I start today’s blog post knowing well in advance that I shall not finish this before I am interrupted by my first meeting of the day.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Learn how long you can safely store foods in the refrigerator.
Food poisoning is very common – it affects millions each year – not to mention very unpleasant. And in most cases, it’s just not possible to taste the bacteria on food that can cause food poisoning. By familiarizing yourself with the safe limits for food storage, you can help avoid illnesses like salmonella and listeria.
Um, until they mold? I’m kidding. I know you can scrape the mold off the food and eat the good parts under it…
Excitement OTP
I went over to ITP-Reader Barb’s house last night for dinner. I fought my way through traffic and stopped at Publix to pick up some wine and bread.
While waiting for Robin (Red Breast) to arrive Allan fixed the squealing brakes on my mountain bike and we sat and chatted. While sitting there a small dog (wearing no collar) wandered into the GarageMahal and onto the deck, realized that we were not the humans for which she was looking and wandered away.
After dinner we sat chatting again only to hear a set of car brakes screeching to a halt. Allan, a fireman sprung to his feet and checked out the situation. When he didn’t return in a prompt fashion we headed out to see what had happened. Apparently this same dog had walked across the street again causing a bit of a bang-up. No one was seriously injured, thankfully, and while we waited for on-duty emergency help the dog wandered back to the scene of the accident. We captured her, not hard to do actually, and one of the neighbors will be taking it a vet to see if there is a chip embedded in it.
ITP Flickr Pic
Nothing.
I’m Trying Not To Harp On My Health
In the past I’ve been told that I’ve used too many electrons talking about my health. Seriously, if things would just get better I’d shut the hell up. My foot is still bothersome on occasion, and I am still struggling with the whole throat/swallowing thing.
I Dodged A Bullet
When I missed the band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Masquerade I figured that I’d not have the chance to see them this year. Last week I heard that they were playing in Athens in October I nearly jumped at the chance to buy a ticket. I was one the checkout page when I decided to look into getting a hotel room for the night and had the thought “I wonder if UGA is playing a home game that weekend…”
And they are.
And because of this there are no rooms to be had.
And I have no desire to be around UGA fans (no offense, I’m a Gator).
So I am not going to get to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club this year after all.
Today’s Personal Project
Have fun. I’ll be taking my boss out for a beverage after work to celebrate his closing on a new condo last night.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, not great, but okay
Current Music – silence as I prepare for that meeting I mentioned
Website Of The Day – Did you know that there is a site that is attempting to cataloging? Yep, it’s called Board Game Geek.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – checking on Sept 1
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 0 (0 cardio)
Days Of Bed-Making – 0
Vegetarian Meals – ?
Carnivorous Meals – ?
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
August Goals
– still TBD
2013 Goals: Measurable
– Get my weight down to 190 pounds so that I can wear a 36″ waist pants comfortably
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Dissolve Sharpened Stone
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Completely run at least one 10k
– Fix all (or at least most) of the things which are wrong with the ITP Estate
2013 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Simplify, simplify, simplify
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
– Take two real vacations, perhaps one abroad
– Take a more proactive approach to meeting women (read “stop being such a pussy”)
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2013
- Pages 1.7 for iPad (Timestompers Guide) — by Sean Wells
- 60 Mountain Lion Tips — by David Sparks and Brett Terpstra
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business — by Charles Duhigg
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy — by Douglas Adams
- Amazing Things Will Happen: A Real-World Guide on Achieving Success and Happiness — by CC Chapman
- So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love — by Cal Newport
- Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life — by Steve Martin
- Who Am I: A Memoir — by Pete Townshend
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
For those not tuned into FB (aka Paulie), I’ll give you the brief overview. Farley is fine; resting at our regular vet for observation today. Bloat is a twisting of the stomach that can be fatal, fortunately, Debbie realized it very quickly at 01:00 and the ER Vet did a good job in a 3 hour surgery. Farls will be home tonight and I’m now going to bed.
-FP
Oh man Steve, I hope all goes well.
Unrelated: I believe 2014 will be the year I *finally* make it to Europe. I just signed up for Brussels Interhash 2014 (in July) for $340 (that’s €250 to you and me). Now I need to figure out all of the details…
Brussels should be fun – I can’t wait! What a great 49th birthday trip!
Dinner was fun, glad Allan got your squaking brakes fixed, I guess that means you need to ride the bike again someday soon. And, we don’t usually get that sort of excitement out on the street, it is a straightaway……
Hope Farley is all better soon!
Steve, so happy to hear that Farley’s going to be OK! Is that a common thing in his breed? How did you notice a problem?
I saw that about Farley. I’ve been through it twice, once with Toby the Basset (he was treated with just decompression) the other was a Saint, he had surgery but didn’t make it out of the OR. Just a horrible experience. Great Danes are the number one breed of dog at risk for bloat. Did they do a gastropexy??
Today is my last day of work for 5 days, I can’t wait. We aren’t going anywhere and don’t have much planned. I just want to take it easy and recharge…turning 44 is all the excitement I need this weekend.
This is our second go-round with this in a large breed. I don’t know if anyone got to meet Pressley- a Cattohoola- Dane mix. Not nearly as big as the Farls, but died of the same thing- we think. The vet at the time had no clue what the problem was.
Last night, he went outside for a while, then came in and was trying to hurl, but couldn’t. Debbie check his belly and it was distended and painful. And we were off to the races.
No word from our vet, which is just fine as I just now have woke up. I was able to sleep a bit in the car while we were waiting, but it certainly wasn’t restful!!
I hate to say it, but with a dog like Farley, its almost when not if it happens. Both times I was alone and it was late at night (why is it always late at night)?
Oliver was my first go around with bloat, I had no idea what was wrong but I knew something was. Thankfully, he was still mobile…there would have been know way I could have gotten all 165 pounds of him in the car myself. I found Toby all the way at the back of the yard, unresponsive….there was no way I could carry him (he was big for a Basset, 80lbs). The only thing I could think of was to grab the wheelbarrow. It was a bumpy ride but I don’t think he noticed.
They did a gastroplexy during the surgery, so hopefully no more twisting if he bloats in the future. I asked my vet to do one back when he was neutered, but she didn’t want to as he was still growing and she felt like the sutures would fail. We won’t be foregoing this on future deep-chested dog family members.
I just called the vet and he is perkier – he was very doped up when we dropped him off. Fortunately not so doped up that he wouldn’t climb into the car after a gurney ride out to the parking lot. It took four techs to get him on the gurney initially, so they just operated on it. The challenges of having a huge dog.
Martha, sorry you had to go thru it twice. Very lucky Toby for being that far along.
Did the neighborhood dog’s owner ever show Barb? Or will it have to go live with Martha and Nibbles? 😉
To be honest, no idea how far the bloat had progressed, Toby was rarely responsive his last few months. 🙂
With any luck, Martha and Nibbles wont have a place to live very soon, so no extra guests at this time.
Somehow today’s blog has been titled “Paulie” which is very different from the title “A Tale Of Two Blog Posts” that I gave it initially. It’s been a strange year…