tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-306628402024-03-18T23:33:44.044-05:00Grant Goodyear's web logg2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-54320054415124071122019-09-18T14:05:00.000-05:002019-09-18T18:59:43.357-05:00Frodo<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398207681/in/album-72157709945655042/" title="frenchieMeetup_2_2013-7292"><img alt="frenchieMeetup_2_2013-7292" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398207681_1214f16bdc_z.jpg" width="426" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script> </span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frodo 626 Goodyear died on 20 July 2019, leaving an unfillable, gargantuan hole in our life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here's a collection of memories and photos about our little guy. He was truly special. He was fearless, invariably happy, and he always wanted to be with us. Frenchies aren't supposed to have much of a tail, but he did, and he wiggled it when he was excited, which was pretty much any time he wasn't sleeping. Sarah loves music, so when the music played, Frodo would wiggle his tail, and often his entire body, to the beat of the music. He made every day better for us, just by being in it. We miss him every day. It's the price of so much joy.</span></span></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frodo was born on Halloween, 2008, and he came home with us on New Year's day, 2009. Sarah had always wanted a Frenchie. We had intended to get a fawn pied girl puppy when we went to look at a litter of puppies. After spending several hours with the puppies the day before, Sarah said to me: “I think we should get the boy.” Frodo had been truly adorable during his “interview”, hopping around, playing, and eventually putting himself to bed. So, on New Year’s day, when the banks were closed, we raided the ATM machines at two different banks, withdrawing the maximum amount at each, and it was the best money we have <i>ever </i>spent.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ophelia was so happy when we brought Frodo home. In return, she did a lot of the work of training the little guy. </span></span><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398336927/in/album-72157709945655042/" title="Frodo_hoppything_w_Ophelia"><img alt="Frodo_hoppything_w_Ophelia" height="360" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/48398336927_66bdf31e29_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">They played together so much. It never occurred to Frodo that he was a little dog, and that he should be careful. As far as he was concerned, he wanted to play with every dog. He was so high-energy that he'd often scare dogs who vastly outweighed him. Ophelia was never scared, though. (And she was scared of everything!) She just adored him.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48456244481/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="Fro_Ophelia_ottoman"><img alt="Fro_Ophelia_ottoman" height="281" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/48456244481_1406937897.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Little dogs would often be truly terrified of Frodo. Not Frenchies, though, even when he looked maniacal.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/6149589616/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="Frenchie_meetup_Aug_2011 08 28_0256_crop.jpg"><img alt="Frenchie_meetup_Aug_2011 08 28_0256_crop.jpg" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/6175/6149589616_44f953dc87.jpg" width="333" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398347302/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="frenchieMeetup_2_2013-7288"><img alt="frenchieMeetup_2_2013-7288" height="332" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398347302_07344f5836.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I didn't know anything about French bulldogs. I had no idea he would become such an enormous part of our life. It's the littlest things that sometimes make the biggest changes. Because he was a smushed-face dog, we needed to break up the two (2!) cups of food he ate each day into two servings, so unlike any other dog we'd ever had, Frodo got breakfast. Serving breakfast as well as dinner meant that we would start and end each day with Frodo. </span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He didn't sleep in the bed with us at night; he had a kennel in the kitchen. (Here's his kennel. For Christmas, Sarah would decorate it like Snoopy's dog house.)</span></span><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-b25cf2c0-7fff-8079-ad4b-3ada8a9670ee" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/24179996614/in/album-72157709945655042/" title="IMG_20160202_234655"><img alt="IMG_20160202_234655" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/1590/24179996614_83cc0368b7_z.jpg" width="480" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most mornings, I'd wake up, go outside with him (he couldn't be outside on his own because we have a pool, and Frenchies are more likely to drown than swim), feed him (and River, once we had her), take him back outside, and then let him run to the bedroom, jump on the bed, and snuggle with Sarah. At the end of the day, we'd let him snuggle on the bed for a little bit, before I'd throw him on my shoulder, he'd wave goodnight to Sarah, and I'd deposit him back in his kennel for the night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was pretty clear that Frodo thought our bed was actually his bed, even if he did have his own kennel.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398204326/in/album-72157709945655042/" title="IMG_20140806_000208"><img alt="IMG_20140806_000208" height="480" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398204326_467b4a0953_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">He particularly enjoyed wriggling under the covers. If we were already in bed, he'd paw at a shoulder until one of us would lift the edge of the blanket or sheet so he could dive underneath. Wearing an E-collar didn't discourage him, although it did look particularly silly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398343442/in/album-72157709945655042/" title="IMG_20141206_181946"><img alt="IMG_20141206_181946" height="480" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398343442_62cea3f8c5_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></span>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><span style="font-size: small;">One of the best things about our little guy was how he'd switch from
being bouncy and excited to sound asleep. He wasn't afraid of anything, so if you were petting him when he was asleep, he wouldn't jump awake. He just
assumed that the you were supposed to be there, so he'd
