Archive for July, 2008
Mango taking a break from pissing all over the house.
Housebreaking Mango turns out to be harder than i originally thought. Just when i thought i have got this housebreaking thing down, Mango’s “indiscriminate” peeing in the house would bring me back down to earth. So far, Mango has had about nine accidents, seven times at my place and twice at Janet’s condo. After Mango peed on the Persian rug i bought from Saudi Arabia back in 2002 for the third time, i decided to remove it from the living room. Cleaning up pee from a hardwood floor is a lot easier than a rug.
I am having a hard time figuring out when Mango wants to go urinate. Occasionally, he would give me signs like being antsy and also by looking outside at the backyard. In several of the accidents, i did not receive any warning sign from Mango. On other occasions, it was totally my fault. I did not realize that i had to immediately take him outside after he’s fed. When i say ‘immediately,’ i really mean right away. At noon when Mango had his first accident of the day, i had just finished feeding him and was just about to clean up his food tray when i caught him peeing on the rug. He was only halfway done so i managed to drop him in the backyard to continue his business.
Mango peed in the house again after returning from a short walk. It was a really pleasant walk. Mango did not throw any resistance at being led by leash. I realized that when the path that we walked is new to Mango, he would spend a lot of time sniffing around. Consequently, i spent quite a bit of time doing this stop-and-go walk. But when we were going back on the same path, Mango would run alongside me. Anyway, after i brought Mango into the house, he peed almost immediately, without giving me a chance to let him into the backyard. By the time i got to him, he was just about done and i immediately moved him to the backyard.
Waking up after taking a small after-meal nap.
It can get frustrating at times during this housebreaking period. There were times when i thought he wanted to relieve himself in the backyard and i would promptly take him back there. But all he did was to chew on anything he found interesting, including my plants, pebbles and some unfortunate bugs. When i tried to lead him to his usual peeing spot, he would throw up a big fit, tugging and pulling on the leash like a bronco while screaming and whining at the same time. I think nothing irks me more than when Mango “misbehaves”. I have to keep telling myself that Mango is just a puppy and i have to be patient with him. Dog trainer Diane told me that housetraining is not the most fun part of raising a puppy and i can’t agree with her more.
The only good news in this housebreaking training is that Mango has not crapped in the house yet.
My To-do’s:
- Always take Mango out after a meal or water.
- Always take Mango out after a walk, if he has not eliminated during the walk.
- Always take Mango out after he has been crated for an extended period.
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When i bought my 23″ Apple Cinema Display several months ago, it bothered me that i could not turn the display off. There is a Power button on the ACD itself but whenever i pressed it, a window would pop out asking me if i wanted to perform the following actions on my Mac Pro: Restart, Sleep or Shut Down.
Window that popped out originally when the power button was touched.
In order for me to “turn off” the display, i had to wait until the Power savings setting for the display to kick in.
Barely two hours ago, i am not sure what caused the setting to change. When i accidentally touched the ACD power button, the display went dark. On checking the Display options in System Preferences, i finally found that i can configure different options for the Power button!
ACD Power button options.
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Turtle icon by Presse (Browse Mascot)
iPhone 2.0, aka iPhone Software Update 2.0, has added quite a few useful features for the original iPhone, including several much needed but missing basic features that you can find on a much cheaper phone. The newly added features, not listed in any particular order, are:
- Multiple delete/move of emails (finally!!!).
- Ability to install official third party apps.
- Geotagging of pictures taken using iPhone’s camera.
- A search tool in Contacts (yes!!!).
- A scientific calculator when iPhone is held horizontally.
- Over-the-air synchronization of Mail, Contacts and Calendar via the Push mechanism of MobileMe (when MobileMe is actually working).
- Chinese input supporting Handwriting and Pinyin modes.
Even with the added features in iPhone 2.0, many other basic functionality that are commonly found on other phones, are still missing in action. For example:
- What??? There is still no copy and paste? How do you expect me to remember the long-ass URL or the UPS tracking number? To memorize it or to write it down on paper?
