over to numbers/symbols, but I don't.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I like that it's not overtly hostile to me using my own music for ringtones or alarm sounds. It's not quite as easy as android (which lets you use pretty much any mp3 you can get on to the device with a simple long-press) but definitely <a href="http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/10/26/ios-5-how-to-create-custom-ringtones-and-alerts-for-the-iphone/">better than ios</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And as much as anything else, I love how <i>different</i> WP8 is. That's probably indication of shallowness on my part. So be it.</div>
<h2>
Things I dislike/hate about my new phone</h2>
<h3>
The 8x</h3>
<div>
Because the volume rocker and camera buttons are all on the right side of the phone, there's no easy way to get a firm grip on it without inadvertently hitting a button. I'm a runner & sometimes like to hold the phone in my hand as I run in case I need to do something with it & the first time I ran with the 8x I took a lot of pictures of the sidewalk by accident, and turned the volume down to 0 more than once.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The display brightness sensor does not seem to work--it just sets the phone to dim & leaves it there.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The phone does <i>not</i> heed the volume +/- buttons on my headset, which really would have been nice. My wife's iPhone has no trouble w/this of course.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Probably the worst things about the HTC 8x are that it has no removable battery, and no expandable storage. It took me quite a while to make peace with that, but in the end the gorgeous display won me over (I could have gotten the aesthetically-raped-by-verizon lumia 822 which has both, but it doesn't have the gorgeous resolution of the 8x).</div>
<h3>
Windows Phone 8</h3>
<div>
I really miss my Priority Inbox on gmail. I get a lot of crap e-mail and PI is wonderful at sorting the wheat from the chaff. Bing maps & Local Scout are both very very cool, but I really miss the free spoken turn-by-turn navigation you get for free with android. Similarly, the voice commands on WP8 are decent, but not nearly as good as android's for understanding me and doing what I want.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I dislike that there's only one volume control for everything--alerts, music and alarms. In particular the alarms always seem to be too quiet, which is weird because this phone has a wonderfully loud speaker on it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've had a pretty bad time trying to use multi-tasking on the phone. In particular, I want to record a run with Endomondo or Runtastic, while listening to an audiobook on Audible or a podcast. I've only had the thing a week & so probably some of this is user error, but the only way I was able to both get my run recorded and listen to audio, I had to make sure that Runtastic was the foreground task constantly through my entire run. So no changing podcasts, no switching to music or audible--just start something playing, dismiss it to the background & keep Runtastic at the fore. If you really have to do that it's lame.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
(To add insult to injury, I've had my 2 best runs ever since getting the phone, and both times Runtastic failed to upload the data to its server (after repeated manual attempts to get it to do so).)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The new software for syncing data on the phone w/a desktop is heartbreakingly buggy and feature-poor. This is baffling to me because WP7 used Zune software for syncing, which is a fantastic application. I understand the zune name is marketing poison nowadays (<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/10/microsoft_zune_how_one_of_the_biggest_flops_in_tech_history_helped_revive.html">or so goes the popular perception</a> anyway) but given how much else consumer-facing stuff is recycled from WP7, it's inexcusable that microsoft didn't just rebrand and reuse that very functional program instead of relaunching WP with half-baked "beta" software and promises that things will get better Real Soon Now.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
(My dear brother was a happy WP7 user for several years, and upgraded to a Lumia 920 when his contract was up. The poor sync software was his reason for turning in the Lumia & getting an iPhone.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
All of this is annoying and disappointing, but I can look past it and/or hope for improvements in the future. None of it is a dealbreaker, not even in the aggregate.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What <i>is</i> a dealbreaker for me is that <a href="http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/winphone/forum/wp8-wpemail/connect-wp8-via-exchange-active-sync-does-not-work/02427409-854b-482e-be04-078fb2defc23">my employer's exchange server refuses to sync my work e-mail and calendar with the device</a>. I believe this is because exchange server thinks my 8x is in some way insufficiently secure. I work for a large provider of health care/health insurance, and so it's definitely worth expending some effort to make sure that our e-mail (and data generally) are secure. But given that it's a large org and WP8 is at best a niche mobile OS at this point, our tech support has not been bending over backwards to help me figure out what exactly is lacking in the 8x, or whether it's the result of a bug either on my side, or theirs. Android worked fine. IOS of course works fine too.</div>
<div>
<br />
Supposedly Verizon will let me return the phone w/out the early termination fee all the way out to January 15th. But I expect to return it this week and trade it in on--I guess a galaxy note 2 (since it's the only verizon phone with jelly bean on it). But what a disappointment.<br />
<br />
For the sake of the platform & having the alternative open in the future, I hope others are having a better time of it with WP8.</div>
Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-42804376489257167962008-03-12T19:51:00.000-07:002008-03-12T19:52:36.908-07:00I'm not obsessed with urine--I swear...<a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/03/06/funny-pictures-i-peez-on-efrytin/"><img src="http://icanhascheezburger.wordpress.com/files/2008/03/funny-pictures-angry-cat-in-bath.jpg" style="word-spacing:577464px;font-size:577464px;" alt="Humorous Pictures" /></a><br />Enter the ICHC <a href="http://www.quicksprout.com/2008/02/19/online-poker-cats-contest-ichc">online Poker Cats Contest!</a>Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-79091672595116067312008-03-10T19:02:00.000-07:002008-03-10T19:41:34.010-07:00I am a leet rails haxor...Been playing with Rails a bit, to see how easy it is for me to learn (since I have some nodding familiarity with Ruby). It's generally fun, but I really disliked the new (in v2) style scaffolding. Apparently, the scaffold generator no longer inspects any existing tables in generating the views. You've got to list everything out on the command line. Very disappointing. <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk/browse_frm/thread/e6b4aa6d616467e0">I whined about it here.</a><br /><br />Encouraged by the kind folks on the Rails Talk group, I tried writing my own scaffold generator--generally a complete ripoff of the original, except that if you don't specify any attributes on the command line, it sniffs the db for a table w/the proper name & then packs the arguments with whatever it finds. It's not fully tested, but seems to work for me. Here is the relevant code:<br /><pre><br /><br /> def initialize(runtime_args, runtime_options = {})<br /><br /> # TODO: test this proper (adapt rails' scaffold_test.rb)<br /> # This is hokey, but it's within my powers. <br /> # Rescue the noob who generates scaffold<br /> # on an existing table w/out specifying attributes <br /> # on the command line.<br /> si_uncounted_arguments = %w(--skip-timestamps --skip-migration)<br /> if (runtime_args - si_uncounted_arguments).length == 1 then<br /> # Called in "static introspective" mode--pack <br /> # runtime_args with name:type pairs if we find <br /> # an existing table.<br /> si_table_name = runtime_args[0].pluralize.underscore<br /> puts("Called without any attribute specs on the command <br /> line--looking for a table called '#{si_table_name}' <br /> from which to infer attributes...")<br /> begin<br /> si_cols = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.columns(si_table_name, "#{name} Columns")<br /> rescue ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid => err<br /> # Table not found.<br /> puts("Sorry--table '#{si_table_name}' not found--you're <br /> going to have a lame-ass scaffold. Did you forget <br /> to run 'rake db:migrate' maybe?")<br /> else<br /> si_attributes = []<br /> si_ignorable_fields = %w(id:integer created_at:datetime updated_at:datetime)<br /> si_cols.each do |c|<br /> si_attributes << "#{c.name}:#{c.type}"<br /> end<br /> si_attributes -= si_ignorable_fields<br /> runtime_args += si_attributes<br /> # No need for a migration in this case--we're using the existing table.<br /> runtime_args += %w(--skip-migration) unless<br /> runtime_args.include?('--skip-migration')<br /> end<br /> else<br /> puts("User specified attributes on the command <br /> line--no introspection done.")<br /> end<br /><br /> super<br /><br /> #etc.<br /><br /> end<br /><br /></pre><br /><br />I think this will work well enough for my purposes. I'll be using it (gotta get back to trying to learn Rails) for my toy app & will see if it serves me. If it does, maybe I'll try to gem it up (or package it up however such things get packaged up) and put it someplace accessible. In the meantime feel free to steal it, suggest improvements, make fun of it, etc.Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-5918153854705573902007-12-01T16:36:00.001-08:002007-12-01T16:40:59.168-08:00Special Guest Dog<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEika4qs-UFnYfWqHDViVEui132iR1E8tdtWYp0m16OmB4FGSzCFfSndoiqqr3ukBh4Ed4g0NYfuq8AeetaeMuzB3vr9-ne6BwfM3Yup80j4lInGAds8GIHzWUTiH-0UzIu3kl7bAw/s1600-r/IMG_7249.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqSEnA58SbxO2r4bxAFoFOuGyZYxsescwdN2xOTR0ldjiYd0_GAwlAmwlFNJmK_8JL35WvzN9ZGsCvqqelEy0FdcUbO5cZ4bMM4FYOAHTlF03IGM6Xxjdgp1NN04xUsSrXy0LkQ/s400/IMG_7249.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139168770102377666" border="0" /></a><br />For a while now we've been sort of 'fostering' our neighbor's dog, Sadie. Isn't she a cutie?<br /><br />She was a rescue, but our neighbor says she's a malamute cross. To me she looks more like a combination Collie & English Sheepdog, but who really knows?<br /><br />Kodos loves having another dog around, even if she doesn't always want to play when he does.Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-90430646004159406582007-08-02T18:58:00.000-07:002007-08-04T07:18:34.939-07:00Urine NationI have problems...<br /><br />The family took a lovely road trip down to Tucson a couple of weeks ago. The house was going to be empty for 5 days or so, so we:<br /><ul><li>boarded the dog</li><li>up-ended a bag of cat food into a big bowl & scooped their litter boxes for the cats.<br /></li></ul>Since returning, 1-year-old Kodos has peed in the house four times, in 3 spots. And it seems not to be the regular, only-mildly-offensive pee. This is especially pungent stuff. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I</span> can smell it in the room, even after cleaning it with the <a href="http://www.sitstay.com/cgi-bin/sdisp.cgi/HBGS4.lg.jpg">Get Serious enzyme cleaner</a>, which is supposed to make the smell imperceptible even to the sensitive noses of animals. I've gone over all 3 spots with that several times, and with an upright carpet steamer, and with a hand steamer. The smell is better (at least once the affected spots dry) but I can still smell it if I put my nose down in the affected area. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I am definitely in the market for carpet-cleaning tips--please tell me how I can fix these!</span><br /><br />Until I can get these things cleaned, I dare not let K into the carpeted areas of the house, so we're back in baby-gate purgatory for a while. This is particularly a drag, b/c my in-laws are visiting, and they are not the most nimble folks.<br /><br />Have I mentioned that <span style="font-weight: bold;">I need carpet cleaning tips</span>?<br /><br />So what the heck is going on? Why the sudden backslide of house training at this late date? I had trusted Kodos to roam all over the whole house for many months. He hadn't had an accident since I took away the beef bone that seemed to make him, um, incontinent in a different way.<br /><br />Here are some facts to bolster the conclusion I'm about to lay on you. ;-)<br /><ul><li>At the boarding kennel, Kodos was stationed 2 kennels down from a female in season.</li><li>While we were gone, the cats took to using one of the bedrooms (the one K first peed) as a litter box & the place stank to high heaven. (Thankfully, they peed on bedding, which was easily removed & laundered--not so much with our carpeting.)</li><li>Kodos has recently begun lifting his leg to pee, as opposed to squatting.</li></ul>So I'm thinking that Kodos has had a more or less sudden sexual awakening, and that that is causing him to 'mark' in the house (e.g., pee not to eliminate urine, but to spread his scent around, as a way to mark his territory). More importantly, I'm <span style="font-weight: bold;">hoping</span> that getting him neutered (and we did that this past Wednesday) is going to remove this impulse from him completely.