Sometimes completed isn't done

Last weekend we did a painting class for a painting called Sunset Beach.  When I finished class, I had a pretty good representation of the painting.
 

But the more I looked at it, the less I liked it.

For one thing, what was the reflection being reflected from?  For another, why so much empty sea on the right side.  Couldn't the island have been made bigger?  Or would that still have left it unbalanced?

I have some paints at home, so I started tinkering with it.  Added a sun and another island.


Better, but I was still unhappy with it.  The sand was too dark, and honestly, poorly done on the left island.

So I took one more stab at it.


This one I like!

The reason I fill the hummingbird feeder so often.

Gila Woodpecker, helping himself to the hummingbird nectar. 

Everyone needs a friend like this.

I don't know what the antonym is for "photogenic", but I'm it.  I've never like a single picture taken of me.

Until Thursday.  Thursday was the holiday party for work.  One coworker brought his camera and shot pictures of everyone.

When I saw mine, I actually liked it.

I said so, to George and Joel.  I said, "Either Kumar is an amazing cameraman, or I am getting more accepting of the way I look."

George said, "Or you're getting better looking."

Now that's a good, and clever, friend.

Bogie is making a lot of progress

As Bogie and I were walking back down the street towards home this morning, something caught his attention in the yard of a corner house.  

This is where he chased a cat shortly after I got hurt   That time I let go of the leash after No didn't faze him, afraid of getting hurt again . He chased the cat until his leash got caught under a car wheel.

Today I yelled No, not expecting much.  

He didn't ignore me.  He didn't jump the wall. 

In fact, he aborted in mid-jump, twisted, stumbled, and scrambled to regain his footing on the sidewalk by my side. And we resumed our walk. 

I was so proud.  

Later we ran errands in the car.  When we got back to the house, I parked in the garage and opened the back door to the car.  This time, I didn't make the Stay There motion when I opened the door.  Waiting is one of those actions that are supposed to be implied.   

Bogie started to get out of the car.  His front feet hadn’t even hit the floor yet when I said, Ah, ah, as Shawn taught me. 

Bogie scrambled to get back into the car, pushing back with his front feet to get his hind end back into the car.  Where he waited for me to say Break before getting out of the car. 

Again, incredibly proud.

I'm so pleased to see that the time and training are paying off.  

I'm not in my car

Not surprisingly, after reaching 250,000 miles, my Mazda needed a little maintenance work.  The garage couldn't get it done in one day, so I rented a car. 

As I got into the rental to drive away, I wanted my sunglasses.  

Which were in my car.  In the shop. 

I drove past the convenience store near my house, planning to buy this week's lottery tickets.  And I realized I didn't have my lottery play slips. 

They were in my car.  In the shop.

I drove into my subdivision, planning to pick up my mail, and realized I didn't have my postal box key. 

It was in my car.  In the shop.

I pulled into the driveway and stared at the garage door.  I didn't have the garage door opener either. 

It was in my car.  In the shop.

I hadn't realized how much I counted on the objects I need being accessible.  Until I didn't have them. 

I was thrilled when I got my car back.  

Interpreting personalized license plates

My commute isn't horrendous compared to some, but I do drive 26 miles each way to get to work. That drive can become tedious, especially when traffic is slow.  I watch for personalized license plates and try to figure out the why behind the choice.

My own license plate is STNDGLS.  Since I get asked what it means, "Stained Glass" isn't as obvious as I thought.  The why is because I create stained glass pieces.

I have a friend who with a cat (and now two cats) who chose the license CATPERSN.  That is to explain that she is definitely not a cat lady.  Another friend has BLUCHEEZ, to indicate on his blue car that he is a Cheesehead from Wisconsin.

But therein lies one of my quandaries.  In order for his license plate to have meaning, my friend has to always have a blue car.  That isn't as big a problem as those that are model specific.  If your license plate is MYREDZ, do you get a new personalized plate when you get a new car?  What if the new plate you want isn't available?

