So a quick recap of last night's events: I spoke to the vet yesterday and Vladdy's test results came back negative so she thinks that his health problems are the result of stress. I can see that, the little dude whines or cries constantly whether he's locked up in his kennel or out in the living room, or even on a walk with me. He seems to never relax which I was hoping was just a puppy thing and he would grow out of it but he seems to be getting worse with age because his constant stress and "at attention" attitude are leading to more destructive or undesirable behavior as he gets bigger. It's clear that he's not getting enough daily exercise but he's not mentally stimulated enough by just walking with me so we're going to have to invest a lot more time, as a team, in training and teaching him to keep him intellectually challenged.
Yesterday we picked up a cheap clicker for a dollar and worked with him on laying down in a certain spot in the living room for gradually extended periods of time. This A) mentally stimulates him because he is learning and B) rewards him for relaxing so that, hopefully, he'll start to enjoy it and do it more often.
After a brief session of that we took him to the dog park and let him go crazy and blow off steam but he drank INSANE amounts of water while there, so much that his tummy was grossly extended and we were pretty worried about it. When we got home he still hadn't eliminated the water so I took him for a walk hoping to inspire a tinkle and get my remaining 2 miles done at the same time. After a mile and a half he laid down and wouldn't get up, probably a combination of being just dog tired and obviously way too hot. I ended up carrying him a quarter of a mile home and he's doing great this morning but had a marathon tinkle at 5 am. It had to be 2 or 3 cups worth of fluid, easily.
Now on to IT classes. They started on Monday but my school has been having website issues since Sunday night which threw everyone for a bit of a loop. The school has been very good about maintaining contact with the students through it though, including 3 update emails and a courtesy call from my academic counselor. I was able to get my participation in on Tuesday, though I would have preferred to do it on Monday, but I still have plenty of time left in the week to get it all completed on time barring another issue. According to this morning's email the issues are fixed and the professors are cutting everyone some slack on timing to make up for it. The class seems to be an extremely basic level so far, more or less defining common computer and technology terms such as Information Technology versus Information Systems. It's been fun so far though because some of the terms are for systems or products that I am already familiar with but didn't know the precise term for them so I am learning something that I can even apply at work already after just a few days. It feels good to finally be out of gen-eds and into my major.
Last night on the way to the dog park Snackers pinched my knee with his hand in the car and said "wow, I couldn't ever do that before" and I said "Because my leg was too fat?" and he said "yeah!" lol. Then he tugged on my jeans and said "look, they're even loose enough that I can pinch and tug on them, wow!". I have a very, very good man. :)
Food:
8 glasses of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 Healthy Choice lunch
3 Ahi Tacos
>>w/ homemade slaw
1 drumstick
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Daily Caloric Intake: 1,072
My Bad, I know: I forgot to eat breakfast and before I knew it lunch time had arrived so I had my usual, figuring I'd have a snack before dinner to get my calories up but then I got stuck on the phone until almost 6 p.m. for work and by then Snackers was hungry and ready for dinner. I ate an extra taco (serving size is supposed to just be two) and felt full to the gills so I thought "I'll have something small in an hour or two". Then I went out to work out, came in and drank a bunch of water, ate a drumstick, and then whammo ... it was bed time.
Activity:
4 flights of stairs
Walking: 1 mile (2,100 steps)
Sprinting: 20 - Did 4, then 3, then 5, and then 5 more with 40-breath rests in between sets. POOPED I TELL YA!!!
Out of your gen-eds *permanently*??? Wow, that was fast. I guess cuz you only did nothing but generals for the last year huh?
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, congrats. Don't be too upset if this class is super-basic... every CS-program has this class and it's ridiculously basic because they are trying to filter-out people who didn't realize what they were getting into (or get them up-to-speed if they are willing to push themselves); it's hard to believe for IT-techie types like us, but there are actually people out there that don't know this basic stuff. Your first programming class will be similar... while you will be learning stuff you didn't know, it will seem really really easy... and you'll be shocked that there will be a few people who can't seem to complete any of the exercises on-time, correctly, or without professor-assistance, some people will even drop-out or fail. Again, it will mostly be a filtering-class. There are people who just don't realize they aren't IT/CS-types but are trying to do it because to those not in the know they think it seems like an easy and lucrative career. After this class and the next, though, you'll be more challenged. :)
I am always interacting with customers who just don't understand how complex and challenging it is to do what we do; they see simple sites designed by point-and-click software like DreamWeaver and just think it's all like that... glorified word-processing mixed with MSPaint, basically. ;)
(b) Sorry to hear about your dog; hope he gets better!
I'm actually glad it's going to be easy and generic because I've learned what I know about IT the same way that I learned what I knew about math. Mostly by trial and error, figuring it out as I went, and making up my own rules as long as they accomplished my goal. I have a feeling that there are a lot of specific terms that you know and you think I know but I don't really know them so I probably really need these classes.
ReplyDeleteRemember when I told you I was doing some "programming" at work and you asked what I was using and my response was "Putty"...yeah, because I knew how to do what I knew how to do in Putty but I didn't know the name for what I was doing or even which language I was using to do it. For the most part these classes should probably be good for me. lol
Re: The puppers, he seems fine. I think he just drank too much water and got tired of carrying around a 5 lb belly. Honestly he's kind of a whimp, even for a puppy. Shocking because he's a Doberman Pinscher and they have this huge reputation for being bad ass dogs with big attitudes but mine is a big pansy. Plus this is his first summer ... ever, because he was born in January so he's in for a long couple of months while he tries to adjust to Vegas heat. Piper still hasn't adjusted and she dances on the sidewalk when I take her out to potty or to walk to the car because it's hot on her little toosies. If ever I were going to buy shoes for a dog the ONLY reason that I would do so is because the pavement/blacktop here gets so damn hot it just doesn't seem fair to make them walk on it but I can't carry Vladdy everywhere.