Hairy Houdini

So, the dog has now figured out the significance of keys.

A while ago, the dog figured out how to jab at the top latch of its crate, to flip it open.  Luckily, it didn't have the angle necessary from inside, to flip the bottom latch open.  But still, we'd come home to find the crate door weirdly askew, because the top latch would be hanging open, and the bottom latch would stay locked. Rather than allow the dog to bend its crate totally out of whack, necessitating the purchase of a new one, we decided to put a lock on the top latch.

And the dog watched, and waited.  Over the past few weeks, we've seen it sort of mouthing at the lock with its teeth.  Not biting down, but just sort of feeling around for where a pointy object (it was lightly trying its teeth) might slip in and somehow open it.  It has then invariably pulled back and gone into that cute "gears are turning inside my head" cocked head posture, as it figures things out for itself.

During all of this time, we've been putting the keys to the lock over on the windowsill (because we didn't want to be running around the house going, "Honey, where did you put the keys?  The dog needs to pee!", etc.*), on the other side of the crate.  Come home, grab the keys, unlock the crate, let the dog out.  Put the dog in, latch the gate, lock the latch, put the keys on the windowsill.  A behavioral pattern on our part, that could be followed, to be sure.  But by a dog?

Yes.  My wife came home today, to the keys lying on the bottom of the crate.  Don't worry, they were close enough to the side of the crate that she could reach in & fish them out, to unlock the crate and let the dog out successfully.  But this means two things, on the part of the dog:

One: The dog now recognizes not only that something needs to be put in the lock to open it, but now specifically what needs to be put in there.  Which I suppose is good, because my wife also presented the worry, "What if the dog had ingested the keys?!?".  Luckily, I find that unlikely, since it apparently recognizes their significance.

Two: The dog was able to jam some part of itself out from between the rather narrowly-spaced bars of the crate, to swipe the keys off the windowsill.  It didn't just frustratingly jab half a paw at them and get nowhere; it patiently, methodically angled its front leg (or whatever it was able to use) between the bars and held it there long enough, carefully enough, and exactly the right angle to brush the keys off the windowsill and plop them accurately into the crate.  Kind of like Angry Birds, for dogs.

Man, it's just a good thing the dog doesn't have opposable thumbs.  It's probably got a plan for that, too.

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*And yes, before you get all up in arms, we do recognize that the worth of a silly crate is immeasurably low next to the personal worth of our dog.  And we do have wire cutters that will cut the crate open, if it ever comes to not being able to open it otherwise.  And while we're at it, no we don't love putting our dog in a crate, even though the dog has known from puppyhood that the crate is and always will be its own personal safe place (would you deprive a child of its room?).  There are unavoidable times that we can't be there, when the dog also can't go to doggy daycare or whatnot, because of its ongoing ear thing.  So we're doing what we can, we do love our dog, and we do give it as much exercise and interaction as a couple of people working outside the home, can.  So please keep the hate mail to yourself, and rather consider how you'd handle it.  If you would handle it by not having a dog, good for you. But your life is not ours.

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords!

Here, I link you to a story (click the link to see!) on one of my favorite tech news aggregation websites, slashdot.org.

Besides the rather disturbing ease with which this is done to the e-voting systems we all may someday have an opportunity to use (and thereby be disenfranchised from our vote), I suppose you could say there's a rather humorous angle to this story, as well.

Maybe Bender's campaign slogan should be "Elect my shiny metal a$$!".  Though that may be hard to compete with one from Skynet stating, "Ah'll be baahck… for your childrens' education!".

How Much is that House Elf in the Window?

So the dog has gotten (mostly) used to life in its cone.  Still, something about the way its ears hang limply in the thing, and/or the sadly solicitous look it gives me from time to time, remind me of:

Its newest nickname? "Dobby-Dawg".

I get the Message…

More techie stuff.  Hopefully I'll have more funny stuff to post sometime soon.  Who knows, maybe I'll even have funny techie stuff at some point.  Or maybe I just lost half my audience by saying so.  My recommendation is to stay tuned, but it's a big Internet, so you'll do what you want.

