The Federal Government Wishes To Waste Our Money Fighting Court Rulings

How'd I know this was going to happen? Remember that whole federal government losing their suit over their inaccessible websites? Well, they're appealing the ruling. Seriously, guys, why? It's been shown that your sites don't meet your own standards. Why spend more of our money fighting this? It would be cheaper just to comply and make your sites accessible, not to mention it's the right thing to do.

That's pretty crappy. I hope they lose the appeal too.

Lady, Go For Groceries!

What the hell? I'm sure there will be much more to this story, but as of right now, all I know is some woman in Cambridge was found consuming her pet dog. Police were called to check on her well-being, and found that she had dismembered, and was eating, her dog. Now she's in for a mental health assessment, or "the mental health assessment" as the paper put it.

Gees! What the hell happened?

Doughnut Delivery For The Cops

We've talked about people coming to the police asking if they have any warrants for their arrest. Now, someone's actually committing crimes in the hopes that they'll get arrested!

Yes, Julie L. Pennington was drunk, so drunk that she wasn't fit to face a judge the next morning. What I'd love to know is what she blew when they took her in.

For some reason she really wanted to get arrested. So, she pulled in in front of the police station and started spinning doughnuts. As she did that, she hit another parked car and ripped off her bumper by smashing into a retaining wall.

Frustrated that she had not caught the eye of cops, she marched up to the window of the station and asked to be arrested for DUI. Seriously. She was upset that she was doing all this spinning and crazy driving and nobody saw her. They granted her request, and gave her quite a list of charges.

When she finally manages to sober up, I wonder if she'll think that was such a good plan.

A Fire Emergency Has Been Reported In The...Back Room/Mini Kitchen!

I've got an update about the fire at W. Ross MacDonald School. it looks like someone was trying to use the back room as a small kitchen! Holy hell, this was the list of appliances found back there.

a toaster, toaster oven, microwave oven, coffee maker and kettle were all found in the immediate area of fire origin along with a small refrigerator.

And they were all hooked up to a power bar. Is it any wonder there was a freaking fire?

I don't remember the back rooms being so full of stuff like that, but then again, I didn't spend a lot of time back there.

I hope they can repair all that damage with relative ease. Holy crap.

The Impossible Is Only The Unfried

We heard on the weekend that there was a fire at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind in Brantford. Steve, Matt and I all went there, and a few other folks who read here did too. It took forever for me to track down a news story, but here's one at long last.

From what we heard over the weekend, the fire started in the library. This news story seems to say it started in one of the preparatory rooms, or back rooms as we always knew them. I hope the story's right, because when I think about a fire in the library, my heart just sinks. There are so many old braille books and rare, if not irreplaceable tactile works of art in there.

So the long and the short of it is the damage is estimated at about 400 grand and the school is closed for the week. A bunch of blinks got an unintentional extension to Christmas break.

Yikes! This sucktastic January can stop raining bad things from every direction. At least no one was in the school when the fire broke out on Sunday.

Gees! Temper Temper! No, I'm Not Talking To The Baby!

It sounds like Holly M. Razo should steer clear of the booze. She's probably not the biggest prize while sober, but put some booze in her and oh boy.

According to this story, Razo decided to leave her eighteen-month-old baby alone at home while she went to a house a block away to drink and play some cards. She had no problem with this, even leaving her door unlocked. Then I guess she started fighting with the hosts, who booted her out.

But she wasn't giving up so quickly. She came back and knocked on the door, with a knife in each hand demanding respect and saying she was going to stab the host. So they locked her out and called the cops.

She didn't give up when the cops showed up either, biting and fighting all the way to the police station and through the jail. And only when the cops showed up did she think of her kid again. They say the kid was unharmed, but she probably won't be staying with mommy dearest for long.

Come On. At Least Make An Attempt.

Just so we're clear, a hand-made sign that says "sheriff" does not constitute a police badge. Luckily, the woman he tried to pull over didn't fall for it, and called in the real cops.

How lame. Maybe he should have moved to Oakville and he would have had more success.

The Operation Wasn't A Success, But He Was In The Ballpark

We've talked about people castrating themselves, sometimes while on drugs, but I don't think we've ever talked about a guy trying to perform a sex change operation on himself. Ok, I understand the whole removal of his testicles thing, even though it makes me cringe, but how did he think he was going to create a vagina?