snuggle in, and continue sleeping.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">We had never really been a family that bought a lot of clothes for their pets. Frodo, however, genuinely like wearing clothes. We discovered this fact after he was neutered. He had to wear an E-collar, and he tolerated it really well. In fact, when we took off the E-collar, he seemed quite put out, until we put it back on, and he was happy again. So, he got clothes:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398205241/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="IMG_4888"><img alt="IMG_4888" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398205241_39795c5bfd.jpg" width="375" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398337227/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="Christmas_2011-4419"><img alt="Christmas_2011-4419" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398337227_b75a0530d1.jpg" width="332" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48456240201/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="Frodo_pjs-4756"><img alt="Frodo_pjs-4756" height="332" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48456240201_3dd8e8c62a.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">and cool harnesses:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48454130511/in/datetaken/" nbsp="" title="panda_harness3"><img alt="panda_harness3" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48454130511_3935d688ce.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48454335787/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="ice_cream_harness"><img alt="ice_cream_harness" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48454335787_67eb0f1df5.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">and Halloween costumes:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398344872/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="IMG_4684"><img alt="IMG_4684" height="333" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398344872_19e6155fcc.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398206961/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="Halloween2011-4160"><img alt="Halloween2011-4160" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398206961_55cd39c4b3.jpg" width="332" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">and sometimes laundry (Frodo loved "helping" with the laundry, jumping on the piles, rolling on his back, and occasionally wearing something he'd found—laundry is much less fun now)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398335982/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="IMG_20150707_151813"><img alt="IMG_20150707_151813" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398335982_a33196c668.jpg" width="375" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">and, most importantly, his Morton-salt-girl yellow raincoat (obtained from Old Navy, so many years ago):</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48447909492/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="frodo_raincoat_1_16_11-1279"><img alt="frodo_raincoat_1_16_11-1279" height="240" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48447909492_f5ba74d721_m.jpg" width="179" /></a> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48447918862/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="frodo_raincoat_1_16_11-1276"><img alt="frodo_raincoat_1_16_11-1276" height="179" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48447918862_1f0c924b08_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As long as he had his raincoat on, he'd happily go outside, even in the pouring rain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Frodo did not love getting baths, although he got one almost every week, sometimes twice per week, to try to keep his allergies under control. He tolerated it well, but he always looked like his day had been ruined.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48416303901/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="FroShower"><img alt="FroShower" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48416303901_48e43f69a8.jpg" width="340" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Bath Sundays were the best, though. Several hours after we got home, if I could fit it in, we'd take a nap, and when Frodo snuggled in he'd be so soft, and he'd smell good, and the white hairs on his back would sparkle in the sunlight. It was an awesome way to nap.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Frodo would get a little too excited when the doorbell rang, so we worked on training him using a relaxation protocol, where he'd remain on a mat (actually a horse pad) while I went away and came back, or jumped up and down, or, eventually, rang the doorbell. If he didn't move, he got a treat. He was great! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/5899182487/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="Frodo practicing his relaxation"><img alt="Frodo practicing his relaxation" height="426" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/6034/5899182487_4eb4cf4f9d_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script> <br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We really needed to channel that excess energy, though. So, Fro became an agility dog.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">As a breed, French Bulldogs don't often excel at agility, although there have been exceptions (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VXXKC33">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VXXKC33</a>). Frodo loved agility, and he was quite good at it. He had tons of energy, so he was very fast; people at class referred to him as "the bullet". He also had the best sit-stay of any dog in his classes. (Sarah trained his sit stay. She'd work on it in the pharmacy of her hospital, and he'd have to stay while people were working around him, in order to get a treat.) He'd sit still before his round, watch me lead out a ridiculous amount, and then, upon my signal, launch himself towards the first obstacle.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48456707287/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="agility_PRINT-7644"><img alt="agility_PRINT-7644" height="281" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48456707287_d10734354e.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398335692/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="VID_20170315_200739"><img alt="VID_20170315_200739" height="281" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/48398335692_ce64d1e44c.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It gets so hot in Houston during the summer that Fro needed a "cool coat" to keep him cool. It's a chamois coat that we'd wet down, and it would help keep him cool in between agility runs. I always thought it made him look like a boxer (the pugilist, not the breed).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398346092/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="IMG_3795"><img alt="IMG_3795" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398346092_4429cc5578.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Fortunately, he also had a "pool" command, upon which he would eagerly run to the kiddie pool, jump in, and splash around to cool off.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48456751752/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="agility__7_2013-7609"><img alt="agility__7_2013-7609" height="332" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48456751752_0fdcfdf3b3.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Frodo went everywhere with us. He loved to travel.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398340942/in/datetaken/" nbsp="" title="IMG_20180513_094914"><img alt="IMG_20180513_094914" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398340942_b3998e0920.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He'd go to horse shows, clinics, pretty much anywhere we'd drive. He'd just curl up in his mobile kennel, and sleep during the trip.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398205976/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="IMG_4255"><img alt="IMG_4255" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398205976_90f5b520d5.jpg" width="375" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Horse shows were the best. He got to see lots of friends, both human and canine. When we got the new trailer, he fell in love with the bench. Nothing was better than being up on the bench with us. He'd play with his toys, and then snuggle in for a nap.