Tails’ Blography

Its been a pretty slow and uneventful week, but I’m glad its Friday! National Heritage Day just passed on Wednesday, so that was a pleasant day spent inside relaxing. The (fluff)Friends application on Facebook has been having a treasure hunt (to celebrate International Talk Like A Pirate Day), so we’ve desperately been trying to find 500 gems before the hunt is over (you get a Googely as a reward, but its difficult to explain what it is on a blog). On Wed I found 150 gems! It was a loooong day! Haha! This weekend will be spent hunting like mad since the hunt ends on Sunday night.

I have a fever blister And its been around since Tuesday! Had one a few weeks back, but I remember I was stressed about something (cant remember what it was now….couldnt have been that important I guess) but I dont recall being stressed about anything now….*sigh* Hopefully it’ll be gone by Monday…

Went shopping yesterday evening with Michael, and we decided to buy some filter coffee, since we havent had a pot going in ages. So we bought House of Coffees Jamaican blend and WOW is it NICE!!! Its smooth, creamy, aromatic, but not too strong…very, very pleasant! In fact, I think I’m going to get a cup as soon as I’m done with this blog post!

Oh, forgot to mention I took photos this week of my dogs (yes yes, I need different subjects by now, I know ). I think they’re my best yet! Max made a proper appearance, and was very cooperative and did his tricks for some Beenos. If you like or dont like them, drop me a note to tell me which and why You can see more pics in the Recent Pics slideshow to the right.

I’m also looking forward to going away next month for a weekend. It’ll be Michael and my 5 year anniversary and it’ll be nice to get away. Viia’s coming with, and hopefully it wont rain the whole weekend haha! Last time we had such a great time and I always enjoy it! We’ll definately be having cocktails at a restaurant on the beach if its decent weather! Yay!

I think thats about it…..I’m gonna get some more delicious coffee now

So on Friday I got myself all packed for the airshow on Saturday. Packed lighter pants (in case the weather got too hot), another top, my Crocs (yes, I have Crocs, get over it), a windbreaker jacket (learnt my lesson last show!), and the same for my bf (only he wore his lighter pants, and took warmer pants instead). Also packed a beach mat (unlike the link-pic, I dont have the bag and my mat is orange, not pink) which is handy to have underneath a blanket. I dont have a rugged-type blanket, so borrowed two from my mom. Also thought to pack suntan lotion and Disprin in case anyone got headaches from the sun. Packed a flask of coffee to drink in the queue since we were planning on getting there around 8am, and we expected a chilly morning, what with all the grey skies we’ve been having all week.

So the next morning, Michael didnt want to get up early haha even though it was he who decided on the time, so we ended up only getting there at 8.30am-9am. The queue was not even 5 minutes long, and the morning was really nice, warm weather! Blue skies all over!! Fantastic! All was well…until we reached the field, or should I say bog! All the rain we’ve been having made the field incredibly sloppy, depsite all the hay and straw they put down to help. It took us AGES to find our friends (who arrived at 6am), but the spot we had was decent It was right on the edge of the field against the runway barrier. We didnt look around the airshow stalls as our bags were heavy and we wanted to put them down. We would have gone back, but struggling through the boggy ground wasnt fun, and that put us off (though Michael went back once to get food for us).

Soon as we settled down, we put on sunscreen (though we still got burnt a little, which I think was more wind burn than actual sun burn). I hauled out my camera right from the start and got right down to snapping away. The show included displays of helicopters, boeings, smoke displays, tanks, and fighter jets. There was also a Mini War Demonstration which involved cargo drop-offs, parachuting soldiers, and morter bombs going off amidst gun-fire (all controlled, and safe, probably all blanks ).

Sure the fighter jets are great to watch (and this year, the speaker system was better, so we all got to actually hear what was going on and what plane was what this time), but my favourites are the Boeings. Those huge beast of machines soaring gracefully in the sky just fascinate me. All that metal, over our heads….wow! This year we were treated to a few Boeing displays: a Boeing 747 (which was privately owned by one man), an Airbus A340 (which was also flanked by four fighter jets – you could hear the proximity warning alarms going off when they patched through to the pilot), a formation of two Boeing 737s, and a chance fly-by of a Boeing 767 coming in from New York.

