"i really need to go out..." "i really need to go out."
<POOP>
"yes, that means I really need to go out."
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Free Bee Raw File Processor from DXO
Rosco wants all his fans to know that DXO / Digital Photographer is offering DXO Optics Pro8 ... for free ...
The only "catch" is that it doesn't handle the raw files of every single digitial camera out there... but it sure handles a lot of them.
Apparently they think you'll become so hooked you will want to buy Optics Pro 9
In any case, it's an interesting AND competent alternative to Lightroom, although Rosco still thinks he probably likes LR more.
bone-link at: http://www.dxo.com/intl/dphotographer
The only "catch" is that it doesn't handle the raw files of every single digitial camera out there... but it sure handles a lot of them.
Apparently they think you'll become so hooked you will want to buy Optics Pro 9
In any case, it's an interesting AND competent alternative to Lightroom, although Rosco still thinks he probably likes LR more.
bone-link at: http://www.dxo.com/intl/dphotographer
Friday, October 24, 2014
My Allergy
Nicki has been having hot spots for the past four months. They come and go, but have mostly been coming of late. They’ll appear on one spot (front legs) only to move to another spot (inside rear hind legs) after Nicki has managed to lick himself into bald spots.
It did not look like he had fleas but just to be an the safe side, in July and August, i applied a topical Frontline. But the hot spots (and scratching) continued.
For the most part, i’ve managed to keep it under a semblance of control by upping his yeas and omega-oil at chow time and applying an OTC anti-hot spot medication at other times. I’ve also shampooed him with $12.00 dollah neem oil and cotton wood bark shampoo, which actually did seem to have an emollient effect.
Alas on Thursday morning, i awoke to a dog that had licked a bright shiny bald spot on his left haunchy during the night.
On inspecting the area i notice ONE flea. So i called up the pet groomers and inquired as to the cost of a flea dip/shampoo. They said they would need proof of his rabies vaccine or, in the alternative, they could call the vet.
Rather than rummage around for Nicki’s rabies certificate i called the vet to alert them to the call.
“Oh we don’t recommend you use a flee shampoo service....”
“Why not?”
“Well we don’t know what chemicals are being used and some of them could cause an adverse reaction and make things worse.”
Welcome to Neurosia.... the country that loves to play the risk game.
Flea bathing has been around for quite some time, and one would think that people in the pet-business would be familiar with the “chemicals” that are generally used in dog flea dipping. It’s not (yet) a Homeland Security Secret. The premise of ignorance is just bullshit.
Of course it is possible that some grooming service would use an unheard of “chemical” and it is further possible that that chemical could cause an “adverse reaction.” Thus, on two degrees of conjecture, it is possible to have a “reasonable basis” for not recommending a flee shampooing service....
“We recommend....”
I interrupt. “How much does one month’s dosage cost?”
“$19.00”
“I’ll be over in 15 minutes.”
“We don’t recommend you give it on an empty stomach....”
“Why not...”
“It could produce an upset; it’s best to wait until....”
“I’ll be over in 20 minutes.”
So Nicki is going to object to an extra chow time? I open up a can of Chicken Mush Delight which he wolfs down before we’re out the door.
I get to the vets, only to discover that they’ve unexpectedly closed for a yearly staff conference. The sign says “ We apologize for the inconvenience.”
I pound very hard on the door and start yelling that I was not told that they would be closed when I said I was coming over and that I was not going to wait until their once-yearly staff conference was over.
They open up.
The person I spoke to was already conferencing so I told the person who opened up that I came for a flea pill @ $19.00
.
She calls up our records, and gives me the pill which i pay for.
“Is it chewable,” I ask, “I wan’t to give it to him right away.”
“Oh we don’t recommend you give it to them in the car be..... :
“JUST DON’T GO THERE!”
“....well they could get an upset...”
“Just answer the question: is it chewable?”
“...well yes.”
