Real life is being quite a nasty bitch right now, so I’ll focus on the few nice things.
New laptop.
My new laptop arrived on Thursday morning, and I finally got the chance to break the seal on the box Thursday afternoon. It’s so… glossy. It looks great, but the lid smudges. It’s nice of HP to include a free cleaning cloth, though it kind of bites to have a laptop that needs one to begin with! The laptop is an HP Pavilion dv5z, with an AMD Turion 2.2GHz processor, 3GB of DDR2 RAM and 160GB hard drive.
Two things that struck me immediately about it: it’s so QUIET. And it doesn’t get HOT. My old laptop, an HP zd8120CL, not only gets loud, even when the fans aren’t going, but also gets hot. If it’s not kept elevated so that air can circulate beneath it, it overheats and shuts off. And as Jason found out last night when he tried to work with it to fix the weird display driver issue, even being elevated isn’t always enough, because the fucker overheated and shut down on him multiple times until he finally gave up.
The battery power is also quite nice. The old laptop would last with screen on the dimmest setting and no music for about 45 minutes, if I was lucky. I had the new one on 75% screen brightness, max wifi capabilities and music playing, and after two and a half hours it still had about 10% battery power remaining. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
Leah.
We had our first accident today. Leah is a pain sometimes with going outside, because even though she has to go, she won’t do it right away. I had to come back in with her to get something for Ryan, so I put her back in her crate (since dogs won’t go in their crate unless they are absolutely DYING). While I was busy with Ryan, Alyssa let her out, and she wound up peeing on the floor. Grrr…
But that aside, she’s doing great. Night times are a tiny bit rough; she whines for a few minutes before settling down to go to sleep, and she cries in the morning if she hears us but we’re not out here with her. But I know those are puppy things that she’ll outgrow, so as annoying as they are we ignore it.
On the good side, she loves car rides. I took her out with me last night when I ran to PetSmart, Target, and the grocery store. Obviously I couldn’t take her into Target or the grocery store, but it was after 8pm and cool, so I cracked the windows and made the trips into the store as short as possible — in and out within ten minutes.
Today I took her to be microchipped, along with my mom and her two Persian cats. There was a microchipping and vaccination clinic about an hour from here. The trip was worth making, because microchipping was $25 per animal. The vet would have been at least double that, plus the visit fee. We stopped at my mom’s beforehand to pick up her cats, ran through McD’s drive-thru, went to my mom’s afterward to drop off her cats and let Alyssa play on the swing set, and then ran to the grocery store again before coming home (again, very short trip;). She was great. My mom held her, and I brought along water for her to drink and took her out to go to the bathroom several times (she didn’t go).
Speaking of going… is it normal for a dog not to go very often? I’d say she pees two to four times a day and poops only once. The pooping doesn’t really concern me, as she is being fed a high quality and thus more nutritious and not crap containing food (Wellness Core), but the peeing? She is drinking a lot, eats kibbles three times a day (no moist or wet food), and is taken out to the bathroom first thing in the morning, last thing at night, thirty minutes after eating and generally every 2-3 hours.
Okay, time to go… not that my battery life is running out or anything like that. ;) But we are having dinner, and then my mom and I are going out to Target.
I hope everyone has a good Sunday. 
Yay for your new laptop and cute puppy! :D
I found that my old laptop (iBook) got really loud and hot too, after it had been running for awhile. The first time I heard the fan come on I was a complete moron and didn’t realise what it was! I thought it was about to blow up or something! FAIL @ me. My MacBook is much quieter though.
I’ve never owned a dog, so I have no idea whether the amount she goes or not is normal, sorry I’m no help!
Hooray for laptops! That must be so exciting! It seems like a pretty amazing one! I’m jealous.
Sorry Leah had an accident. I guess it was bound to happen. She seems to have way less than most dogs, though, so that is good. She will get better with it as time goes on, I’m sure.
I hope your day wasn’t too painful. I hope everything is alright. *hugs*
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My dog doesn’t seam like she pees very much. She goes in the morning when we get up, and then right before bed. and a few times during the day. I know adult dogs can go most of the day without going out, not sure about puppies
By the way, congrats on the new laptop. hopefully it will make writing all 18 bajillion words a little easier.
Ahh, new laptops. :D My HP laptop that I got last year came with a cleaning cloth as well, I use it mostly from the screen itself than the lid since I just try to ignore the smudges (and fail, miserably). Can’t really comment on how if only going a handful of times a day is normal since I’ve never owned a dog, but maybe you could try phoning a vet clinic with the question?
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I’m a dog owner. I’ve had my dog for over 10 years and got her when she was a puppy. Peeing between 2-4 times a day is regular and nothing wrong with that. Same with the pooping – once or twice a day, maybe even three times if they ate something that didn’t sit well in their tummies.
I’d be concerned if she WASN’T having regular bowel movements or if she was having TOO much of it. So that number is pretty much in the middle and standard.
I find that if you are outside enjoying the summer breeze or I guess in your case, watching Ryan & Alyssa play outside, bring the dog out too…she’ll end up doing her business more often and will associate outside with being the bathroom.
For me, whenever anyone in my family goes outside whether it’s to the backyard or front yard, even when unloading groceries…my dog is out there with us and will ALWAYS end up peeing or pooping.
Well good luck with your new puppy. She is definitely a cutie!! ^-^
Congrats on the new laptop!
I don’t know what’s normal for a puppy, especially a small puppy. I long for a dog though so I’m pleased to have another one to watch online.
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I think it varies for each breed or something, because our puppy had to pee every couple hours when we first got him. He still goes about 4-5 times a day now, and he’s almost 10 months old.
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A puppy going often isn’t unusual, hun. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. Sometimes, it’s not all that unusual for an adult dog to go kind of often, depending on the dog and the way they “work”.
“be microchipped, along with my mom and her two Persian cats”
TEEHEE! It kinda sounded like you were getting your mom microchipped too. ;)
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