- I still can’t receive a call when i am using the EDGE data network. Contrary what many Apple fanboys posted on the Apple Support Discussion forum, this IS NOT a limitation of the EDGE technology. I had a Nokia N73 and a friend of mine has a Nokia N95 and both phones are able to prompt when where is an incoming call, instead of sending it straight to voicemail like the iPhone. Why does the data usage get a higher priority over voice call? After all, the iPhone is still supposed to be a phone, isn’t it?
- There is still only one option available for call-forwarding. The iPhone can either forward all calls or none. I would like to set up call-forwarding ONLY when my iPhone is out of service but not when i am busy or when i do not pick up the call. But i can’t do it.
- Why i still can’t capture video?
- Trying to forward text messages to others? Forget it.
One undesirable “feature” that came with iPhone 2.0 is the extreme sluggishness in switching from app to app. Since there is no way to directly switch from one app to another, switching app requires pressing the home button to go back to the home screen and then touching on the icon of the target app. Going from home screen to various apps is painfully slow, especially if i have not rebooted my iPhone for several days. In addition, i have also experienced sluggish response using the virtual keyboard. Apple’s own Support forum are full of posts from users complaining about the unbearable slowness ever since they upgraded to 2.0. Several users have reported successes in speeding things up by restoring their iPhones but this appears to be just temporary. On top of the sluggish performance, going from iPod to the Home screen while a song is being played causes the song to be paused for about half a second. Going back to iPod has the same unwanted effect as well.
I timed going to the following apps that i commonly use from the Home screen with the iPhone in Airplane mode (i have no reception at work):
- Home screen to iPod: 3.4 seconds
- Home screen to Clock: 5.0 seconds
- Home screen to Calendar: 5.8 seconds
- Home screen to Settings: 8.0 seconds
- Home screen to Text (SMS): 8.9 seconds
- Home screen to Photos: 9.1 seconds
- Home screen to Camera: 10.0 seconds
- Home screen to Notes: 10.0 seconds
- And the mother of all slowness/freezes: Home screen to Contacts (with 156 contacts): 18.1 whopping seconds before Contacts became responsive!
What the hell was the Contacts app doing prior to becoming responsive after more than 18 agonizing seconds? Was it trying to contact the MobileMe cloud for synchronization? But wait, my iPhone was in the Airplane mode with WiFi off, which means the Contacts app SHOULD NOT be trying to locate the MobileMe server, if indeed that’s what it was trying to do.
The iPhone 2.0 Software Update has rendered the iPhone pretty much unusable in terms of responsiveness. Personally, this is the first time that i have witnessed what is supposedly an enhancement making a product performs worse than before (this may be a recurring theme for Windows users but it is quite rare among Mac users). There are rumors floating out there that a 2.0.1 update or a 2.1 update will be coming out soon. Hopefully this serious performance problem will be one of, if not the top issues addressed by the update.
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Mango appears to be saying Hi (picture courtesy of Smelly).
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Yesterday we, as in Mango, Janet and i, had our second training session with Diane. Diane brought along her training Doberman Fraser to assist during the one-hour session.
When Diane first let the 90-pound Fraser out of her car, Mango was quite apprehensive of his bigger friend.
Mango hiding behind me when being approached by Fraser.
In a matter of minutes, Mango became quite comfortable with Fraser.
Mango getting comfortable with Fraser.
During the training session, Diane reinforced the “sit” command from last week. In addition to the new “stay” command, she also showed us how to make Mango look at our eyes when we are calling him.
With the help of Fraser, Diane was able to make Mango walk on leash without him throwing a fit. I was amazed. Prior to this, Mango had never been able to be led by the leash without stalling. While Diane was leading Fraser, Mango followed right behind. I had to keep up with Mango since i was not being used to Mango walking in front of me!
