January 6, 2006
Household Rulers
They rule, of course, by assuming that they rule. Here's a photo of Scraps just after I've gotten up in the morning. He's a bit unthrilled about the hour of morning when we get up and leave for work. In fact, he doesn't really understand why we ever bother to leave. Given his druthers, he'd stay tucked in bed like this all day every day.
Of course, the fact that we don't do his bidding upsets our little prince terribly. Lazy hound that he is, he's sure he ought to be running things.
And then there's Scout.
Which is pretty much how we usually refer to her. Scraps is a pretty normal male hound (even if he is a tiny little dachshund). He's lazy, he's protective, and he's got lots of personality.
And then there's this one.
The little princess ... those are my pillows she's perched on ... the same morning as Scraps is sleeping with the toy dog.
I'm feeling a little extra protective of the dogs lately. We've just recently figured out that Scraps' "little episodes" are most likely canine epilepsy. He starts out by either snapping at his blankie as if it's biting him or he begins a particular frantic and obsessive pacing. This is followed by him completely losing his balance ... so badly the other day, I thought he was going to literally land on his back. It's a terrifying thing to watch.
But once I jumped online and did a little bit of research, I realized that it's "just" epilepsy and a fairly mild form at that. We'd talked to the vet a bit about it before and he had us put Scraps on Benedryl twice a day which, when we remember it, has kept the episodes to a minimum. Now that we have a better idea what it is, though, we've been keeping to a more rigid time schedule on his meds and it seems to be helping a bit more.
And he just loves his "magic cheese" -- a bit of an american cheese slice with half a Benedryl pill stuck inside. Jealous, of course, Scout gets some "mundane cheese" without the medicine.
It's a good thing to know what's wrong with him instead of simply being scared for him. I was afraid that it was some kind of neurological damage left over from when, as a six month old pup of about 8 or 9 pounds, he ate an entire one pound dark chocolate bar. Since dark chocolate and baker's chocolate acts as a toxin to dogs, staying in their system and building up each time they manage to scrounge a bit, I'd been more than a little concerned that this had caused some kind of damage ... but considering that his epilepsy started right at the expected time period for genetic epilepsy, I'm starting to relax a bit and feeling a lot less like it's somehow my fault.
(And if you know something about chocolate causing such neurological damage or epilepsy in dogs, please don't tell me!)
Posted by Red Monkey at 9:53 PM
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December 16, 2005
A Picture
Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1973.
After the humidity of Houston, New Mexico seemed like heaven to me. As much as I love Texas, Houston just isn't made for asthmatic kids ... Albuquerque was easier on my allergies and my asthma ... and I responded to it by constantly wanting to be outside.
I was fascinated, as most three and four year olds are, by the pueblos we passed and the buildings made of adobe. But 1973 was also a time of stress for anyone living in "Indian Country." Native, white, black, latino ... tensions were particularly high. In 1972, the American Indian Movement (AIM) began talks with Washington, D.C., in an attempt to begin rectifying some of the terrible conditions on many of the reservations and general rights of native Americans. And, of course, the Wounded Knee "incident" was in 1973 as well.
I didn't know any of this back then, of course. All I knew was that the air was dry and I could breathe and the outdoors was beautiful and very very different from the towering pine trees and skyscrapers of Houston. We weren't too far from some "mountain" or another ... I've since looked at maps and it must have just been a mesa or tallish hill. But evidently after being outside-deprived for so long, I would bolt out the door at the slightest provocation, causing Mom tons of trouble. Instead of don't let the dog out, visitors heard, "don't let Red Monkey out!"
I would fly out the door and haul-ass to the nearby mesa, trying to make my way to the top before Mom could catch up with me. 
The crowning blow for my mom was our trip to "The Mall" in Santa Fe. Evidently, I became fascinated with one of the local vendors and didn't notice when Mom walked off to go to another shop. I wanted to know what everything this poor guy had made meant. I was sure that every bit of it had meaning, from the crappy little vinyl pouch-thing in kid-fantastic bright turquoise with beads in a thunderbird design, to the little painted pitchers of red clay. I was busily quizzing this poor man when Mom finally came back for me ... just in time for her to hear me announce to the guy:
"When I grow up, I'm gonna be an indian, too!"
We moved to Oklahoma City shortly after that ... but I never forgot that fascination with New Mexico and running up the mesas.
Posted by Red Monkey at 5:41 AM
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December 14, 2005
The Sky Surfer
I am, without a doubt, a huge geek. That's cool, I enjoy being a geek. Because I'm a techie kind of geek, I was an early adopter of computers; I fiddled with programming; I played D&D; I played with toys. I don't care ... I think being an adult also means being a kid and remembering how to have fun. I'm not so invested in being an adult that I can't also remember what a mystery and delight the first day of kindergarten turned out to be.
So, being a techie kind of geek, I was also an early adopter of eBay. I was also rather cautious at first ... I only bid an amount of money that I could afford to lose. That meant I mostly just bid a few dollar here and there for some things that I'd like to have. After almost ten years on eBay, I've only been ripped off once ... not bad.
