Thursday, July 15, 2010 , terribly early in the morning

I love the library

I admit it… I haven’t been blogging, I’ve been reading.  Ever since we got a brand new library branch in our neighbourhood, I’ve turned back into the voracious reader I’ve been most of my life, and I’m back to averaging a book a day.  I don’t really watch TV so that’s where I find my free time.  I’ve had such a fabulous time reading wonderful historical fiction, biographies of Roman emperors, books about gardening and farming, and (new for me), most of the Philip K. Dick science fiction library.  I’ve been meaning to transfer the book reviews I write for Goodreads over to my blog, but until I get around to that, here’s my book list.  If a book has a starred rating it means I’ve read it, and if it’s listed without a rating, it’s still on my “to read” list.  Today I get a dozen new books from the library (I’m working through Steven Saylor’s “Roma Sub Rosa” series), so if you need me, I’ll be immersed in the fictional world of crime in 34 BC, wondering how I’d look in a stola and glad I don’t need to eat garum.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 07/15 at 06:07 AM
Other Books I've Read • (0) Comments • Permalink

Thursday, May 27, 2010 , the wee hours

More White Guys with Guitars, or, How We Jinxed Siobhan Magnus

I was reading a popular “American Idol” blog this evening after Lee DeWyze was “crowned” season 10’s winner.  It’s the third year in a row that a safe, somewhat bland white male vocalist/guitar player beat a talented, (and vocally different) runner-up.  Some comments on the blog were from folks who love to listen to “white guy” music, but another commenter expressed her frustration with the result because to her, it proved that society can only relate to a ˇ§middle-class white straight socially conservative male”.  In other words, people voted for Lee not necessarily because they felt he was the best contestant on the show, but they voted for him because he seems familiar, like the guy next door, and he’s not going to doing anything scary or suddenly kiss his male bass player during a live TV performance.  I think that Season 1 got a pass and was about pure talent, and I think Carrie Underwood won on undisputable talent, too, but otherwise voters in any given season tuned out the singing and rewarded the contestant who seemed the epitome of middle America, or who had the best “story arc”.  An argument could be made that the female voting majority was often selecting who would make the best husband or boyfriend, or in the absence of a viable candidate, selecting who they’d want for a bff.  Crystal Bowersox was obviously talented, and she definitely had a great voice, but we all know that once the semi-final rounds are completed, it’s not much more than a congeniality contest.  The guy who smiled shyly and had pretty eyes defeated the sassy single Mom who needed dental work, and I hope no one was surprised.  People don’t like change, and if Crystal had won, she might have eventually done something scary and unpredictable, acting like a wacky “feminist” or something, maybe even refusing to shave her legs.  With Lee, his pants might get a big baggier, his jacket might be brown one day and beige the next, and if he wants to go crazy, maybe he’ll shave off the facial hair.  I don’t think we’ll ever have to wonder if Lee DeWyze is wearing guyliner, and American thinks that’s just fine.

