Snickers is definitely LOVING being back in an urban environment. He definitely enjoyed the big yard and the big parks we went to in Indiana, but mostly I think we was almost as bored as I was. When he went outside he would check the fence perimeter and then settle on his park bench and wait for me to sit down with him. Now that we’re back east, he’s back to taking his long adventure walks and enjoying all the sights and smells a city has to offer a curious pup.
Here’s a photo I took of Snick during a long walk around Jersey City a few weeks after we arrived. (That’s downtown NYC in the background.)
Snick and the City
As most of you know, I started a new blog shortly after I moved, specifically for the dog-related material. I will continue to use Jenna & Snickers (.com) as Snick’s primary site, so if you’re looking for dogs, Shiba Inu, or Snick the Dog, that’s where you want to go.
Please, still visit me here also. I will try to think of non-dog related things to say here occasionally!
Luckily, I don’t have to say it’s been many years since I was here.
Last summer I decided, rather suddenly, to take a A Four Year Vacation from NYC. I quit my job, packed my stuff, wrote about What I Will Miss About NYC and What I Will NOT Miss About NYC, loaded up the U-Haul and drove to Indiana. A couple weeks after I arrived, I blogged about the many Wonderful Things I had experienced as I was preparing to leave my NYC life behind.
Well… Indiana didn’t turn out to be quite the vacation I’d hoped for. It was gorgeous and peaceful. I got lots of sleep. The house and yard were awesome. I spent more time with my daughter and my sister. I worked freelance (set my own hours!) and got to spend lots of time with my darling Shiba Inu, Snickers.
But, I was bored. And "real" work wasn’t forthcoming. The cost of living there is low, but not so low that I could stay there four years without a real job!
My first visit home to NYC was in early February, for Westminster. Before I arrived, I reached out to the CEO of a tech firm I’d become acquainted with shortly before moving away. They were hiring. Hmmm…. interesting! I met with them while I was in town for Westminster and by the time I arrived back in Indiana, I was planning my move back east. Three weeks later I was settled into a new job and a new apartment (both of which are right across the Hudson from my old job and apt).
Like the KISS song says… "This place was meant for me!"
I received this email yesterday from Rick and Colleen, who adopted Kaos/Kayla from me a year and a half ago. I wanted to share it because so many of my blog friends helped with rescuing Kayla from Miami Dade Animal Control and taking care of her for six months until she was adopted.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLA!! HI EVERYONE RICK HERE. KAYLA IS 3 YEARS OLD! DO YOU BELIEVE IT?? MY WIFE AND I WOULD ONCE AGAIN LIKE TO THANK EVERYBODY INVOLVED IN KAYLA’S LIFE. WE HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH KAYLA, SHE IS A WONDERFUL PART OF OUR FAMILY. SHE SHE IS WELL ADJUSTED TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. DAILY WALKS AND CHASING RABBITS IN THE YARD HAVE KEPT HER HEALTHY AND AT A WEIGHT OF 65 LBS!! THANKS AGAIN RICK AND COLLEEN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLA!!
HI EVERYONE RICK HERE. KAYLA IS 3 YEARS OLD! DO YOU BELIEVE IT?? MY WIFE AND I WOULD ONCE AGAIN LIKE TO THANK EVERYBODY INVOLVED IN KAYLA’S LIFE. WE HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH KAYLA, SHE IS A WONDERFUL PART OF OUR FAMILY. SHE SHE IS WELL ADJUSTED TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. DAILY WALKS AND CHASING RABBITS IN THE YARD HAVE KEPT HER HEALTHY AND AT A WEIGHT OF 65 LBS!!
THANKS AGAIN RICK AND COLLEEN
Makes ya feel good, doesn’t it?
Here are some of the sites and tools that I currently can’t live without. What are some of yours?
I know I’m missing something, but I can’t figure out what at the moment.
So, I was checking out Dogster as part of a project I’m working on and I couldn’t resist clicking on the "What Dog Breed Are You?" banner. I was a little surprised by my results? A Border Collie? If that’s their idea of a Type A personality, then, yes, I guess so, but I think Border Collies are a bit more eager to please than I tend to be! Oh, and I would NOT trade my daughter for a corner office! (Really!)
Border Collie The Achiever
You’ve heard about this "second-place ribbon"” thing, but really don’t ever plan on getting one. Not a chance. Highly competitive, you keep one eye on the Best in Show prize and one on the rest of the pack, making sure you’re always at least one paw ahead. You love your family and enjoy the company you keep, but you’d trade all of them in a heartbeat for a corner office and some meaty stock options. When you’re not licking your professional coat, naked skydiving and triathlons keep you entertained. You idolize the top dog and will do so until you sniff out a way to take over the company and do a little "restructuring."
