Last Friday, I went and picked up a new foster dog in Joliet. He is ~5 year old stray, dark red, about 80 pounds. (He hates it when I sit at the computer typing., like most dogs. As far as they can tell, you’re just sitting there, you may as well be petting them). He was found out near Peoria, so we had a dog relay. The drive home was super stressful, as he wouldn’t settle down, and it was raining, but we made it okay.
He did great over the weekend and we went on a bunch of long walks. He doesn’t pull on the leash, he doesn’t bug other people or other dogs, just sniffs and walks along. Perfect. The first dog I had would baaaarely walk. She started really slow and just went slower and slower, so even though we just went on a walk around the block, by the time we were home again, she’d be going at a turtle pace. The last dog just pulled hard the entire time, plus he loved getting out and running wild. It’s nice to have a happy medium.
Monday I had to take Duke (that’s the name they gave him. So far they’re 3 for 3 regardng giving lame names) to get neutered. Yahoo. Unfortunately, the vet found two tumors on him when he was doing a routine inspection, one that was about the size of half a tennis ball. They removed them, but now, in addition to being a eunuch, he has an 8″ gash on his back. It’s totally yucky. He doesn’t seem to mind very much though, as he’s been as energetic as he was before, though I’ve been trying to keep him settled down.
The vet bill for removing the two tumors was around $400, I believe. On the one hand, it seems like a lot of money to spend on a dog, but on the other hand it seems really cheap for such an invasive surgery plus a biopsy. The same exact surgery on a person would surely be in the thousands. I suppose a lot of that has to do with overhead, especially insurance, but it still seems crazy. If I ever have to get a tumor removed, I’m going to try to get a vet to do it.
We had an earthquake in Illinois last night! So far I haven’t seen any major damage, however several picture frames fell off the wall. (Either that or I never hung them up in the first place.) It was pretty sweet. I’m never going to go to bed again.
With the primary lull, it’s been hard tog et stoked about anything on the Presidential front, but I’ve been getting more and more frustrated with Clinton. It’s been obvious (to me) for a long time that she’s been staying in the race just to hurt Obama, with the hope that she’ll help make him lose 2008 and open the door for her 2012 run. I hoped for awhile that it was just me being cynical, but the sings just keep pointing to that. When Richardson endorsed Obama, the story came that was was telling him that Obama had no chance, now both Clintons seem to be telling the same thing to anyone who will listen. Today, Drudge has a story about how McCain is telling his people to stop attacking Clinton, saying that he would prefer running against her than Obama. Plus, all the polls still show Obama doing better than Clinton v. McCain, and he still has an “insurmountable” lead in the popular vote and delegate count. Yuck.
A part of me wouldn’t mind if Clinton got the nomination, because I believe McCain would crush her and it would be the final death knell for the unrealized Clinton dynasty. Then, when 2012 came around, and 2016 after, there’d be no risk of Clinton trying again. Of course, I still really strongly favor an Obama presidency, but I guess the silver lining would be saying goodbye to HC.
(Also, I’m going to start a rumor that my sister named her daughter so she would share initials with the former first lady. Don’t tell her I started it; she’d never forgive me.)
First non-house blog post in awhile. That’s exciting. Sorta…
2008 has so far not been a great year for my book reading habit. It started off strong with a handful of really great reads: The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, kicked off the year. It was great, as most things recommended to me by this person are. Then my brother recommended We Got the Neutron Bomb, an oral history of LA punk rock that was awesome, especially as it hit me right when I was on a LA punk kick. Then I read a handful of other, less memorable things and some poetry that was fine, then Herzog by Saul Bellow, which was also great. So I was really on a roll. Then I started reading Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins. And I hit a wall.
I shouldn’t have been totally taken by surprise. The first Tom Robbins book I read was Jitterbug Perfume, which I loved. Then I read Still Life With Woodpecker, which I hated. I guess my odds were 50-50 that I’d like it, based on past performance. That said, when I first bought it a guy at the bookstore said it was his favorite book ever, so I had higher hopes than I might have otherwise. Then I started reading it. And it’s been two months and I still haven’t finished it. Because it sucks.
I have a problem when reading books. I can’t start one novel before finishing another, so if I get to a novel I don’t enjoy reading, it tends to stick around on my bed table for a long time while I read magazines and online stuff as much as possible to avoid having to go back to it. It happened last year with Infinite Jest, although that wasn’t because it sucked so much as it was a difficult read, although rewarding. The problem with Fierce Invalids is just that it isn’t any good.
