08:24 – Building science kits uses labels by the thousands. I’m down to my last box of Avery 5160 labels (1″ x 2-5/8″, 30 per sheet), so I went looking yesterday for a good on-line source. Actually, the labels I use are Maco rather than Avery, because the Avery labels are priced outrageously even at a discount.
I can buy five boxes of Maco ML-3000 labels of 100 sheets each (15,000 total labels) from Maco for $60, or $12/box including shipping, but I decided to look elsewhere. I found the same labels at another on-line vendor for $7.43 per box, but shipping was $17 on one box. So I added more boxes for a total of 5 boxes and found that shipping was still $17. Apparently, most of that $17 is a handling charge, so I wondered what else I might need that I could add to the order.
I’d bought a Brother HL-3070CW color laser printer just for printing labels. I remembered that the Brother manual said the printer included “starter” toner cartridges, so I figured I might need replacements soon. I checked the manual and found that the HL-3070CW requires TN210-series cartridges, with the black cartridge rated at 2,200 pages and the cyan, yellow, and magenta cartridges rated at 1,400 pages each. Each of those costs $60 or so on-line, so replacing the toner would cost about $240. Fortunately, I checked the manual again before I ordered toner cartridges. The starter cartridges are all rated for 1,000 pages. Given that I’m using that printer only for printing kit labels, those starter cartridges are probably less than 20% used.
Colin peed on the bed again last night, for the third or fourth time. Barbara warned him the last time he did that that the next time he did it that she’d get rid of him. He doesn’t seem to believe her. So, I have two more loads of laundry to do mid-week, but I guess that’s just part of having a puppy.
I think most of the problem is that Colin doesn’t get enough activity. I do what I can, but I simply don’t have time to spend all day outside with him as he’d like. Yesterday during the day I took him on ten short walks, down to the corner and back, and sometimes down to both corners and back. That’s a total of about two miles (three kilometers). At a brisk walk, that takes maybe five or six minutes each time, for a total of roughly an hour. Of course, while I got in two miles, Colin was running back and forth and around in circles each time, so he probably got in at least three or four. Still, it’s not enough for a 7-month-old Border Collie puppy.
I’m still hard at work on the biology lab book, as well as prototyping the biology kit.
13:43 – Well, that was interesting. The street vacuuming truck just passed our house. In the past, that was always a standard dump truck with a huge vacuum assembly on the back and a swinging hose that’s maybe half a meter in diameter. There were three crew, one driver and two guys walking along the curb, one swinging the hose back and forth to suck up leaves and dirt, and the second with a rake to position stuff for the hose guy and free up stuff that was matted and clumped. This time, it was a different-looking truck, still obviously a dump truck, but with the vacuum equipment looking more integrated with the vehicle. There was only one crew, the driver.
What interested me was the steering arrangement. The driver was in what would normally be the passenger seat, so I just assumed the truck was right-hand drive. But then as it got closer I realized that it was both right- and left-hand drive, with a steering wheel on each side. Presumably there’s some kind of mechanism to select which steering wheel and pedals are operative, but perhaps it’s set up like a B-17, with two complete sets of controls, both of which work simultaneously.
My English Mastiff’s activity level is about on par with mine. She probably sleeps about 20 hours a day. 🙂
Yes, that was one of the reasons I wanted to get a Mastiff. I understand that one has to force them to exercise, so their personality is pretty much the same as mine. They’re also about my mass. Barbara and I had a discussion about that, when I called German Shepherds “small dogs”. My attitude is simple: anything a lot smaller than me is “small”; anything about my size is “medium”; and anything much bigger than I am is “large”. Come to think of it, I also had that discussion with a girl I dated in college. She was 5’10” (178 cm) tall and seemed surprised that I considered her “small”.
Barbara had two problems with getting a Mastiff. First, they’re relatively short-lived, as are all massive dogs. Second, she was already used to Border Collies, who can figure out things with one lesson, if indeed they don’t figure it out first on their own. We talked to a couple of Mastiff breeders, and the consensus was that Mastiffs are not intellectually gifted. Anxious to please, gentle, affectionate, and a whole lot of other good things, but what a BC learns in one go it might take a Mastiff a hundred or more lessons. Barbara said she didn’t want a 100 kilo dog that would be difficult to train.
Train them to do what? I have a friend with a Mastiff, and it only knows how to drool, eat, shit, piss and sleep, not necessarily in that order. And ALL instinctual. Indeed, it can even combine some of those activities, such as drool and eat, or drool and piss, or drool and sleep. I once saw it eat, sleep and drool at the same time.
Now that I’m thinking about it, I do believe that drooling may be the natural state for Mastiffs, as opposed to an ability.
Border Collies, who can figure out things with one lesson,
Except house training. I have never had a dog that took more than a week to house train. Of course it helps that we have a dog door and a large fenced yard.
Maybe you need to whimper, bark at the door, and when Barbara opens the door run out and piss in the yard while the dog is watching.
No, Colin has been perfectly house-trained since the day after we brought him home. The problem is, he decided that since Barbara and I use the bathroom instead of the lawn, so should he. Border Collies are incredibly stubborn. They have strong opinions of their own, and it’s very difficult to convince them to accept your opinion instead.
The problem with your suggestion is that I’d have to pee in the yard all the time. If I tried to revert to using the bathroom, Colin would consider that a failure of training, and would discipline me accordingly. The last thing I need is Colin fanging onto my hand and dragging me out of the bathroom to the front door. I know you think I’m kidding, but I’m not.
I doubt he would be fanging your hand. It’s not your hand doing the peeing, is it?