And how in hell did he manage to wait that long before going to the hospital without dying first? And I hope nobody found his balls in the park.

Yikes!

I Guess You're Never Too Young For Autotune

Here's a little random Saturday morning fun. Someone...autotuned the baby. that is all.

Dead Guide Puppies Sure Aren't Much Fun.

07 Jan, Fri, 18:56:32
Google:
guide dog for the blind dead puppies

Oh, you looking for news about the Parvo outbreak at GDB?

It breaks my heart that 5 itcy bitcy puppies died already. I hope they can save the others that are sick.

Damn Parvo!

Got My New Passport And Learned Some Things

Wow. I can't believe I started looking into this whole passport process back in September. Well, I have good news and bad news on that front. The good news is I must have filled out the form correctly, because I have a shiny new passport. It arrived while I was home with the family. The bad news is at the very end of the process, I got ripped off by Canada Post, at least I feel that way.

So, I got my passport photos taken. If I'd have been smart, I would have just gotten the photo guy to help me sign and date the sucker, and cut off the little piece that has my credit card info. But I didn't know how much I trusted a random dude to look at my credit card numbers and stuff. Plus, he looked kinda busy. So I thought I had to go to the post office anyway, I can just get them to put the date into a few places, and help me sign so I don't go off the sides of the box, and cut off that piece of the form with my credit card info on it.

When I asked them if they could do those things, they told me they could, but it would cost me $20. $20 extra? Are you serious? For something I could have gotten a friend to do if they'd been handy? Feeling like I was pretty low on options, I paid the stupid extra $20, even though I wished I'd had another choice.

On the bright side, although this woman was the snippiest woman I'd met in a long time, she cut a piece of cardboard out so I wouldn't go over the lines. Some people aren't that smart.

But seriously, $20 for that? Most people, if they ask for the Post Office to look over their application and pay $20, they actually want them to look through it to make sure it's all complete. I just wanted them to write the date in a few places and make sure I didn't go over the sides of their little white box.

To top it all off, at the very end of being made to feel like I was the stupidest person on the planet, the snippy passport woman reached across, batted at my wrist that had my watch and said "Hey, what good is one of those to ya if ya can't see?" I finally figured out she was referring to my watch. After I recovered from being conflicted as to whether she was trying to discover that I in fact could see, or whether she was just that big of an ignoramus, I told her I can pop open the lid and feel the bumps.

So, needless to say, I left feeling quite a bit less than impressed. Also needless to say, I won't come back to the post office for help in signing and dating my passport application in five years when the time comes. What an irony that I was able to fill out the whole application, and then got screwed when I just needed a wee bit of help.

The Point Of Creating A Diversion Is To Divert Attention.

Here's a tip. If trying to divert attention away from you as you run from the scene of a robbery by calling 911 and reporting a carjacking, don't describe your own getaway vehicle as the one being carjacked. They'll probably catch you real fast, and then it'll all be over.

She Doesn't Want A Whopper.

Gross! Can you imagine working the Burger King Drive-through late at night, and then a dude pulls up to the window wearing no pants. You ask him how you can help, and while holding his genetals, he asks if you'd hold his whopper. Eeewww. Now the police caught up with Richard C. Troupe and he swears that's not how things happened. I guess we'll see.

Mmm...Police Car Seat

We've talked about drunk people sinking their teeth into the hood of a police car. Now, an angry drunk started chewing on the interior of one.

Jesse Ray Stewart was drunk, angry and handcuffed. Since his hands couldn't do anything, he thought he'd use his teeth. And he did, chewing up chunks of the vinal seat exposing the stuffing. From when he was picked up to when he arrived at the jail, he caused $300 in damage.

People do strange things when they're drunk.

The Dog's Not Out To Get You.

I have to write this down, because it keeps coming back to me.

I took Trix out for her post supper business, and we were coming back in. In front of us were a mother and a little guy. He was really small. He stopped, probably to stare at Trixie. The mom said "Hurry hurry hurry! If you don't, the dog'll get you!" My heart sank. I know what she was trying to do, but the last thing I need is another kid afraid of my dog. There's already one that screams blue murder at the sight of her, just because she's a dog, and if he's on the elevator, I have to wait for the next one.