I think the highlight of the day for most was Thunder City’s English Electric Lightning which broke the sound barrier…twice (you can see the pic I took of the Lightning at the top of the post). It was louder than we think the co-ordinators expected, but it was amazing to hear (even set off people’s car alarms). Apparently people complained and thought bombs were going off (I have to ask, who doesnt know about the airshow when there are planes flying overhead practising for at least a fortnight beforehand??!). I was glad our dogs were mellow from the tranqs, though Gizmo still bolted upstairs and ended up sitting in the shower for cover

All in all, the day was great! Feel free to browse through my Airshow Album or just watch the better photos summary in the slideshow in the Recent Pics section on the side, though that might be gone if you’re reading this a week or so (or whenever I have more “recent pics”) after I’ve typed this.

So, besides this week being rainy, its also been filled with the sounds of jets flying overhead practising for the International Air Show happening this weekend.

I think it happens every three or four years, and its normally quite spectacular, but alas, the poor animals in the area get very upset. In fact, during the last airshow, some riders were out in a group on their horses, a jet flew over spooking the horses, who tossed their riders and bolted back to the stables (across traffic if I’m not mistaken).
   Only one rider managed to stay on her horse, the rest had to walk back. All horses made it back ok. I was standing around the stables around that time and a helicopter flew over, which led to a stampede of frightened horses looking for somewhere safe. The wimp in me (I’m sorry, I love horses, but they scare me sometimes) jumped out the way for safety, but a friend of mine dashed in and grabbed the lead rope, securing the horse. Everyone was ok then as well.

As it stands this time, our dog, Max (not in the photos yet), is clearly terrified of the noise. He shivers and shakes and just cannot be calmed. We’ve tried ignoring him, didnt work. We tried comforting him. Didnt work. So I dashed out and got some NutriCalm for them. Apparently its very good and homeopathic, so its safe to use, so here’s hoping it helps them. The effects apparently last around 4 hours, so I got enough for two doses per day per pet. Gizmo and Roz (our cat) will get some too. The second dose, however, I think I will make a half-dose, since the effects of the first dose should help somewhat.
  I’ll let you know how it goes. Thankfully, my mom and sister will be home this weekend, so the pets will have company. I will probably be at the airshow (I feel slightly ashamed since its so hurtful to the animals’ ears, but its a such a great photo opportunity)…lets hope the rain holds off.

Weather forcast said its supposed to be sunny over the weekend, but then again, they also said it was supposed to be sunny this week….err…I dont think so!! Keep fingers crossed!

I have been in a photography lull for a while now, what with it being winter and all, and it was really getting me down. A week or two ago I stumbled upon a blog called Dog Parks and they have some really wonderful tips, as well as some links to incredibly inspiring pet photographers…so of course, this prompted me to get my butt in gear and start using my camera!

Today looked like it was going to produce somewhat ok weather, and I planned on taking some photos while walking the dogs on our local field, but unfortunately that didnt happen (mom took them later, though). However, dont dispair! I got some photo-time in after mom finished mowing the lawn (I was pushed into action by Gizmo rolling on the grass).
I dashed in, grabbed my camera, and here’s what I got (please feel free to leave any comments, good or bad – I’m always up for critique!!!)

Gizmo:

And one photo of our cat, Roswell:

Please excuse the watermarks, but these photos do get displayed on numerous sites and, well, internet theft ‘n all…

More photos can be seen in the slideshow on the right hand side.

So a huge shout out to Dog Parks blog and a huge Thank You to all who inspired me!

I’ve had a pretty grumpy day today. Let’s review:

Number one: my hair is unwashed. And I feel gritty and blegh which makes me grumpy.

Number two: its been cold today and my office (its a home-office type) is like a block of ice. Being cold also makes me grumpy.