FAMOUS BORDER COLLIES: Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters
LIKELY PROFESSIONS: CEO, Banker, Manager, Astronaut
T did it, so I figured I’d try and see how different we are. WOW are we DIFFERENT! lol
Introvert/Intuitive/Thinking/Judging
You are an individualist and very independent by nature. You are very adept at devising systems and creating theories. Self-improvement is important to you, and you look inwardly for the energies to reach your goals. You are creative and an excellent problem solver that has the endurance to get those tough jobs done. You need your privacy and time for introspection. So much in the world interest you that you sometimes have a difficult time choosing what activity to pursue next.
In relationships you are very loyal and prefer a traditional structure. You tend to only demonstrate your affections to those who are very close to you. You enjoy one-on-one relationships that are very intimate. You sometimes like extroverts, because they can take the “heaviness” out of your personality. You love the intellectual arena and the exchange of ideas. You are very sensitive to rejection but hide your emotional vulnerabilities well. While very loving, you can get so absorbed in your own projects that you neglect those around you.
INTROVERT While you may not be anti-social, you do need (and deserve) your private time and space to retreat from the world. Unlike extroverts, you need to develop a concept of the world or some aspect of it before experiencing it. Too much socializing may sap your energies. Your energies are derived from exploring the inner world of ideas, impressions and pure thought.
INTUITIVE While you do process information through your senses you add a twist to your processing by relying on intuition and serendipity. You look for undercurrents of meaning and abstractions in what you experience physically. You do not just see things just as they are, but as what they could be. While you may rely on common sense at times, you trust inspiration far more.
THINKING You evaluate data and reach conclusions by using your ability to apply logical, objective analysis to the information before you. Your thinking process values consistency and fairness over the affect your decisions will have on others. You compare courses of action logically and make your choices based upon what consequences you see them as having. If there is something wrong with a plan, you are the one to ferret it out. It is important to remember that this does not mean you are cold and unfeeling, but that your thinking process is analytical.
JUDGING You like decisions to be made as soon as possible. You are not comfortable with loose ends and like to see conflicts resolved as soon as possible. You have a preference for a well-structured, orderly lifestyle with few surprises. It may not be all that important who makes the decisions that gets things done as long things do get done. You take commitments very seriously. While you are not inflexible, you do like to stick to a plan once it is set into motion.
Famous People of Your Type:
Dan Aykroyd, Susan B. Anthony, Arthur Ashe, Augustus Caesar, Jane Austen, William F. Buckley, Jr., Raymond Burr, Chevy Chase, Phil Donahue, Hannibal, Veronica Hamel, Orel Leonard Hershiser, Peter Jennings, Ivan Lendl, C. S. Lewis, Joan Lunden, Edwin Moses, Martina Navratilova, Chester A. Arthur, Calvin Coolidge, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, James K. Polk, Woodrow Wilson.
Occupations Suited to Your Type Include:
Archaeologist, architect, artist, astronomer, biologist, chemist, programmer, engineer, designer, historian, inventor, mathematician, musician, philosopher, photographer, doctor, psychologist, researcher, scientist, professor, and writer.
Tag, you’re it! Take the quiz
At 3:00 AM this morning I put fabulously fresh sheets on my bed. I _love_ fresh sheets. This act is only noteworthy because I had to do it around Snickers. He’d already "gone to bed" in the pile of clean sheets I’d left there after I did laundry. He didn’t want to get off the bed, so I shooed him from side-to-side as I put on the sheets. Then I just wrapped the comforter around him as I covered the rest of the bed.
At 7:10 AM every week day, T puts Secret in my room before she leaves to catch the school bus. Secret hops on the bed and curls up with me & Snick till we wake up several hours later. I love this arrangement because I get to wake up with both warm, fuzzies each day.
Around 10:30 AM today I realized Secret was licking the sheet. When I checked to see what she was up to, I found several small spots of smelly, poopy stuff. UGH! (To her credit, she was apparently trying to clean it up.) So much for my clean sheets (and my leisurely morning).
So… Secret seems fine, the bed is stripped and the washing machine is running.
Life with Dogs. What a pain sometimes! On the upside, I get to go to bed in perfectly fresh sheets, two nights in a row!