Mango following Fraser. This exercise was intended to make Mango be comfortable walking on leash.
It was really a pleasure to work with Diane. She is very knowledgeable about dog behaviors. She knows exactly when Mango was wanting to play with Fraser and when Mango wanted to go potty. Halfway during the session, Mango started becoming a little “out of focus”, so Diane told us that Mango probably needed a bathroom break. As soon as i placed Mango in the backyard, he relieved himself with a pretty big pool of pee.
Mango and Fraser paying close attention to Diane.
The last exercise of the session was the “come” command. It was so fun to see Mango running at full speed when he listened to the command and was able to sit on command as well.
![](http://ktula.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/080726_training06_tn.jpg "Mango running toward Diane during the \\"come\\" command exercise.")
Mango running toward Diane during the “come” command exercise.
Ups:
- Mango is now a lot more responsive to the “sit” command.
- The portion of his meals are being increased as he’s finishing all his food. This means he’s growing bigger 
- For the past few days, Mango had this habit of barking at us when we are preparing his meals, as if he was trying to tell us to hurry up. To correct this behavior, Diane told us that when Mango is barking to us again, we should just walk away and ignore him until he stops barking. This appeared to work the first time we tried it.
Down:
- Mango peed indoor, this time on the hardwood floor, in the evening after our visitors left. Normally when he wanted to pee, he would indicate that by getting close to the door to the backyard. Last night, he did that but at the front door instead. I paid no attention to that and consequently, i found a puddle of pee minutes later.
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Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?
Caterpillar fashion
By Gideon Levy
July 24 2008
Haaretz
Israel might be able to go on claiming that it will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East, but it cannot do the same regarding another weapon of mass destruction: the bulldozer. The claim that terror has adopted an original new weapon, a “new fashion” as the public security minister put it, once again shows how convenient it is for us to present a one-sided and distorted picture.
The bulldozer as a destructive and even lethal weapon was not invented by the Palestinians. They are merely imitating an Israeli “fashion” that is as old as the state, or at least as old as the occupation. Let us forget for a moment the 416 villages Israel wiped off the face of the earth in 1948 - that was before there were D9 bulldozers - and focus on a more modern fashion. In Israel’s hands the bulldozer has become one of the most terrifying weapons in the territories. The only difference between the Palestinians’ murderous bulldozer and the Israeli bulldozer is in color and size. As usual, ours is bigger, much bigger. There is no similarity between the small backhoe the Palestinian terrorist was driving and the fearsome D9 driven by Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
From the dawn of the occupation, Caterpillar has been a major arms supplier to Israel, no less than those who provide planes, cannons and tanks. Not for nothing are peace activists trying to call for a boycott of the manufacturer. Israel has sown almost unimaginable destruction using heavy equipment. Go to Rafah, stopping in Khan Yunis on the way, and see the results of the destruction scattered there to this day. Whole neighborhoods razed, the contents of houses - possessions and memories - crushed under the treads. Have you ever seen a street after being “stripped” by a bulldozer? Cars are crushed like tin cans and homes become piles of rubble, along with their contents. Any street in Rafah looks much worse than King David Street in Jerusalem this week.
In 2004, for example, 10,704 Palestinians were made homeless after the IDF destroyed 1,404 homes, mostly in Gaza, due to “operational needs.” In the Jenin refugee camp, Israel destroyed 560 homes; the legendary bulldozer driver “Kurdi” told how he would swig whiskey as he “turned Jenin into a soccer field.” In Operation Rainbow, another bulldozer operation, Israel destroyed 120 homes in one day in the Brazil camp in Rafah. Only someone who was in Rafah and Khan Yunis at the time can understand what our excellent bulldozers did.
