Hello again....

For those of you, however few you are, who do follow this blog and its author you would have noticed the extremely long period of which there have been no posts. If not, well ..

I have been busy with work actually. I have been writing, which is good. That is really good. Things have been difficult on  the homefront but they are coming back together now. Albeit rather slowly but still in a positive direction. This means that my personal writing will likely also follow the same path. I hope.

What to do, what to do. Stay tuned and you will find out when I do.

Quick DBD Update

Wow, it feels like forever since I last posted something here!

I have been very busy of late and as such I have neglected some of my other projects. Then again.. money comes first and that is the reason that I have been busy - because I have been working!

The good thing is that the work I have been doing has been writing. So to make a long story short... I spent all that time in the past trying to get some decent writing work and I finally found it. Not only that, but the guy that I am working for is a decent guy. I could not have asked for a better "employer" so to speak.

QuitSmokingCommunity.Org

Quitsmokingcommunity.org is basically who I am working for. I am writing a couple pieces for the site and maybe getting in on a couple other projects.. who knows. All I know is that I am getting paid on time, working for a guy who appreciates communication (and communicates in return), and overall is a nice guy. So I cannot really complain except to say I wish I would have found this sooner.

Other than that, life has just kept me busy. On another note.. I officially took down LookingforEarth.com. It was a fun project while it lasted and it would have been a great site had I been able to put the time and effort into it that it needed to grow. Oh well...

Anyway.. I know this is not much of an update but duty calls. I will continue to put time and work into this blog it is just not going to happen this week.

Observations of a Boxer: Part One

I apologize to any of you who looked for this piece yesterday. I had said that it would be ready one June 4th but there were some circumstances beyond my control that prevented me from getting this out on time, along with a few other things. However, it is ready now so here we go. I hope you enjoy it as I am planning on making it an on-going series depending on how well it is received. Off to the races!

Introduction: Dakota

My dogs name is Dakota and of course, she is a Boxer. She is pure Boxer through and through. While she has no flaws with regards to her breed or how she should present herself, she does have one trait that sets her apart from the rest of her kind. She is smaller than she should be.

Dakota was born the runt. Perhaps this is the reason she was not adopted like her brothers and sisters. Either way, being a runt these days is not the death sentence that it used to be. In the past the runt would not have  the size or strength to feed like the rest and sometimes this would cause them to really stand out amongst their peers. Lacking food, attention, and just simple nutrition, runts would sometimes be killed as a way of showing mercy. I'm not sure why that was considered mercy back then, but there are a lot of things that people did then that do not make sense.

Today however things are much different. Dakota's early days were still not completely secure as she was born to what some people call a backyard breeder. The person that owned her at the time must have thought the ways they did things in the past made sense. Or maybe he was just looking for ways to save money and have less mouths to feed, because Dakota was slated for termination. That's right, she was to be put down.

Now I'm not exactly sure how it happened but somehow a person who knew the breeder decided that they would take Dakota and save her from her untimely demise. At this point however it became a race to find someone who could take and care for Dakota permanently. From messages through mutual friends, Dakota ended up in Michigan with a friend of someone we knew. Word went out that a puppy needed a home and a fuzzy picture was posted. Well, it was lucky for us, not Dakota, that we saw the picture and decided it was time we had a dog. We had been searching off and on for one but the right dog and situation never arose. This time however, it felt right.

So we made the trip and picked her up. From the first time she looked at me and I at her it was sealed. This was my dog. It has been 3 years since that day and Dakota is still the same size she was last year. People say that she still has more growing to do but I am convinced that she is done. She is still a good sized dog. She is about 64 pounds, but it is not her weight but rather her height that is a bit below average for a female Boxer. That is fine with me though because to me she is the perfect size. Not too small and not too large, but perfect.

So her smaller than average size aside, she is absolutely perfect. Everything about her says Boxer and believe me, if you have never had a Boxer you should really consider the breed for your next dog. They are the best! They are tough, yet completely tame and great with kids. They absolutely love to cuddle and I don't think I have ever seen another dog who loves to snuggle next to their family members so much. They are not the biggest fans of the water yet they can swim as if they have done it their entire lives. All dogs love their adopted family, sure. But a Boxer is a bit unique. I think they have a love for their adopted family that has no rival. They will protect their master with their lives and will do the same for everyone else they love. They are great dogs. Dakota is a great dog.

