Furkids, Hodor

Lab Results Perplexing

The Saturday before July 4th, Hodor made his annual visit to the vet and had routine blood work done, got his check up, Sentinel tabs, etc etc. The visit went well…or so I thought.

After waiting nearly a week, the vet called back with a grim report: Hodor tested positive for heartworm AND lyme. Needless to say, we are shocked to hear the news. Hodor had been on Sentinel for the past 6 months and displayed no symptoms of either. With the conflicting literature gleaned from the internet about Accuplex, we began to suspect the results. Because of my lack of familiarity with Accuplex 4, we requested a different test be conducted. Hodor’s shelter paperwork indicated that Snap 4DX was used for testing before his adoption. Another blood draw was ordered and sent off to the lab.

20160706HodorAccuplexSnip

The vet called  back to say that the Snap 4DX results came back negative on all counts, and she admitted she was perplexed by the results and would need to consult others on the reports. Unfortunately, this news hasn’t allayed our fears–it creates more uncertainty. Vet suggested performing an in-house blood test specifically for heartworm…but I’m obviously reluctant due to the differing lab results. Has anybody had similar experience with Accuplex 4 and Snap 4DX?

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Slow Cooker Jalapeno Chili

This slow cooked chili ambushed many at a workplace potluck lunch with its heat. The secret is leaving the seeds intact on 1 or 2 jalapeno peppers. Cumin powder lends a distinctive aroma to the chili. Additional heat furnished by chili powder, red pepper and a dash ghost pepper chili added to meat while browning in a pan.

  • 8 oz, Angus Ground Beef Chuck 80%/ 20%
  • 8 oz., Ground Lamb
  • 8 oz, Ground Pork – Fixed
  • 9 oz(s), Onions, raw
  • 56.00 g, Garlic, raw
  • 4.50 oz(s), Peppers, jalapeno, raw
  • 6oz can (10 tbsp ea.), Tomato Paste
  • 14.5oz can (1 4/5 cups ea.), Fire Roasted Diced Garlic Tomato
  • 6 fluid ounce, Water – Municipal
  • 1 tbsp, Spices, chili powder
  • 2 tbsp, Spices, cumin seed
  • 2 tbsp, Spices, paprika
  • 1 tbsp, Spices, cinnamon, ground
  • 0.50 tbsp, Spices, pepper, black
  • 1 tsp, Spices, pepper, red or cayenne
  • 8 oz, Fresh Lean Ground Turkey With Rosemary Extract
  • dash of ghost pepper chili

Over medium heat, lightly brown the meats in a skillet, season with spices to taste. Add to a preheated slow cooker. Using the fat/grease left over from the cooked meats, saute garlic and onions until aromatic, about 2-3 minutes, then add to the slow cooker. Toss in the remaining ingredients, then cook low and slow for 4 hours. Or cook on high for 2 hours.

Serving suggestion: serve warm over hard boiled eggs or egg bake. For my potluck lunch, it made for a spicy, meaty topping on burgers and hot dogs.

IMG_20160707_JalapenoChilionEgg

Yields about 78oz of chili.

MPF calculation per 2oz serving:
71 calories
Total Fat 4g
Total Carbohydrate 3 g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Sugars 1 g
Protein 5 g

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Spicy Primal Mayo Egg Salad

I decided to make this recipe after picking up a jar of Primal Kitchen Mayo over at Thrive Market. I’ve been meaning to whip up some deviled eggs, based on the smoky version at Lockhart Smokehouse. But this egg salad gives you more bang for buck–minus the smokiness. The ghost pepper chili flakes that I got from Trader Joe’s really gives this egg salad bite.  Despite that it’s paleo/primal, the egg salad passed the taste test at home.

  • 4 Extra Large Grade A Eggs, hard boiled
  • 8 Jumbo Grade A Eggs, hard boiled
  • 1 oz., Greek Yogurt
  • 5 Tablespoon, Primal Kitchen Mayonnaise Made W/avocado Oil
  • 1 tbsp, Spices, garlic powder
  • 2 tsp(s), Spices, chili powder
  • 2 tsp, ground, Spices, pepper, black
  • dash of sea salt
  • dash of ghost pepper chili pepper flakes

After hard boiling eggs and letting it cool, peel from shell and add to bowl. Use a spatula to break the eggs for a chunky texture. Fold in yogurt and mayo and continue to turn over gently. Season with garlic powder, chili powder, cracked pepper, sea salt, and ghost chili pepper.

IMG_20160710_PrimalEggSalad

If I were to add more protein to this egg salad, it would be ham or bacon. Or better yet, smoked brisket.

Yields about 30oz total, 2oz per serving.

MFP Recipe Calculator estimate per serving:
108 Calories
Fat 9g
Carbohydrate 1g
Protein 6g

Technical

Free hosting: getting nowhere with GBFreehosting.com

My search for free web hosting services landed me at GB Free Hosting. An initial review of their service looked promising: nicely populated FAQ, relatively good English, recent updates (as of 2015), and reasonable terms of service.

Unfortunately, from the moment I signed up to the time I attempted to access my hosting space, my experience has been far from superlative.

I encountered significant delays getting my sign up confirmations. When my account activation did finally arrive, it took some time to navigate their customized control panel looking for FTP information. Attempting to then use the FTP info resulted in refused connections.

I then attempted to reach their support by submitting a ticket through their control panel interface. To this day, the ticket has remained in Open status, presumably ignored. I also tried sending an email through their website contact form, which most likely fell into a black hole.

A registration lookup for the domain reveals an administration contact located in Islamabad, Punjab, through the GoDaddy registrar. Based on ping tests, the website itself is hosted somewhere in Bulgaria. Various reputation review sites ranks the domain gbfreehosting.com as risky and low on the trustworthiness scale. The IP block trace to my account’s server IP reveals registration to an Amsterdam, NL organization but places the server possibly in Kansas, US. Further ARIN searches revealed that the server hosting is managed by Hostinger International.

Due to the convoluted, suspicious server trail and the lack of contact/feedback with the site administrators, GBFreehosting.com is therefore not recommended and should be avoided.

gbfreehosting

Technical

Has your online identity been compromised

I’ve recently become aware of a website that allows users to search a database of publicly announced security breaches and determine if their email account was exposed to hacking. If data related to the breach is publicly available, a user can enter their personal email address and perform a lookup on known breaches on the website.

While the information is invaluable to users trying to reclaim their online identities, the website also collects data as to the nature of data breaches, like what services are commonly targeted and the types of data that are often exposed. One common factor in some data breaches is the use of a single password on multiple sites and services.

As technology improvements “force” end users to surrender more of their private information, websites like haveibeenpwned.com highlight the increase in security breaches and the need to implement better practices and technology to secure our data.

haveibeenpwned