<br /><br />That's right, isn't it? The vet 'fixed' him, didn't she?Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-67134645684936182642007-07-03T16:05:00.000-07:002007-07-03T16:35:17.022-07:00Tagged!Consarn it, I've been tagged by <a href="http://drulzelot.blogspot.com/">Orion Count Drulzelot</a>. Apparently, this means I need to write a new blog post (which I've really had to do anyway) and mention 7 random facts/habits about myself. Since this blog belongs to Roy (the human) rather than Kodos (the majestic, mischievous Newf puppy), I'm going to write about me. So here goes.<br /><ol><li>I am besotted w/my puppy <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rpardee/Kodos">Kodos</a>, who is now a year old. (Big ups to my Mom, who pointed this out during her recent visit out from NY & used that word 'besotted', which is exactly right.) You're shocked, I know--it's not as though every blog post for the last year or so mentions him prominently...<br /></li><li>Just about all of my favorite TV shows have been cancelled by FOX. These would be: Arrested Development; Futurama; Firefly & (just recently!) Family Guy.</li><li>I have a law degree that I've never used--never sat for a a bar exam, certainly never practiced, and have pretty much reverted back to a normal person. All that's left are the student loans. Yay.<br /></li><li>I am pretty sure this whole 'world wide web' thing is a fad, and will blow over any week now.</li><li>I have a very long commute to work--2 hours there, 2.5 hours home. But it's in part a <a href="http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/your_wsf/photo_gallery/">beautiful ferry ride</a>, and I don't drive any bit of it, so I get a lot of work done on my laptop during it.</li><li>I am one of those knee-jerk liberal Democrats your parents may have warned you about. Probably the education is to blame for that. I've been in a kind of political fetal position ever since the 2004 presidential election. Got me one of those mp3 music players right then & have been doing a wide eyed la-la-la-la-this-is-not-happening-la-la-la-la ever since. I don't normally talk about this, but this morning's announcement of Scooter Libby's get-out-of-jail-free card has me particularly outraged today. Bloody bastards.<br /></li><li>I am a Cancer, which explains why I am not into astrology. Who likes to say they are "a Cancer"? They may as well have named the sign "Pestilence" or something...</li></ol>Next! ;-)Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-20225361573620931872007-04-22T10:20:00.000-07:002007-04-22T10:31:21.878-07:00We need a ramp for this thing!Had some down-time yesterday, and so eldest daughter & I loaded Kodos up into the new SUV, and headed over to the dog park. Kodos had a wonderful time of course, and everybody exclaimed at how big he is (and only 10 mos old!). He got kind of mount-y toward the end there, but in general was a gentleman. (So says the very biased daddy--hopefully the other dogs would agree.)<br /><br />K has climbed himself up into the new car only once so far. The other 4 times he's been in, I've hoisted him in, one end at a time (e.g., I put my arms around his upper chest & hoist his front end up onto the back part of the car, and then I crouch down & lift him in by his rear legs). Not optimal, but it works.<br /><br />Well, upon returning home from the dog park, K did not want to jump down from the car. He may have hurt a leg while romping w/the other dogs (tho he seems fine now) or he may just have been tired. Either way, he wasn't coming down & so, after 10 minutes or so of waiting for him to recharge, I kind of hugged him sideways around the tops of both sets of legs & brought him out. It worked fine, tho I really didn't think I'd be strong enough to do it (K was 100 lbs. at last weigh-in).<br /><br />But enough of this foolishness--I ordered a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Petstep-222-PetSTEP-Multi-Purpose-Safety/dp/B00006OALW/ref=pd_ybh_1/102-2091489-2182515?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1N4C6V8QRGC9TPGFMVZV&pf_rd_t=1501&pf_rd_p=280800601&pf_rd_i=ybh">petstep II ramp from Amazon yesterday</a>, and we'll be working on getting K to use it as soon as it comes. Wish us luck!Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-47406465061334167342007-04-14T16:20:00.000-07:002007-04-14T20:01:10.478-07:00Plavalaguna!We finally got our new RAV4 yesterday--very exciting! Here are some pictures:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR1eB2e4eRZHMfbnct5zlAQa7bhF4pl6U-EQb3IA52n8vX0jiDXokPRmBJ3Q0xFBb5m4zCRZS28KbvXJqIU67Ilnjv1__FqlgJWFCaTCfgqdWtLgLvrne1j_9Q3oxGLiOh2kP2eg/s1600-h/IMG_5203.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR1eB2e4eRZHMfbnct5zlAQa7bhF4pl6U-EQb3IA52n8vX0jiDXokPRmBJ3Q0xFBb5m4zCRZS28KbvXJqIU67Ilnjv1__FqlgJWFCaTCfgqdWtLgLvrne1j_9Q3oxGLiOh2kP2eg/s400/IMG_5203.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053428306495012290" border="0" /></a>We went through a freelance broker sort of person, and so they delivered the car right to our house on a trailer.<br /><br />Here are a couple of pics:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAymDuD5f-RYQwdyt9-EmyM5JZ57fcb3vbhoq9KMtT498IceMBZ0nTGp_mbhTCZDwX-NJ_YdkwwiCw7KHpxSDygJseO07d9k6JCTG6YaXuRHPPTQDlNgBM26UZaTJFBLgpXKuCw/s1600-h/IMG_5204+%28Large%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAymDuD5f-RYQwdyt9-EmyM5JZ57fcb3vbhoq9KMtT498IceMBZ0nTGp_mbhTCZDwX-NJ_YdkwwiCw7KHpxSDygJseO07d9k6JCTG6YaXuRHPPTQDlNgBM26UZaTJFBLgpXKuCw/s400/IMG_5204+%28Large%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053428903495466450" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOn556x4czPKGD3o-cqq-qumuHyqa69Pjc21vCOse-K899Dk3ehKicXuWqKLUSGSiaYEUplofpM_ZQP6Lo_OpVq2a5VA7BYdPj4gAiHoTm87ovD4IRSaAPzKPi5FnKNEB0ZxSTzg/s1600-h/IMG_5205+%28Large%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOn556x4czPKGD3o-cqq-qumuHyqa69Pjc21vCOse-K899Dk3ehKicXuWqKLUSGSiaYEUplofpM_ZQP6Lo_OpVq2a5VA7BYdPj4gAiHoTm87ovD4IRSaAPzKPi5FnKNEB0ZxSTzg/s400/IMG_5205+%28Large%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053429500495920610" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibm-UFWE81KEYS5j-b3x0CB6G3Qpnr33f2JHpjK5_ARVM4o8uuKjpTW3fihIvXKUJgZSDjPnmctEzw8G4-dS5V2DXfvRvJMiWaMcvvU_v26ajQD-Ua2VYm6ic2iDdNQHNvtiS_sw/s1600-h/IMG_5206+%28Large%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibm-UFWE81KEYS5j-b3x0CB6G3Qpnr33f2JHpjK5_ARVM4o8uuKjpTW3fihIvXKUJgZSDjPnmctEzw8G4-dS5V2DXfvRvJMiWaMcvvU_v26ajQD-Ua2VYm6ic2iDdNQHNvtiS_sw/s400/IMG_5206+%28Large%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053429560625462770" border="0" /></a><br />After being bilked