For a couple of weeks or so, I’ve been experiencing <sarcasm> the pleasure </sarcasm> of acquainting myself with a new system monitoring software called Foglight. Being familiar with Patrol, a much more superior product than Foglight from a system administrator’s point a view, it’s depressing to play with Foglight. Hence, the following greetings between me and my boss the last time I met him:
Me: Hi.
Boss: Hey, how are you doing?
Me: Getting depressed.
Boss: Playing with Foglight?
Anyways. I was told I’m going into it with a wrong attitude because I was already completely turned off by Foglight the instant I saw the term “cartridge” being used as one of its architectural components. For all intents and purposes, their cartridges are equivalent to software modules. The term “module” is not good enough for them so they had to create a whole another definition for another word?
You know, that’s exactly the reason I didn’t like Starbucks when I walked in to Starbucks for the first time to get a coffee long long time ago. I asked for a medium coffee. And this guy who was taking my order had the audacity to say in a derisive tone, “We don’t have medium. It’s called, tall, grande and venti.” I stood there speechless, dumbfounded. Finally I answered, glaring at him, “I don’t give a shit what YOU call it. I want a MEDIUM coffee. In case you don’t know, it’s the size in the middle, between the smallest cup and largest cup you have.”
Believe it or not, I had to go through this again and again when Starbucks first came to NYC (after the third time I just stopped going there), and my friends used to complain about the same thing. What? Small, medium and large not good enough for them? Why do I have to learn a whole new vocabulary to order a fucking coffee? Arrogant fucking asses. Fortunately, I was told this practice of correcting the customers stopped pretty quickly.
I don’t know why using unconventional words for conventional things is supposed to appeal to the decision makers on things like this. I wonder if it appeals to majority of consumers. Am I in the minority? Do people really like this bullshit? Is it supposed to be cute?
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. ~Mahatma Ghandi
I’ve tried to write a blog post about Pit Bulls and dog fighting ever since Eagles signed Michael Vick. But the problem is that the emotions overcome me and I feel unequal to the task of putting down in words how I feel about it and why I feel that way. My eyes start shedding tears the instant I think about doing a post. Like now. I’m bawling. I guess I’ve seen too many pictures and read too many sad heartrending stories of dogs who had to fight to survive and who just didn’t want to fight and who were just bad at it and who were just scared to death and who were just thrown into pits to be ripped apart.
Sometimes I wish I had never joined the whole animal rescue community and learn the plight of these dogs. Sometimes I wish I was oblivious to the facts and details and misconceptions about Pit Bulls and dog fighting. Sometimes I wish I could just say “what a pity” and move on.
But I don’t think I could ever feel differently about dog fighting and the pain the fighting dogs have to endure. The so-called “life” they have to live. The endless days of torture and blood and pain. Have you ever been bitten by a dog? Just one bite, not like getting things ripped off you like those dogs in the pits, but just a little bite that had to be treated at an ER? Do you know how excruciatingly painful it is? I don’t know if you are familiar with a story of any ex-fighting dog rescued from that tortuous life in the pits. Do you know how few of them actually “WANT” to fight other dogs?
I know most people really don’t think much about and don’t want to bother about Pit Bulls and dog fighting, and what are you really going to do if and when you learn the truth? It’s so remote from your life, you’ve never seen a dog fight, never even met anybody who’s seen a dog fight. And you’ll never own a dog anywhere close to a Pit Bull. Yeah, that’s the sad case for the Pit Bulls. Misunderstood and cursed for life, and so many people turning their backs on them cause they are just dogs, and even dubbed vicious dogs at that.
A dog fighting ring is always tied in with other crimes like drugs, money laundering, illegal weapons and other gang activities. Majority of those who find pleasure watching animals cry out in agony, covered in blood, limbs broken, flesh hanging loose turn out to be the most violent towards people. It’s not that far removed from our lives as you might think.
I’m not trying to make you a dog lover or an advocate for Pit Bulls. I’m not trying to convince you to read and learn about Pit Bulls, the most misunderstood dogs in this country right now, and their sad history. Of course if you do want to, lucky for you, there are excellent resources at Bad Rap or Pit Bull Rescue Central.
