PetSmart Toys: A Cautionary Tale

I ordered this toy off the PetSmart website as one of the kitties' Christmas presents. It arrived yesterday. It was an instant hit, with Sebastian playing for at least a half hour and keeping the other kitties away from it and Moggie finally being able to steal it and go nuts herself. I immediately wrote a review raving about the toy and ordered two more because it's popular enough that I knew it would eventually get torn up.

The order confirmation arrived in my Inbox at 5:08 pm yesterday.

Later that night I saw Sebastian come out of their room with the toy only, no tail. Kyle and I tore the place apart and couldn't find the huge tail anywhere. I assume he ate it because that's what he does. (So far, he is still acting normal.) But this could be a serious problem and we're going to have to keep an eye on him. I emailed PetSmart at 8:58 pm asking them to cancel my order because this is a dangerous toy with the right cat.

PetSmart managed to send a SHIPMENT confirmation at 1:04 AM, but no Customer Service Rep managed to respond until 6:41 am to tell me sorry, but it already shipped (no shit).

Now I'm stuck with keeping a toy I won't use, shipping it back to PetSmart for half the price of the toys, or driving to Des Moines to return it.

Be careful what toys you get from PetSmart, and don't expect Customer Service to help you.

And now I have to go take a final.

Dark Times Breed Dark Thoughts

Every once in a while, always at night, I start thinking about Sabriel and I relive the horrible ending. As always, I realize there are things I would have done differently (like taking her to the teaching hospital for a biopsy to definitively prove she had FIP before euthanizing her) but all I do is torture myself. There are those (probably many) who would question still being so saddened by the loss of a pet a year and a half after the fact, but I feel how I feel.

I admit that the pets we've gotten since then have been, at least in part, attempts to patch that hole in my heart. I love them all very much, and know that we saved one from euthanasia and another from a horrible life, but I have finally realized that Sabriel will never be replaced. There will always be that little piece missing because of her. And I suppose I'm ok knowing that piece is gone because of everything she gave me while she was here.

I will lose a piece with every pet over time. That is the the great joy and tragedy of loving them. Their lifespan is dwarfed by our own so we are left mourning their loss time and again.

I drink good coffee every morning
Comes from a place that's far away
And when I'm done I feel like talking
Without you here there is less to say
I don't want you thinking I'm unhappy
What is closer to the truth
That if I lived till I was 102
I just don't think I'll ever get over you

Don't Vote

Old tractor parts?!

I have to thank Dr. Sponseller for showing this in class because I had never run across it before. Supposedly it was an engineering project by kids at a university that built it out of old tractor parts. It is phenomenal.



Bon appetit!

edit://Just read it's cgi...I don't care, it's still totally awesome.

And the hits just keep on coming

Palin's 17 year old daughter Bristol is 5 months pregnant and will marry the father of her child. As if the poor kid would have had any other choice with the family she's grown up in. They're probably forcing her into the marriage to save her mom's political ambitions.

Barf.

Hello, how are you?

It's been a while. It's just...we both want different things. You want me to waste my life writing in you, telling you about my day, and I want to experience the world! You were holding me back, but I've missed you. I'll try to visit more often.

It's going to be interesting to see how the Palin VP choice works out for the GOP. I've heard two main theories. The first is that she's a scary smart pick because she's a woman but has all those conservative values (lifetime NRA member, built an oil pipeline her first year as governor in Alaska, pro-life, etc). The second is that she's going to bomb because undecided voters or Clinton supporters won't vote for her simply because she's a woman and she has very little experience and no foreign relations experience--not exactly the person you want stepping in if (when) McCain kicks the bucket. My first reaction was fear but I kind of get this second opinion. I hope things lean more that direction.

I'm keeping residents of New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish, and the other Parishes and regions of the southern US that may be affected by Gustav in my thoughts. It's hard to believe that just three years after Katrina, when New Orleans has finally begun resembling itself again, they may be starting from scratch. If the storm is as bad as predicted the levees will fail again. It could be really bad. This time, at least, they are prepared, and people are taking warnings to leave seriously. Let's hope it's not the worst-case scenario.

I survived my first week of school. We have Surgery every Monday and often have Monday exams as well, meaning I won't be having a lot of weekend fun this semester. I'll get over it. Our first terminal surgery is a week from tomorrow. I'm eager for the surgery but nervous about how I will deal with ending an animal's life. Looking at it logically I tell myself these animals would be killed anyway and this way they are at least serving a purpose, but I won't feel that way when pushing the plunger.

The Pemberley Chronicles

This book was waiting at my door today in a DHL bag from a bookstore in Illinois. Nobody I've talked to sent it to me. I did not order it for myself. Apparently the Book Gods decided I need to know what happens after Pride & Prejudice. :)

I want a big kitty

Ok, not really, because they belong in the wild, but this is absolutely amazing. I'm bawling over here.

Father's Day

It's not something I think about every day, but I am very lucky to have the dad I have. I just read today's PostSecret and was made freshly aware of that fact. He is a dad who made the Easter Bunny and Santa more than real--notes from both, soot tracks from Santa and Rudolph, yarn trails from the EB and then clues to follow as we got older. It was real enough to me that I believed it until I was 9 or 10, long past most kids. In fact, they both still come to visit.

