Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Months Since the Last Post...
... but today we embark on a weekend trip to San Francisco. Be sure to check in for live pics from the trip!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Maximus and the Air Conditioner
70 degrees up here today, great for people and Whammer Hammers, not so great for Huskies. But stick an AC vent on one and...
Took both dogs to the Glen Avon baseball fields tonight for some off-leash time. Lucky for Max, we also found the last snowbank in possibly all of Duluth. Chase Izzy... sprint to the snowbank to recharge... chase Izzy... sprint to the snowbank to recharge... etc., etc.
Took both dogs to the Glen Avon baseball fields tonight for some off-leash time. Lucky for Max, we also found the last snowbank in possibly all of Duluth. Chase Izzy... sprint to the snowbank to recharge... chase Izzy... sprint to the snowbank to recharge... etc., etc.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Challenged Client of the Day...
Owner brings in a dog this morning for limping, and, oh, by the way, she has this lump in her mouth. It takes me all of 10 seconds to recognize the dog has a torn cruciate in the hind leg, and oh, by the way, it has what looks like a malignant squamous cell carcinoma growing from its gumline. I break the bad news to the owner... oral surgery would be about $400 but would not be guaranteed to resolve the problem as SCC is highly recurrent. And the dog needs $2500 worth of knee surgery to boot.
And wouldn't you know it, sure enough, the owner, with tears in her eyes, looks at me and says, "Well, as long as she's here, can we get her vaccines?"
Grrrr............
And wouldn't you know it, sure enough, the owner, with tears in her eyes, looks at me and says, "Well, as long as she's here, can we get her vaccines?"
Grrrr............
Crazy Max Seems to be Doing Just Fine
It turned out that line I saw on the x-ray was not a fracture... of course, that didn't stop it from confusing two orthopedic specialists either. I went in on Max's shoulder on Monday and found no fracture line on his glenoid tubercle, but did find the acromion (which is the end of the scapular spine) had broken. So I removed it, and the dopey puppy is already trying to leap off stairs and wrestle with anybody he can get his mouth on.
I neutered him while he was under too... of course, he was cryptorchid with one of his testicles trapped in his abdomen, so he ended up getting three incisions. Lucky dog. Again, he doesn't seem to care.
I neutered him while he was under too... of course, he was cryptorchid with one of his testicles trapped in his abdomen, so he ended up getting three incisions. Lucky dog. Again, he doesn't seem to care.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Yet Another Reason Not to Own a Weimeranrer
Max was wrestling with Izzy this afternoon and she dive-bombed him with all four feet, breaking his shoulder blade. Stupid dog (Izzy, not Max).
He'll be having surgery later this week.
He'll be having surgery later this week.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Since when is Silence of the Lambs not a horror movie?
So in the Oscars tonight, they do a tribute to horror movies, and the moron actors from Twlight (if you want to know how I feel about Twilight, I would encourage you to read the Oatmeal's interpretation at http://theoatmeal.com/story/twilight) come out and tell us that the Academy hasn't honored a horror movie since The Exorcist.
Just a bleeping minute, here. The Exorcist won two Oscars... for Sound and Screenplay. No offense, but big whoopty do. It also received those awards in 1974. Meanwhile, Silence of the Lambs won five Oscars in 1992. It swept the Big 5 categories... Screenplay, Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Actress (Jodie Foster), Director (Jonathon Demme), and Picture. Seriously, did anybody watch SotL and think, "You know, I think this is more of a suspense movie, not really a horror movie"? The stupid Academy even showed clips from it in the montage!
Man, I accidentally went to see that by myself in downtown St. Paul, hearing it was a good movie but having no idea what it was about. It took the entire bus ride back to Macalester for the blood to return to my arms, and I sat in my room staring at the wall for 2 hours with the lights on after I got back because I couldn't sleep and was scared out my mind to turn the lights off. You would think the Academy would at least get its own history right...