I started this post hours ago and I’ve spent too much time crying and blowing my nose. I keep closing this up since I can’t stand to be thinking about it so intensely, and I’m not making any sense. Oh well, the good news is that you can never accuse me of making much sense in anyway, so it’s nothing unusual. So what I’m trying to say is that I cannot write this post. Ha! You didn’t know that was coming after all the babbling! But yeah, I haven’t expressed even a fraction of what I feel and what I learned about Pit Bulls and dog fighting. I just can’t. I have a hard time articulating myself about things and people that I feel very strongly about and close to my heart. One reason you rarely read about my mom, dad, my sisters and their trials. But I digress.
I’m just asking you to be compassionate by being outraged when you read a news article about a dog fighter. By being indignant when the said dog fighter becomes the hero among all the other dog fighters. By being livid when he’s rewarded by a contract worth millions of dollars and allowed to be your kids’ role model. By being furious at his statement that it wasn’t his fault and his lack of remorse. By being absolutely incensed at remarks like “he made a mistake” because laughing at dogs crying out in agony or throwing his own family pet to see him get ripped apart for amusement cannot be categorized as “a mistake.”
If you can’t help but indifferent about the agony and misery for the poor dogs’ sake, I beg you not to be indifferent about the fact that more people including your kids are learning that not only it’s OK to torture and inflict such pain to another living being, but also it is an entertainment that they might try once or twice or until they get caught, which isn’t gonna be a big deal anyway.
“Philly’s always been a Mecca of dogfighting, but after Vick it exploded,” said Bengal. “He’s an idol.” ~From the article Pit Bulls in Pain, The Philadelphia Weekly
Please have some compassion. Even the most vicious criminals don’t deserve what those dogs have to go through. And their only crime? They were born Pit Bulls.
… as usual. But THIS time, I have an excuse. I’m sick. I’ve been sick since Sunday night. It started with a little chill, then a little headache. Monday morning found me with a sore throat and the kind of headache that turns into something that feels like I’m being stabbed whenever I move my head a little. Driving was out of the question. What an excellent excuse for calling in sick! Too bad I was actually sick. So I took a day off and slept most of the day and found myself sicker at night, shivering inside a blanket wearing a sweat shirt at 76°F.
Tuesday morning, I woke up early because my throat hurt so much I couldn’t swallow spit. Of all things, I didn’t know that was going to hurt like a son of a bitch and I didn’t know I swallowed saliva that often. I was worse off than the day before, so I called in sick again and slept the day away dragging myself around to take the dogs out from time to time. Why do my legs hurt when I’m sick with cold? And fingers! Fingers hurt! Why do fingers hurt? Every fucking joint in my hand hurt like a mofo. Why?
Both days, I was wearing 3 layers of clothes and slept under 2 blankets, sometimes sweating and sometimes shivering. I don’t know why it is that I can never get it right. I mean, I keep bundling myself up until I’m not shivering any more from cold, then I start sweating. I peel one layer off me, then I start shivering. I put a layer back on, and I start sweating. Why is that?
Anyways. Let me ask you something. When you’re sick like that, do you take a shower everyday? Cause I don’t. No, I can’t. I absolutely dread it because, look. When I’m wearing 3 layers of clothes and wrapped up in a blanket and still feel cold, I ain’t gonna voluntarily shed all that and get naked and jump into a shower. I. Don’t. Think so. And the chill after turning that shower off! Brrrrr… It gives me a shudder just thinking about it. So last night I stunk to high heavens with all that sweating for two days and no shower, which became a problem when I couldn’t find any pain killer for the headache anywhere. I tried to just fight the headache off with my will. I tried so I wouldn’t have to get out of my house where I can stink up the place without anybody complaining. But the headache was monumental. It had its way with me and I had to take a shower so that I could go into a drug store and not get kicked out for stinking up the place. What an ordeal it was! Is it just me? Do you guys shower everyday when you’re sick like this?
how my babies are doing, and also equally dying to see some pictures of them NOT peeing or pooping. There is nothing much to report, but here you are.
