The Blog Pound

Sunday, September 24, 2006 , late at night

Happy Birthday, Celine!

Happy Birthday to my friend Celine, who is turning 23, which makes me terribly jealous. I don’t need the trials and tribulations of being 23 again, but oh, I’d love to have the metabolism and the energy :) If you have time, drop by her website and take a look at her fabulous artwork!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/24 at 11:44 PM
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Thursday, September 21, 2006 , evening

The job interview

I had my “working job interview” to be a vet tech this morning. The job really is a tech job, and not specifically “an assistant”, but I’d have on-the-job training and wouldn’t go to school for my education. I’d never be eligible to be licensed by the state unless I still went to school (which is sort of silly, as I’m not sure if school matters if you can pass the four-hour accreditation exam), but those aren’t things I need to worry about right now. Right now, I still have to wait to find out if I’m offered a job.

I think the morning went pretty well. There were three techs working today, and three vets, so the work came at a steady pace. I held three large dogs still for bloodwork, and held two cats for ultrasound-assisted urinalysis. I did a nail trim on a kitten, watched a dog be anaesthetized, and watched a toe amputation surgery on a samoyed. I mostly just stood around and watched, trying to not get in the way, and the time passed quickly (I was there for three hours). When I left I was told they were doing interviews with about four other people, so they’d “let me know”, and I realize that my odds of getting a job are minimal if they have other applicants with experience. Still, I enjoyed myself, and felt surprisingly calm. I was warned over and over again that the job was messy, and that I’d get injured and bitten, and that it “wasn’t like ‘Emergency Vets’”, but I’m a bit skeptical about that last part. I don’t see why “Emergency Vets” wouldn’t be fairly authentic, considering it’s a non-fiction show, and given that the old sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati” was a very accurate portrayal of life at a radio station. If a sitcom can be true-to-life, then why not a reality show?! I think the only thing not authentic about “Emergency Vets” is that they don’t show all the routine vaccinations, anal gland squeezings, etc., but that wouldn’t make for good television (or smell-o-vision). Personally, I’m quite content with the idea of going to work every day and just holding snarling cats while they have blood drawn.

Our dogs, Eli and Dante, were very excited when I came home with so many interesting smells on me, and they kept busy for about 10 minutes “reading my pants”. My clothes were filthy after just three hours, so I see the appeal of scrubs.

Unfortunately, one of the staff members at the clinic died unexpectedly yesterday, so things were in a bit of disarray and rather somber. I didn’t know the person who died very well, as she’d only started working there a few months ago, but I’d certainly spoken to her on the phone a lot and thought she was really good at her job, and was pleasant to deal with. I’m actually relieved it wasn’t someone I’d known better.

Time for bed now… tomorrow we’re off to SuperZoo.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/21 at 08:39 PM
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Thank-you, Tetra

A few days ago I wrote about the challenge of repairing my Tetra DW96-2 Deep Water Aquarium Pump. The pump needed some routine maintenance after a few years of constant use, but I found the repairs to be not for the faint of heart! While making the repairs, I noticed a few cracks in the pump case—nothing which affected the efficacy of the pump, but it made the case difficult to seal, and I had to hold it together with some masking tape. I wrote to the Tetra company via their website, and asked if it was possible to buy a new case. Instead, they wrote back promptly and offered to send me a brand new pump, as it has a lifetime warranty! So, I’ll still have my original pump with the cracks in the case to use in an emergency, but meanwhile I’ll have a brand new pump sometime next week. I really appreciate their great customer service, and wanted to give them a bit of a shoutout—the pump is definitely worth its price.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/21 at 06:58 PM
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Wednesday, September 20, 2006 , lunch time