Also, being a geek who is into action figures, most of my purchases have been toy-related. I've nearly completed my collection of Fisher Price Little People.
This little green boy is from the first Fisher Price play family that I had, so he's circa 1971 or so. But, he's one of the few Little People that I have left. To keep an incredibly long story relatively short, let's just say that by the time I was ten, my sister and I had a LOT of Fisher Price Little People and their attendant accessories (most of the buildings were given away by the time I was ten).
I was going to try to find a way to tell you how important those little wooden (and later, plastic) "peoples" were to me ... but it's a terribly depressing story that I'm sure you don't want to hear. So, let me just describe what one incident that ought to make the rest of this post make a little more sense.
At 15 I was mostly done with my toys, of course. I wanted to buy some good Rubbermaid storage containers and put all of my Fisher Price Little People ... and Adventure People (the precursors to the Star Wars action figures that everyone else had) into these containers, store them in the attic and give them to my kids. These little guys had meant so much to me that I was positive that my kids - whenever I got around to having some - would love them every bit as much as me.
My mom told me no.
There would be no storing them in the attic. There would be no renting of a storage unit (which, really, would have been overkill ... I had a lot, but not THAT many). There would be no keeping them at all.
Instead, I was told to have a garage sale just to sell off the Adventure People action figures. No, I don't know why she made that decision.
Unfortunately for me, my sister decided that I was going to make a million dollars at this garage sale, so she decided to sell off all of our Little People. I threw a raging fit and managed to get some of them saved. The castle went out to Grandma's house. A few of the Adventure People sets (the ones that didn't sell) also went to Grandma's.
And the day of the garage sale, I was literally going through the things my sister had put out for sale and began shoving favourite Little People into my pockets to transport back into the house. I saved Chris that way as well as the other members of that very first family I had. And I saved Tommy, Smitty, Peter and a few others. I let Chris's best friend go (he, oddly enough, never had a name like many of the others did).
I had wanted to hide some of the Adventure People as well, particularly the kite and the guy who rode on it like a hang glider. this set:
As it turns out, you see, that set was recalled ... evidently the little guy fell out and bonked some kid on the head. Well, I incurred my mom's wrath by choosing to ignore the recall and refusing to return the toy ... after all, I knew I wasn't gonna sue Fisher Price if I bonked myself on the head with the kite!
Fast forward to today. I have almost completed my Fisher Price collections ... I have nearly every Little People set and accessory and the same for the Adventure People. Except, I can't find that Sky Surfer anywhere.
It was on eBay this week. And somehow, I just couldn't stay up late enough to protect my high bid from the snipers. I knew when I woke up this morning that I had probably lost the auction. And yet, when I went to the computer first thing to check ... I was just like that slightly older little kid opening birthday presents ... knowing intellectually that the "pony" (or whatever the most-wanted present was that year) was most likely not there. But still unable to quench that quick rush of hope, that maybe, just maybe, the fates had been kind and the most wanted toy ever was really there waiting for me.
Nope. I was outbid.
One of these days I will find that Fisher Price kite and complete my collection. Someone asked me today if I would fly the kite if I ever got it. You bet! These toys are meant to be played with, not protected under glass.
In fact, if I ever get rich, I intend to build a nice little outbuilding and set up my Fisher Price Town (tm) and make a kind of showplace for these favourite old toys. I've already laid out the streets, figured out where the airports go, the main street, the village, the gas station, the lumberyard ... even Sesame Street has its place.
And, of course, the Sky Surfer will be hanging from the ceiling, surveying the whole place from his kite-hang-glider.
For me, at least, nothing has ever captured that level of pure joy and imagination as my Fisher Price did.
Posted by Red Monkey at 2:38 PM
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December 11, 2005
sssssore
Went snowboarding for about 7-8 hours today ... first weekend the slopes were open ... first time to 'board since last year.
Nothing broken, lots of improvement, but dear lord am I TIRED and SORE.
Real posts should resume tomorrow. :)
Posted by Red Monkey at 8:13 PM
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December 5, 2005
Airport Security
I love toys ... and Playmobil consistently makes some of the best toys ever. To that end, I give you:
The Airport Screening Playset.
And yes, you can truly order this magnificent piece of semi-reality and stage your own scenes of mass privacy invasion. Doesn't that female security guard look just a little TOO eager to use the wand? I think she's got a pat-down planned out already.
Playmobil charges a mere $14.99 for this set.
But be sure to check out the full scenario that has been staged for your enjoyment at The Airport Screening Playset. You'll love it ... I promise.
Posted by Red Monkey at 10:56 AM
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November 25, 2005
Dr. Seuss & the Computer
Another funny ... which reminds me, do you have a green star on your belly? the best of the best have a green star upon thars!
What If Dr. Suess Did Technical Writing?
*****************************************
Here's an easy game to play.
Here's an easy thing to say:
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!
If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted "cause the index doesn't hash,
Then your situation's hopeless,and your system's gonna crash!
You can't say this!
What a shame sir!
We'll find you
Another game sir.
If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side a
effects of gauss
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
"Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!
When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk,
Then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn 0ff the computer and be sure to tell your Mom!
Posted by Red Monkey at 2:55 PM
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