He is a dad who put notes in my lunch box every day in elementary school with clever little drawings and clues for me to figure out with my classmates, something I thought was just about the coolest thing ever. He is a dad who very calmly handled me getting my first period at the middle school where he was the band director and I was a beyond mortified teenager. He is a dad who keeps his emotions in check when he in fact feels a lot. The only time I've ever seen him cry was after my younger sister had back surgery. He is a dad who has had two families and I think has a lot of regrets about how things have turned out with the first one. Luckily my brother, at least, has finally decided it's time to move beyond the past and has come back into Dad's life even though my sister has not.

Dad is so many things, and I don't mean to imply that perfect is one of them because nobody is, but he sets a high bar. He set my sister and I up to be constantly disappointed by men (shh, don't tell Kyle) because everything he does is to improve the lives of the people he loves. The one thing he does for himself is a short fishing trip with old friends every summer. Otherwise he is always working, improving the house, making the yard look beautiful, driving to Lincoln to do things for my grandparents since my grandpa can't and they're too stubborn to move.

I called him to wish him a Happy Father's Day today and I certainly made no big speech. I probably should sometime, maybe next year. But for now, I love you, Dad.

Aww, poor kiwi

This is adorable...except for the end.

And a repeat, except with Mad World (Donnie Darko version)...there were tears in my eyes. The power of music never ceases to amaze me.

Come hell or high water

Ames is flooding. This came as a surprise to me today, since the thunderstorms last night didn't seem any more devastating than normal. Here's a pic from our porch:

















This is the worst our parking lot has flooded since we've lived here. Luckily my car is on the dry part, but this means I can't (or at least shouldn't try) getting around that corner right now. Good thing I didn't have to work today! So, when I saw that this morning I was kind of surprised. Then I talked to my friend Tara. She sent me pics from her apartment building, which has now lost power and has water on the first floor:


















Just a little worse!! She managed to get her car moved to higher ground, and her fiance had to come home from work (in Des Moines) so they could push his motorcycle out of the water. Luckily they have a second floor apartment so they should be okay.

The reason they are flooding so bad is that they are near Squaw Creek, which floods at 9 feet and at the last update was at nearly 16 feet. A nursing home had to be evacuated, and parts of Duff Ave., Stange Rd., and University Blvd. (formerly Elwood Dr.) are closed. Hopefully the water will stop rising soon.

//edit: Now Highway 30 is closed where you get on I-35, so I'm going to have to hope I can take 13th all the way to 35 tomorrow or I may not make it to work.

I need to stop being such a people-pleaser

I was supposed to work from 1-7 today, but I was woken by a phone call at 9 to ask if I could make it by 11:30. Of course I said yes, just like I said yes to working 11-4 tomorrow when it was supposed to be my day off. This is something I told myself I was not going to do this summer. I need to be more assertive and say no when I don't want to do something. I called Kyle afterwards and bitched about it, and he was like "Next time, just politely say that if they want to change your schedule it would be nice if they would ask the day before rather than a couple of hours because you made plans". I was like....yes, that would be easy wouldn't it. It's a good thing someone in this relationship is level-headed. :P


I finished Stephenie Meyer's The Host last night. It's her first book for adults, since the Twilight series is technically YA. I say technically, because I feel that with both this book and that series there's really no appropriate age of enjoyment. For example, the head tech at my clinic was raving about Twilight the other day, and she's probably in her late 40s.

It took me a few chapters to get into the storyline. I haven't read a lot of sci-fi lately, and this was so different than Twilight. I soon very much believed in Wanderer, the alien soul that was inserted into Mel, the human host, and their struggles since Mel wouldn't give up her body and fade away.

Earth has been taken over by these souls and there are only a few wild humans left. The souls do not believe in violence so they believe that every world they take over is improved, but through the course of the story Wanderer begins to see that this is perhaps not the case.

The book seems to be leading toward an inevitable conclusion, which is suddenly ripped away and this new twist appears that shocks the reader--or at least shocked me. I loved the ending, and I loved Meyer's writing. During Wanderer's biggest personal struggle I was crying for probably 50 pages straight as I waited to see what she would decide to do.

This book is HIGHLY recommended, even to readers who are not fans of science fiction. In the end, it's not a sci-fi book; it's a book about love and the strength of the human spirit that happens to have a sci-fi background.

I'm So Weird

My stomach is eating itself in nervousness right now. Why? Because I have to go to work. I've noticed that when I have a good day at work I'm, if not excited, at least prepared for the next day. But, when I have a bad day like I did on Monday, the next day I have to go in--today--it feels practically like first day nerves all over again.

Hopefully today will be a good day.

Oooh!!!! *squeal*

I'm getting *really* excited about this movie. I wasn't completely thrilled about some of the character choices but I think it will work out well. If they can manage not to butcher the book it will be more than most book-to-movies do.

220 Pounds

That was the size of the Mastiff I had to try to hold for a blood draw today. He had merely to shake his head like dislodging a fly and I would be thrown off. His head came up to my chest. I have never seen a dog that large in my entire life--it was incredible!

