Monthly Archives: March 2009
Archie & Dylan recovering well
As some of you may know my two miniature schnauzers went into the vets today for their “manhood” removing, me and erica were very nervous when we took them to the vets this morning , filled with worry that something may go wrong, but the vetinary nurse told us she would ring us if anything popped up during the blood tests etc…the blood tests went well and nothing there was nothing to worry about.
Luckily we kept our selves busy and tried not to think about it, we dropped them off at the vets first thing this morning at 8am and we were told we should be able to pick them up 2:30pm / 3:00pm.
There we some things that have been picked up even though the castration went well.
Dylan – Resting after we got him home
There were only a couple of things picked up about Dylan, one may be a lifelong illness and the other one could be easily fixed by some anti-inflamitorys or an operation. We asked the vets to check his back left leg has he seemed to have been limping on it for a few days, the vets have checked it out and think he may have damaged his ligament, I would write the exact name of it, but if I tried it wouldnt make sense! So I wont even bother! They have given some tablets to hope that this may heal but if not he will have to have an operation to fix the problem! The second thing that has been picked up is he seems to have problems with his joints in his back legs where they are alot smaller 
than they should be which means he can do some pretty cool things with his legs! People who have seen him strech will know about this! This could mean he may have to be on tablets for the rest of his life, but after his next two checkouts we will know more info on Dylan.
Dylan is doing very well and is sleeping at the moment, he also had a strange lump from his belly, the vets have no idea what this was, but insisted it be sent off to the labs for more investigation so they can find out more about the growth and determine whether it is anything to worry about, he still has his personality! Barking, Playing with toys, and just running around like a loon!
Archie
Not really anything wrong with Archie, he is a great and healthy dog, we asked the vets to check out Archie’s left ear and he seems to be in some discomfort with it and Dylan likes to keep licking the inside of ears. The vets took alook and discovered it was badly inflamed and infected. They have given us some ear drops for Archie to make the swelling go down and hopefully clear the infection.
There is nothing else to report on Archie other than he is doing fine and laid in his bed fast asleep! He still has his great lively personality running around, winding Dylan up, chasing things around, trying to mount Dylan.
They both have to go to the Vets for a couple of checkups over the next few weeks just to see how they are doing and make sure they havent pulled there stitches out!
We have to keep a close eye on them to make sure they dont lick, pull or damage their stitches, it is proving more difficult than we first thought it was, although at the moment they are both fast asleep! We cannot walk them for a couple of weeks until Dylans legs are better and there stitches have come out which is the usual case after a dog has an opertation.
On a more happier note, I really enjoyed the Mini Eggs that were on offer free at the vets reception. While waiting to pay I believe I ate around 8 Mini Eggs mmm they were nice, roll on easter!
More pictures of the dogs to come!
Should I feel guilty?
Just wondered if I should be feeling guilty about what I am going to do tomorrow?
I am taking my two Miniature Schnauzers for there man hood off!
Getting mixed reviews from people, some saying its a good idea, it will calm them down, stop them trying to decide who is the most dominent one….then some people saying there is no need for it, why take them away from them….
The vets tell us if you arn’t going to breed with them then its more healthier for the dogs to have them removed…surely that should be enough to sell it to me? If the vets and vetinary nurses are telling me to?
Anyone with any thoughts on this?
Annoying PS3 Streaming error!
Just got my PS3 streaming from my iMac and everything worked fine, it locates all the media just fine from my 1TB USB2 Hard Drive, all my videos, pictures and music, it streams them seamlessly without any interuptions, I am using eyeconnect on the mac which is great, I just have one annoyance…every so often, well just about all the time I keep getting a stupid error message at the top right of my screen!! Grrr nothing is ever as simple as it seems the error message reads “A network error has occured (80710736) its really bugging me! trying to watch SAW IV but I find my self just looking at the error message!
:::Error Image:::
freaky eaters – maybe an eye opener for me?
My wife has just asked me to put freaky eaters on BBC3, there is a girl on who sounds really similar to myself – she drinks around 3 litres of diet coke – this brings me back to my previous post Two cans of Fanta and a coke – be interesting to find out what damage is being done, maybe it will be an eye opener for me and make me change my ways! She does the exact same thing as me, carrys a bottle of coke around with her and panics if she hasn’t got any. Hmm maybe I should go on this show?
Two cans of Fanta & a Coke
That sounds like a pretty good title eh? It could be a show on the same lines as two pints of lager and a packet of crisps! My diet seems to be getting worse day by day and my sugar intake is getting more and more, already I have drank 2 cans of Fanta and a can of Coca Cola, although if I am being really sneaky I haven’t included the other can of Fanta I had this morning. Its pretty scary how much sugar I am taking into my system just by fizzy drinks, at one point I cut out fizzy drinks all together and lost weight by doing this, I am not one for dieting but am having serious concerns about the amount of sugar I am having daily. I know I will have some more when I get home tonight, I always do…my diet isn’t the best and no doubt people will probably have worse diets than myself, but at the end of the day, I should look after number one.
