Tim In a Nutshell

The dogs got a special treat today, a trip to doggy daycare! The wife was going to be gone all day and I was at work, so it’s an nice treat for them to be able to play with other mutts all day long.

Ulric had a good time. Maybe a little too much of a good time. I got a call from the doggy day care that he was bleeding from his paws. Bleeding a lot. Since Ulric is still a bit scared of being touched by people, they were not able to check on what was wrong. They called me, but I couldn’t do much due to work. (grumble grumble) The wife called them and got on the way and got Ulric to the vet. Turns out Ulric was playing so much, he wore his claws down to the quick and thus bled a lot. He left blood paw prints all over.

Don’t fret though! He is a mighty trooper. He didn’t seem to be in pain at all. In fact, he was his normal happy self around other dogs still.

The vet got him patched up with green gauze that makes him look like he has some booties on his back feet. Bleeding has stopped, but Ulric has to take it easy for a while so he couldn’t partake in the fun of doggy day care. He was relegated to the world of day time boarding so he could rest up and recover.

All in all, an exciting day. On the plus side, the day care didn’t charge us for the day due to the drama. They are a good bunch of people over there.

It’s a great start to the day waking up with the cats right next to ya and the smell of the dogs as they come inside from their morning outing.

It’s the little things that start the day out right.

So I’m fat. Huge even. Approaching blue whale proportions!

At least that’s what my doc says. I also have high cholesterol. Which I can see given how little I have been working out. Hopefully, that is going to change as today I started a new workout program.

It came, it saw, and it whipped my ass.

The program in question is Cool Running’s Couch-to-5K running program. It starts slow and builds up so I can actually run and be in shape. Who knows, maybe I’ll enter in a 5K run! Ha, that will be the day.

On my first try, I did marginal. I can’t run for very long before everything hurts and my ankle feels like it was going to explode. This makes me think of three things:

1. I am hugely out of shape
2. I might need to see my doctor to see about special footwear since my feet and ankles are weird
3. I might modify the workout to be biking instead of running.

I figure biking would be less of an impact on my knees and ankle, and I could still keep the Couch-to-5K progressions, just biking instead of running. So that will be the goal, keep on this program until I reach then end and hopefully achieve better health.

Oh yea, if you are thinking of doing the program too, there’s an awesome podcast out there to help you when you are running/biking. I highly recommend it.

Back after a fun father’s day weekend! Had a great time down in Illinois, ate way too much food, had good times with the family, and the dogs had a great time too.

Ulric is getting tons better around people. Dad and Dina were able to pet him. L and I are able to pet him without him shrinking away from us. Big score there! He sat on my lap for a while on the drive home, and he was comfy and even took a nap there. He’s progressing nicely.

And a belated birthday to my friend 11frogs!

Last week I completely forgot that this past weekend was memorial day weekend. Shows you how zeroed in on the calendar I am. Fortunately, Leah did remember it was a holiday weekend had plans for us on Memorial day to spend some time with her family up at the lake house.

The start to the weekend… well… sucked. On Thursday, I got dead sick at work. Dizzy, sneezing, could not breath through my nose, and super drained. Went home over lunch and was down and out for the rest of the day and the next day and part of the day after that. Still didn’t feel 100% up until this morning. So I’m back at work banging away the computer problems and trying to figure out what is wrong with my laptop.

The big highlight, Ulric Von Kenai! We have a new puppy in the house, Ulric. He’s a rescue from the Twig project here in Madison. An awesome rescue group that we will do more foster work with in the future. Leah and the director got along to a freakish degree.

Ulric is a Siberian husky/German Shepard mix, about 12 or so weeks old, and all of 8 pounds. He’s a small little guy, but feisty. Makes sense that he is so small since he had a bad start of things. He was surrendered to animal control in Milwaukee by being dumped in the trash cans behind animal control along with his litter mates. A rather shitty way to start life.

Despite the hard start, he’s a great little guy. He loves being around other animals, and has become Sebastian’s shadow almost. He loves both Sebastian and Freyja and runs all over following them and trying to play with them. The only issue he has is with people. He is very people shy and runs away from folks when they come near. He is getting a lot better, but it does take some time to be able to get near him to pick him up. He is becoming more trusting and coming closer to us every day, so he is on the road to improvement.

Coming soon are more pictures of Ulric with his black tongue, funky tail, and his small furry legs jetting him across the lawn. For now, here’s a pic of him.