I thought of writing this blog entry because I was remembering the years I spent working in radio as a Program/Music Director, and thinking that the industry now isn’t much different than it was almost 30 years ago.  At my first job (in 1983), I was only allowed to play one female vocalist per hour because the radio station owner said, “No one wants to hear women on the radio”.  Granted, the owner was an old man who was probably born in 1910, but nevertheless, he didn’t want female vocalists *or* female announcers on the air, so I “spun the discs” while a male announcer provided scintillating commentary and segues into commercial breaks.  I finally got my “big break” reading news when my boss went on a drinking binge and slept past his 4am alarm clock buzzer, so it was either listen to me or listen to dead air, and surprisingly, they chose me *and* they kept me.  Without the help of Cap’n Morgan, I may never have realized the joys of reading traffic reports and talking about the fall of the Iron Curtain, so “Thanks, Cap’n!”  In any case, I may have been tearing up the airwaves from 1983 through 1995, but I wasn’t being a trailblazer for anyone.  The “boy’s school” mentality was still very prevalent in the industry well into the late 1990s, even in major US markets where I’d started to program music.  A General Manager in a Top 10 US market complained that as Music Director, I added too many female vocalists to the rotation.  I was never allowed to play female singers back-to-back in 1997.  Think of the great female singers from the ‘90s like Gwen Stefani/No Doubt, Janet Jackson, Melissa Etheridge, Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, Annie Lennox/Eurythmics, Madonna, Natalie Merchant/10,000 Maniacs, etc…. these were the artists I was getting grief over.  When Sarah McLachlan created Lilith Fair she was speaking out against the bias I’d been witnessing my entire career:  no matter how popular, most female artists weren’t given the respect that male artists got from the radio industry, the recording industry, the live show industry, etc.  You could be a homely dude and get signed on the strength of your vocals or songwriting, but god forbid a heavyset woman with a great voice try to break into the industry (and not be named Aretha).  Simon Cowell parroted that perspective on AI… he commented on how the male auditioners sounded and how the female auditioners looked.  If you were a pretty girl with a nice body you were perhaps more likely to get through the Idol audition process and make it onto the show, but even that rewarded the boys in the end because the male competitors were represented by Clay Aiken while the females were stuck with untalented (at least, behind a microphone) people like Antonia Barba.

I understand we all have preferences for things, and it’s not “wrong” if you prefer to listen to male vocalists, or if your iPod contains 75% male artists.  However, do you think you were born with this preference, or that you simply grew to accept the sounds you were most-exposed to as a kid?  I grew up buying LPs by Barry Manilow and John Denver (yes, I’m that old), but once I *discovered* artists like Kate Bush, ABBA, even the Mamas and the Papas, I realized those were the sounds that moved me most.  I had to hunt for the music, though… I had to listen to alternative college stations if I wanted to make new discoveries, or take a chance buying a new album or CD just on the basis of the artist’s (female) name.  I have a huge collection of CDs that I purchased just because the artist was an all-female group and I figured there was a chance I’d hear something I liked.  I rarely ever found a new female artist that I loved by listening to mainstream radio.

Before the American Idol results were announced today, I posted a comment on another blog and said that I didn’t think a woman would ever again win American Idol (at least, not without a rule change that allows more producer control over choosing the winner).  I think AI is representative of the swirling vortex the music industry in caught in: the more “cute guy with guitar singing sincere love song” music we’re exposed to, the more we forget that other types of music exist, and the more our brain forgets to enjoy other types of music.  AI’s probably already lost most the audience that would vote for something other than a male vocalist, and while some fans might think that’s just fine, it’s sad for people whose ears yearn for something else.

Speaking of ears that yearn for something different, my ears are yearning for more Siobhan Magnus.  I’ll come back tomorrow and write about how we got to know Siobhan and how a little piece of me died the day she got voted of AI.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/27 at 12:14 AM
The Litterbox • (0) Comments • Permalink

