Its time

The spark has finally gone, he's not responding much to anything now, he's given up.

I've made the appointment for tomorrow...

I might not post for a few days, unless the vet can work a miracle.


Ahthankyew

Noodles today

yup, he's had a bowlfull of supernoodles...I slipped some shredded chicken in, but he managed to leave that in the bowl...oh well... its all calories if he keeps it down.

Better get some salmon and fois gras, see if it tickles his fancy.


Ahthankyew

oh Android... you really are a pain.

Having to do some Android stuff for work, getting myself fully up to speed with VR systems and learning Unity....

Basically 3 of the things I really hate most..  VR makes me sick, Unity makes me angry, and Android leaves me comatose

Anyway, have to do it I need to expand my abilities on these platforms so I can teach them a little better and be more in tune with students who are using them

I've been working on a VR project for a couple of months in Unity, it was a slow starter as I just didn't get some of the madness of the latest versions of Unity right, but it sped up and my project is basically over now. Leading to me doing more VR research on Oculus Go and Quest

Now I must admit, as much as I hate VR, I am finding those 2 wireless units much more fun to use... but much less fun to code, Android coding is still painful and on Unity its painfully slow. But the result is somehow much nicer, smaller fun games, my personal fav and once you get projects developed using a rift with far better debugging and build speeds, its got potential for some fun games.

Maybe when I clear the decks a little of other things I'll do something on them.

Pleased to say that my ColecVision project is finally(yes finally) nearing an end. I hit a total wall on it for various reasons, and was advised to bring someone in to help, I resisted for so long but finally I had to admit I just wasn't able to get it over the line, so welcomed Allard to the now 2 man team.. well, he helped, he fixed the thing I've been stuck on for over  year....over a bloody year... in 1 week.

Fresh eyes.... I shouldn't have been so stubborn to finish it myself, but I couldn't progress and my motivation levels crashed, added to personal upsets and stress I just couldn't get my head round how to finish it.. But now, happily Allard, has come in and like a white knight fixed all the stuff I broke, or couldn't get working  so I can finally put this little bitch of a project away in the next week. That then leaves me with time me to update my SBC software in the light of the new Pi4 issues..

Then...maybe, I'll have time to write a cool VR project for myself....or maybe have a bath...a long long bath.

Ahthankyew

and another few mouthfuls

yup, it seems every few days when I think he's giving up , he eats something, no where near enough, but something, its always sometime different, sometimes ham, sometimes chicken, sausages, pork pie even...but never the same thing twice, what he eats one day, he refuses the next, its like he's on a mission to try all human food before he dies..


So far so good I guess, but I am going to go to the vet next week and take advice on how much longer we should continue with this.. he's not in pain, but he's not himself...




Ahthankyew

Think thats it now.

I think thats it now, he's not eating much at all now, even bacon isn't going down...he's losing a lot of weight having accidents right in front of me, not even trying to get to the door.

It's not good... he's not in pain, (as far as I can tell), he still wants to be snuggled and stroked, still wags his tail, and has a bit of a spring in his step when we are coming back from his very short walks.
but his eyesight is almost totally gone now, he only notices big sweeping movments and food has to be right next to him to even get him to sniff...but sadly not to eat.

I don't want to see him starve to death. a slice of salami, or a bit of bacon isn't enough, he won't even touch steak or chicken or ham now..Time to call the vet and make an appointment.

I can honestly say this is horrible.


Ahthankyew

well some people don't change

Strangely had a run in with my ex wife on Facebook, didn't recognise her new surname and commented on a post she made on a mutual friends page...

Few minutes later I get pm'd with some right nasty shit, threats, abuse and basic bile. Thats when the penny dropped who she was.

Very very sad, very very pointless and very very fucked up. She has her own version of events, one in particular, with everything twisted to make me the devil incarnate....I have a very different recollection of the fear and stress living with a rapid cycling bipolar person brings....It really was a bad time, and I was relieved to get out of it... I hoped she'd find peace..maybe she has, but clearly still has a lot of hate in her baggage.
Anyway, after a few choice comments she blocked me... good, I don't really need her kind of hate in my life.
Dunno if she reads this, its not impossible... But if I never have any contact again with her I'll be more than happy.