“Thanks. Have a nice staff meeting.”
===============================
In the ensuing hours, Nicki’s scratching is a little less frenetic, but he’s still licking. The itchiness can persist even after the fleas are killed, so i start supplementing the treatment with cortisone spray.
You can’t buy Animax anymore; but I use Google to look up its all-purpose anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory ingredients and lo and behold I have two of the ingredients in separate ointments and a third which will do just as well.
The only problem with the Pseudo Animax + Anti-Itch spray is that Nicki likes to lick it off, which of course only makes matters worse.
I’ve decided against Cone Collars because I think they are torture devices. How would we like it if someone tied our hands when we had a ferocious itch?
I hit on the trick of applying the ointments before we go out, so that Nicki will get distracted with other things and the ointments will have at least some chance to take effect. But this is going to be problematic if it continues into the next two weeks when I have to board him.
So this morning, I decide I have to go to the huckster vet to get a prescription for prednisone.
I call up and they have an appointment for 11.30. They can see me if I can get there in 15 minutes, which I do. Of course, once i get there the person at the desk is not the person i already spoke to. She starts the fol de rol, noch einmal
“What are we seeing Nicki today for?
“I just told you over the phone, didn’t you write it down?”
I force her to look at the damn computer screen she is staring at anyways.
“Has he been treated for fleas?”
“Will you just please look at the file on screen, I really don’t want to have to repeat myself.”
Day by day, i find it increasingly insulting to be treated like some sort of object whose purpose it is to endlessly repeat answers to the same questions over and over again. It’s actually the sort of thing the KGB and the Gestapo used to do to wear down and debase their “clients”.
Once in the examining room, the “veterinary assistant” starts with the same questions.
“I’ll save it for the doctor.”
{Enter doctor}
“.... and sooooooooo I think he needs to be put on prednisone.”
The vet ruffles through the hair (and of course sees nothing).
“Well we could do that but it could be parasitic mange in which case prednisone would be contra-indicated; I recommend a skin ....”
I cut to the chase: “How much?”
Fuck it. Fee for Service = Question on Fee.
“Why do you think it could be mange?” I ask
“Well, the generalized hair loss indicates it could be mange...”
I know he’s lying through his teeth; but he has me over a barrel.
“How long will it take?”
“Oh just five minutes.”
Thirty four dollars for five minutes... Not a bad huck.
“Okay.”
In three minutes he comes back with the result of his scrapings: No mange. No parasites were visible he explains.
Wonderful. Thirty four dollars for him to look at some skin scrapings under a microscope. THAT is the test, two minutes of which involved walking to the other room and back.
It did not look like he had fleas but just to be an the safe side, in July and August, i applied a topical Frontline. But the hot spots (and scratching) continued.
For the most part, i’ve managed to keep it under a semblance of control by upping his yeas and omega-oil at chow time and applying an OTC anti-hot spot medication at other times. I’ve also shampooed him with $12.00 dollah neem oil and cotton wood bark shampoo, which actually did seem to have an emollient effect.
Alas on Thursday morning, i awoke to a dog that had licked a bright shiny bald spot on his left haunchy during the night.
On inspecting the area i notice ONE flea. So i called up the pet groomers and inquired as to the cost of a flea dip/shampoo. They said they would need proof of his rabies vaccine or, in the alternative, they could call the vet.
Rather than rummage around for Nicki’s rabies certificate i called the vet to alert them to the call.
“Oh we don’t recommend you use a flee shampoo service....”
“Why not?”
“Well we don’t know what chemicals are being used and some of them could cause an adverse reaction and make things worse.”
Welcome to Neurosia.... the country that loves to play the risk game.
Flea bathing has been around for quite some time, and one would think that people in the pet-business would be familiar with the “chemicals” that are generally used in dog flea dipping. It’s not (yet) a Homeland Security Secret. The premise of ignorance is just bullshit.