Observations

Our daily walk differs occasionally by way of our path and length. Lately it seems however that I am noticing something new about Dakota every day. Sometimes I wonder why she does what she does and other times I just shake my head. Occasionally she does not behave all that well but most of the time she does. I am still working on her "training" or her "obedience". I know, I know.. three years old and I am still working on it? Well.. I never claimed to be the worlds best dog trainer. It is not that she is a complete disaster of a dog. It is just that she has a mind of her own. When she wants to smell something or walk a certain way, she does not heed my call. We are working on this though and she does show improvement. I think her biggest flaw is her instinct to chase a bird or squirrel.

My daddy took me for our walk today. I was excited to go because everybody else in the house was gone already. Sometimes we go early and sometimes we go a little bit before lunch, but he always takes me for a walk. I like walking because I get to see all the things outside. I really love smelling  the flowers. On our block there are a lot of different flowers and they all smell nice. I can smell the flowers on the second block before we even get close so I get even more excited.

I usually try to pay attention to Dakota's marking routine. Where she marks, how much and when. It is interesting actually when you start to see a pattern. I would have never thought that a pattern in her marking would emerge. I always thought it was relatively random. I noticed that whenever I see a big plant like a hosta she will pee on it. So as I watched it more and more I could sometimes see that she peed on the plant because another dog had done so as well. The plant was wet so I assumed it was from another dog but I suppose it could have just been water too.

I keep hearing dogs bark when we walk by certain houses. I know I should not worry but since I cannot see them it kinda freaks me out. We just have to keep walking. Pretty soon we will be far enough away from their house and I will not have to worry about it anymore. It wouldn't be so bad if they were in their yard and I could see them and bark back at them. 

It seems strange to me sometimes how Dakota will talk (bark) to some dogs and not to others. Do they have a secret language? I remember watching a show called Dogs 101 in which they discussed the various barks that dogs had. They asked dog owners if they could recognize certain barks and they could. It seemed amazing to me but after having Dakota for a couple of years I realized that I could do the same. 

 More To Come

This being the first "Observations" essay, I didn't get to all that I wanted to. The second will be a bit more in depth and will likely include some pictures as well.

New DBD Computer Services Site

Good Morning To All!

 

I just completed the workup on a new Computer Services site. The site is live as of now, but that does not mean there might not be some issues. Of course, I looked through and tested all that I could but as anyone who has done something like this before knows, the only way to truly iron out all the bugs is for it to go live under real circumstances. So I published the site live. Check it out --  DBD Computer Repair Services

In case anyone is questioning the decision to use Wix for the site creation, let me explain my reasoning here so that hopefully it does not come up again. One of the biggest questions one could ask is, if you are soliciting for business as a computer repair tech, or someone with advanced knowledge of computers, why use a site like Wix or anything like it to create your website? Why not create it yourself?

I have thought about this long and hard in the past and even asked myself the same question. The answer is relatively easy to be honest and it all comes down to time. I am a very busy man and what spare time i do have away from family and other duties is spent with my writing or here. The last thing I want to do is use that valuable time coding a website and going through all the various testing that is required to get something like that working flawlessly. Sure, it would probably look good and it is always the most customizable option to code it yourself.

Thing is, the site creation companies that exist now have gotten so much better than they have been in the past. The options that are available, even for free, are options that give me exactly what I need. So why spend the time and money doing it all myself when everything that I need is made readily available and for free.

So you see.. it was really a very easy decision to utilize Wix for my secondary site. So far it has worked out very well and I could not be happier. Now if I could just drum up some business everything would be grand! 

That Lost in the Ages

There are always eras in which people live and associate with. Different times and different people who live within them. In the 1950's things were vastly different as they are now. People thought different, dressed different, and when they looked at people in various stations in life their perceptions were very different than they would be today.

In the 1970's all these things have changed. People were a lot more forgiving of certain transgressions. But even so, there still lived those who were around in the 50's and they were not so eager to let go of their convictions. The same happens today. There are those who have a very different mind-set from those who have come of age in this last decade. The ideas and ideals of these people can be very different and coming to an understanding on various topics can be just as difficult.

Today I see much of this in the aspects of the people around me. The older generation (I say this with all due respect) has a great amount of difficulty adjusting to the fast paced lifestyle that is the norm today. Social media and technology has brought people together in numerous ways and taken them apart in just as many. It is a rather contradictory sight when you consider it all.

Those who have been born a stranger to technology yet are open and willing to accept it are slow to come to the forefront but they can still play the game. Those who are a part of the revolution are only sometimes willing to accept the older folk but when they do they are instantly wiser. Is that a coincidence? I think not.

What about the young who will pass us all up on the way to their present? They will take our technology and evolve it into something new and something strange. It is at this point that we become the "they". When this takes place we should all be wise to accept the invitation to come to the party - that is, if we are to receive one.