into buying unwanted mud flaps, floor mats, and a very lame looking (hopefully it's more functional than it appears) protective rear bumper "appliqué", I was feeling too poor to splurge on the one dealer-installed-option I <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> wanted--a rear cargo tray/mat to protect the carpeting & foldaway 3rd row seats against the slings and arrows of muddy Newf feet. Fortunately, Costco was selling these lovely $18 industrialish rubber entry mats--the sort of thing you'd encounter upon walking into a supermarket, say. I had to do some (rather inexpert) surgery on it to um, "optimize" it for the space, but I think it's going to work just fine. Check it out:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVNZYuzFLH_bZwIo4AlGgC9pKymc_xGAcHWMpVpRUG6eNrIHOXyRR55v3qqGJlTTOdOVJmm8Swo_qX0VGTZSw3O7VK65YX89pdb3sofkgoC1j4C27JGGPXza18IU3E0X7LTePgQ/s1600-h/IMG_5208+%28Large%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVNZYuzFLH_bZwIo4AlGgC9pKymc_xGAcHWMpVpRUG6eNrIHOXyRR55v3qqGJlTTOdOVJmm8Swo_qX0VGTZSw3O7VK65YX89pdb3sofkgoC1j4C27JGGPXza18IU3E0X7LTePgQ/s400/IMG_5208+%28Large%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053429676589579778" border="0" /></a><br />There are actually 2 "stow-and-go" seats underneath that mat, which means that when we're not hauling Kodos around, we can accommodate 7 people in this beast. Which rocks.<br /><br />In keeping with family tradition, we have named this vehicle. The name we chose is <span style="font-style: italic;">Plavalaguna</span>, after the blue alien character from Luc Besson's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Element">The Fifth Element</a> (scroll down to the Soundtrack section to see a picture of the Diva Plavalaguna herself). We have a bit of an alien streak going I guess--we call our Accord Banichi, after a character in C.J. Cherryh's novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreigner_Universe">Foreigner</a>.<br /><br />In the main, I'm pleased with the independent-broker process we went through to get this car. The guy we worked with (<a href="mailto:carsmart@cableone.net">Mark Heinemann</a>) had relationships w/dealers in a four-state area, and could sort of reach up the distribution chain to identify and divert the vehicle we wanted. In theory he wasn't a salesman, but in practice he seemed pretty close to one. But no matter--the fact that we were able to do all the wrangling via e-mail was <span style="font-weight: bold;">absolutely wonderful</span>. Anybody who's spent 3 hours in an auto dealership trying to hammer out details and/or make credible threats of going elsewhere, while trying to keep their children reasonably entertained knows what I'm saying.<br /><br />I had ordered the consumer reports invoice report on this vehicle, so I had independent verification of the dealer costs on the various options. I feel like we got a good deal on the vehicle as configured, but the configuration is not exactly as we wanted. The things that were really important to us were the 3rd row seats, the 4wd, and the roof rack. Anything else was pretty much gravy--and not gravy we wanted to pay for. We knew we were going to have to accept the sunroof (which is a plus for me, but L thinks it's just something to leak), the enhanced stereo, and the daytime running lights, just b/c that's the way Toyota manufactures these things. These were all acceptable, but the vehicle Mark found for us also had the aforementioned mudflaps, appliqué, and floor mats, which most certainly were <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> worth what they charged for them. So I'm 80% happy, but not 100%. But I have yet to be 100% satisfied w/any car purchase, so, c'est la guerre.Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-62618010167000786932007-04-07T18:51:00.001-07:002007-04-07T18:51:17.599-07:00Bubblicious<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fPDiPK40QfA"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fPDiPK40QfA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-78301022898968407092007-04-07T09:55:00.000-07:002007-04-07T10:29:47.553-07:00Kodos' First SwimYesterday we had an unseasonably warm day (80 degrees!) and as Laurel's brother Jay was in town visiting, I took the day off & we headed over to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigporcupine/140106926/" title="Nice photo of SBSP">Scenic Beach State Park</a> for some fun in the sun.<br /><br />We of course took Kodos along (had to drive in 2 cars, but we were more comfortable that way anyway) who wilted a bit in the heat, but was very eager to get out & about in the wonderful forest there.<br /><br />We set ourselves up on the rocky but not unpleasant beach, and then had a stroll. I led K down to the water (still not confident enough to let him off-leash) and he seemed a little interested in the water, but not overly so. It was mostly about the new smells and creatures at that point, and as I didn't want to get wet myself, we just padded around the shore.<br /><br />Cut to after lunch. Some kids started throwing rocks into the water (a very common occurrence of course--you put kids next to water, and they're going to throw stuff into it). For some reason, this set K off--he was barking and seemed to really want to get down there. So okay I figure--let's see if he'll actually get into the water. We go down (away from the rock-throwing kids) & I lead him into the water (always on-leash w/his gentle leader harness). You could tell the water resistance felt really weird to him by the way he was watching his own front feet. <br /><br />I cajoled & goaded him out further and further by throwing his <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F1UPCC/ref=olp_product_details/102-5248179-2032958?ie=UTF8&seller=">tennis-ball dumbbell toy</a> nearer/farther away, until he finally got to a place where he couldn't really just walk, and--check it out!--his legs started that familiar paddling motion and my boy was actually swimming! He even retrieved the toy a couple of times (tho as often he just nudged it w/his nose & then turned back, leaving me to wade further out into the water to get the toy back). He had a couple of revelations, including that he couldn't breathe when he stuck his face into the water, which I think sobered him up some.<br /><br />It was really interesting to have his attention on me. Up until that point, he was pretty heedless of me, being completely engrossed by the park, the other dogs and people there. But when we were in the water and I was throwing the dumbbell toy around, I had his attention. It wasn't quite as as intense as that of the border collies we see at the dog park when their person is chucking tennis balls, but it was close. At one point--possibly overconfident--I took his leash off to see if that would embolden him in his swimming out for the ball. It didn't seem to have that much effect, and he lunged toward a thrown rock, so I grabbed him & leashed him up again.