PS If you haven’t visited our new site, Jenna & Snickers (.com), please drop by and let me know what you think.
The Client Pierson Bark Park is a privately owned, four acre canine recreation area in Fishers, Indiana. I met Heather Pierson shortly after moving to Indiana.
The Need Heather had a website but was ready for a redesign. Her content was out-of-date and she had no idea how to update it herself. The link to get directions was broken and she was also unhappy with the restrictive layout of the site, primarily because of the extremely small content area. She wanted to maintain the existing identity of the site and also needed to be careful to maintain her Google rankings.
The Solution The new Pierson Bark Park site is in WordPress, so Heather can easily make her own content changes without worrying about accidentally breaking the layout or format of the site. I created a WordPress theme using the same colors and some of the same graphic elements from the original site, so the site is still familiar.
There is much more focus on the content in the new site than there was in the previous site. We’ve also made it more useful by adding more content and by using the Google Maps API to include an interactive directions page for new visitors. I put 301 redirect instructions in the .htaccess file to maintain the existing page rank and incorporated some SEO WordPress plugins to optimize the pages and hopefully improve their rank over time.
AAAAAAAUUUUGH
I don’t like NJ. I’ve never been a fan of NJ, even when I lived there. Or maybe ESPECIALLY when I lived there. By far, the WORST things about New Jersey are all related to driving – the DMV, the interstates, the traffic, the auto insurance rates, etc. But OH MY GOD, this has to beat all.
Tuesday, I went to the Indiana BMV to get my drivers license and to register to vote. Well, primarily, to register to vote, since Indiana is a decision state and I’m excited about casting my vote here where it will really matter. So, anyway… after waiting in line, I had to take a written test since I’m coming from another state. 50 questions. Pretty quick but then I had to wait for the same person who was helping me before (instead of getting back in line). SIX people were helped while I waited for her to help some jerk with 18 forms to fill out. Finally, she’s free. 49 answers right. Everything looks good. Oh. Wait. The State of NJ says I can’t have my license. NEW JERSEY? I haven’t lived there for almost two decades! They tell me to wait. They’ll call. Oh, too bad, NJ is closed now. They gave me the number for the DMV (now renamed the MVC?) in Trenton.
Wednesday, I called Trenton. They wouldn’t tell me anything unless I could tell them the address that was on my license when I left NJ. Hmmm… ten minutes later after searching my paper files, Google Desktop saved me. I gave the lady my old address. She told me I have an unpaid parking ticket in Hoboken from 1989. OK, no problem. I’ll pay it. Nope! All this fabulous technology, but can I give her a credit card number and take care of it? Ohhh nooooo, of course not! I have to call the Hoboken Court for the details, mail Hoboken a check, get the receipt (by mail), MAIL the receipt BACK to Trenton with a $100 reinstatement fee, and then they will MAIL something to me that I can take to the BMV in Indiana to get my license. This whole process will take weeks. Meanwhile, I never had any idea this ticket existed AND I’ve had licenses in three other states since 1989 without it ever coming up.
Oh, and when I called Hoboken… she said the parking ticket would cost $14.
Here’s hoping I can register to vote.
I received a welcome and gratifying email today. Kayla (the doggy formerly known as Kaos) has been with Rick and Colleen for over a year now. They sent photos, a video and a note saying that she’s happy and healthy and they couldn’t be happier that she is part of their family.
Stuff like that makes it all worth it.
The Client Jennifer Kirkwood was having her e-commerce site, La Dolce Diva, redesigned by my friend Padraic Ryan (who is an x-cart genius, btw) and wanted to add a blog. Padraic put us in touch and we got to work.
The Need Jennifer wanted her new blog to complement her online shop and yet be a bit more personal. In addition to blogging, she wanted a few extra goodies… a Product Spotlight area, Italian word of the day, and a quote of the day. She was also in a hurry; her redesigned shop had just launched, so she wanted to get the new blog online quickly.
The Solution I started with the graphics and colors from her shop and created three rough drafts for a new WordPress theme. As soon as she viewed them, Jennifer’s creativity took the lead and she merged the ideas into a master plan. Less than a week after we were introduced by Padraic, we had Jennifer’s new blog built and launched! We’re continuing to add some goodies here and there and Jennifer has proven to be a prolific and engaging blogger.
I don’t know how long it’s been since I wasted time online playing a game or doing something silly. Over a year… maybe more than a few years! Today, I remedied that. This is the den of my apartment in YoVille. When I was done with my interior design, I went to the nightclub and had a Cosmo. LOL
