Well, Jessie is in recovery now from a little doggy sickness. Apparently she came down with a fairly bad case of kennel cough. She was coughing & hacking & sneezing all over the place. But the worst part was when she threw up on the carpet. That got her relegated to the garage for a while.
But we took her to the vet last night and they gave us some cough pills to help her with the irritated throat. I guess she'll just have to get over the cold on her own, there isn't anything they can really do to treat it. They said that over 50% of dogs that come from a shelter get kennel cough. Wow! She appears to be doing better though so let's hope it goes away quickly.
So now we've made through explosive poo, explosive yak, and dog snot sprays. I'm not sure if there is anything else that can come out of her. Let's hope not!
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Monday, August 23, 2004
Jessie joins the Caswells!
Well, after some long and hard lobbying from Jen we finally decided to get a dog. We decided that it would be best to try and get an older dog from a pound. A puppy might be a bit much for us right now. And we're definitely glad of that decision in hindsight.
So we looked around a bit and finally found some great dogs at the Indianapolis City Shelter. We had it narrowed down to a Harrier (large Beagle) and a Black Lab. We finally went with the Lab because we had heard that hounds, like the Harrier, need a ton of attention & don't like to be left alone. That wouldn't be good since we won't be around sometimes. Plus, I was pretty biased toward the Lab because I grew up with them. They're just awesome dogs!
Well, we picked her up just in time. When I went to get her another couple had just finished taking her for a walk and were going to get her the next morning. But I got in line and managed to get her before closing time. Score!
Before we get to interesting stories we should show some pictures. Her name is Jessie, she's one year old, and she seems to be house trained (more on that later). Here's the pics...
This is Jessie in "chillin' out" mode.
This is Jessie getting ready to lunge at Mark's camera and take off. She missed.
As cute as she might look in those pictures, we've had a little bit of trouble getting her acclimated to the environment. For one, she seems to be a very needy puppy right now. I talked with some folks (vets) who said that shelter dogs can sometimes be like this. They don't want to leave the pack (us) because they got left behind once before. But I guess this will settle down over the next few months. Until then she'll be whining like mad when we leave for work & following us all over the house. It's actually kind of endearing (except for the barking).
Now, as much as we've enjoyed her, there have also been some bad spots. I was ready to send her back to the pound (or the moon) this morning but Jen's cooler head & motherly ways won out. After waking us up at 4:30 in the morning for the third of the past 5 nights, we had to put her in her cage in the garage. Well, when I got up this morning there appeared to be some sort of small explosion in there. She had poo'd & then managed to spread it all over the place. So, instead of going to church we got to clean her & the garage & the cage up. What fun!
That little incident got her on my naughty list for the morning. But, possibly because she felt the noose tightening, she was a perfect little doggy for the rest of the day. So right now we're all good. But one more explosive poo incident and we're gonna talk. Just kidding, she's here to stay. :^)
Well, I guess that's it. I start classes this week & Jen's still working her butt off. Perhaps the newest member of the Caswell tribe will provide some much needed fun for those off hours.
So we looked around a bit and finally found some great dogs at the Indianapolis City Shelter. We had it narrowed down to a Harrier (large Beagle) and a Black Lab. We finally went with the Lab because we had heard that hounds, like the Harrier, need a ton of attention & don't like to be left alone. That wouldn't be good since we won't be around sometimes. Plus, I was pretty biased toward the Lab because I grew up with them. They're just awesome dogs!
Well, we picked her up just in time. When I went to get her another couple had just finished taking her for a walk and were going to get her the next morning. But I got in line and managed to get her before closing time. Score!
Before we get to interesting stories we should show some pictures. Her name is Jessie, she's one year old, and she seems to be house trained (more on that later). Here's the pics...
This is Jessie in "chillin' out" mode.
This is Jessie getting ready to lunge at Mark's camera and take off. She missed.
