Wow, you’re THE Dr. Harrison - a fangirl’s account of the 2007 WVC!

This is when I realized I’d become a full-blown science/biology/veterinary geek:  I got all gushy today at the WVC when a man started talking to me, and I realized he was the Dr. Greg Harrison.  I even said that, “Wow, you’re the Dr. Harrison!” He replied something along the lines of, “That and a buck eighty-five will get you a cup of coffee,” perhaps because he’s not used to lesbian fangirls.  He’s such a legend to me, though… when I inherited my first parrot back in the mid-1980s, and that parrot got sick, there were only two vets of note who were known for working with birds.  My bookshelves are filled with the books he’s written, and they’re the same books my own vet consults when I take parrots in to have problems treated.  Dr. Harrison retired in 2005, but it still works in research, and today he gave me some new products to try to help Keno with her feather-plucking problem.  He has a brand new set of books that I would love to have purchased (and yes, like the geek I am, I would have asked him to sign them), but the set was $275.

I also met avian nutritionist Tom Roudybush.  He gave me some hypoallergenic parrot food, which is something else I hope might help Keno and her feathers.  Meeting him was pretty cool, too, although I didn’t realize who he was until I was leaving the booth.

I did not make any large purchases—the Lyons Electric booth, where I’d hoped to buy a discounted, floor model “pet intensive care unit” was unstaffed!  It’s that damn Murphy’s Law!  There was no one there, nothing!  I was able to see the models of PICU, and to figure out which one I liked best, but I wasn’t able to haggle for any great deals.  I was offered a couple of great deals on some beautiful cat display cages (like you might see at Petsmart in the adoption area), but the “great deal” was still about $1200.  I’d eventually like one or two units so I can foster or do rehab without having strange cats running loose around the house.  It’s something I can plan for, perhaps next year.  We’d also need to arrange for one of Flippy’s brothers to help us get it home.  I also didn’t buy any books from the incredible “all vet books, all the time” store which was set up in the conference hall, because I don’t think there were any titles which cost less than $100.

Here’s what I did buy at the conference: a pair of elbow-length elkhide gloves for handling cats (half price), and a very handy brush for heavy-coated dogs called ”The Furminator”.  We also shelled out $3 for a new pet snack product whose name eludes me… Toro?… Yes, it was ”Toro Puppy Rolls”, made by the Nylabone people.  We made a $5 donation to the AVMA and got a stuffed toy cat wearing vet scrubs.  My heaviest purchase was a copy of the book, “Scientific Proceedings from the 12th International Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Symposium”.  It was a fraction of its original price at just $20—I think it was reduced so the publisher didn’t have to lug too many of the 997 page books back on the airplane.

I did buy one more thing - I bought the WVC Encore DVD-ROM, which is a multi-DVD set with copies of every seminar and lecture offered at the conference.  It comes with audio, video, and text notes as well.  It wasn’t cheap, but it will give me access to every session I missed, including all the ones which overlapped.  So, instead of getting up at 6:30 in the morning tomorrow, I’m going to sleep in, and I’ll receive all the seminars on pediatrics and fish medicine (and everything else), on my DVD.  I hope it will prove to be a good investment for me.  If I’d had more money to burn, I could have purchased the Encore program already installed on a brand new iPod, but that seemed a bit excessive.

I’m so tired… I’m out of ”spoons”.  Tomorrow I’ll post about all our great freebies, and about a number of really, really exciting new health products for pet owners.  I promise we found some great stuff which might help make your lives easier.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/22 at 12:57 AM

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

  1. The lotto was $150 million last night. If I won, I’ll send both you and Susan (wildrun) grants for your organizations. smile I love playing that game of what I would do if I won. And you could do a lot with even a $5000 donation.

    Posted by Georg  on  02/22  at  08:42 AM

  2. Thanks, Georg smile I spent the day imagining how I’d spend the money!

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  02/24  at  05:07 AM
    3. Page 1 of 1 pages

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

What is the sum of 7 and 7?

Next entry: WVC part two - the free samples

Previous entry: Happy Chinese New Year!

<< Back to main