I just returned from a four day trip to FL to visit some family…and to play some golf - both which were enjoyable. I am not much of a warm weather person, but I did enjoy the break from the snow here in Chicago (the most we have seen here in ten years). I am hoping to now get caught up with work. I will note that having my iPhone with me on the trip was extremely key. Not only was I able to keep on top of most of my email, but it entertained Evan on the … [more]

This post was going to be about updating jappler.com from WordPress 2.2.x to WordPress 2.3RC 1, but on the way back from my daily walk with Triscuit (my greyhound) I noticed a super cool bug on the side of my house. I decided to share my picture of it instead of talking about the bugs I ran into when upgrading to the latest version of WordPress (Don’t be too jealous of my sweet sandbox). Speaking of bugs - I also had 3 swarms of flying ants in my house … [more]

Last weekend Amy, Evan, and I went to some friends’ lake house. We had a nice encounter with some deer (much better than the bear I encountered in my parent’s back yard this summer)

 

 Deer [0:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Once again I am watching our friend’s two greyhounds and decided I needed to get some video of the action. It has become harder and harder to make them run together because our dog (the fawn) has increasingly got more competitive (more comfortable) with her friends. Enjoy. PS - Gopher got his name for his buck teeth which I could not seem to capture.

 

 The greyhounds [1:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There has been plenty of cicada talk here in the midwest concerning the 17 year cicada. The news covered weddings being rescheduled, teachers at school were making “cicada hats” with their students to try and lessen the scariness of the bugs, and of course, the great Walter E. Smithe commercial. No sign of the bugs yet, but I did want to share the insane commercial for a local furniture chain. Yes - furniture. These guys have a great sense of humor!

I cannot believe it, but Steve Irwin is no longer with us! I spent many hours - avoiding studying - watching him on Animal Planet. Thanks for making science and conservation fun for kids and adults alike!
[tags]Steve Irwin, Animal Planet[/tags]

A quick post to wish my youngest cat - Salsa - a happy birthday (and the iMac) I have been swamped the last few days but think I have figured out how to properly set up MediaWiki to use user permissions without having to hack something together. Now to get some time together to implement it.
[tags]Salsa, iMac, MediaWiki[/tags]

This past weekend A and I watched Triscuit's foster parents' two greyhounds Wish and Gopher. I decided I needed to start taking more pictures, so check them out! The weather was perfect for them and we enjoyed a lot of time out in the back yard running around and sleeping.

The last week has been absolutely crazy.

• I had a house full of house guests from Thursday until Sunday
• Amy and I brought Ava to her new home on Saturday where she has a 14 year old greyhound sister as well as a beagle too
• Huge storms here on Sunday/Monday...so strong our front door (glass/screen) swung way open and shattered)
• Ookles is no longer a secret and I have tons more to do!
• I fought, once again, to get my SSL cert in order with Apache and mod_ssl (damn IE and the ciphers)
• Network Solutions had an outage this morning ... [more]
  

Well, it is coming up on three weeks now that we have had Ava. She has been a joy to have and we are excited to say Greyhounds Only has most likely found a permanent home for Ava. I realize I do not post enough pictures, so I am going to try to do a better job from now on. Enjoy the updated pictures!

... [more]

On my way into work I thought about how better to allocate my time so I can fit in time to relax. (sad, I know) I ended up thinking I could save some time at night by blogging on my way home on the train...so here I go.

The last few days have been challenging. Ava, my foster greyhound that I took in, is causing me to break out in hives. I had been taking benedryl to control it but that left me extremely drowsy and unable to work.
I got a perscription ... [more]

Amy and I have been involved in Greyhounds Only for a few years now and we recently went to a fostering seminar with hopes of fostering new or returned greyhounds. I picked up Ava this afternoon from a pretty sketchy home. Her nails were extremely long and her ears were fithly, but she cuddled with me right away and did wonderfully on her trip with me to her new home. Time will tell if she is the right dog for us (Triscuit) or if someone else will be lucky enough to spend time with her. ... [more]

Over the past few weeks, I have found a number of really cool things that I wanted to note.

• Find images visually with Retrievr.
• Google Analytics. Most people have access to web statistics via their web host, or have purchased web statistics software, but this is really cool, and really easy.
• Google Sitemaps. I have been using this for awhile. I first found this when I began working with XOOPS, then started using it with this web site. This is a great way to make sure your site is submitted to Google's search index, then look ... [more]
  

Ah Triscuit. She is such a champ. She now officially loves using a pillow (like in the picture from yesterday's post), and is not limping as bad as Sunday. Of course, she walks perfect when other dogs are around, but getting up out of bed is still a little hard. She does not too much of an appetite unless McDonald's hamburgers or dog ice cream are offered, but I am sure she will get it once she is off her medication. Tomorrow we have to change the bandages on her feet. It has been fun ... [more]

Well, after deciding we needed to treat Triscuit to a nice fun day, we packed up the car and took her to a local dog training club that was having a "Save the miniature pinchers" fundraiser. For a small fee, you could have your dog partake in lure coursing. Since Triscuit is a retired racer and a sight hound, we knew she would love it. We were right, she loved it alright. But on her second time doing the lure coursing, she took a corner too big, ran into a spectator bench and jammed her ... [more]

Today is a day of birthdays...Salsa and the iMac. Salsa celebrated her fifth birthday with unlimited cat nip and wet food. My iMac took the day off and relaxed all day to celebrate his birthday

Well, you never know what you are going to find in the back yard...

One thing led to another, yada yada yada, and I ended up at this amazing web site which has spectacular photographs.
There is something about photographing the simple things in life that I absolutely love...I am not sure how to explain it, but this photographer captures some wonderful emotion with his focus on simple (or are they complicated?) objects. One of my favorites: http://www.invisiblethreads.com/potd/index.php?id=20050307 Enjoy.

Just a quick note to let everyone know my cat Salsa turned 4 and the iMac also turned 5 on Sunday.

About three months ago, my girlfriend and I adopted a retired greyhound. She is absolutely wonderful (the dog ) and we are very happy we adopted her. There were plenty of things we did not expect since this was our first dog, such as her love for hotdogs and the fact that she sleeps more than our cats, but of everything...her ability to attract all kinds of people blew me away. During our afternoon walks, I have had people approach me by foot, people pull over from the road, and people yell at us from cars ... [more]