So if he wets the bed, where did he learn that?
The problem with your suggestion is that I’d have to pee in the yard all the time.
When I lived on the farm we always peed outside. Water was in too sort of supply to waste on flushing urine. The outdoors worked just as well. We had be descrete when we had company.
The problem is, he decided that since Barbara and I use the bathroom instead of the lawn, so should he.
Wonder how Collin learned to lick his private parts. 🙂
Private parts? Since Colin is a nudist I assume he doesn’t have parts he considers private… 🙂
I stand correct Miles. When I laid on my back in my all natural, the wife said I was being disgusting. When the dog did the same thing it was considered cute.
Netflix subscribers leaving after price rise
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14941305
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-16/zahra27s-step-mum-pleads-guilty/2901610
Only 14-18 years for murdering a child? Jeeeez.
The the sexism and misandry than is rampant in most Western countries’ judicial systems. A similar crime by a man would have seen him locked away for life or executed.
The same is true of sex crimes. A female teacher that sleeps with her male student gets her teaching license revoked and gets probation. A male teacher would certainly go to prison.
Yes, that’s been big news here because it happened not far from here, and I suspect there as well since she was Australian. The stepmother appears to be a psychopath. That poor little girl never had a chance. Bone cancer, her leg amputated, and then murdered.
Some excitement near (about 3 km) my place this morning. I slept through it…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-16/canberra-chemical-fire/2901598
Blasts from massive chemical fire rock Canberra
“Colin peed on the bed again last night, for the third or fourth time. Barbara warned him the last time he did that that the next time he did it that she’d get rid of him. He doesn’t seem to believe her. So, I have two more loads of laundry to do mid-week, but I guess that’s just part of having a puppy.”
I still can’t believe you have a dog sleeping on your bed.
I remember a young woman in one of my lab classes a decade or so back casually mentioning that her dog slept on (or in?) her bed. For a while I was convinced she was joking, then I thought maybe she had unusual sexual appetites. But when no one else made jokes about it I though she was probably serious.
Tell Colin you’ll tie him to a stake in the back yard for a week for future infringements. If BCs are as smart as you say he’ll probably get the message.
All of our dogs have slept on the bed. Barbara was afraid of dogs before she met me, but she gradually made friends with my parents’ Border Collies. After my dad died in 1990, we moved my mom in with us. Barbara was more worried about Kerry living with us than she was about having her mother-in-law living with us. The progression was interesting.
Okay, he can be upstairs with us, but he’s not allowed on the furniture…
Okay, he’s allowed on the furniture, but not on the bed…
Okay, he’s allowed on the bed, as long as he doesn’t lick my face…
Okay, he’s allowed to lick my face…
Then we got Duncan as a puppy, and later Malcolm. At one point, we had all three of them up on the bed sometimes, although by that time Kerry needed to be lifted up. More than once, the bed would be full of Barbara and three dogs, and I’d be sleeping on the floor, literally.
Kerry usually slept curled up at the end of the bed. Duncan would get between Barbara and me, put his back up against her, and push with all four paws. More than once, he literally pushed me out of bed, sometimes rudely waking me from a sound sleep. Malcolm, on the other hand, was stand-offish. He came from a litter of only himself and one sister, so he wasn’t used to having to fight for room. If I bumped him or even rolled over, he’d growl as though offended and jump down. Colin is from a litter of nine, and he doesn’t hesitate to push us around to make room for himself. He doesn’t mind us pushing back, either. I told Barbara that, given Colin’s current size at seven months old, we may have to get a larger bed.
Of the girls I dated or lived with who had dogs, I think every one of them allowed the dog to sleep on the bed. One of the girls had a very protective male dog. Every time we (the girl and I, not the dog) got amorous, the dog would growl and show his fangs at me. I finally had to insist that she put the dog outside the bedroom and close the door if we had any plans for the evening.
I’ve just been in contact with Colin telepathically, he says the reason he pees on your bed is that your snoring, grunts and other animalistic noises frighten him. He says he’s been dropping hints that he’d like a MP3 player loaded with Carpenters, ABBA, Manilow and other great artists but you haven’t picked up on them yet.
Greg, that’s total nonsense. It is well known that BCs like The Monkees, and nothing else.
Well, that’s may be true of ordinary BCs but Colin is so smart that he also likes the groups mentioned above. He mentioned that he’s thinking of taking Bob’s Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits and signed photograph for his stash if he doesn’t get his way.
A pro-life Republican won a seat in a special election NYC that the Dems have held since 1923. Expect a bloodbath next year for Democrats.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/14/opinion/louis-new-york-election-upset/
Lets just hope the Republicans pick some sane candidates. (Yes, I *am* an optimist…)
Nothing wrong with letting a dog sleep on your bed… heck, I’m quite sure that was one of dogs’ original advantages to humankind.
That was then, this is now.
If people want to do it I’m okay with that, but I’ll never get used to the idea myself. I wouldn’t object to a house trained dog sleeping in a doggie basket in the same room as me, but not on the same bedding that I’m using.
You might try Linton Labels for Maco labels. Linton is an old-fashioned company — someone will actually answer the phone if you call. They stock the ML-3000 and other common labels in bulk boxes of 250 sheets. Pretty good prices, not sure if they’re the cheapest, but I’ve always liked doing business with them.
http://www.lintonlabels.com/popularlabels/popular_laser_labels.html
800-841-0200
Thanks, but they’re more expensive than macolabels.com and much more expensive than other sources I’ve found. Ordinarily I wouldn’t spend any time worrying about small price differences, but since we use these things by the thousands even small differences add up.