Ahthankyew

a few mouthfuls

Took the whole day, but finally he's had a bit of roast beef and some ossenworst (kind of tartar steak slices)  not interested in the liver I cooked for him though he did have a few pieces... I'll try him on some chicken



he didn't want the chicken.
:(
Ahthankyew

hanging in there

Harvey picked up quite a bit later on Sunday, eating roast beef, roast chicken and bacon....as  much as he wanted.. And toward the end of the day he really was quite chipper.

But today again he's not eating and spending most of the day sleeping. Ill try and tempt him with some ham.


Ahthankyew

last meals?

Poor Harvey
he's very much on his last legs, if there was any sign he was in pain I'd take him (or rather call them to come as thats nicer) the the vet,  but so far he's still showing sings of responsivness and happiness at being fussed over. But he is barely eating anything now, he's gone off steak, and chicken and mince and sausages, but will nibble at some salami, streaky bacon and rare roast beef, but only nibbles.. I can't persuade him to eat much at all, and his weight is dropping..

The kitchen has a selection of dishes on the floor for him none of which he wants, but todays, roast beef from Jumbo was something at least, and a few strips of bacon.
I hate this...really its horrible, but lets just make the little man as cosy and loved as possible.


Ahthankyew

Back home to dentist

Trip home was quite long, lots of delays, but I was really impressed with the Budget car rental, no issues, in an out and quite cheap. (mind you I have to see if they deduct anything from the card)
There was some incredible turbulance on the plane but home safe and sound and reunited with my little man.. But he's not at all himself, he's really deteriorating. So slow now, but he's still eating and enjoying snuggles so I dont' detect any distress in him. But....its not long now, Steak and Chicken and bacon it is from now on, his last days will be filled with doggy joy.
I guess I'm going to have to eventually bite the bullet and take him to the vet, but I am so afraid that they will ask me to make a choice....as soon as I detect distress...but not before. He's old, just old, and as long as he's got some spark and eating, we'll keep going.


Speaking of old things.. mum (ha you thought I'd forgot you) is also looking old and frail, I suggested taking her to the vet but she seems reluctant still, next time I go I'll take a big sack with me.

She is rather poorly at the moment, and tired of all the small procedures and tests she's being put through, but she had a good natter an cheered up no end when I introduced her to the joys of spiced dark rum, sans coke, I'd like to think she was pleased to see me, but it was probably just her off her tits on rum :D

My grandkids are wonderful, D and K are doing a great job with them, Harvey2 is a little boisterous but thats fun to see, little 8 month Eva is the most content baby I have ever seen, 3 days I was there, never heard her skriking once...amazing..

Can't wait to see them all again, hope mum can indeed make one more trip to Breda, and maybe Danni can bring the family when she sorts out passports.

oh well, that was a nice holiday, time to get back into the swing of things.

Which brings me to the Dentist.

I always thought modern dentistry had an air of surgical precision to it, with swabs, isolation, clamps, small scalpels, special tools...etc.

Nope... a big pair of pliers and lots of twisting and pulling...

Wait till the anesthetic wears off.


Finally had the right uppper wisdom removed and wow, I can open my jaw quite a bit, I wonder if I'll be able to yawn again, it was always stopping the tendon after the surgery..

And sadly had to say goodbye to another front tooth whcih also lost its home due to bone degradation from the radiotherapy/reduced blood supply, but new falsies in a few weeks.




Ahthankyew

Finally off to see the sprogs and the auld bag

Well after a lot of last minute kerfuffle finding a dog sitter, I'm heading over to the UK for the last weekend of my autumn break to meet my new grandaughter, comment on how big my grandson is getting and also go see my grumpy auld bag, who's not been so well of late. Seeing me might cheer her up a bit, or finish her off...I'll keep you posted.

Only a flying weekend visit, but even so it will be nice to connect with my peeps again... as long as we don't talk about brexit..no one needs to die!



Ahthankyew

more on line dating fun

So aside from the crazies and the box tickers (if you're not perfect and tick all the boxes they don't want to know), another of the things to watch for are the scammers.
Man there are a lot of them, but you can really spot them pretty quickly, they tend to be too good to be true...young, stunning, age is only a number etc...Also they flatter you far too much.

And the good ones will lull you into a false sense of security before suddenly there's a crisis that has come up that they desperatly need cash for somehing.....

