oscar's blog

I am participating in the first official 826 Seattle Mustache-a-thon. If you would like to support me, please do so by going here and clicking on my paypal button.

How many pets have you owned in your lifetime? Tell us about them.
Submitted by jennajellopy.vox.com.

I'm not sure a dissertation was expected, but I'm old enough to have had a number of pets, so here goes...

My first dog as a kid was Duke, a mutt with some cocker in him. He was unfortunately ill-tempered and seriously food aggressive - I have a scar on my face from the time I took a lego piece out of his mouth. I honestly don't remember what happened to him, whether he died or got lost. How sad is that?

We had an Airdale Terrier named. Cesar. He unfortunately escaped shortly after we brought him home. This was in Bolivia, so no animal control. I can only hope someone "stole" him and gave him a good home.

The next dog whose name escapes me was a dalmatian. She was a real sweetie, and unfortunately died from an intestinal blockage while I was on vacation. My parents had to break the sad news to me.

The next dog was another mutt - his mother looked like a long-haired dachshund, but was probably a mix. Who knows what the father was. He looked a bit retrieveresque. He was an outdoor-only dog. I wish I'd known how to train a dog to be a well-behaved pet. We named him Fido, which I thought was funny. And no, that isn't even remotely a common dog name in Bolivia.

As for pets on my own, the first "real" one was Sara, a basset hound I adopted with my wife. We got her from PAWS. She was adorable. Seriously stubborn and butt-headed, but we loved her anyway. She had a host of health problems over the years, some major, some minor - terminally gunked up ears, tumors in her mammary glands, a giant blood blister in her ear, severe pancreatitis, mast cell tumors, hot spots (flea allergy, basically). She lived a good 6 years with us.

It took a while to get over it and find another dog. We eventually adopted Haida, a rottweiler/lab mix. She was a dream dog. She was sweet, super well-behaved. We loved her dearly. Tragedy struck about 2 1/2 years after we adopted her. She had what we thought was arthritis. We discovered it was osteosarcoma - a bone tumor. Seriously aggressive and pretty much terminal. We did the only thing we could - amputate her front leg. It was either that, or put her down before the pain became unbearable. Yes, it's that bad. She made it through the surgery and was almost back on her feet fully when she had a seizure. We took her to the emergency vet. The tumor had likely spread to her brain. We considered our options and realized we had to put her down. When the vet came back we were told she had stopped breathing.

Not long after Haida we ended up with Ella, a flat-coated retriever (we think, anyway). She has issues, and I feel kind of bad saying this as a consummate dog person, but I really don't like her. She's old, and was a pity adoption primarily. She's the only dog I've ever known that hates dog food. She will eat almost any vegetable or fruit you throw at her. She is obsessed with toilet paper. Seriously. We ended up putting a baby gate on the bathroom door to keep her out. Well, that and the litterbox. Yes, there's a cat I forgot about. Sasha. He and Haida were friends, believe it or not.

My wife became (nearly) obsessed with a dog named Carla (ha!), a rottweiler down in Cowlitz County. Closer to Oregon than Seattle. We took a detour from a Portland trip to meet her on the way down and bring her home on the way up. The name given to her at the shelter was Tasha, which we weren't sold on. She was another doll. Affectionate, and just a joy to have around. Then it turned tragic. She had started experiencing pain, and it turned out that she too had osteosarcoma. In her spine. We had no choice but to put her down. She had been at the shelter nearly a year. She was with us for 3 weeks. It killed me to lose her - we weren't over losing Haida either at that point.

Rottweiler 3 was Rose. The vets, who met them all couldn't believe how sweet and good-natured all of our rotties were. Rose was different, but we fell in love with her almost immediately. Apart from some joint pain, she had no health problems. Not until she developed a pinched nerve. We gave her an elevated dose of Deramax, a painkiller. Unfortunately, she had a bad reaction to the medication, and died from internal bleeding.

This is where we start wondering if our home is where Rottweilers go to die.

I look at Rottweilers on Petfinder.org and feel guilty, because it's too soon. Same goes for craigslist. A search for "rottweiler" turns up a couple in Kirkland looking for a home for their Rottweiler mix. This is Seamus, seen here. He's a rottweiler/pit bull mix, quality lineage on both sides. He's a bit more rambunctious than we're used to, but he's super-affectionate and will lick your face off if given the chance. At 5, he's the youngest dog we've had in a long time.

That's where things stand. Ella is old and a bit senile, but she's still with us. The cat is fine, apart from losing a front fang to tooth decay.

What's your middle name?  Is there a story or history behind it?

My middle name is Oscar. My first name is José, but no one calls me that, unless they're being a smart ass. And then it's Joe or Pepe (no, I can't explain why Pepe = José).

Oscar came from a play my parents saw. According to my brother, it's the same one the Stallone movie was based on. For reasons that only make sense to Spanish speakers, José went in the front.

Remember sniglets?  Do you have any favorites?  Have you ever made up your own word?  (Now's as good a time as any.)
Inspired by Cute Overlord.

I was a huge sniglet fan, which is silly given that I probably saw about 2 episodes of Not Necessarily The News. Favorites?

Arachnidiot, credidiot, cereoallocation. Although in this age of IMDB the credidiot is surely a dying breed.

And of course, the obligatory Onion link:
Man Won't Stop Coming Up With New Sniglets

What's your morning beverage of choice?  Coffee, tea, juice?  Homemade or store-bought?

Tea. Either PG tips or (soy) chai, if I'm feeling ambitious. I use Peet's blend and add extra cardamom.

Yeah, it's pretty much like this when I come home now:

Dino

Patrick Smith, Salon's "Ask the Pilot" puts the latest round of pointless airport paranoia in perspective.

Ze Frank drops the funny (mostly) to offer some insight on the mechanics of terror and fearmongering.

Over the weekend we picked up Seamus, our new dog. I was fully expecting a "think it over" type situation, but we obviously passed the "gut feeling" test and left with him that same day.

He's a rottweiler/pitbull mix. Under that badass exterior is a playful, goofy and super-affectionate puppy.

seamus.jpg

1 comment

A while back I got a battery replacement for my aging 3G ipod, which was barely holding a charge. After cursing and swearing and eventually having my wife successfully crack the stupid thing open I had a fresh new battery. It worked well for a little while. Then it started losing battery power even more drastically than the original (3 year old) battery. As in going dead in a matter of hours with the iPod off.

Before writing it off completely and starting to save up for a 5G, I decided to put in the old battery, to try and figure out if it was the new battery or if indeed the iPod is crap. Lo and behold, the old crappy battery holds a charge much much longer than the new battery.

So I guess I'll be buying a new new battery. Unless they honor their 1-year warranty and send me a replacement.

If you've seen this (kickass) video:

You'll probably recognize several samples in this song:

Go Down Gamblin'

Blood Sweat and Tears