A poodle?


So it has been 3 years since I have had a dog.  It has been that long for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is I had two elderly dogs who had massive health issues that both died within a month of each other.  It was a horrible time.  One of them had been with me since before I got married and she was 100% my dog.  She wanted to just do anything I was doing and she went with me almost all the time.  Losing her was very hard.  But top that off by having my pug (a dog breed I had dreamed of owning since I was 3) die one month later that was really just too much.  Getting another dog just seemed like choosing to accept such a horrible time all over again.

Fast forward 3 years to now knowing  yesterday my family and I purchased a miniature poodle puppy.  I know that some people view poodles in a distasteful light, and I also know some think of them as a non "manly" breed.  I believe a lot of this is due to the goofy hairdo's these poor dogs get if they are shown in AKC shows.  I mean if you have ever seen a poodle in that goofy hairdo, they look at you with shame and embarrassment filled eyes.  They look at you like a 9 year old boy looks at his mother when she puts a tie on him or combs his hair, as if to say, "please, don't embarrass me!"

Well I will just say this, think of them as you will, it doesn't make me feel any less of a male to own one.  I mean people often make a big deal about mini-vans being something that no man can drive, but in my experience mini-vans are practical, useful and required to drive lots of children around. , I don't see how having lots of children to drive around makes one less of a man (if you don't know where babies come from, when you are not at work Google it).  Further having the lots of children and a Dad around who needs to drive them seems like a very "manly" thing. 

I know it may be weird to some to own a poodle (after all Weird Al Yankovic is known for owning a poodle).  But to me that is just another reason poodles can be cool. 

• Yes I have a mini-van. 
• Yes I have a poodle.
• Yes I have 5 kids. 

These things are perhaps strange to some, but I have never been too  concerned with that.

A Serious topic

I know I usually only write serious articles about computer things or topics that are more for business purposes, however as a parent I find myself wanting to write a serious post that is not any of the above.  As a warning, the subject of this post involves sex, suicide and pornography, all things that some may not want to read about. 

So if you are still reading I assume you have read the warning and chose to continue.  The topic today is not a pleasant one.  I am writing this because as an Alumni of The University of Wisconsin - River Falls, I often read news articles that are from River Falls Wisconsin or involve the University.  I recently came upon a horrible news story about a student of the college, who died at her own hands after being in a pornographic film. Since I have 3 daughters and attended the college this story hit me more than some of the other stories we see in the news. The KMSP news story is linked here:

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/25559147/investigators-the-pressure-of-porn

As a parent of daughters, this is the stuff of nightmares.  We all fear for the safety of our children, wish them presence of mind to make good decisions and worry about them.  I think all fathers who were once a teenage boy, have a keen sense of worry about daughters and sex.  What struck me about the story is it hits on something that has always bothered me, and puzzled me, "Why would a girl ever agree to do porn?"  I have wondered about this type of stuff for years.  I wonder, is it like Breaking Bad, where somehow all the choices are rationalized away as for the good of the family or for survival etc?  Or is it something different?  I have wondered this since I was a young man, as I just can't seem to understand why even if you get rich you would want to do this.  I have continued to wonder as I have gotten older as I have thought if I can know why someone would want to do this, perhaps I can prevent those reasons from occurring for any of the girls I know. 

In this particular case, the issue seems more on the surface as shortly after the video became public, people began to chatter about it on social media and according to the logic of the story this public embarrassment and harassment drove her to end her life.  That is what makes me really confused.  Logically if one does porn, it is to be seen by someone and a type of infamy can follow for so called "Pornstars".  So, if the normal outcome of doing porn was not desired, what was?  Why would someone subject themselves to this kind of treatment if money and a type of fame were not desired?

Is our culture and the mainstream manner in which sex, porn and objectification of women has become so accepted as normal that the youth have no idea of what outcomes of doing porn could be?  I am starting to subscribe to this theory based upon stuff I see posted on facebook.  Stuff that will linger for years and could haunt many young people down the line in terms of lost employment opportunities and the like.  It seems like we have truly separated outcomes in terms of sex and consequences.  It seems we have as a culture said, "its a victimless crime, sure its not something that people in the past viewed as moral behavior, but that is such an outdated notion of morality.  Today we are more open and free". 