Some plates need supplemental information to interpret.  DOXNMOM confused me until I saw the dachshund stickers in the window.

There are the plates that seem to indicate the car was a gift 4MYGSPS or 4 MRBOO.  Wouldn't Mr. Boo be a cat?  Would I want to drive around announcing that my car was a gift?

In Arizona, we get a lot of transplants from other states.  It makes me think that perhaps they are not fully committed to living here when they have a license plate like OMAHA or PA2AZ.

FUCHSIA on a black car doesn't make sense, but MIDNYT3 on a black car does. IMAHACK would seem to be a great plate for a taxi, but this was on a pickup.  Maybe Hack is his last name?

Some plates seem to reflect the driver's interests, business, or personality:  YOGAMUM, SCRAPY (which I'm assuming is for scrap-booking), REPIPE1, GOGETTR, or STELRS94 (Steelers fan?).

Other plates seem to be related to family; TWNSNUS and CNDOUBL while others just seem to be names: CAYC, RFAELA, MYERS, HIGGNSN.

Most license plates are hard to decipher if you don't know the person. For example, FINE4US on a compact car.  Are they self conscious or proud of their vehicle choice?  I hope MI CASA on a compact car doesn't mean the driver is living in his car.  Is SLAYYER for a fan of the band, a reference to a video game, or something else entirely?

TWO CHE is punny.  NEATHUH on a fancy sports car amused me. MYCOFFN worried me.

Mostly, personalized license plates entertain me and keep my commute interesting.

D'oh moments

I keep having these "light bulb" moments where I realize that my approach to a problem is all wrong and the answer is simpler than I realized.

Maybe everyone has that.  Or maybe I am slower to see the best answer.

For example, the irrigation.  Once again, one of the sprinkler heads broke off in the lawn.  This is the hazards of having two big dogs that like to run figure 8's in the grass.  Sometimes the sprinklers take a direct thrust from 80 pounds or more of turning canine.

I noticed this 4 days ago when I had neither the time nor the energy to change the sprinkler riser.  I turned off the irrigation, resigning myself to hand watering everything until I could fix the problem.

It wasn't until today, when I was watering trees (which are always hand-watered) that I realized I didn't have to forgo the automatic watering on the orange jubilee if I just shut off the times for the lawn.

D'oh!

I want a visible red nose on one of my outdoor lighted deer.  I had a set of small oval bulbs I bought last year to use, but the oval bulbs didn't fit in the sockets of the small LEDs on the deer.  I rigged up a contraption but it burned out quickly.

A small red LED bulb was a partial solution, but it just wasn't bright or large enough to satisfy me.

This year I found some nice round LED bulbs.  I took the strand apart and tried to wire just one of the bulbs to a plug.  But it kept burning out.  I had a white strand that I could swap a bulb in, but the white round bulbs would ruin the pattern of lights on the reindeer.

For some reason, it occurred to me to try the round bulb in the socket of the small LEDs on the deer.  It fit!  It lit!  The easy solution. But it took way too long for me to consider trying it and cost me a disassembled light strand.

D'oh.

These are two examples that happened just this weekend.  I have these moments at least once a week.  And when I do, I swear you can see the cartoon light bulb above my head.

Sherlock Holmes versus Mr. Spock

This past week's Elementary episode seem intent on reminding us that Sherlock is not necessarily a nice or socially competent person.

I think the show's producers want to ensure us that associating with Joan Watson will not have a softening effect on the exalted detective.

It occurred to me that the very aspects of Sherlock that annoy people are the attributes people like in the Mr. Spock character – his strict adherence to logic, his dispassion, and his intellectual brilliance.

In Spock these are acceptable because he isn't human.

Sherlock is expected to have human feelings and emotions.  The fact that he doesn't engenders pity, scorn, and anger.  

His Watson companion, in any incarnation, is given sympathy, and is viewed with puzzlement for the willingness to associate with Sherlock.  The Star Trek universe was more military, where you just learned to deal with the people stationed with you.