Of course it is possible that some grooming service would use an unheard of “chemical” and it is further possible that that chemical could cause an “adverse reaction.” Thus, on two degrees of conjecture, it is possible to have a “reasonable basis” for not recommending a flee shampooing service....
“We recommend....”
I interrupt. “How much does one month’s dosage cost?”
“$19.00”
“I’ll be over in 15 minutes.”
“We don’t recommend you give it on an empty stomach....”
“Why not...”
“It could produce an upset; it’s best to wait until....”
“I’ll be over in 20 minutes.”
So Nicki is going to object to an extra chow time? I open up a can of Chicken Mush Delight which he wolfs down before we’re out the door.
I get to the vets, only to discover that they’ve unexpectedly closed for a yearly staff conference. The sign says “ We apologize for the inconvenience.”
I pound very hard on the door and start yelling that I was not told that they would be closed when I said I was coming over and that I was not going to wait until their once-yearly staff conference was over.
They open up.
The person I spoke to was already conferencing so I told the person who opened up that I came for a flea pill @ $19.00
.
She calls up our records, and gives me the pill which i pay for.
“Is it chewable,” I ask, “I wan’t to give it to him right away.”
“Oh we don’t recommend you give it to them in the car be..... :
“JUST DON’T GO THERE!”
“....well they could get an upset...”
“Just answer the question: is it chewable?”
“...well yes.”
“Thanks. Have a nice staff meeting.”
===============================
In the ensuing hours, Nicki’s scratching is a little less frenetic, but he’s still licking. The itchiness can persist even after the fleas are killed, so i start supplementing the treatment with cortisone spray.
You can’t buy Animax anymore; but I use Google to look up its all-purpose anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory ingredients and lo and behold I have two of the ingredients in separate ointments and a third which will do just as well.
The only problem with the Pseudo Animax + Anti-Itch spray is that Nicki likes to lick it off, which of course only makes matters worse.
I’ve decided against Cone Collars because I think they are torture devices. How would we like it if someone tied our hands when we had a ferocious itch?
I hit on the trick of applying the ointments before we go out, so that Nicki will get distracted with other things and the ointments will have at least some chance to take effect. But this is going to be problematic if it continues into the next two weeks when I have to board him.
So this morning, I decide I have to go to the huckster vet to get a prescription for prednisone.
I call up and they have an appointment for 11.30. They can see me if I can get there in 15 minutes, which I do. Of course, once i get there the person at the desk is not the person i already spoke to. She starts the fol de rol, noch einmal
“What are we seeing Nicki today for?
“I just told you over the phone, didn’t you write it down?”
I force her to look at the damn computer screen she is staring at anyways.
“Has he been treated for fleas?”
“Will you just please look at the file on screen, I really don’t want to have to repeat myself.”
Day by day, i find it increasingly insulting to be treated like some sort of object whose purpose it is to endlessly repeat answers to the same questions over and over again. It’s actually the sort of thing the KGB and the Gestapo used to do to wear down and debase their “clients”.
Once in the examining room, the “veterinary assistant” starts with the same questions.
“I’ll save it for the doctor.”
{Enter doctor}
“.... and sooooooooo I think he needs to be put on prednisone.”
The vet ruffles through the hair (and of course sees nothing).
“Well we could do that but it could be parasitic mange in which case prednisone would be contra-indicated; I recommend a skin ....”
I cut to the chase: “How much?”
Fuck it. Fee for Service = Question on Fee.
“Why do you think it could be mange?” I ask
“Well, the generalized hair loss indicates it could be mange...”
I know he’s lying through his teeth; but he has me over a barrel.
“How long will it take?”
“Oh just five minutes.”
Thirty four dollars for five minutes... Not a bad huck.
“Okay.”
In three minutes he comes back with the result of his scrapings: No mange. No parasites were visible he explains.
Wonderful. Thirty four dollars for him to look at some skin scrapings under a microscope. THAT is the test, two minutes of which involved walking to the other room and back.