Today went much better than Saturday. I have tomorrow off, but then I'm working Wednesday through Saturday. I hope as I begin to get the computer system down and learn the way things are run there I will enjoy it more. The other workers there are very nice even though the vet can be a bit snippy. I can say with all honesty I've dealt with much worse over the course of a summer.

First day of work!

I'm excited and nervous. Starting on a Saturday seems like maybe not the best idea since clinics are always swamped, but I guess going right into the fire will show me the worst of it? If it's bad at least it's a short day! The clinic's supposed to close at noon but if it's like other clinics they'll be open later than that because it's Saturday. Hopefully I won't have any horror stories to report from the day.

NaNoWriMo

I read all the time and for years I've had story ideas percolating in my head. Some of them I've even started to get on (virtual) paper, but I've never finished anything. I'm always too busy, or too picky about editing when I've barely started. No more!

I've joined NaNoWriMo this year, and I'm going to prove to myself that I can finish a story. It's in November, and the point is to write 50,000 words in one month. You're supposed to let the word vomit flow and not worry about bad grammar, plot inconsistencies, or anything else. My only worry is that it takes place at a really bad time of year for me to be able to meet a goal. It may come down to writing a first draft or staying in vet school. That's why I will take part in JulNoWriMo this summer! It's the same concept, but it takes place in July. Since the only thing I'm going to be doing this summer is working at a clinic I should have plenty of time to let the creative juices flow. Even if what I end up writing is complete crap I think the journey will be worth it.

Caturday Night Fever!

Sausages!!

It's a sad day for cats in the news

First, the story of a kitten born with six legs. The family that owns it can't pay for the operation to remove the two spare legs and torso hanging from the belly of this poor thing. Luckily, with the help of some donations, a vet is going to operate and they think the kitten will live. I don't know what vet wouldn't want to help with this case. It's the right thing to do, but from a financial standpoint (which they're trying to teach us to think about here at school) it's free publicity for your clinic.

Second, a story that's much more sad. A three year old boy put the family cat into the microwave and turned it on. Of course they couldn't afford to pay for treatment, so the clinic they took it to will soon be putting him up for adoption. They had to amputate his tail and ears, and he had surface burns and I'm sure internal damage as well. The poor kitty is lucky to have survived. I hope that little boy didn't understand what he was doing, because the alternative is frightening. As with the previous case, this is great publicity for the clinic and frankly, I can't imagine being able to turn the poor thing away. I do wonder about the potential long-term effects (such as cancer) on the kitty.

I'm going to have to snuggle my babies when I get home from class today after reading these.

If hell exists, I've got a ticket

I just watched the address the pope gave American bishops last night....and nearly fell off the couch laughing. There's something about a pope with a strong German accent that just tickles my funny bone. "Eet ees easy to be entrainced by zee almost unlimited possibilitees zat science und technology press before us." I kept expecting him to break into an angry Hitler speech or at least a "Sieg Heil". See? Hell.

Free Books!

I've been inspired to give away some of my too-large book collection. The first two are posted over at This Book For Free. It's the least I can do since I've won a couple myself and really, if I'm going to keep buying books I'm going to need to get rid of some and what better way?

I'll be posting a short review of one of the books I won (a mystery) when I get around to finishing it. School makes that take a little longer than I wish was necessary.

Now it's time to get some sleep since I have a presentation tomorrow on hemolytic E. coli in pigs (I know you're all quivering with excitement) and a test on Wednesday.

This pic made my day

see more crazy cat pics

It's a good thing, too, because I just had a Surgery practical and I was so nervous I did my suture pattern wrong. Something needed to go right today.

Guess-a-Test

We just had a Virology test where it seemed that most of the answers were a choice of "A and B" or "All of the above" although he swears he doesn't make tricky questions, followed by an "easy" quiz to "boost our confidence" in Path that caused the most dissension of the semester in our group discussion. It's a good day.

Incredible

This is better than some modern art in galleries!

Monday Morning Drive

It was a strange drive to school today. The sky was slate gray, with a more stormy gray pressing in from all sides. Rain was pouring down. The highway was a mercuric silver due to some combination of water and light leaking through the clouds. The surrounding fields were a brown-gray, waiting to be plowed and planted. I was one of very few drivers on the road. It felt like I was one of the last people on Earth.

Some break!!

Saturday and Sunday I was in Decorah for Juj's awesome Junior recital. Monday and Tuesday I was in Illinois for more Kaya tooth work (she finally gets her crown next Thursday, woo!). Yesterday I spent 3 1/2 hours in Des Moines dropping my resume off at clinics, and then worked on my "vaccine brochure" for Public Health in the afternoon. Today I had plans to get more work done, but I finally had to say ENOUGH! I need a break!

I had to turn down a job today. The clinic was only offering 20 hours a week, and they wanted me as a straight receptionist. I had plenty of experience doing that in undergrad. Now that I'm halfway through vet school I need to spend more time with the vets helping with exams and surgeries. Otherwise, what's the point of me even being in a clinic for the summer?

Juj is coming to visit tonight, and she's staying until Sunday morning! This gives me the perfect excuse to completely put off anything remotely school-related. I'm sure when I eventually get around to it I'll bitch and moan about not having done it sooner, but I don't care. It's break!

Juj the opera singer

When Juj was little she wanted to be an opera singer. Who knew she'd turn out to actually be able to?



