elusivek: (otaku)
Full team back at work. In-restaurant dining allowed. So. OFF I WENT TO THE COFFEE SHOP and I didn't have to do the group order with my colleagues. Besides, the full team is back, they can tally together their order for something like a big group order.

I did complain about wanting salad before, so I got the Chef’s salad. Granted, it looks like it’s got more meat than salad. How would you eat this salad? I don't mix everything together. I start with the cherry tomatoes, then I eat up the cucumber, then maybe I'll take a bite of cheese with a piece of lettuce. Then I attack the egg. Next the beef. Next the pork. Finally the chicken. If by the end of it there's still salad leaves remaining, I'll dip the tiniest bit of dressing (they forgot to ask me today, and defaulted to giving me thousand island) and finish the salad up.

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Which also means that's why I'm hungry now for dinner LOL.

As I promised myself, I stepped out a little bit in the afternoon to see a Chinese doctor. Chiropractor/Bone-setters, but apparently my Dad calls them the Kung-fu doctors LOL. Streets are still relatively empty, but that might be because of the heat.

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The same drill as with all my previous attempts and finding a good doctor to diagnose the issue. He held my arm and felt around my wrist area and very casually or flippantly said "you have a small bone here that's out of place" and before I could ask what bone where? And he pulled and I felt a snap in the wrist. It hurt like hell, but the shock of it made me laugh instead. Then he felt around again and said "ah, not yet" and pulled at another angle and again I felt a snap. Next, he taped a thing on my wrist, attached to a machine and switched it on, must be some kind of electro-therapy thing. And then he left. I started to feel very badly then, I surmised he did relocate a bone or something, I usually feel that kind of bad when I have a bone related injury. Or maybe I was in shock. I finally understood what it meant to "sweating buckets"... it was a heavily air conditioned room and yet I was sweating buckets and I felt my sight darken, and I know that's usually when I might faint or pass out. So I hunched over and rested my head on my arm and had to remove my face mask, because I suddenly couldn't breathe. Sounds like a panic attack, so I think the going in shock thing was right. Soon, before the doctor stepped back in, my head cleared and he bandaged me up and told me to try not to move or put weight on it, and that if I still have pain then I go there again the day after tomorrow.

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Went back to the office, had some heated discussion about how to calculate the time offs from the lock down period. I don't have to handle the attendance, but the lady that does never understands the instructions. I had to like teach her every step of the way. They were all discussing what type of leave to take and I had to slip in, maybe like a Karen or a know-it-all, but their incessant chatting that led to nowhere just annoyed me to no end. I told them to forget about the leave schemes or whatnot. First mark down all the RDOs (regular day offs), so those can be ignored then see the total number of business days that each person did not work. There are different schemes to take, for example, there's a "7+1" scheme where when you take 7 days PTO (paid time off) then you get "gifted" one day from the company. Or there's another scheme where you take 2 days unpaid leave and the company "gifts" you one extra day. Well, there is a third option of taking advanced leave up to June 2023... but personally, I'd rather take an unpaid leave now, then use up my future leave time. The whole thing was ridiculous.Hardly worth the few-days worth of ping pong discussions and "OMG! What to do! This is so hard to do!" The girl even didn't understand how to read each person's paid time off balance, despite doing that job for the past 5 years, just because our payroll suddenly switched from showing leave balance in hours to showing leave balance in days.

BUT I DIGRESS.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got home. Salad night! With some deep fried finger food. That means... I CAN CONTROL MY PORTIONS! I love Dad's cucumber yoghurt salad. It was yum. The cherry tomatoes came out OK this time. Usually Dad misjudges the vinegar and makes them too sour.

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After dinner, it was dog walk time and when we arrived, we saw that there were no dogs at the dog park. Thinking we scored lucky, we took the dogs in, but apparently there were people in there, a man and a woman. Frankie saw them and went to greet them, but the man used his leg to shove him away. My Dad says "he's friendly!" In English, but maybe the man didn't understand, so my Dad pulls Frankie away and Frankie goes to the grass and does his business and rounds.

