No Matter Where You Go, There you Are

We finally cut out the 6 variegated privets that the builder planted in our flower beds.  For the first year they didn’t look bad but after a couple years we noticed they grow crazy  fast.  Some quick research revealed that these were not bushes but rather were hedges, think feet wide and many feet tall.  We spent Saturday morning cutting down the hedges and putting the remains in paper sacks as required.

I went back out this morning to dig out the stumps with a pickaxe. Our normal habit is to tie the dog out in the front yard with us they enjoy the adventure.  This morning  I barely noticed out of the corner of my eye Vista darting off in pursuit of a stray cat at full speed.  My first thought was ‘oh my God, when she hits the end of the steel leader she’s going to break her neck’, she hit the end of the lead and thank God the plastic buckle on the collar broke and off she went.  After the initial rush of relief I realized that she was loose and I had to get back the dog without a collar or leash.   Fortunately she was bush sniffing around the house next door and I was able to get her back home.  Unfortunately after this scary episode I’m not sure I'll tie here out front again.

My blog was down earlier so I couldn't post this.

Sorry to end a dry posting spell with sad news but on Tuesday the 17th we had to put Rusty to sleep.

 Rusty had Dilated Cardiomyopathy which in English means an enlarged heart.  This causes the heart to put pressure on the lungs causing fluid build up.  This is a congenital condition that most dobermans have according to the vet.

Rusty had congestive heart failure in late December and has been on a ton of meds ever since.  He had another event a on 4/28 that put him in the ICU for a couple of days.  He just never bounced back from the second attack and on Monday night into Tuesday morning it was evident that his body was worn out and he couldn't go on.

So we took him to the vet and did what we had to do.  Heather and I have been in tears ever since.

Today we adopted a Rottweiller/bluetick mix named Vista (yes, after Windows Vista).

The dog belonged to a good friend at work who passed very unexpectedly.

Rusty is still not sure what's going on with the new dog in the houst.  Truth be told Vista is in a bit of shock also as she changed owners and changed doggie house mates also as CC's other dog went to someone else.

Vista
Vista, Heather and Rusty

As noted in my last post we finally got an XBOX with a Kinect.  Let me tell you, this thing is a blast.  Heather is having fun playing and asked me the other day why we waited so long to get one, my response was that the neither the PS2 nor the WII were used that much.  Well so far the XBOX has logged more hours than the PS2 and WII combined.

I've also been resisting technology in another area as well, phones.  Heather and I are carrying a Samsung a740 and a LG PM325. These are probably 6 year old flip phones.  Truth be told these phones have been through a lot and were running strong.  I saw were because Heather's snapped in two the other day.  We have insurance and the replacement deductible was going to be $50.00.  I've been waiting for Sprint to offer Windows Phone 7 as Microsoft will reimburse me the cost of a new phone but they aren't slated to release for several months.  A quick check of the ads showed that AT&t was offering Windows Phone 7 devices for $99.00.

It doesn't take an economics major to realize that getting new phones was the right thing to do.  Microsoft will reimburse me for a Windows Phone 7 device and I've been waiting for Sprint to offer the devices.  Sprint is talking 'summer' before offering a phone.    A quick trip to the AT&T store and Heather and I are finally on the newest latest greatest phones.  I didn't notice till I was writing this but it's kind of funny that we switched manufacturers.
I got the Samsung Focus (+32bg card) and Heather got the LG Quantum. 

Back on the job after two week (only 1839 in the old inbox), not sure if want to call it vacation, but either way back to the office.

