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Last Few Days
Life is sort of returning to normal, for certain values of normal. I still haven't managed to get back into the (Clark's Closing)-minus-two-hours-until-they-kick-me-out thing, but I'm working on it. Otherwise we're sort of back on some sort of schedule. At least until next week.
Andy is going to Seattle next week. It had been proposed he go a few weeks ago, then his manager ran some numbers and found out she couldn't send him. Another manager decided he really wanted Andy along and used his budget. When she heard this, Andy's boss' reaction was "I foresee a trip to Elliot Bay in your future". Oh yes, she has Andy pegged.
I may finally get around to working on my gaming journal. Meanwhile, I'm playing an online game as well. We decided to see if I could handle FFXI as an extra character on Andy's account. If so, I'll create a real one and be able to play with him in parties. I'm leaning toward creating; it isn't as bad so far as I had feared. I quit even trying to play video games back in the Atari days when I realized that games like Frogger and Q-Bert were causing some blackout spells of sorts.
I hate politics. Some may question this, given my nearly rabid responses to a lot of the stuff going on in DC. The thing is, I pay more attention to national politics the more the politicians scare me, which is why I'm hanging onto every move by the beloved US Governor. I also admit that I tried to play politics on various Pern-themed games, but I failed miserably because my idea of subtlety is wrapping a lemon around the gold brick first. But more than any of those I hate the politics which occur closer to home and hurt others in so many ways.
Case in point: I have been volunteering for PACA for just under a year. In that time, the leadership has gone through at least two radical changes and possibly more. I'm still the person who comes in and pets the cats, at least when KC is open. I like some of those involved in the politics a lot and I dislike some of them. Two of them, however, recently gave me reason to loathe them outright.
After the two board members resigned (one tried to rescind the resignation but PACA by-laws have no rules about it, so it was refused) they reported the two most dedicated fosterers to animal services and also reported a ton of PACA cats as unlicensed which, I suppose, is technically true. I believe, however, that as a non-profit rescue organization, PACA doesn't need to license them. That's for their future owners to do. Even so, it's causing Monica a ton of grief.
Another tangent about politics: Albuquerque Animal Services may as well be called Albuquerque Animal Slaughterers. Between January and August of 2003 they had already euthanized close to 10,000 animals. A woman who ran a successful breed rescue took over for the handsome salary of $1.00 per year -- eg, she was willing to volunteer if it could save more animals. It turns out that she couldn't do anything; the workers at the pounds had a union and didn't want to change anything if it meant they might actually have to care/work (Me? Bitter? Whodathunkit?). So the upshot is, owner-surrendered animals are still euthanized immediately; none of the volunteer Animal services executive's ideas have been put into play, and any adult cat who so much as looks at an employee wrong is considered feral and put down immediately, unless nursing kittens. Then they wait a week or two before killing her.
So, Monica was lucky and had just done a major housecleaning before the Animal Services inspector showed up unannounced. After talking with him and explaining the politics, she passed. Myrtice (who fostered Sasha) wasn't so lucky. I'm not sure how long it is, but she only has a limited time to find homes for the cats before Animal Services, in the name of treating the animals humanely, takes them all away and puts them down in their shiny pristine back room. Or whatever.
As I said, I hate politics overall, and generally I avoid taking sides. These two former board members, however, were so vindictive that they are willing to sacrifice the lives of the animals whom they allegedly cared enough about to volunteer their time on the board for. On top of that, it's the middle of kitten season, so adults have even a less chance of being adopted at least until the overwhelmingly cute kittens have outgrown their irresistible charm. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of hell the former board members deserve; I forget what level Dante assigned traitors to.
However, there is a point to all of this ranting. Currently KC is basically Myrtice-land, as are all of the adoption clinics. All of the other fosterers are full up, so we have to adopt her kitties out. After discussing it with Andy, he gave his blessing for me to bring home Sean. Sean is an orange tabby of indeterminate age. When he was turned in a few months ago he was presented as full-grown, but his foster mom (Jackie) had serious doubts and has given him a guesstimate birth date of March 17th, 2004. Andy and I feel he's probably closer to seven months old.
He and Heidi hit it off almost immediately; the reason I wanted to bring him was threefold: he wouldn't compete with the older cats who need to find homes; he was at most a year younger than Heidi and probably closer in age than that; and he was one of those kitties who immediately grabbed my heart... sort of like Thena, Gail, Heidi, and Gigi (the little white poofball who was adopted this past fall or winter, I forget which). After about half an hour on day zero Heidi was hissing half-heartedly, but by day three they were sharing a bed and Heidi was grooming him. Since they're playing with each other Heidi is no longer so demanding of my attention, which is a relief.
Sean is not our new kitty. Andy isn't sure he's the one; Sean didn't grab his heart the way he grabbed mine. He may grow on Andy the way many of the PACA cats who didn't immediately grab my heart have grown on me (Dr Z, Captain, Sylvester). If so, we will do something I never would have considered before volunteering for PACA; adopt a male cat. If it happens Andy will also for once not be outnumbered by females. If it doesn't work out, however, I meet wonderful kitties on a regular basis and we will find our next daughter or son eventually. Any which way, for the time being Sean will probably be showing up in many of my posts.
