How Often?

How often could you say that the place where you work is the focus of a series on a major cable network?

Starting right after the New Year, the National Geographic Channel will begin airing the first of several episodes of a show named, 'Dogtown.'

The show centers around the lives of many dogs who come through the area at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary known as Dogtown. Most of the dogs featured in the show, are just like most of the animals we see. Sick, injured, very unfriendly or all of the above.

Even though Jaime and I don't actually work with the animals, we know most of the people in the show, and you will get a great look (it will be shown in HD) at the place that we call our "job."

For a sneak peek at the show, please click here. A short commercial preceeds the actual clip.

The first episode is January 4th at 9pm Eastern.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

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Politics (just once!)

I know I really shouldn't get into politics here. I won't do it often, because I just won't be so inclined. But one the by-products of illness (see below), is that I am not sleeping. So, a politics post it is.

I bought Barack Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, on a recent business trip. I am not done with it, but I really have a hell of a lot of respect for this politician.

Ick. Never thought I would say that.

Honestly though, watch one of the debates for the 2008 race. I double dare you. Either side. You will flip the channel at the end and have absolutely no idea what any of them stand for, who they are, or what kind of President they would be.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Barack could change the system. What he proposes in the book is what America's democracy used to be. A system that works for all Americans regardless of the size of your bank account. He shares some endearing stories about helping the people of Illinois while he was a state lawmaker. He also shares some terribly depressing stories about the failures of the system at the federal level.

I have said for the long time, there are two things that will change the political system for the better. Term limits, and campaign finance reform. The first being the most important. But how can we honestly believe that those that are currently reaping the benefits of the broken system, take those benefits away from themselves?

I don't really know who I will tell Jaime to vote for (I am still a citizen of the UK). Like I say, I like Barack, but I don't believe he can win. Hillary is an incredibly divisive human being. Guliani just stated that water boarding might be a good option (once in a decade). Huckabee as late as 1992 suggested that those infected with HIV be somehow quarantined (he defends it by saying we didn't know much about it then, but the CDC knew it wasn't contagious in the mid-80's). John Edwards is like the glitter of Presidential campaigns, you just can't get rid of him. Ron Paul, now here is a guy that I actually dare say I agree with on a couple of things. His libertarian ideals are interesting, he is just bat-shiat crazy. Romney, Kucinich, Dodd, Richardson, McCain, Thompson. Who cares. All bought and paid for.

Whatever, I think I am pretty representative when I say this. Wake me up when it's over and we have invaded Iran, and gas hits 5 bucks a gallon.

Sick....AGAIN.

I am SO tired of this! I have been sick more since I moved to Kanab than ever before!

This time I had been gone 2 of 5 weeks for work, lots of flying, and just lots of work. It was in the mid and upper 70's in Atlanta, and then I came back here to 20's? I am pretty sure that didn't help. Stress from having to take part in a skit for the annual all-staff meeting for Best Friends? Yeah, pretty sure that didn't help. Christmas party the day after that? Definately sure that didn't help.

This time it's a new sickness. Started out with a nasty sinus thing, which then moved to a gnarly cough chest thing. All wrapped up with a nagging low-grade fever.

Yay me!

God I Hate Blogger

I will try to fix those photos later.

Sorry

Willie (the real story)

Ok, well I guess I said in the last post that we had blogged about Willie before. Jaime informs me that I was wrong (something she does A LOT).

So anyway, from the beginning. I was assigned to run the campaign for the piece of legislation we are hoping to get passed in Georgia. We don't do a lot of legislation at Best Friends (there are others doing it, and doing it well), but this is something that is important to an Attorney that works for us, so here we are. I am actually really glad to be doing it. Even though it has been a long time since Georgia was my home, I still feel pretty connected to the place. So to be able to work on things in Georgia that I am passionate about is like double the fun.

SO.....we get the campaign going, figuring things out, and before we know it one of the founders of Best Friends says he thinks he can get Willie to help us out. Francis has spent a good part of the lsat few years focused on the Los Angeles programs we have, including hob nobbing with the rich and famous at our annual Lint Roller Party. So no surprise he knows a guy like that. Different skills I guess (I mean, I got married at the Governor's Mansion, but I don't know Willie).

The deal was set that we (the video folks and I) would meet Willie before his show at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, pop onto the bus, and have him record several public service announcements.

Luckily we arranged that Jaime could also come, and my boss and her husband came along. What we wanted I think was that we could all squeeze onto the bus, but the thing, although nice, was just a luxury coach. Not the biggest of aisles etc.

Here is my wonderful wife in front of his airbrushed custom tour bus....