<br /><br />We may have a water dog on our hands! :-D<br /><br />Once we got home, I tethered K up to the deck & gave him his first garden-hose shower (up until now it's all been tub showers). He was not amused. I discovered later that he'd cut one of his paw pads a bit--no doubt on a rock in the water. It bled some, but seems fine now. We'll keep an eye on it.Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-79592195348781296692007-04-07T07:56:00.000-07:002007-04-07T09:49:27.762-07:00Girls first skiingThis week Laurel's brother Jay came up from Wyoming, and we took advantage of his skiing instructional skills and put the girls on skis for the first time in their lives. We went to Crystal Mountain, over by Mt. Rainier. Both girls did great!<br /><br />Here, Jay & Annelise contemplate the conveyor belt in the beginner area:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVBXzznV0xCaIQBTmMJ6r0CvEbZzoKIzd411gdZZgh3ULEbiCpC_lZHj3slMw8B4ZcJP3TGAPT06s1JT6ltdnCsuJW_tS5RCZfNQ5hAiidkKcYAJbrUK-D-1yFZgRkb-wmcRlYQ/s1600-h/IMG_5153.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVBXzznV0xCaIQBTmMJ6r0CvEbZzoKIzd411gdZZgh3ULEbiCpC_lZHj3slMw8B4ZcJP3TGAPT06s1JT6ltdnCsuJW_tS5RCZfNQ5hAiidkKcYAJbrUK-D-1yFZgRkb-wmcRlYQ/s400/IMG_5153.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5050724430994628578" border="0" /></a><br />Here's a picture of Simone getting her first bit of sliding in, on the training slope:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5_QlGBbWfuCu8mup3HkFPgZe0IFPnZ9HaubNvMlArAmjZa-wxbpRpXV6nQOUtK3jE-gh6VJsyDLxlQ-8iyxIlAPOzIjc88h4XT4zfbGkdftE0_1gHydu_ThrEapRY0mrGjUSifg/s1600-h/IMG_5166.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5_QlGBbWfuCu8mup3HkFPgZe0IFPnZ9HaubNvMlArAmjZa-wxbpRpXV6nQOUtK3jE-gh6VJsyDLxlQ-8iyxIlAPOzIjc88h4XT4zfbGkdftE0_1gHydu_ThrEapRY0mrGjUSifg/s400/IMG_5166.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5050702183064035234" border="0" /></a><br />Here's one of Annelise on the training slope:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZLlnQO96rqlmcemy79_mp3eCZQRyG6p0gGEX42o1pcRomN7SYjGfjAzkgqQLfyDrMLagybbkGGhUSI0t3waNNOcMY1iNrqnmrKCSLxP3wuz9KUBCyfQUi435f5ppmBGXqlf4DA/s1600-h/IMG_5157.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZLlnQO96rqlmcemy79_mp3eCZQRyG6p0gGEX42o1pcRomN7SYjGfjAzkgqQLfyDrMLagybbkGGhUSI0t3waNNOcMY1iNrqnmrKCSLxP3wuz9KUBCyfQUi435f5ppmBGXqlf4DA/s400/IMG_5157.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5050703544568668082" border="0" /></a><br />Annelise--naturally--took to skiing like the proverbial bat out of hell. Simone is much more tentative about being off-balance however, and I was a little worried that she wouldn't have fun. <br /><br />After they got used to sliding on their skis and 'snowplowing' to stop and steer, it was time to tackle the ski lift up to the bunny slope. My dim memories of ski lifts were that they were pretty challenging, and guaranteed to make you fall at some point. But we had a pretty decent time of it, all told--they actually slowed the thing down to let us get in place. Jay told us later that Annelise <span style="font-weight: bold;">loved</span> the lift--loved being up in the air. Simone didn't love it, but she did just fine.<br /><br />Now, the bunny slope had two grades on it--a fairly short, steep one right down from where the lift let off, and then a longer, more gradual slope down the hill. On the steep part of the slope, my fears for Simone were realized--she was scared and very angry that I would lead her into such a dangerous place. She wiped out a couple of times.<br /><br />But to my delight, the second part of the slope was gradual and long enough that 'Mo was able to get herself under control and up to a speed that was comfortable and fun. She made a couple of lazy loops, and could pretty much stop at will. By the time we got to the bottom, she was very willing to get back on the lift and have another go. After all the driving we had to do to get there, and all the preliminary practice, we only got 3 runs in, but on the third run 'Mo didn't wipe out at all on that first, steep slope.<br /><br />So--it looks like we're going to be able to do family ski trips once in a while--very cool!Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-2917477343024237382007-03-11T11:30:00.000-07:002007-03-11T11:31:34.069-07:00New CrateThe girls were helping Kodos to feel comfortable in his new crate.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ipQFvQkXaQ4"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ipQFvQkXaQ4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-66556107086466070382007-03-04T09:24:00.001-08:002007-03-04T09:24:30.923-08:00The Red MenaceYesterday on an impulse I picked up a laser pointer toy at PetsMart. I've seen people play w/their cats w/these--you shine the laser on the floor, and move it around & their prey instinct kicks in and they chase it all over the place.<br /><br />Well, our grey tabby Pickles saw through this ruse right away--paid it a little attention at first, and then stopped. "Oh right--that light is back." Kodos on the other hand, will tear around like a <em>maniac</em> trying to catch the red dot. It's a strange combination of funny and scary to watch, as he is 100 pounds, and so focused on catching this thing that he will bang into things (walls, furniture) in his fervor.<br /><br />I was hoping to be able to use it outside, to play with him w/out subjecting myself to the risk of stepping in poop, but apparently the beam emitted by a 6$ laser is not bright enough to show up outside during the day. Ah well...Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-82902212461061643602007-03-04T09:00:00.000-08:002007-03-04T09:24:02.459-08:00Ix-nay on the Ip-snay (for now)I have changed my mind on neutering the dog so early. I mentioned to a fellow Newf puppy owner that we were going to get the deed done, and she mentioned some things that gave me pause. Specifically, she said the advice she'd gotten said that the physical development that <em>may</em> be adversely affected isn't just a matter of appearances. It's potentially a matter of orthopedic health as well. Well, I'm spooked enough by the thought of dysplasia that it caused me to reconsider. I <a href="http://www.newf.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=008808">posted a question about it over on newf.net</a> and got some references to lots of opinions, including <a href="http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html">this article from a vet</a>, which made me think really hard about how obnoxious K's behavior has really been.