Now where does the poop fit in to all this? Well, when transitioning to a new house, puppies have a tendency to lose some training and have loose stools. Combine that with a puppy’s need to go bathroom every 2-3 hours, there’s been my fair share of poo to cleanup. (The poo makes Leah sick, so yours truly gets the cleanup duty there) Being sick and cleaning up loose poo is a great combination for a weekend. Though Ulric is worth it.

As of 6:15pm on Thursday, April 26th 2007, Medb passed away.

Her condition continued to deteriorate and unless she had a constant stream of medication, would have more seizures. She was in a coma for a while in the UW-Madison Animal Hospital. She was going in and out of awareness and her CT scan showed a number of brain abnormalities. Her condition was genetic and very rare. There is some research that had been done on it in Germany. The symptoms of the condition match Medb’s and the breed matches too, Alaskan Husky. We believe that is the cause of her condition. To help further the research into the condition, she will undergo an autopsy to aid the understanding of the condition. So at least in her death, she will help others.

I miss her alot. I find some comfort in that she had a happy life and brought joy to our family and all she met.

Our furry family has expanded! And unfortunately the new addition is having problems. :-/

Medb’s Comes Home

In January, I went on a trip to White Wilderness for my birthday. The experience was amazing. When I was there, I saw a little puppy named Voodoo. On the last day of the trip, we arrived into the yard and were playing with the puppy litters that the operation was raising. One litter was only two puppies, Druid and Voodoo. Druid was an active, playful puppy. With the energy he had, he is going to be a wonderful sled dog. The other puppy, VooDoo, was shy, small, and did not want to come out to meet people. We managed to lift her out and hold her while Druid was being his hyper self and playing with a sock covered water bottle. She was so small, my hand could almost cover her up. Here’s what it looked like:

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I decided to take her with me. She wasn’t going to be able to become a sled dog due to confidence issues. So with Leah’s approval, we have a new puppy.

When we got her home, we decided to rename her to Morrigan Medb, or just Medb for short. (Pronounced Maeve, more info on the name over at the Wikipedia entry for Medb)

Medb in the House

She grew fast and is a sweetheart. We knew she would be a challenge to raise since she had confidence issues. She was very shy, but came out of her shell quickly at the house. Sebastian is a great big brother and corrects and cares for her. She loves meeting other dogs and people now and did great in her puppy class. Here’s a great shot of her from her graduation day.

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Medb’s Health

Unfortunately Medb does have some health problems. She has some brain damage, so she does not have complete control over her back legs. She has been managing it in her own special way. It just makes her much more special to us. Our vet loves her, but does not know how life will play out because of her mental capacity. She is playful though through it all.

Medb and the Emergency Room…

On Easter and our 2nd wedding aniversary, Medb started having seizures. She had one while I was taking a quick name. Leah heard some weird noises, and found Medb on the floor having urinated on herself. She was very disoriented, but recovered ok. Then later in the day, she had a full seizure when she stood up to get a drink. When she was walking over, she locked up and fellover. She came out of it ok, but she also had some fluid in her lungs from what we could hear. :-/

Leah called the emergency vet and they recommended bringing her in. They took her, did some tests, and recommended we admit her for a few days while they tried to stop the seizures and remove the fluid from her lungs. They were not able to determine a cause of the seizures, but thought it was something to do with her brain damage. It was a hard and difficult time for Leah and myself. She is such a sweet puppy and it kills me to see her so drugged up, she can’t move a muscle. The fear of losing her was hard to take too. The vet said she was high risk and were not sure how long she would last.

Here’s what she looked like when we went to go visit her at the emergency vet.

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When she came home, she could not move for a long while until she adjusted to the medications. We had to hold her head up when she ate or when she drank. The good news was that she was recovering. After a time, we were able to take her to the dog park again and she loved it. She was walking and playing like all was normal.

Regression

The last few days, she has been having more seizures. She is having about 3-4 a day and they are full gran maul seizures. The horrible thing is there is nothing we can really do. Our vet gave us more meds to see if upping to dose will help. It is all guesswork though until we can get her to the neurologist at the UW-Madison Vet school on May 8th. Hopefully they can give us an idea on what she is going through and what to expect as she grows up. She deserves the best life she can get. I hope it is a long and happy one.

More updates as they develop.

Freyja is now in the clear.  She had her surgery on Tuesday and outlook is good.  Her vet said the surgery was smooth and clean and Freyja was a trooper the entire time. Upon getting her home, she just rested on the new pillow/bed we got for her.

Here’s a shot of her after the surgery:

Her hind quarters are half shaved off for the surgery and she has a scar on her left knee, but she is doing a lot better.  When she got home, she was still a bit drugged and groggy.  Now though, she walks around a bit and still loves to be around people and to be petted.