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48708694367/in/datetaken/" nbsp="" title="Fro_bench"><img alt="Fro_bench" height="360" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/48708694367_02ea5025ec_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script> <br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><span style="font-size: small;">We really did let Frodo's feet touch the ground, from time to time. He loved being held, though. He'd often ask to be picked up. Could hold that little boy all day....</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48538668387/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="DSC_3508"><img alt="DSC_3508" height="426" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48538668387_5bf7273d81_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398210481/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="DSC_3428"><img alt="DSC_3428" height="426" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398210481_f8df9b8a84_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398347742/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="frenchie_meetup-5665"><img alt="frenchie_meetup-5665" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398347742_b7da4261a8_z.jpg" width="426" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">He was a part of every holiday. He was an expert at finding eggs at Easter.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398209986/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="easter2012-6071"><img alt="easter2012-6071" height="426" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398209986_b8b38fca7f_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He also found his own presents at Christmas:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48708222888/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="ChristmasEve2011-4849"><img alt="ChristmasEve2011-4849" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48708222888_47e43ddb7d_z.jpg" width="426" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">(He'd happily unwrap his presents, too.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">He loved his toys, especially his Orbee mint:</span><br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><span style="font-size: small;">
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398339787/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="IMG_20180919_002609"><img alt="IMG_20180919_002609" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398339787_34893d5efe_z.jpg" width="480" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He'd play with it, even if he had to scoop it up while wearing an E-collar:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398205011/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="IMG_5829"><img alt="IMG_5829" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398205011_366409d41e_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">When a box containing Planet Dog toys, such as the orbee mint, or an orbee ball, showed up to the house, he could tell. (His nose worked really, really well, smushed though it was.) He may have pushed an unopened Amazon box around our foyer once or twice trying to get at his toys....</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He also loved softer toys:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398348332/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="easter2012-6212"><img alt="easter2012-6212" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398348332_e1d36ace3b_z.jpg" width="426" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script> <br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Unfortunately, he loved his soft toys too much. He wasn't really violent with them, and he didn't have strong jaws, but he'd gum them to death. Sarah's mother repaired a lot of his dog toys. We'd occasionally open an entire bag of repaired toys over the floor, and he'd rush in, find a favorite, run around with it with extreme joy, and then lay down and proceed to destroy it again.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">On 21 November 2017, two days before Thanksgiving, Frodo became very,
very ill. He was happy when he went to work with Sarah that morning,
but by the afternoon he was in shock, his temperature was super low, we
didn't know why, and we thought he was going to die. Sarah put him on IV
fluids, and, somehow, managed to keep him alive for a few terrifying days, long
enough for him to start healing and feeling lots, lots better. Sarah, after talking to scores of
specialists, worked out that he'd essentially had an anaphylactic
response that was related to chronic, seemingly-but-not-really-mild GI issues, and
that the shock had injured his kidneys quite badly, to the point where
his kidney function was less than 30 percent. We switched his food to a
hydrolyzed food (and limited his eating to just that food). His veins
were terrible, so peripheral IV catheters would blow in a week or less;
eventually Sarah had a central line installed in his jugular vein so that we could keep him
on IV fluids more reliably. He was on IV fluids for about six months. It was a long
enough period of time that the self-dissolving sutures that were holding the central line in place would start to
pull out, and Sarah would have to do "minor" surgery on him, usually in
our kitchen, to reattach the central line, which was going into his
jugular vein. It was harrowing, and for months we didn't sleep for more
than four hours at a time. For all of that time, once he started to recover, he acted pretty normally. Frodo said he felt fine, and he was happy, and he wanted to
play, regardless of the central line coming out of his neck. We told him that was awesome, but he still needed to spend most of
his time in his kennel, on fluids. Every day we tracked the medicine he
received, how he felt, how much he ate, or drank. We have a treatment
sheet such as the one below for every day since that day he got
sick—over 600 pages. For the vast majority of those days, Frodo was
happy, playful, snuggly, and as much his normal self as one could
imagine.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398338922/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="MVIMG_20190728_135635"><img alt="MVIMG_20190728_135635" height="367" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398338922_d1becbb4f8.jpg" width="500" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This
treatment sheet is from the day we pulled his central line. His kidneys
had improved some, although they'd never work as well as they used to,