For the last week or 10 days, I've had one of these chatting to me, she(no gurantees she was even female, as I'm pretty sure the person whos pics she ripped off from Facebook has no idea), she. was actually very good, and showed great patience, but I smelled a rat right away, and was just waiting for the sting to arrive. There were little inconsitancies, like being Brazilan and only being in NL for a few months, (her facebook went back to 2016 all in dutch), forgetting some of my details, reasking the same question etc... but having established this was a scammer I let her think she had her mark.

After laying the ground work, single mum,  dealing with life, looking for a good man,  sick parent, own business bla bla, the set up comes, in the shape of having to go to Hamburg on business for a few days, and we'll meet up when she gets back...course we will.

A small ration of how was your day, things are going ok,  some hassles but I'm dealing with it...on whatsapp to keep the pot simmering was quite nice to see, I admired her patience, Most of these scammers go for the closer pretty quick, but she was making sure the hook was well in.

And then of course the closer has to come... shes there  in Hamburg to pick up goods and has to pay import taxes, she's paid most of them, but suddenly its more than she expected...oh dear.

Funny sort of importing business that the courier can't send goods direct to you and take payment online....like every shipping company everywhere!!

Well its all very "convincing" (well no not really but I can see how people might fall for it) except she sends me the worst, and I do mean the very worst fake waybill ever.... allegedly she's getting a diplomatic bundle of 1.2 tonnes of leather........wtf??

Note the null bar code, lack of sender and receiver address, fake company name, lack of comany addresses, no phone numbers. no tax codes, also the date...was only a few days ago, (bloody fast boat) diplomatic shipment lol... its just beyond terrible.  I've seen a lot of way bills when I buy things from states or japan/korea and this is the most pathetic I've ever seen.
I've removed the name becuase I'm pretty sure the name is a real person who's had it nicked.

But she's quite smart she just uses it to keep the hook baited...not asking for money yet, but making it clear to me she's having to pay out funds and soon as she has we can meet up, shes just taking care of business.....A few more days pass and she's got one last bill to pay (yeah....right)  only at the last minute does she come up with the, oh I'm 120 short, my sick dad can't help...... can you lend it me?

Its known as a 419 scam, very common with Nigerians, they try to get you to pay for some shipping taxes or something and lay a guilt trip down on you if you don't help them to get the goods they need, or that they promise you is worth more than what you will give them.

I let her ask a few times but of course, she still thinks she has her mark hooked, but I'm not playing ball and quite enjoy letting her struggle. I know this scam and I'm not paying anything...a few key questions about who she was paying and had she does business with them before, didn't get a very sensible answer,  so she twigged in the end and logged off....

Its amazing.... Con artists like this are the worst... its not like the classy scam artists you see in the movies, where they prey on the rich and greedy, this kind of chancer has no care who they screw over... shocking.. anyway I spotted it instantly and let it carry on for a bit to keep her occupied, while (s)he was working on me,  she wasn't working on someone else.

Feeling quite pleased with myself :D



Ahthankyew

Autumn break

Not that its going to be much of a break, got some work to do and will have to spend a few days at a clients location,  and also going to squeeze in a visit to see the sprogs and grumpy gran, who's not very well at the moment.

Biggest issue is Harvey 1, he needs to be looked after and isn't quite himself at the moment, age is very much catching up with him and his eyesight is getting progressivly worse. He now habitually runs into doors he cant see when I bring him in from his walk...it was funny at first but a couple of times he's ran at speed and hurt himself, so I need to take special precautions to make sure the door is open before he charges in.

Also he's developed a nasty bump below his eye, which at first caused half his face to swell up.. Before I went to the vet though it calmed down and seemed to fade but its come back. I dunno if this is a bite or a bruse cause by his crashing into things, its not tender to the touch so I suspect not, but it does not seem to be an infection or anything else...can't be a tumour, it came up too fast and came down after..
I'll wait till Monday, since he's in no distress, if its not gone down again, its vet time....something I fear a lot considering his great age....

Ahthankyew

I got a new bike

The old warhorse is nearing its end, its costing more to repair it every year than it would to get a new bike...

So I got a new bike :D

yup.. a real bike, with gears and thick tyres... and bend down bum up seating...

well ok, its not my usual thing but I will get used to it. One of my neighbours put all his old bikes out on the lawn to sale and I asked what he wanted for it..50euros....it had a flat back tyre but that was an easy fix...

so I now have a proper bike. Need to get a lock though as the cable with it has long since lost its key. and I need to fit a pannier rack and a kick stand, but these are easy to get.