The real fun is I get to carry her up and down the stairs.  Not a bad chore, I like  carrying her around.  She doesn’t seem to mind it, in fact she wags her tail when I carry her.  It certainly help me get into better shape… and help me get even more covered in dog hair.

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On Thursday we took Freyja for a follow appointment and Bronx in for an updated vaccination. Good news and bad news.

Good news is that Bronx and Freyja both love the vet.  Bronx was exploring the exam room and while the doc was checking Freyja, Bronx kept trying to jump into her lap. The vet noted that she has never seen a cat try to do that.

The bad news is Freyja’s back left knee.  She has a torn ACL. She is limping around at times, especially after running a bunch or lying down after a while. We are going to talk to the vet to schedule surgery on her knee, and then she’ll need a 10 week recovery period.  Right now we need to keep her from moving around a bunch.  After the surgery, she is going to need to stick in place for a long time. I feel really bad for her.  Even though she is in pain and having problems with her back leg, she still wants to be active and doesn’t show pain.  She wants to play and be around everyone.  She is being a trooper.  Stay tuned for more updates about the surgery and when it is and how it goes.

Bad news part 2 is Bronx after the appointment.  When he got home, he started throwing up.  7 times. He was not his normal self.  The injection he received was having an allergic reaction.  Off we raced to the pet emergency clinic. On the way there, he was quiet which is odd since he normally is very vocal during car rides.  Another reaction appeared on the ride over, diarrhea. At the clinic, the diarrhea became bloody.  The vet gave him some drugs to stop the puking and diarrhea and a bunch of fluid to prevent dehydration.  The drugs made him really lethargic. He didn’t move the rest of the night when we got home.  After a 24 hour fasting period, he is back to his normal self.  Though it was really scary for a while.  The allergic reactions could have been fatal if really severe.

Bronx is fine, Freyja has a long road ahead of her. Stay tuned.

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Sooo…. Freyja has been having a grand time at her new home (more Freyja news in a later post).  When taking her to a dog park for the 4th of July, we saw a post about an Alaskan Husky up for adoption.  We contacted the rescue and found Sebastian!

He is a retired 4 year old sled dog.  He me Freyja at a dog park last week and they hit it off great.  We are now in day 2 of a trial of Sebastian staying in our home.  He adjusted really really fast.  He likes the pets, the back yard, the house, everything. In fact, he is napping right next to me at the moment.

He has been playing with Freyja and keeping her company.  They really like each other and now Freyja has a play buddy. Here’s a shot of him and Freyja.

Welcome to the family! More pictures at http://madtown.cc/v/Sebastian/

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We have a new pet in the Schaab household, Freyja!

Freyja is a Siberian Husky that we got from a co-worker at Epic. Due to getting married and having a baby, she could not take care of Freyja as well as she would have liked. In step Tim and Leah! She has meshed into the household and is a strong member of the family. Bronx plays with her and Brooklyn at least puts up with her so far.

She’s 3 and a half years old and a bit on the smallish end of the scale, but she is a ball of energy and fur. I forgot how much Huskies can she. Wow! There is hair everywhere. It’s nice to spend some time outside grooming her and we’ve been out in the neighborhood a lot more. Everyone loves her. She also gets Leah outside to help her on her road to recovery.

Pictures at madtown.cc

More information about her name at Wikipedia

Tomorrow Dad and Dina are coming up for an hour. Coming to visit for an hour while driving 3.5 hours each way. o_O

It’s a nice welcome surprise. Leah was mentioning this morning that it would be nice to go see Dad soon. He must have heard.  Though it seems a rather long drive for just an hour. Most likely it is to checkup on Leah and how she is feeling.

That and/or whatever he is building me is finished and he is delivering said…. thing.  Not sure what the hell he’s building, I can’t make it out from the pictures he sent me.  Other than it’s random pieces of wood in crazy configurations… and something that looks like a potato gun designed to shoot watermellons.

Sickness at home and business at work are making it very challenging and draining. Through the bad times, the good times shine. I haven’t been posting a lot lately, as one might expect. Hopefully you will be hearing more of me. Feel free to keep reading, or to drop me a line over IM.

AIM:    uwflatlander
Yahoo:  uwflatlander
Gtalk:   tschaab@gmail.com

New fish here at the Schaab house. We got an additional Kenyi Cichlid and a Plecosomus, an algae eater. The cichlid is a male (a nice yellow color), so I am hoping that eventually he will mate with one of the fish in the tank. It seems the tank can easily become the Love Tank since both fish currently inhabiting the tank, Heidi and Tweedledee, were born there.