When he's over the first round, he goes back to the couple, and this time the man kicks Frankie. And as French Bullies go, if you push them back, they get more crazy. I try to hold onto Frankie (with my bandaged wrist and all) and say "He's just friendly and won't bite if you don't antagonize him!" In Chinese. He screams, essentially scolding me, "I'm afraid of dogs!".

As I always describe myself, treat me good and I'll treat you better, treat me bad and I'll treat you worse, I replied sarcastically, "Well what did you expect? This is a dog park. Were you hoping to see a cat?" I pulled Frankie away and then the couple packed up and left. Geez. Go to a normal park people, let the dogs have their space. And Frankie is a sweet munchkin when unprovoked.

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SO. The Chinese bonesetter doctor wants me to keep the bandage (with the paste medicine inside) on for at least 8 hours, so I can't go shower yet. I'm going to leave it on another hour then I'll go shower and prepare for sleep.

It's starting to rain and pour outside. Yay. I can put my new rain boots, rain coat, and rain bag to use! But now I remember I left my umbrella in the office. Duh.
elusivek: (Default)
... later, after congratulating myself on writing a few days in a row, then I'm gone for a couple of days LOL.

But this is going to be another trial post as well. I've decided to go back to Flickr and so I'm testing out the photo sharing functions... As well as posting an update...

The colleague that loves to ask us out for lunch once in a while (and that’s loooooonnnngg lunches at that. The record is still the one where I returned to office close to 5pm) took us out last week. It was a glorious lunch for me, because I ordered this! However, he did share some bleak news, so I was shocked then, over lunch… and when my Boss shared the same news much later, I was better prepared to respond. So I guess it was a good thing.

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And the random shopping bug is back! Luckily, NOT with a vengeance. I was looking for a new small flower pot anyway, and came across this! I had to paint the face myself though, LOL! But yeah. Bulbasaur, I choose you!

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On much more interesting news, after Sai Lup’s physiotherapy session on Saturday, the parents decided to skip taking the dog home first (coz it would waste much time!) so we took the dog with us. We looked around and found this cafe/restaurant place that is dog friendly. They were so dog friendly that, they had a doggie menu!

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I guess Sai Lup had a blast, because that was a whole portion of boneless chicken thigh/leg/drumstick, shredded. He even ate the tiny piece of tomato. He didn’t eat the parsley though.

ok... it seems like this method of posting is easy enough as well....? So I might be keeping Flickr for this.
elusivek: (SMILE (Peppie))
I'm on a roll, writing almost daily these days. Really felt like writing after lunch today because I had a very nice Butter Chicken, and while I almost got a Naan, I decided to try a Roti, and was supremely pleased by my last minute change of decision. This time, I remembered my dislike for the Masala Milk Tea, so I skipped it. (I tend to think "hey good idea!" Then when I take a sip, I remember that I hate it - always with Masala Tea and Coke as well). The butter chicken was soooooo gooooooood. I could probably just eat the sauce with rice or more naan/roti and die a happy kat.


A couple of pets photos coming up! I had to use a filter to lighten up the photo, at least this way we could see Frankie's eyes LOL. But he is so dark, so so so so dark, you can barely see his face haha! These 2 are always together... or, I suppose it's Nutmeg that has a one-sided obsession with Frankie, whereas Frankie tries to hide from her hahaha!


The other day, when Sai Lup went for his physiotherapy session, 2 poodles were there that just wanted cuddles - ANY cuddles... and came and sat on my lap!


Then I also found Sai Lup's healthier twin at the dog park LOL!


And finally, the very fun photos that I find exciting for today...  It's Sai Lup's Adoptedversary today... I also found this shop private baker that did these character cakes... you can custom make the character to your own dog's colors and markings.


Of course, I had to make one for Sai Lup! His markings are so photogenic! He's got the Husky coloring... but he's not a husky LOL. At least, it does looks like he's excited about it, LOL! He was trying to eat it before we lighted the candle haha!

Hard heads

Saturday, 28 August 2021 16:18
elusivek: (Default)
So I went for dinner with my friends last night. Carol had a "gift" for me, and it was a packet of potato chips* with Frankie's face on it LOL. It's not Frankie, but they look so alike hahaha!


But Frankie is really 13KG full of muscle and ROCK. Last night he wanted to go to my parents' bed. Since he didn't have the distance to run and jump, I wanted to give him a boost and lift him up. But as I was bending over to do so, he decided to jump anyway, and he head-butted me in my face. Geez! Now my cheek (right under my right eye) is sore and painful to the touch. At least it's not black, else people might think there's a domestic case going on.

Mom said something about him having a hard head and so he doesn't learn anything (nothing penetrates through the skull maybe?)

* it's funny that I call it a bag of potato chips. I supposedly grew up in a British English school, so I really should call those crisps right? But nah. Been calling them potato chips throughout my life. And this is some mindf*ckery there. I'm supposed to have had a British English Education but I use certain US/International vocabs. 

Fur-doll making

Tuesday, 8 June 2021 18:07
elusivek: (Default)
After Bido's passing, I have been taking more care when I look at my remaining 3 dogs. Suddenly, I see that Menina's colors have faded much. She looks a lot more white that she used to, especially her beige parts. And then my brain clicked, geez, she's 17 already. And her previous vet had said "Dachshunds go up to 13 only". Well. She's won 4 solid years. (I can foresee that it will be very difficult for me when Menina goes. She is totally MY dog. She followed me without hesitation that first fateful night that we met. That's a story for another day.)

I started to look around at some other hospice and funeral services and noticed a service to make a "framed fur doll", the dolls looked pretty doll-ish... I mean, those looked really cartoonish doll type, but that reminded me, I had seen a really good artist make those fur dolls. So I searched. And I found her on Taobao.

Look at her works!

For the framed, you can see what is frame and what is the real animal, because of the frame.


But for these full-bodied dolls... when she first sent me the sample (the Pomeranian one), I needed a moment to understand that that.... there was a fake dog there.


Her fur-dolls don't come cheap (close to MOP$2000, say around USD$250) and she has a 2-year waiting period. But comparing to the other artists (one of them local from Macau), they really don't compare. This lady here definitely makes the most life-like ones. Even she was hesitant to accept my commission as "it's a long waiting period" but I figured, I'll wait. What is 2 years. Sounds like a long time but I believe soon it'll be 2 years.

I also don't think she's a scam artist because I've actually seen her products a couple years ago and I had bookmarked it. Now, I also found her products from my old bookmarks, and people are still commenting and reviewing, so I suppose this is somehow safe.

Though I'm more worried I'd forget about it myself, haha!

Crematorium

Monday, 31 May 2021 23:51
elusivek: (Default)
One of my colleagues in my office is somewhat of a big-ish boss type colleague, and he gets away with a lot of stuff. Long lunches, lunches with wine, dead drunk back to work. He isn't so bad when drunk, he just gets politically insensitive when drunk and has no filter when talking.

I had to take a longer lunch break today because I was going over to the crematorium to witness Bido be cremated. Well, this colleague heard about it and started asking some... weird (but not bad weird, just weird weird) questions.


Why is there a crematorium for dogs? I want to be cremated in Macau! Can I ask to be cremated there? Will they swap the ashes to another dogs'? HOW DO YOU KNOW IT'S YOUR DOG'S?????

Bido just before cremation, photo hidden just in case )

Sir, I can't really help you with those questions, really! Anyway, that was done, I went back to work (bought some Portuguese Egg tarts on the way because the Kennel is just nearby the bakery for that) and found out other colleagues had similar ideas and there was heaps of snacks today LOL


And since I have a sticker printer, I've printed a photo of Bido and the urn sits proudly with Pequi's.


On that note, I'm just curious: what are your thoughts on the remains of a body? I remember for all our past dogs, our philosophy was, "do not tie the dogs down with us at home, let their remains go with other animals. They will be happier with other animals out there." Up until Peppie, we did that. Didn't even think twice about keeping the ashes or remains. But then, with Pequi, and now Bido, I am torn. If Menina and Sai Lup goes (by far really "my" dogs because Menina chose to follow me home and Sai Lup was just damn lucky to have become my friend at that time), I would want them to be free, and I would like them to be with me as well. I was thinking of getting a cast of their paws, but where would I put it? One service here takes the animal hair and puts the fur inside jewelry... but if it's that, then I'd rather that new thing where they turn the ashes into a diamond

Better to just not think about it right now.

Bido

Sunday, 23 May 2021 04:21
elusivek: (Default)
Bido 仔 今早大約3:00離開我哋走過彩虹橋了
未夠20歲,爭少少,都當佢20歲啦!
走前仲要出去露台便便,番入嚟瞓低,就走了⋯
Bido crossed the rainbow bridge around 3:00am.
Not quite 20, but we’ll say he’s 20.
Still insist to go out to the balcony for the last toilet run. Came in, laid down, and there he went.
A Good Boy until his last breathe.

有緣再見 We will meet again.


The story of Bido and some photos )
elusivek: (Default)
Disgusting dog act alert. Do not read if eating or squeamish.

Guh. Look at this dog!


This is Menina. She is a dachshund mix. A clever stray that simply followed behind me and came to our home this way. She must be some 15 years this year, give or take.

LOL Disgusting story behind the cut in case any of you are morbidly curious LOL )
elusivek: (Default)
A video dump of some cute videos of 2 of the dogs and a cat LOL

LJ seems to be acting funny on my end today, I've tried to reply some comments but it just won't go through, I don't know why!

Nutmeg seems to be going in heat but, she's not sticking to our male cat Harley. Instead, she's sticking to Frankie LOL


More Frankie and Nutmeg, sorry the TV is a bit loud with this talk show guy from Hong Kong (Mom took this video)


This here is Sai Lup (or, Max) when he has finally been put onto a bed (especially the parents' king bed) he will REFUSE to get out of the bed. His back legs are not good (I forgot the term of his issue... he has a torn ligament or something... cruciate?) so he can't jump up the bed on his own, and now he can't jump down and we have to help him down.....  but he refuses.... LOL... No, he will not get Dinner In Bed LOL.
elusivek: (Default)
I didn't mention it before, but I had a case of credit card fraud thing in the beginning of the month. My bank is usually rather secure with credit cards, with online payments requiring something like a 2-factor authentication thing for transactions over MOP$500 (say USD$60 or so). I woke up on the 2-January to see 2 messages on my phone. First message was the usual "input this code to your transaction". But it was weird, because usually these messages will say the amount.

By the time-stamp of the received messages, right on the next minute, was the message saying "transaction for GBP750 approved".

I was like, WTF? 750 Great British Pounds? That's a lot of money, and I didn't authorize it?

I called the bank and the first thing I said I'm confused, if I didn't input the 2-factor authorization code, then why did the transaction get approved? The girl on the phone replied smoothly "oh, they will try different websites. If one website requires the code, they can try the next, and the next, until they hit one that doesn't need the code." Huh. They asked if I went on a certain website (Envirofone?) and nope I didn't. It was freaking 2-or-3am in the morning, I wouldn't be shopping at that time. So I had to cancel that card first. There's charge to re-issue the card (with a new number).

And then I need to pay a fee to start an investigation to prove that I really didn't make that transaction. If it is proven that I didn't make that transaction, then I won't have to pay it. But if it doesn't prove anything, then they will consider I made that transaction and I will have to pay it. WTF?

When I was challenging them about the authorization code and approving a transaction without inputting it, they (the bank) did say "they will try different websites." By that "they" I would assume the hackers/fraudsters. If the investigation turns up useless I will raise that challenge again. And if not? Mom told me to threaten them that I'd take all my money and put them elsewhere.

But erm.... it's kind of a sticky situation... coz this particular bank is the only (I think) non-Chinese bank there is here. This bank is backed by the national bank in Portugal. So I dunno. I keep thinking it's a good idea to keep some money in this bank because, yanno... someday somehow something may happen with Chinese-based banks here. It's 6 weeks to complete the investigation, I guess there's just 2 more weeks of waiting to know now...

ANYWAY, the real point of this post isn't because of the banks. As the title says, Classic no-homework excuse. Should I say it's the Classic American No-Homework excuse? I have no idea. Do the Brits/Europeans use this excuse? At least I've never actually used this excuse ever.

SO, because that credit card got cut, I forgot I had a recurring credit card charge for a donation I had. They sent me a letter so that I could make good the missing payment and update my credit card. I wanted to fill that form up and have everything settled today, but...

Last night, over dinner, Frankie (that French Bully from Hell) hopped up and snatched that form away and started shredding it. OMG!

I had to call that charity this morning and had this super lame (but truthful) excuse of "my dog ate the letter". I don't watch much movies/TVs/whatever, but I know about the cliche "my dog ate my homework" excuse, LOL. They snickered a bit but prepared a new form for me and sent me by email, so that I could print it out however many times I will need it. (Meaning: my dog can eat however many copies of that form).
elusivek: (Default)
Life over here has been pretty stable. I also know that I am very lucky to still have my job, not required to take any unpaid leave time (only having to clear out my overabundant leave balance, but still allowed to keep a small balance). Our company is also the first (and so far the only) of the 6 concessionaires to still get our "bonus" payment, though they will not call that a "bonus" payment becaus by the word "bonus" it means they will have to give it. Instead they've termed it a "Living Subsidy".

I was getting sick of wearing heels so I brought my pair of white boots out. They look super casual, and I definitely shouldn't be wearing them to work, but since it seems nobody gives a shit if I don't have to meet with people for meetings, then.... I'll go ahead and wear it, no matter how it mismatches my attire LOL


Nutmeg is still a shoulder cat. I think I've mentioned Nutmeg found a Dad in Harley. Well, Dad has to check out the kiddo when she goes out on dates, you know, especially inter-species dates LOL


I've been trying to keep down frivolous expenses (ha bloody ha, what a joke, I've still been buying crap) so while my skincare things have been running low, I haven't replenished much. I've dug out all the freebie samples or travel size stuff that were given out before, and I've started to use them as well. Those 4 bottles of travel size Shu Uemura cleansing oil does fill up a little more than a quarter of the actual bottled product. I've also used up a lot of my serums, day/night creams, essence, etc.. etc... I now only have a single serum oil thing, which if I go by the book, I shouldn't only rely on it. However, my skin has actually cleared out better than before. I'm theorizing that before, I had too many products, and they actually clogged my pores, and thus I had constant breakouts. Now, using only the cleansing oil, an eye cream, and an oil serum thing (that I don't even remember the brand), my skin has cleared out. It could also probably because I'm getting old and my hormones are stabilizing, but whatever. After clearing out all these existing skincare items, I will strictly only use an eye cream, a moisturizer for skincare and that's it. Sunblock, a tiny bit of concealer for under the eyes, and minimal eye make up (just eyeliner and mascara to define the eyes) and that's it.


[livejournal.com profile] kurikuribebi had once posted about this LUSH mask. Since I am the type of person who hardly does my own research, or read magazines or whatnot, simply because seeing someone on my F-list write about it, I went ahead and got it to try. The sales lady tried to dissuade me to buy this though, saying it's very drying and that their newer mask is better. Me being me, insisted. And I LOVE THIS MASK for all the WRONG reasons LOL. This Magnaminty mask... it smells like mint chocolate ice cream! Or those After-8 chocolate thins! Every time I open it, this nice mint chocolate ice cream just fills my nostrils and then I'm happy.... LOL. Though, seriously, if you ask me about masks, one that I like is a Body Shop Himalayan charcoal something something mask... I've used that up so I don't have a photo of it and can't recall the proper name.


Still trying to Yoga daily (or, according to the schedule an app gave me) and of course the dog has to stay in the way hahaha!

elusivek: (Default)
First off, thank you [livejournal.com profile] deepseasiren! Your Christmas Card made it within this year! LOL! I was actually surprised any mail came in today, because for all government agencies, it's a half working day today.

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I decided to skip work today, and went with my friend C over to Coloane (what I like to call the "outskirts" or "countryside" of Macau... but they've started to develope that island, so it's not "countryside" anymore). First, Yuki, the Shiba you will see in photos later, went to the vet to get her eyes checked. Then, we went to this... old shipyard village?

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Read more... )

I thought being a good Catholic is do good during your day-to-day living, and not just doing "facade" work such as "show people you go to Mass and do confessions". I'm sure God would love us more if we actually do good during day-to-day activities. But anyway. I'll skip religion, lest I start a war or some sort here.
elusivek: (Default)
Dad is going full throttle with his Christmas cookies baking, and the apartment is now smelling of pastry dough, sugar, and just... CHRISTMAS!

Or the Witch's Hut from Hansel and Gretel.

Together with the sudden drop in temperatures, I'm really enjoying my life right this moment. Soon it's gonna warm up and get all humid and then it's no fun again. But! Enjoy it while it lasts! I've already taken out my scarf! New friends may not know, but I spent like, 12+ years knitting this Slytherin scarf LOL. I started just before I graduated University (the height of the Harry Potter craze I think), then as you know, knitting is not really my thing, so the eagerness tapered off. Then every winter I'd take it out and knit a few rows. I finally finished it yesterday. Had to make some fringes because I don't have enough wool and since it took me so long to get to this point, I wasn't able to find the same wool I had used.


Nutmeg will be a travel cat. She likes to sit on shoulders. Whoever's shoulders. She just likes to sit there. I guess it's warm? I was cleaning up the table after dinner and up she plops herself up on my shoulders, and I have to move around like the Hunchback, lest she slips and falls.

We know now that when Frankie is calm, he can get on with Nutmeg. But there are times when he gets crazy, then that's a no-no. Hopefully Frankie learns to always keep the calm!


Mom will kill me for showing this photo to the world, LOL (because of the messy living room), but yeah, Frankie and Harley can co-exist in harmony... for 2 seconds maybe.

elusivek: (Default)
Casetify costs an arm an a leg... but the cases are sturdy and seem to give off a full protection vibe, but honestly, $65 (USD) for a phone case is indeed a tad on the steep side.


But I can't NOT get this case, right? It's Frankie! And coffee!

(Have I ever mentioned I'm actually not so much a friend of coffee? LOL)

Not a Husky

Thursday, 5 November 2020 02:04
elusivek: (Default)
LOL some know-it-all at the dog park once again explained to his girlfriend that "look at this dog, this is obviously a Husky! It's a small breed Husky!"

And I, over at the other side of the fence, just replied the couple, "no, as the owner of this dog, I guarantee you he is not a Husky, big or small. You can use the adjective Husky to describe him, but his breed is definitely not Husky. This is a pure mutt."


How is this a Husky? LOL
elusivek: (Default)

It feels weird to have to do the subject and body separately. Though the friend’s list seems to be easier to navigate than from the web browser when on a mobile device.

Let’s try a photo placement!

I think I can’t control where the photo goes. I don’t even think I can control the size and which side it aligns to...

Probably good for when I do my Wordless Wednesdays, not so much when I do a long, multi-photo post.


I have no idea what’s going on after I chose to add a photo.....

I have no idea what’s going on after I chose to add a photo.....
Read more... )

(Second edit) The cut was added automatically from the app (maybe when you have more than 2 "sections" the cut will be applied automatically). I had to resize the photos from the webpage version, and switch it back to the legacy editor, coz the new editor is still a bit too new and confusing to me. Not sure what resizing the photos will do to the whole format. It looked OK before, but I really dislike the super-large photos.

(Third edit) just to say that using the app to read the entries look really cool. It uses your first photo to make an enlarged background. But, LJ is always LJ and not Instagram or whatever. I think I prefer it all in a blog/journal format more.
elusivek: (Default)
It's puzzle night.
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The dog sits with me for puzzles, LOL

And here's a shot from the iPad haha
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Apart from sharing photos... I have nothing else to say... consider this a somewhat Wordless Wednesday that's posted not on a Wednesday and still with some text. Meh.

Doggies update

Saturday, 13 June 2020 20:12
elusivek: (Default)
Thought I'd talk about the puppies a little bit.

Max has something against my bed now. He just doesn't like to lie in my bed. I wonder why? He was getting in the way when I was trying to do some yoga, so I just plopped him onto my bed but he was complaining all the time.

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One more photo of Max. I think of all our dogs, he is Mr. Photogenic. Probably because he has some white and so makes his face more visible.

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We took Menina to the South African vet for a final re-check of her ears and it seems she's good already. I need to remember to periodically clean her ears though, because her ears are really sensitive to problems. Then I asked this vet about a diagnosis and medication another vet had given her for her cushing's disease. He thought it's all very weird. After some discussions, I decided to let this vet (vet for all our other dogs) to do a big general check on her. I think I'll ditch Menina's old vet as he's been.... weird....

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So a couple years ago, when Menina had that problem with her back (I forget the exact term, but it's a very common thing with Dachshund and long dogs, I guess it's like having a splinter in the spine or something?), we took her to a Portuguese vet and he essentially cured her of this problem. However, she had somehow turned a wirey kind of fluffy  and then the vet said she had Cushing's Disease, and put her on some medication.

For a couple of years, we followed his medication, and Menina turned into a very quiet, no mood, just sleeping dog. Sometimes she refused to eat, and when she didn't eat, we wouldn't give her any of her medication, because we don't feed them medicines on empty stomachs. When she skipped her medication, she would become lively again. We always thought it was a normal side effect of the medication.

Certainly, early this year in January, the vet decided to do a blood test for her to re-check. Fine, we go. But the vet himself did not see us, he had his junior vet (I shall call him the apprentice) and he said he didn't understand the test results. Thinking it weird, I asked "what do you mean?" And he replied the dog has been over-dosed on that medication for so long, that she's now on the other end of the spectrum, which is Addison's disease.

She was on 30mg of a certain medication and the vet made us do a lot of blood tests every few weeks to adjust the medication... going to 20mg, 15mg, and 10mg. Every time we had to do a blood test, every time they say the results came out as "inconclusive".

Also, one time I made an appointment and I specifically said I wanted to see the vet, not the apprentice. The receptionist said "oh but the vet is very busy today, so you can only see him late." I didn't mind that. "Okay, so what time?" "You will have to come at 8pm." "Sure, I'll be here at 8pm."

For some reason, I get off work at a weird time, and I decided I'll just kill time at the vet's, so I went there at 7.15pm. Who do I see? The vet, preparing to go home with his kid. And then it was the apprentice that talked to me. I made it known that I was really annoyed and displeased as I wanted to see the vet and not the apprentice.

At this point, I was starting to think back to the firs time vet mentioned menina having Cushing's disease. There was no blood test. He only ascertained that by the condition of her fur. She's a short, smooth haired dog. Her fur turned spiky-wirey-fluffy, which after we trimmed those off, she was back to her short smooth fur. However, now she had to do this weird blood test (ACTH test, I think) that the vet had me time her morning medication to between 4-6 hours before the first blood draw, and after she took the first blood draw, she had to take a second blood draw to do a comparison.

I started to have a sneaky suspicion that Menina never really needed all that medication at all.

So I went to him again some 2 weeks ago, in my heart I was thinking "it's the last time." Again, he says the blood test is inconclusive, and after an ultrasound he adds some issues to her (gall bladder sediment) and issues another round of antibiotics and other medications.

Well, since Menina had an appointment with the South African vet today to re-check her ears, I put it all on the table. The South African vet was confused. He says:

  • The ACTH test is a very clear test. It will either say "yes, Cushing's disease", or "no, no Cushing's disease", it will not have an "inconclusive" result

  • The dosage for her gall bladder sediment is not strong enough. Also, technically, that's not the medication that helps because that is only a supplement. Instead, she needs another medicine.

  • The whole ACTH testing doesn't require to time any medication to anything because it's not a test on the hormones.

  • Even if the medication for her Cushing's disease is right, for her size and weight, she should only take 5mg of the stuff. 30mg is severely overdosing her

I was so upset that we had been overdosing her for so many years!

Anyway, she needs to have her teeth cleaned next week, so he will do his own round of ACTH test. And give us his diagnosis.

Bido also had to go in because he had a patch of skin issue. While we were waiting at the waiting room, I just happened to look to his face and started checking his teeth and noticed he has a very severe issue with plaques and whatever it's called... it's like he has rocks stuck in his mouth.

3569709F-671D-40DA-80D0-607F5A9C0CB9.jpeg

So after the vet quickly checked the skin (easy, just wash with the special shampoo) I told him how embarrassed I was to admit that we don't check his teeth regularly. He was easygoing and said to just schedule a teeth clean with him, ensuring that it's OK even though Bido's super-senio (18, maybe 19!)

So... Monday, teeth cleaning and blood tests for Bido and Menina!
elusivek: (Default)
LOL... I already posted this on my Facebook but this is good as an LJ post as well hahaha.

Unbelievable but true reason why I’m late to work (or school) #836

“My dog took a full watering can and ran around the apartment.”

Sounds like a shit excuse but it’s 100% true as this is what happened this morning.

The Frenchie (going to call him the devil’s reincarnate soon if he keeps up his antics lol) took hold of a watering can and ran indoors. Mom started screaming and, as per his usual antics when stealing socks and shoes, starts going crazy (the playful kind) when someone screams at him, and runs around in glee.

It was not so gleeful for me that I had to mop up the mess lol.

And times like this I am eternally grateful for the decision to remove all carpets and rugs when we had our first renovation some 20 years ago.... LOL

Never a dull moment with that terror hahaha.

More COVID-19

Tuesday, 17 March 2020 19:12
elusivek: (Default)
There are updates! WE ARE CLOSED OFF FROM THE WORLD! Yep, starting 18-March 00:00, only people from China (I still can't wrap my head around this), Hong Kong and Taiwan can come to Macau. I think Hong Kong implemented something similar as well. But well, on China, I suppose it's because "We are part of China" and our food supplies and resources come from China so we can't close our borders to China.

We had 1 new "import" case of Covid-19 yesterday, and 1 more new "import" case today.

I feel a little sorry for the first one mentioned above. She's a Korean, I hear she works as an Air Hostess. She went to Porto, Portugal with her boyfriend or fiance (whatever) to visit family and came back, and showed signs of fever and when she got tested, confirmed COVID-19. The people dug about her and exposed her instagram accounts and all that. I mean... one can be a little more compassionate than that, why expose her social media and finger point?

The second case is a Spanish guy that does business in Macau. Came back from Spain.

A lot of students that went overseas to study are also making plans to come back, because it seems the notion of containing this pandemic is not strong where they are studying (I hear them say UK and USA are really bad). This will be another alert point. And people are starting to "revolt". Gov't requires them to go on 14-day medical observation and quarantine, but they say it's better to be home quarantine (WTF). I say those who refuse the mandatory quarantine can just hop back on the plane and go back to wherever.

Well, I can only continue wearing my face mask to work, wash hands frequently, apply hand cream equally frequently, and try to stay healthy.
B41C5849-C724-441F-A894-0228E5D9884C.jpeg

Missed out on my healthy lunches because I've been sticking around with colleagues and they don't want to eat healthy LOL. So I can only try my best and ask for fish dishes and avoid any sauce.
0A468655-B3E1-4A41-9CD5-D7834E2C146D.jpeg D5437F6B-553A-413D-9956-09437B506177.jpeg

Since it was getting warm last week, I did a big wash on my winter and winterish clothes and put them away... but it's chilled down a bit these few days again... so I didn't go out running, instead, I stayed in doing Yoga with Frankie.... that's Doga, right?
C22C19F0-8DF8-43FA-9DD4-C1D1542CE959.jpeg

And these 2 boys can be so friendly together when they want to be.... but mostly they're at each other's throats making a helluva noise....
85947292-2DE2-490A-A9BB-C8663B76EFBB.jpeg

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Agueda Umbrella
kat (DW: elusivek | LJ: notte0)
❤︎ loves dogs, dark chocolate, and books.
★ doesn’t exactly hate cats.
◆ hates white chocolate.
more?
I read books :-)

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