My latest client launch: The McCarton Center for Developmental Pediatrics
Graphics once again by the fabulous Beth Benzaquin who has contributed her talents to many of my projects in the past two years.
Ain’t it purty? 
So, I’m supposed to be on vacation this week. All I’ve done is work. It’s good though. It’s (1) getting a bunch of past due hanging-over-my-head freelance stuff done and (2) doggie rescue stuff. What have I been up to since my last post? Well, let’s see.
| Mon, April 2: | Snick and I slept late and then went for a walk and a trip to the pet store. Met Foster Mom Terra and the male Shiba she had just picked up from shelter*. Took care of some meetup stuff regarding our upcoming training workshop. Registered nycshibarescue.org and asked my host (aliencreed.com - they rock) to set up an account for it. Went into the office late - a cable was loose in the network closet. |
| Tues, April 3: | Started the day early with a nice long walk with Snick and his friend Puccini (and my friend Liz). One of the guys from work called me because he couldn’t print. (????) Told him to reboot. Treated myself to a couple hours off to have my highlights (love em!) touched up and bought myself lunch afterwards. Spoke to the vet about Hero**. Spoke to the foster mom about Hero. Launched new client site at 2:30am: dealbags.com. |
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Weds, April 4: (so far) |
Slept late! Rain, rain, go away! Snickers is bored and hibernating. Spoke to Terra after she picked up Hero from the vet. Called the shelter he came from to see if they’ll send me his x-rays. Did a LOT of work on, and just launched, colieandlj.com. Cleaned fridge. Got groceries (but I get FreshDirect, so that barely counts). Wrote this post. I wish it would stop raining so Snick and I could go out. I think I’ll do some apartment cleaning now! |
*Foster Mom Terra had already named him Hero when I got there. Poor Hero can walk but it’s pretty wobbly and he falls down sometimes. He has a terrible looking skin condition, which the shelter didn’t tell us anything about before we picked him up. The vet we originally went to wanted a fortune, so I called my vet and they squeezed us in at closing time. They examined him and gave him pain meds and an anti-inflamatory and kept him overnight. They ran blood work to rule out thyroid problems or testicular tumors that could be causing the skin condition.
My vet doesn’t think he has any fresh fractures but he has a good bit of muscle deterioration and arthritis. Mostly likely scenario is that this guy never recuperated from a previous accident (notes from the shelter say he has a plate in his hip from before they got him) and then was injured again recently. His general health checks out pretty well though except for the back legs and the skin. The vet thinks with some exercise and physical therapy he could build his muscle tone up to compensate. He’s only about 5 years old, so he’s got some good years left in him if we can get him healthy and neutered and adopted out. He’s definitely adoptable. He was an angel for us. He never complained when we picked him up. He walked as much as he could and we carried him when he got tired. When we were waiting at the vets he laid down and put his head on my leg. He was just so sweet. He’s got the Shiba pride and stubborn streak though. It showed through even though he was tired and in pain.
**The vet decided to keep Hero a second night. He’s resting comfortably. He has Lyme disease and a low thyroid. Nothing serious though. Vet changed his antibiotic to cover the Lyme disease. He got a bath and will get treated with Revolution in the morning. Vet thinks with good nutrition and exercise he’ll be ready to be neutered in a couple weeks and we’ll redo the blood work then too.
***Terra said he’s walking way better already and she has him settled in at her apartment. Her female Shiba wants to PLAAAAY with him, but she’ll have to wait.
I’ve been busy. OK? Just busy, that’s all. Here’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to since my pre-cocktail pawty post.
| March 18, 19, 20: | Scrambled furiously to complete preparations for the pawty. |
| Tues, March 20: | Made contact with a blogger in Georgia that posted about dumping her 4 year old Shiba at the pound. Made contact with Shiba Rescue in Georgia. Put them in touch with each other. Left work early (2pm) to be at Animal Haven by 5pm. Threw a HECK OF A PAWTY. Huge success. Everyone loved it. Raised money. Got home 11pm. Collapsed. |
| Thurs, March 22: | Configured new firewalls for my job’s NYC and Philly offices. Caught up on a bunch of client work that had fallen behind. |
| Sat, March 24: | Ran a bunch of errands. Took Miss ~T~ and Secret shopping for a Sherpa bag. |
| Sun, March 25: | The Shiba in Georgia was surrendered to Rescue. (Whew!) Went to a Shiba meetup. Snick and I spent 4 hours at the office. Installed new firewall. |
| Mon, March 26: | My four year anniversary at work. (Not that anyone knew that but me.) Was contacted about a 2 year old female Shiba named Suzie left in kill shelter in Long Island. Began coordinating my first ever shelter pull. |
| Tues, March 27: | Located great foster home for Suzie. Power surge fried T1 router. Internet access at work went dark. Was supposed to meet Miss ~T~ somewhere at 4pm. Was 45 minutes late after rerouting access to backup DSL line. |
| Wed, March 28: | Work, work, work, work, work… all on a DSL line. No streaming radio all day. ICK! |
| Thurs, March 29: | Replacement router didn’t show up. Package addressed wrong! Foster Mom Gloria picked up Shiba Suzie from shelter in Long Island. Suzie is in HEAT!. Miss ~T~ and I took Snick and Seeky for yearly checkups right after work and then raced home, changed clothes and headed to American Globe Theatre to see The Tempest. Walked both doggies after so Miss ~T~ could get to bed. |
| Fri, March 30: | Work, work and more work… till 9pm. The new T1 router showed up but it was configured wrong. Once we got it "configured" the provider kept saying it was right and I knew it was wrong. Finally convinced them they had to come in Saturday and fix it. Was contacted about male Shiba in shelter in Middletown - hit by car and injured. Oh, and got an email from a reader who also wants to build a yurt on a NYC rooftop. Freaked out. |
| Sat, March 31: | Put Miss ~T~ and Secret on a plane to visit grandparents for 10 days. T1 provider called and said they fixed router problem remotely during the night. Spent 4 hours at the office switching everything back to the T1 and testing all. Found a foster home for the Shiba boy in Middletown. Launched a little client site: bryber.com |
| Sun, April 1: | Spoke to shelter in Middletown to arrange for Foster Mom Terra to pick up Shiba boy tomorrow. Went to meet Suzie at Foster Mom Gloria’s apartment. Walked home from the Village with Snickers. Wandered around a street fair on the way. Worked on organizing my rescue communications and records so I don’t get too bogged down. Launched a client’s blog: cathleenschine.com. Stayed up too late writing this blog entry. |
And that’s just the stuff I can remember off the top of my head!
I’m working on a website for an off-broadway theater in my neighborhood. I was supposed to be finished yesterday, so, of course, I should be rushing, but as I was flipping through CDs full of photos to pick photos for the site, I found a series of the client and her dog goofing off during a photo call. I couldn’t help myself…