Camera operator problems aside, she totally rocked it and I'm very proud. This was the last piece she sang, but you'd never know from her voice!

For your viewing pleasure:

I would like to share the image that just made me burst out laughing in class. This will teach me not to pay attention (once again) to Clin Path:

Bad news for Friday!

So in the 5 exams I've had since last Monday, here's how I've done:

83
100
94
85
81

And tomorrow is Pharmacology. In spite of the fact that I've had what are (for me) pretty spectacular grades this semester, I fear tomorrow is going to be my downfall. This instructor taught a section of Histo last year, told us it was going to be "straightforward", and then most of us failed that section. She used the exact same words on Tuesday, telling us tomorrow's test will be "straightforward". I am afraid that is a preview for how tomorrow's test will go. If you'll note the downward progression of scores, I think you'll agree. I have about 9 hours to study today, and then I'll be able to get up around 6 and study for 3 more hours in the morning. I just hope it will be enough. :(

Am I dead yet?

I think I have a new disease. I will call it Notenoughsleepduetotoomanyexamsinitis. It is a serious manifestation of mental inflammation. Signs to watch for are chronic grumpiness, chronic lack of sleep, decreased sanity, worsening mental capacity resulting in progressively lower test grades, and impotence. Tell your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms.

My Juj!

I'm getting excited to see my little sister's junior recital here in a week and a half, so I thought I'd post a couple vids of her a capella group Vinyl Roots. These are 3 months old and pretty poor quality, and they've got more experience now (these are from not that long after the group was formed) but there are no new vids. They need to get on that. ;)



Juj is on the left here.




She's also on the left here.



Left here as well!

Must be fun to go to a school with such talented kids. It makes me a tiny bit jealous I went the Vet Med route rather than trombone performance. :)

Can you tell I have my Anesthesiology final tomorrow? Because yeah, I do. :P

I'd have a 50% chance of surviving on the moon.

52%

I stole this from Midas, but I'm sure she won't mind. I would possibly be able to survive, but with my luck it wouldn't happen. :P

In other news, I somehow kicked serious ass on the Virology test and got a perfect score (with the help of a couple bonus points). I think I can die happy now.

I poked a dog in the eye!

We just had our ophthalmic exam lab, and it was really cool! The eye seems like this mysterious organ to me, and today, as the instructor for the day put it, "it's just an orifice slightly more complicated than the anus". We did a tear production test, a fluoroscein stain (it looks for corneal lesions), and flushed the lacrimal duct (which weirded me out at first, because while I logically know the eye is anesthetized by drops, it is gross that I'm poking around in there. The best part was that I was shown by a fourth year how to inject drugs into the conjunctiva. I think that squees me because I can't imagine someone doing it to me, but I got a little fluid pocket in there, and it was cool.

Our rat terrier was a little squirmy, and...really gross (bad skin, horrific mouth) but I felt bad for her just the same. All the dogs today were terminal surgery dogs. Most of them you could tell were taken from puppy mills, so at least here they serve an educational purpose before they are euthanized, but I am once again wondering how I will handle terminal surgery myself next year. I want to do it because it will give me a chance to do surgeries I otherwise couldn't do until I'm actually in practice, and I've expected that it will be extremely difficult. What I'm not sure of is whether it will actually have long-term effects on my psyche.

I wrote a respectful objection to the instructor the the Behavior class in question. (Yes, in spite of the irreverence of my posts I can be respectful. :P) I'll wait and see if anything comes of it.

Grade-a-friend!

To continue the discussion of poor class structure this year, I present Item B:

We had an assignment due today in Animal Behavior. It is worth 50 points out of a total 100 points in the class. It was a behavior case work-up, fairly straight-forward. The instructor told us to exchange with our neighbor, and our grade will be determined by their critique and assignment of points. It makes perfect sense, because we are all behavior experts having taken a half semester of a course on it. Even better, we have to write up a summary of our critique, and the person whose grade we determined gets to grade our critique.

At this point I turned to Kimberly and said, "And then I get to critique your critique of my critique."

Utter insanity.

I think Christianity has been wrong all these years

Hell is a frozen wasteland.

I don't know if we've had a record number of winter storms this year, but every time we are tempted by the emergence of clear ground our hopes are walloped by another dumping of snow and ice. The most recent one was the worst: we actually had two days that were in the 40s, and it was beautiful, before the afternoon darkened and chilled and the rain came, followed by the ice and then the snow.

A couple storms ago we had a record number of cars in the ditch between Ames and Des Moines.

This morning on my way to class I thought to myself, "Ok people, I know the road is iced over, but we can probably go a little faster than twenty miles an hour." No sooner had it entered my mind than a woman driving a minivan spun off the highway going the other direction. So, I stuck with that 20 mph and was glad it wasn't me.

Spring needs to arrive soon!

I am fully aware that once the temperature gets past the lower 80s I will be whining about wanting winter back. It's not my fault my school is in a climate with vast extremes! I want to find a place to live where summer doesn't get above the 80s and the humidity is lower. I wonder where that might be.

In Honor of my new Profile Pic

Isn't this a hilarious shot of Sebastian? I think the angle makes him look like a freakishly huge cat...like real tiger-size. That was a fun study break, but now it's back to Virology on a Friday night.

