Quebec City - Final Thoughts (and Miscellany)

Monday, July 19, 2010
I'm back to work today after two weeks of vacation. Yeah. This is fun.

Here are my final thoughts on the Quebec trip, as well as miscellaneous observations on other matters.

The trip to Quebec City was absolutely fabulous. FABULOUS. Since I looked at the trip as an opportunity to learn - indeed, it was a mandatory learning experience for my degree program - I went with the idea that it was not a vacation. I can tell you looking at it in that way made all the difference in the way I approached the trip. I did have fun, but not staying out until three in the morning drinking. I had fun in a more intellectual sense, and looked at each day (even the days when the activities weren't something I was particularly interested in) as an opportunity. What's heartening is just how many students looked at it in the same way. The benefits of adult education, I suspect.

From a non-academic perspective, another thing I learned is that being fit and being thin are not mutually inclusive. Excluding the morbidly obese, I would say that within a middle-aged population, looking strictly at someone's weight is not going to give you a realistic view of their fitness level. I'm still currently overweight, but I exercise regularly, and that activity showed during the walking tours up and down the many, many hills of the city. There were other students who were also overweight, but apparently hadn't walked farther than the distance between their chair and their car in years, and also students who were thin who appeared to have similar trouble. Just because you're overweight doesn't mean you have to be a gelatinous mass (as the Smart Man describes it). Based on my experiences of the last week, I'm happy to have (finally) developed the discipline required to be fit.

For those that are interested, the full photo set is available on public accessible photo albums on Facebook, here and here.

On other matters...

I have finally decided to turn on the captcha for commenting here at HCDSM. I was getting tired of deleting the Chinese spam.

The Boogie-Dog has apparently missed me. Because while I am trying to get through the hundreds of e:mails that collected in my absence, THIS is what keeps distracting me:


"Hello! I missed you! Did you miss me? Can I have a snack? How about now? Can I have a snack now? You know, no one walked me, or paid attention to me, or petted me, or scratched my ears while you gone. NO ONE. In fact, they HIT ME WITH POINTY STICKS. Can I have a snack?"

I missed him, too, of course, although I have a hard time giving credence to his allegations of abuse. As you can tell from his extreme close-up, he still has a runny nose which is cracking the skin and causing bleeding. I'll probably take him back to the vet later in the week to have that looked at again. In light of the lovely eulogy John Scalzi wrote about his family's dog, I'm a bit pensive about my boy. Like the Scalzi dog Kodi, Boogie is really my dog, for a variety of reasons, and while he's still relatively healthy for his age, I can see that his body is starting to fail in subtle (and not so subtle) ways.

I'll probably be heads down for the rest of the day - I hope to be back to my regular posting routine tomorrow. It's good to be home.

9 comments:

mom in northern said...

Maybe if we could find a cream that tasted REALLY foul he would not lick it off. Problem is a dogs sense of smell is so acute that might be a problem...poor grand dog.

Anne C. said...

I really liked that post about Kodi. Well written and had me sniffling by the end (of course, most stories about animals dying do).

Boogie's not the only one who's glad to have you back! :)

Steve Buchheit said...

Hmm, Boogie might also have read the Kodi post and was wondering just where the heck you had gone and was awfully relived when you got back that he wasn't at the Vets. Dogs, they look all doopy, but just like my paunch won't let you know I can leave most of the younger kids in the dust with my activity level, the dog's mind runs deep and wide.

gringsti - What I felt when I heard Newt maybe running in 2012.

Eric said...

I hope the captchas help, though, frankly, I'm still having to delete comment spam every few days. Not sure how the bastards are getting through, but they're managing it.

CkretsGalore said...

Love the pic of your doggy.
Mine behaves the same way as well. Unfortunately I'm away more often than she cares for. She's still well loved and lives a pretty cushy life.

WendyB_09 said...

I know, the Kodi post got to me too, I can't imagine the strength it took JS to write it up. I know how devistated I was when my dogs have died.

We're glad you're back, though obviously not at glad as Boogie.

And Steve - bite your tongue on the 2012 thing, I live in Georgia and he's insufferable eoungh as it is.

Tom said...

Welcome back, Janiece. I enjoyed you postings and pictures very much, but now Hot Chick gets back to business.

Remember that CAPTCHA just protects against automated spam. Real human spam is still going to be able to get through. Instead of telling Computers and Humans apart, we need a way of telling Assholes and Humans apart. There's been lots of research carried out ever since the inception of the Internet, but the problem is that Assholes are very good at pretending to be Human. It's a PHD dissertation-level problem. :)

LucyInDisguise said...

Just a quick note ... what you describe on Boogie's nose sounds exactly like what one of my puppies has.

A form of canine herpes: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/dog-care-canine-herpes.html

While most adult dogs show no symptoms, our 3 year old Rottie/Lab mix was showing red eye, a dry nose that would crack and bleed, lethargy, and occasional lack of appetite. Our vet prescribed a cream to control the problems with her nose, and it works very well (when we can keep her from licking it off). Not much else can be done for the other symptoms.

You may want to raise this question with your vet, as it is rare for adult dogs to exhibit symptoms, and it may not occur to her. Or him.

Good Luck.

Lucy.

Janiece said...

Thanks, Lucy - I will bring it up Monday when we visit.