Pacificapocalypse

Married, a month later it’s Thanksgiving, found a house we like (and can afford!) bought said house, packing, moving, and we get the keys on Christmas Eve.

So yeah… it’s been busy.

Going to have to rename the site. Merry Christmas everyone.

We have pets, specifically we have two dogs and three cats. That’s our furry family (with exception, Andy dog is a Chinese Crested Hairless, and Jayne cat is a Sphynx) and for the time being that’s how it’ll probably stay. So we had some drama start about two weeks ago with Panda dog; she started peeing in really un-cool places (the bed spread! Panda no!). We were concerned that it might be acting out since Jayne cat is a new family member, but not *that* new. We’ve had him for about a month now; a little late to start acting out and we’ve been careful to spread the love and attention equally among the kids so no one feels left out. We thought maybe a doggie UTI; off to the vet’s she went. Court brought her home with some general antibiotics and a doggie pheromone potpourri warmer. Supposed to calm their little puppy hearts and make them less prone to acting-out peeing.

And then… Butch cat started up. First he pee’d on the bedspread also (AAAARG!! We just got that back from the cleaners!) And then on the couch and finally the next day on one of the dog pillows. Something seriously up here; he’s never done anything like this before. So off to Coastal Cat Clinic he goes. By this time, the vet had called back to say that, yes, Panda dog did have a UTI and that the antibiotic she was on should get her through with no problems. Anyway, they take some blood and urine from Butchie and send him home. I get the call the next day; no UTI for Butchie, but something much worse. Apparently Butch cat’s personal chemistry cause his urine to be very high pH which cause crystals to form. These crystals can be very irritating AND clump together to cause a blockage, just like kidney stones in humans.  Very serious. The vet said to bring him back in the afternoon (that was Thursday last week) and we would need to give him sub q fluids for the next ten days and put him on a special diet to lower his pH, raise the acidity of his urine and hopefully dissolve the crystals. I freaked out a little. Sub cutaneous fluids? Like with a needle and shit? Holy crap. Thank god Court has done stuff like that in the past with horses so she had some experience, I would have been a complete wreck without her.
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Well here it is:

Mark Adkins, President, made the announcement at 2:15 – as of 2:30 this afternoon, San Francisco Chronicle management is in negotiations with the union to start making emergency cuts in expenses to try an stem a $50m operating loss.  Partial from the memo by Frank Vega, Chairman and Publisher:

First and foremost of these cost savings will be a significant reduction in force across all areas of our operation affecting both represented and non-represented employees. We will shortly begin discussions with union leadership on proposals. Our current situation dictates that we accomplish these cost savings quickly. Business as usual is no longer an option.

If we are unable to accomplish these reductions in the immediate future, Hearst Corporation, which owns The Chronicle, has informed us that it will offer the newspaper for sale or close it altogether. We know these are painful times for everyone and we face difficult choices. We share in the sincere hope that we will reach agreement with all parties involved on the concessions needed to continue to operate and provide the Bay Area with a quality newspaper.

And here we are. Dammit I think I might be losing my job.

Via Pacifica Riptide

Local Mideast Peace Rally Turns Ugly

Tonight around 6, as people gathered peacefully at Highway 1 and Linda Mar to protest the war in Gaza, an enraged motorist stopped in traffic and engaged in a shouting match with the demonstrators. Then he parked his car at the shopping center and returned to the scene, shouting and shoving demonstrators, slightly injuring one of them. When the agitated man ran through the parking lot, several demonstrators followed him to take his picture and hold him for police, who shortly came on the scene to question the man and several witnesses. No one pressed charges, so because police did not see the incident occur, they took down the man’s information and released him. One bystander noted that as soon as the police detained him, his demeanor changed drastically, and he spoke calmly with police as if nothing had happened. But this reporter had heard the man shouting earlier and had seen him up close as he ran through the parking lot, his face and eyes full of hate and fear.

Pretty spot on; coincidentally I was in my car directly opposite this as it occurred, lamenting the fact that I didn’t have my camera on me. ‘This reporter’ sounds like he has a little bit of a personal agenda with the line ‘face and eyes full of hate and fear.‘, but I can confirm the that the guy threw punches and tore down some of the protesters signs.

Every discussion board I’m a member of is burning up with the war in Gaza right now and man there are some absolutely white hot emotions and incredibly vitriolic rants being posted. There seems to be no middle ground (or such a small amount that cooler heads get trampled in the rush to post screeds.) with these people. And that’s just online, from people that are *not* getting shot or blown up or having rockets dropped on them.
When will this shit ever end?

This sucks.

Gezi the momma giraffe at the SF Zoo died today. She just gave birth to lil’ Babro in February. Not too sure what happened, but it sounds like an infection of some sort. This is actually making me very sad; Court, Kaitlin and I just saw her and the babies a month ago.

… and learning roller-coasters; ok I *think* WordPress can do everything I want it to do.
Now I just have to get it configured – end even with my very good friend, the internet, this may take some time.

Snarky comments about technology leaving old men like me in the dust are not appreciated.

And get off my lawn.

Shit

Piss

Fuck

Cunt

Cocksucker

Motherfucker

and Tits.

And don’t worry George, you can say all seven in Heaven.

I tried, I really did.
I finished the site redesign, did a whole 3 column CSS layout, Photoshopped a new header picture, loaded a open source portable image editor and HTML editor on an encrypted thumbdrive and promised I’d post and update on a regular basis.
But I fold. Real life is really time consuming. So I’ve decided to make life easier for myself. WordPress away.
Let’s see what I can do with this.

…things like the war, addressing the economic situation, crime and all the assorted other concerns of the public, it’s nice to see them start into the real issues.

Like regulating how loud television commercials should be.

Way to go guys. Good use of time and public funds.

From the Seattle Times:

Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but recently in Tanzania it has taken a wicked twist: At least 19 albinos, including children, have been killed and mutilated in the past year, victims of what Tanzanian officials say is a growing criminal trade in albino body parts.

Link.

This is *so* messed up, but it is sub-Saharan Africa, where you can get arrested or killed if they think you’re a penis thief.

penis. heh.