Memories of Emmy

Emmy back in September, looking soulful.

SteelyKid’s second-grade teacher sent home a couple of books about kids dealing with the loss of beloved pets– one of which, The Tenth Good Thing About Barney is surprisingly atheistic. We read them at bedtime the other night, which was a little rough. After we finished, and moved her to her bed (when it’s my… Continue reading Memories of Emmy

Published
Categorized as Dog, Personal

Emmy Orzel, 2002-2015

Emmy in December 2003, only a few months after we got her.

We lost the Queen of Niskayuna tonight. Emmy had been having some health issues for a while, and while we were in Florida this past weekend she wasn’t eating for the pet-sitter. We tried yet another new version of the new diet food today, with only limited success. And this afternoon, she fell going up… Continue reading Emmy Orzel, 2002-2015

Published
Categorized as Dog, Personal

100/366: Indomitable Spirit

SteelyKid doing punches at her belt test.

As noted a couple of days ago, this was a big martial arts week at Chateau Steelypips, with The Pip’s first-ever belt test on Monday, and SteelyKid testing for her brown belt tonight. Unfortunately, tonight was also a first, namely the first belt test she’s failed. This was, sadly, entirely predictable, as her teacher has… Continue reading 100/366: Indomitable Spirit

099/366: Medicine

Emmy's new medication.

When we had our vetinary adventure back on Saturday, they drew blood for some tests. These showed that Emmy’s kidney function is somewhat impaired, leading to yet more tests, and as of last night an extensive regimen of new stuff: That’s some new kidney-friendly food (in both dry and canned varieties), a drug for her… Continue reading 099/366: Medicine

098/366: Little Dragon

The Pip getting his new belt at taekwondo.

It’s a big week in Chateau Steelypips for martial arts and cute-kid photos. On the heels of SteelyKid’s first competition this past weekend, we have the Pip’s first belt test tonight (and SteelyKid is testing for her brown belt Wednesday, so you should probably expect one more kid-martial-arts photo before all’s said and done…). Tonight’s… Continue reading 098/366: Little Dragon

096/366: SilverKid!

SteelyKid with her silver medal from today's taekwondo tournament.

I feel a little bad that I’m doing two photo-of-the-day posts in a row that are just pictures of SteelyKid, but my day today was dominated by a taekwondo tournament down in Duanesburg, SteelyKid’s first actual competition. And she got second place: This is somewhat less impressive than you might think, because she was in… Continue reading 096/366: SilverKid!

095/366: Second-Grade Movember

SteelyKid showing off her ultraviolet mustache.

Both SteelyKid’s elementary school and her after-school day care had “book fairs” this week. These include a bunch of display cases full of books at various reading levels, and also a couple of tables of plastic toy crap. One of the marginally less crappy plastic toys was a marker with ink that fluoresces in UV… Continue reading 095/366: Second-Grade Movember

The Exotic Physics of an Ordinary Morning: My TEDxAlbany Talk

Me speaking at TEDxAlbany; photo cropped down from one posted by @SeemaWasTaken on Twitter.

So, yesterday was my big TEDxAlbany talk. I was the first speaker scheduled, probably because I gave them the title “The Exotic Physics of an Ordinary Morning,” so it seemed appropriate to have me talking while people were still eating breakfast… The abstract I wrote when I did the proposal mentions both quantum physics and… Continue reading The Exotic Physics of an Ordinary Morning: My TEDxAlbany Talk