After fixing the back tyre, while doing my back in (yup, not even exerting myself I spazzed my back) I took it for a spin, and its certainly odd but smooth fast and something new, something hard to explain...stopping things....quick stopp..oh yeah brakes...it has awesome brakes.. very cool.

The warhorse will be allowed one last repair, but at some point I might forget to take the key out the lock and let it go to the a new owner..or theif.


Ahthankyew

People are strange part 6504

Well once again I get confirmation that online dating is filled with odd people (well I'm there). I hooked up with a very nice lady, just over the Belgium border and we've been chatting for a few days.. in the run up to meeting up. A very good start, very interesting and smart lady, really cool communication, intelligent, observent and even a dry sense of humour which is always a plus.  American so no language issues, and a swearer, perfect....

But then she sends me a good morning sunshine gif at 7am on a Sunday, which I reply to at 10am, when I wake, oh god you're a morning person barf.... a comical one liner...nothing extreme...

That results in a fantastic angy response that she just sent something cheerful and I will never hear from her again. And it seems thats true as she rage quit me from facebook and whatsapp and blocked my phone.....so..yeah... that happend...

red flags flying high there I think....lucky escape. Wow..just wow..


Ahthankyew

ow, croak, sniff, ow, croak, sniff

The cold is almost over, bit wheezy and coughy but so far (touch wood) no chest infection ...yet..
my arm though, oh fuck that is painful

am doing the physio excercises but it seems to be making things worse rather than better, am trying my best not to play guirar which for sure makes it worse but its very hard not to play guitar at the moment as I am running some of the jam nights for students and we're going to start rehearsing again soon for both bands after a summer break.

Also at the moment I seem to be really in a zone with my playing, lots of new things starting to appear from my fingers and I just "feel" more in tune with the guitar, and want so much to play......ah well...a bit of pain is worth it, we all suffer for our art I guess.

Not much more to report at the moment, the new 1st years are a challenge but they are soaking things up like a sponge and I have high hopes.



Ahthankyew

croak croak

Well its a bit of a self diagnosis but pretty sure its accurate, my voice is literally gone, only croaks and wheezes coming out... and it feels like I've been gargling razor blades for breakfast, lunch and dinner.All classic symptoms of laryngitis.  Lucky I don't actually have to say anything to anyone today, but I did want do a bit of recording with a nice cold deep voice (I actually sound a little better when I've just had a cold).... maybe tomorrow. but if I'm still croaking tomorrow I'll consider going to the docs...not that there's much they can do for cold related laryngitis.

Ironic really as over all this cold hasn't been too severe, just a bit of a runny nose and a slight sore throat, until last night when the razor gargling started.

Voice rest and a lot of paracetamol today, will hopefully pay dividends.




Ahthankyew

Cold time

always the same, new group of students, new bunch of colds to catch.... ah well


Ahthankyew

ow ow ow

Still in pain with my arm, its seriously impacting on my guitar playing and also my diet.... I'm miserable when I can't play, and I eat....damn, undoing weeks of good work with a chilli dog, or 3

...its ok, I'll get back into the mood soon. Had some more massage therapy today, hurt like hell and leaft me feeling all wiped out and sore, but hopefully the treatment will help and I can get back to my scales and my scales (see what I did there?? no... oh ok)



Ahthankyew

Appeal accepted

Got 2 letters today, one in Dutch, one in English (nice touch) to confirm that my appeal against the traffic fine for running a red light has been accepted and is being processd.

Of course its a formality of sorts, but at least there were no issues with my formatting of the appeal, which I sometimes get caught out on, Dutch letters in relationship to rules and regs are very formal and require specific things, like reference numbers, date of birth, etc...its can be quite a challenge to make sure you put everything done.

But its in, its accepted it will be reviewed, I dont hold a lot of hope that it will pass, even though i am certain the police made an error, its ultimatly my word against his and the courts usually go with the police, but I gave multiple reasons to cast doubt on the officers view, and I will just have to wait and see.
It will take up to 3 months to get a decision, during which time I don't have to pay the 250euro fine...

fingers crossed.

Ahthankyew