Rusty has been coughing a very deep hacking cough for a few weeks and the vet has been trying to narrow down the cause leaning towards acid reflux.  On Monday we took him in for an x-ray as none of the meds were helping.  The x-ray accomplished two things; it identified that his heart was enlarged and putting pressure on his lungs which was causing the coughing.  It also stressed him out big time and according to the vet they almost lost him.  The vet gave him a big shot of Lasix (diuretic) to relieve the pressure.  As we were leaving the vet's office he coughed again but this time he coughed up a bloody phlegmy discharge which they stated was necessary to purge the fluid from his lungs.  We got him home and I took him to the bedroom to lay down on his dog bed.  While I was in the bathroom to get a towel for the discharge Heather's phone rang causing the dog to head upstairs, coughing the entire way.  Now we've got a very sick dog upstairs, I'm dreading stressing him out by trying to carry him downstairs when he went down on his own drooling on the way. Other than the stress on him carrying him wouldn't have been as bad as he had lost 20 of his 85 pounds, he was very much skin and bones.  He coughed up many more times over the next few hours each of which shaking me and Heather to the core. The doctor instructed us to start his 6 medications that evening but Rusty would not take either a hotdog or peanut butter, that's the sign of a really sick puppy.  The next morning he was looking in his bowl for the hotdogs he didn't want the night before and quickly ate them.  Heather and I spent the next week on the couch comforting and undoing five years of not spoiling Rusty by giving tons of people food to try and give him energy and put some weight back on him (no leftovers mind you, fresh opened cans solely for him).  It was almost comical, we bought him canned dog food to make it easier for him to eat which he loved till he figured out this was dog food and not a special treat and stopped eating it.  I'm big fan of scrambled eggs and Rusty enjoyed them on that joyous Tuesday morning, so we did that for a couple days.  Then the same thing, he figured out that this must be dog food and not a treat and stopped eating them.  He really loves tuna fish and these cans of chicken that Sam's sells and hasn't tired of them nor grilled chicken breast I've been making.
We told the vet a couple days later thank you very much for the early Christmas present.

Alert readers will remember from my last post that I bought a scanner to convert all of our physical pictures to digital.  At our Christmas Eve family gathering I revealed my true plan.  I put all of the Christmas pictures on a thumb-drive and plugged it into my XBOX.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we got an XBOX and Kinect combo for Christmas.  Then I ran a shuffled slide show of the pictures all evening.  I don't know what I was expecting but the slide show was a HUGE hit.  We were grabbing for the XBOX controller all night to go back and take a longer look at a picture that went by

It's Been a busy couple weeks,

Goodguys car show was huge and got me prepared for....

I competed in a car show at work as part of our annual giving campaign.  I spent a bunch of hours cleaning everything I could see.  All the work paid off as my car looked great and got a bunch of compliments (and votes).  I didn't win but I still had a great time.

Here's a shot, 2009 Corvette

I've been wanting to convert all of our physical pictures to digital for a while now.  I talked with a buddy about this and he mentioned that Cannon scanners were good and offered single click, scan, auto-crop (even multiple images) and auto save features.

I did some research and purchased the CanoScan 9000F for $199.00.  This scanner offers, up to 9600 DPI resolution, negatives (including medium format), and slides.
I am very very happy with this scanner.  I scanned over 300 pictures last night in only a few hours.  The auto-crop behavior is great, not perfect but great nonetheless.  

 

Saturday started off with washing and detailing my car (even under the hood!!!)

Then Heather and I spirited off to the Goodguys Lone star Nationals at Texas Motor Speedway.  We've been to a Goodguys show at TMS several years ago but both of us remember it being a very small show with very few cars and even less spectators.  That visit may have been late on Sunday.
Saturday however was a completely different story.  The paper was estimating 1500 cars and they weren't far off.  The infield was mostly full as were the parking lots for spectators.  We had a great time seeing and hearing the rods.  Dad made it out to the show also and did a ride along in a NASCAR car doing several laps at 160+ MPH.  He still had the grin on his face Sunday.

Sunday Heather and I headed to the Will Roger's Complex in Fort Worth for the Inagural Cowtown Celtic Festival.  We had a great time looking at  the vendors and saw some great music.

Now I'm back at work resting up for who knows what next weekend

 

 

As noted last post I went to TechReady 11 in July at which I learned a ton and had a blast and 1/2.
Random excerpts from my Facebook posts

Monday: Crashed 2 parties, Pike Street Brewery and back to the Hard Rock, then a 10 block trek to a closed billiard hall. Fun Night.
Tuesday: Day 3 and Tony ponders if this is a bad thing?
Hard Rock Staff: I'm sorry sir we are closed for a private party... Oh, it's you, come on it
Yep, crashed another party last night, had a blast.
Note to self: You are now old and cannot limbo.
Wednesday:  Meet the experts night (free beer, meet the devs)
Thursday:  Attendee party
Friday:  Dinner at the Crab Pot then polish off the evening at the closed Billiard hall from Monday.