Andy is going to Seattle next week. It had been proposed he go a few weeks ago, then his manager ran some numbers and found out she couldn't send him. Another manager decided he really wanted Andy along and used his budget. When she heard this, Andy's boss' reaction was "I foresee a trip to Elliot Bay in your future". Oh yes, she has Andy pegged.
I may finally get around to working on my gaming journal. Meanwhile, I'm playing an online game as well. We decided to see if I could handle FFXI as an extra character on Andy's account. If so, I'll create a real one and be able to play with him in parties. I'm leaning toward creating; it isn't as bad so far as I had feared. I quit even trying to play video games back in the Atari days when I realized that games like Frogger and Q-Bert were causing some blackout spells of sorts.
I hate politics. Some may question this, given my nearly rabid responses to a lot of the stuff going on in DC. The thing is, I pay more attention to national politics the more the politicians scare me, which is why I'm hanging onto every move by the beloved US Governor. I also admit that I tried to play politics on various Pern-themed games, but I failed miserably because my idea of subtlety is wrapping a lemon around the gold brick first. But more than any of those I hate the politics which occur closer to home and hurt others in so many ways.
Case in point: I have been volunteering for PACA for just under a year. In that time, the leadership has gone through at least two radical changes and possibly more. I'm still the person who comes in and pets the cats, at least when KC is open. I like some of those involved in the politics a lot and I dislike some of them. Two of them, however, recently gave me reason to loathe them outright.
After the two board members resigned (one tried to rescind the resignation but PACA by-laws have no rules about it, so it was refused) they reported the two most dedicated fosterers to animal services and also reported a ton of PACA cats as unlicensed which, I suppose, is technically true. I believe, however, that as a non-profit rescue organization, PACA doesn't need to license them. That's for their future owners to do. Even so, it's causing Monica a ton of grief.
Another tangent about politics: Albuquerque Animal Services may as well be called Albuquerque Animal Slaughterers. Between January and August of 2003 they had already euthanized close to 10,000 animals. A woman who ran a successful breed rescue took over for the handsome salary of $1.00 per year -- eg, she was willing to volunteer if it could save more animals. It turns out that she couldn't do anything; the workers at the pounds had a union and didn't want to change anything if it meant they might actually have to care/work (Me? Bitter? Whodathunkit?). So the upshot is, owner-surrendered animals are still euthanized immediately; none of the volunteer Animal services executive's ideas have been put into play, and any adult cat who so much as looks at an employee wrong is considered feral and put down immediately, unless nursing kittens. Then they wait a week or two before killing her.
So, Monica was lucky and had just done a major housecleaning before the Animal Services inspector showed up unannounced. After talking with him and explaining the politics, she passed. Myrtice (who fostered Sasha) wasn't so lucky. I'm not sure how long it is, but she only has a limited time to find homes for the cats before Animal Services, in the name of treating the animals humanely, takes them all away and puts them down in their shiny pristine back room. Or whatever.
As I said, I hate politics overall, and generally I avoid taking sides. These two former board members, however, were so vindictive that they are willing to sacrifice the lives of the animals whom they allegedly cared enough about to volunteer their time on the board for. On top of that, it's the middle of kitten season, so adults have even a less chance of being adopted at least until the overwhelmingly cute kittens have outgrown their irresistible charm. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of hell the former board members deserve; I forget what level Dante assigned traitors to.
However, there is a point to all of this ranting. Currently KC is basically Myrtice-land, as are all of the adoption clinics. All of the other fosterers are full up, so we have to adopt her kitties out. After discussing it with Andy, he gave his blessing for me to bring home Sean. Sean is an orange tabby of indeterminate age. When he was turned in a few months ago he was presented as full-grown, but his foster mom (Jackie) had serious doubts and has given him a guesstimate birth date of March 17th, 2004. Andy and I feel he's probably closer to seven months old.
He and Heidi hit it off almost immediately; the reason I wanted to bring him was threefold: he wouldn't compete with the older cats who need to find homes; he was at most a year younger than Heidi and probably closer in age than that; and he was one of those kitties who immediately grabbed my heart... sort of like Thena, Gail, Heidi, and Gigi (the little white poofball who was adopted this past fall or winter, I forget which). After about half an hour on day zero Heidi was hissing half-heartedly, but by day three they were sharing a bed and Heidi was grooming him. Since they're playing with each other Heidi is no longer so demanding of my attention, which is a relief.
Sean is not our new kitty. Andy isn't sure he's the one; Sean didn't grab his heart the way he grabbed mine. He may grow on Andy the way many of the PACA cats who didn't immediately grab my heart have grown on me (Dr Z, Captain, Sylvester). If so, we will do something I never would have considered before volunteering for PACA; adopt a male cat. If it happens Andy will also for once not be outnumbered by females. If it doesn't work out, however, I meet wonderful kitties on a regular basis and we will find our next daughter or son eventually. Any which way, for the time being Sean will probably be showing up in many of my posts.