Anyway, I installed Apple's Messages beta for the Mac (Apple, I suppose, showing off one of the many features that will come in 10.8 "Mountain Lion" sometime late this summer.  Mostly, I did so out of curiosity, because hey, if there's a public release on a new feature, why not check it out?  It's designed to cover not only what iChat always has, but add in the iMessages service for use in communicating by short text message and/or chat, with iOS 5 (and up) devices.  Cool.

Still, I'm not much of a chat user at home.  At work it's near-constant, because that's one of the many ways our business gets done.  But at home, it's generally a phone call, a FaceTime session, an email, or one or two brief iMessages or texts.  With regard to those last two, it's usually not an extended back-and-forth unless both/all parties have time, when, if it's between home and somewhere else, you can't always expect.

Still, curiosity overrode that, and I happen not to be running 10.7 "Lion" at work for various reasons that aren't worth going into here.  So on my home Mac it was.

First, there was some difficulty choosing which AppleID to use.  For FaceTime via the computer in the past, I've used a different AppleID than the one I use on the iPhone for FaceTime and/or iMessages.  That's partially to keep it all straight for myself.  I have no doubt that Apple could figure out how to get communication to the device I'm closest to (perhaps several of them), but I like want to do it my way, for now.

I found there was no way to set up a second AppleID in Messages for the Mac, once the first one had been set up.  And that AppleID, once entered, couldn't be changed.  There was no problem adding or removing other chat services, but only one AppleID was ever able to be associated with it, so you'd better choose wisely from the start.  For those of us individuals or families who want or need to use multiple AppleIDs from one user account on the computer for any reason at all, that's pretty limiting right there.

So, feeling I was finished with my experiment, I was glad to see that Apple had thought to put in an "Uninstall Messages" link under the Application menu.  When I clicked on it, I was further happy to see that the next window said it would reinstall iChat.  So I followed the directions to allow it to do so (it was apparently re-downloaded, but not from any link I've been able to find anywhere on the web or the Mac App Store).

Unfortunately, the app it installed was non-functional (would not start), and had a generic icon.  To make matters worse, it wouldn't let me trash it & re-install from a previous copy I had had the foresight to zip, because the non-functional copy was "used by the system", and there was no way to authenticate around it.

So I decided it was lucky I had backed up to Time Machine just before install Messages for the Mac, because while it would take a while (and I could hopefully let it happen overnight), I could restore to my most full system recent backup & be on my way.

Well, an admittedly separate problem (and therefore not the Mountain Lion/Messages for the Mac development team's problem, necessarily… unless any of the code or people are related) came to be that my backup was somehow corrupted, such that once installed, the Mac would only boot to a spinner with a dark grey apple on a light grey screen.  Such corruption happens from time to time, and Lion had even warned me a few times (something 10.6 "Snow Leopard" never did) that it needed to scrap the old backup and start a new one to maintain integrity or whatever (not the dialog box's exact words, but the general gist).  Still, it hadn't said that in a while, at least since the 10.7.3 update (maybe something changed with that update to make backups more solid?).  In any event, I had been backing up as regularly as possible, all the while.

In the end, I found the solution to be the following (for me, in this particular case.  If presented with a similar situation, your mileage may vary & I can't comment on how to address it.):

I let it go ahead (after exploring several other options, again) with the Restore.  But then upon restart, the spinner on the grey screen still wouldn't advance to the desktop after a ridiculous amount of time that seemed to indicate it just wasn't going to get its caches in order to boot properly (again, I can't tell you when to do so, just that I have years of experience looking at various Macs and knowing after a certain while, "Well, that's just not going to boot.  Plan B, or C, or whatever we're onto now…").  So I powered down & booted back into Lion Recovery Mode to re-download & install Lion OVER the installation that had just been restored by the backup (but neither over, nor replacing, my personal data ALSO just restored from the backup).  In doing this (does it never end?!?) there was even an issue with my AppleID password, maybe because given many false starts, either Apple's servers or server personnel (or both) probably started wondering why I was downloading Lion to be installed multiple times in the same day.