Spock is accepted for being who and what he is.

Sherlock is accepted only for the results he produces.

Poor Sherlock.

Computer repair scam

I hear a lot about scam artists, but I've never encountered one.  Until yesterday.

I got a phone call from an Out of Area number.  I don't often answer those, but sometimes they will permit you to take yourself off the calling list.  So this time I picked up the phone.

There was a delay when I answered Hello.  I was just about to hang up when a foreign male voice said, Hello?

Again, I said Hello.  The man said Hi.  I thought, well, this is going nowhere fast.

"We just got notification that your computer has downloaded a virus and needs to be repaired."

Interesting, I'm thinking, since my computer is turned off.  "How did you get notification?" I asked.

This answer is apparently not in the script, because all I hear is silence.  Then he reads the next line, "I need you to turn on your computer so I can remove the virus."

"Hmm, no I don't think so.  I'm a computer professional, so I would know if there was something wrong with my computer."

Even over the phone, I could see his confusion.  "Your computer is professional?  What is professional?"

I repeated myself, with the exact same result. Finally, I said, very slowly, "I am a computer technology person.  I work on computers.  I would know if there is a problem with my computer."

"Oh"  There was a fairly long pause.  I waited to see how he would recover.  "Enjoy the rest of your day," he said brightly.  And hung up.

I laughed out loud.

But I do worry about the people who would fall for it.

Update - the same guy actually called back the next day to try again!

The dog training is helping

This morning I proceeded to take Bogie on our walk.  I had slept in, so it was actually light enough to see. 

We generally start out north then turn west after one block because the street curves.  We hadn't even gotten to the corner when Bogie got agitated.  It was obvious he had seen a cat.  He allowed me to keep him under control, but kept trying to cross the street. I kept saying No.  

And he kept minding me. 

Bogie's attention shifted west from yard to yard and I assumed the cat was running away through the front yards across the street from us. 

Until a coyote stopped in the middle of the street about half a block away.  

Bogie lunged, but not with any real force.  I was able to get him to stay with me.  He stood obediently still, but not quiet.  He bayed at the coyote, who was completely unfazed.

I’m sure the neighbors appreciated the noise at 6:30 in the morning.

The coyote stood in the street and stared for what seemed like a long time, but was probably only 2 or 3 minutes. I don't know if the coyote was trying to figure why this loud, white dog was so big, or if he was waiting for us to make a move.  

I didn't want to turn around and go back in case it decided to follow us.  I know it is unlikely a lone coyote will attack such large prey.  But you don't turn your back on a predator. And I couldn't move forward with any confidence that I could keep Bogie under control.

The coyote finally took off up the street out of our line of sight.  Bogie wanted to go after him, but let me turn him the other direction.  Still, he kept looking around, watching.

Even though the training held, I cut the walk short.  With Bogie in high Predator mode, I didn't want to risk seeing some other chase-able creature.

On the plus side, I was very pleased Bogie agreed to mind me.  On the minus side, Angel missed out on her portion of the walk. 

And it's always cool to see a coyote. 

A Quarter million miles

Fifteen years ago this month, I bought my 1999 Mazda Protege.  She's a little, black, 4 cylinder sedan that gets 33 mpg. 

And today on the way home, we turned over 250,000 miles.  A Quarter Million miles sounds even more impressive.

She's hail dented with one dented fender from hitting a parking lot post and a scraped up bumper from when the computer brain was malfunctioning and I kept needing a push start.  

But she was paid for 10 years ago.  I have a great mechanic that keeps her running.  And despite the dents, there is no rust.  

After all, she's an Arizona native. 

I figure it will take 3 more years to get to 300,000.  

Challenge accepted. 

It's a little fuzzy.  I was driving.  Yeah, bad idea, I know. 

Back in my comfort zone.

I got laid off in February.  Took a paid sabbatical.  Got a new job in June.  Despite the ample work from home days, ended up disliking the new job.

