Who Needs Role Models?

I’ve had this theme for around two years now. And I’ve been working on a new WP theme for a client and it’s gotten me all interested in building themes again. And then I mentioned this to Mark and he said he wants me to build a custom theme for his new site Tech for Anyone. If I were smart I would go about this redesign like I tell all my readers on About.com: cautiously and with care. But knowing me, I’ll probably just start designing sometime later tonight while watching some random show on Netflix. At least right now I’m watching a show about a vet in Africa, rather than British murder mysteries, so any theme I build will probably be more animal focused and less dripping blood and dead bodies.

A few weeks ago I decided (for some crazy reason) to show solidarity to my brother by giving up caffeine. He was giving up a daily mocha fix and I felt I would give up my multiple cans of Diet Coke per day. This decision was incredibly hard. I spent a lot of time taking Advil and wondering why I was doing this. This wasn’t helped by my friends who constantly posted messages to me about the benefits of coffee, how coffee was good for you, and that a little caffeine really wasn’t that bad. Of course, I wasn’t drinking coffee. And no one was sending me messages about the hidden miraculous powers of Diet Coke. In fact, I got told about “that woman in Australia” who died from drinking too much Diet Coke. I think the person who first told me that story was also telling me I was crazy for giving up caffeine and sending me stories about coffee saving a baby from a well and how coffee makes you thinner and makes bathing suits look good on you. Aside: did you know that people can SEE you in your swimming suit, even when you’re under water? I think I’m going to start swimming in mud pits rather than YMCA pools. Well, it’s been four weeks, and except for half a can the first week, I haven’t had any coffee or Diet Coke in that entire time. Go me! The headaches stopped after about one week. The cravings took a lot longer. There are still days where I pass a 7/11 and think “I could just get a small Big Gulp.” Aside: does it make me old if I admit that I remember when a Big Gulp was the large size drink at 7/11? These days, it’s the smallest. That shocked me. But most of the time these days, I can look at a Diet Coke logo and not dream of gulping down all 12 ounces in 15 seconds of pure carbonated bliss. Okay, maybe not most of the time, but perhaps half the time. OK, maybe not half the time, but sometimes! Perhaps I should stop storing the case of Diet Coke on the kitchen counter? [caption id=“attachment_734” align=“aligncenter” width=“320”] The case of Diet Coke is now a stuff pile.[/caption]

Our fence was crushed in several places today when one of the big trees next door decided to end its vertical existence. No animals, children, or adults were harmed in the creation of these photos. But there was a lot of adrenaline spewing about. [caption id=“attachment_704” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] fence #1 taken out by the base of the tree[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_706” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] middle of the tree took out the fence on the other side of the pasture[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_705” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] The top of the tree takes out the playset[/caption]

Today I read an excellent article on the state of the pet rescue industry—Who Killed These Dogs? on Dog Star Daily. This article hit many of the points that I have felt about the rescue environment these days. In 2000 when I adopted my family’s first dog, we walked into the local shelter, found a batch of puppies, played with two of them, and then took one home. Shasta was the most amazing dog. [caption id=“attachment_21” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”] Shasta[/caption] In 2005 when I adopted my family’s second dog, we went online and found a border collie puppy available from a local rescue. We set up an appointment, met the puppy, set up another appointment a day or two later for a home visit (for them to see our house and approve it), and a couple days later we got McKinley. Kinley is another great dog. In 2011 I started looking for another dog. I knew I wanted a larger breed dog, but all the online rescues seemed to have were chihuahua and pug breeds, plus some pit bull mixes. I have a kid, so the dog had to be either young or confirmed child friendly. But the fact that I had a kid under the age of 12 got my applications automatically rejected by several of the rescues I contacted. I found a gorgeous looking Pyr-cross that was listed at a Seattle rescue. But we couldn’t actually meet her, because well, she was listed in Seattle, but she was being fostered in Southern Oregon, and no, I couldn’t drive 10+ hours one-way just to meet a dog (not to take her home, that would require a second trip, after another home visit). [caption id=“attachment_698” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”] McKinley, considering herding someone[/caption] I am a writer so I don’t have a lot of money, but nearly all of the rescues I could find were rescuing the “un-savable”. These are the dogs that need $$$$ in vet bills right after you walk out the door with them. Yes, it’s sad, and yes, the rescues are honest about it. But frankly, I can’t afford health care for myself, so rescuing a dog that needs a mortgage payment in vet bills right after we walk out the door (never mind the often huge “adoption” fees…) was not going to happen either. I felt extremely fortunate when in 2012 I walked into a pet store to buy food for our existing pets and happened upon a rescue event with some Aussie/Husky puppies. They had a girl puppy, she was reasonably friendly, bright eyed and seemed healthy and happy. I put down a deposit on her and called my husband and son to come down and see if they liked her. They did, so we bought/adopted her. Was she from a puppy mill? I don’t think so, but I don’t know. Did I buy her from a rescue? Well, they told me that’s what they did, but I wasn’t put on a mailing list nor have the solicited donations from me every week since I brought Storm home, so I suspect that it was really the pet store just calling it a rescue. Do I feel bad that I didn’t instead save one of the million pit bull/chihuahua crosses with heart defects that will kill them in three weeks if they don’t get a daily dose of $50 per pill medicine and an annoying habit of biting anyone that comes near them? No. Okay maybe sometimes, for the cute ones. [caption id=“attachment_595” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”] My youngest dog, Stormageddon[/caption] In Washington state, where I live, there are very few (if any) publicly run shelters. But there are at least 10 dog rescue organizations in my rural area. And most of them get their dogs, not from local people having puppies and not knowing what to do with them, but by calling shelters in California and adopting, en masse, every dog that is going to be put down in the next week/month. Then they blanket the internet and the local media with pleas for foster and “forever” families to come forward and take on these animals. These pleas are accompanied by a cute photo of the “death row dogs” and minimal information about them other than “the shelter people really loved her” or “she growls a little at other dogs and really only likes women, but I’m sure there’s a perfect home for her somewhere.” Stop making me feel guilty because I want a dog that will work with my family, rather than the random sick drop-kick dogs you are trying to hawk.

