/o\
Many apologies to Morgan for leaving him to deal with Buddy on his day off when he was hoping to sleep in. I overslept and didn't get up in time to walk the dog, but he was still asleep when I left the room so I was hoping he'd stay that way. Unfortunately he woke up and came downstairs to say hi to me. I petted him a bit and had to leave...I'm hoping he went back to sleep or settled in with a chew treat, but I don't know. I haven't gotten an annoyed text from the husband, so I'm hopeful.
Maybe tomorrow morning we can all three sleep in. That would be nice.
edit: they went out right after I left. Therefore I now have to take him out tomorrow and Monday morning. Fair enough.
I clearly need to buy more bison bones, because holy crap does he love the one he has. It's much smaller than it was even a couple days ago, and he keeps working at it. Multiple people have recommended antlers to me, so I'll try that too, but so far he has the bison bone, the bully sticks, the Himalayan chew things, and a Kong. (We haven't stuffed the Kong with anything yet, though.) We also have a bullhorn in the cabinet waiting for him, and more bully sticks as I think he ate the last one and we haven't given him a new one yet. But he's so loving the bison bone I haven't bothered.
He's a serious chewer, which I'm not quite used to, but it makes him happy so I'm all for it, plus it's good for his teeth.
Meanwhile, we've learned he's getting rather territorial as I mentioned yesterday. Pinky came over last night and he barked his head off running to the door, but settled down fast once I let her in and he realized she was friendly. And then when Morgan came home he ran barking to the garage door, but again settled down once Morgan came in--well, he quieted down. He didn't really settle, he ran around for a while. It's not necessarily a bad thing to have him barking to alert us of people, but the "chasing people out of the house" has to stop. We'll work on it.
He's more of a barker than we realized when we adopted him. We don't mind, or at least I don't, but it's different.
On
malnpudl's suggestion, I subscribed to the Whole Dog Journal, and went hunting through their dry food recommendations to see if what we're feeding Buddy checks out. I am really pleased to know that so far everyone's told me we're feeding him really well. I went to Mud Bay the other night to buy more dog food, and spent a solid ten minutes discussing options with two of the sales associates before we decided that what we're currently using is totally fine and since he likes it, we'll just stick with that. The dog walker told me it's one of the best brands on the market, and it's on the WDJ list of approved foods, so I'm pleased. (For reference, we're feeding him FirstMate Pacific Ocean Fish endurance/puppy formula. I realize it says puppy in the description but it's totally fine for him, too.)
And, uh. The vet gave him a lot of cookies that he loved, so I figured I'd buy some more, but when I just looked then up they're loaded with chicken and we were told he's probably allergic to chicken. So maybe no more of those. They also have a lot of wheat and grain in them, and I'd rather not feed him too much of that, either. I don't think he's been acting allergic to anything, but I could be wrong. (I should totally have looked up the ingredients before I fed him more--the vet gave me a bag at home--but I just didn't think about it since, y'know, it came from the vet.)
I would like to find some kind of cookie he likes, though. I bought a bag of mixed biscuits from Mud Bay and some of them he likes but others he's very indifferent to. He's really picky when he wants to be. I kind of want to go to Mud Bay and buy a little bit of everything from their bulk biscuits and see what he actually likes. Or maybe they'll give me some samples. They're awesome about that, and they have a fantastic return policy too. (Seriously, if you live in the area you should totally use them for your pet needs. They're not cheap, but they are so, so wonderful and their staff are phenomenal. I trust the quality of pretty much anything they sell.)
In non-Buddy news, So the class I'm taking next week wants me to spend about 20 hours pre-class prepping. I've downloaded all the course materials and am going through them but it's a slog and I keep getting distracted. I actually do find the subject interesting, and I like going through it and making comparisons to what we do here, but it's just a lot of material to get through. The course manual is a little under 300 pages, and there's a book I need to read too. I'm hoping I can read the book tomorrow and on the plane.
I did get through the ITIL Foundations Refresh, so I feel better about that stuff because it's been a couple years since I took that class. And a lot of what I'm reading now in the Service Operations section is kind of common sense, or at least it is to me given what I do.
I think I have a pretty good shot at passing the exam. It's an 8-question, multiple choice test with a gradient. Each question has four answers. Five points for the correct answer, three points for the second option, one point for the third option and no points for the red herring. You need to get 28/40 to pass. I don't expect to get a 40, but I do think I can pass this. (If I can't, I've wasted a lot of my company's money.)
I'll get 3 ITIL credits from this class. My longer-term goal is to get my ITIL Expert certification, for which I need 17 credits and a "Managing Across the Service Lifecycle" class. Since I can probably only take one class per year unless I find a way to do it more cheaply, this is going to take a while. And that's assuming they don't revise everything between now and then and make me have to do bridge courses to get recertified.
Still, it's good to have goals, and I think ITIL will be really helpful career-wise. When I was out of work everyone wanted ITIL, so getting my Foundations certificate was super-important to me and I grabbed the chance I had to do it after starting here. Most groups don't require more than that but if I stay in operations, having that specialized cert will make me really useful. If I consider going to project management (I'll get PM credits from this class, too) I can study the service design and service strategy modules and learn more about how to build out services. Service transition is helpful for change management and implementation. Continual service improvement is useful as it goes on through all aspects of the service lifecycle.
(the ITIL service lifecycle is like a three-ringed circle. The innermost circle is service strategy, because everything focuses on the strategy of how to present the service to the customer. The second level is Service Design (figure out what the service needs to offer) which then goes to Service Transition (figure out how to implement it) which then goes to Service Operations (put it into practice and fix what breaks) which then goes back to design (what do we need to build next). And around all of it is continual service improvement, which is "how do we make this better"?
I'm sure you all needed to know that.)
I'm worried about the heat in Scottsdale, because I do not do so well in heat, but I bought an insulated water bottle that I intend to keep with me at all times, and if I can find my floppy straw hat I'll bring that, too. And obviously my sunglasses. I'll buy sunscreen when I get there as I'm not checking a bag, and hopefully I'll survive.
As I said on FB, I'm actually less worried about the heat and more worried about temperature shock change from HOT to A/C to HOT to A/C again. That tends to give me migraines, and I absolutely cannot afford to get one next week although I'll have my Zomig and my oxycodone with me. And in an absolutely awesome note, I called Walgreens and they have the nasal spray in stock, so they're going to fill that and I'll get it later today. Since that works way better than the tablets, I feel much more confident about the week.
Also, in an indulgent moment I bought a new backpack for my laptop et al. I'm trying to cut down on things to bring to Scottsdale, but I need a way to transport my laptop to and from the class as all the material is electronic. I was thinking I had to check a bag so I could bring purse and backpack until co-worker kind of hit me with the clue bat and said "Just put everything in your backpack". So I bought this backpack, mostly because it's gorgeous and looks like it has enough compartments to hold everything. If it doesn't I'll put a small purse in my suitcase and use that. I didn't want to bring the rolling backpack because I can't fit it under the seat in front of me and I'm not allowed to put two carryons in the overhead.
Today is freaking zooming by. I started this post shortly after I got here, and I now have less than 2 hours to go. Too much to do aieee!
This entry was originally posted at http://blueraccoon.dreamwidth.org/1285696.html. Please comment there. |
comments
Maybe tomorrow morning we can all three sleep in. That would be nice.
edit: they went out right after I left. Therefore I now have to take him out tomorrow and Monday morning. Fair enough.
I clearly need to buy more bison bones, because holy crap does he love the one he has. It's much smaller than it was even a couple days ago, and he keeps working at it. Multiple people have recommended antlers to me, so I'll try that too, but so far he has the bison bone, the bully sticks, the Himalayan chew things, and a Kong. (We haven't stuffed the Kong with anything yet, though.) We also have a bullhorn in the cabinet waiting for him, and more bully sticks as I think he ate the last one and we haven't given him a new one yet. But he's so loving the bison bone I haven't bothered.
He's a serious chewer, which I'm not quite used to, but it makes him happy so I'm all for it, plus it's good for his teeth.
Meanwhile, we've learned he's getting rather territorial as I mentioned yesterday. Pinky came over last night and he barked his head off running to the door, but settled down fast once I let her in and he realized she was friendly. And then when Morgan came home he ran barking to the garage door, but again settled down once Morgan came in--well, he quieted down. He didn't really settle, he ran around for a while. It's not necessarily a bad thing to have him barking to alert us of people, but the "chasing people out of the house" has to stop. We'll work on it.
He's more of a barker than we realized when we adopted him. We don't mind, or at least I don't, but it's different.
On
malnpudl's suggestion, I subscribed to the Whole Dog Journal, and went hunting through their dry food recommendations to see if what we're feeding Buddy checks out. I am really pleased to know that so far everyone's told me we're feeding him really well. I went to Mud Bay the other night to buy more dog food, and spent a solid ten minutes discussing options with two of the sales associates before we decided that what we're currently using is totally fine and since he likes it, we'll just stick with that. The dog walker told me it's one of the best brands on the market, and it's on the WDJ list of approved foods, so I'm pleased. (For reference, we're feeding him FirstMate Pacific Ocean Fish endurance/puppy formula. I realize it says puppy in the description but it's totally fine for him, too.)
And, uh. The vet gave him a lot of cookies that he loved, so I figured I'd buy some more, but when I just looked then up they're loaded with chicken and we were told he's probably allergic to chicken. So maybe no more of those. They also have a lot of wheat and grain in them, and I'd rather not feed him too much of that, either. I don't think he's been acting allergic to anything, but I could be wrong. (I should totally have looked up the ingredients before I fed him more--the vet gave me a bag at home--but I just didn't think about it since, y'know, it came from the vet.)
I would like to find some kind of cookie he likes, though. I bought a bag of mixed biscuits from Mud Bay and some of them he likes but others he's very indifferent to. He's really picky when he wants to be. I kind of want to go to Mud Bay and buy a little bit of everything from their bulk biscuits and see what he actually likes. Or maybe they'll give me some samples. They're awesome about that, and they have a fantastic return policy too. (Seriously, if you live in the area you should totally use them for your pet needs. They're not cheap, but they are so, so wonderful and their staff are phenomenal. I trust the quality of pretty much anything they sell.)
In non-Buddy news, So the class I'm taking next week wants me to spend about 20 hours pre-class prepping. I've downloaded all the course materials and am going through them but it's a slog and I keep getting distracted. I actually do find the subject interesting, and I like going through it and making comparisons to what we do here, but it's just a lot of material to get through. The course manual is a little under 300 pages, and there's a book I need to read too. I'm hoping I can read the book tomorrow and on the plane.
I did get through the ITIL Foundations Refresh, so I feel better about that stuff because it's been a couple years since I took that class. And a lot of what I'm reading now in the Service Operations section is kind of common sense, or at least it is to me given what I do.
I think I have a pretty good shot at passing the exam. It's an 8-question, multiple choice test with a gradient. Each question has four answers. Five points for the correct answer, three points for the second option, one point for the third option and no points for the red herring. You need to get 28/40 to pass. I don't expect to get a 40, but I do think I can pass this. (If I can't, I've wasted a lot of my company's money.)
I'll get 3 ITIL credits from this class. My longer-term goal is to get my ITIL Expert certification, for which I need 17 credits and a "Managing Across the Service Lifecycle" class. Since I can probably only take one class per year unless I find a way to do it more cheaply, this is going to take a while. And that's assuming they don't revise everything between now and then and make me have to do bridge courses to get recertified.
Still, it's good to have goals, and I think ITIL will be really helpful career-wise. When I was out of work everyone wanted ITIL, so getting my Foundations certificate was super-important to me and I grabbed the chance I had to do it after starting here. Most groups don't require more than that but if I stay in operations, having that specialized cert will make me really useful. If I consider going to project management (I'll get PM credits from this class, too) I can study the service design and service strategy modules and learn more about how to build out services. Service transition is helpful for change management and implementation. Continual service improvement is useful as it goes on through all aspects of the service lifecycle.
(the ITIL service lifecycle is like a three-ringed circle. The innermost circle is service strategy, because everything focuses on the strategy of how to present the service to the customer. The second level is Service Design (figure out what the service needs to offer) which then goes to Service Transition (figure out how to implement it) which then goes to Service Operations (put it into practice and fix what breaks) which then goes back to design (what do we need to build next). And around all of it is continual service improvement, which is "how do we make this better"?
I'm sure you all needed to know that.)
I'm worried about the heat in Scottsdale, because I do not do so well in heat, but I bought an insulated water bottle that I intend to keep with me at all times, and if I can find my floppy straw hat I'll bring that, too. And obviously my sunglasses. I'll buy sunscreen when I get there as I'm not checking a bag, and hopefully I'll survive.
As I said on FB, I'm actually less worried about the heat and more worried about temperature shock change from HOT to A/C to HOT to A/C again. That tends to give me migraines, and I absolutely cannot afford to get one next week although I'll have my Zomig and my oxycodone with me. And in an absolutely awesome note, I called Walgreens and they have the nasal spray in stock, so they're going to fill that and I'll get it later today. Since that works way better than the tablets, I feel much more confident about the week.
Also, in an indulgent moment I bought a new backpack for my laptop et al. I'm trying to cut down on things to bring to Scottsdale, but I need a way to transport my laptop to and from the class as all the material is electronic. I was thinking I had to check a bag so I could bring purse and backpack until co-worker kind of hit me with the clue bat and said "Just put everything in your backpack". So I bought this backpack, mostly because it's gorgeous and looks like it has enough compartments to hold everything. If it doesn't I'll put a small purse in my suitcase and use that. I didn't want to bring the rolling backpack because I can't fit it under the seat in front of me and I'm not allowed to put two carryons in the overhead.
Today is freaking zooming by. I started this post shortly after I got here, and I now have less than 2 hours to go. Too much to do aieee!
This entry was originally posted at http://blueraccoon.dreamwidth.org/1285696.html. Please comment there. |
comments