I have a Lhasa Apso named Pebbles, who is about 15 years old. I know she doesn’t have too much time left as that is pretty old for a dog. Well, this past weekend she lost sight in her one remaining eye. The vet said that she has a detached retina, and there really isn’t much that can be done. She lost her other eye due to acute glaucoma. That was many years ago. When a dog has acute glaucoma, it is likely to get the same thing in the other eye within a year, so the vet said. To prevent or at least delay that from happening, we were prescribed some medicine that we have been putting in her eye twice a day ever since.
Over the last year, we have known that she was losing her sight as her eye was becoming more and more cloudy with age. However, she was still able to see out of it, just not as well. She already a bit hard of hearing. Her smell, I’m not sure is all too great either, but I’m not too sure of that. However, she still got quite excited whenever she saw the leash and thus knew a walk was coming, or when someone rang the doorbell and came home. And then this past weekend. Her eye discharged a lot of stuff and was a bit swollen, and I was sure that the glaucoma finally caught up with the other eye. However, that was not the case, but the end result is the same, she can no longer see. The vet said she is not in any pain, and that we have to keep putting the meds in because if she does get glaucoma in her eye, it will be painful for her.
So now, I watch my little baby walk around the house bumping into things left and right. She actually is quite a bit more active now than she was before this weekend, when all she pretty much did all day was sleep. I don’t know if she is trying to get used to her loss of sight or what, but she is always walking around now, maybe exploring her surroundings? She is always also spinning in circles, which she used to only do when she was about to poop. We put her bowl of water and food in the kitchen, and when she is hungry or thirsty she does manage to find it. Except for the first day that it happened, when I suppose she was probably in shock and just slept all day, she still has quite an appetite, which I suppose is a good sign. We used to open the door to the backyard and she would go out, go to the bathroom, then come back. However, now we carry her to the grass, she knows to do her business, and then we carry her back inside and let her roam around.
I took her for a walk also the past couple days. The first time, she did not want to go more than a few feet as I suspect she was quite scared and not sure where she was going. The 2nd day I led her more forcefully with the leash and we went up and down the street along the sidewalk. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but I do know that when she had her sight, she loved going for walks. Maybe she will again if she gets used to her blindness?
When this all first happened, I honestly thought she was dying as she was not eating and not moving much. The next day she was better and eating, and then every day since then she has been up and walking all about, though bumping into things here and there. For each of those days, I probably just stared and watched her for at least 10 minutes at a time. It was quite sad at first, and then after that, quite cute and funny watching her try to get about. Still sad though. I know the end is definitely close, and that makes me quite sad. It makes me have to ask questions of when is it enough. The vet said she is not in any pain at all, and she is still quite energetic, and eats a lot, and he did not make any recommendations of the sort. Its all quite sad, and although she has brought so much love and joy all these past 15 years, it makes me ponder sometimes if its worth having pets because all you do is fall in love with them, and its always so painful because most of the time you outlive them. In the end, I think all the memories, good times, and companionship make it all worth it in spite of the always difficult ending. This little one has gone through a lot, not just this past weekend but through the years, and she is still going strong. I’m hoping that will continue for a lot longer, though I’m sadly realizing that is just wishful thinking….
This place opened about a mile from my home. I like hot dogs and I like sausages and this is close to home, so gotta try it out. Went in with the girlfriend last night as we didn’t feel like eating in. They have like 15 different types of sausages. I got the Italian sausage one and she got the Kobe beef one. Each were something like 3.50, so not that much money. As we were waiting for our food to be cooked, the person I assume to be the owner asked me if we lived nearby cuz they just opened their 2nd store in Brea. She started talking about how their dogs come from the same place as Top Dog in Berkeley, the apparently popular hot dog joint up by Cal. I’ve never heard of or been there though, so will have to ask some of peeps from Cal how it is.