but he didn't seem to mind. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Frodo did really well without his central line for over a year. He said he felt great, and he acted that way, too. The only evidence that he wasn't completely healthy was the fact that he didn't really want to eat, so we hand fed him 400 pieces of kibble each day. He got morning meds, and evening meds. Occasional sub-cutaneous fluids. He went to work with Sarah every day, unless I could be home with him. If we went out of town, he generally went with us. We had a mobile M*A*S*H unit that we had assembled when he was on fluids:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398209761/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="IMG-6836"><img alt="IMG-6836" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398209761_fee066120d.jpg" width="375" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He thought it was awesome! We still went to horse events, and even to St. Louis to visit my parents, where Frodo finally got to play in the snow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLb01ze5slJarjiOaL_7JUqAZo6MWYXkIj7-jzMXbdiGWJdWOZ02CoumiRiCla42BRcCHwXWKj3W4LXpJwWh7cfWRTnVwnGNWjZS2soUEJvbsk0xbkRFGJCOPeNE8WCjgkwZyGmw/s1600/MVIMG_20181109_184442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLb01ze5slJarjiOaL_7JUqAZo6MWYXkIj7-jzMXbdiGWJdWOZ02CoumiRiCla42BRcCHwXWKj3W4LXpJwWh7cfWRTnVwnGNWjZS2soUEJvbsk0xbkRFGJCOPeNE8WCjgkwZyGmw/s320/MVIMG_20181109_184442.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">He was doing so well that in late April, Frodo got to stay home with Sarah's mother while Sarah and I went to Sweden for a job interview for me. He took his medicine, ate his food, played (and played) with Sarah's mother's frenchie, Baby Groot, and snuggled.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">In May, though, we were starting to have some difficulty getting Fro to eat. He'd been doing so well with his veggie hydrolyzed food, but now he wasn't that interested in it. He'd occasionally have a snotty nose, too, and then he definitely wouldn't want to eat. On 24 May, his temperature spiked, and he had another reaction, like the one he'd had over a year before. Sarah's staff got a catheter in him, he went back on IV fluids, and he started feeling lots better. It sucked, but we'd been through this before, and we figured we could help him get through it again. We went to the specialists to have a central line put in put in his jugular vein, and they couldn't get it in. That was new, and awful. His peripheral veins had been terrible for years, so it was always hard to get one in, but he really needed fluids. We tried to have a PICC line put in, and that also failed. Sarah's technician Jackie put in a nasal gastric tube, which we could use both to feed him and to make sure that he was getting enough water. That actually worked quite well. One wouldn't expect a dog to be comfortable with a feeding tube in his nose, but Frodo just took it in stride. He'd happily play with his ball, or a toy, and didn't understand why we were terrified that he might catch his tube on something. He played, and wiggled, and danced, and snuggled.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Frodo had a great 4th of July this year. He was super excited that his people came to visit. He showed off his toys, and wiggled, and was mad that we put him in his kennel while we were lighting off fireworks. As everybody was getting ready to leave, he put himself to bed on one of the floor pillows. I decided to keep him company.... </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48562077936/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48562077936_c4b27648cc_z.jpg" width="480" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">We did our best to manage his illness. For the most part, he felt good and acted pretty normally, so taking care of him was more a joy than a hardship. It just meant we got more quality time with Frodo! He did really well, until one day when he didn't. As Sarah put it: "<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">other things kept going wrong, other body systems failing. I couldn't save him, there was absolutely nothing that would, nothing left to try, so we had to let him go." It still breaks our hearts, every day.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Love you, little boy. We miss you so very, very much.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/48398348597/in/album-72157709945655042/" nbsp="" title="easter2012-6166"><img alt="easter2012-6166" height="426" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48398348597_365fb6bd7d_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
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g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-4614384615968006592014-06-20T11:45:00.000-05:002014-06-20T11:45:30.605-05:00Fixing an aspect ratio on YouTubeWe have an older Canon FS200 camcorder that works reasonably well for our purposes. It stores video on SDHC cards in ".mod" format (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOD_and_TOD">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOD_and_TOD</a>), which is essentially an mpeg2 file. The tricky part is that the camcorder records a wide screen (16:9) video that is letterboxed in an SD (4:3, 480p) frame. It is all too easy to convert the .mod files into an mp4 video that has a letterboxed video in a 16:9 frame, which means that the wide-format video has been stretched even wider.<br />
<br />
Should one upload such an overly-stretched video to YouTube, it turns out that it is remarkably easy to fix on YouTube. YouTube allows the playback of the uploaded video to be modified through "formatting tags": <a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/146402?hl=en">https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/146402?hl=en</a>. Adding the "yt:stretch=4:3" tag undoes the extra stretching (adding "pillarbox" bars on the sides of the video), while the "yt:crop=16:9" tag removes the pillar- and letter-boxing bars to show just the 16:9 video in a 16:9 frame.<br />
<br />
Whew!g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-30212071773816194172012-03-19T13:47:00.002-05:002012-03-19T13:47:36.231-05:00The new haircut<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3nUzyO5lO4W3t_EGX6VvIgy11anMQkNZiNNofcgH0F5ddeY353XNeNxa5-1Is7lGWUYpbaSPKfvi9I_NxLLaLCmGXz5g4ZAWf8ZDGqoaRv071dpeFg99LqMpAZjG2Bvt0lwcKA/s1600/sarah_haircut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3nUzyO5lO4W3t_EGX6VvIgy11anMQkNZiNNofcgH0F5ddeY353XNeNxa5-1Is7lGWUYpbaSPKfvi9I_NxLLaLCmGXz5g4ZAWf8ZDGqoaRv071dpeFg99LqMpAZjG2Bvt0lwcKA/s200/sarah_haircut.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah's new "do"!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
5 weeks of taxol finished, so Sarah's nearly halfway done with the first half of her chemotherapy. She's doing much better than we had expected. She's a bit more tired than usual, and she's losing her hair (hence the haircut), but otherwise we can't complain all that much.<br />
<br />
We did visit her medical oncologist the day of Taxol #4, and she said that Sarah's doing great, and that she should just keep on keeping on....<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, in the brief spare time that Sarah has when she's not working, visiting doctors, receiving chemotherapy, and recovering from chemotherapy, she's finally able to ride again (and Ronan has been awesome!), although we've also had heavy rain that's keeping Sarah out of the saddle more than she'd like. <br />
<br />g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-20235091840691862952012-02-22T08:01:00.001-06:002012-02-22T08:01:55.526-06:00The way to finished is through begun<div class="document" id="the-way-to-finished-is-through-begun">
This last week Sarah had her <a class="reference external" href="http://www.bardaccess.com/port-powerport.php">power port</a> central venous catheter implanted,
her first taxol treatment, and continued looking at wigs.<br />
<br />
The catheter surgery is not trivial, but it went well. The port is
implanted under the skin on Sarah's chest just under her collarbone, and
the catheter runs through her jugular vein into her heart. Sarah was
sedated for the surgery, but did not need a general anesthetic, and the
surgeon sang standards while performing the surgery. The surgery site
is still a bit sore, and having the port under her skin makes her feel
like a Borg-in-training, but otherwise she's doing well.<br />
<br />
Sarah then had her first chemotherapy infusion the same day, using her
brand new port. She was told by the chemo nurse that if she felt any
different at all when the infusion started, she needed to let them know.