Saturday, May 22, 2010 , the wee hours

Geoffrey VanderPal, 2006’s biggest loser

So I haven’t blogged in weeks, months, and what finally pulls me out of lassitude?  Good ol’ Geoffrey VanderPal, a candidate in Nevada’s 2006 elections, who just can’t let go of the fact that while running for office, his campaign authorized a newspaper ad full of spelling and grammatical errors.  You know how Flippy loves a good spelling error (she’s always correcting me), so of course she jumped on the ad and posted a marked up copy of it in her blog, pointing out where it needed corrections.  VanderPal has spent the last four years hounding Flippy to remove the offending blog entry—sometimes he begs and pleads in email, sometimes he offers veiled threats about the preponderance of “personal information” Flippy provides on her blog, and sometimes he pays money to companies like Reputation Defender to get them to foul up the Internet with repetitive spam designed to bury Flippy’s blog entry in the search results.  Google still loves quality, however, so Flippy’s ancient blog post sits at the top of the rankings, thus “rankling” Mr. Geoff.  His most recent tactic has been to file DMCA complaints to force our hosting company to remove the image of the old ad that Flippy included with her blog.  I’m sure he hired someone to file the complaints on his behalf, so he can sit at home and wring his hands and count the letters after his name and claim that he had nothing to do with the filing… he’s getting pretty easy to figure out.  I’m actually going through the process of filing a DMCA counter-notice, because Flippy’s use of the ad is protected free political speech under “Fair Use” allowances made for in the DMCA (Under the fair use doctrine, it is not an infringement to use the copyrighted works of another in some circumstances, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, or educational use).  From everything I’ve read, the First Amendment is specifically geared towards protecting political discussions, and I’m quite happy to take the opportunity to challenge the notion that a person providing a critique of publicly-available materials can’t display or quote the item being discussed.  Is VanderPal’s unsuccessful campaign old news?  Sure it is.  The unsuccessful political campaigns of Donald Gurewitz are old news, too, but you don’t see him wandering around the Internet, trying to make himself invisible.

On a related note, if you suffer an annoying little mosquito bite, just ignore it and eventually it will fade away.  If you scratch at it and irritate it, it will only grow bigger and last longer.  Sheesh.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/22 at 01:07 AM
The Litterbox • (0) Comments • Permalink

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 , evening

Slowly, slowly

It’s early November, and I’m slowly trying to rebuild my blog so it’s up and running again (I realize the stylesheet isn’t working at the moment).  Flippy’s blog will be next, and then I’ll work on my Tired Girls site.  We unfortunately lost every single one of our 150 websites in early October because of an error made by the hosting company, and it’s been a real chore to try to restore each site from backups.  They’re coming though, they’re coming.  Lots of news to tell about, including three new adult foster cats that were rescued from death row in a Los Angeles shelter, three orphaned kittens from three different litters (including one feral who was probably hours away from death from starvation when she was discovered), and a new senior German shepherd dog, also a death row pull from Los Angeles.  Healthwise I’ve been feeling rather fragile, but was excited to learn of the discovery of XMRV, a retrovirus now believed to be the cause of the much-maligned conditions formerly known as “fibromyalgia” and “chronic fatigue syndrome” (now starting to be referred to as “XAND”: X-associated Neuro-immune Disease).  XMRV is similar to HIV, causes immune suppression, and often leads to lymphoma or leukemia (and definitely plays a role in prostate cancer).  It’s also contagious, so that CDC has told those of us infected with the virus that we can’t donate blood or organs, and they’re currently in closed-door meetings to determine how much of the virus is already present in the world’s stored blood supplies.  A doctor who treats HIV patients went on record a couple of weeks ago to say she’d rather be infected with HIV than XMRV because at least HIV patients have treatment options, which I hope sends a very clear message to all the doubters who think FMS and CFS were simply signs of laziness and lack of motivation.  Clinical trials are already starting to treat those of us infected with XMRV with the HIV drug AZT, so maybe there’s finally some hope for improved quality of life, although there’s never a cure for a retrovirus.  The doctor who discovered the link between XMRV and FM/CFS has twenty years of experience as a researcher for the National Cancer Institute, so her credentials are impeccable.  She feels the virus may lie dormant in people for years, and may even be hereditary, but is activated by cortisol (a hormone which is released in times of stress).  While it’s scary to think that I’m infected with a virus which is proven to cause cancer, it’s exciting to know that I might finally, finally see legitimate treatment options after suffering with this for 13 years.  It’s exciting to think I might be able to exercise again, to hold down a normal job, to travel, to not have to choose between showering and cooking dinner!  I won’t go so far as to say “life is good” because in many ways it sucks, but I will say, for the first time in a decade, that life is hopeful.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/10 at 09:43 AM
The Litterbox • (0) Comments • Permalink