I said that all I wanted to do was sneak in behind them and get the door. She said ok. Then again, "hurry! The dog's gonna get you!" Finally, I mustered up the courage to ask her to please not make him afraid of dogs. The dog's not gonna get him, and I don't need another kid convinced that my dog is a scary horrible beast. I told her about the other kid that screams at the sight of Trix. I think she felt a little sheepish after that.

I know what she was trying to do, but arg. The poor little guy didn't need to be given completely unreasonable fears. Really, people, service dogs aren't generally, and shouldn't be, aggressive. We've been here before.

A Sex Toy That'll Blow Your Mind...And Something Else Too!

Yikes! The one lesson we can all learn from this story is Don't get romantically involved with Terry Allen Lester. If things end badly, he may send you an explosive sex toy for Christmas. Yup, he took apart a sex toy and inserted gun powder, BB shot and buck shot and then connected wires to a trigger connected to a battery port.

What a sick individual, who thankfully was prevented from doing harm to anyone because his activities were reported to the police. But I do have to wonder, did he think his exes would use these sex toys? If things ended badly between me and a guy, and suddenly he sent me a sex toy, I probably would dispose of the thing, gagging all the while.

That's just evil.

Tabasco Sauce, Eh?

We have a new excuse given for playing with oneself, this one given by Rafael Escamilla. He was on a plane beside a seventeen-year-old girl. Suddenly she looked up and he had one hand on his laptop and the other hand on his, er, mouse. When she told her dad and they got the police involved, Escamilla said he was rubbing his groin because he had spilled tabasco sauce on his penis. Or maybe it was something similar. Er maybe the tabasco sauce got spilled at breakfast. Breakfast? And it was still there? Do ya not shower? When asked why he didn't go to the bathroom to solve the problem, he said he didn't think it would help. Yeah, because if you're in the bathroom, you don't have that cute girl to look at and think about while wacking off.

And this guy is a physical therapist. Patients, make sure he hasn't seen any tabasco sauce before he sees you.

Because Making Fun Of Stupid Songs Is Fun!

I saw this video of a medley of the worst songs this group heard growing up, and it kinda made me chuckle. I'm not quite sure why. For the most part I agree that all those songs belong there.

Decision Time

I really don't know where time is going. It seems like I just wrote a post for the Assistance Dog Blog Carnival. Now it's time to write another one. Well, It's due on the 17th, but ya know. Close enough.

This topic is decisions. I looked at that blog topic and thought what in the holy hell can I write about decisions? I already basically talked about what helped me make the decision to get a guide dog, so what more could I talk about in this department? Then, it hit me! I could talk about how, contrary to popular belief, getting a guide dog is a decision.

This probably sounds really kinda elementary to everybody with an assistance dog, but I can't count how many people in the general public think that, for a blind person, getting a guide dog is some kind of rite of passage. I've talked about it in this post and a little bit here, but I can't emphasize enough that having a guide dog is not something that is thrust upon you once you reach a certain age, and those who don't choose a guide dog are not inferior. To have or not to have a guide dog is a decision, a big one.

Let me put it another way. Wouldn't it sound pretty ridiculous if someone said, "And when are they going to send you to college?" Nobody would say that, because everybody knows that choosing to go for postsecondary education is your decision. You have to decide if that's what you want to do, then what program you want to take and what school you want to attend that has that program. Then you have to apply and see if you get accepted, and where.

It's the same with getting a guide dog, minus the what program you want to take bit. First, you have to decide if the guide dog lifestyle is right for you. When you get a dog, your life changes in lots of little ways. They're definitely something to get used to. Plus, taking care of this living being is your responsibility now. Do you want that? It's kinda like getting married and having a kid all at once. And it's work. If the dog develops a behaviour you don't like, it's you who has to deal with it and teach the dog that it's not acceptable.

Lots of people decide that they don't want a guide dog. They recognize the enhanced mobility aspect of having a guide dog, but they're just not a dog person. This is important, since your guide dog is a dog first.

Steve, my boyfriend, is one of these. He sees what Trix did for my pace and ability to navigate spaces, and he sometimes thinks that would be cool to have. But he just can't do picking up dog crap. Since you have to do this at least twice a day, it's kind of a deal-breaker. Plus, he has an ankle that randomly gives out, and he doesn't think he could handle having an animal exerting the slight pull that happens with holding onto a harness. I tell him that if he wanted to go this way, they could probably find him a great match, but I understand what he's saying and respect that.

