Wednesday, November 21, 2007 , early afternoon

Where’s my summer?

Yesterday, around early evening, it started to get… autumnal.  Now it’s chilly.  And windy.  Almost “brisk”.  Our master bedroom has plummeted to a pneumonia-causing 73 degrees, and outside, it’s merely 52 right now.  52!  It was a pleasant 75 yesterday.  I even wore shorts to the mailbox last night.  How dare the weather cause me to need a jacket.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be under the electric blanket, cuddling up with cats for body heat.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/21 at 02:25 PM
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Deep thoughts (unfortunately)

There’s a blog written by someone who works in animal rescue, and while I used to enjoy reading it, I had to stop a couple of years ago because it just became too much.  The woman who wrote it was always inflammatory and angry.  She would never listen to anyone else’s experiences or opinions.  She was sure she was right about everything, and she make statements like, “Landlords should be forced to allow renters to have pets!”, and then she’d tear your throat out if you disagreed with her.  Not only did she hurt my feelings more than once, I started to figure she was mentally ill, and it wasn’t doing me any good to stay and be abused by her.  I removed her from my blogroll and haven’t been back in two years.  One of her favourite subjects to lecture about was her claim that euthanasia technicians are the people who carry a lot of blame for the animal deaths in this country.  If those people would just refuse to do their jobs, then the country would get together and figure out a new solution to the overpopulation problem (her solution would include banning all breeding).  She never, ever look at the tech as “good guys”—she figured they were all animal haters.

I know there must be a handful of techs who chose their line of work to get their jollies.  They are few and far between, however, and obviously in short supply because if you look at the “jobs available” list on the HSUS website, there are euthanasia tech jobs available all over the country.  I’ve read that on average, a tech works for two years and then can’t take it anymore.  I’ve also read that many of the people who take the job are animal lovers, who want to ensure the animals a comfortable and safe passing. 

All the above came to mind today when I stumbled across this article from the Alabama Press Register.  It’s about euthanasia, why it’s needed, and how the people responsible for doing it deal with the emotional side of things.  It’s really sad, but I think it’s good to be reminded that these good people are out there every day, facing a job neither you nor I could probably do.  And I don’t think the pet overpopulation problem would disappear if they walked off the job, either.  I’d last one day on the job, and I’d forever be able to tell you the name and description of every single animal I helped depart.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/21 at 05:42 AM
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Tuesday, November 20, 2007 , early evening

We sell domain names (and we’re a dessert topping)

Lately, I seem to be all “buy, buy, buy”, when I’m not being all “complain, complain, complain”.  Sorry ‘bout that.

Flippy and I have had a domain name resellers’ account since 2002, and it never occured to me to mention it here until now.  If you need to buy any sort of domain names or features which go with domain names (like hosting), you can buy them through us by going to CynicalDog.net.  If the interface looks at all familiar, it’s because we “rent” our reseller business from the same company which runs GoDaddy.  All the features we offer, all the customer service, and the hosting, etc., is run just the same as if you’d purchased it from GoDaddy.  The only difference is that any small profits would come to us.  If we ever decided to go out of business, your account would automatically revert to a GoDaddy/Wild West Domains account, so you’d never be left hanging.

Flippy and I bought the reseller’s license because we own so many domain names for various jobs and pursuits, we saved a lot of money by purchasing them with our own license.  I always set the sale prices for all domains, renewals, and other features as low as they can possibly go.  I’m limited in how high and how low the account prices can fluctuate, and I set them as low as possible!  I just reconfigured them tonight, as there was a price change, so you’ll now pay $6.95 for a domain name (new or renewed).  In terms of commission from one sale of that size, we make about 40 cents.

We’ve had many friends and family using the service and have had no complaints.  One nice thing is that if anything goes drastically wrong with your domain registration, we can probably help you look up the details if you can’t find them yourself.  We try to provide good customer service smile

So, if you want a domain name, I hope you’ll think of us.  I can say with a great degree of certainty that almost every profit we make from anything ends up being spent on the pets!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/20 at 06:19 PM
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The whale hunt

The annual Japanese whale hunt technically started a couple of days ago, with the Japanese hunting boats leaving harbour in Japan.  They’ll travel south to waters near Antarctica to hunt, and they’ll stay there until the hunt ends next April.  This hunt is different from other years… this year, the hunters will be killing 50 humpback whales, normally a protected species.  They’ll also hunt about 1000 smaller whales.  They say they’re hunting the humpbacks for “research”, i.e., “you can’t understand them until you dissect them!” It’s a huge lie, it’s all about money and the price of whale meat, and I think it’s disgusting.  The humpback whales can live for over 100 years, and they live in family pods their entire lives.  The Japanese say that killing 50 whales won’t disrupt anything because there will be plenty of whales left, but it will sure disrupt the whale pods where death occurs.  Can you imagine if someone came along to your home, gunned down a few members of your family, and then said it didn’t matter because there were “still plenty of humans left”?!