Fanta Orange:
- Calories = 98kcal
- Sugars = 23.6g
- Fat = 0.0g
- Saturates = 0.0g
- salt = trace
Coca Cola:
- Calories = 139kcal
- Sugars = 35.0g
- Fat = 0.0g
- Saturates = 0.0g
- Salt = 0.0g
I wouldn’t even like to start and think about what the effect of having fizzy drinks is having on my teeth, but I have realised today I need to do something about it, for the people who know me, they will all tell you I have a serious caffine addiction and get really ratty and grouchy when I dont have my fix. I was known at one point to have at least 5 cans of full fat coca cola at work and then a 2 litre bottle of coca cola when I got home, that is some scary shit, I soon cut this out when I started the atkins diet, but then started back on it around 2 month ago.
I am planning to start to get my diet back on track and stop eating junk food, drinking fizzy drinks and have my daily water fix. This should help me loose the 3pounds I have put on over the last 3 months. I think I will be taking the atkins diet again as its the one I know I can stick to, not looking to stay on it long term, but I know that any other diet that isn’t as strict as the Atkins I wont stick to and will fall flat on my face.
I will post more info of when I plan to start the diet, and my progress throughout.
Has anyone reading this post got a serious caffine addiction they have overcome? or wanting to?
I don’t think there will be a Caffine annonymous group anywhere in the world?
^^ Ok from my last comment about Caffine anonymous in the world I have just stumbled upon this site http://caffeineaddictsanonymous.wordpress.com/
iMac error…resolved!
Carrying on from my previous posts “Dismantle 24″ iMac” & “iMac Problems Continue” I have now fixed the error and can now enjoy rebooting my machine knowing that it will boot back up just as its suposed to!
Issues Experienced:
- Slow Performance
- App’s locking up at random points throughout the day
- When rebooted just get a flashing folder with a question mark on screen
Basically it was a nightmare to use, you couldn’t really plan on using the iMac for any long periods of time just incase you lost your work or would need to reboot the machine if install software.
What caused it?
I took a wild stab in the dark and after reading on many forums & searching google I made a decision that it could either be a “dodgy” install or a faulty Hard Drive. I decided to pop my Mac OS X install disc in the machine and boot off it, to try re-installing the OS, it was at this point there was only one thing it could be, if I went into Disk Manager on the install disk it would not show up any Hard Drive….Simples then it had to be a faulty Hard Drive. This is when the horror hit home, it wasn’t the fact that I had lost some of my music, photos, work or documents…no it was much worse…how the hell do you go about taking such a beautiful looking machine to bits??? Lots of questions ran through my head…
- Is it easy to do?
- What tools do I need?
- Will it work again?
- What about dust getting in the screen?
All the questions are now going to be answered.
Preperation of the operation
I made sure I was fully prepared with all the tools, air duster and screw drivers that were required.
Tools:
- TORX driver sizes T6 & T8
- Air Duster (remove excess dust from inside the casing and to remove off the screen before you put the casing back on)
- Toilet Plunger (Don’t laugh at this one, I found this the best and easiest way to remove the protective cover off the screen)
- SATA replacement Hard Drive)
Operation underway
Ok right so now I had all the tools and replacement parts I needed, I wont bore you with all the details of how to do it because in fairness I found this guide very usfull and don’t want to take credit for something I have followed off someone else so the guide I used is “24″ iMac Upgrade How-To“
I have never been as nervous while taking a machine to bits, but there is something special about the iMac and it felt wrong taking it apart just in case…it never worked again and would have been a waste of £1400.
I replaced the Hard Drive – a much smaller one but until I can afford a much larger drive, I will just have to make do, beggers can’t be choosers.
The Hard Drive was now swapped out and installed and the iMac was building together nicely, I even managed to get all the screws in the right holes…must be a first and I didn’t even have any left over.
A quick blow with the Air Duster to get rid of the dust did wonders, I was acutally supprised how much there was inside.
Experience
I would now feel confident in doing this dismantling the iMac without using any guides in the future, it really is a simple process, even though it may seem a little daunting at first, there is a great feeling of success when all is complete…trying something new, works wonders for your ego when you pull it off.
Disappointment
After it was all finished and my iMac was installed, all working and no more errors I felt a slight disappointment with the build quality of the iMac, after all people say its not just the outside that counts, its whats on the inside as well.
The build quality on the inside is pretty shocking, wires held down with celotape and a little disoppointing when you see all your hard earned money disapear into just a few, wires, circuit boards and celotape……BUT on the other hand its still an Apple product, Apple are great and the look on the outside is Fantastic! Well Done Apple but in future, maybe get rid of the Celotape inside? It does really take the sexiness out of the Gorgeous machine!