Bailey - In His Shadow

Bailey - R.I.P.

Our English Cocker Spaniel, Bailey, passed away recently. He had an aggressive, inoperable tumor in his abdomen that sent him into a relatively rapid decline within the course of a few weeks.

Unfortunately we had to make that dreaded decision of pain over quality of life for a much loved family member. Bailey was struggling with going to the bathroom and holding food down. He was no longer able to go for walks and his enthusiasm for barking at next door's cat in our front yard was getting less and less.

Despite all this he still had moments where he seemed perfectly fine, even wagging his tail.

Our vet seemed to think he didn't have long with such an aggressive tumor, particularly if it ruptured, which would cause Bailey to bleed to death. Not a nice way to go, and something I experienced first hand with our cat, Casper.

Movie Review: Wonder Woman (2017) *Spoiler Free*

Wonder Woman is by far the most satisfying of the DCEU film series to date. By the end of the movie the thought passed through my mind that if Zac Snyder had given Superman a similar optimism (he's credited as both a Producer and co-writer on Wonder Woman), that character would be in a better place now.

That isn't a totally surprising thought as director, Patty Jenkins, has not only stated that her Wonder Woman takes some inspiration from Richard Donner's 1978 Superman movie but also Superman is a character she'd like to make a film about too.

As much as I'd like to see Patty's version of Superman, here's hoping she will stick around to complete Wonder Woman 2, now that she isn't tied to an origin story and can set any subsequent movie within the modern day DCEU.

All that aside, if you're a fan of Gal Godot's Wonder Woman from Batman v Superman, this movie will certainly cement that fandom by clearly defining exactly how awesome the live action version of the character can be.

How Two Bolts Ruined a Day

Things weren't looking good for
our Water Heater at this point.

It's surprising how two bolts breaking can totally screw up your day.

Our electric water heater died. Specifically the element that does the actual heating failed and needed replacing.

The job is a relatively simple task. .Undo the four bolts holding in the old element, disconnect and remove, put in the new element, reconnect and you're good to go. Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes at most.

That's how I thought the day might go. Not for me personally but for the electrician our landlord hired to do the job.

Robot Uprising: Patrolling Your Home, Garden and Now The Streets!

iRobot's Roomba...
when home robots attack!

Many people think of the inevitable Robot Uprising as a humanoid, Terminator like, robot army, wielding laser guns, hunting us down in some kind of distant future, human Armageddon. What they don't realize is that the robot armies are already taking shape, albeit in a much more passive aggressive form.

I've previously documented the Roomba as the first wave of mass produced robots surveilling your home under the guise of being a floor vacuum.

These irritating devices are supposed to quietly work away in the background while you perform Yoga poses in peaceful bliss but are actually noisy enough to attract your attention and... why does the thing keep missing that one spot in the middle of the floor but has cleaned the same corner four times already!