Month: May 2026

Dash the Dachshund

| Ben
Hello, Dash

I can’t say I’ve been too busy to mention it, but after Marley didn’t work out, I took a bit of a break. I had reserved two weeks off to spend time with Marley and do some heavy duty training, but unfortunately, my partner insisted that I send her back. Those two weeks were originally planned to finish up my study, but at that time, I was begging the university to withdraw from my studies. The course coordinator would not accept my withdraw application. So, I finished it and I have a new degree and applying for jobs with my new credentials and, as much as I hate studying, I am trying really, really hard not to study more.

I guess that is the silver lining about me bringing Marley back to the rescue. I would rather have kept her, behaviours and all, but well, here we are.

Months later, after I graduated, I started looking for dachshund puppies. I looked at reputable breeders, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to give an older dachshund a better life. I applied with Dachshund Rescue Australia for a 7-year-old male dog and was accepted. From what I understand, he was a breeding dog and the owners didn’t want him once he got a little older. He also had a toenail missing on his “thumb”. He also had a few lumps which have been removed. Oh, and he also got desexed (or for us Americans, neutered) so really, he has no more obligation to be used to make money.

Dash has been absolutely beautiful. He’s such a good dog (for the most part). He’s good with people, kids, and around other dogs. When I first got him, he wouldn’t bark much and anybody who knows dachshunds knows how loud and vocal they can be. That’s changed a bit now that he’s more comfortable at home. I don’t mind the barking. Really. He will bark every so often when he looks out the window and sees someone walking a gigantic dog. He doesn’t bark at the small ones.

I take him on walks and he doesn’t take ME for a walk. I can walk him on a leash/lead and just hold it with one finger. He doesn’t run after anything.

He had been trained to sleep in a dog bed next to the bed, but he sleeps next to me now. He is a great leg warmer.

He’s great company and I can’t express just how much of a good boy he is. He’s so sweet and so well-behaved. He’s good in the car and when I go pick up food, he doesn’t automatically try to tear open the bags. He will look out the window when I drive and he doesn’t bark. He just looks at everything.

I’m just hoping to give him a great life. I’ve had him for about a month now. It’s the best month of my life in a really long time. I’m very thankful to have such a good boy.

AI Doesn’t Live Here

| Ben

This blog post was not brought to you by AI. I’m keeping things real.

Recent findings have found that a large proportion of web content now contains data that is AI generated. Some sources say that this is over 74% which is incredible.

You’ll probably be able to tell that I don’t use AI in my writing. Every so often I will use it to steer me in the direction I need to go in my research and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t using some form or another to even write this. That’s mostly because web search doesn’t exist like it used to. AI is pretty much just forced down everybody’s throats these days. You end up using it in one form or another regardless of what you do.

One of my side jobs is programming. I studied at one of Australia’s top universities in games and multimedia development and programming language proficiency was a core principal of that. I don’t work in that field as much anymore, but I knew years ago that this whole AI thing would be trouble for coders. It’s everywhere now, embedded in the IDEs. When I do code, I use it to be lazy. I’ve “developed” (and I used that loosely) web-based applications where my input has been minimal. It does an okay job. There are huge hiccups and errors at times, but more or less it does an okay job… with a little editing, it just works. Scary shit.

I have to say that I’m thankful that I have another profession where AI cannot take over.

I come from an era where we were just getting the internet at home and back then it was fun because you weren’t relying on AI to do everything for you. You could make efforts to find information and learning from it. Now, it’s more like: “Why would I read this when AI will read AND interpret it for me?” This is going to have some really serious and scary implications in the future, especially healthcare.

I don’t want AI thrown into everything I do on the web but it’s like I don’t have much of a choice these days. I feel like I can’t trust anything anymore. Being online isn’t as fun as it used to be. I feel like such a boomer for saying that (and I’m not, okay?). I miss the good old days when technology was new and home computer availability was becoming a thing. I miss having a reason to think about things and not have AI take care of everything.

It’s nice having web browsers that don’t have the AI thing shoved into it. It’s kind of why I use VIvaldi. I didn’t ask for AI in my web browser and I’m glad it’s not there. If, and that’s a big IF, I want to use AI, I have that option. I just don’t want it shoved down my throat like religion in the USA.

Having said all of this stuff, my posts will always be written by me. There will be spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes, and general weirdness. I do use the double dash, so just keep that in mind. I’ve stopped myself a few times on this post!

Please remember: it’s okay to learn things–to do things yourself. AI is not completely evil. It’s just absurdly overused. I’m tired of it. Unfortunately, there’s no escape from it.