But that’s only half of the cheat. The real lie was in the implication that generalized hair loss was an signifier of mange.
Obviously, if Nicki does not have mange then generalized hair loss is not only an indicator of mange. It is also an indicator of something not mange.
In other words “generalized fur loss” is not an indicator of one thing over another.
Worse yet; there is hardly a dog owner I have talked to over the past two months who hasn’t been having problems with hot spots and that means that Nicki’s condition is nothing unusual and that in turn means that the vet most probably must have seen many like case of licked spot fur loss which was not mange.
As a theoretical possibility Nicki could have been suffering from mange. All things considered he was not. He had general fur loss due to an “unknown etiology” ...most probably, as Mr. Vet now said, “an allergy of some sort.”
He starts to explain something about “air borne fungi...”
I cut him short. “Yes; it’s is not a healthy environment around here.”
He is taken aback by this pronouncement. Folks around here smugly pride themselves on the fact that Beeham has the among the cleanest air in the country. But that is only in terms of ozone and other contaminants. They don’t measure the spores, mold and fungi that thicken the air.
“... you all but have mushrooms growing out of the sidewalks”
The vet is forced to agree; which is to admit that mange had nothing to do with anything.
A nonhuckstering vet would have said that based on what he had seen this season Nicki's scratching & fur loss was most probably caused by "some allergen" making the rounds, but that there was a 10-15% chance it was triggered by parasitic mange, the test for which involved a simple eyeballing for critters under the scope which would cost $10.00.....
But of course, that is not what he said...
Nicki is now on prednisone. But this is a nashun of hucksters heretics and cheats. That is my allergy.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Speaking of Cameras
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/32-stunning-photos-of-san-francisco-in-the-40s-and-50s
For those who actually lived there, this photo is probably emblematic of the real San Francisco. It was taken in July, of course.
An interesting coincidence: when I was growing up my mom had a friend whom we all referred to as Grandma' Burry and who haled from San Francisco. In her apartment there was an oil painting of a dark blue grey apartment building with patches of blurry orange and yellow doing for windows all set amid other indistinct dark grey-green-blue objects in the back ground and foreground. "Where's that?" I asked.
In many ways SF (like other US cities at the time) was kinda run down
and tacky. But it was affordable and liveable. It had a mix of people
in different walks from different walks and something known as laissez
aller.
I'm pretty sure I spent a night in that building, btw.
I'm pretty sure I spent a night in that building, btw.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
OMFG!
The "New Find" has required getting serious about Sunny 16 and related matters, as I had intended with the K1000 of two years ago. But the thing about crutches is that if they are in reach they will be used and the K1000 did have a built-in light meter
Built in light meters are like those motorized shopping carts at Walmart. Plop and Click. Lay-Z
But the K4B has absolutely no light meter. None. Zip. It's "Synchro-Compur" is not a chip but one of those little spiked wheel thingies... i think they're called "gears". No motor cart here.
Moreover the little hieroglyph on the back was not what one would call "pellucid"
So back to ISO and EV charts and the whole mumbo jumbo of wheels and triangles... during which i came across a nice blog by some guy who's main interest is to simplify things and who is a devotée of
 |
| Leica M3 (photo Brian Johnson) |
OMFG. That is so beautiful. And there is more. LUST.
That 's the same year/generation as the Rolleiflex and they would make a great duo.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Whooooooo Hoooooooo!
On Thursday, en route to Lake Padden Mountain, Nicki and i stopped off at REI to pick up some small squeeze bottles i can’t find anywhere else. REI is a PNW based, west coast camping, trekking, skiing, biking, kayaking, air ballooning store. It's kind of like the Whole Foods of wholesome wholistic athletic activity.
While there, we overheard a “camping advisor” telling a young man, who was weighing in his hand and mind a light-steel multi-purpose pot, that there would be a members only garage sale this coming Saturday.