I posted a review of one of the O’Reilly Head First books today. Like all the other HF books, it is quirky and fun and fairly easy to read.

[caption id=“attachment_693” align=“aligncenter” width=“180”] Head First Web Design
Image courtesy O’Reilly[/caption]

But as I was skimming it in my final scan before writing up my review, I realized one thing that startled me:

There was only one woman photo in the entire book (okay, perhaps there were two…).

Today is the last day of the Great Online Marketing Scavenger Hunt, and I’m partly relieved and partly sad. I’m relieved because DANG! it was a lot of work! But I’m also pleased because I met some great people. I’m hoping I can keep up with them. I met Rie Sheridan Rose The Barnaby Poet, who wrote a guest post on my Bloggers Create! site: It’s a Great Time to Be a Writer. She was very inspiring to me because of all that she’s accomplished, both in her life and in the hunt. [caption id=“attachment_688” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”] My Amazon review of How to Twitter[/caption] Another person I met was Stacey Meyers. She wrote a great book for people who don’t know how to use Twitter called How to Twitter: Getting Started with 30 Daily Doables. This was also inspiring to me as I’m working on a couple ebooks but I have yet to be willing to release them on Amazon. It was wonderful to get the chance to see another hunter’s efforts in that area. I really think this hunt has helped me in a lot of ways. I even got a guest post proposal accepted by Firepole Marketing! I’m so glad I did this, even though now I’m really tired.

According to Komo News weather:

This time, we’ll be dealing with scattered heavy showers with possible thunderstorms and – get this – maybe even some thunder*snow* in the Puget Sound Convergence Zone areas.

And for those playing along at home, yes, I live in the “Puget Sound Convergence Zone.” I’ve always thought of it as the “zone of wacky weather” myself, but I guess the official name is better. [caption id=“attachment_680” align=“aligncenter” width=“168”] Screen shot courtesy ThunderCats Lair[/caption] Thundersnow! I’m so excited. Nearly in time for Jaryth’s birthday. We had to drive through light snow when I went into labor. Good times! But there was no thundersnow. I’m stoked!

[caption id=“attachment_673” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”] Don’t put that on me, dude[/caption] I’ve started doing the Firepole Marketing Great Online Marketing Scavenger Hunt. And it’s been a lot of fun. The first week I was very focused on it, but the second week I realized that I needed to do some other, actual, work. The great thing about this is that I’m getting practice at doing things to help my site(s) get better and better. For example, the above photo I took of my dogs, McKinley and Stormageddon. They were offended that most captioned photos on the interwebz are of cats. So they wanted to pose for a picture too. But posing for a picture while wearing a fire hat, not so thrilling. I took one of Auto too:

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the 80s—big hair, power ballads, CDs, Miami Vice, break dancing, lingerie as outer wear (okay, maybe not that last one). But one thing that I don’t miss is the idea that the only place you can do work in a corporate environment is in an office. Saying that you “work from home” was equivalent to saying you were unemployed and preferred to sit around at home watching soaps, eating bon-bons, and generally slacking. This attitude persisted into the 90s, perpetuated by people like my dad (love ya Dad!) who believed that it was impossible to “work” from home. (Quote marks his.) But in the companies I worked for in the 90s, only one didn’t allow work at home, and that was because of the job, not just categorically. And at my last job in the 90s and 2000s, I not only worked from home 100% of the time, but I also managed a team of between 7 and 10 people, all of whom worked from home at least every once in a while. Rather than sacrificing “speed and quality” as Yahoo! CEO Marisa Mayer  implies happens (read the memo at All Things D) when employees work from home, my team was extremely effective, had regular meetings where we had strong communication and collaboration. In fact, my team worked with people in Europe, India, China, Japan, Brazil, and North America on both coasts, and it was possible because we could wake up at 2am, stumble to the phone, and be on a call in our pajamas. If I were expected to come into the office to be on that call, I wouldn’t be on the call, and neither would any of my team (except someone who worked out of the office where that was business hours).

I’ve always felt that life is never dull, but sometimes I help it along a little too much. What’s funny to me is that over-scheduling seems almost natural, but these days my idea of over-scheduling is much less rigorous than it used to be. I used to schedule myself with 60+ hours of stuff to do in a week. “Sleep is for the weak” was my motto. These days, I like to sleep. I think having a kid helped me realize how much I like to sleep, since he does his best to deprive me of it. Jaryth believes that mornings start sometime between 4 and 6am. I instituted the rule of no TV before 7am and no video games before 8am. This kept the sound down a little until he started watching “The Tigger Movie.” That movie is evil. Evil, I tell you! Firstly, there’s the theme–where Tigger no longer wants to be “the only one” and wants to find his family. Finding his family is fine, but why does that mean he can’t still be special? But what’s really bad is the bouncy song. Jaryth likes to imitate it. He bounces off the walls–yes, he slams himself into the walls and bounces off of them. We got an exercise trampoline which he likes to use to start his super-dooper-alley-ooper bounce on. And since you’re crashing into things you have to make the crashing noises at the same time. Luckily he hasn’t tried bouncing off of sleeping (attempting to) mommy. But that’s not why I’m busy. Some of the things I’m doing right now include: