More technology; Ralph

My blog friend Bob has a good post about his use of the iPad as a pilot.  Like me, Bob sometimes eschews technology (maybe it's a thing with guys named Bob), but he's found the iPad to be a great resource for a pilot. 

Wife has an iPad and she lets me use it sometimes.  I won't deny for a minute that  it's cool with all its "apps" and I asked her to download the one with the piano keyboard after seeing it on a commercial. 

Here's the thing, though: yes, the piano keyboard is kind of fun and I guess it would be a good way for someone to learn to play piano.  As for me, well, I've played piano since I was six years old and I could never get used to flat piano keys as opposed to the raised ones on a conventional piano. I enjoyed playing around with the iPad virtual piano for a while but then I thought to myself that I don't play the real piano nearly as much as I would like to, and it would really be more enjoyable doing that.

 

Likewise the typing keyboard on an iPad. I would much rather type on a keyboard where I can feel the keys depress, at least ever so slightly, as I hit them. 

Along those lines, I got a new phone last week. We were down in Auburn, AL visiting Younger Son and mine stopped working. 

I do depend on my cell phone so I needed to replace it forthwith. For me, that's not difficult. I went to Wal-Mart last Sunday morning as soon as I realized my old phone was not to be resurrected. I bought one of the "pay-as-you-go" brands, slipped off the back and inserted the SIM card from my old phone, and I was good to go. It's automatically part of our "family plan." In other words, I'm just buying the phone, not the phone service. I already have that. 

For some reason some of my contacts did not transfer, so I had to send e-mails to a few folks asking for their phone numbers so I could re-insert them. I think Kelly might have gotten a little excited, as her reply to my e-mail requesting her phone number said, "What kind did you get?"

No, Kelly, there's still no "smart" phone in my life, just the same old dumb one. Maybe someday but not now.

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I am sorry to report that Ralph the Dog has not been well. He came back from a recent kennel visit very sick. He began heaving in the middle of the night and stopped eating and drinking.

The diagnosis was some kind of liver malfunction and after a round of medication, IV fluids, a couple of shots, a baby food diet and a a couple of hundred bucks (conservatively), he is recovered from that, but his doctor's visit revealed a malignant tumor.  Our vet has referred us to a veterinary surgeon and Wife and I are going to meet with him this morning.

We don't know exactly how old Ralph is but we got him in August of 1999 and he was full grown. At that time, at his first vet visit, his doc estimated his age as between 1 and 2 so Ralph is probably somewhere between 14 and 15.

He's a "terrier mix" and weighs about 20 lbs, about the size of a Jack Russell, although he doesn't look like that. He's tan colored, kind of like a Cairne, but not as big as most Cairnes I have seen.

Anyway, we might be faced with a hard decision.   Do we want to subject a dog Ralph's age to surgery? Would it prolong his life that much?  And even though I hate to say this, what about the cost?

All questions I should have answers to within a few hours. We're going to the doc's office at 8:30.

Whatever the outcome, Ralph has been an outstanding dog.  He's had a good life.  He is neurotic but aren't we all on some level.

I'll report back when I know more.