Please note (if you can see it), the horse art on the side of the bus. Willie has fought for the horses for a long time.

So the actual shoot was really hurried. We had enough time because Willie nailed each take, but there was not a lot of time for chit chat. You know, I think everyone would have their idea of what it would be like to sit down and just chat with him if you know what I mean. Alas, we did not get that, but before we knew it, it was time for him to go on!

We to be honest did not have enough fancy armbands for everyone, so we were unsure of exactly how it would go. Actually we thought that ony some of us would get in! But again, before we knew it, one of his security guys said, "if you're gonna watch the show from backstage you gotta go now." So we all follow and get put just to the right of willie, right off the stage!

Sorry about these photos, they really are bad. Our camera was not so good considering the guy was like 10 feet away....


At points during the show he would tie on one of his many bandanas, wear it for a song, and then throw it into the crowd.



I mean the guy played for like two hours straight. For sure Jaime and felt like true VIP's!

Also, we didn't realize this at the time, but we were also backstage with a personal friend of Willie's who is also a legend.


Don't know if you can see the sliver of face off to the left, but that is Don Cherry. He was a 50's crooner who was most famous for his song Band of Gold. He is also famous for being the only person to have a top ten hit, and finish in the top ten in the US Open of golf in the same year.


So anyway, sorry for the long post, but it really was pretty damn cool!

As I said in the previous post the PSA is now out, and getting media play all over the place.

Willie Nelson!!

We've chatted about Willie before on this humble little blog. I have been working my little tail off this weekend along with many of my colleagues to get this together! The Atlanta Journal Constitution ran with the story on the 23rd, and then the story hit the AP wire which meant outlets across the country from CNN to Rolling Stone picked up the story!

Here is the video, please watch it and go to You Tube to favorably rate and comment on it!

Our first turkey free Thanksgiving (am I a tree hugger?)

The minute we began work for Best Friends Animal Society we gave up meat. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I mean how could I on one hand work for an organization that promotes "kindness to animals" and then slap a big steak on the grill?

Since then I have really enjoyed not eating meat. I feel A LOT healthier, and I think I have lost weight (by doing nothing else except giving up meat). We occasionally eat fish, and to be honest eating out can be hard so sometimes the choices are very limited (for example my family took me to a chicken restaurant called Roasters last week).

Anyway we went off to St. George this weekend to buy supplies for T-giving. Jaime's parents are coming down and Jen and Daron and Jen's parents will also be coming over. We have the tofurkey's and I really am anxious to try it.

One thing I never want to be is preachy. I feel like we all have our own personal convictions in life, and who am I to say what someone should or should not believe in? I mean we should all feel for and advocate for companion animals....who couldn't love a dog? But I suppose there are those people who see turkeys as just dumb animals who don't feel like other animals. That's fine but I would have to disagree.


This is Luna

We will be adopting turkey's for our families this year. The Farm Sanctuary provides a great program to care for those birds that have been lucky enough to be rescued from breeding facilities and slaughter houses. You can even choose which bird you would like to adopt.

Oh I should also mention that my father now believes I am a tree hugger.

I guess I am.

A long week...

I was in Atlanta all week for work. It was a really good trip in terms of work as we now can start formulating plans to get the campaign for SB 16 going. The amount of work is starting to dawn on me and it will be a huge undertaking, but I think we can really do some good.

I flew Spirit Airlines which is a super cheap-o airline where literally nothing is included. Want a coke? Pay two bucks. Not even a barf bag available should you need one.

Doing the cheap-o airline was good because it saved money but the times of the flights were terrible! I had to fly back late last night not landing in Vegas until midnight. Once I grabbed my bag, made my way to the car it was almost 1am, which is 2am Utah time. Three and a half hours back it was close to 6am by the time I rolled in.

Once I got out of Vegas and the highway was dark it started to get a little scary. I got almost no sleep on the flight back and I could feel myself getting drowsy. Once I hti Mesquite I realized I needed to so something to wake up. I stopped at a gas station and grabbed a mtn. dew. Still feeling tired I thought I would go blow the 20 bucks I had in my wallet (thinking a nasty loud casino might just get me going)



So I ended up at the Virgin River Casino and in front of a Monoply 2 cent machine. Honestly in two minutes I won 200 bucks! Quickly cashed out and made my way home. That's one way to wake up!!

Who Says Mormons Don't Have a Sense of Humor?