Luckily, a new install of Lion on top of my old, restored personal data worked.  Oddly, it said iTunes 10.5.3 and Airport Utility 6.0 were available as new downloads once started up (which is weird, cuz they were both on there already).  And of course iPhoto had to re-sync with Photo Stream and my mailboxes had to (re-)update.  But all my content, other apps and previous settings and functionality were there.

iChat was among those.  Sitting there with its custom icon and working as it had, before the update to the Messages beta.  Given that I don't use chat on the Mac from home much, I think I'm just going to leave it sitting there until a full version of Messages for the Mac is installed by Mountain Lion.

Not that I eschew betas.  But this experience with something I didn't need, which was tough to set up, threw things out of their natural order, was impossible to remove correctly, and then which outside circumstances made it almost impossible to rectify, makes me not want to work any further with this software until I have to.

Also, I want to point out that it's not that I think Apple did a bad job with the intent of Messages for the Mac.  I look forward to how it and several other features turn out in the final version of Mountain Lion.  But for now, I'm going back to tinkering with things I have a reason to use, and which I know how to fix.  For example, when Spotlight finishes indexing my drive, I may decide that I want to just manually toss and restart that Time Machine backup…

Hmm.

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Update (2/19/12): As soon as the machine attempted to back up to Time Machine, it told me that it needed to discard the only Time Machine backup and start it again.  Sure would have nice to have a previous heads-up of that, but at least my suspicions were corroborated.

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Update 2 (3/5/12): Perhaps someone at Apple read my blog (or the same issue came up in Apple Support Communities, more likely…).  In any event, they seem to have addressed something which may be related to the Time Machine restore weirdness that I was experiencing:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1505

I have not downloaded or installed the update yet, so I can make no claim as to how or how well it works.  But at least it's there, and hopefully it works for folks, if you've run up against Time Machine restore issues under Lion.

Hopefully not a Mountain of Lion poop (to deal with)

I (temporarily?) return to my tech commentary roots on this blog, to observe that this is going to make next to no sense to the proverbial "Granny":

When OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" came out, it was easy to explain to any user what the system requirements were, for them to upgrade from previous versions (something any technology which SELLS software features wants them to do): 10.6 simply required an Intel processor and 1GB RAM.

Then 10.7 "Lion" muddied the waters a tad more, by requiring an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or higher, and 2GB RAM.  OK, still easy to say in a sentence, and as long as the listener is actually thinking about what they hear, there's a good chance they'll get it.

Now the notes on the Developer Release of 10.8 "Mountain Lion", the full version of which is due out some time late this summer, read like this: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/16/os-x-mountain-lion-drops-support-for-many-2006-2008-macs-with-integrated-graphics/

Did you get all that?  I'm not sure I did.  And it's changing.  Which is fair for a product not released yet.  In fact, I have to admit that as long as handled carefully, this shift in the way Apple handles the secrecy of their release schedule could be a good thing*.   I just hope this morass of legacy computers that will and won't be supported by 10.8 gets clearer, because I can tell you from personal experience that confusion is just about the most frustrating thing possible, for computer consumers.

Now, Apple could have been trying to "C" their "A" a bit in 10.7, by putting the name of the model (and time of year released) in the first screen of System Information† a lot easier to find than Model Identifier, which doesn't say anything, but a technician can identify, in the old System Profiler in 10.6§.

Somehow though, that seems like (to extend the metaphor) updating Granny's prescription on her glasses, when the real trouble is she's got cataracts.  Hopefully Apple finds a way to help her clear those up, before 10.8 gets released.  Apple tends to make products look amazing.  Let's make sure 10.8 can look amazing to Granny too, or at least that her upgrade path clears up.

