Saturday, November 03, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

Dasuquin

I was browsing an issue of Veterinary Practice News recently, and an article about a product called ”Dasuquin” caught my eye.  The sub-heading said that this new nutritional supplement was achieving better results than Cosequin in clinical trials, and as the owner of an old, hobbling dog, I immediately wanted to know more.  Cosequin has always been considered the best “by mouth” glucosamine supplement for arthritic cats and dogs, but apparently Dasuquin may be even better.  Anecdotes in the article said that dogs given Dasuquin showed increased mobility and decreased pain, everything you’d want from a supplement.  The secret ingredient is something called avocado/soybean unsaponifiables, which is also being tested on human patients.  Even in people, studies show that the supplement decreases pain and increases mobility.  Although regular avocado leaves, skin, fruit, etc., can be poisonous to some dogs, apparently these “unsaponifiables” are quite the opposite!

I’m going to be starting Eli on this next week, and I’m anxious to see if it helps her arthritis pain.  She’s currently on Cosequin and Rimadyl, but I’d love for her to have more pain relief.  I’ll report back in a couple of months and let you know if Dasuquin lived up the hype for us.  Have any of you tried it with your dogs?

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/03 at 03:12 AM
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Friday, November 02, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

Calling all Vista users

If you use Microsoft Vista on a home computer, go sign up for the Windows Feedback Program.  Hurry!  If you participate in their Vista research program for three months, Microsoft will send you a free software title, and choices include Vista Ultimate and Office 2007.  It makes me want to run out and buy Vista, just to sign up!  I hope someone reading this will find it useful.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/02 at 06:39 AM
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Electrasol

I’m going to follow “Bananas” with another frivolous entry about dishwasher detergent.  I’ve been buying Electrasol “Dual-Action Tabs” because they’ve been fairly inexpensive, and because I wanted the Jetsons collector tins that the tabs were being sold in.  I ended up with two Elroys and two Astros and one George—I never did see Jane or Judy, even though we shop at two different stores.  Anyway, the tins are suddenly gone, and they’ve been replaced with a brand new item called, “3in1 Powerball Tabs”.  The “powerball” is an exciting red colour, and as I’m a sucker for a new product (or a product in a cartoon tin), I decided to buy it.  I have to say that I’ve used the new tabs twice and I’m really impressed.  Even though we have a water softener and I use a rinse agent, a lot of my dishes still end up with spots on them.  Today when I opened the dishwasher I immediately noticed that there were no spots.  Not one!  The new Electrasol tabs are supposed to have the ability to soften hard food deposits, and the box doesn’t say anything about a change in rinse agent, but there was an incredible difference.  The dishes look really clean, and not all spotty and blotchy.

I’m such a sucker.  I’m sure someone, somewhere, is raking in dough from “PayPerPost” for writing sincere blog entries about dishwasher soap, and here I am doing it for free.  I received no compensation for this entry, I just want to brighten up the life of the poor person who has black dinner plates and can’t get rid of hard water spots.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/02 at 03:35 AM
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Thursday, November 01, 2007 , evening

Bananas

Let’s talk about a subject which has caused strife and conflict in many an otherwise harmonious relationship:  bananas.

I love bananas, but I like them to be yellowish-green, soft-but-not-mushy, and I want them to be a bit tangy but to still taste like banana.  I guess I like to eat them when they’ve just started to ripen, so they’re no longer bitter and hard, but still retain some firmness.  I can tell a banana is ready to eat when the outer peel goes from smelling like nothing, to smelling like a banana.  Here in the hot part of the country, I think bananas only have a window of about six hours when they can be eaten and still taste good.  The heat quickly ripens them, and they’ll go from green and hard to brown and soggy in about 72 hours.  If I buy bananas and I think they’re perfect, I’ll stick them in the fridge to stop them from ripening further, but I’ll still have to eat them in the next 24 hours or they’ll turn nasty.  I just do not like that really flowery, fragrant, overly-sweet taste of really ripe banana (I don’t like the taste of banana popsicles, for example, or other banana candy).

Bananas are the only thing that Flippy and I regular disagree about.  She will not eat a “tangy” banana, and wants them to be more ripe.  She doesn’t want them too ripe, however—she doesn’t like them with a lot of brown spots on them.  What generally ends up happening when we buy bananas is that I’ll eat a few of them immediately, and I’ll leave the rest for Flippy.  She’ll eat one or two of them, leave the rest, and days later I’ll be tossing soggy bananas in the freezer because they’re good for nothing but banana bread.  Then I get annoyed because Flippy didn’t eat the bananas when they were less ripe, and yada yada yada.  When we go to the grocery store I’ll ask Flippy if she wants some bananas, but if she says yes, then I end up grilling her about when she plans to eat them, and how many she’ll eat, etc.  I turn into the insane banana police.

Please tell me that someone reading this also has great concerns about the state of the bananas in their home.  I know my Mom likes barely-ripe bananas, like me, and my Dad will eat riper ones, so I’ll have to ask her how their marriage has survived 42 years with bananas in the house.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/01 at 09:55 PM
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Oh no, it’s NaBloPoMo again!

A year sure does fly, because it’s already time for NaBloPoMo 2007!  I shall endeavour to follow the rules and to post one blog entry per day for the next thirty days, even if it means boring you, and boring myself.  If you want to try your own NaBloPoMo, just go to http://nablopomo.ning.com.

I sure hope this entry will count for November 1st, because I’m exhausted and I’m going to bed.  Good night!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/01 at 12:52 AM
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Laptop backpacks at eBags

I can’t travel anywhere without my laptop, and I usually just toss it in a backpack.  This year I figured I should get a proper case for it, but I also needed room for a camera, all the stuff I want to carry-on (because it will be my carry-on bag as well), etc.  I found the Jul Gibson at at eBags.com, and I hope it will be exactly what I need.  It had good reviews, and supposedly has tons of nooks and crannies, so I can stuff it full of crap and still stuff it under my seat.  I’ll report back when it arrives!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/01 at 12:44 AM
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