I don’t know what I really don’t like about it. Mainly because none of the characters are very likeable, they don’t seem to do anything interesting, and Robbins style can be kinda tedious. Like in Woodpecker, the main character is a “rebel” and totally plays by his own rules. One of those rules is apparently that 15 year-old girls are appropriate targets for sexual conquest, which, though he never follows through, I still don’t enjoy the long passages about his plans with them. I don’t know, I guess I’m a prude. There’s also some blather about how sweet pyramids are, like in Woodpecker, and I still don’t care. But I’m only about 3/4 of the way into it, so I guess it still has a chance to redeem itself. I guess I just wanted to write about my frustration with it because I hope it will kinda spark me into actually finish it. So that’s all I got. As soon as I finish it, I get to start Memoirs from Hecate County, which I’m really excited about, so I should put the pedal to the metal, so to speak, and power through. So that’s all I got. I’ll go read a bit from it now and let you know how it goes.
Yo. So I’ve like, totally got another video to show. Totally sweet.
Colin:
So what you’re saying is that…you like blogs
Corwyn:
I’m actually looking at brett’s blog right now
YES!!!!!
In an earlier post, I went into some detail about my voting experience in the last several elections. The theme basically was that, for the mot part, an individual vote doesn’t matter, especially in states that are very clearly going one way or another. In this situation, I’ve often voted not for my favorite candidate, but just to toss my vote in where I think it’s marginally more valuable. Example: my voting for Nader in ’00 and my recent vote in the Republican primary for McCain.
I feel good about both of those decisions, however I was kind of put to the test today when I talked to a certain Texan Republican who voted early in the Democratic primary. He voted for Clinton on the idea that McCain would have a better chance beating her than Obama. My question now is whether there’s any difference between what I’ll call positive v negative strategic voting. I voted in the Republican primary for McCain because, though I’m less likely to vote Republican in the general election, McCain was still my first choice for a Republican. The other voter went in for Clinton, though wouldn’t vote for her in a million years. We each voted for a candidate that wasn’t our first choice, and neither of us affected the outcome of the more important race. Still, I feel like I made a good, responsible decision and I think the other voter made an irresponsible choice. But I’m obviously partisan re: not liking Clinton… So.. That’s my dilemma. Is the only right thing to do voting for who you think best suits the job? Can you vote strategically if you actually like the candidate? Is it any different than voting as a spoiler? I can’t decide, however I do plan on holding the other voter very responsible if Clinton somehow pulls off the nomination and the presidency.
Hey, what’s more interesting than reading my boring blog? Reading ABOUT my boring blog.
Seriously. My sister was very concerned today because someone spent a long time looking at her blog, and they got to her blog via mine. Hyperlinks! Anyhow, we talked about the IP address, which I won’t publish because that’s bad form, but that person has also spent a good amount of time reading my blog, so I got curious. Also, the IP is owned by Amoco, which means that someone is using valuable company resources to see pictures of my house and my sister’s daughter. That’s probably why gasoline is so expensive. (Of course, whatever IP databases exist could be out of date or something, but let’s imagine it’s some high-flying oil tycoon who’s super interested in us.) So, if you’re that person, let us know. Just cause we’re curious.
In other about-my-blog info, I’d like to thank Tracy and Colin for combining for a whoppin’ 50% of all my incoming non-search engine traffic. Way to go! Also, I see that nearly half my readers still use Internet Explorer, which means they weren’t able to view the latest video. I’m putting it on YouTube as we speak, which should eliminate that problem, but people need to wise up and use them some open source browsing software. That’s where it’s at!
Finally, a round-up of my favorite search terms. #1- “Porshe” Whoever came to the site because of that keyword will surely have been disappointed to find I was blogging about a faux-German technopop outfit and not the fancy cars. My apologies to you, sir. #2- ” stray dog submissive peeing around men” Unforatunately, this person was probably looking for advice, like I was a few weeks ago, and instead just found my brief mention. (Dog update: He’s peeing waaaay less as late, so that’s good. Bad? He’s going to be leaving me on Wednesday, I think. I’m going to miss him for sure.). #3- “flying nun anniversary box set” Finally, someone found some useful information. Last summer I ordered the box set from New Zealand rather than from Amazon, saving myself a ton of money. Hopefully that person followed my advice.
What lessons can we learn from this three search strings? Basically a third of the time, my posts are totally useless. A second third of the time my posts are on topic, so theoretically useful, however not helpful. The final third of my posts are, I hope, actually helpful. 33% ain’t bad!
In related box set news, I got a 2-disc collection of teh Best of George Jones. I just got it for the definitive “A Good Year For the Roses”, however the rest of the collection is also totally sweet. Good workin’ music, if I do say so myself. I mean, it’s enjoyable to listen to while you work. It doesn’t, unfortunately, necessarily lead to good work. (Related note: If you’re interested in feeling totally inept and frustrated, consider redoing an apartment. Every day’s a bad day!)