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* Read more on this, at http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/02/16/mac_os_x_mountain_lion_release_signals_shift_in_secrecy_at_apple.html

† System Information is an app available when you select "About this Mac" under the Apple Menu, and then click on the "More Info" button in the new window that comes up.

§ The functionality of System Profiler is still available under 10.7, if under that second "About This Mac" window that came up in System Information, you click on the "System Report" button near the bottom of the window.

Well, the Elizabethans WERE a pushy bunch…

So, even all of the obvious drawbacks to having a "cone of shame", the dog has discovered one distinct advantage: It herds us by bonking into our legs if we're not moving fast enough for it.

You stopped in the kitchen to get a snack, on your way to let it out the back door?  Bonk! to the shin.

You're puttering around wondering what you forgot, before taking it out for a walk? Bonk! to the knee.

You're standing in front of the food bowl, without filling it? Bonk! to the back of the calf.

What have we done?!?  I'm not sure whether the dog will miss its new "limb" when it comes off, or just forgive us because the return of peripheral vision will be so wondrous.  Time will tell…

A book-eared hot dog

Well, the dog's ear thing hasn't cleared up.  In fact, it's gotten yucky enough that my experience telling people about it face-to-face compels me not to gross you out here.  If you have a penchant for veterinary disgust, look up Ear Margin Vasculitis.  Don't say you weren't warned.

In any event, we've been sent to a veterinary specialist (who knew there were such things?).  And I must say that their entire office were very competent, patient with our copious questions, and nice.  They even called the next day to follow up, and were very patient with everything that came up, yet again.  Still, due to the sticker shock of "My dog needs what?!?", I just can't shake this interchange from the episode "'Round Springfield" of The Simpsons, in which Marge and Homer are attending the opera.

Homer (wearing giant foam "We're #1!" finger): Man, these are some primo seats… I sure could use a hot dog right about now…

Marge: Homie, we're at the opera.  You can't get hot dogs here!


Hot Dog Vendor: HOT DOGS!  GETCHA HOT DOGS!!!


Homer: Woo hoo!


Marge: Do you just follow my husband around all the time?

Hot Dog Vendor: Lady, he's putting my kids through college!

Which is all kinds of fun currently, as we'll soon have our own little one whose options for college we'd like to keep open.  Who knew, I'd end up in life identifying with Homer Jay…

In any event, a friend's prediction in the comments of this site that the dog would need the Cone of Shame proved correct, and the dog has been surprisingly brave about it: At one point while feeding it dinner last night, it started making this constricted hacking noise, and I was afraid the thing was on too tight for the dog to swallow, so quickly took it off.

Don't do that.  Taking it off is ridiculously easy for those with opposable thumbs, in an emergency.  But when the emergency turns out to be the dog essentially saying, "Bleaugh, I don't like this pill you fed me…," rather than your worst fears, the cone is at least as ridiculously difficult to put back on (unless you happen to have a degree in topology).

Still, the dog didn't run away with its tail between its legs the way it does when we come at it with its fleece-lined raincoat before we take it for a walk (During winter, I often have to enlist my wife's help in the daily "chasing of the dog" ritual). In fact, throughout all of this new headgear configuration, the dog just stood there, seemingly happy (drugged up?) to have me fiddling with and cursing at the completely foreign lampshade thing mounted around its neck.

As it is now, we have a new alarm system with regard to where the dog is in the house.  Instead of having to listen for gnawing noises in the sudden silence after a regular play session with its bone, during which we fear it's moved on to the couch or our shoes or important documents or something, now we just listen for an arhythmic, plastic "bonk!" as it learns (badly) to navigate without any peripheral vision or the same depth perception (white ring around its field of view vs. nose) it once had.  I know: "The poor dog!"… Well, call me a meanie, but it's also really cute.  I'm not sure I'll think so when filling in long, curled impact grooves in our walls, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

In the meantime, "Bonk!… bonk!… bonk, bonk!… bonk!" and "Awwww…!!!" to one and all!