As of Monday, I went back to my old job, sort of.  I am working with many of the same people, doing some of the same types of programming.  But I am reporting to a different boss.  And the company is under new management.

It's an odd feeling being back.  I feel like I am home again.  Yet a lot has changed.   Many of my former co-workers are gone, either laid off when I was or have subsequently left.   The department is in a different wing.  I keep turning the wrong way at the entrance. The walls are now a vivid orange color that takes a little getting used to.

It's back to being a small software company with a sense of fun rather than a conglomerate bogged down in process.  There are Nerf gun fights, Friday afternoon gatherings, scooters to use to go from one end of the office to the other.  You can't get into trouble for checking Facebook or answering a text message occasionally.

Admittedly, things are still in flux.  They've only owned the software since March and the big focus was separating the subsidiary from the conglomerate.  Now they need to decide what direction to take the software.

This will be my third time at this address working for five different companies while actually working on the same software.  What can I say?  The underground parking has a big appeal here in Arizona.

It could be a coincidence, but I am sleeping better.  I am more eager to get to work.  And my blood pressure has gone down.

Happy sigh.  

Sometimes I don't understand dogs

This morning while I was brushing my teeth, I heard Bogie come in from outside.   

He walked quickly across the family room, up the stairs, through the loft, walked behind me in the tiled bathroom, went into the carpeted closet - and puked. 

Sigh.

I'm a vitamins and herbs fan

I'm not a big fan of medicine.  The long lists of side-effects recited at the end of every drug commercial is one of the reasons why.

I'm not militant about it.  When there is a need, I will take whatever medication is necessary.  But only for as long as necessary.  Like migraine medicine.  I couldn't have functioned without it these many years.

I'm not sure if a devotion to vitamins and herbs makes me a hypocrite or not.  I mean, I buy packaged vitamins.  I don't grow the herbs myself.  I don't get vitamin C from oranges.  Oranges give me migraines.

So what I take could just be unregulated medicine.

Still, I have had good luck with vitamins.  At least, once I find the right ones and the right dosages.

Feverfew has been recommended for migraines for decades.  But it was a bust for me.  That is, until I found a site that suggested a much higher dose.  Now my migraines have decreased by half.  Coincidence?  Possibly.  But I am willing to continue taking the feverfew even if it's a placebo effect.

Magnesium and D-3 were recommended by doctors.  I like a doctor that will think outside of the traditional medical arena.

I take potassium to lower the blood pressure that gets raised by my antihistamine and migraine medication.  And yes, I know potassium is in bananas.  Not a big fan of bananas, unless they are dipped in sugar.

The migraine medicine also depletes my folic acid levels.  My hair had stopped growing until I added folic acid to my daily regimen.

Antihistamines are a problem for me.  I can take most brands only once or twice before I get a migraine.  And my allergies are a daily occurrence.  I did find one brand that I could take as often as necessary without problems.  Until recently.

So I searched around for an herbal alternative.  I read about butterbur and tried it.  Voila!  No more post nasal drip.  This herb isn't as easy to find as some.  I have to order it on-line.  But taking it instead of the antihistamine has reduced my blood pressure.

My latest addition was B-12.  I researched it after The Bloggess mentioned it isn't something normally tested for.  I read that B-12 is good for fuzzy brain.  So I tried it.  Bliss.  Much less fuzzy brain.

A multi-vitamin, B-complex, and calcium round out my daily dosages.  It may not work for everyone.  Other people prefer to get their vitamins from their food.

But this works for me.  

Hummingbird ballet

The other day I was eating lunch out on the patio.  The hummingbird feeder is 9 feet from where I normally sit.

The entire time I was outside, there was an elaborate ballet between two hummingbirds, chasing each other through the yard and the trees.  They swoop in and out of the branches of the trees, never miscalculating the open spaces.   They weave in and out of the patio posts, gracefully avoiding the wind chimes and spinners.