Anyway, our food finally comes and you can add sweet or dell relish, onions, sauerkraut, like 8 different kinds of mustard, normal ketchup, and other stuff that I can’t remember. Added my condiments and was set to go. Bit into it, and I thought it was pretty good. I like adding Italian sausage to my spaghetti when I make it, so not used to really eating in in sandwich form. It was tasty. I liked it better than the girlfriend’s Kobe beef one. If you like sausages then this is a decent place to go to if you want to get lunch or something. However, for those that like to fill themselves up when they eat, one dog will not be enough for you as these sausages are not all that big. I thought it was good as did LK, but she likes Jerry’s Woodfried Dogs better. When we were close to finishing, the owner asked us if we liked and we told her it was good. She then asked us if we wanted the hot links one on the house to try out, and who are we to turn down free food! When that finished, we ate. It was too hot for LK so she gave me her half and I finished it all. I really liked it, better than the Italian one I had. Although, when my dad or brother make hot links on the grill, I think it tastes just as good if not better. But, bottomline, it was still good and I probably will go back at some point to try out some other of the 15 different dogs on the menu, especially since that place is close to my home, is not very expensive, and I am a lazy ass when it comes to cooking my own food.
We are now in August, and thus nearing the end of summer. And as we near the end, I have to say that temperature wise this is one of the best summer ever for me! With the exception one week when it was exceptionally hot, almost Vegas like when you went from inside to outside, this has been a great summer. I know other parts of the country have been scorching, but not here in So Cal. I absolutely hate the heat. As I have ranted many times before, cold vs heat, give me cold any time, as for that I can always just put more clothes on. But heat? Well, even if you go naked it will be scorching hot, and you will only gross others out and just give yourself a sunburn.
All summer long, I have been able to eat outside during lunch, which I have not been able to do in previous years. I have been able to go without the a/c. And it was still warm enough that I was able to go swimming and such whenever I wanted to. It was never so hot that I just felt lazy and wanted to veg at home (I did veg at home during, but the reasons for doing so were not because of the heat!). I never said no to anyone who asked me to go out because of the heat (I just said no for other reasons..hehe). And I didn’t have to change my blankets in bed as it didn’t get so hot at night that I was not able to sleep. That is by far the #1 reason that I hate the heat. You disturb or interrupt my sleep and I will not be happy.
So, here’s hoping that this blog post does not jinx everything and the temperature stays the way it has been for most of this summer and on into the fall.
This past weekend I went to the annual Comic Con in San Diego. I’ve been going for years and years and this year was no different. Its become a tradition now. Go down to Comic Con, walk around and attend panels, take pictures, then eat dinner with 2 of my cousins. Yup, only two. I think I’ve gone something like 4 of the last 5 years, with the one year I missed falling on my sister’s wedding. Before that time, I had not gone in years, maybe like 10 years before that or so. And, like every year I mention this, it seems to get more crowded every year that I go. Its actually so huge now that I believe some of the articles that I’ve read about the convention being too mainstream now.
When I first when to this many, many years ago, it really was for the geeks. It was primarily about the comics, sci fi, fantasy, etc. Now? Its funny cuz when you read about the Comic Con now, you see articles on how Angelina Jolie is going to go, or how this or that movie studio is going to have all of their cast there, and this and that. I don’t want to say that Hollywood ruined the convention like some have said since I still have fun there, but like all this in this country, corporations only care about money and that what they have turned this convention into, a marketing extravaganza. For them, its not about the fun, the gathering of people with similar tastes and interests. For them, its all about trying to promote their movie, tv show, game, etc and to try to earn more money. They don’t care about the fun, just about the money.
What else did I notice? I don’t know if it was just me, but it seems like less and less people are dressing up. I don’t mean to say that no one dresses up anymore. No, you still see lots of people dressed up in costumes. However, to me, it seems like most of the people who are dressed up are now the people who are paid to dress up, and no longer really the fans getting all geeked up. Is it because less geeks now attend the show and more mainstream people do, as the studios want? But, like I said, that’s just what it seemed like to me. I could be wrong, and maybe I just wasn’t as observant as years past. But, I was never hard core geek, so the move towards mainstream doesn’t bother me all that much because I swing slightly that way myself watching all the movies and TV shows that I do.
Anyway, bottomline is that yes I still had fun and I still plan on going. I will probably give up on going to panels though as they are not worth waiting for in my opinion. I did see 2 panels for Fringe and V, but did not have to wait long for them because they were back to back in the same room so once I got into one, I got into both. However, my friends went to see Chuck and they went super early in the morning and still did not get that great a seat. The walking around and just looking at stuff is still fun and that’s what I did most of the time. This was also the girlfriend’s first time there and she had fun as well, though she was of the opinion that it was too mainstream and not enough comic book as the name implies it should be. But, most important, she said she had fun!
