Today, I ran across The Teenager’s Guide to the Real World, which has many chapters online. I scanned chapter 1, Money Really Matters, which outlines how much money it would take to start a (really poor) life on one’s own as a young American, and then shows what a typical family’s budget might be.
Katie and I periodically do a budget by category, like the ones in this chapter. The book reminds me that when the kids get older, we need to show the budget to them and help them understand it.
This looks like a great book. I’ll have to keep it in mind for when my kids get older.

Today, I saw a car in the parking lot at my office. In the window was one of those yellow diamond shaped plastic signs that used to all say ‘Baby on Board’. This one said:

No lavo mi carro porque amo a mi tierra

English: I don’t wash my car because I love my country/earth
I understand the words, but I don’t understand the message.
Anyone? Leave a comment.

OK, let’s see if I really do have any readers here. I need some advice.
It’s about our dog Tippie. She’s half Husky, half German Shepherd, and she’s 11 or 12 years old now. Under normal circumstances–when we’re home with her–Tippie is a great dog: loving, gentle with the kids. She’s in excellent physical health for her age.
But she has always been high strung: very energetic and prone to occasional bouts of anxiety. In particular, she is afraid of loud, unfamiliar noises. That makes fireworks and thunderstorms a problem. If something scares her, she tends to dig and chew at doors and windows. We’ve replaced many a door casing and window screen over the years.
Her anxiety level has increased over the years. Many years ago, thunderstorms didn’t really bother her. Now, she paces around the house and digs at corners until we tranqualize her.
Due to the damage that Tippie occasionally inflicts on the house, about a year ago or so, we started crating her when we’re not home. She goes willingly to the crate, but she cries and digs at it.
A few months ago, she started peeing in her crate occasionally. Now, she pees every time we put her in it. She holds her bladder all night in the house, and we had her checked out by the vet, so we don’t think it’s anything physiological. The vet thinks it’s mental. So, we put her on Prozac a couple of months ago: 20 mg every other day. That seems to make her slightly mellower, but it hasn’t had any visible effect on her worst symptoms: the peeing and anxiety attacks.
The vet is currently investigating other pysch meds for her. I thought I’d see what advice my readers (assuming I have any) can offer. Please leave a comment on this post or send me an email.

I just finished the abridged audio edition of City of Light by Lauren Belfer. I enjoyed it a lot. I particularly enjoyed the interplay of scheming and naïveté and the narrator’s dawning understanding of the powerful forces shaping her life.

I’m afraid I’m still living in the last century. Yesterday, we were showing our family quilts to some friends, and I explained that one of them had survived a flood with my grandmother “in ’97.” Without stopping to calculate the probable timeline of my family, our friend responded, “1897?” Of course, I’d meant 1997.
Then, this morning, I was composing in my head a blog post about a book I’m reading. It takes place in ‘turn-of-the-century Buffalo, NY,’ I thought. To me, I realized, ‘turn of the century’ refers to the turn from the 19th to the 20th century. I’m not sure that’s true with everyone. Maybe I’m just getting old…

Last summer, Katie bought me a Sony Cybershot DSC-W1 digital camera, and I have really enjoyed it.
But during our short vacation in Galveston in May, my photos developed black spots. I quickly concluded that Gulf sand must have gotten inside the camera and settled on the optics or the digital sensor. I took it to a local camera shot, and they confirmed my diagnosis.
The camera shop employee suggested that I send it to Sony for cleaning/repair. When I mentioned that it was purchased just less than a year ago, the employee told me he doubted Sony would clean/repair it under warranty. That made sense to me, as dirt getting inside probably was not due to faulty workmanship or parts.
Well, I sent the camera off to Sony service, and it came back exactly one week later, fixed at no cost. I was pleasantly surprised–both that Sony fixed it under warranty, and at the fast turn-around.

When I was first trying out Flickr, I uploaded a test photo of our golden retriever Xena, and tagged it with ‘Xena‘.
Today, I happened across my Flickr photos and clicked on the link to see all photos tagged with ‘Xena‘. To my surprise, almost all of them were of pets, and only a few were of the television character. In particular, the user Kevin Steele really likes to photograph his cat Xena:

I was searching the Texas sex offender database (out of morbid curiosity) when I ran across this ‘offender’:

(Click on image for larger version)

I saw this bumper sticker this morning on a passing car:

If guns are outlawed…Only outlaws will be able to shoot their children accidentally

I grew up in a family that had a lot of guns. I learned to shoot at a young age, had a BB gun, hunted as a teenager. And my dad was big on gun safety: I learned gun safety first thing.
Despite that, I can recall two accidental gun firings in my family: my dad once shot a hole through the garage wall while handling a loaded rifle. And my sister’s first husband kept a loaded shotgun leaning agaist the corner in the closet (OK, that was not so safe). One day, it went off while he was taking something out of the closet. He came pretty close accidentally blowing his own brains out.
So, my point is, I guess, that the bumper sticker is closer to the truth than most people might realize.

I just listened to the audio edition of Jewel by Bret Lott. Written in the first person, a southern woman tells her life story throughout the twentieth century. I enjoyed the story and the way the narrator found connections between different parts of her life, but at times, these reflections got a little heavy for me. Also, I listened to an abridged audio edition. Large periods of the narrator’s life were summarized in a few sentences. I found that a little unnerving, and I wonder what details I missed.