Google and their new Cube Lab

For those who know me you know that I am a big fan of everything Google. At the heart of this fascination is the fact that Google does everything they can to explore, experiment, learn, challenge, and create things that give people the ability to use technology for what it was meant for - but in a better, more efficient manner. This also allows for unconventional and new methods of doing things with the tech we all have in our lives. This excites me because not only does it give people with advanced knowledge of computers and technology more tools but it also helps to bring along the novice as well. Speaking of the novice computer user, as they come along for the journey with the advanced users and experts, Google provides them with the tools they need to learn and experiment with the technology being used by the experts so they too may one day share in that distinction. It is just marvelous! 

New Experimental Frontiers

Google is well known for its powerful search engine on the internet. They are also known for some of the various other ways the search engine can be used. Things like calculators, translators, and weight conversions are but a small few things that you can use Google for. And unless you have been living under a very large rock, or living at the bottom of the ocean you would also be familiar with Google Glass, Android, and Google Maps and Earth. If I was to make a list of all the various projects that Google is involved in or the companies they own or have a stake in we would be here all day. Let's just say that Google has grown to be a major company in this country (and the world) and they have no plans on slowing down at any point in the near or distant future.

I think that for anybody who likes to keep up with current technology or news about what is just over the horizon, one company to watch would obviously be Google. This is made even easier considering the Google Chrome Blog has been keeping relevant news on the site and informing the public about new experiments. Yes, "Chrome" is the name of their web browser. But think about just how important that is for a moment.

Everything that we do these days, or almost everything anyway, has a start on the internet. Our communications, many of the programs that we run, or the data that we collect or send out. All of it is either coming from or going through the internet. So if you are building something that is supposed to work better than anything else out there the best place to focus your energies is with a browser. That is precisely what Google had done years ago. They developed Chrome.

Chrome has had its ups and downs just like any browser. Personally I have been using Firefox for the last few years. While Firefox is my default browser I still use Chrome occasionally or when I am doing something specific that requires the use of Chrome. As for Internet Explorer... I have not used that piece of junk for a few years now. I have been using Chrome more and more lately and I expect that at some point in the near future I will make a complete switch between Chrome and Firefox. The point is that the browser Google has created in Chrome is a great piece of software and it serves as the starting point for many of their internet based projects/experiments. This is why the Chrome Blog is a great place to get information about upcoming projects.

The Cube Lab

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Rubiks Cube. As an homage, Google has launched what they are calling the Cube Lab. The lab is a website that gives users various styles of Rubiks Cube puzzles to not only play around with but they can also create their own. The amount of work and brainpower that has gone into this website is immense and I sincerely recommend that you check it out when you have the time. It is definitely worth a look.

The Cube Lab is a great piece of work. Google has done a marvelous job putting sites like this together and if you never take a look at any of them you are really doing yourself a disservice. The best way to describe what the Cube Lab is would be to let Rubik's Cube creator Professor Erno Rubik explain it. The following  is a paragraph taken from the website's "about" page:

"The Cube was born in 1974 as a teaching tool to help me and my students better understand space and 3D. The Cube challenged us to find order in chaos. Since then, technology has made fantastic progress in bringing new possibilities to how we learn and how we tackle bewildering complexity. Chrome Cube Lab takes full advantage of that progress by encouraging curiosity and problem-solving skills—the very reason the Cube was created in the first place. I can’t wait to see people learn about three-dimensional objects through their browsers and to test the limits of what is possible when the Cube gets re-jigged using cutting edge web technologies. Cube on!”

...Professor Erno Rubik


Links to the sites mentioned in this posting:

The Chrome Blog 
The Chrome Cube Lab 

 

New Menu

For those who pay attention to detail you may notice a new drop-down menu has been added to the front page of the blog. This will make it much easier to navigate through the various stories and articles that I plan to start adding soon.

Some of my writing of short stories as well as the novel I am working on has been moving rather quickly of late. As a result, I wanted to give myself someplace to publish some of these as they are finished. Of course this mostly applies to the short stories as they are the ones that I have finished. I have, at present, 2 short stories that I will be publishing within the next day or so. I just need to do some editing and proofing then they will be all yours. This is where the menu will really make things easier.

You would think that something like a menu would be a simple process, especially in a place like Blogger. Unfortunately Blogger does not provide a menu system that fits my needs so I had to look elsewhere for something that would work. I eventually found something and although most of the coding was already done for me, there were a couple of tweeks and additions that I made on my own. This of course always causes some additional problems to work through.

At this point everything should be working as it should, but if anyone happens to notice a menu item not working properly please let me know. I will be doing my best to handle anything that pops up.

Thanks again and hopefully this addition will make it much easier for you guys to navigate through the new stories and other works that I will be posting very soon. Enjoy!