Pet Grooming 101

 

 I live with a lot of pets so early on my wife and I purchased a dog grooming kit from a pet store. I figured I might be good at it because I had a background in cattle grooming through 4-H when I was younger so why not give it a whirl.  Previous experiences with grooming cattle taught me to be patient with animals, and I'd never been kicked before so I am pretty fearless. 

Our dog is a mixed breed doodle and generally very calm anyway so I had good luck trimming him.  We also have three cats, but only one in particular that's very fluffy and in need of an occasional hair cut. It usually goes well but sometimes he's temperamental.  Over the years I've gotten better at hiding the mistakes from when they move too quick, but often there's no more than a patch or two where I cut too much off. The embarrassment in poor old fluff's face when he comes in from another trimming...  He used to bite and claw a lot, but he gets so matted up it's pure relief when he gets a good buzz cut. 

Cat's aren't much different to trim only they scratch way more, so it's best to wear gloves and sturdy clothes.   Beware the hind legs that come out of no where and try to scar your thighs. It's better if you are careful and just go slow so the cat relaxes a little. It's not perfect advice so don't go too slow either, act fast when they are calm and you can accomplish a lot quickly. It's a power move for bellies, some cat's will dig in here, but if the mats are coming free they usually relent.  Keep a cool head and watch for biting, kicking, scratching and you'll do just fine

So that sums up my level of amateur expertise, I tend to look to the experts for real tips. Here's some tips I nabbed from the Internets (thanks My Pet & I blog - top search result presented on google)

 Seven tips for grooming your dog at home:

    Regularly brush your dog's coat to prevent matting.
    Trim your dog's hair – but use caution.
    Safely trim your dog's nails.
    Check your dog's skin as you groom.
    Teach your dog to enjoy grooming sessions.
    Regularly check your dog's ears.
    Don't bathe your dog too often.

All good tips, except I usually forget to do the first one as often as we should. Live and learn, until next time, keep it fashionable!

Football is hard

Having a son that plays football has taught me a lot about dedication, sportsmanship, and willingness to go all in for the team.  It amazes me because when I was a teen I  wasn't really interested in team sports. I much preferred doing things like biking, building, and running wild and free in the country.  I got into music and joined a garage band with some friends, but we never really took it too serious.  Football on the other hand requires a boatload of dedication. Early morning weightlifting and video review sessions, after school practice, games every week or two, and many bumps and bruises to heal from in between. It's amazing to see the level of dedication from the coaches and referees to family, classmates, and friends who show up to watch, coordinate, or volunteer. Beyond anything else there;s so much that goes on during the game that requires skill full thinking and improvisation.  Having different perspectives from the sidelines vs the dynamic out on the field on cheers, boos, calls made by refs, and the split second decisions made by the coaches and team mates, it's a complicated yet beautiful mess.  

The team didn't win many games this year, but they played amazing in spite of various player injuries, some arguably bad calls, and other slip ups. They played hard right down to the last second every game. Even this last game, after a penalty called in the final seconds, as they got a touchdown that inevitably didn't count, it feels like the ref just pulled the rug out from under them. You have to wonder how he feels about it too, perhaps he stands by it due to his perspective on the field or personal experiences, perhaps he thinks he made a mistake but it's too late to change his mind. Who knows, he made a call in a game, and sometimes luck isn't in your favor. Maybe it was meant to give the team a rest to heal up, grow stronger, and get right back to it. With training camps and off season leagues, it's never really over if you are dedicated enough. I hope some day I can feel that dedicated about a sport, but for now, family and too many hobbies are my jam.

Until next time, appreciate each other and don't work too hard! Or do work hard, but enjoy every moment.

Emulation Nation

 

Emulation is defined as "the effort to match or surpass a person or achievement, typically by imitation." In the computing world it's a slightly different explanation "reproduction of the function or action of a different computer, software system, etc." 

For the purpose of making society better, maybe it comes down to these two rules

If you are human: emulate good behaviour so others will emulate good behaviour too.

If you're a computer: emulate a better computer so other computers may emulate better computers (or video game consoles)

What else should we emulate to make the world better for those around us?

Success? Sympathy? Compassion? Empathy? Love? Loyalty? Fairness?

Docking Stations

 

Yeah, you read that correctly, today's post is all about my beef with laptop docking stations through out my career. 

My first job in tech started out with a Dell laptop and the old school docking station that could hold the laptop at an angle so you could still awkwardly use the laptop monitor and go dual screen with all sorts of conveniently wired in devices. The best part was it all connected in with a simple satisfying "click". Most laptop vendors at the time had similar styles all with unique connections on the bottom of the laptop slotted for a specific vintage of docking station. It was great until you had to switch to a new laptop, where every model practically required a new compatible dock. 

Most of my docking stations were always supplied through my job, I didn't own them, so I never gave them much credit but lately I've been feeling the industry has lost its clever design due to standardized ports. Lenovo was a little more compatible between the laptop models. Most companies I worked with preferred Dell or Lenovo, but then one year I got a Microsoft Surface tablet and a little later on ended up in a  sweet remote job that supplied me a Surface laptop and I felt a compatibility alignment which changed my life forever. I had picked up a used surface dock from a Kijiji ad shortly before I started this job and it became my #1 choice. The Surface lineup is not the most powerful systems out there, but generally very performant and the touch screen makes navigation a breeze. 

The dock had a magnetic connector that worked on multiple models for several years and put Apples charging cable to shame (In My Humble Opinion). The Surfaces magnetic connection bus allowed me to dock/undock my devices and worked well most of the time.

 Lately we have more USB options than ever to avoid being locked into a vendor based solution. Since moving back away from Surface laptops from work,  I  picked up a mobile docking unit that connects over USB-C for travel and onsite work. Still I am quickly learning these new models aren't really proper docking stations. They heat up quick and the monitor connectivity can be flaky in some models. Sure good ones provide expansion ports for additional features and network adapters. It's just not the same as that satisfying magnetic "shluck" sound or the old school "clack click" of the manual connectors.  I'm probably the weird one here, but n the world of cyber security programs and documenting the many problems with computers, mundane stuff like that helps bring some necessary excitement to my day.  Sometimes it even helps to make the sound as you dock: Schluck! Unshluck! and so on ... 

Haven't tinkered in the garage much lately so next week I probably will take a break and build or destroy something metal or electronic. Maybe build both! Maybe destroy one electronic thing and build a metal thing. So many choices in life. 

Be good to each other, we only exist for a short time!