So apparently this guy is all the rage right now on the internet. I don’t watch TV in the summer, so not sure if he has had commercials on TV or not. I didn’t even click on any of the ads he had on the internet. However, before the movie Inception started, it showed a commercial with him, and I thought it was kind of funny. It got my dad to laugh too. But, I just read an article today that said despite the wild popularity, sales are down. LOL. I’ve never used Old Spice deodorant before. When I was young and just started using deodorant, I went to the store and took a whiff of pretty much every one that was out there in the store (hehe, yup true story), and there was no Old Spice brand that I liked at all. And have never used it since then.
But that is another story. What I really wanted to discuss was commercials, ads and marketing in general. Obviously I am in the minority, but commercials just do not work on me. I am not the kind of person who sees an ad and then think, dang, I gotta buy that. In fact, I hate commercials and they have quite the opposite effect on me. If I see stuff that annoy me, it’ll just make me not want to buy the product. I block all ads while I surf the internet, such that whenever I do see some type of banner ad when surfing on a public computer, I’m like WTF is that? I use a DVR now and always skip commercials, and even before DVR’s, I used to time record the shows I watched on a VCR and then fast forward the commercials. Sorry, but its a waste of my time to watch 20 minutes of commercials for every hour show I watch. I won’t do it, and I’m not going to do it if I don’t have to.
The only advertisements that work on me? They are the coupons/sales that I am specifically looking for. If I know I want to buy say a hard drive, I will look through maybe the Sunday ads. Or I will look at different websites for the cheapest price. Or I will go to slickdeals or something each day until I see an ad for a hard drive. But, in almost all cases, an ad only works for me when I already want that product, and it almost never works on me to buy something I wasn’t already going to buy. There are obviously a couple exceptions to this, like if a new restaurant opens up where I live and I see a flyer and I will try it out. Or I see a coupon to a restaurant that I frequent often or will do so again. I’ll always try out new foods. Video games? I usually have in the back of my mind certain games that I would buy if the price were right, so if I happen to see a sale for that game at my price, then sure. Or I see coupons for things I regularly buy, like maybe toilet paper or the aforementioned deodorant, etc.
Marketing is a funny thing. We seem to have taken in this country the strategy of just bombarding people with every imaginable item and ad out there, hoping that at least a few people buy. The ultimate example of this is spam. You people out there do realize that the reason that people still send out spam is because there are a couple of you out there who actually click the links to those ads and actually buy the product right? I always found it funny that this is the marketing approach so many companies take because its hard for me to imagine commercials getting people to buy stuff since they don’t really work all that much on me. Targeted ads seems like the best way to go, but in mediums such as TV, the best you can do is show commercials during certain programs you know your audience watches. Maybe that’s why Google is so popular, as its much easier to show an ad when you know what the user is searching for. I’d hate to be in marketing because it seems so hit or miss to me. There are so many commercials out there where I thought that’s lame, and it did well. What works for one company often does not work for another. What works one year for a company doesn’t work the following year for that same company. It just seems so hard to predict.
Anyway, getting back to the Old Spice Guy. It kind of sucks I guess for Old Spice that sales have not increased, I guess. Though I will say it might be too soon to tell as the commercials are relatively new. But, if things do not pick up, it would appear there would be only one winner to that campaign, the Old Spice Guy himself Isaiah Mustafa.
I’ve been seeing more and more complaints on my friends’ facebook walls complaining about the heat. So, I guess summer, late as it may be, is finally upon us. Like many of the complainers out there, I am not a big fan of the heat at all. It just sucks. I usually eat outside for lunch, but in the summer, its just too hot to do so. At least in the winter, when its cold, I can just put a jacket on and then go outside and get out of the office to enjoy my lunch. But when its hot? I can’t very well just take my clothes off. Ummm, and even if I did, it’d still be pretty hot. So, pretty much at my desk or in the break room. Yay.
