Useless Conversation

[Yegolev]

Stupid network equipment requiring tftp to upgrade firmware, why can't you support SCP? I have to use ssh to connect to you!

Seems trivial.



 

[Signe]

Greyhounds are great for apartments.  They'll snooze on the sofa all day.  As long as you take them to the park for a good run, they're fine with small spaces.  If you don't mind drool, English Bulldogs are great.  If you're after HUGE, Great Danes are very adaptable and super lazy.  I had a friend who bred them.  They were lovely.  And Bull Terriers.  I love them, too.  They're good for everything and very cool looking.  

And then there's my dog, Loki.  She's the best dog ever.  She's a 15 years old and a pitbull/beagle mix.  She's about 35 lbs and the most affectionate dog alive.  You can't have her but if you ever met her, you'd want to steal her.  

Also, years and years ago, my car mechanic had a giant Neapolitan Mastiff.  He would lie in the office all day, happy as a lark.  He was sweet and lazy and loved everyone.  They have like NO energy so a walk a day will probably suit them.  Although my mechanic's mastiff lived to be 14, that's rare.  They have short life spans.  :(  

Or you could just get a lark.  Evidently, they're very happy.

[Chimpy]

Seems trivial.

 

Har, har.

It wasn't that terrible, just annoying as I had to build a Linux VM to be a tftp server for this purpose since we don't run tftp for anything usually. (And because it has to be on the same subnet as the switches to work right for one of our model of switches, stupid BNTs)

[Morat20]

I hate seeing caged dogs, as a kid who grew up in the country where dogs pretty much ran free.

I really didn't like it either (this one was the first we crate trained).

But I'd read a lot about how it worked, and frankly my shoe-eating wonder beagle made it pretty much required if I wanted to keep my furniture (or keep him outside, which was an option). He really disliked it, but not because of the kennel itself (it's properly sized, nicely padded, not too tight) but because he was no longer able to see us -- we moved it to the bedroom and the anxiety disappeared when we kenneled him at night.

We kept a water dish in there (affixed to the side) and it took less than two months before he made it his preferred place to snooze. Then again, we also draped it with a blanket (so just the door is not covered) and this is a dog that prefers sleeping with a blanket over his head (and did before we kennel trained him). He likes dark and enclosed, apparently. :)

Even then, we try to keep him kenneled as little as possible. He's really social and gets aunhappy when he can't track all his people (me, wife, kiddo). We've had to kennel him at night right now, because the bed is WAY too high and he's used to jumping on and off whenever he feels like it. He's too likely to jump off right now. So kennel and giant inflatable collar it is.

Right now he's currently under a blanket sleeping next to my wife as she plays Fallout.

[Yegolev]

I know this dude who adopted two greyhounds and they live in the house.  Everyone in that family is a moron.

[Signe]

You're talking about dogs not buses, right?

[Pennilenko]

I know this dude who adopted two greyhounds and they live in the house.  Everyone in that family is a moron.

I got a buddy who rescues greyhounds, the couple he has right now are pretty chill and well behaved inside. He exercises them regularly though.

[Yegolev]

I know this dude who adopted two greyhounds and they live in the house.  Everyone in that family is a moron.

I got a buddy who rescues greyhounds, the couple he has right now are pretty chill and well behaved inside. He exercises them regularly though.

I'm sure your buddy is not a moron, in which case he is doing great work, because being a racing greyhound is terrible.  Not everyone should have a pet or children.

Unrelated:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015R4YN6A/ref=s9_simh_gw_p201_d0_i1?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=0WD8K9TCANAXPBTY2WCY&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2437890102&pf_rd_i=desktop

[Morat20]

My parents had a rescue greyhound for a number of years. Sweet dog, but so ridiculously tall. Only issue was having to chose the right sort of collar for walking him and his ability to basically eat anything on a kitchen counter when walking by (his head was practically counter high when he stood).

He got out of their fence once, early on. Chasing him down was...an experience.

[Morat20]

Also, this is the year of ill health. Dad ended up in the hospital early this morning due to excessive blood loss. He work up bleeding heavily.

They're pretty sure it's a drug interaction that magnified his blood thinner from "you bleed really easily" to effectively "Yeah, that's not gonna stop bleeding. Ever".

He was doing better this afternoon (his BP was back to normal, as opposed to numbers that make doctors move very quickly). but they've had to stick 6 pints of various variations of blood in him since the wee hours to get there. (Whole blood, platelets, plasma...).

Basically they're just restoring his body's ability to clot via bags of someone else's platelets until both drugs are clear of his system. It seems to have stopped or at least massively slowed the bleeding, so so far so good. Tomorrow and Sunday will be observation plus slowly putting him back on his meds (not the interacting one he got, clearly -- but that was a short-term treatment anyways) to make sure he doesn't start bleeding again. They're hoping to avoid going in to take a look (although hey, they can do that endoscopically). I think they're pretty confidant it'll sort itself out and not reappear (however they measure the ability for your blood to clot, his numbers were....horrendously bad).

If he hadn't woken up.....he wouldn't have. I don't think he would have died (or at least not permanently) once he got to the ER, since while he as losing it fast he wasn't losing it faster than they could put in...but his vitals got really bad before they got better.

And to add insult to injury, he found out he had a UTI the unpleasant way.

[Signe]

I'm not sure what the "unpleasant way" is, but the entire dad episode sounds horrible and scary.  I'm glad he's doing better now.  Hope that continues!  I hope that the Morat medical drama season is over, too! 