Number three: its Wednesday, and that brings customers to a particular restaurant (across the road from my work) over lunchtime. Sounds tame and reasonable, doesnt it? Well not when they continuously park right outside the office so I have nowhere to park!
And not only that, but they park like idiots. One car will park just far enough away from the driveway to leave a gap, just not far enough to park another car in front, but far enough away that the car behind has a good metre or so extra to walk. Then the car behind that is even further away, and the car behind that is pretty much around the corner and down the street. Thats normally me in these cases.
In fact, I once couldnt even park there, so I parked on the large, grassy island in the middle of the road (where everyone else parks as well, mind you!) since there by chance happened to be a space where someone had just left….AND I GOT A PARKING TICKET! I wrote a pleading letter explaining that I had no where else to park because of the damn restuarant clients, but no reduction was granted
Since they’re coming for lunch, they also normally are parked out there for a good four hours (not kidding!). And they’re all big, swanky, expensive cars too, since the restaurant is a 5 star one. And to top it all off, there is parking RIGHT BEHIND the restaurant!! Lots of it! With a car-guard! Why, oh why, park outside someone’s house, making them and their guests park a mile away while you sit on your rich, ignorant ass scoffing your face full of 5 star food! See, just typing about it makes me mad! I ended up leaving (surprisingly polite) notes on their car, explaining our predicament with everyone parking outside our place. I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they didnt realise what a pain it is to the local residents.

Number four: Vodacom’s 3G USB modems, and Vodacom’s help service! Had a customer bring their laptop in because their device had stopped working. Its supposed to be Plug-and-Play, but it wasnt having any. I tried various methods of trying to get it to work, a good three hours I’d say. Uninstalling, re-installing, different USB port, etc etc all with the same result. “Device not detected”. I install it on my machine, it at least prompts me for a PIN. I didnt bother checking further, plugged it back into the client’s own laptop, and eventually phoned Vodacom.

The first guy I spoke to, asked what anti-virus I was running, to which I replied, “AVG 8″. He said, “Aha! That’s the problem. AVG blocks the connection and we’ve had 130 or so calls in the past two months from people using AVG and having problems.”
“So do you guys have an update for the device to make it work with AVG?”
“No, unfortunately not.”
“But surely you’re not expecting your clients to have to purchase an antivirus program so its compatible with your product??”
“Well, you get what you pay for, and AVG is free…”
I start to see where he’s going with this, “Yes, I agree with that point, you do get what you pay for, and we’re paying for a Vodafone connection, and Vodacom isnt providing. AVG isnt making the Vodafone device, AVG is working perfectly.”
“Well its definately AVG and I dont know what else to tell you.”
“…”
I basically ended the call there. I felt like slamming the phone down and throwing the device out the window. Instead, I said, “Thank you anyway, I guess I’ll just try to figure it out on my own. Goodbye.”

I kept trying. Eventually I gave in and tried to phone Vodacom again. I got a different person on the phone, this time a woman and more helpful to boot! She explained it wasnt actually AVG, since AVG would block the connection, and not cause the device not to be found. Finally! Someone with brains! She asked a bunch of questions about the software being used, etc etc and eventually recommended a different “dashboard” program to download, and recommended a firmware update, both from off their site. Yay, looks like we’re getting somewhere!

I download the two apps, and run them according to the instructions. The installation gets to a certain point, and then does a rollback, saying it was interrupted. I try again, because I was fiddling on the machine while it was installing, so it might have been me. Same thing. What the?? So I try again, this time uninstalling the old app first and restarting. Same thing. I close all programs running that could potentially interrupt it. Same thing! So then I think, “AHA! It needs the firmware update first! Duh!” so I run that app. ERROR! I cant even remember the error it gave, just that on one line it said “error error error”. The only option is to click “Finish”, not that I even clicked “Next” at any point. So now I re-install the old app, and run it. It opens…. then closes immediately. I try again, same thing. A tear forms in my eye. Now the program wont even run, let alone tell me “Device not detected”. My hand starts reaching towards the device, and I start looking towards the window….I take a deep breath and control my anger. My teary eye starts to twitch. I look at the clock. Its 5pm. I’m going home.

And the rest, they say, is history. What a day! And it’s all going to start again tomorrow