Aside from the taxol itself, the solvent used apparently causes some
people to have an allergic reaction. Fortunately, Sarah had no
problems, and was able to sleep through the treatment.<br />
<br />
Sarah spent the following day resting, and also shopping for wigs with
her mother. She already has a nice collection of awesome inexpensive
wigs, and she's found some nicer ones for special occasions.<br />
<br />
Sarah was off work on Saturday, so she got to spend the day scrapbooking
with her friends. She had an awesome day, and she received quite the
basket of goodies from her friends who wanted to show their support.<br />
<br />
So, right now, Sarah is doing well. Sarah's a bit more tired than
usual, and it's all still rather scary, but she's moving forward. 11
more weeks of taxol to go, then 4 cycles of FAC, then surgery.</div>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-75838582662330968112012-02-22T07:59:00.000-06:002012-02-22T07:59:31.088-06:00Some not so good news<div class="document" id="some-not-so-good-news">
<div class="section" id="here-s-the-news">
<h4>
Here's the news</h4>
Sarah has breast cancer. The cancer is in her left breast. It's aggressive
(grade 3) and invasive (stage II), but it has not spread, as far as anybody can
tell. After a lot of chemotherapy, a mastectomy (or two), and hormone therapy,
there's a very good chance that Sarah will be completely clear of breast cancer.</div>
<div class="section" id="and-the-details">
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
And the details</h4>
At the end of 2011, Sarah found a lump in her left breast. She'd had a lump
four years ago which turned out to be fibrocystic (benign), and the doctor had
mentioned at the time that such lumps would likely come and go, so she wasn't
terribly surprised. She had an OB-GYN appointment already scheduled for January
of this year, and at that appointment she mentioned that another lump had
arisen, and he sent her across the street (to the Baylor clinic, which is
staffed by doctors on the faculty of the Baylor College of Medicine) for a
mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy.<br />
<br />
The Baylor clinic's breast center is awesome. Sarah had the mammogram, then an
ultrasound, and then the head radiologist came out to repeat the ultrasound. At
that point she told Sarah that she thought the lump was pretty bad--likely
cancer. Essentially she gave Sarah the same speech, in pretty much the same
way, that Sarah so often has to give to her clients. They then went ahead and
performed two sets of biopsies. One set that was ultrasound-guided, and another
set that was x-ray guided (stereotactic). The results of the biopsies were that
she has a 3.5 cm mass of both ductile carcinoma in situ and invasive breast
cancer. Pathology determined that the cancer is Stage II (invasive) and Grade 3
(aggressive), and that it is strongly estrogen responsive and mildly
progesterone responsive.<br />
<br />
Next, Sarah met with an oncologist at Baylor, had an MRI done of both breasts,
had a BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic test performed, and had a fine needle aspirate
done of one of her lymph nodes. The oncologist at Baylor recommended three
months of chemotherapy (4 3-week cycles of AC), followed by a mastectomy,
followed by another three months of chemotherapy (4 3-week cycles of taxotere),
followed by five years of tamoxifen. The MRI found no cancer in the other
breast, and no enlargement of the lymph nodes. The genetic mutation test was
negative, as was the fine needle aspirate. As far as anybody can tell, the
cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes or the other breast, and hopefully no
where else as well.<br />
<br />
Sarah then went to MD Anderson for a second opinion, since MD Anderson is one of
the best cancer hospitals in the country. The oncologist at MD Anderson had
Sarah repeat the mammogram and ultrasound done by Baylor, and also had the
pathology re-read, in every case coming to the same conclusions about the cancer
as Baylor. The MD Anderson oncologist then recommended a very similar
treatment: chemotherapy consisting of 12 weeks of weekly taxol infusions (taxol
and taxotere are both taxanes), followed by 4 3-week cycles of FAC (adding
another drug to the AC cocktail), followed by surgery, and then 5 years of
tamoxifen. The reason to have the chemo done before the surgery is that is then
possible to use the tumor's response to monitor the effectiveness of the
chemotherapy.<br />
<br />
MD Anderson is a pretty big machine, but the people there have been really
nice, and in many cases these are the best people in their fields. Sarah is
therefore going to have her treatments done at MD Anderson.</div>
<div class="section" id="more-details">
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
More details</h4>
It's hard to wrap one's head around having cancer at age 37. Sarah's coming to
terms with it all, but it's really hard.<br />
<br />
Sarah's health insurance is quite good. It's a PPO with co-payments for physician
visits, an 80/20 plan for surgeries, MRIs, and other big-ticket items, and a
$3000 out-of-pocket maximum. That means we can budget for the medical expenses.<br />
<br />
The major financial impact of Sarah's cancer will be the fact that if she can't
work, then she doesn't get paid. Her practice has promised her that she'll keep
her job and her benefits, though, which is really good news. She's also going
to try to work as much as she's able. During the taxol phase of her treatment
she's planning to take a day off for the infusion, and the following day off to
rest, and then she's hoping to work a fairly regular schedule. The FAC cycles
will certainly take more out of her, so she's probably going to have to take the
first week off, and then work the next two weeks during that phase. Then she'll
have to take time off after surgery to recover.<br />
<br />
While this is all going on Sarah will be able to ride, until her surgery, as
long as she feels up to it, but she won't be able to train or compete. That's a
real shame because Ronan has been getting much braver this winter, and Brook has
been just awesome.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Sarah is riding until she has to stop, and she's started looking at
wigs. (Yes, she will lose her hair, although it will grow back once she's done
with chemo.) Her boss says Sarah has cancer, so she can wear whatever color hair
she wants!</div>
</div>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-47613548350059068162012-02-13T15:10:00.000-06:002012-02-13T15:10:07.239-06:00Testing rst2blogger<div class="document" id="testing-rst2blogger">
Here's a simple post to test out <a class="reference external" href="http://www.doughellmann.com/docs/rst2blogger/">rst2blogger</a> to generate blog entries
in blogger using restructured text.<br />
Along the way I had to deal with some upstream weirdness in the python gdata
bindings. The first is that the usual
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">https_proxy="user:pass@proxyname.company.com:80"</span></tt> format doesn't work. Instead