Just a bleeping minute, here. The Exorcist won two Oscars... for Sound and Screenplay. No offense, but big whoopty do. It also received those awards in 1974. Meanwhile, Silence of the Lambs won five Oscars in 1992. It swept the Big 5 categories... Screenplay, Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Actress (Jodie Foster), Director (Jonathon Demme), and Picture. Seriously, did anybody watch SotL and think, "You know, I think this is more of a suspense movie, not really a horror movie"? The stupid Academy even showed clips from it in the montage!
Man, I accidentally went to see that by myself in downtown St. Paul, hearing it was a good movie but having no idea what it was about. It took the entire bus ride back to Macalester for the blood to return to my arms, and I sat in my room staring at the wall for 2 hours with the lights on after I got back because I couldn't sleep and was scared out my mind to turn the lights off. You would think the Academy would at least get its own history right...
Saturday, March 6, 2010
New Puppy Movies and Photos
I've been derelict in updating this blog with photos and movies of our new demon puppy, Maxmius. We euthanized poor old Denali back in January before our travels... she lived a wonderful life, but her mind was gone and she ran from us whenever we tried to pet her anymore.
So Max is our new monster, and a monster he is. I hope you enjoy the myriad of photos and movies we have been taking of him as he puts poor Izzy in her place...
Can you find the real animal in this photo?
So Max is our new monster, and a monster he is. I hope you enjoy the myriad of photos and movies we have been taking of him as he puts poor Izzy in her place...
Can you find the real animal in this photo?
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Final Post about Disney... from Home
We are back in nice cold Duluth after the long trek home today... boys are in bed. Have my final thoughts about the trip...
Disney continues to be a great place kids. This will clearly be the trip of Peyton and Zach's life thus far. I can't debate that Disney provides for kids everything they could dream of... not much travel from park to park, keeping them busy in line with other distractions, lots of rides, etc. I think every kid should visit at least once by the time they are 11.
On the adult side, I see a lot of things that can be done better. Don't get me wrong, they do so much for kids and set everything up for parents to keep those kids as happy as possible, I can't argue too much. But I do have a few grumpies...
Recycling- for a mega-corporation, the lack of emphasis on recycling is pathetic. Garbage cans can be found everywhere in the parks, but you have to hunt to throw a plastic bottle away. Even our resort room proclaimed Disney is a "Green" attraction, but they didn't have a recycling bin in the room! We are well into the next century and concern about global warming is on everybody's mind... nobody gets upset anymore about having recycling "shoved in their face." On the other hand, recycling is not at the forefront of every person's mind, so fat lazy park patrons will gladly chuck their recyclables into a garbage can if not given a convenient opportunity.
Smoking- this may be the deep south, but it's a resort designed for CHILDREN. Ban smoking within the park and on park property. I didn't catch too much second-hand smoke during the week we were there, but when you do run into it, your first thought is, "Wait a minute, people are exhaling carcinogens into my lungs in Disney World?" Again, get with the times.
I don't know what bothered me more, the ridiculous price of everything or the fact that so many people seemed willing to pay it. I thought what we paid for 6 nights and 5 days, access to all 4 parks plus park-hopper passes, plus 2 decent meals a day was extremely fair. What amazed me was that some of these cafeteria-style meals would have cost us $60 if we were not on the meal plan. $60 for a cafeteria meal? Our sit-down buffet breakfast with the characters was $110 after tip (it wasn't on the meal plan). $110 for Easy Eggs and crusty tater tots? I guess you pay for the convenience of Mickey coming to your table, instead of having to wait in line for 45 minutes at a park to have your picture taken with him. But I'd say that's at least $50 beyond what the food was worth.
Speaking of pictures, we took all of our own and were quite happy. But they have park cast members walking around taking photos, allowing you to buy these professional photos... for $30 for a 5 x 7! Seriously, that's insane... and yet I saw people gladly shelling out the cash for these photos, even as they had people take their photos with their 12 MP digital camera that would be just as sharp.
