Steve Jobs passed away today.
If not for him, Apple wouldn’t be what it is… either then with things like the //e, later the Mac, Mac OS X, and of course the massive revolution that is the iPod and iPhone.
I know my life and career wouldn’t be the same, given how much Apple’s been a part of my life.
We’ll miss you Steve, but thank you for caring about “the rest of us”. We’ll keep on thinking differently.
The Austin Police Department’s Burglary Unit has set up a Facebook page. Why? To enlist the public’s help in locating victims of theft or burglary.
Starting Tuesday October 4th, 2011 the APD Burglary Unit will begin posting updates with recovered stolen property, surveillance videos, success stories of victims reunited with property, top property offenders, and crime alerts.
I think that’s pretty cool. If you’re on Facebook and in the Austin area, go Like the page.
We have a “defense dog”.
Or at least, I think that can be a good term to describe her.
She’s not an “attack dog”, both by breed nature and by well… this morning’s example.
Every few years, Austin Energy comes around to trim trees away from the power lines. This morning was our day, and they’d need to get into the backyard to have access to some trees. I knew the guys were out front, but they were still finishing breakfast (as far as I knew). Sasha had been wanting to go out and I figured one last pee break would be a good thing. I went into the backyard to check, saw no one, went back to the door to let Sasha out… she zoomed out the door, and by the time I turned around she was barking and going nuts.
It seems, by sheer coincidence of timing, that the moment I let her out was the same moment the tree workers decided to open the fence gate and come into the backyard! ¡Ay dios mio!
Sasha barked big and hard, but she didn’t rush the workmen. She barked, made aggressive “go away!” posturing, but was constantly fading back as if to assess the situation and buy herself time while things unfolded and she could determine where things were going (Kuvasz are smart dogs, they think). I know the workmen had the daylights scared out of them so there was certainly no posturing on their part, certainly retreat and signs of not just submission but “OH SHIT!” 🙂 Within seconds I was between them, ordered the workmen to leave the backyard, and was able to snap the leash onto Sasha with little trouble and get her back inside.
Once inside, I went to explain things to the workmen, and of course they had questions, like if she’d bite. And this is where I came up with “defense dog”.
You see, if we have the time to explain things to people, we can explain that she’s a Kuvasz, that the breed is a livestock guardian dog, that their demeanor is not to attack but rather to control the intruder, keep them away from the flock, pose and posture looking as big and scary as possible, all in an effort to scare the intruder away. They don’t want to attack, they don’t want to chase (because then they’d leave the flock, undefended, unprotected), but if attack is the only remaining option then so be it because protecting the flock is their job, what they are programmed to do.
But you see, that’s a mouthful. We’ve been searching for ways to describe and explain Sasha to others in a manner that’s brief, concise, yet accurate. That would explain what she’s like, and why we got her (in particular). To say “defense dog” I think can work, because that’s what she is. She is NOT an attack dog, she was not gotten to hurt anyone, to be aggressive to anyone. Kuvasz are there to defend the flock, and that’s why we got her… kinda rolls with the whole personal defense Lt. Col Grossman “sheepdog” paradigm.
So we’ll see how the term goes. My hope is that it’s enough to explain it, but that people will be likely unfamiliar with the term (and I expect they’ll be familiar with the “attack dog” term and will probably make a quick mental connection there that should make them go “huh?”) and then perhaps they’ll ask for more detail. Hopefully it’ll work. 🙂
I drove through Bastrop today, on my way to teach @ KR Training.
It’s the first time I’ve been to the area since the massive wildfires.
It was… shocking. The devastation was vast. What was once thick, dense, lush, evergreen… it’s now just lots of charred black sticks and scorched earth.
It’d be odd too. You’d see one building burned to the ground, all the trees and ground burned, then another building seemingly totally unharmed. Just the way things happened, the way the wind blew, whatever. Can’t explain it, but that’s how it was.