Do not say that our bulldozers only destroy but do not kill. Who killed peace activist Rachel Corrie if not a bulldozer whose driver, according to witnesses, saw her before he crushed her to death? And what about the Shubi family in the Nablus casbah - a grandfather, two aunts, a mother and two children - crushed under bulldozers? And who killed Jamal Faid, a handicapped man from the Jenin camp, whose wheelchair only was found under the ruins of his house, with his body never recovered? Was that not bulldozer terror?
The Palestinians discovered the bulldozer quite late. What is good for us is good for them. And how do our security experts propose to fight the new fashion? By demolishing the houses of the terrorists. With bulldozers, of course.
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AP
Following what fellow brown noser did four months ago in Jerusalem, Barack Obama demonstrated that he could kiss ass just as well as John McCain.
Can you imagine a picture of Obama praying in a mosque? No? You know why? Because he is keeping his ‘Muslim supporters at arm’s length‘. More like he is not touching them, not even with a 100-foot pole. During his current presidential campaign, Obama has visited plenty of churches and synagogues. He has yet to visit a single mosque. As a matter of fact, at a campaign rally in Detroit, ‘two Muslim women wearing head scarves were barred by campaign volunteers from appearing behind Mr. Obama.’ I like to see the reactions of the mainstream media when his campaign volunteers bar Jewish Americans wearing skullcaps from appearing behind Obama. Oh wait, they can’t do that, since Obama is already wearing a skullcap, and he is wearing a political skullcap that seems to prevent most politicians from speaking their minds and standing up for what is right.
Change we can believe in? What kind of “change” is this when you are whoring just like every other ass-kissing politicians?
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Mango’s streak of not peeing in the house is finally broken. At around noon, after i came back home from my annual eye examination, i let Mango out of his crate. He seemed to imply that he wanted to go to the backyard. I had a conference call going on at the same time while i led Mango to the backyard. Mango seemed more interested in chewing little pebbles he found in the backyard than peeing. So i took him back inside. A few minutes later, while i was still on my conference call, Mango peed on the rug right in front of me. I was yelling “Mango Noooo!”, and everyone on the conference call heard me.
After that incident, it was another trip to the nearby Petco, the second trip in three days, to buy Nature’s Miracle cleaning product. Supposedly, Nature’s Miracle products can deodorize the problem area so that dogs don’t go back and relieve themselves in the same spots. After cleaning the affected area on the rug, i took Mango to Smelly’s condo to get him used to it since this is where he will be spending most of the day from tomorrow on.
On arrival, the first thing i did was to take Mango out for a walk. My intention was for him to eliminate. I think the heavy traffic in the area was probably taking away Mango’s attention so he did not pee. After taking Mango back to the condo, i set up a baby gate in the opening between the kitchen and the living room and placed Mango in the kitchen. Mango stood up and leaned against the baby gate, kind of like what he does when he wants to go to the backyard. I paid no attention since we just came back from our walk. Within a few minutes, Mango was peeing on the kitchen floor. It took me a while to clean up the kitchen floor as Smelly has no mop.
Mango getting used to city noise at Buckley’s.
We went back to my house later in the evening. I made the mistake of not letting Mango out to the backyard first. I barely started to train Mango to sit when he proceeded to pee. I stopped him immediately but it was a little late. Again, i had to clean up his mess.
Today’s Ups:
- Mango did not throw up at all being driven around all afternoon, including several trips in the sling bag.
- Mango was able to pee in the parking lot behind Smelly’s condo. At least we know he does not need a grassy area to pee. Our trainer told me to avoid any public grassy area until Mango has his second shot.
- Mango managed to take three dumps today. That’s a record.
- Mango was able to sit a few times without any treat when i was training him this morning.
Today’s Downs:
- Mango peed three times indoor. I was partially to blame since i did not follow the trainer’s instructions.
- He’s still getting way too much attention on the streets. It is impossible to go anywhere without some girls coming up to me trying to pat him (not me).
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![](http://ktula.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/080726_training06.jpg "Mango running toward Diane during the \\"come\\" command exercise.")