separate <tt class="docutils literal">proxy_username</tt> and <tt class="docutils literal">proxy_password</tt> variables are needed. There
is a bug report for this one that says it's been fixed
(<a class="reference external" href="https://code.google.com/p/gdata-python-client/issues/detail?id=414">https://code.google.com/p/gdata-python-client/issues/detail?id=414</a>), but it's
not working for me. The
second is that the <tt class="docutils literal">BLOG_ID2_PATTERN</tt> regex that is used to find the blog ID
needs to be updated if your blog ID looks like <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">user-g\d+</span></tt> instead of
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">user-\d+</span></tt>
(<a class="reference external" href="https://code.google.com/p/gdata-python-client/issues/detail?id=578">https://code.google.com/p/gdata-python-client/issues/detail?id=578</a>). Oops.</div>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-60138053224512581552012-01-18T12:34:00.001-06:002012-01-18T12:34:45.228-06:00Charging a kindle from FedoraWhen a kindle is plugged into a USB port it acts as a flash drive by default. The device itself is nice enough to tell you that you need to eject it if you want to either use it or charge it via the USB cable. Unfortunately, in linux one needs to use "eject"; simply unmounting via nautilus does not suffice. (I've no idea why. What does "eject" do that "unmount" doesn't?)<br />
<br />
So, a really stupid "kindle_charge" script:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="highlight">
<pre><span class="c">#! /bin/bash</span>
beesu eject /dev/disk/by-label/Kindle</pre>
</div>
<br /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-28723708185169173432011-07-04T11:36:00.001-05:002011-07-04T11:36:24.104-05:00Frodo 4th of July portrait<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/5901027205/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5317/5901027205_1353e5ae4e.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/5901027205/">Frodo portrait</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/">g2boojum</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Posing for his portrait. Natural light, 18-55VR lens, about 12 inches away.</p>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-62250956524609232932011-02-17T23:19:00.001-06:002011-02-17T23:19:43.145-06:00Postal Fail!<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/5454686397/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5213/5454686397_207c22bcd2.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/5454686397/">Postal Fail!</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/g2boojum/">g2boojum</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Click on the image for the text of the USPS apology. It's not really much of one, I'm afraid.</p>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-62463216494253866072011-01-14T11:30:00.003-06:002011-01-14T11:35:00.543-06:00Amazon mp3 store w/ 64-bit linuxI purchased Pink's "Raise Your Glass" from Amazon, and discovered that I had downloaded an .amz file. <div><br /></div><div>Huh?</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, that's the file extension for files that are meant to be downloaded by the Amazon music downloader. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't have a 64-bit downloader for linux.</div><div><br /></div><div>Help comes from Pymazon (http://code.google.com/p/pymazon/). I installed pymazon (using the</div><div>current mercurial branch), and "pymazon -c AmazonMP3-1295025407.amz" was enough to download the file. It even made it through the corporate firewall. Cool!</div>Grant Goodyearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05123622798425284539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-52038944145177963292011-01-13T13:37:00.002-06:002011-01-13T13:38:13.174-06:00Ice in Houston<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/5352141107/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5043/5352141107_7ea93b2aa7.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/5352141107/">Ice in Houston</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/g2boojum/">g2boojum</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment">Not something we see every day.</p><p class="flickr-yourcomment"><br /></p><p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Taken with a 2G iphone. </p><p class="flickr-yourcomment"><br /></p><p class="flickr-yourcomment"><br /></p>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-24214102463934799972011-01-07T11:55:00.002-06:002011-01-07T12:01:17.585-06:00juniper ssl vpn w/ Fedora 14<blockquote></blockquote>I use the juniper ssl vpn client to connect to my work's internal network. Although there is a linux client, it requires the Sun (Oracle) jre to work, which doesn't play well with selinux on Fedora 14. (It's not Fedora's fault, it's a bug in the plugin.)<div><br /></div><div>Temporary fix:</div><div><blockquote></blockquote># setsebool allow_execstack 1</div><div><br /></div><div>It's not persistent, so it's not a permanent hole, but it would be best if I figured out what needed to be set for the various files involved. *Sigh*</div>Grant Goodyearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05123622798425284539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-71921646488769471652011-01-04T09:01:00.002-06:002011-01-04T09:04:32.586-06:00Intel atom D510 motherboard, take 2The cpu in my home server is dying, so I decided to replace it with an atom motherboard. All was going well, until the screen went wonky, and the computer shut itself down. I rebooted, there was a large pop, followed by the delightful smell of ozone. Ah, well. I now get to experience the Intel warranty system. Wish me luck!Grant Goodyearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05123622798425284539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-5797496991285628352010-09-01T11:12:00.002-05:002010-09-01T11:25:13.961-05:00Twitter via weechat + tircdI've been accessing twitter through the weechat irc client using tircd. That worked pretty well until twitter switch to OAuth authentication for all twitter API clients.<br /><br />Helpful hints:<br /><br /><ol><li>http://code.google.com/p/tircd/ has directions for oauth, but leaves out the fact that a (fake) password is still required, even after setting the username to "oauth". <a href="http://code.google.com/p/tircd/issues/detail?id=80&q=oauth">http://code.google.com/p/tircd/issues/detail?id=80&q=oauth</a></li><li>The download version of tircd (0.10, although when run it thinks it's 0.08) doesn't seem to work with oauth. See <a href="http://code.google.com/p/tircd/issues/detail?id=84&q=oauth">http://code.google.com/p/tircd/issues/detail?id=84&q=oauth</a>, and then download a forked version from http://github.com/drags/tircd.</li><li>weechat expects "/stats" to be run in a window connected to the server. For twitter there wasn't yet one, because the oauth handshake still needed a PIN to be sent. As the tircd homepage suggested, I used "/quote -server twitter stats pin MYPIN", where my weechat config uses "twitter" as the internal server name for tircd configuration.