I can't argue with gold old-fashioned capitalism... I mean, Disney makes a killing off its psychological subliminal brainwashing of people. I just find it so horribly disappointing that people are so easily taken.
The FASTPASS system is a life-saver, but mostly because so few people use it correctly.
At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, I've never seen so many disabled people in my life. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for disabled access, especially to the happiest place on earth. But at some point, mass numbers of disabled people using the parks cause others to, well, not enjoy it so much. You get tired of jumping out of the way as some lady on a scooter nearly breaks your knee cap, or getting to the front of a ride line only to wait an agonizing 5 minutes while some 400-lb guy on a scooter has to be hoisted into the ride because it's his turn. I think people who are disabled from service to their country, or due to a horrible accident or condition they can't control... by all means, I am patient and let them enjoy the same things I enjoy. But I see people who are 300 lb.s overweight riding scooters slurping on turkey drumsticks and (what a shock) not burning any calories, and I'm sorry, I can't help feel a little miffed that I have to accommodate that person's gluttony. These people need the scooters to get around because of their arthritic knees and hips but clearly are not making an effort to manage their bodies appropriately. And we then have to be patient with them? Is it any wonder why we can't pass a health care bill?
And lastly, as it pertains to me and me alone... Disney World is not my idea of a cool vacation for me and my wife. I don't want to go "Celebrate Life" by blowing wads of hard-earned cash that will somehow make me feel happy. I want to see things I've never seen before and will never see again. That does not include 300-lb. women in tank-tops and exposed navel rings (though I do not want to ever see that again either, if I can help it).
I also do not like large crowds, it's just not my style. I cannot stand the idiocy of the gate rush to grab the 45th place in line instead of the 55th place, or the FASTPASS ticket that will let you board at 10:05 instead of 10:15.
You see families work the system... one goes to FASTPASS, collects tickets for later in the day, while the other gets in line. By the time the FASTPASSer gets the tickets and then decides to join the queue, they need to cut in front of 60 other people to catch up. Jeana and I did this one... she and the boys stopped and let other people pass while I caught up, instead of me line jumping. I can see letting somebody jump 20 or 30 people because they can see their family member ahead in the maze, but waltzing through the line... I'm sorry, that doesn't seem right.
The last night, when we FASTPASSed Space Mountain, we get to the entry point and, I'm not kidding you, there's a woman begging to be let into the FASTPASS line with her family because the wait in the traditional queue is 80 minutes. She just didn't want to wait, and figured she should be let in. I simply cannot stand the entitlement, rudeness, and lack of respect for others that amusement parks bring out in people. It doesn't make me happy, it makes me disappointed in the human condition.
The last night we waited to watch the night parade with all of the lights. When the parade started, we were standing behind a couple and their child who were sitting down. When the parade started, for absolutely no reason, they stood up and blocked Peyton and Zach's view. They didn't need to stand, they just didn't give a shit who was behind them. They didn't offer to let Peyton and Zach stand in front of them, they just blocked their view.
We managed to wedge Peyton just to the side of the overweight woman, who constantly bumped him through the parade, causing him to look doubtfully if he should be standing there. Zach sat on my shoulders, but this a-hole from Australia, asked me to move back because I was blocking the view of his freakin' video camera (because you know I go home and watch those videos OVER and OVER again)... not to mention that if he would wait all of 3 seconds the float would actually come in front of him and Zach wouldn't be in his way anyway.
It just seems like in a place like Disney World, people should bend over backwards to make sure all of the kids have the best experience, damn all of us. I mean, that's the attitude I took all week. This was not my ideal vacation spot, but this was not my vacation... it was my kids' trip. I tried to help others with kids so that the kids were happy and satisfied.