Thursday, July 09, 2009 , early morning

Why we call him “Frankenstein”

Our cat, Frank, is really named “Frankenstein” because of all the horrible scarring he had when we adopted him.  He also had a massive head from living life as an unneutered tomcat, so he was quite the vision.  Over time, many of his scars healed (but not all of them), and he became more gentle and sedate, but yesterday he had a tiff with someone in the house and came out on the losing end.  At the rate he’s going, he’s going to need the “Hair Club For Cats” and a toupee.  Here’s a peek at his new souvenir:

Frankenstein

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 07/09 at 07:13 AM
The Litterbox • (1) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, July 08, 2009 , terribly early in the morning

Five Little Kittens

It was three weeks ago yesterday that Eli died.  I’ve been working on a blog entry about her, but I have a good excuse as to why I haven’t finished it yet:  for the last two weeks, we’ve had five foster kittens.  They were exactly what we needed after losing Eli, because the distraction has been great, and the laughter is always a good thing.  The kittens are 31 days old, and have just started to be strong enough to wrestle, run, and bounce around, and play with toys.  Their growth is amazing… I figured out that they each consume about 200 calories per day, and if you think that a dieting adult only eats about 1200 calories per day, well, it gives you an idea of how hard their little bodies are working.  No wonder they play for ten minutes, eat, and then crash for about six hours!  Sometimes they even doze off while eating, which is cute, but with five hungry, crying mouths to feed I appreciate it when they’re in a hurry.  I’ve never had such a large litter before and it’s quite time-consuming, although there’s not much else I’d rather be doing with my time.  They all use the litterbox, but I need to start to teach them how to eat solid food:  it’s going to be messy!  One of them already dips his paws in the water dish then walks through the litterbox to make a paste, so he’ll soon be able to add another layer to his work.  There are three brown and white tabbies, one solid black cat, and one black and white kitten who looks sort of like a Holstein cow.  All already have homes, except for the latter.

They’ve been so labour-intensive that I’ve neglected to upload photos, but I’ll try to add a couple in the next day or two.  It may not get done tomorrow, as our afternoon involves taking Dante to the vet because of a small lump that just appeared on his right cheek.  He’s had two previous growths removed, one on his ear flap and one between his toes, and I’m pretty sure this is going to be another one that requires surgery.  So far they’ve all been benign, thankfully, but I still don’t want to leave this any longer than necessary. 

————————

Edited to add this one photo of the foster kittens.  No, you can’t exactly see what they look like, but at least you can see that they’re still cute and tiny enough to all squeeze into one bed:

Fosters_July_2009 (15)

There are more photos in my Flickr account and in Flippy’s, with a lot more to come as soon as I get them cropped and edited so they look their best.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 07/08 at 04:49 AM
The Litterbox • (0) Comments • Permalink

Odds and Ends

It happens all the time:  I find a website I want to blog about, but I’m too preoccupied to blog, so I end up with one browser window and twenty-plus open tabs.  In order to tidy up (and actually be able to shut my computer off for a rest), here’s a quick list of some sites which have recently caught my eye:

  • Modern Cat:  A blog which reviews cutting-edge cat furniture, toys, beds, etc.  There’s some really nice-looking (and expensive!) stuff here, and they have regular contests to give products away to lucky cat owners.
  • The Refined Feline:  Cat furniture that doesn’t look like cat furniture!  I’m sure you’ll pay through the nose for it, but if you can afford it, why not live it up?
  • Feline Furniture:  These products look fairly conventional, but they’re large and full of nooks and crannies to give your cat variety.  The prices aren’t bad, either, especially if you compare what you get on the site to what you’d get at Petsmart or Petco for the same cost.
  • Oasis de Los Gatos is a small sanctuary for ferals and handicapped cats—it sounds like they do a lot of the things we’re trying to do with Wee Paws.  The owner has written a book about taming ferals that I’m sure I’d find helpful, and I just wanted to give the site a “shout out” for the good work they do!
  • The Pad for Paws Foundation:  Another charitable group, this one focuses on providing food for the pets of the elderly, disabled, and low-income residents of Helena, Montana.  I love their mission, especially in these tight economic times when pet food has become a luxury for many people.  That reminds me of something else I’d read recently:  the Indigo Girls are on tour, and collecting donations for local food banks at each tour stop.  They’re specifically asking people to also donate food for pets, which is great.
  • Operation Noble Foster:  Ever since we started Wee Paws, I’ve dreamed of one day being able to branch out in two other areas.  One, I’d like to start a charity that helps low/fixed-income senior citizens care for their pets, by providing food, vet care, grooming, training, transportation, and a permanent home for the pet if the owner passes away.  Two, I’d like to provide long-term foster care for the pets of members of the military, because I get so many requests for help in rehoming the pets of soldiers who are being sent overseas.  I was thrilled to see that Operation Noble Foster already exists to help with the latter issue, although I’m sure the demand far outweighs the availability of foster homes.  If you’ve got the room to foster an animal, please consider doing so… you end up saving two lives, the one that you’re fostering, and the one that gets the shelter space not used by your foster.

On an “in the news” note, there’s a scandal brewing in Houston where many volunteers at the city’s BARC (Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care) shelter claim that the animals are severely underfed and often kept in filthy conditions.  The photos and anecdotes in this Houston Chronicle blog entry certainly seem to support the claims, and it’s not a stretch to believe that a city department is trying to cut corners while hoping no one will notice.  The troubles at BARC aren’t new, and are sadly reminiscent of Las Vegas’ Lied Animal Shelter, the place where over a thousand cats and dogs were euthanized a few years ago because of under-vaccination and disease outbreaks.  I’m mentioning the Houston situation here because I’ve been following it on Facebook (“Feed the Dogs Now”), and because a little attention from outside the city can’t possibly hurt.  In my mind, “Houston” and “pets” always had a positive association because of the good work of the Houston SPCA, and it’s a shame that the reality isn’t anywhere close to the mental image.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 07/08 at 03:49 AM
The Litterbox • (3) Comments • Permalink

Thursday, June 25, 2009 , evening

A “boy meets dog” story

I tend to go on week-long obsessive stints where I want to find out everything I can about some obscure topic.  One time I read and researched about how to grow my own mushrooms, and when I felt I had a good grasp of the subject, I moved on to something else (like Borneo or prion diseases or carnivorous plants or pentathlon).  I can immerse myself into just about anything, and lately I’ve been fascinated by Antarctica.  I’ve always felt awed by the South Pole region, especially after reading about Ernest Shackleton’s adventures in the incredible book, Endurance, by Alfred Lansing, but I was recently lucky enough to stumble across a few blogs written by people who actually work at the Pole.  It’s ironic that I’ve been reading all these personal accounts of life at the bottom of the Earth just as Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald passed away... you’ll remember her as the woman who had to perform a breast biopsy on herself after discovering a lump during one of her stints at McMurdo Station.  Medical evacuation was impossible because of seasonal weather issues, and she was brave and gutsy and I really respect the life she lead.

As I was reading various Antarctica-themed blogs, I found an entry written by a contractor who was back in the US and enjoying the heat of Arizona.  She and her boyfriend found a lost dog, and the story of the boyfriend and the dog was really sweet and made me smile.  Just the photos are worth your time, so if you’re in the mood for a nice tale of the fates being kind to a puppy, please check out The Story of Sonora.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/25 at 08:45 PM
The Litterbox • (3) Comments • Permalink

Come visit us on Facebook!