</li><li>The twitter oauth PIN seems to have been cached somewhere. I've no idea where, so I'm sure this will bite me eventually.</li></ol>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-28956964366058077832010-09-01T10:30:00.003-05:002010-09-01T10:51:46.486-05:00Using the mythtv to record from a VCRIt seems that how one uses a WinTV PVR-250 to record from a VCR has changed since the last time I did it. Here's what I ended up doing, after temporarily killing mythbackend. I have my directv box plugged into the SVideo and stereo audio ports, while the VCR was attached by coax.<br /><br /><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="c"># list the allowed frequency names</span><br />ivtv-tune -L<br /><span class="c"># set the tuner (to the wrong channel, but oh well...)</span><br />ivtv-tune -tus-bcast -c2<br /><span class="c"># search the web, and eventually learn that ivtv-ctl functionality</span><br /><span class="c"># has mostly moved to v4l2-ctl</span><br />v4l2-ctl <br />v4l2-ctl --all<br />v4l2-ctl -T<br /><span class="c"># list possible outputs; I want the tuner</span><br />v4l2-ctl -n<br /><span class="c"># choose the tuner (coax input)</span><br />v4l2-ctl -i 0<br /><span class="c"># choose the s-video input (to test, since it works w/ the mythtv)</span><br />v4l2-ctl -i 1<br />v4l2-ctl --all<br /><span class="c"># copy a bit from the s-video input</span><br />cat /dev/video0 > foo.mpg<br />ls -l foo.mpg <br />totem foo.mpg<br />rm foo.mpg<br /><span class="c"># switch to the tuner</span><br />v4l2-ctl -i 0<br /><span class="c"># copy fuzz since I'm on the wrong channel</span><br />cat /dev/video0 > foo.mpg<br /><span class="c"># switch to the right channel</span><br />ivtv-tune -tus-bcast -c3<br /><span class="c"># run a test</span><br />cat /dev/video0 > foo.mpg<br />totem foo.mpg<br /><span class="c"># success!</span><br /></pre></div>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-5111258589675329122010-06-22T14:06:00.001-05:002010-06-22T14:08:27.855-05:00Rpy2 on ubuntupython -m 'rpy2.tests' was failing because libR.so wasn't being found when using the latest dev version of rpy2 installed in my home directory.<br /><br />Ugly, simple fix: sudo ln -s /usr/lib64/R/lib/libR.so /usr/lib/libR.sog2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-53719957149414227172010-06-21T22:27:00.003-05:002010-06-21T22:34:43.931-05:00printer overspraySarah enjoys digital scrapbooking, until she wants to print a carefully-aligned page. If the page is 8.5x11 inches, then one would expect borderless printing to be exactly what she wants. Um, not so much. For borderless printing, printers expand the image slightly to avoid alignment issues, assuming that people won't mind if the edges get cut off slightly. (<a href="http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/size-matters-paper-size-vs-print-size.html">http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/size-matters-paper-size-vs-print-size.html</a>) Our HP deskjet 5400 has an "overspray" setting that can be turned off, which at least ensures that the entire image gets printed.g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-82722734786507717202010-05-01T13:18:00.005-05:002010-05-01T14:24:44.375-05:00mythtv on both TV and 720p projector with nouveau<p>I just finished installing my <a href="http://mythtv.org/">mythtv</a> (<a href="http://www.mythbuntu.org/">mythbuntu</a>) box to <a href="http://http//www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/1004features">lucid</a>. The upgrade went well enough, although X wasn't working well afterwards. No problem, since I really wanted to switch from the proprietary nvidia drivers to the nouveau drivers anyway.</p><br /><p>I have both a (SD)TV and an HD projector connected to my nvidia FX 5200, the former via S-Video, and the latter via an hdmi cable plugged into a DVI-to-hdmi adapter. With the "nv" or "nvidia" drivers, xrandr only sees the projector if both are plugged in, although it sees the TV if the projector is unplugged. So, I've been restarting X when I want to use the projector, which is a pain. With the nouveau drivers in lucid, though, xrandr now shows all three connections at boot time:</p><br /><pre><br />grant@mythbuntu:~$ xrandr -q<br />Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 720 x 480, maximum 4096 x 4096<br />VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)<br />TV-1 connected 720x480+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm<br /> 720x480 59.9*+<br /> 1024x768 59.9 <br /> 800x600 59.9 <br /> 720x576 59.9 <br /> 640x480 59.9 <br /> 400x300 119.9 <br /> 320x240 119.9 <br /> 320x200 119.9 <br />DVI-D-1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)<br /> 1280x720 60.0 + 60.0 50.0 <br /> 1280x1024 60.0 <br /> 1024x768 60.0 <br /> 800x600 60.3 <br /> 720x576 50.0 <br /> 720x480 59.9 <br /> 640x480 60.0<br /></pre><br /><p>Awesome!</p><br /><br /><p>Unfortunately, the TV output was showing up in black and white. Oops. Looking at the output from <tt>xrandr --verbose</tt>, I realized that nouveau was assuming the TV out should be PAL instead of NTSC-M. After a great deal of searching, I completely failed to find any document that would tell me how to fix that problem for nouveau, since I couldn't find the magic incantation for xrandr that actually worked, and the old standby of <tt>Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"</tt> in xorg.conf just lead to <tt>(WW) NOUVEAU(0): Option "TVStandard" is not used</tt> showing up in Xorg.0.log. Sigh.</p><br /><br /><p>When all else fails, ask on IRC. So I asked about it in #nouveau on freenode. It turns out that what I needed was to have <tt>nouveau.tv_norm=NTSC-M</tt> in the kernel boot line, because it's the kernel that does the detection. Oh. Works, though. (Incidentally, the list of settable parameters may be found from <tt>modinfo nouveau</tt>.)</p><br /><p>Now my TV is in color, and xrandr may be used to set which output device I want to use with no plugging/unplugging involved. There's a bit of a catch, though, since the aspect ratios and screen sizes are different between the two displays. If I have mythfrontend filling the screen on the TV, then cloning that display on the HD projector leaves a bit of unused real estate. I don't really want to use both screens at the same time, though, so I wrote a couple simple scripts and connected them to "Switch to TV" and "Switch to Projector" buttons that I added to the mythtv main menu:</p><br /><br /><pre><br />grant@mythbuntu:~$ cat bin/tv.sh <br />#!/bin/bash<br /><br />export DISPLAY=:0<br />xrandr --output DVI-D-1 --off<br />killall mythfrontend.real<br />xrandr --output TV-1 --auto<br />nohup mythfrontend &<br /></pre><br /><p>along with</p><br /><pre><br />grant@mythbuntu:~$ cat bin/projector.sh <br />#!