Greenpeace will be out at the hunt with their own boats, causing trouble and disruption.  I applaud them.  IFAW sticks to less radical but still effective protests by taking battles to international courts and whaling unions and the places where this hunt can be banned by people Japan will listen to.  They’ve been extremely effective, and recently Iceland announced it would stop hunting whales, but Japan is still a battle left to win.  If you care to mention the hunt on your blog, you can send your readers to the Song of the Whale Blog to find out more.  That blog will also let them sign up for text messaging alerts about the hunt.  And hey, I’m writing most the entries for NaBloPoMo, so come by and help save a whale or fifty!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/20 at 02:32 AM
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Monday, November 19, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

Buy my iPod Nano(s)?

I would like to sell the two third-generation iPod Nano mp3 players I won at Blog World Expo.  We’re trying to get me home to Canada for Christmas, and we need all the bits of income we can get.  This is an official fundraiser!  Money raised here will also be used to care for Pinto and the other Bean if they end up getting pneumonia.  They really don’t sound very good at all.

Anyway, these two Nanos are each 4GB.  They’re silver.  They’ve never been out of their packages, so have never been touched by human fingers!!! (except the ones that packaged them in the first place).  They play both music and video, so you can listen to music from you own CD library, music you purchase online, and free audio items you can find online, like podcasts.  Even the least-important Podcaster usually uploads their material to the iTunes store, and you just download it for free.  Regarding video, you can load your Nano with video you shot yourself (of your kitties doing something cute!), or you can again download files from the iTunes store, including entire movies and TV shows.  Free things you can download include video podcasts.  If you like books on tape, the Nano is compatible with Audible audiobook “rentals”, and again, there are books to purchase from iTunes.  Maybe they even sell groceries. 

Other things your Nano can do (according to what I’ve read), include storing thousands of cute photos of your cats and dogs, playing a few games (guess where you buy those?  Have you been paying attention?), and it has handy features like a calendar, world clock, stopwatch, and contacts list.  Flippy would say that the best thing about it is that you can choose from dozens of super-cute protective cases for it.

The Nano has a suggested retail at the Apple store of $149.99.  It sells at Amazon.com for $139.99.  I will sell my Nanos for $129.99 each, and will pay for free Priority Mail Shipping and insurance.  I will also give a free pink brushed metal protective case (it’s pretty!) to the first purchaser who requests it (I only have one).  And one more bargain—I’ll send you a $5 iTunes gift certificate via email to go along with your new toy.  I’m going to list these on eBay as soon as I get around to it, but thought I’d offer them here, first.  If you’re interested in buying either of them, just send me an email and we can work something out.  Thanks!

Oh, here’s the Nano itself:

iPod_Nano_4GB

And here’s the pink brushed metal case:

pink_case

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/19 at 04:31 AM
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Kitty love

Can you look at this picture and not automatically go, “awwwwwww”?!  It’s a totally unposed snapshot of TJ and Dobby sleeping together early Friday morning.  I had to take the picture quickly so I didn’t wake them.  TJ is an amazing cat ambassador (he loves all cats, but not people unless he’s sick), and Dobby has a huge crush on him.  I guess I should write a Dobby update in the next few days, but briefly, she’s mostly feral while downstairs, but likes to be petted and played with while upstairs.  We don’t know why, either.

TJ_and_Dobby_love

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/19 at 12:17 AM
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Sunday, November 18, 2007 , the wee hours

It’s Pinto and Shiner, Skyler, Bean, Garbanzo, yada, yada

I don’t know what to rename Shiner.  We’ve found it easy to call him “Garbanzo”, but he definitely looks like a freakish little Bean, too, and he’s so disturbed he might not react well to a total name change.  I’m a bit concerned about him, because he’s very skinny and boney, while Pinto is a bit flabby.  Here’s Shiner the Garbanzo Bean, looking like a serial killer (the fact that he’s shaved doesn’t help).  He’s the one who bit the vet tech:

Garbanzo

Here’s Pinto, who seems to like me and will approach me and purr.  I unfortunately have to pill him twice a day because of his upper respiratory infection, so it’s not the basis for a really trustful relationship yet.  I’d also like to add that Pinto bit me today, for no apparent reason and without warning.  He broke the skin, but it looks more like a scratch than a puncture, so it should be fine with just some Neosporin:

Pinto

To summarize, we ended up with two cats with URIs (Pinto is worse than the other), one cat who’s abnormally thin and one who is too fat, both with large hair mats (the vet’s office was supposed to shave Pinto, too, but didn’t for some reason), and both who’ve bitten people in the last week.  I want Greg and Spiderman back (but I’m sure I’ll grow to love these guys, dammit)!  I still haven’t had time to look into ways to transport them to St. Louis, but I appreciate the suggestions from the previous entry and will definitely follow those up when I stop writing blog entries.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/18 at 12:33 AM
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Saturday, November 17, 2007 , evening