I confess to having signed up with REI years ago when buying an emegency-evakpak tent that has never been used.
“Garage sale?” i asked? “Yes,” came the reply, “everything will be fifty percent off.” “When” “Ten to Five.”
So come Saturday, we toodle on down to REI. Having got my squeezable bottles, i really did not need anything; but who knows, maybe they’d have a kayak for sale for $200.00... You never know.
So i walk in there... and the place is filled with exactly the same type of narcissistic assholes that go to Whole Foods.... :) — pouty-preppy athlo-geeks and pursed lipped tight lipped women and mid age doods still convinced they are pouty preppy athlo-geeks. Arrrgh!
But aside from hating the pouty preppies for being so (ever so rightly) stuck up on themselves what really got to me was that the "sale" prices made me realize how fucking insanely overpriced REI is.
This is the sort of thing that gives green-sustainibility a bad name. In fact the “simple-sustainable” life is just a brand-veneer. Hype for The Comfortable to make them feel politically-purposed in their consumerism.
Basically, REI is high end outdoors junk in the same category as a Land Rover, the West Coast answer to Abercrombie & Fitch.
So i high-tailed out of there and decided to take Nicki to the bay before returning home.
The route we take passes the camera store and since I have been needing a small (non-REI) sack for a lens, I decided I might as well go through the trouble of parking to see if the store had anything in their toss-sale bin.
They did.
As I took the $1.00 pouchlette to the counter, i absent-mindedly asked Jeff, one of the co-owners, if they had gotten any medium format cameras on consignment. “No, I don’t think so....” he said, “....oh wait! Did you see the Rolleiflex in the display case?”
THE ROLLEIFLEX????
Yes, it’s over here. I followed like a dog at heel over to the counter as Jeff took it out. “Looks like it’s in pretty good shape, he said.” “Sure does...” I added
Jeff had not taken the consignment and did not have much information on it. So we went back to the counter and checked the Camera Encyclopedia.
MX-EVS KB4 1956
IWANNIT
It was going for $250.00 which i figured was probably one hundred or two hundred under market; but the important thing in any case is that no defects were noted in the consignment book.
“Little Roski is going to love this,” I said. “Who’s Roski?” Jeff asked. “Oh ... just a fuzzy photographer I know.”
“Ah... well this format produces sharp pictures.”
That’s what he’s hoping.
While there, we overheard a “camping advisor” telling a young man, who was weighing in his hand and mind a light-steel multi-purpose pot, that there would be a members only garage sale this coming Saturday.
I confess to having signed up with REI years ago when buying an emegency-evakpak tent that has never been used.
“Garage sale?” i asked? “Yes,” came the reply, “everything will be fifty percent off.” “When” “Ten to Five.”
So come Saturday, we toodle on down to REI. Having got my squeezable bottles, i really did not need anything; but who knows, maybe they’d have a kayak for sale for $200.00... You never know.
So i walk in there... and the place is filled with exactly the same type of narcissistic assholes that go to Whole Foods.... :) — pouty-preppy athlo-geeks and pursed lipped tight lipped women and mid age doods still convinced they are pouty preppy athlo-geeks. Arrrgh!
But aside from hating the pouty preppies for being so (ever so rightly) stuck up on themselves what really got to me was that the "sale" prices made me realize how fucking insanely overpriced REI is.
This is the sort of thing that gives green-sustainibility a bad name. In fact the “simple-sustainable” life is just a brand-veneer. Hype for The Comfortable to make them feel politically-purposed in their consumerism.
Basically, REI is high end outdoors junk in the same category as a Land Rover, the West Coast answer to Abercrombie & Fitch.
So i high-tailed out of there and decided to take Nicki to the bay before returning home.
The route we take passes the camera store and since I have been needing a small (non-REI) sack for a lens, I decided I might as well go through the trouble of parking to see if the store had anything in their toss-sale bin.