Though, they need names! I am blanking out on good names. I was thinking of naming the pleco Suckface since that is all he does. I shy away from that since it is too common a name. I want something a little better.

If you have some suggestions, leave a comment on this post. All suggestions taken!

Time to get that certificate back up to snuff. Can Tim survive 11.5 hours of livesaving CPR and first aid training when all he really wants is a solid nights sleep!?

Stay tuned…

Hand…

I don’t know why, but my hand is starting to hurt/annoy me. It is getting very painful on it’s own, and when I try to do some things, it hurts even more. Things like open cans of soda, shift the gears of my car, and squeeze things.

Leah and I worry that it might be arthritis. Now that would not be a good blow for Tim. Arthritis at 25 (soon to be 26), and in my right hand to boot. My left hand feels fine, which is the odd point. Maybe I should just learn to do everything left handed. That would be fun to watch.

I will reserve any diagnosis until I see a doctor after this *wonderful* week of training I have coming up. I have so much stuff to do, it would be nice to take a break from training for a bit to get it worked on and finished. I think it might be arthritis, but then I think otherwise at times because of where it hurts. It does hurt at the joints a bit, but it hurts the most in the middle of my right hand, away from the joints. Weird.

Off to dinner with the family, see ya!

So guess what. You know that person who has been extreemly afraid of needles his whole life? Do you know what he did on Friday?

That’s right, He gave blood!

That’s right, I gave blood for the first time and I only got a little dizy during the process. Overall, it was a flying success! Here’s to hopefully one of many.

The daily grind continues on.

I wouldn’t call it grind really. I love my job. I get to teach, interact with people, be a code monkey, and generally make positive changes at work and elsewhere. My latest project I am tinkering with is the scores database for the training team. I am getting my hands dirty in the Epic code and finding new ways to use it. It’s been rather fun. I get to work through a lot of peoples source code to find new tricks and features I didn’t know about before. It’s like a huge scavenger hunt! Yes, I know I’m a geek.

The house is coming along. We are moved in, but not yet unpacked. As my Dad mentioned, it never seems to end. That seems to be the case at the Schaab house. We have lots of stuff to sort through, organize, purge, and get in place. We are making progress with the house feeling more like home now. The next big project (other than getting everything in it’s rightful place), is the shed. We bought the shed at Menards and it looks to be a good one. A solidly build vinyl shed that is 10×8 will be appearing in our backyard. I just need to figure out how to get the shed here, how to get the gravel here to make the base, and where to rent the tools. I would like to get it finished this weekend. It could turn into a weekend long project, but I want to get it done soon. Depending on how soon Sandra’s house sells, we might need to find more space quick for the mower, snow blower, etc. that we are getting.

Last note is an interesting view of Epic from someone outside of the company. I found out a site called HISTalk linked to by blog. They picked a winner of a post to link to.

Their view of Epic seems to be that we are young and hippies. I can kinda see where that comes from since we are not all that like a lot of other big companies out there. We get mentioned now and then and it’s a good place to keep up to snuff on happenings in the Health Information Systems world. Good reads.

Welcome to my new server!

I am moving from my old server with Server Beach to Layered Technologies.

I was very happy with Server Beach, but I wanted to cut my costs a bit. Layered Tech is a bit cheaper. I wasn’t using the server enough to justify the cost. With Layered Tech, it should be easier to justify the cost for my little hobby.

With the server comes a new website, Fenrir.us. There’s nothing there right now, but I will get something worked out.

If you are curious about the name, my server at Server Beach is named Loki. In Norse mythology, one of Loki’s children was a wolf named Fenrir. Since the new server is like a child to Loki, thus came the name Fenrir. Here’s some more information on Fenrir.

Balls of Steel is back!

We are back again in our second season. Last year, we finished in 4th place. Not bad for losing just about all of our games.

This year, we are off to a 2-0 start.

The first game was back and forth between Balls of Steel and the Cage Fighting Ligers. We went back and forth with the lead a few times, but won with a score of 15-12. The big news is we had two homeruns. That never happened last year! Here’s to hoping it was not a one time thing.

This week we fought Going, Going, Going… Crap. Shockingly enough, we came out on top. We played hard and won with a shutout with a homerun. The score was 4-0.

Come on out to watch us play some Monday night! MUSA Monday Night Schedule & Standings

Our next game is Monday, May 23rd @ 6.00pm. Be there!

We play at Demetral Park, field #3. Directions