At intervals, one would fly out of the yard and the other would perch in my Palo Verde tree.  The hummingbird from the tree would approach the hummingbird feeder and hover.  It would look around for a moment or two, trying to spy the second hummingbird sneaking up on it.

If the hummingbird hadn't wasted so much time being on lookout, it could have drank its fill.

The absent hummingbird returns and the aerial chase resumes. At one point, they swoop within 3 feet of me, seeming oblivious to my presence.

Suddenly, there are 4 hummingbirds involved, all doing a squeaky chitter and swooping, moving too fast to determine their alliances.

Just as suddenly, two hummingbirds disappear and the two remaining hummingbirds resume their noisy chase.

Marvelous lunch time entertainment.

Rummage sale, antique mall finds

Sarah and I spent all day yesterday hitting garage sales, rummage sales, a huge consignment center and an antique mall.

I found this at a rummage sale.  The artist is a young woman in her late teens or early twenties.  She had some exquisite celebrity portraits on display.  When I asked her if she did any animals, she showed me this. She was thrilled that I wanted to buy it.  I even like the wear and damage to the piece.  Makes it seem more authentic somehow.

At the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall, I found this wind chime.  I love wind chimes, but I am particular about the sound.  This makes a light, tinkling noise.  And I like the whimsy of using kitchen utensils.  It's a little hard to see, but the center striker is a fork with the tines splayed out.

And this is the only ceramic tree I've ever seen that incorporates dogs into the theme.  Granted, they aren't Great Danes, but the tree would have to be a Sequoia to accommodate Great Danes.  The tree is very detailed.  I especially like the star made of dog bones.

Unique pieces are why I like to shop at these places. 

Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes bombardment

I started playing the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes when I was laid off from work.  A potential prize of $5000 a week for life was just too tempting to pass up.

I didn't realize that I would get "opportunities" to enter almost every day.

They say you don't have to buy anything to play, or win.  But I wanted to see if buying something would slow down the emails.

It doesn't.

I can see where the constant bombardment would convince people to buy something.  I myself was tempted by a fake candle because I thought I needed one.  But then couldn't remember why.  Fortunately for me, my sister liked it.

It's not that they are trying to influence you to buy expensive things.  We're talking salt and pepper shakers in various shapes, kitchen gadgets. genuine leather purses, jewelry, inspirational tchotchkes, books, CDs, and of course, magazines.

I think it's the frequency of the emails, and the pleas to reconsider not buying, that guilt people into buying something.

Oddly, if you see something you like and want to get it later, I've not found a way to purchase it.

Still, I'm willing to invest the minute or two it takes to enter on the off-chance I can win thousands of dollars a week. For Life.  And I can resist the laying on of the guilt.

You can't win if you don't play.

Maybe I don't understand DNA?

I should stop paying for DNA tests.

Back in 2008, I wanted to know what kind of dog my beautiful Peanut was.

I forked over $188 to Wisdom Panel because they claimed they could identify 157 breeds of dogs. That was about the number of breeds the AKC recognized so it seemed all my bases would be covered.

Not.

I got back a report that stated Peanut had a trace of Chow and a trace of Giant Schnauzer.  Um, okay.  I had already guessed the Chow from the black spot on her tongue and her thick fur.  What about the other 90% of her?

No clue.

I should have been wary when Ancestry.com pitched a DNA test.  But technology has progressed the past 5 years.  And their commercials showed someone getting back results for specific countries.  I particularly remember Ireland and Scotland being shown.

So I bought a kit, drooled saliva into a tube, and sent it off to the lab.  I will say, I was impressed with the kit.  Very easy to understand and kind of geeky cool.

But the results that came back were disappointing - 61% British Isles, 37% Central European, 2% unknown.

Regions, not countries.

Central Europe doesn't include Italy on their map, so that was kind of useful.  My Dad always claimed we were part Sicilian.   And no one ever mentioned Central Europe in our mongrel pedigree.