So I went for the obligatory female checkup today, and I had to chuckle. In a town (entire county even!) that is purportedly over 80% Mormon, on the ceiling above the examination table (positioned so that the patient would have a perfect view lying horizontally from said table) was this poster:

I am not a crazy huge fan of Orlando Bloom, although I have certainly seen less appealing images. I, for one would have preferred something with a vista or mountain scene (a setting sun in the Cook Islands perhaps?) But I still had to laugh. At times this place is so surreally serendipitous.

That's Life.......(and radio)

I wasn't happy at my previous job. It was a whole host of reasons, and I think really I just needed a change from radio. That being said there were certainly other factors about the situation at that time that just made my workplace an uncomfortable place to be.

I wasn't the only one that felt that way, others also did not like the environment and made their decisions to leave. In fact it was enough of the original team that people would mention to me that the show just wasn't the same. Now it really won't be the same.

The show's host, Michael Castner, of E! and KFI fame was fired yesterday I guess. The show from inception had been funded seperately by a generous grant from the board. Now that money was up, and they said that the show needed to make its own money and survive. The "official" word is that it was budget reasons that he was let go. I will say one thing, the show won't be the same without him. No matter what happened he was good at what he did.

Apparently though, he doesn't have any love for me....

Check out Frost's blog at the City Weekly....

Root Canal Day!

Everyone rejoice! The root canal is over.

And yes, it was horrible.

Just for reference I thought I would show these lovely things.



Those are apparently known as root canal files. So after they whack out a big hole in the tooth, they measure just to see how far they gotta dig in. Then they go in with those medieval looking shards of metal and pull out the nervy bit (I should have been a dentist).

I made the mistake during the procedure of opening my eyes. Not something I normally do, and now I remember why. I look up and see one of those files in the dentists hand. Maybe it was just the moment but I swear to god it was an inch long. Oh I should also mention that the novacaine wasn't working so well so when he was shoving a file down in two of the canals it hurt like a mother fu&$#%.

Health Insurance

Happy Halloween! We survived 3 mos without insurance! Woohoo! After 2 bouts of the flu and a root canal later, we are now once again insured. I'm actually not sure whether I should high five someone or crawl into a hole. Because of the new coverage I now have to make an obligatory appointment for the gynecologist and have a yearly physical. Trick or treat!

Tomorrow is Jon's dreaded root canal. I hope for his sake he gets the gas.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Gross. That's about all I can say for the last few days.

Friday morning I woke up for work, and Jaime is always gone by the time I wake up. This time she was still in the bed.

"Bug, WAKE UP, you are late!" I say.

"Not going, I am sick," she says.

Unbeknownst to me, my wife was up all night with it coming out of all places. Not good.

Later that day she is checking in with a 103.1 fever. Honestly I thought I had gotten away with it. I went out Friday night, felt fine all day Saturday. We got some pizza and I still felt ok. Until about 8 o'clock Saturday night.

Same thing almost to a tee Jaime had. I think the only difference is that she had a higher temprature, but I threw up more. Really a pretty nasty thing. Today my fever has broken, but I still feel like I have been hit by a truck. Soreness from the upchucking, my head is pounding. Ick.

I am alive (I think)...

The last three months of my life have been consumed by the Las Vegas Super Adoption event.

IT IS NOW OVER!

An insane amount of stress, but 332 animals with new homes.

It was an interesting week. I got to Vegas on Wednesday of last week, driving in with a toothache. Not uncommon especially in that area of my mouth because my sinus cavity apparently sits very low on that top row of teeth. So for them to hurt when I am congested is no big deal. But this is one toothache that would not go away. It just got worse, and worse and I actually thought at moments I was going to pass out from the pain.

Going to the dentist at any time is not fun, but going in a town you don't know very well is definitely not fun. So I opened the phone book and found someone who would see me.

The place was actually really nice, and the Dentist seemed competent. By this time the whole side of my head was in pain so I could not answer the question of which tooth was hurting. They ALL hurt. So he picked up the air blower and blew cold air on each tooth. As he hit the one I started to cry. He then says he thinks he knows which one is the problem, and grabs a can of liquid ice, and hits that same tooth. I then really start to cry. I chose the temporary fix which was 200 bucks, but not the full root canal I need. The appointment for that is now a week from today.

But it is good to be home, and it feels good to have helped put together a really successful event.

Happy Birthday! And by the way, Southern California is on Fire

Got a surprise phone call yesterday morning. Apparently no network staff was available to cover the usual beats, and the devastating fires in So. California needed some attention. The result is my first front page network article. Not really that big a deal in the scheme of things, but a slightly different endeavor for yours truly. I actually enjoyed it, and while it's missing some elements (like an interview with anyone??) we were in a flurry at the time to get something, anything posted that it ended up very simple and to the point. Not to mention every agency or person I attempted to call yesterday was (not surprisingly) already out in the field.