As cute as she might look in those pictures, we've had a little bit of trouble getting her acclimated to the environment. For one, she seems to be a very needy puppy right now. I talked with some folks (vets) who said that shelter dogs can sometimes be like this. They don't want to leave the pack (us) because they got left behind once before. But I guess this will settle down over the next few months. Until then she'll be whining like mad when we leave for work & following us all over the house. It's actually kind of endearing (except for the barking).
Now, as much as we've enjoyed her, there have also been some bad spots. I was ready to send her back to the pound (or the moon) this morning but Jen's cooler head & motherly ways won out. After waking us up at 4:30 in the morning for the third of the past 5 nights, we had to put her in her cage in the garage. Well, when I got up this morning there appeared to be some sort of small explosion in there. She had poo'd & then managed to spread it all over the place. So, instead of going to church we got to clean her & the garage & the cage up. What fun!
That little incident got her on my naughty list for the morning. But, possibly because she felt the noose tightening, she was a perfect little doggy for the rest of the day. So right now we're all good. But one more explosive poo incident and we're gonna talk. Just kidding, she's here to stay. :^)
Well, I guess that's it. I start classes this week & Jen's still working her butt off. Perhaps the newest member of the Caswell tribe will provide some much needed fun for those off hours.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Jen gives in to my constant whining..... awesome!
Well, after listening to my whining for about a year, Jen decided to get me a laptop for my birthday. She let me pick it out for myself and pretty much gave me free reign. Of course, I got some input from her because I have a hard time making up my mind between options sometimes.
I ended up getting an HP zt3000 with all kinds of tricked out stuff. Let's see: Pentium M 705 with all the Centrino wireless stuff, 512 MB RAM, 64 MB ATI Video, the best screen possible (1920x1200, awesome), 30 GB harddrive, blah, blah, blah. It's got some great features. An SD card-reader, S-video out, wireless, DVD drive, etc. It's a widescreen format, which made it a bit on the heavy side (6.5 lbs), but that's okay.
I'm really going to enjoy using it. Actually, I already am. Jen and I do a little bit (okay, a lot) of TV watching so it's nice to be able to chill out on the couch and surf the net or check email while we watch the Olympics or whatever. I'm looking forward to testing it out in class this fall. I'm taking two CS classes so it will be nice to have that with me.
So far I've only encountered two drawbacks. The first one has nothing to do with the computer. I can't take the laptop into work with me. I don't really care about that, except that I have class directly after work so I can't go home. In other words, I have to leave the laptop in the car. So it could get stolen, or it could bake/freeze depending on the weather. That sucks, but there's nothing I can do about it.
The second drawback is apparently a pretty common problem with LCD screens. There is a dead pixel right in the middle. That sucks, especially since I paid an extra $100 to get the "good" screen. It isn't covered under warranty because there are less than 7 dead pixels (just one). I could return it but I hear it's a common thing. I don't really notice it doing normal stuff, just when I watch a DVD or during boot-up. It actually doesn't bug me outside of those times. I'm still deciding whether or not it's a deal-buster. Other than that I love it though.
So, add another tool to my "tool"box. I'm such a geek. My next project is turning Jen's old computer into a Linux file-server, with aspirations of being a web-server later on. We'll see how that goes.
Later.
I ended up getting an HP zt3000 with all kinds of tricked out stuff. Let's see: Pentium M 705 with all the Centrino wireless stuff, 512 MB RAM, 64 MB ATI Video, the best screen possible (1920x1200, awesome), 30 GB harddrive, blah, blah, blah. It's got some great features. An SD card-reader, S-video out, wireless, DVD drive, etc. It's a widescreen format, which made it a bit on the heavy side (6.5 lbs), but that's okay.
I'm really going to enjoy using it. Actually, I already am. Jen and I do a little bit (okay, a lot) of TV watching so it's nice to be able to chill out on the couch and surf the net or check email while we watch the Olympics or whatever. I'm looking forward to testing it out in class this fall. I'm taking two CS classes so it will be nice to have that with me.