In-Class Post

There's nothing like using my thousands of tuition dollars a year to play online in class rather than pay attention... In my defense, I would learn nothing by paying attention. It seems that they design vet school so that the fall semester is full of interesting classes that make you glad you're here, and the spring classes make you desperate to escape.

I added a live traffic feed to my blog last night and have discovered something very interesting! I honestly thought that two or three people read my blog because that's who comments. Apparently that is not the case. Hello Austin, Oakland, Menomonie, and Springfield!

I am starting to fret a bit about finding a summer job. I am waiting to find out about a position with Banfield (a corporate clinic) but chances are I won't be able to work in either Ankeny/Des Moines or Omaha (and live with my parents again) because you get to pick based on when you turned in your application, and not every clinic takes summer students. Along with about a gazillion other things on my plate for Spring Break is now the need to call clinics in Ankeny and Des Moines to find out if anybody wants to hire a second year vet student and pay me enough to survive for the summer. I haven't worked in a clinic since the summer of 2005, so I really need to use this summer to relearn and hone some of those basic skills before I start my fourth year rotations next summer (yikes!).

To get back to this class I'm sitting in right now (which should be done...but she's still talking), the instructor is--to put it kindly--a bit absent-minded. Case in point, we had an in-class quiz yesterday that she gave us too near the end of the hour to finish, and she allowed people to take it home! Granted, it was open-note, but how can she not be aware that there are students in our class with a slightly off-kilter moral compass who have no problem working together and making sure they have all the right answers? We always hear about how we need to follow the "honor code", but the number of people in our class that are willing to cheat is appalling. I certainly don't think we're worse than the average population of humans, but anybody who thinks we have the moral high ground doesn't realize the cliff is crumbling.

I think that at some point I need to learn how to break out of the blog template world and freebase it. It won't be anytime soon, but one of these days...

Not really new, but hey, I'm a little slow

Ok, I just watched these videos in succession and cannot stop laughing. These would be considered NSFW by a lot of people, so be warned. First, here's the video Sarah Silverman made for Jimmy Kimmel (whose show I do not actually watch, although these videos make me think perhaps I should):



In retaliation, Kimmel presented the following video. In sheer star power he wins by a landslide.



Seriously, people. Must you make me laugh this hard after eating Taco Bell late at night?

Neil Gaiman rocks my socks off

One of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, is an amazingly cool guy. I fully believe there are some authors I read who are not very pleasant people in life. Mr. Gaiman is not one of them. He held a vote and posted the book that was most voted for online free here for a month! To make things even better it is my absolute favorite book by him. In fact, if my dad hadn't "borrowed" it about a year ago--okay, I pushed it off on him to read because I love it and he liked Good Omens when I pushed that off on him before that--I would be reading it again right now (very slowly, as I have six exams in the next two weeks). Luckily, I don't have to wait to do that because I can read it on my computer in the next 30 days!


If you're always looking for a new blog to read like I am I strongly recommend the blog of the esteemed Mr. Gaiman. He posts a lot of interesting news and links, and is just an all-around fun guy to keep up with on a daily basis. :)

Spread the word!

This Book For Free is a new blog that is a win-win for everyone. The author posts books that she will ship to people for free, and all you have to do is put your name in for the books you want (and will hopefully win) and spread the word! It's a way to get new reading material and meet people from all over the world. Right now she's only posted romance novels but she said other genres are on the way. So, check it out and tell your friends!

Implicit Association Test

This is a pretty cool test about how you really feel about the presidential candidates. You can find it here.

My results didn't completely match what I expected. I had the most positive association with Clinton, which I expected. What I didn't expect was that I would have a higher positive association with Huckabee than Obama, and that McCain would be the lowest! I figured that McCain would at least be higher than Huckabee, but my mind apparently says otherwise.

Damnit

It turns out there was an opening into the pulp chamber. I already got Kaya scheduled for her root canal in Illinois the Tuesday of Spring Break. I know this would seem ridiculous to most people, but I'm taking an online Continuing Education course from Dr. Manfra (she's at the U of Illinois) so it will be fantastic to meet her and see her work, and I'm spending so much on school already what's another couple thousand in loans. Plus, Kaya will be able to show off her grillz rather than a giant hole. The biggest problem is that it takes not two, as I originally thought, but three visits. The first during Spring Break will be the root canal. Three months later they do the impression, and then any time after a week after that the crown can go on. Those next two visits will be during the summer, at least.

I'm kind of scared to tell my family. In fact, I may not. They would see this as beyond ridiculous and a waste of money. They aren't what I would call role model pet owners. They feed them and take decent care of them, but if a medical or surgical problem like this would come up they would take the cheapest route (in this case, tooth removal) because it's just a pet. But Kaya is pretty much my baby, so I'm willing to spend the money. I was just hoping I wouldn't have to.

Today's the big day

Not Valentine's Day, though it is also that. Kaya is going in to get her teeth looked at to see what our options are. I'm kind of nervous, even though this is not a risky procedure in any way. She's my baby, so I guess it's parental nerves. *g*

Of course, since she has surgery today she had to go and eat a chunk of Nylabone last night and make me worried about a GI obstruction. She's still acting normal this morning, so hopefully it was small enough to pass without a problem.