Dogs deserve better

Thanks to Susan at Wildrun for making me aware of this story: Dogs Deserve Better. It’s essentially the story of a woman who took someone else’s dying and neglected dog off a chain and sought emergency veterinary care for it, and who’s subsequently been charged with theft for refusing to return the dog to its neglectful owners. I realize there are some complicated issues involved when it comes to pets and ownership, but the ample video evidence in this case proves that the dog was indeed on death’s door and had been for some time, and that local authorities (police and humane), refused to come to the dog’s aid. This is definitely a situation where someone needed to stand up for the dog’s rights, and it seems the only person willing to do that was Tammy Grimes. I find it unthinkable that even with veterinary documentation of the dog’s neglect, police still refuse to charge the dog’s owners with cruelty.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/20 at 01:11 PM
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006 , early evening

False alarm

This morning’s job interview was canceled because of a staffing shortage at the vet clinic. One of the techs couldn’t make it in to work because her child was sick, so the remaining tech didn’t have time to do an interview. Unfortunately, I was only told the interview was canceled when I arrived for it at 7:15 am, so I was already up, dressed, showered, etc. Gah, I hate getting up early! I wouldn’t mind so much if I was a better sleeper, but I often have very fragmented sleep and don’t always feel well-rested. The interview was rescheduled for Thursday morning.

As I was already up, I went with Flippy to her physical therapy appointment. Then we went to the “gourmet pet store” where she picked up some of the new flavours of Merrick dog food for the little dogs, and I bought a few cans of Solid Gold Green Tripe for the big dogs. I bought it to mix in with their kibble… ever since I started to give them a taste of raw food, they’re much less enthused about eating boring ol’ kibble. They enjoyed the tripe, and it wasn’t as horrible as I expected it would be (I’d read a lot of complaints about the smell). Frankly, it just smells like tripe.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/19 at 06:22 PM
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Sunday, September 17, 2006 , the wee hours

Operation Aquarium Pump

For the past four years or so, I’ve been using a Tetratec DW96-2 with my 80 gallon aquarium. The pump has already been great (it’s very quiet), but a few months ago I noticed the air flow started to weaken. I changed air stones (I figured I’d try the cheapest fix for the problem first), but eventually there was just no air flow at all. So, I confidently ordered a repair kit, imagining that I"d just remove the pump case, pop in a new rubber diaphragm, and voila, repair! Unfortunately, it was oh, so much more complicated than that. The repair kit was a fairly big bag of lots of parts, not just a single rubber diaphragm. There were four diaphragms, four rubber hinges, four rubber washers, sixteen little tiny pieces of other things, and a large cotton filter. I didn’t know what part might not be working, so I replaced everything, and it took about two hours. It was all so tiny and fiddly (and hot—I’d neglected to unplug the pump until right before I started to work on it). When I finally reassembled everything, I hooked it back up to the aquarium and plugged it in and… nothing. There was still no air flow. I removed the rubber tubing from the pump and could feel air coming from the outlets, so I fiddled with the tubing a bit and all of a sudden, there was air flowing beautifully through the aquarium! Now I wonder, though—was there anything wrong with the pump to begin with? I just assumed the pump was worn out, but what if all it needed was a bit of adjustment to the rubber tubing? I don’t even want to think about it.

I do hope the fish (yes, one single fish in an 80 gallon tank) is happy. He has fresh water and lots of little air bubbles… the place is like a fish jacuzzi.

I was poking around online and stumbled across one of those things that really puts your life in perspective. I’m always worried about our dogs and black widow spiders, so much so that I won’t take Eli out for walks at night because there are too many spiders around the sidewalks. Then I read this blog entry written by someone in South Africa, and wow, it sure made my spider problems seem petty. The story unfortunately doesn’t have a happy ending, as the dog in question dies despite some pretty heroic efforts, so be forewarned.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/17 at 12:00 AM
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Friday, September 15, 2006 , late evening

Good luck, Ramona!