/bin/bash<br /><br />export DISPLAY=:0<br />xrandr --output TV-1 --off<br />killall mythfrontend.real<br />xrandr --output DVI-D-1 --auto<br />nohup mythfrontend &<br /></pre><br /><br /><p>Now I just have to get two minor bugs worked out. The first is the fact that putting the <tt>GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nouveau.tv_norm=NTSC-M</tt> kernel line in <tt>/etc/grub.d/40_custom</tt> and running <tt>update-grub</tt> doesn't seem to actually append that string to the kernel boot line. That's annoying, but fixing it in <tt>/etc/default/grub</tt> does work, and I'll just have to remember to update that when grub is updated. The other bug is that now mythfrontend crashes when I put a DVD in the drive. A mythtv box makes for a great upscaling DVD player, or at least it would if QT wouldn't segfault. All in all, not too bad a set of problems.</p>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-67941441995759519412009-09-23T19:29:00.002-05:002009-09-23T19:30:37.985-05:0040<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs267.snc1/9421_1121658010215_1490012586_30327166_6673234_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 604px; height: 453px;" src="http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs267.snc1/9421_1121658010215_1490012586_30327166_6673234_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />It's <span style="font-style:italic;">good</span> to be 40.g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-9801333096575176542009-08-04T15:57:00.002-05:002009-08-04T16:00:54.788-05:00Nautilus annoyanceWhen using gnome with ion3 as the window manager, it makes sense to have nautilus not draw the desktop. Unfortunately, that gconf setting causes nautilus to die and restart repeatedly (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/325973), which one can notice by watching the nautilus PID increase every fraction of a second or so. Until the bug is fixed, it's simplest to turn desktop drawing back on, and just hide the window that's produced. Ugh.g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-46339200459195117602009-08-02T23:42:00.002-05:002009-08-02T23:47:37.056-05:00Night photographySome results from the recent "Big city nights" houston photography meetup (<a href="http://www.meetup.com/HoustonPhotography/">http://www.meetup.com/HoustonPhotography/)</a>:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/3784105336/" title="Night photography Wortham by g2boojum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3591/3784105336_d6cc068cfa.jpg" width="500" height="331" alt="Night photography Wortham" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/3784100264/" title="Night photography Buffalo Bayou by g2boojum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/3784100264_cd0fbd9fa8.jpg" width="500" height="288" alt="Night photography Buffalo Bayou" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/3783285455/" title="Night photography at Bayou Place -- Wortham by g2boojum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2428/3783285455_0c1cfb806c.jpg" width="500" height="331" alt="Night photography at Bayou Place -- Wortham" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/3784091248/" title="Night photography at Bayou Place by g2boojum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2445/3784091248_6792f8a7fb.jpg" width="331" height="500" alt="Night photography at Bayou Place" /></a>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-49745602184854055162009-07-27T13:45:00.004-05:002009-07-27T14:11:30.541-05:00Photowalk picturesSarah and I spent the morning of 18 July at the Houston zoo as part of Scott Kelby's worldwide photowalk (http://worldwidephotowalk.com/).<br /><br />Here's some pictures (Sarah took most of these pictures):<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/3756362814/" title="Bear by g2boojum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2509/3756362814_4618f59c0a.jpg" width="331" height="500" alt="Bear" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/3755569185/" title="Leopard feet by g2boojum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3469/3755569185_fac73ab332.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Leopard feet" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/3755622931/" title="Leopard by g2boojum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2464/3755622931_eb3dd4ce4f.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Leopard" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/3756445032/" title="Sentry meerkat by g2boojum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2667/3756445032_c8090a43e9.jpg" width="331" height="500" alt="Sentry meerkat" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/g2boojum/3755578741/" title="meerkat by g2boojum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3442/3755578741_36cc8a520a.jpg" width="500" height="331" alt="meerkat" /></a>.g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-13784586306696450122009-05-12T07:53:00.004-05:002009-05-12T08:04:18.490-05:00Frodo<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahgoodyear/3485508692/" title="Hollyhill_frodo_2009 04 19_0796_E by sarahgoodyear, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/3485508692_bc52e8e542.jpg" alt="Hollyhill_frodo_2009 04 19_0796_E" /></a></p><br /><br /><p>Six months old, and far too cute.</p><br /><p>Photo taken by Sarah Goodyear.</p>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-30389747729959182102009-03-11T14:05:00.002-05:002009-03-11T14:09:29.144-05:00Migrated to bloggerI seem to have better things to keep me occupied these days than keeping my pyblosxom blog spam-free, so I'm moving my blog into the cloud and letting Google take care of things for me. The gdata python package made migrating the blog fairly painless, except for moving the comments. There haven't been so many comments, so I just migrated them by hand.g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30662840.post-70979623419137512692008-02-21T21:37:00.001-06:002009-03-11T11:02:06.716-05:00Tethered capture with gphoto2<p>It turns out that it's fairly easy to use a linux box to<br />take pictures using my Nikon D50 and display the results<br />to the screen:</p><br /><pre class="literal-block"><br />$ gphoto2 --capture-image --interval 10 -F 2 --hook-script showpic.sh<br /></pre><br /><p>The above takes two frames ten seconds apart (making a D50 into<br />a very expensive webcam). Alternatively, I could use the following<br />to use the camera normally but have the pictures show up on the<br />computer screen:</p><br /><pre class="literal-block"><br />$ gphoto2 --capture-tethered --hook-script showpic.sh<br /></pre><br /><p>The "hook script" is what does the actual display after each shot:</p><br /><pre class="literal-block"><br />$ cat showpic.sh<br />#! /bin/bash<br /><br />self=`basename $0`<br /><br />case "$ACTION" in<br /> init)<br /> echo "$self: INIT"<br /> # exit 1 # non-null exit to make gphoto2 call fail<br /> ;;<br /> start)<br /> echo "$self: START"<br /> ;;<br /> download)<br /> echo "$self: DOWNLOAD to $ARGUMENT"<br /> eog ${ARGUMENT} &<br /> ;;<br /> stop)<br /> echo "$self: STOP"<br /> ;;<br /> *)<br /> echo "$self: Unknown action: $ACTION"<br /> ;;<br />esac<br /><br />exit 0<br /></pre><br /><p>Pretty darn cool!</p>g2boojumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781670160291670412noreply@blogger.com0