So far I've only encountered two drawbacks. The first one has nothing to do with the computer. I can't take the laptop into work with me. I don't really care about that, except that I have class directly after work so I can't go home. In other words, I have to leave the laptop in the car. So it could get stolen, or it could bake/freeze depending on the weather. That sucks, but there's nothing I can do about it.
The second drawback is apparently a pretty common problem with LCD screens. There is a dead pixel right in the middle. That sucks, especially since I paid an extra $100 to get the "good" screen. It isn't covered under warranty because there are less than 7 dead pixels (just one). I could return it but I hear it's a common thing. I don't really notice it doing normal stuff, just when I watch a DVD or during boot-up. It actually doesn't bug me outside of those times. I'm still deciding whether or not it's a deal-buster. Other than that I love it though.
So, add another tool to my "tool"box. I'm such a geek. My next project is turning Jen's old computer into a Linux file-server, with aspirations of being a web-server later on. We'll see how that goes.
Later.
Our Trip To Boston
Well, in the last installment of our spring vacation (only 2 months late) we went to Boston. I have to say that Boston is a great city and it made for a nice end to our vacation.
Our friend Kevin lives in Boston and works for Bose. I was his roommate for two years in undergrad. He's fluent in Japanese & a friggin' genius so he's had some great jobs. He worked in Japan for a couple years. I was able to go see him with some buddies for about 10 days. Man was that cool. Now he lives in Boston & works on audio systems for Japanese car companies (Infinity, a.k.a. Nissan). His girlfriend still lives in Japan so it's cool that he gets to go there on business sometimes.
Anyway, Kevin lives in a nice apartment in one of the little Boston areas (I forget which). Apparently people in Boston are very particular about explaining exactly what part of the city they are from, so every 5 feet seems to have a different name. He had some nice access to public transportation so we were able to go downtown pretty easily.
We were able to take the famous Freedom Trail and see all kinds of great history. It's the birthplace of the U.S. and the center of where lots of things happened during the revolution days. For those that don't know, the trail winds through Boston and shows you all kinds of historic sites. We just bought a little guide book and walked the trail ourselves. That was pretty nice because we were able to linger to speed through as needed.
Take a look at some pictures:
Here's Jen and I out in the harbor traveling from Charleston back to Boston. You see the Boston skyline behind us.
Here's a semi-authorized picture of the House of Representatives Chamber. Check out the pictures on the wall. Yeah, no pressure with that kind of history around.
I've got to say that we had a great time in Boston. It was great to see Schaaf and the city was awesome. We're actually considering moving there for further schooling (MIT), but that's a ways away. Until then it will definitely be on our list of favorite vacation spots.
Our friend Kevin lives in Boston and works for Bose. I was his roommate for two years in undergrad. He's fluent in Japanese & a friggin' genius so he's had some great jobs. He worked in Japan for a couple years. I was able to go see him with some buddies for about 10 days. Man was that cool. Now he lives in Boston & works on audio systems for Japanese car companies (Infinity, a.k.a. Nissan). His girlfriend still lives in Japan so it's cool that he gets to go there on business sometimes.
Anyway, Kevin lives in a nice apartment in one of the little Boston areas (I forget which). Apparently people in Boston are very particular about explaining exactly what part of the city they are from, so every 5 feet seems to have a different name. He had some nice access to public transportation so we were able to go downtown pretty easily.
We were able to take the famous Freedom Trail and see all kinds of great history. It's the birthplace of the U.S. and the center of where lots of things happened during the revolution days. For those that don't know, the trail winds through Boston and shows you all kinds of historic sites. We just bought a little guide book and walked the trail ourselves. That was pretty nice because we were able to linger to speed through as needed.
Take a look at some pictures:
Here's Jen and I out in the harbor traveling from Charleston back to Boston. You see the Boston skyline behind us.
Here's a semi-authorized picture of the House of Representatives Chamber. Check out the pictures on the wall. Yeah, no pressure with that kind of history around.
I've got to say that we had a great time in Boston. It was great to see Schaaf and the city was awesome. We're actually considering moving there for further schooling (MIT), but that's a ways away. Until then it will definitely be on our list of favorite vacation spots.
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