...Which brings me to another point. It seems that some guide dog-handlers have this holier than thou attitude towards those who choose not to get a dog, and I just don't get that. Just because *they* didn't like the cane doesn't mean everybody feels that way. Choosing to walk with a white cane makes someone no less independent than somebody with a guide dog. After all, don't we spend forever pounding it into Joe Public's head that we're the leader of a team? How can we now decide that the dog makes our independence? Sure, for us personally, we may feel that way, but somebody with a cane may feel he's doing just fine and doesn't need a dog.

So you've decided that you're ready for your life to change and you want a dog, and you know what a guide dog can do for you. Now, do you want to train your own, or do you want to go to a school? If you go the school route, which school do you want to go to? I hear the voice of Joe Public again. "What do you mean which school? There's the school, you go there, that's it. What is this which school business?"

Yes, in fact, there are many schools, and they're not all created equal. So you have to do your research and decide which one works for you. Are you willing to travel? Do you need in-home training? What about follow-up? What about help with big vet expenses?

Take me, for example. There's a school nearby, only about an hour away, but after doing some research, I found the consensus about its success rate wasn't good. Plus, I had heard rumblings that if you needed something, there was no guarantee that you would get follow-up. The school I finally decided on this time around had a very good reputation, good services and even help with vet care if you needed it. Plus, their literature was in lots of formats, and it made me feel good that I didn't need someone's help to fill out the guide dog application.

And yes, you have to apply, and the application looks kinda big. You fill out one part, and then you need a medical evaluation and some other forms filled out. Then, at least in the school I chose, they send someone out to see you travel so they know that you would be safe with a guide dog. They also assess your walking pace, stride, all that jazz. But most importantly, you get to ask them lots of questions, which is awesome for the newby handler to be.

Then you have to wait. You wait and wait and wait for word. You find out, if you applied to multiple schools, which ones accepted you. Time to make another decision. What school do you go with? If you haven't heard word from one school, do you hold out? Or, do you take the school that offered you a spot? This guide dog decision-making thing isn't easy, is it?

So you've come home with your guide dog. You've made a lot of decisions that have led to a big commitment. This dog, if all goes well, will be with you for the next 8 or so years of your life. That's huge. This is why I don't understand the general public's thought process that you just *get* a dog.

And then the day will come that your guide dog retires. You have to make another bunch of decisions. Do you want another dog? Or would you prefer to go back to the cane? And whether or not you get a new dog, do you keep the retired dog? If you choose to get another dog, can you, and where you're living, handle two dogs? What will you do to make sure your retired dog is happy and satisfied, even if s/he isn't working anymore as a guide dog? Do you figure out what is involved to get your retired dog certified as a therapy dog and then send him/her into hospitals?

Or, do you place your dog with a family member or friend? Who do you think would have time to meet your dog's needs? Can you handle letting go of being responsible for your dog's care? The decisions don't get any easier.

This post has turned into a monster. And this happens after I think I don't have anything to say. But my point is to hopefully teach somebody that choosing to live life with a service dog is not something to take lightly. Make smart decisions, for they will influence the next several years of your life.

Attacking A Search Queery

I saw the following search on our blog, and I felt it needed a post of its own.

04 Jan, Tue, 16:52:48
Google:
will service dogs attack

Hmmm. Why are you asking this question. Were you attacked by a service dog? Do you want your service dog to be protective? What is the reason for the question.

The thing is they *shouldn't*. They are trained and bred to be gentle. We don't need to be boarding a bus with a potentially vicious beast. They have to coexist with the general public, so they have to be good citizens.

But, a dog is still a dog, and shouldn't doesn't mean won't ever. If it happens, though, a good handler has to ask themselves a whole pile of questions about whether that dog's career should continue.

If you want your service dog to be aggressive, that's the wrong attitude. It's a service dog, not a guard dog, and the service it provides isn't protecting you. If your service dog habitually is aggressive, it will make it harder for my service dog and I to frequent the same place. I thought I had linked to this article, but it appears I didn't. Although a bit out of date since a service animal has been narrowed to dogs only, the aggressive behaviours mentioned in here are reasons why a service dog should never ever be trained to attack. Not only are you potentially endangering other innocent individuals, but you're endangering all of our rights to be able to bring our service dogs in public.

And all that from a few words in a search queery, and the person who wrote it probably won't be back.