I know many of you are regular Facebook users, and I’d love to be able to get to know you and your pets better via that venue.  You can find me at http://www.facebook.com/lgerow, so please send me a Friend Request. I’m also very excited to announce that Wee Paws has its very own Fan Page on Facebook, and I hope you’ll take the time to join.  The group is growing rapidly, and we even have a celebrity fan: Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald, from the TV show, “Emergency Vets”!  You can either search for Wee Paws Animal Sanctuary on Facebook to find the Fan Group, or go directly to it at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wee-Paws-Animal-Sanctuary/78639474298.  Please drop by and say hello!

P.S.  Wee Paws has one more celebrity endorsement in the works—it’s an Olympic athlete who not only won a gold medal, but who set an Olympic record for competing in four Olympic games in three different events.  I’ll have more about this as I get all my links and ducks in order, but it’s nice to meet so many great people who want to help animals in need.

Wee Paws Animal Sanctuary


Wee Paws Animal Sanctuary

Promote Your Page Too

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/25 at 07:15 AM
The Litterbox • (0) Comments • Permalink

Monday, June 22, 2009 , late at night

Dante adjusts, plus, Some cute and cheery videos

Last week I started to write a lengthy blog entry about Eli, and let’s just say that it’s… lengthy.  I’m still not finished.  When I’m done, I might need to upgrade our server to handle all the text, but I promise I won’t hold it against you if you don’t read it all.  I’m mostly just writing it for me, so I won’t forget anything about my wonderful dog.  The past week has been challenging, but it’s been made worse as we’ve watched Dante go from a state of confused to a state of sadness, and it’s frustrating that we can’t explain the situation to him.  The two dogs were never apart a single day after we adopted Dante, so for 9 years Eli was a constant presence in his life.  He’s having to make even more of an adjustment than the humans in the family, I think.  For the first four of five days after Eli died, Dante wouldn’t go near the bed that Eli slept in, even though when Eli was alive, “stealing” that bed was the best part of Dante’s day.  He seems to be over that as of yesterday, and I found him sleeping in that bed this morning.  This evening when I fed him he spun in circles and wanted to play with me for the first time in a week, too, which is also a good sign.  I’ve tried to get him to play but all he’s wanted to do is lean on me and have cuddles.  Dante is an emotional dog, and he truly has radiated feelings of grief at his loss.  If he adjusts to life without Eli faster than I do, I’ll be very grateful.  Speaking of grateful, I can’t express how much I appreciate all the condolences you’ve sent to us in email, on Facebook, and via my blog… it helps knowing that there are so many people who understand how we feel.  Even the postal service was understanding—a condolence card from my Mother in Canada arrived in only 4 days, instead of the usual 14 days.  It took the same amount of time for a card from the vet’s office to arrive, and they’re just a couple of miles away, so two thumbs up to Canada Post for knowing that a girl likes even a virtual hug from her Mom when she’s feeling sad.

On an unrelated note, as I’ve aimlessly wandered the Internet over the past few days, I’ve discovered quite a few cute videos that made me laugh or smile.  Rather than write a blog entry for each, I’m just going to list them below.  If you’re looking for cuteness, I hope this will be just what you need:

Baby Foxes Born in Tokyo Zoo

Another Cute Video of a Slow Loris

Nutty and Tony

Pet Penguin.  It wears a cute little backpack!

One last thing… this isn’t a video, but a funny blog entry written by a cat about a very important subject:  A Disclaimer From Mazie Grace.  I’ve never been a big reader of the “cats who blog” genre (I’ve just been jealous that none of our cats have the aptitude), but I have to thank Victor Tabbycat for introducing me to the gang at Whiskers and Purrs, and the beautiful Daisy the Curly Cat.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a blog that has so much work and time dedicated to it as Daisy and Harley‘s blog, and I highly recommend you check it out (if only to see the photogenic cats).  Love me some Mr. Shrill, too!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/22 at 11:33 PM
The Litterbox • (5) Comments • Permalink
Page 2 of 99 pages  <  1 2 3 4 >  Last »

Adopt a Big Dog!