One additional note for Thursday is that my trusty IBM Thinkpad (T-43) died on Thursday.  It has been replaced by an HP Pavilion DV7T
(i5-450M 6gb 500gb (7200RPM) 17.2" screen.  Formatted and re-installed less a ton o' crapwware.

I concentrated on Windows Phone development for many of the sessions and am ready to write apps for the upcoming phone.  Windows Phone 7 Development Tools and development resources , http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff402535(VS.92).aspx

My nephew Joiey is staying with us for a while.  Since Heather doesn't work she will be able get him back and forth from school and Work.

We have hit the gym again and are all feeling better.  Well, except me, I got back under the steel this week (lifting).  I didn't go super heavy or overdo it, but dayum, I'm sore as hell.  Wednesday was leg day, (front and back squats among others).  Today is Friday and I'm still having trouble walking :-)

 

I went to Seattle for Tech Ready 11 last week.  Had a great time, learned tons of cool stuff about IE9, Windows Phone, HTML5 and others.    Most of which I can't discuss but suffice it to say you'll want to check out Windows Phone 7 and IE9 when they release.

Came back sick (I'm blaming people that didn't cover their mouths). 

Then, on Tuesday the compressor for the downstairs AC unit went out.
Today they are replacing the unit which is nice as it is 89 degrees downstairs.

 

I had more tests with allergist yesterday to try and figure out what is causing the rash. 

I had previously self-diagnosed that shellfish was the cause based on an outbreak after eating at Red Lobster.  Last week's blood test showed that I do not have the enzyme present that indicates that allergy.  This is a good thing as I loves me some shrimps. 

This week's test was a 'prick' test (I heard that, quick snickering).  They basically jab you with various common things using a device that feels like the rough side of Velcro and see how you react.  The test confirmed no food allergies but did identify a few other sensitivities.

Grass/weeds/plants
   Bermuda grass
   Johnson Grass
   Ragweed
   Lamb's quarters (herb)
   Russian Thistle (weed that might be in yard)
   Mountain Cedar
   Pecan Pollen
   Cottonwood

Mold/fungi/bugs
   Aspergillus furnigatus                           Black Mold
   Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus    Dust Mite
   Dermatophagoides Farinae                Dust Mite

The one thing I did realize this weeks is that I really need the Zyrtec I've been taking since last month.  After my last big outbreak I tried some out of desperation and noticed improvement so I have been taking it daily.  In preparation for the testing I stopped taking it.  Within 3 days the itching and rash were back.  The doctor recommended keep taking the Zyrtec.

In researching this article I found the http://www.immunocapinvitrosight.com website.  While searching for the plant allergens privet kept coming up also.  The big ugly green bushes (technically a hedge) in front of the house are privet.  Since I don't like them anyway this may signal their death.

Wowsers, yet another fantastic show from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra last night.   This show was basically the Beethoven's Last Night CD in its entirety. As usual the story portion was followed by a short free form section.  Paul O'Neill made an appearance again this year.  I'm still not sure if Jon Oliva was in attendance or not though.  During the band introductions Al Pitrelli  pointed to the audience and made a comment about Jon. 

They had a different secondary lead guitar who normally tours with the east coast group, no Angus Clark, but Chris Caffery did a great job.  He commented that the last time he was in Dallas was in 1988 with Savatage which was responded to with many cheers.  He has several solo albums so check him out.

The production was a scaled back a bit from the Christmas show (less moving lights, smaller amount of pyro) but still was a great show.

The show was held at the Verizon Theatre (Formerly Nokia Theatre) which is a great venue for intimate shows. The first two times we saw TSO was at this hall.  The normal check presentation of one dollar per ticket to the a local charity (the SPCA) was for $2800 which seemed low considering the hall can hold 6300 people but whatever.

Even more spiffy was the first time ever filming of the entire concert for an upcoming TV special.
So tune in next week, same TSO time, same TSO channel.

I was driving home yesterday (4/6/10 4:30pm) west on HWY 114 and just as I got out of Irving I noticed 4 police cars on the shoulder.   I was about a 1/4 mile away when they all turned on their lights, merged on the freeway and formed a rolling roadblock on 114.
As I continued west the police had the 635/121 North, entrance to 114 also blocked.