I also have a Surgery test this morning that I did not study well for. We'll see how that goes...


Edit: I am tentatively keeping my fingers crossed that things aren't as bad as they seemed. Dr. Nieves was able to pop off the slab, and she said it doesn't *look* like the fracture got into the pulp chamber. We're bringing her back in tomorrow where they're going to clean it up and do radiographs to check things out, and if it's not in the pulp chamber Dr. Nieves can just restore it (basically a filling). It's not likely to last her entire life like a crown would, but if it starts to flake off we just have to be extra-good about brushing her teeth. I will definitely take that over a crown!

Clinton and feminism

Extremely bored. Two hours of Clin Path on Thursday is waaaaaaaaay too much. I thought I would better use my time blogging.

So, this really fun blog I read, called The Book Bitches, posted about how some people accuse Hillary Clinton of setting back feminism because she stayed with Bill, and then mentioned an interesting idea (from someone else) that the slowing of the feminism movement was actually the result of women tearing down the same women they fought with for the right to improve their lives.

I completely agree with the theory. Women are the worst critics of other women. We are jealous of how other women look, what they do, what they wear; why would level of success be any different? The responses to the post had typical "I'm not a feminist, so..." and "I'm a feminist, so..." posts, and it just irked me. What is a feminist? People are so afraid of the word because they don't want to be thought of as a bra-burning ball-busting bitch. That is not what feminism is. I posted a response saying so. It will be interesting to see how/if the "I'm not a feminist" crowd responds.

525, 600 Minutes

A year ago today I made the second major decision of my life. I think I will always question whether it was the right decision. If we had held out a little longer, maybe we would have found out she didn't really have FIP but was only positive for coronavirus and had something treatable. If I had known then to pay extra to bring her to the teaching hospital for a second opinion, what might have happened? Those "ifs" will get you, especially when it's too late to do anything about it.

Here's to you, Sabriel. You were a cat without comparison, and we will be lucky if we ever have another kitty with your sweet temperament.

And now, for your viewing pleasure

I've been enjoying a new online comic. I should have been studying for Wednesday's Virology test, but instead I watched the game, am now watching House while laughing at these, and will go to bed afterwards. Here are a few of the better comics (if you click on them they open full-size):



















































And now, my all-time favorite:
























I could have died laughing at this last one. Oh, man...

And the winner is...

I feel like the world's worst dog owner. Between our small animal dentistry lecture in Surgery and the Hill's lunch lecture on dental health, I have been scared into taking better care of my animals' teeth. So, Saturday has become tooth-brushing day. I learned at the Hill's lunch that brushing once a week is pretty much worthless because plaque builds up in like hours, but it's got to be better than nothing. I can't brush their teeth every day.

Anyway, we just started last week. Yesterday was day 2. I took a closer look at Kaya's teeth yesterday, and saw something that looked like a little calculus build-up. Lo and behold, I was wrong, and she has an upper fourth premolar fracture, exactly why we've been warned against letting our pets chew on Nylabones. Our Surgery teacher said they were fine for heavy chewers, which Kaya tends to be, but the Hill's guy said you shouldn't let your dog chew on anything you can't bend over your knee. Looks like he was right. I have no idea how long it's been there.

I first cried, because this is what I do. I know it's nothing life-threatening, but I feel so guilty for not noticing it for however long it's been there. I also feel bad for letting her chew on Nylabones, although I didn't even know until recently that she shouldn't be doing that. Guilt is not a reasonable emotion, however.

Once I got over that, I emailed our Surgery instructor to find out what my options are. I pretty much need to bring her into school no matter what, because even if we go with a "simple" tooth extraction, the upper fourth premolar has three roots, and it's not an easy extraction. I would feel better having it done at the school. We do have some alternatives to discuss, which is another reason to take her to the school.

It all depends on how bad the damage is. If the fractured slab is external (not in the pulp of the tooth) they can just remove it and clean it up. If it is into the root they can do a root canal (which is really three root canals) and then put a crown on it. The root canal alone would be about $900. I don't really care about the money. I can take out a little more loan money for the semester to cover what I decide to do. I just want to do what's best for her.

I need to talk to someone about recovery from extraction vs. getting a crown. I know getting a crown requires being put under anesthesia twice--once for the root canal and impression, and once for the crown. I want to know how long a crown can be expected to last (i.e., will we be replacing it in three years). Lots of questions.

I know that at this point the fracture is no longer painful because the slab is dead, but I can't believe we wouldn't have noticed the initial pain. Which makes me wonder if it's even remotely possible this has been in existence for the almost-year we've had her. Which then leads me to wonder how we never noticed it and neither did the vet during her physicals if that is the case. *sigh* I know I need to stop beating myself up over this, because all I can do is give her the best treatment possible, but it's hard. I hold myself to a higher standard than the average pet owner, even though a lot of this stuff we are just learning for the first time.

I suppose in a way I should be glad, because if we hadn't just learned this at school, I might not have started brushing her teeth and might not have even found it until it abscessed out her nose or something awful and gross like that.

Poor Kaya.

Best use of a helicopter ever.