Will we go back? Of course Peyton and Zach say they want to. I think if we could go back with friends so that Peyton and Zach could go with kids their ages, they would have a great time. Would I ever want to go back with just Jeana? Absolutely not. We have too many other places we want to go see in our lives. But you never know... P&Z might just argue us into another trip in 2-3 years...
Disney continues to be a great place kids. This will clearly be the trip of Peyton and Zach's life thus far. I can't debate that Disney provides for kids everything they could dream of... not much travel from park to park, keeping them busy in line with other distractions, lots of rides, etc. I think every kid should visit at least once by the time they are 11.
On the adult side, I see a lot of things that can be done better. Don't get me wrong, they do so much for kids and set everything up for parents to keep those kids as happy as possible, I can't argue too much. But I do have a few grumpies...
Recycling- for a mega-corporation, the lack of emphasis on recycling is pathetic. Garbage cans can be found everywhere in the parks, but you have to hunt to throw a plastic bottle away. Even our resort room proclaimed Disney is a "Green" attraction, but they didn't have a recycling bin in the room! We are well into the next century and concern about global warming is on everybody's mind... nobody gets upset anymore about having recycling "shoved in their face." On the other hand, recycling is not at the forefront of every person's mind, so fat lazy park patrons will gladly chuck their recyclables into a garbage can if not given a convenient opportunity.
Smoking- this may be the deep south, but it's a resort designed for CHILDREN. Ban smoking within the park and on park property. I didn't catch too much second-hand smoke during the week we were there, but when you do run into it, your first thought is, "Wait a minute, people are exhaling carcinogens into my lungs in Disney World?" Again, get with the times.
I don't know what bothered me more, the ridiculous price of everything or the fact that so many people seemed willing to pay it. I thought what we paid for 6 nights and 5 days, access to all 4 parks plus park-hopper passes, plus 2 decent meals a day was extremely fair. What amazed me was that some of these cafeteria-style meals would have cost us $60 if we were not on the meal plan. $60 for a cafeteria meal? Our sit-down buffet breakfast with the characters was $110 after tip (it wasn't on the meal plan). $110 for Easy Eggs and crusty tater tots? I guess you pay for the convenience of Mickey coming to your table, instead of having to wait in line for 45 minutes at a park to have your picture taken with him. But I'd say that's at least $50 beyond what the food was worth.
Speaking of pictures, we took all of our own and were quite happy. But they have park cast members walking around taking photos, allowing you to buy these professional photos... for $30 for a 5 x 7! Seriously, that's insane... and yet I saw people gladly shelling out the cash for these photos, even as they had people take their photos with their 12 MP digital camera that would be just as sharp.
I can't argue with gold old-fashioned capitalism... I mean, Disney makes a killing off its psychological subliminal brainwashing of people. I just find it so horribly disappointing that people are so easily taken.
The FASTPASS system is a life-saver, but mostly because so few people use it correctly.
At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, I've never seen so many disabled people in my life. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for disabled access, especially to the happiest place on earth. But at some point, mass numbers of disabled people using the parks cause others to, well, not enjoy it so much. You get tired of jumping out of the way as some lady on a scooter nearly breaks your knee cap, or getting to the front of a ride line only to wait an agonizing 5 minutes while some 400-lb guy on a scooter has to be hoisted into the ride because it's his turn. I think people who are disabled from service to their country, or due to a horrible accident or condition they can't control... by all means, I am patient and let them enjoy the same things I enjoy. But I see people who are 300 lb.s overweight riding scooters slurping on turkey drumsticks and (what a shock) not burning any calories, and I'm sorry, I can't help feel a little miffed that I have to accommodate that person's gluttony. These people need the scooters to get around because of their arthritic knees and hips but clearly are not making an effort to manage their bodies appropriately. And we then have to be patient with them? Is it any wonder why we can't pass a health care bill?
And lastly, as it pertains to me and me alone... Disney World is not my idea of a cool vacation for me and my wife. I don't want to go "Celebrate Life" by blowing wads of hard-earned cash that will somehow make me feel happy. I want to see things I've never seen before and will never see again. That does not include 300-lb. women in tank-tops and exposed navel rings (though I do not want to ever see that again either, if I can help it).