I actually don’t think its been that hot yet. Definitely hotter than last week, where it was totally ideal to me and very nice temperature outside. To me, when its hot during the day its not so bad. But, when its hot at night and I can’t sleep, that is when I absolutely hate it. I just cannot sleep when its hot. Just lie there and it just sucks. It doesn’t even help when I use no blankets. I guess I can turn the AC on, but it gets so expensive using it every day/night. When I move into my new home, I will have to see how the temperature is there. Its a one story place so hopefully it will be much better. Hopefully! There is a large fan in the attic that’s supposed to cool the place down as well as a ceiling fan in every bedroom. So, we shall see in time I suppose. Maybe I could jump in the pool and cool down that way!
LOL, as you can see, I got tired of writing a post today, so just complaining about something I’ve complained about before. It was kind of neat though that when driving home from work I saw lots of thunder and then it started raining. Reminded me of when I was in Houston and it summer, hot, humid, rained, and I still sweat. Yup, I complain once a year about the heat, but at least I ain’t in Texas.
Over a few nights the last couple weeks I have been tinkering with different things on this site, and do you know what I found out? I don’t know too much about coding. If its not a simple, hit the button and the blog posts, then I don’t know how to do it. As some of you can tell by reading this, I use WordPress, which is great. Its free, and makes things pretty easy for me. There are thousands of themes I can choose from, thousands of plug-ins, and a lot of sites and documents out there for things that I do not know how to do.
I downloaded a plug-in called Now Reading Reloaded, which is pretty nice. I like to read, and I wanted a way to post what I’ve read on the site. Not necessarily review them, but just to have them. On Facebook I use Visual Bookshelf, but for some reason it doesn’t post to my wall anymore whenever I add a new book that I’ve read. I like that feature cuz if my friends see what I read, then they might have read it as well and we can discuss or something. So, if it doesn’t post on my wall its worthless to me. I think there is another application on Facebook called GoodReads that I will have to check out. But, anyway getting back to the WordPress plugin. I downloaded it, but I just couldn’t get it to work right. I mean, it worked, but it looked totally different than the rest of my blog whenever I clicked on viewing my library. I read all the documentation for it, but I have no clue what they mean cuz I don’t know how to code anything at all. I think its all in PHP. They tell me that I have to copy the template to my theme, which I did, but then they tell me to add codes to it to make it compatible with my theme, and I’m like what? They are talking another language to me, and I don’t understand it so much that I don’t even know what questions to ask. I spent so many hours those few nights, and finally today I just deactivated the plugin and will give it a rest for now. Maybe I’ll try that other app I got on Facebook for now.
At least I can always change my theme/skin whenever I want. That monkeys can do. 
As some of you may already know, there was a 5+ earthquake near Palm Springs today around 5:00 pm that I felt while seated at my cubicle at work. Have a few thoughts on that matter. Firstly, when it happened I just said out loud “Earthquake” and then just sat there waiting for it to end. It didn’t feel really big so I just took it in. After it all happened, everyone in the office was asking if everyone else if they felt it. About typical. It was close to 5, so I joined in a little bit, then took off.
Second, I have lived in Southern California my entire life. In the last few months to a year we have had quite a few decent sized earthquakes. Now, I know my memory is really bad, and its even worse when I try to remember childhood stuff since I was even less observant back then, but I do not recall having this many similarly sized earthquakes in such a short time span. Is it just me? Or has it happened in the past as well and I just did not feel or remember them? I would believe you if you told me I was wrong since even I do not trust my memory sometimes.
Third, I went to the gym after work and every single local station had preempted their normal programming for the news of the quake. This is not new, as it always happens. But, as I was listening to them tell you how to prepare for an earthquake, I have noticed that they now teach you things differently than when I was a kid in elementary school. Back in the day, they taught us to duck and cover beneath a table or your desk, or stand in a doorway. Now? No longer the case. Instead, you want to duck and cover NEXT to something large, like a table or such.. Why? Cuz if you are under the table and it collapses you can get really hurt. But, if you are next to a table and something large falls, the table might stop the fall in such a way that it does not hit you. I wonder when in all the years they changed that.