Poor little guy. At least it worked out all right.

Do you want to eat tortured cow?

The Humane Society released a video they shot last fall with an undercover worker showing workers mistreating downed cows. It's got some lawmakers in an uproar because of the potential of introducing disease into human food sources by slaughtering downed cows that you torture into standing (current law prohibits slaughter of cows that cannot stand on their own). I can maybe see the concern there.

My problem is the actual actions taking place. My little stint with vegetarianism didn't last more than a few months, but I still have a problem with aspects of the food animal industry. If we are going to raise animals as a food source, we have an obligation to make their lives as comfortable as possible. We are also obligated to make their death quick, as painless as possible, and not to freaking torture them! Jabbing them with prods and a forklift is torture. Better to captive bolt them on the spot and put them out of their misery.

It really is as simple as that. I don't know how a person could possibly argue otherwise.

I am "unchristian" and "unmoral"...

The following questionnaire was apparently a "science" project that a 6th grade student turned in. The teacher was very religious and accepted it. This in itself is very scary. I thought I would go ahead and answer his questions to see how moral I am.

Question: Do unchristians make less moral choices than Christians?

Hypothesis: The Bible is the perfect guide to life that shows us how to be moral people. Without believing in the Bible you can’t know God and he can’t guide you and give you rewards for being a good person. I think people who aren’t Christian will be less successful.

Experiment: I will interview thirty people and ask them if they are Christian. I will give them the same questions so I have a control sample. I think they are immoral if they score lower than 15.
Questions I will ask. There are 20 points available.

1. Have you ever spoke the name of our Lord in vain? - I use Jesus Fucking Christ pretty regularly, so yeah.
   
2. Have you ever killed another human being? - No, but there are plenty of scenarios I can imagine where I would be willing to.
3. Have you every lied? - More than I would admit to.
   
4. Have you ever had [sexual] relations before marriage? - Anybody who gets married without knowing they're going to have decent sex is asking for trouble.
   
5. Do you go to church every Sunday or once a week? - I have better things to do...like sleep.
   
6. Do you wish you had more stuff? - I have lots of "stuff" that I want. Money is the only issue.
7. Do you gossip? - I'm in vet school, which is like high school v2.0. It's all we do.
   
8. Do you give to charity? - A little, and only to organizations Christians like this kid think will burn in hell.
   
9. Do you listen to rap or heavy metal music? - I've been known to.
   
10. Have you ever had an abortion or been pro-choice? - Yes to both.
    
11. Have you ever read Harry Potter or Spiderwick Chronicles or the Golden Compass? - This has to be the best question in this "scientific" survey. Holy shit. This kid's parents are blinding him to a whole world of fiction. Yes, no, and yes.
    
12. Do you see movies with unwholesome content? - I don't watch straight-up porn, but yeah.
    
13. Do you pray every day? - I honestly can't remember the last time I prayed and meant it.
    
14. Do you believe that God is the creator of heaven and earth? - I believe it was an accidental collision of the right elements.
    
15. Are you overweight because you eat too much? - Yes, and it's because I don't believe in god.
    
16. Do you take pride in accomplishments other than service to God? - Nothing I do is in service to god, so anything I take pride in is inherently not in service to god.
    
17. Do you put God and Jesus first? -First for what? In line for picture day?
    
18. Do you view pornography? - No, but some of what I read could probably be considered porn. It's fun. You should try it sometime.
    
19. Do you practice temperance in every thing you do? - No. I in fact often act before I consider the consequences.
    
20. Are you quick to anger? - Yes, and what gets me fired up the most is belief in something intangible to the point that it shapes how you treat those who are different or don't share your beliefs.
    

Religion can be used to teach children to treat others with kindness, to accept people as they are. It can also be used to teach abominable prejudice, and that it is okay to ostracize those who do not follow your religious code. I'm cool with the former and absolutely not cool with the latter. Unfortunately, the latter are by far the more vocal majority. This poor kid is going to grow up and teach the same intolerance to his kids unless he learns to think for himself.

Blog for Choice 2008 - Why I vote Pro-Choice

Crap, I've been too busy with school again. I missed this year's Blog for Choice topic by a day, but I'm doing it anyway.

Why do I vote pro-choice?

-The only reasons to vote against it that I can see are religious or misogynistic in nature, and neither of those belongs in government (although they inarguably are).

-Sometimes women are put in a situation that, no matter how careful they are, they did not plan on. To force a woman to carry an unwanted child to term is a massive violation of individual rights.

-There are already enough unwanted children in the world.

-I myself have made the choice to have an abortion. I was 19, and I am still with the...well, sperm donor, and I was on birth control. It was not the right time in my life for that kind of responsibility (and yes, I've heard the argument that you choose to be responsible when you have sex, but let's face it...lots of people have sex who have no business being parents).

-To limit abortion rights would only create an environment for very unsafe abortions. With the current trend in sex education young women need the right to choose now more than ever. Perhaps if they were being taught safe sex procedures rather than abstinence we could limit the number of abortions needed.

I'm sure I could think of more, but I should really be using my lunch break to do something productive and school-related.