Since there is a ton of construction going on in that area I figured that they must need to temporarily close the freeway to move equipment or something.

Counting myself lucky for missing the blockade I continued west.  Approaching the Carroll avenue bridge in Southlake I noticed two hook and ladder fire trucks nose to nose on the bridge with ladders up at about 45 degrees and lights on.

At this point I realized that someone was coming down 114 in a procession or parade of some sort.

When I got to Trophy Club even more people and vehicles on bridges and parked along the sides of the road.  I asked someone on the side of the freeway who was coming and she said "Military".  Not wanting to get caught in the eventual traffic jam when they uncorked the freeway I headed home.

The 6pms new had the story (link below) describing that 4 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients were at DFW airport talking with soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan .  After that they were honored with a procession down 114 heading to Gainesville where they are honored with a week of gratitude.

Here is the newscast, http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Soldiers-heading-off-to-Iraq-inspired-by--90092682.html

Here are the details on the program in Gainesville, http://www.gainesville.tx.us/Historical/MedalofHonor.html

Got up Thursday morning wondering why it was so bright outside at 5:30am.  Turns out it was 3 inches of snow and a work from home day for me.

The snow continued to fall all day and late into the night.  Our total was 10 1/2 inches in the front yard, 6+ inches on the driveway.

According to the news we had almost 14 inches

Heather made a snowman Thursday, by Friday morning it had grown a bunch due to the snow.

 

I guess my body waited till I was in my 40's to decide that I needed allergies like the rest of the family has had for years.  First I started having serious sinus issues from pollen, daily Zyrtec helps with that. Then Heather decided to try OxyClean laundry detergent, that made me itch all over for several days till we figured out the cause.  In December I noticed red rash like splotches on my skin.  Since I had just started using Dove soap to combat the dry skin I get from low humidity I attributed the rash to an allergic reaction to the Dove.  Three weeks later the rash is not only not going away it is getting worse.  I made an appointment with a dermatologist but they couldn't see me till the January 25th. On Sunday the rash seemed to spread even more so I went to a doc-in-the-box to get checked out.  The doctor there determined it was a contact allergy reaction (as opposed to an ingested reaction) due the rash primarily being present on my upper body.  He made a comment about washing the linens which clicked a gear that made me realize the cause.  We use Bounce dryer sheets and the last box we bought had this new "Refreshening?" feature, I'm guessing that was the trigger as we've been using Bounce since Heather and I were married.  We'll find out in a few days between the shot and the Benadryl I'm now taking. 

The doctor gave me a 125mg shot of Solumederal (Methylprednisolone) shot.  Solumederol is a adrenocortical steroid that started relieving the rash in a couple of hours.  Of course like many other things relief isn't free.  The injection was intramuscular in the hip.  The nurse warned me that there would be some pain in the hip later.  Boy she wasn't kidding, the pain kicked in less than five minutes after the injection and lasted over eight hours.  This morning there is trace soreness.

While running around Sunday I saw one and was almost involved in a car accident.  Sitting at a light, light turns green, truck two vehicles ahead of me slightly rolls then stops, truck in front of me just keeps going, smacko!.  On the way home on a 5 lane road with extra shoulder lane road (377 in Keller by Double Dave's Pizza, there's a DPS office with a guy pulled over on the right shoulder, and a guy pulling out of a strip center, I'm in the left lane (natch), I see the guy start rolling out and hit the horn and start to slow down from 45mph, he keeps coming anyway so I slam the brakes and both of us come to a stop with me about 20 feet from his door.  He looks up startled, and instead of continuing forward into the turn lane he puts his car in reverse and zooms back into the strip center.  I'm still not sure if he looked behind him before zooming back.  I gave him a head shake and finger wag (no not that one) and rolled on.  On the bright side we didn't hit and I know how my car will react in a panic stop, straight and true stopping on a dime giving nine cents change.

 

Missed getting this posted last year.

Saw TSO for the 9th time and heard the great news that they are touring in the spring.

Had a surprise ice/snow storm on Christmas eve that stranded everyone at the house for the evening.  This was actually very fun as we got to have Christmas day at the house will most of the family.