Vet Vist, Part Trois
I spent $305 today to hear that by most accounts, Yara is quite healthy. Aside from an ear infection whose origin I’m unclear on and the fact she’s lost another three pounds, that is. Yup, another three pounds.
The vet and I agree this is not a good sign, and coupled with the fact Yara’s a veritable poop factory, we decided to run some blood work. The flip side of this is that we’re both quite sure nothing is going to come of this blood work since Yara has no real symptoms other than loosing excessive weight.¹ But I agreed to a full chem panel and a thyroid test anyway since one can never foresee what might come up that we might not expect. She’s also to have a GI panel done sometime soon when I can safely fast Yara for 12 hours.²
If all these tests come up negative, the next step is to biopsy Yara’s liver and intestine and colon which would require her to come in on a Thursday and be put under. That also means she won’t be able to work for a few days due to the anesthesia. You can imagine how thrilled this prospect is for me.
The best part about today is that I got paid, but between this vet visit and purchasing a new PC I have $0 until next payday. [:: sigh ::] Oh, and did I mention that Dolly went to the vet last week and she’s now on Synthroid because she’s got hypothyroid?
1. At this point she’s lost nearly twenty pounds in a year.
2. Read: “Have a day I’m not doing anything since I’ll be somewhat unable to work Yara.”
Cleaning Your Computer
I’ve been lurking around the NBR forums for several months now while trying to find my new laptop and I’m continually impressed by the wealth of information there. One thing in particular is this guide to cleaning your monitor. I used the suggested ShaggyMac products to clean my CCTV monitor and am very impressed. I even was able to remove the streaks on the monitor at work that were present since my first day. The grubby sticks are also a handy tool to get all the gunk out of your keyboard — I’m amazed how much Yara hair I pulled out of mine!
I’m also very pleased with the company itself, even if their prices are a tad high. My order arrived within two days of placing it and there were items missing. I emailed them straight away and they sent out the replacement items, along with an extra set of microfiber cloths and grubby sticks. Talk about customer service!
Fun with Irie!
The other day Sarah and Irie came over. Super fun. The dogs got along really well and Irie is so adorably cute . . . and crazy!
Anyway, we all took a walk down to Cafe Madison for lunch. I hadn’t been there in forever, but it was one of the closer places I know of that has outdoor seating (and isn’t just a coffee place). We had to wait a bit to get seating outside, since we had Irie with us, but it was beautiful out and very enjoyable just talking. The food was really good and everyone was very interested in both the dogs. Poor Irie kept getting stepped on because she kept moving out into the aisle a bit, but Yara just laid by my side and people watched.
After lunch, we walked back to my apartment so the dogs could have some water. And they were super crazy! Irie got so excited she was leaping into the air and running all over. She actually sort of landed on my lap at one point and I was holding my newly fixed sunglasses, which she promptly squashed. (Good thing I’m due to get my new pair in about a week, but I think they’re going to laugh when I tell them I broke my sunglasses not even a week after having them repaired!)
I was really happy that Yara played so well with Irie. She doesn’t get nearly enough opportunity to play with other dogs, and sometimes when she does she’s randomly not in the mood to play. But as you can see above these two had no trouble — they actually destroyed a few of Yara’s toys during their tug-of-wars and chasing. Most notably “the octopus”. No big loss, though, since after the dogs tired themselves out we headed off to the pet store to pick up Yara’s food. And also replenish some toys and treats, including a brand new octopus courtesy of Sarah. ;-)
All in all it was a very fun day. Hopefully, we’ll get to do this more often, eh, Sarah?
Computer Remorse
Between work and school I feel like I’ve been living on computers lately. So it’s no surprise to me that I’m having some computer issues. To make a very long story less lengthy, both my laptop and desktop have been having some issues. Thankfully, the desktop’s only real issue is the sound card died in it, which makes running JAWS impossible at the moment, but it’s at least sort of usable for me. Which is more than I can say for the laptop. I’ve given up on Dell at this point and after several attempts to rectify one main issue, I boxed it up and am now in the market for a new computer.
I’ve pretty much decided I need a replacement for both computers — and am currently leaning towards the new HP HDX 18 that’s going on sale soon. [EDIT: UberGizmo has a very nice selection of shots in their photo gallery.] Given that I’m not taking it to class as I’d initially needed with my defunct laptop, this would be a solid replacement for both computers and is actually not too far above what I’d intended to budget on a new PC. No doubt I’ll still end up purchasing a second laptop just for the portability aspect, but currently I’m more concerned with being able to move it easily around the apartment and getting rid of some of the clunky hardware cluttering up my bedroom.
Regarding the desktop’s usability at present, I’ve been treating it with kid gloves so to speak. So if I seem a bit absent, you can chalk it up to that and a growing intense dislike for being on a computer more than necessary due to the obvious increased need between school and work. But even without a working sound card, I can still adequately use my computer, so don’t fret that I’m suffering terribly. I still have ZoomText and a 21″ monitor to tide me over for the moment. It’s certainly not ideal, but it works. And for now I don’t have much choice.
Couch Potato Cuteness
Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I wish I could say it was merely from being super busy, but honestly I’ve just had a large lack of things upon which to blog. But I do have these super cute photos to share, so at least that’s something, right?