Ancestry suggested a third cousin based on some shared ancestors. That one panned out.  However, I checked a few of the 4th cousin suggestions and the only commonality was the surname Smith.  Not a particularly good criteria for matching when Smith is the most common surname in the US.

I checked back today on Ancestry.com and saw there are little pins where a handful of my ancestors were born in the British Isles. A couple pins are in Ireland.  That's news to me.  Every St. Patrick's Day, both parents insisted we were not Irish.

So there are some specifics on countries in the British Isles - England, Scotland, Ireland.  Most of that seemed to be based on the birthplaces from my tree though.  A geographical representation of my tree would have saved me the $99 I spent on the DNA test.

Ancestry says they will continue to update my results as they get more data in from other people.  Not sure how that works, but I guess it's a good thing.

Still, despite some new information, I'm leaning heavily on the disappointed side.

Peanut - my late chow - schnauzer - unknown sweetheart

Updated -
I just got one of the promised updates from Ancestry.com.  And I'm pretty impressed.  This time they did have some actual countries.  It showed 28% of my ethnicity is Irish.  59% Great Britain, and 8% Scandinavian.  The latter is new to me.  And pretty darn cool.

Maybe DNA tests aren't so bad after all.

Bogie's Fourth Training Session

I probably won't bore you with every training session (probably).  But last night's session was so encouraging that I had to share.

Shawn had me demonstrate what Bogie had learned.  Bogie made me so proud and did the Down move without any coercion, 4 or 5 times.  Shawn was impressed.

I was thrilled that Shawn complimented me on my ability to focus on my dog.  Apparently, that is not something everyone gets right away.

However, he did point out that I need to say Break, and then move.  What I have been doing, and what most people do at first, is say Break as I move.  Then the marker to end the behavior becomes the movement and not the word.  Not good if you want your dog to maintain position while you are doing something else.

It's surprisingly difficult for me to not move and say Break.  I've even caught myself doing the "fireworks" hand gesture as I say Break.

We discussed the fact that I continue to train with Angel nearby.  I explained that Bogie was even more distracted when I separated them.  Since Bogie is picking up the behaviors, Shawn agreed this was okay.

Now I don't have to feel guilty about not following directions.

Shawn went over Heel again.  Or as we are going to call it Fuß (foos).   The first step is for the dog to Sit at your left side.  Shawn did the first step with Bogie, who got the behavior right away.

I'm a little overwhelmed at the volume of homework - separate sessions on Down, Sit, and the first stage of Heel. Finding separate blocks of time where Bogie hasn't just eaten, isn't too tired, and wants to pay attention can be a challenge.

But we are making so much progress that I am determined to find the time.


Top Dog Training

Allergy meds are messing with my dreams

My allergies have been quite bad the past couple days.  I've upped my dosages of allergy medications.  

Which seems to have turned my dreams into a surrealistic movie.

World War II, but with modern technology.  Military captain rescues Shirley Temple, blond curls, perky smile, and all.  Takes her on a jet that is flying a mission over the US.  The jet gets shot down. 

We cut to a scene in a control center where there is a infrared-like display. It shows pieces of the jet falling towards buildings in a big city. It also shows Shirley and someone else falling from the plane.  Shirley is holding a saxophone.  (?!)  

Shirley lands face down in the grassy front yard of a home.  (No saxophone.) Mother and grandmother are watching 4 kids, with 1940s clothes and haircuts, play in the front yard.  (Wasn’t there just an aerial dogfight overhead?) 

The mother goes inside to call authorities.  Grandmother says “Don’t touch it!”.  Kids sidle past to get on porch with Grandmother. 

Shirley comes to, completely unharmed.  Gets up, sits on the porch steps and talks about “Have you been to the zoo?  I’ve been to the zoo.  We should go to the zoo.” 

Meanwhile, the kids are edging away from her trying to get to the door to the house. Grandmother keeps saying “Don’t touch it!”. 

I've read that dreams are the brains attempt to process new information.  I have no idea where any of this came from.