I am not going to get into morality, politics or religion here, other than to say, nothing is victimless.  All choices have consequences, seen or unseen. 

I can't say why this particular case happened for certain, none of us can.  What I will say is no amount of money or fame is worth more than a life.  I for one will continue to let my children know about consequences of actions and hope I have given them the tools to make good decisions.  I also for my part will not be a person who wants my daughters to not be involved in such activities, but then goes out and supports the porn industry by being a consumer of it. 

I would love it if others did the same, but I know that in a free country and a world of free will, people will still consume pornography.  That is the fact.  The other fact is  I am no closer to knowing the why.  Perhaps I will never know.

When is a slow boring boat the best boat?  When you want to get a good workout and be able to take along a 4 and 2 year old.  I have found that the paddle boat (yes those goofy plastic things that move slower than a giant tree sloth in January) are a good option.

I have been taking the above mentioned 2 and 4 year olds on paddle boat rides for the past few days and they for some reason do not find it boring.  We take a very long time to go a short distance but they enjoy looking for birds and telling me about them.  I have heard some odd things about birds, I haven't verified if they are correct I just let them tell me stuff.  I suspect in the coming days they will grow tired of the slowness of the boat, but I could be wrong as I didn't think they would enjoy it at all.  Perhaps Russel in UP was correct sometimes the boring stuff is the best.

So, for now I get to get in a workout as making that boat go even slowly is a chore, and they get to tell me stuff about birds, fish and the lake.

I have a plan for using this slow boat as a gateway boat to move up into canoes and kayaks and only time will tell if this plan will work.  But for now we will enjoy our slow little boat.

The Saga of the Mercury Mustanger/Marinerstang

I have been driving it, the above mentioned vehicle for the past 2 weeks and the stares and comments are more than I expected when I came up with the idea.

The backstory about all of this is required to understand it properly.  I have over the years created custom one-offs of things or as I call them "frankenitems" as I take what is easily available and combine them to create something that is unique for me.  It is not fully custom since I don't have the budget, time or skills to create a 100% custom bicycle or guitar for example.  I do however have the skills to take some parts and create a bike or guitar that is "frankened".

In the past my most successful of these have been a triathlon bike (you have seen them the bicycles with handle bars going out straight over the front wheel).  I always wanted one when I was doing triathlons (yes I have raced and finished triathlons, but that is another blog post for another day).  Problem is they are very expensive and horribly uncomfortable for us with a larger middle section, (it is hard to breath when your lungs are crushed by your fat belly).  Not to be deterred I still wanted a better aerodynamic profile, but I know I will not be winning any races, so I don't need it to be a perfect profile, just better.  I am going to catch the wind no matter what, I am built more like a Semi, than a Ferrari.  So, I took a flat-bar road bike and put the fancy triathlon handlebars, shifters and tires on it.  It works, and I am faster on it than my regular road bike.

I have also created various "franked" guitars over the years.  My flying V made from 3 different guitars is a prime example.

Anyhow, when I found that the rear quarter panel on my Mercury Mariner was rusting out, I decided I would have that repaired, and in the process have some fun.  I had the rust repair done, but instead of just having the repaired part painted I took the opportunity to have the entire vehicle painted (a different color entirely I might add went to blue from red).  I then had them leave all the Mercury Mariner badging off, and I replaced it with 3 mustang emblems.  The standard Mustang pony on each door and then on the rear door, the 45th anniversary horseshoe pony logo.

It looks good enough to have people ask me, if it was a promotion car for the 45th anniversary of Mustang, or if it was a special edition pace car or something.  So now my most successful semi-custom creation is something I use everyday, my one of a kind Mercury Mustanger/Marinerstang.

Perhaps in the future I will create a Ferrari pickup or one I have wanted to do for a while the Scion XB (cube looking small car) painted brown and then UPS logos put on it.  An instant mini-UPS truck.

A blog that is not work related?  How will I cope?  I have spent many an hour writing blogs and documents and recording various items for webinars and podcasts, but they have all been in one way or another work related.  I have blogged about IT, clouds, IT and clouds.  I have created content on enterprise backups and storage but never anything non work related.  What does this really mean?  It means I am not getting paid for writing this.  It is strange, yet free in a way.

More to come