[Morat20]

I'm not sure what the "unpleasant way" is, but the entire dad episode sounds horrible and scary.  I'm glad he's doing better now.  Hope that continues!  I hope that the Morat medical drama season is over, too! 

Oh god, me too. Mom seems fine, and Dad's just...71 and at the point where drug interactions are just always a huge issue. I don't think anyone considered 'bleeding to death internally' as one of those potential complications.

He's apparently better today, and I'm thinking the danger area has passed if it's just the drug thing. I've got to remember to ask if they still do that offsetting blood donation thing (they  used to, a decade or so ago, let you donate blood in the name of a patient and the hospital basically wrote off that charge - then again, health insurance now). If nothing else, I might donate anyways just to feel like I've contributed. They've stuck like a whole person's worth of blood in him.

I wonder how that artificial blood stuff they're working on is going....

(And the unpleasant way is called "Getting a catheter". You might not notice you have a mild UTI, but when someone sticks a tube up you, the difference between "no UTI" and "mild UTI" is the that in the latter, it feels like they're using a tube made of sandpaper).

[WayAbvPar]

And that is why I take cranberry supplements daily, and drink cranberry juice at the poker table. Fuck UTIs to death.

[Morat20]

And that is why I take cranberry supplements daily, and drink cranberry juice at the poker table. Fuck UTIs to death.

Everyone I know that's had one says the same thing. I don't even know why cranberry juice is supposed to help, but my wife swears by it too.

[Engels]

Its a ph thing I think.

[Rendakor]

I thought cranberry juice was just for when you had your period.

[WayAbvPar]

Only if you order it in an Irish bar.

[Rendakor]

My photoshop skills are quite rusty.

[Signe]

Sometimes I just don't know what you people are on about. 

[Abagadro]

So, going to your ultra-conservative, dickbag Congresscritter-who-you-hate-but-is-the-only-way-to-get-the-insider-tour's office so your kid can get a view of government is somewhat amusing in a bizzaro-world kind of way.

[Ironwood]

Is he the one that could care less ?

[Rendakor]

Since I'm new to this whole family thing, what are some good vacation spots on the East Coast of the US (besides Disney) for an 8 year old boy and 6 year old girl?

[Yegolev]

LegoLand in Florida is something geared toward very small kids, so if you're into that stuff then you have a limited time.

[Mandella]

Since I'm new to this whole family thing, what are some good vacation spots on the East Coast of the US (besides Disney) for an 8 year old boy and 6 year old girl?

Any place with a beach.

[Trippy]

Washington, D.C.

[MahrinSkel]

Washington, D.C.

During daylight hours. After dark, stick to the Federal Triangle (where all the monuments and obvious tourist landmarks are). Don't go very far southeast of there even in daylight.

--Dave

[Teleku]

DC has changed fairly rapidly over the last 5 years or so.  I mean, there are still certainly rough spots, but you might not be up to date.  All of the places I went to hang out and drink/eat in the evenings were places people told me were total dangerous shit holes just 4 years prior.  Obama coming in brought a lot of young people to work in government, who weren't afraid to live in rougher neighborhoods, and so a lot of its been gentrified/hipsterfied.

[Sky]

Thanks, Obama.

[Trippy]

Washington, D.C.

During daylight hours. After dark, stick to the Federal Triangle (where all the monuments and obvious tourist landmarks are). Don't go very far southeast of there even in daylight.

It's not likely he would want to do that with kids in tow.

[Phildo]

I live in one of those recently-gentrified neighborhoods in DC and can vouch for how rapidly parts of the city have changed.  There's still some crime, but nowhere on the level it was 5-10 years ago and everything around me is being developed like crazy.  South Park's SoDaSoPa episode was pretty damn spot on.

[MahrinSkel]

I haven't been to DC in nearly 8 years, and haven't lived there for 13, so I'll defer to people with more recent experience. I remember sitting on the concrete barriers outside Union Station and hearing gunshots come irregularly but steadily from the SE, be nice if that wasn't true anymore.

--Dave

[Abagadro]

Was just there after having been gone 20 years and while I didn't venture much out into what I would consider the truly sketchy parts of town, I was in areas that were less than savory back when I was there (at least after dark) and it is all high-end malls and restaurants now. Very different vibe to the place.

[Rendakor]

LegoLand in Florida is something geared toward very small kids, so if you're into that stuff then you have a limited time.

Seems cool but Florida is sort of far and they'd just be upset we didn't go to Disney.

Washington, D.C.

Is there a lot of kids stuff there? Last time I've been (admittedly more than 10 years ago) it was mostly museums and monuments, which would bore the kids to tears.

Any place with a beach.

This is the easy option. We've plenty of beaches either here in NJ or a stone's throw away.

[Viin]

I think I just shoveled 2000lbs of snow off my driveway. Damn this snow is wet and heavy, and there's a lot!

[Merusk]

This is the easy option. We've plenty of beaches either here in NJ or a stone's throw away.
[/quote]

Jersey? Go to Pigeon Forge, TN. 

My family always did Nag's Head/ Kitty Hawk at the Outer Banks. I was 8-12 those vacation years and enjoyed it as did my siblings. You're within stones throw of Roanoke and some other fun touristy things in that area. Certainly a better time than when my parents took us to Colonial Williamsburg.