They did.
As I took the $1.00 pouchlette to the counter, i absent-mindedly asked Jeff, one of the co-owners, if they had gotten any medium format cameras on consignment. “No, I don’t think so....” he said, “....oh wait! Did you see the Rolleiflex in the display case?”
THE ROLLEIFLEX????
Yes, it’s over here. I followed like a dog at heel over to the counter as Jeff took it out. “Looks like it’s in pretty good shape, he said.” “Sure does...” I added
Jeff had not taken the consignment and did not have much information on it. So we went back to the counter and checked the Camera Encyclopedia.
MX-EVS KB4 1956
IWANNIT
It was going for $250.00 which i figured was probably one hundred or two hundred under market; but the important thing in any case is that no defects were noted in the consignment book.
“Little Roski is going to love this,” I said. “Who’s Roski?” Jeff asked. “Oh ... just a fuzzy photographer I know.”
“Ah... well this format produces sharp pictures.”
That’s what he’s hoping.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
The Forest as Metaphor
The sun was out today, so i decided to take nick for a hike around the lake. Of course the moment we got onto the trails, we might as well have been in the Black Forest. The only sun we saw was light reflecting off rotting bark.
Of course Nicki loved it. Spring and Autumn are doggie-times. In spring dew of the fields fills the the air with sweet elixirs engendered in the fleur. In autumn the earth is damp with the musky smells of decay.
Of course Nicki loved it. Spring and Autumn are doggie-times. In spring dew of the fields fills the the air with sweet elixirs engendered in the fleur. In autumn the earth is damp with the musky smells of decay.
And so Nicki romped on and off trail nose to ground, occasionally looking back to see if i was coming before rushing a mucky puddle or — at one point — jumping over a fern that was not in the way just for the fun of it.
I musta took a wrong turn somewhere so that we ended up circumventing more than I had intended. I could sense from a thinning of tree tops that the lake was off to right, but we never seemed to get there. The trail would start to descend, as if to water, before suddenly veering to the left and back up.
As it was we circumvented through ups and downs for two hours before getting back — oh wonders of wonders — exactly at the point where we had entered. Kinda sounds like life.
I musta took a wrong turn somewhere so that we ended up circumventing more than I had intended. I could sense from a thinning of tree tops that the lake was off to right, but we never seemed to get there. The trail would start to descend, as if to water, before suddenly veering to the left and back up.
As it was we circumvented through ups and downs for two hours before getting back — oh wonders of wonders — exactly at the point where we had entered. Kinda sounds like life.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Doggie Love
It rained all morning, but by the time it came time to go to the gym, it had cleared up to a half-hearted drizzle.
I took Nicki to the frontage road next to the horse field where I let him do his mid-day business. Nicki didn't seem like he was much into anything and so, after a short while, I opened the door to the Jeep and he jumped in.
As we drove around the corner heading in the direction of the gym, I spotted Travis and Mia walking up the sidewalk on the other side. So did Nicki who immediately began big time whimper chortles in the car as Mia began straining on her leash to run over to him.
"You got time?" I asked Travis. He nodded yes. So I drove back to the frontage road, and let Nicki out, just as Mia and Travis came around the corner. Nicki ran up to Mia and then turned around as the two dogs ran shoulder to shoulder down the road before turning on a dime and running back.
.... and on, over, around, under in this kaleidoscope of canine choreography.
These two pups really really have a "thing" for one another. Call it "phermonal joy" or "love" it's beautiful to watch.
Were it not for the fact that Nicki is neutered (not my idea) and Mia isn't, I'd seriously consider letting them get married. I know that if it were up to them they would.
At the gym Nicki sat dreaming in the car (about Mia no doubt) while I went up to 105 lbs on my shoulder presses despite a minor sprain.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Xploring on Chuckanut Hill
Tired of verbs and numbers and given a break in the downpour, i took nicki for some deep damp sniffing on a hill.
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