Georgia is doing OK. I had a big scare when I took her to the vet for checkup in May when the vet diagnosed her as having level 2 heart murmur. Since she did not have it last fall, we were alarmed when 2 months later even I could hear the swishing noise by just putting my ear on her side. After echocardiogram and EKG, it was determined that the murmur is at the beginning stage brought on by old age, and even though by sound it has become level 3 murmur, the sound is loud because the dent on her heart valve was small compared to the high velocity of the blood circulation. The cardiologist’s suggestion is to do nothing.
Summer in New York doesn’t agree with Brooklyn very well because of the moisture on the ground even when it hasn’t rained. She’s been pooping only once every 3 or 4 days out of absolute necessity. She was absolutely miserable during June when we had maybe 3 or 4 days without rain. She was also diagnosed with heart murmur during her checkup, but the vet could only hear very slight noises. I had not known old age can bring on heart murmur until then.
Brandy’s been doing fine, considering… I hate to acknowledge the fact but I have to admit the side effect of megaesophagus is getting worse slowly over the years. And there is nothing I can do about it. Other than that, she was given a clean bill of health during her checkup.
Foster has not bitten himself and punctured himself this summer! Yet. *knocks on wood* Not only that, I haven’t had to rush him to an emergency vet. *knocks on wood harder* He was also given a clean bill of health.
Now please leave some love for my babies!
I’ve been reading Personal Kanban Series on Evolving Web blog by Jim Benson this week. If you know me well and you just clicked on the aforementioned blog link, you might wonder what the fuck happened to Yoon and who is this person impersonating her. And if you don’t know me well and you just clicked on the said blog, you might wonder why some people might wonder I’m an impostor who incapacitated Yoon in order to write on this good-for-nothing blog. Well, I’ll tell you a little later.
Ever since I came back online from the depression-induced hiatus after my Grizzley’s death, I’ve been seeing the tweets from topsurf mentioning “personal kanban series by ourfounder” on twitter. Not knowing what this exotic word kanban meant and who ourfounder was, I first thought this kanban thing had to do with some personal growth or spiritual awakening or some shit like that because the combination of the words “personal” and “kanban” and “ourfounder” gave me the feeling that this ourfounder guy is the founder of this spiritual or personal growth “system” for lack of a better word.
OK, I lied. I said at the end of the first paragraph that I’d tell you why the impostor and yadi yadi yada, but I feel too lazy and this post has gotten already a little too long going on a tangent, and I haven’t even gotten to my point, which has to do with sex and money and something else, as the title suggests and what interested you guys in the first place. So I’m just not gonna tell you. If you’re one of those who wondered, you’re just gonna have to keep wonderin’.
Where was I? Oh yeah, so the last weekend, I finally asked topsurf what this kanban was. She gave me the link to the Personal Kanban Series, and suggested I read it because it helped her a lot. I started reading one article a day (what? You think my pea-sized brain can take more than THAT a day?) and found out it’s not what I thought at all. It’s a tool to improve productivity, and ourfounder guy is not a spiritual leader or a cult founder, but a management consultant named Jim Benson. I’ve decided to try kanban in my life at home rather than at work because home is where I suffer from lack of productivity in doing shit around the house – all four dogs, who refuse to help bring home the bacon by getting jobs and such, believe it or not, also refuse to help around the house with picking things up, vacuuming or dusting, etc.
Anyway. Crud… I’m so far away from what I wanted to blog about now I wonder if I should even try. Oh well. Whatever. So now I come to the point that has very little to do with most of what I have jabbered on about so far.
In one of his articles, Jim Benson states,
Human beings want three things in life: sex, money, and effective prioritization.
I, who I think is a human being, happen to want money, naps, and food. In that order. And lots of them. But I usually can’t pass for normal. So I kinda understand his statement and I even agree with the money part as you can see. And I can understand the sex part, too – psst, have you noticed Jim is a guy? But effective prioritization? Uh… hmmm… Methinks his profession clouded his mind right there. I think it should be “new and improved way to get sex and money fast without much effort” or “effective way to delegate” or “effective way to evade responsibility” or “better way to blame somebody else” or something along those lines.
Drats. Now that I said it, I realize I don’t really have much of a point. I might have “subconsciously” just put that title to pique your interest and make you read this meaningless blathering. Don’t you think it’s a very clever title anyways, eh?
Serious Stuff. Seriously
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
| Blog: |
| yoonamania |
Topics: |
| Pets, Dog, Cat |