<br /><br />So I consulted w/my vet about it, and his opinion was that the most important factor in bone development is nutrition, but if we wanted to put off the neuter until 12 months or so, it seemed reasonable to him. So that's what we'll do. I think I'll try to wait until 18 months actually & just watch his behavior. If it gets too too bad, I'll do it earlier.<br /><br />In other news, we've tested out leaving K alone unattended again (we went back to heavy crating after he gouged the drywall) and <cross> so far, so good. I suppose it may be that he doesn't like the taste of the spackle as much as the drywall. Either way, the walls look pretty decent.<br /><br />(Daughter Annelise had an excellent suggestion for getting Kodos to stop chewing the walls. When we put a plate down for him to lick off after dinner, he invariably eats <span style="font-weight: bold;">everything </span>on it except for any stray pieces of lettuce. A's thought was that we should cover the walls with lettuce b/c K obviously doesn't like the taste of it. Hah!)Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-57730719457192595522007-03-02T17:13:00.000-08:002007-03-02T17:16:55.210-08:00Again with the snow...It snowed again today and Laurel told me to go get video of the dog, as he was jumping into the air to chomp flakes out of the sky.<br /><br />Alas, I missed it. But here's the video I did manage to get:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WoBeo40b01U"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WoBeo40b01U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-18299577814093652192007-02-19T12:28:00.000-08:002007-02-19T12:52:28.294-08:00Snippety snipMy dear poochie Kodos is now 8 months old, and has entered adolescence. Thus, he has become a butt-head. Lucky for him, he is an incredibly cute--nay, beautiful butt-head Just look:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUvS_MosTCj0kr6c89-b1LvkBxba1wxeQ8MwGAfAzZtVfoEUt_tpSaYPZF9obmzruoJseIYkzBRVXxvnPsbc-e6zSxfjOT-SWEWOyUaOzQ-G12ckvIpU1H8sFIbi6NXk2qDJOyAQ/s1600-h/IMG_4660.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUvS_MosTCj0kr6c89-b1LvkBxba1wxeQ8MwGAfAzZtVfoEUt_tpSaYPZF9obmzruoJseIYkzBRVXxvnPsbc-e6zSxfjOT-SWEWOyUaOzQ-G12ckvIpU1H8sFIbi6NXk2qDJOyAQ/s400/IMG_4660.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5033347419257629874" border="0" /></a>Could <span style="font-style: italic;">you</span> stay mad at him for making a 6" diameter gouge in the drywall? (picture <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rpardee/Kodos/photo#5031604322194715346">here</a>--he enlarged it the next day.) I didn't think so.<br /><br />I have a 3-pronged plan to combat this obnoxiousness<br /><ol><li>Try and get to the dog park more often, so as to exercise the demons (hah!) out of him.</li><li>Starting March 12 (yikes--that's my wedding anniversary!) we re-do basic obedience over at <a href="http://guiding-hands.com">Noelle Ritter's</a>. This time, no kids--just me. Fewer distractions.<br /></li><li>On March 9th, K goes in for neutering.</li></ol>It is arguably early for the neutering (a lot of the advice I've seen is to wait until a year, in order to give them a chance to get their last hormone-induced growth in) but I'm willing to risk it to keep him from developing pushy and/or destructive habits. I have a hard time imagining him morphing into anything short of his current breathtakingly beautiful state. Not that I'm biased or anything... ;-)Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-22829382987508024822007-02-19T10:49:00.000-08:002007-02-19T12:26:10.066-08:00PardeemobileWith our latest addition to the family, we have been feeling a bit cramped in our current vehicles (a '99 Accord and '91 Civic). Thus, we are car shopping. We would like to be able to bring <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rpardee/Kodos">Kodos</a> on various trips with us, and the days of us all getting into the Accord are long gone.<br /><br />Now, having successfully avoided the minivan ('cause we're <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">hep</span>, man--thanks for asking) through the addition of 2 children to the family, we are fairly eager to keep doing so. Which means either station wagon or SUV. But Dear Wife is allergic to station wagons, and let's face it, she does like 80% of the driving, so I guess it's SUV-city for us.<br /><br />The problem is that we've always been small-car people, and in particular, Honda people (I've never owned a non-Honda in my life). So naturally we have looked at the CR-V, the Element, and even the Pilot. Of the 3, the Pilot most captured my imagination. I have this fantasy that my brother would actually come out to visit us someday w/his family of 4, and since the Pilot seats 8, we could host them & all move about in one vehicle. I also have this fantasy that my sister would come out to visit someday, but she's got 6 in her family, so there's no way to avoid multiple vehicles.<br /><br />But anyway, <span style="font-weight: bold;">dang</span> is that Pilot expensive--about double what we paid for the Accord in fact. So that's looking like a pipe-dream at this point.<br /><br />The others are okay--the CR-V is actually quite nice, and a nice size. The fatal flaws on that are a) no 3rd-row seat at all and (this is silly, but it matters to me) b) no built-in aux jack so we can listen to our mp3 players in the car. To quote <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Bluth_F%C3%BCnke#Lindsay_Bluth_F.C3.BCnke">Lindsay Bluth</a> "what are we, Amish?"<br /><br />The Element has its funky look (which we both like) but it's a tad bit utilitarian for the money, and it won't hold all 4 of us plus the dog in the back. So that's out.<br /><br />So... last Saturday we strayed across the street to the Toyota dealership (heresy!) and tried out the new RAV-4. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Loved </span>it! It gets decent mileage, is not outlandishly large, and yet you can still get it with fold-away 3rd row seats for 2. So it would hold 7 people in a pinch (w/close to no luggage or legroom, mind you, but sometimes that's enough). The salesdude even let us drive it home to test how it fit in our garage (no problems). We like. I have ordered the Consumer Reports price report on it, and will devise my strategy for getting a good price on it.<br /><br />While we were there, we also looked at the Highlander. We like that one (and in fact daughter Annelise likes it better than the RAV-4, b/c it's got a bigger back for hiding in) quite a bit too. What makes it less of an attraction to us is that you have to choose between getting good gas mileage (e.g., get the hybrid) and fitting > 5 people in it. That is, you can't get a 3rd row seat on the hybrid (I believe because that space is taken up by all the batteries). So we'll see how it goes. It's conceivable to me that we'd settle for a non-hybrid Highlander if it's too tough to get a good price on a RAV-4. Wish us luck...Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-67631787230701951722007-02-03T11:39:00.000-08:002007-02-03T11:59:49.518-08:00Getting big!<table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rpardee/Kodos/photo#5027003453956486786"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rpardee/RcOBAdW89oI/AAAAAAAAAf0/SyKNhN8SYmQ/s288/IMG_4618.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 66%; text-align: right;">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rpardee/Kodos">Kodos</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Kodos is 7 months old now, and has taken to resting his head on my keyboard tray while I'm working. This is cute, except when he's waiting for me to share food with him (as in the pic above), at which time he creates a slippery condition on my mouse pad. But I can't fault his patience.<br /><br />As you can see, he is distractingly beautiful. ;-) His adult coat is almost all the way in, and it is gorgeous--curly and lustrous. I have woefully neglected his grooming since my one ill-fated attempt at an ear-trim which resulted in drawing blood. Poor guy--I almost wished he'd bit me for it, I felt so guilty. I promptly gave him a thing of leftover roast beef and all was forgiven. But he's skittish around me when I've got cutting implements, and I can't blame him. I think I will let the fur go au natural, and will just try to focus on brushing and nail trimming for a while.<br /><br />We have discovered the fenced-in, off-leash area at local <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=18349+Caldart+Ave+Ne,+Poulsbo+WA&ie=UTF8&amp;amp;z=15&ll=47.730895,-122.627592&spn=0.014231,0.048752&om=1&iwloc=addr">Raab park</a>. Kodos loves it! We've been twice now. The first time, there was an ornery bulldog who growled & snapped at K, which was a bit scary. But his owner removed him from the park<br />right away and the rest of the visit was a hoot.<br /><br />Kodos spent a bunch of time playing w/a gorgeous husky named Keetna (sp?), who literally vaulted back and forth over him. Such energy! It was a blast seeing all the different breeds playing together. There was a little Italian Greyhound that had the energy of a hummingbird--so fast!<br /><br />The funniest thing that happened was, after getting tired out playing w/Keetna, Kodos took up w/an adorable chihuahua-doxie mix named Troy. Troy would bounce up and down on his hind feet, which brought him just about to K's face level. Kodos pranced around a bit, careful not to step on Troy, and then sat down. Well, as soon as he did, Troy promptly ran around to K's rear, mounted him, and started humping away. I just about fell over laughing. The whole time K has this confused look on his face like "what? do I have something stuck in my fur or something?". I don't think K even <span style="font-style: italic;">felt</span> him back there. Hah!<br /><br />We had one other amusing thing happen since the last post. We had a big windstorm, which knocked down a section of the fence between our backyard and that of our neighbors, who own a skittish little miniature pinscher named Lucky. Lucky is a frequent visitor to our back yard, since even before the wind storm, he can easily squeeze through the opening where 2 fences meet.<br /><br />Well, Kodos was naturally loving his expanded domain during the time before my neighbor went and fixed up the fence. The neighbors like Kodos, so that wasn't an issue. But more than once we looked out and saw him w/his head stuck into their pet door, no doubt barking his fool head off. "Can Lucky come out to play?" Fat chance--with your head blocking his way out.Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-64387379468588803472006-12-24T09:43:00.000-08:002006-12-24T10:47:49.054-08:00Kodos at 6 MonthsIt's been about a month since Kodos first came down with kennel cough (I <span style="font-style: italic;">think</span> at obedience class) but I think he's <span style="font-style: italic;">finally</span> over it. It was initially pretty bad, but cleared up really quickly (for the most part) after a course of antibiotics.<br /><br />Unfortunately, it didn't clear up <span style="font-style: italic;">completely</span>. Kodos would hack/sneeze four or five times every morning when he first got up from his night's sleep. He wasn't in any real distress, but kennel cough is apparently <span style="font-weight: bold;">very</span> contagious, and so we had to keep him home & out of the company of other dogs. This was a big drag, as K is pretty social, and loves to be out & about.<br /><br />But thankfully, this week we've had no coughing. So we took him on a long walk into downtown Poulsbo on Friday, and stopped off at Poulsbo Emergency Vet Clinic for a quick weigh-in. He was pretty wiggly on the scale, but at the end it declared him to be 80 lbs. So I guess the mutters of "big dog" I was hearing as we walked around downtown are starting to be true. We'll see how big he finally winds up.<br /><br />In other news, we've tried letting Kodos sleep outside his crate for the last 2 nights. He never really loved the crate, and he's been really solid on the housetraining, so we figured we'd give him a shot. The living room & upstairs are gated off, so he plunks down on the kitchen floor and makes like a speed bump. So far so good--he's 2 for 2.<br /><br />Movies<br /><br />Watched <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/">A Scanner Darkly</a> last night. Very trippy, but excellent. I am not positive that I understood the ending completely (should probably read the book) but it was definitely riveting. I guess there are 2 types of "horror" that can really succeed in horrifying me--the supernatural (as in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070047/">The Exorcist</a>, which scared the crap out of me) and tales of addiction (as in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180093/">Requiem For a Dream</a>--one of the most compelling stories I've ever seen I think).Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-36707449175500908612006-12-17T13:06:00.000-08:002006-12-17T13:12:57.960-08:00I love Picasa<table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rpardee/Kodos/photo#5009595221124052402"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rpardee/RYWoT8eX9bI/AAAAAAAAAdw/5HDYSq7XOXw/s288/IMG_4377.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 66%; text-align: right;">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rpardee/Kodos">Kodos</a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Just discovered google's Picasa program/service a little bit ago, and love it. You get a program to download, and a web account where you can upload photos, like the above. The program seeks out your photo files (and also watches for new ones coming off your camera). It's got a really nice interface for adding captions, doing little touch-ups (sharpen, brighten, etc.) organizing photos into albums, and uploading albums to the website for sharing.