Just wanted to wish for a good day and nice weather for Ramona and her family from Caturday, who will be walking tomorrow to raise funds for their local humane society. I’m glad they aren’t walking here, because it’s been insanely windy—there’s so much dust outside, it supposedly dangerous for us to breathe, so Flippy and I obliged by staying home all day. Autumn has truly arrived in a blustery way. It’s still 90+ degrees, but evenings are cooling down and it’s really quite lovely (except for the !@#!#! wind).

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/15 at 10:13 PM
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Just one week until SuperZoo!

One of the joys of living in Las Vegas is the easy access to trade shows. Flippy and I love a good trade show, because they’re full of new products, new ideas, and (ahem) free samples! While CoffeeFest is safely #1 on our trade show hit parade, coming on rapidly is SuperZoo. Last year was our first visit to SuperZoo, and now that we know what to expect, I hope this year’s show will be even more productive for us. We’ve planned ahead, and will show up with a business license and business cards, and maybe we’ll find that one perfect item we can resell/distribute to generate some income.

SuperZoo doesn’t start until next week, but I was reminded of it this morning when the newspaper mentioned the Dick Van Patten will be attending to show off his new Eatables dog food. The food is apparently manufactured at a plant which makes “food for humans”, and Van Patten invented it by taking some popular human food recipes and then just supplementing them with extra vitamins and minerals to meet the nutritional needs of dogs. If Van Patten wants to send us home with a few cans of his dog food for us to test out on Phoenix and Cricket, I can guarantee he won’t have to do much arm-twisting. We’re nothing if not cooperative.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/15 at 03:06 PM
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Steve Irwin’s Memorial Service to Air on Animal Planet

Thursday September 14, 7:45 pm ET SILVER SPRING, Md., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/—Animal Planet is airing Steve Irwin’s memorial service exclusively in the U.S. commercial free on Tuesday, September 19th from 9-10 PM ET/PT, with an encore broadcast airing 12-1 AM ET/PT. The memorial service, entitled STEVE IRWIN: HE CHANGED OUR WORLD, will be a same-day broadcast (with a two-hour delay) of the event Wednesday morning in Australia. In addition, Animal Planet is carrying the memorial service in most of its regions worldwide. The public memorial service for the beloved animal conservationist and television personality is being held in the “Crocoseum,” a 5,500-seat stadium at Irwin’s Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Australia. Members of the Irwin Family, as well as Irwin’s long-time friend and producer, John Stainton, are expected to speak. Celebrities and dignitaries worldwide are expected to attend. Two days prior, Animal Planet is airing a 15-hour marathon of Steve Irwin’s programs on Sunday, September 17th from Noon to 3 AM ET/PT. Throughout the marathon entitled CROCS RULE!: A TRIBUTE TO STEVE IRWIN, interstitial tributes from Irwin’s friends, colleagues and notable supporters will be featured.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/15 at 01:19 AM
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Thursday, September 14, 2006 , lunch time

Handler punished over police dog’s pregnancy

Sep. 14, 2006. 01:08 PM REUTERS MALDA, India � An Indian policeman charged with guarding industrial plants in the state of West Bengal has had his salary cut for failing to stop his guard dog from becoming pregnant, officials said today. Authorities at a steel plant in Malda, 220 km southwest of the state capital Kolkata, took a dim view of constable Sunil Kumar’s oversight after the dog mated with a stray and gave birth to 10 puppies. “It is a very sensitive issue in our department,” S. Bhatnagar, the deputy inspector general of the state’s Central Industrial Security Forces, told Reuters. “The Labrador could not carry out her duties properly during her pregnancy and at time of delivery she was on leave.” Kumar, whose pay has been cut from 3,540 rupees ($77 U.S.) a month to 3,295 rupees, on Wednesday appealed against the decision in the Kolkata high court. “When an animal experiences the urge to mate, it does not pay heed to its trainer,” he told reporters in his defence. But his boss is sticking to his guns. “A biological phenomenon relating to a sexual urge is a different issue, but it had been established he was not serious about his duties.”

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Oh, I dunno… how about they spay the dog?!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/14 at 12:40 PM
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