Tonight we went to dinner at the Rocking V to celebrate Jon's birthday. We love Victor's place. If you come and visit us we will take you there. The food is great for Kanab, and desserts are even better. We shared the hummus appetizer, and I had the rissoto cakes; Jon the Rocking V shrimp. Of course we had to have wine, and for dessert I had the key lime pie, Jon the bread pudding. Their bread pudding with whiskey sauce is just about Jon's favorite food on the planet. Is this guy British or something?

No Place Like Home

Well, to start off this was a monumental trip to Las Vegas. I did not have one sip of alcohol, nor did I gamble one cent. But I digress.

I have giant blisters on my feet, a sunburned face, aches and pains, stupid tan lines, (burn lines, really) and could take a week to recover. But what a success. Three hundred and thirty one dogs and cats went home this weekend. Almost 100 animals from the Las Vegas shelter (whose time had run out if you get my drift) were adopted out. There were about a dozen or so dogs from the shelter that did not find homes by 4:00 yesterday. But between Best Friends and group Adopt A Rescue Pet of Las Vegas, those that were left behind were taken in, so that they, too will have the chance to find a forever home.

Read about the course of events on Saturday and also Sunday.

This event has been a long time coming; much of Jon’s time at home and work has been consumed with the organization and logistics planning. My role this weekend was Dog Tent Captain, which was a lot of long hours and hard work with animals, volunteers and potential adopters. We are very excited to have a mellow week as we celebrate Jon’s birthday Wednesday, and a (hopefully) quiet weekend home with all our babies.

I didn't want to forget about Jon's exciting visit to the 24 hour dentist on Thursday night. It's exciting for several reasons. For starters, he was in excruciating pain from a toothache, although the dentist was able to patch him up temporarily. The real exciting part is that he was informed that he needs a root canal, which is probably around $1500 and we do not yet have dental insurance. Super exciting.

I got in late last night and Jon arrived home this AM. When I was dropped off after 11:00 last night Kona & Moki were so excited to see me that they jumped on the back of the couch in the front window and ripped down the curtains -- rods and everything.

More later as we decompress from the eventful weekend.

Gobble Gobble

I felt compelled to write about the turkeys. First off, check out Ted Brewer's article here. These guys are gigantic, and so majestic. There's a flock of them that have been hanging outside my office window for a few weeks now. As Ted's article references, they really do soar down to lower canyon from the ridge up here. I saw it for my own eyes about a month ago. It's quite the spectacle.

And now a word from our sponsor. Actually, I won't get on my soapbox about how we really shouldn't be factory farming them for consumption on Thanksgiving. Or how we really shouldn't be factory farming anything but I have been enjoying the company of these guys too much to cause harm to one. So while, at this juncture, I choose not to proselytize about a cruelty free Thanksgiving, I will constructively suggest an alternative. Tofurkey, anyone?

What Happens in Vegas...well, who really cares? I'm tired of Vegas!

I am beat and the party hasn’t even begun. Not even close.

First of all, get acquainted with our event this weekend. Yep, that’s right, Super Adoption heads to Vegas. Jon left this afternoon with a truck full of nonsense, and Jen & I will leave Friday morning with a van full of nonsense. The fun begins Friday afternoon when we set up, then continues early Saturday. That is when the fun really begins. For starters, they made yours truly a dog tent captain. Yep, I return to my volunteer roots, which is a double edged sword of sorts. After all of the years of establishing myself as a capable person they decided to put me in charge of something. Sort of.

Frankly I don’t care what I’m doing as long as I’m getting a walkie talkie. Except I found out there are rules against goofing around on the walkies, so we’ll have to devise some code words. Either that or I need to get a life.

Since becoming a vegetarian again, I have given up eating meat, wearing or purchasing things made of leather, and using metaphoric expressions such as the well known but particularly vile “running around like a chicken with its head cut off”. And while I don’t condone using such expressions, or eating chickens for that matter, I will say it does rather aptly describe the state in which I and the fellow staff will likely be by the time Saturday morning hits.

I think I’m getting a cold. Actually, in all seriousness I had a few good sneezes this afternoon and my throat is starting to hurt. Feeling a little feverish, too. Oh, the good news is I completed the Pet First Aid & CPR class this morning. Amid all the chaos, and as I retire to a warm bath, I wonder, where the hell did I put the echinacea?

The Laziest Blog Ever

Check out the Tiger Salamander we found in our window well. It was SO cool. But you don't have to take my word for it. Check out Daron's entry from Septemer 25th.