<br /><br />Very fun and easy for non-photogs like me to deal with.<br /><br />Anybody interested in seeing pics of my magnificent Kodos ;-) can surf to the "Kodos" link above--it's a public album that I'll be using to store the best of the pics we take of him.Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-1157837561905879032006-09-09T14:29:00.000-07:002006-09-09T14:32:41.916-07:00Week 3We went to see Dr. Daigle over at the Poulsbo Marina vet clinic yesterday--Kodos is doing fine. He had another parvo/distemper shot, a worming & we got hooked up w/some Advantage anti-flea stuff for all the pets in the household. The K-man weighs 25.2 lbs or so (he was pretty wiggly on the scale, so that's probably +/- a pound or so). I actually forgot to ask about changing the feeding regimen, but as the vet seemed happy w/his weight, I'm inclined to stay the course (roughly 3 meals of 1-cup kibble & 1 tbsp canned dog food). He was a big hit at the clinic, naturally. At the vet's recommendation, we're going to wait to microchip him until he goes for neutering (anytime before 4.5 months, if I recall correctly). Next appt. is in a month, for another p/d shot & something involving a stool sample.<br /> <br />The mornings this week have been a bit tough on Laurel & the girls--school started on Weds, which means they're much more rushed & there was much less attention for Kodos (I'm off to work before they get up 4x/week, so I'm no help). He barked & carried on quite a bit--got into a bit of a frenzy. Things were much better on Thursday & then yesterday were just fine, as I was home. We're strategizing how to keep him occupied & reasonably calm on school mornings. I'm thinking of giving him his breakfast in several kongs, to spread it out over time & keep him busy. Hopefully that'll be the ticket--if not, we'll try something else.<br /> <br />Here's a pic I just took of him. Awfully photogenic, don't you think? ;-)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6398/1639/1600/IMG_3735%20%28Medium%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6398/1639/400/IMG_3735%20%28Medium%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-1157222271482624882006-09-02T11:30:00.000-07:002006-09-03T10:33:37.463-07:00Life with KodosWell, it's 2 weeks today that we've had Kodos, aka the K-man, aka K-Rock aka Special K. He's fitting in just fine. I had some wrong ideas about how easy the housetraining would be, and how quickly he would willingly go on leashed walks with me, but I think we've reached an understanding now.<br /><br />The housetraining is going pretty well. We're crate-training, and I think the crate we have him in is officially too big for him (that is, he could probably go potty in one corner & be able to get far enough away from it to be happy. But he (cross fingers) hasn't done so yet, and after 2 weeks, I'm inclined to trust that he won't. We have the crate downstairs in the kitchen, and that's working well for us. I've been getting up twice a night (and yes it's me doing it, even on commute days) but am going to try and get that down to once/night soon. Actually, given the nice weather we've been having, Kodos has been pretty happy to sleep outside on the deck. That's pretty sweet, until one of the cats decides s/he wants to go out, and they sit on the other side of the sliding glass door. Kodos noticed Suki doing that at about 3am this morning, which caused a bunch of barking. Now, we have neighbors w/dogs that bark (even very late sometimes) but I'd like to not bother them too much, so I pretty promptly went down there & we did an animal exchange (dog comes in, cat goes out). I tried to wait for a 2-second period of non-barking, so as not to encourage the barking. We'll see how well that works out.<br /><br />So now I'm looking to get the other aspects of his training together--the big issue right now is biting. He is of course used to having siblings to bite, who will bite him back & yelp as appropriate. We humans definitely do the yelping, but we'd really like to be more than chew toys to the little critter.<br /><br />I've been doing a lot of reading. First the Monks of New Skete's puppy book (which I later learned is really quite out of date (it was published in 1991), and their How To Be Your Dog's Best Friend (much more recent). One of my correspondents on the newf-l list recommended Ian Dunbar's <em>Before & after getting your puppy : the positive approach to raising a happy, healthy, and well-behaved dog.</em> That's looking good--hopefully we can make that work.<br /><br />Here are a couple of short videos of Kodos--here he's just romping around a bit:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pyF6mhsV9fg"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pyF6mhsV9fg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br />And here's how he reacted to our scooba. I thought it was funny how underwhelmed he was. At the end he gets up & starts barking--not at the scooba, but at our cat who appeared at the back door:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gDI7Sw2eVXg"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gDI7Sw2eVXg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-1156052619974696072006-08-19T22:38:00.000-07:002006-08-19T23:00:36.893-07:00Welcome Home Kodos!<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/97055673@N00/219689790/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/80/219689790_a1486e7af9_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/97055673@N00/219689790/">IMG_3546 (Medium)</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/97055673@N00/">rpardee3rd</a>.</span> <p>Today we welcomed home our long-awaited Newfoundland puppy Kodos. Isn't he adorable?</p>You can see more photos <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/97055673@N00/">here</a>.<br /><br />Here's a short video:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZKbCpJ6AGsQ"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZKbCpJ6AGsQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17092334.post-1155523702875132562006-08-13T19:47:00.000-07:002006-08-13T19:48:22.886-07:00The puppies are coming! The puppies are coming!I have had all kinds of trouble showing people this video of the newf puppies that I uploaded to youtube. Let's see if it works as embedded in this blog post:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0lATCW_IOG8"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0lATCW_IOG8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Roy Pardeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10996820877401028516noreply@blogger.com2