I also do not like large crowds, it's just not my style. I cannot stand the idiocy of the gate rush to grab the 45th place in line instead of the 55th place, or the FASTPASS ticket that will let you board at 10:05 instead of 10:15.
You see families work the system... one goes to FASTPASS, collects tickets for later in the day, while the other gets in line. By the time the FASTPASSer gets the tickets and then decides to join the queue, they need to cut in front of 60 other people to catch up. Jeana and I did this one... she and the boys stopped and let other people pass while I caught up, instead of me line jumping. I can see letting somebody jump 20 or 30 people because they can see their family member ahead in the maze, but waltzing through the line... I'm sorry, that doesn't seem right.
The last night, when we FASTPASSed Space Mountain, we get to the entry point and, I'm not kidding you, there's a woman begging to be let into the FASTPASS line with her family because the wait in the traditional queue is 80 minutes. She just didn't want to wait, and figured she should be let in. I simply cannot stand the entitlement, rudeness, and lack of respect for others that amusement parks bring out in people. It doesn't make me happy, it makes me disappointed in the human condition.
The last night we waited to watch the night parade with all of the lights. When the parade started, we were standing behind a couple and their child who were sitting down. When the parade started, for absolutely no reason, they stood up and blocked Peyton and Zach's view. They didn't need to stand, they just didn't give a shit who was behind them. They didn't offer to let Peyton and Zach stand in front of them, they just blocked their view.
We managed to wedge Peyton just to the side of the overweight woman, who constantly bumped him through the parade, causing him to look doubtfully if he should be standing there. Zach sat on my shoulders, but this a-hole from Australia, asked me to move back because I was blocking the view of his freakin' video camera (because you know I go home and watch those videos OVER and OVER again)... not to mention that if he would wait all of 3 seconds the float would actually come in front of him and Zach wouldn't be in his way anyway.
It just seems like in a place like Disney World, people should bend over backwards to make sure all of the kids have the best experience, damn all of us. I mean, that's the attitude I took all week. This was not my ideal vacation spot, but this was not my vacation... it was my kids' trip. I tried to help others with kids so that the kids were happy and satisfied.
Will we go back? Of course Peyton and Zach say they want to. I think if we could go back with friends so that Peyton and Zach could go with kids their ages, they would have a great time. Would I ever want to go back with just Jeana? Absolutely not. We have too many other places we want to go see in our lives. But you never know... P&Z might just argue us into another trip in 2-3 years...
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Some shots from the hotel this afternoon
We did some park hopping this morning, hitting Space Mountain again first, grabbing some FASTPASSes for the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Space Spin, then seeing the Haunted Mansion before charging over to the Contemporary Resort for our character breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Not much to add to the pictures from there I already posted... though $90 for a buffet standard breakfast is a bit over-the-top, frankly, even if my kids do get to hug Mickey and his friends.
We then took a circuitous route to Animal Kingdom and did the Kali River Rapids (Zach got DRENCHED and loved it) and Expedition Everest one last time before coming back to the hotel for swimming:
Now we are headed out for dinner in the hotel before returning to the Magic Kingdom for one last ride on Space Mountain and the fireworks and night parade...
We then took a circuitous route to Animal Kingdom and did the Kali River Rapids (Zach got DRENCHED and loved it) and Expedition Everest one last time before coming back to the hotel for swimming:
Now we are headed out for dinner in the hotel before returning to the Magic Kingdom for one last ride on Space Mountain and the fireworks and night parade...
And another dumb thing...
Why does Disney call it a monorail when it clearly runs on 2 rails?
Just because the rails sit on either side of a single concrete pylon
does not make it a monorail.
Just because the rails sit on either side of a single concrete pylon
does not make it a monorail.
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