Finally, as I said, I have lived in So Cal all my life. And being as such, you can really tell who is a lifelong Californian and who is a transplant by observing their reactions to earthquakes. Like I said, for this one, it was not very big so I just sat there. But, while I was leaving, my coworker told me that someone had tears in her eyes and then immediately ran outside scared to death. Now, I’m not saying that I would not be completely scared if the Big One came, but for these moderately sized ones, I like most Californians, just kind of shrug a shoulder and wait for it to end before gossiping about it and then getting back to our normal lives. Are there any So Cal’s out there who freak out about any and all earthquakes and are very fearful of them? And if so, why are you still in this state that will eventually sink into the Pacific Ocean?
As many of you know since I posted about it many times here, and here, and finally here (please note that the first link I posted got many people grossed out as they got to look up close and personal to yours truly!) I got braces years ago, wore them for about 3 years, moved to retainers full time, then finally retainers just at night. Since moving to night only, I’ve kept up with it and to this day still wear them every day at night. Its just a routine for me now, just like brushing my teeth everyday. After I eat dinner at night, I brush my teeth, floss, then put my retainers in for the rest of the night and bed. I wake up the next morning, put my retainers in some water and Efferdent, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, then put the retainers in my retain container. No big deal. Will I keep up with this schedule? I won’t know until the future, but I can’t imagine why I’d stop as it doesn’t take that much time to do so. Plus, I heard that if you do not wear your retainers for a while, not only will your teeth move and be crooked again, but when you do put them back on your teeth will hurt like hell. Currently, when I put them in every night, I feel pressure against my teeth, but they do not hurt or feel uncomfortable at all. After a few seconds, its as if they are not there.
Anyway, last week I had my “final” appointment with my orthodontist. She looked at my retainers and my teeth and said they still looked good. Just ton continue wearing them every night. I also had a cleaning last weekend and my dentist told me that I still have gaps in my teeth, but I don’t notice them in the mirror or anything, just when I eat cuz I always get food stuck in those areas. So, I guess in that regard my dentist is right as I’m not supposed to have gaps in my teeth after braces. I don’t know if you all recall, but in one of my posts I said that I have no problem with how my teeth now look, and only a dentist would probably notice the “poor job” that was done. I still continue to feel that way because ultimately I think most people get braces because of the way their teeth look for themselves and for others. And if the layman notices straight teeth, then good enough huh?
But regardless, my orthodontist said that I no longer need to come in for any appointments. The only time I will ever need to do so again is if my retainers break or are lost, or they become lose and I need to tighten them. I’m hoping that none of those things ever happen and that last week really was the last time I would be going over there for any orthodontic reason! Here’s to continuing to treat retainer wear the same as teeth brushing so that Jasers keeps straight teeth forever!
Had a conversation the other day with my sister because I was trying to talk to a lender that she referred me to. Well, talking is how I would call it. She thought of it as a negotiation, and I failed miserably. Why? Because I told my sister that at one point, the lender said to me, “Calm down. I know you are feeling very stressed, I can hear it in your voice, but we can get this done.”
I told that to my sister and laughed, and was like, “Aren’t you supposed to be good at poker or something?” Hahah, ummm, I wish I was, but I’m not really that good. Also, poker to me is different. Its a game. I can lie in a game. I can’t in real life. In real life, I’m way too honest for my own good, always thinking that if I say or do something I might hurt the other person’s feeling in some way. Why I feel like that? I have no idea. Anyway, I think I got what I wanted from the lender in the end. It was better than what I was getting before, but my sister let it be known that it was not as good as I could of gotten! Haha.
But, I guess that is an age old question in what makes a person happy? If someone lives in a bubble all his life and is happy, then isn’t that good enough for him? If he never knew that life outside the bubble would be “better” and make him happier, then why the need to burst that bubble? Everyone always says that there are always better things, better places, better prices, better anything. So, at what point are you happy enough and okay? When is accepting a decision a good one and when is it just settling? Only you yourself can answer that. But, in my opinion, striving to get better is a good thing yes. But at some point if you keep doing so, you have to ask yourself if you are happy “striving”. If you are not, then you should stop and accept and be happy with what you have already strove for. Is striving and strove a word???
In my situation above, I think I was happy. Could I of been happier? Sure. But, I don’t think I was willing or able to do what was necessary (strive!) to get to that happier point, as my negotiating and speaking skills are pathetic and I am not comfortable at all doing so, hence the quote from the lender above. So, yes, I was/am happy. I got the cake, just not the icing!
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