Last pics of Greg and Spiderman

I really should go to bed, but I feel so darned productive I just can’t stop.  Here are two pics I took right before we drove Greg and Spiderman to their new home.  I really do love those two big dudes… they were incredibly sweet, even sweeter than some of the cats I’ve bottle-fed (Bing, I’m looking at you).  Spiderman was apparently sleeping in bed with his new owner on the very first night, but Greg was being a bit more wary.  I think he’ll settle in quickly, though.  It was so hard for me when he wanted to come home with us and not stay at the new house, because I hadn’t realized how attached he was to us.  I just didn’t get to spend much time with them, especially because they didn’t get along with Scampi and Tie, but I guess they loved us just the same.  The poor guys have been through so much this year, with the loss of two families, that I hope they’ll have a lifetime of happiness ahead of them.

Spiderman sings me a sad song, something from the Stevie Wonder collection, from the looks of it:

Spiderman_sings_me_a_sad_song

The boys pose for a really nice photo, even though you can see the lens of Spidey’s right eye floating around if you enlarge the picture.  And yes, they’re sitting on a big paper cutter, but it’s all tied down and locked and completely innocent.  Greg liked to sit wherever he wasn’t supposed to sit, like on the stove burners, or right next to anything sharp and/or breakable.

last_pic_of_g_&_s

Their new owner says we can visit the boys if we’d like, and at least one visit would really make me happy.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/17 at 08:05 AM
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Credit card beef

I have just one credit card beef today.  I’m being frugal with the complainin’.

My credit card provider, Capital One, recently made fancy new changes to their online account management system.  Now you can link accounts so you only have one login, and you get lots of other pretty bells and whistles.  What you no longer get, apparently, is any sort of statement or online transaction list which reveals the date that finance charges were applied to your account.  You can see the terrible amount that you were charged in fees, but they no longer say that the fees were applied on November 8th, for example.  Now you just have to guess.

I can see that I have credit available on a couple of cards, and either is enough to cover some meds for the cats.  However, if a finance fee is yet to be applied, the cost of the meds plus the finance charges will put me over my credit limit.  Then I’ll get dinged $39 for being otl, even though it was a finance charge that put me there.  A finance charge once put me over my limit by less than ten cents, and I was still charged $39.

Capital One keeps sending me little email messages, asking me to stop delivery of paper statements to save trees.  However, those paper statements are the only simple way for me to access all the information I need about my accounts.  I certainly feel I’m “computer savvy”, but banking sites leave me confused and befuzzled about the information I’m seeing.  Bank of America at least offers a statement download which looks identical to a paper statement, but Capital One seems to be adding ribbons and bows to hide the fact they’re removing information.

I realize how awful it is to be up to my neck in credit card balances, but that’s the way the ball bounces, and definitely a topic for another entry that I don’t want to write!  I just wish it was easier for me to manage the debt I have, without making simple mistakes which cost me even more.

By the way, I apologize for so many complaints lately.  If I don’t tell you about it, though, my head might catch on fire.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/17 at 07:17 AM
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Where’s the breeder to give this old dog a home?

I think this is really sad:  Petfinder listing for Miss Winnie (aka, “Baumhaus’ Miss Wicked Wilhelmina").  She’s a senior German shepherd available for adoption at Las Vegas German Shepherd Rescue.  She’s also grand-daughter of the only shepherd to win Best-In-Show at Westminster, yet here she is, at a breed rescue, looking for a home where she can live out her years.  Where’s the breeder to take care of her in this sort of situation?  I assume no one wanted her even as a puppy because she’s got a white marking on her face, and isn’t “breed standard” for showing.  These are definitely situations where the breeder should be standing up to provide a forever-home for their dog.  Maybe the breeder isn’t aware of the situation, but I have to assume that any rescue would be looking for a microchip, tattoos, etc.  If the rescue knows the dog’s lineage then I guess the point is moot—there’s a good chance the breeder has heard through the grapevine that Miss Wicked Wilhelmina is available, because the community of championship dog breeders is pretty small.

I love the way this old gal looks, and I’d be thrilled to adopt her.  She doesn’t get along with other dogs, however (not too unusual), so she won’t be able to live with us.  I’d like to talk Flippy’s parents into adopting her, but it’s tough to adopt an older dog when you’re older yourself.  It means potentially taking on a lot of vet trips, pharmacy bills, etc.  Maybe Steve Wynn needs a dog as a companion—there must be some rich person in town who can give Miss Winnie the comfort she deserves (a soft bed to sleep on and a bottle of Rimadyl!).

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/17 at 03:19 AM
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