At the south end of TX-21 just past the entrance to Bastrop State Park, I saw stacks of fenceposts on the side of the road? Huh? But then I kept driving… and saw all the guardrails lying on the ground… their posts were wood, burned by the fire. Work crews everywhere, clearing burned trees, trying to repair the guardrails.
I got to speak to someone who lost their home. She told me how her whole neighborhood is gone. Think about that. Consider your neighborhood… now think about all of it being gone. Just… like… that.
It’s going to take years, decades perhaps, for Bastrop to “return to normal”. Will it even? Who knows what it will become. But the funny thing about fire… if you set aside the devastation, you have to remember that fire does bring rebirth… it’s the Earth’s way of clearing and starting anew. You could see people coming together, people helping, people doing whatever it takes to start over. The land will be reborn, the people will too.
My day job sucks.
Yeah yeah, happy to have a job, good pay, work from home. I know all that. But that doesn’t change the fact that it sucks.
You suck it up, you do your job. That’s how it goes. I have a family to provide for, and I know there’s little out there that can help me manage like this job does. So I know all the good, I know the advantages, I know the blessings. But I’m still miserable.
The past couple weeks have been especially demoralizing and destructive.
But something happened.
Sure, I look at my blog stats to see what’s going on, and sometimes I wonder where all the hits to a certain page have come from. One such page is this one, about Mental Toughness. I write a lot, don’t always remember what I write, so I went back to read it.
It is not easy getting over any shattering experiences, but with guts and determination, you can get over any painful ordeal. Life is full of disappointments and letdowns. When we don’t get what we want, the consolation is that we gain experience. This doesn’t seem like a worthwhile prize, but see how the adversity can enlighten you. If may not be obvious, but look hard at any opportunity for personal growth. Take in the life lesson and move on.
So allow me to rephrase…
I’m presently gaining a lot of experience, enlightenment, and undergoing massive amounts of personal growth. 🙂
Oddly tho, when I step back to look at things, I see it… and I see the growth in more ways than the obvious. Question is… what am I going to do with it?
We shall see.
But at least, after a long crappy couple of weeks… reading the above was a needed reminder.
Generally speaking, those of the “Liberal” or “Democrat” ilk claim to be “of the people”, and all about “choice”.
It’s my body, let me do what I want with it. It’s my life, stay out of our bedrooms. And so on. Choice choice choice.
So if they’re so pro choice, why aren’t the consistently pro choice?
They tend to be anti-gun. Why do they deny a woman the ability to choose how to defend herself? If you want to choose to defend yourself with a knee to the crotch and yelling “NO!” that’s your choice. I think a serving of lead is a lot more effective, but hey… it’s your choice.
They want to choose what we can and cannot see for advertising, because it could “harm the children”. We can’t choose what to see, what to watch, what to be exposed to, and how to raise our own children. No choice, they know better.
We can’t choose to raise food for ourselves, nor to consume the food we raise.
We can’t choose what to put in our own bodies. Even those things well-established to be good for us. Seems to be rather contradictory, when they clamor about health and obesity, then people want to do things to help their health, no no… can’t do that.
Even if it’s something that could be harmful, aren’t I an adult that’s allowed to make my own choices?
I just don’t get it.
If you’re so “pro choice” why aren’t you consistently pro choice?
(The “Conservatives”/Republicans are well out to control you too, but at least they don’t claim to be pro choice). And if you don’t know, I don’t affiliate myself with either of these goon parties.
When I walk home from the gym in the morning, if I hit it at just the right time I walk by a school bus stop. I’ve been seeing something at the bus stop that I find curious:
Why are parents driving their kid to the bus stop and dropping them off?
I’ve seen it enough, and by the same cars/parents, that I know this isn’t some one-time fluke such as Junior running late. As someone who went to public school for K-12 and either walked or took the bus, I do know what a pain it can be for parents if Junior misses the bus.
But that’s not what I see.
Are these children living so far away from the bus stop they can’t walk? Perhaps, but most school systems make the bus routes and stops within reasonable walking distance. From the looks of it, I’d say these are junior-high school kids, so they certainly have the physical ability to walk a little ways.
Heck, the other morning as I was walking home, I saw a minivan pull out of a driveway… drive 2 blocks to the bus stop… drop off the child… then the mother drove back home.
WTF?
Two blocks.
Your child couldn’t walk two blocks?
I’m dying to ask that parent just why they drive their child to the bus stop, especially when this is a vehicle I’ve seen do this on numerous occasions.
Is it a matter of being late to the bus? Well, every parent seems to be arriving well on time and if in fact you do miss the bus it teaches you two things: 1. how to run (faster), 2. how not to be late so you don’t miss the bus again. They can also teach you the value of “hustle”, which seems to have a different meaning to kids these days.
Yeah, I sound like a grumpy old man now… uphill both ways in the snow.
Nevertheless, I find it most curious and perhaps a little bothersome. Maybe it’s because I’m walking home from the gym, which is not just that I’m in a post-exercise frame of mind but because I intentionally chose to walk to/from the gym because I think it’s kinda silly to drive half a mile when the whole purpose is to exercise… it’s like that famous picture of the escalators outside a 24 Hour Fitness. And we go on and on about kids not getting enough exercise, when walking a few blocks every day would certainly do them good.
Could it be they don’t feel the kids are safe? I grant the world may have some ugly people in it, but if you won’t let your child walk 2 blocks away from your own house then perhaps you should reconsider where you live in the first place. Or maybe consider not letting your child out of your sight, ever.
Or maybe this is just that day of helicopter parenting, when parents give all for their children… everything except the ability, confidence, and wherewithal to do things for themselves. Not sure how kids are going to survive because someday they will have to be allowed out from under their parent’s wings.
I’m sure I’m filling in the informational gaps with my own biases. I don’t know why these parents keep driving their kids a few blocks to the bus stop. Still, I find it curious. Maybe one morning I’ll ask.
For those of you not in Texas, watch this slideshow. You’ll see the severity of our drought.
Were you or someone you know directly affected by the recent Texas wildfires (Bastrop, Cedar Creek, Spicewood, Steiner Ranch, etc.)?
Hank Fleming, one of Austin’s finest gunsmiths, posted the following to the TXIPSC mailing list. I asked Hank if I could repost to spread the word, and he said yes. So, here I repost:
Hank Fleming, Gunsmith, Austin TX offers to the fire victims of the Bastrop
firesNew guns @ my cost plus 5% (the 5% will pay my expenses, not a profit)
Internet transfers…$10.00 per transfer.
Please allow me to help in this way.
Having a house burn when I was a teen ager, I understand your loss.
Regards,
Hank Fleming
Very kind of him, to help in the way that he can.
Please help spread the word.
Dear Parent of the whiny child at the music store last night:
When your husband went into the cymbal room and the door closed behind him, then myself and the clerk heard this shriek of a small child, we both wheeled around thinking the child got its fingers caught in the closing door.
That was not the case. No… the child was just upset that it wasn’t allowed to go into the cymbal room. Sure, you tried to explain to the 2-3 year old that it was in their best interest to not go into that room, and for their sensitive ears that’s a good decision.
If you had stuck to your guns, if you had remained the parent — you know, the one in control of the situation — things would have been better.
Alas, you did as too many “parents” today do, you gave into the child. In fact, you said something like “Well, if you’re just going to keep whining about it, then ok, you can go in.” And proceeded to open the door for the child and let her/him into the cymbal room.
And now the child knows… if I am not getting what I want, whine and cry, pitch a fit, and eventually they will give in. It doesn’t matter if the thing is bad for me or not, and chances are I, being a small child, don’t know that it’s bad for me… but my “parents” will give it to me anyways.
*sigh*
Stuff From Hsoi 