Danny Boy and Manuel

Kyle and I just got back from Des Moines where we watched an afternoon concert with Juj's Nordic choir and then ate dinner with Mom and Dad. It was such a fabulous concert I don't even know where to begin. I was enthralled from the first burgeoning chord that seemed to float upon the air. It was the first time I've been in a church since...Anna's wedding, so that was weird. I didn't burst into flames, though, so if there is a god he or she isn't as vengeful as some evangelicals would like to believe. The church had beautiful acoustics.

Juj had the solo in Copland's "In the Beginning", which chronicled the seven days of creation. First of all, I had no idea Copland had even done choral music, and secondly, it was awesome! All of his instrumental stuff has the same folksy sound, and this was great. Each day of creation had a different feel, and it was little details like when they were singing about the formation of the seas and the movement of the music felt like waves that really clinched my awe of the piece. Juj was nervous for the solo, and I knew why afterwards - it was insanely hard. She of course did an amazing job with note jumps that came out of nowhere and sounded wonderful. I didn't cry like I usually do, though, because the song was pretty upbeat and I was so nervous for her to get through it!

What did make me cry, though (and I mean tears streaming down the face) was when the choir sang Danny Boy. I never knew the lyrics before today, and it was absolutely haunting:

Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountainside.
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying.
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow,
For I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow.
Oh Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you so.

But if you come, and all the flower's are dying
And if I'm dead, as dead I might well be.
Ye'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an “Ave” there for me.
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And o'er my grave shall warmer, sweeter be,
And if you bend and tell me that you love me,
Then I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.

I'm such a pathetic softie. I just keep telling myself it's what will make me a good vet.

For dinner we ate at Macaroni Grill and had Manuel, a beautiful Puerto Rican waiter. He was pretty fun, and I wasn't paying attention when he put cheese on my meal because I was talking to dad, so he just kept piling the cheese on until dad finally said I might want to say stop, and he and Kyle talked fried plantains.

I also got a surprise late Christmas present--a GPS navigator!! It is the coolest toy ever, and super-easy to use. I will never be lost again!

Kyle and I also stopped at the double decker Barnes & Noble before heading home.

All in all, it was a totally sweet day, and it is sweeter since I don't have class tomorrow. Ciao!

Words of the day 1/18

I don't know where my dictionary.com word is, but...

MW: He resorted to a bunch of weasel words to get around the issue.

Words of the Day 1/17

I never remember the words I don't know, so maybe if I use them in a sentence here it will be easier. :)

MW: His words were perfectly crafted to scarify, making her gasp in pain.
Dictionary.com: Kate severely upbraided the young boy she caught attempting to pocket an item in her store.

In other news, we got just enough snow to be a huge pain getting to class but not enough to cancel. *sigh*

Taking over the world

The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN, appropriately enough) will be taking over the Discovery Health channel, which currently has 70 million subscribers. What a bunch of crap. I love that channel, and now it's going to be that egomaniac 24 hours a day. I'm sure Gayle will run it at least part of the time, though...

Soy cansado

Today was our first day back, and it's a good thing we weren't bombarded with studying to do already because I can barely keep my eyes open. Allowing myself to go nocturnal over break (like staying up until 5 every night) was a poor choice. I can't even bring myself to read for fun, let alone crack open a textbook. I've pretty much just been sitting here since I got home, and it is probably all I will do until I go to bed. At least tonight I'll be able to get back on a normal sleep schedule!

Kyle Perkins is a vampire

Seriously. I'm reading the seventh book in Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series (All Together Dead), and a vampire named Kyle Perkins attempted (successfully) to assassinate a key witness in a trial against the Louisiana Queen. Needless to say he was exterminated. How weird is that, though? I had to go wake Kyle up even though he has work tomorrow to show him he's an evil bloodsucker, haha.

P.S. The highlighter is strictly computer-based...I would never so desecrate a book! The horror! :P

Tears make you more real

I just watched Hillary Clinton's choked up moment on CNN. It made me like her more, because it's one of the few times she hasn't been yelling into a mike. It made her seem human. I'm sure some pundits will use it as ammunition against women in politics, though, because we are TOO EMOTIONAL.

It didn't make me like her enough to want her for the Dem nomination, though. I really like Richardson, but going for people who actually have a shot I'd have to choose Obama right now. Clinton would be my second choice. I just really want to believe that someone can be in the White House and make a positive difference.

Sunday, Games, & Bad Breath

Woke up at noon to find myself alone in bed. Kyle passed out at 6 on the couch after playing games all night. He moved into the bed and got up at 4. All in all, a typical Sunday.

Even though I haven't finished NWN2, I've started The Witcher, which is a great game. The only problem is it crashes at very inopportune moments, such as immediately after beating a difficult boss before I've had a chance to save, leading me to quit in disgust. I doubt I'll finish it before school starts.

I'm calling the vet tomorrow to talk about Loki's nasty breath. When he was teething I was willing to let it go as possibly normal, but he's done now and he has gingivitis, which isn't normal for his age. I'm not really sure what they can do--maybe swab his mouth?--but it would be nice if something could be done. It doesn't seem to bother him but it can't be healthy.

I really have nothing else to say since it's still break and I've been vegging and ignoring real life as much as possible. I will mention that I'm glad the caucus is over so I'll stop getting 5 calls a day from the Dems...until the fall, that is.