So before I left for Nicaragua, I wanted to make sure I got my shelter drive-by done and set in honor of our Shelter Appreciation Week Blog Hop. If you missed the post talking about why we are doing it, click here- please consider featuring your own local shelter this week so Blog Paws can make a $2000 donation! Get your posts done this week and then join the Blog Hop! The whole point of the shelter drive by is to keep it simple. Simple is doable and unobtrusive and repeatable. I brought a ... Read more »
Helen Woodward
The start of a beautiful conference
When Mike Arms asked me to speak at the first ACES International Conference here in San Diego last weekend, of course I said yes. One, I always like the opportunity to get to speak about social media, one of my favorite topics. Two, I was honored by the invitation to contribute to a really exciting endeavor. And three, well, I really just wanted to go to the conference. Helen Woodward Animal Center has been running ACES conferences for years, a series of lectures designed to help shelters and ... Read more »
Surf Dog Take 2: NO ONE KILL THE POWER AGAIN OK?
A refresher, if you haven't memorized all the details of my life, and I hope you haven't: Last year, Brody was scheduled to surf in the Helen Woodward Surf Dog Surf-a-thon. We had lessons. We had a board. And, of course, we had Evan the Surf Instructor: Who is probably blissfully unaware of his cult status in the pet blogging world. But I digress. At the very same moment we were out practicing our wave technique, someone, somwhere, hit a button they weren't supposed to and some Very ... Read more »
And they call it Puppy Love
Ah, New York. Land of frigid temperatures and, well, that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far. I have only one goal over the next two days, and that is to figure out how to get to Madison Square Garden from my hotel and maybe see some dogs. The rest is just gravy. Yesterday was fun. I woke up at 6 to take Brody to the Helen Woodward Puppy Love 5K, and about 5 minutes after I left the house it started drizzling. 5 minutes after that, it was pouring. Now, I looked up the weather report that morning ... Read more »
Like Mike
Remember those "Like Mike" commercials with Michael Jordan? They were cute enough, I suppose, but the idolatry of sports figures never really went over well in my head. Every time I saw that commercial or one like it, I would scratch my head, think about all the people I knew who had done so many more extraordinary things, and wonder how come he gets to be the hero of so many hearts. Now that I have kids, it's even worse. I want them to admire innovators, humanitarians, advocates; scholars ... Read more »
Blackout
When the power went kablooey on Thursday, I figured the most lasting effect would be a resurgence of interest in knowing where we kept the spare batteries. It's never that simple, is it? Well, first of all, the local sewage treatment facility dumped 3.5 million gallons into the ocean, shutting down the beach and delaying the Surf Dog-a-thon to a day we absolutely, positively cannot make. Brody and I are so, so sad about that. Worse things have happened, of course, but we're still ... Read more »
Wordless Wednesday: That’s the Spot
A small and adorable puppy up for adoption wanders the carpet at the Helen Woodward Animal Center Spring Fling on June 4, 2011. This is the one I wanted to put in my purse and take home. :) ... Read more »
Let’s Go Surfin Now
When I was eight years old, we moved from Massachusetts to San Clemente, California. If you don't know San Clemente, it is pretty much archetypal beach bum heaven. Perpetual sun, wide sandy beaches, and the smell of the salty ocean air at every turn. I hated it. Me, with my East Coast sensibility and hatred of the feeling of sand in between my toes, wanted nothing to do with the SoCal beach scene and couldn't wait to escape from lala land back to the land of autumn leaves, icy roads, and ... Read more »
Hope Telethon
First things first: At 1 am I went to random.org and determined the winner of the Joy Pet Products Original Goose Down Coat: Summer Thomas and her pittie Joy! Congratulations! For everyone who did not win, Patti over at Joy Pet Products wanted to give you a special discount so that even if you didn't win, you could still score on a coat if you were one of the many little pups that I now imagine shivering out in the cold. They are offering 25% off an original Goose Down coat from now until ... Read more »
I survived another Mike Arms letter
Who dares to enter the Chamber of Secrets not once, but twice? I am clearly insane. I just back from reading a letter on the Helen Woodward Animal Center annual telethon, which although is technically not related to the blogathon was such a good cause I couldn't say no. I think my husband recorded the telethon so I will try and figure out a way if we can get a copy of the letter reading (not that I want to see it myself). They actually misplaced the letter temporarily so I was sitting ... Read more »
Telethon is on!
I am about to go live on the air in San Diego and read a letter in support of the Helen Woodward telethon. It's not the same letter as the last one, it's a different letter. My emotions are already on overload from the blogathon so you can trust me that any sort of teariness will be genuine. It's easy to get me going. Which is why I am grateful I never had brothers growing up. So hopefully I can make it through the entire thing this time, and not make a total idiot of myself in front of Diane ... Read more »
Happy surprises: Part Two
I don't know how happy I will be come 10:30 or so, but through a very happy coincidence the Helen Woodward Animal Center is having their annual telethon the same day as the blogathon. Crazy, huh? And they asked me to come read a letter on air to start things off. Now, I'm older and wiser than I was back in September. I realize the shiny happy portion of the program is being saved for the miracle twin foals and Diane Keaton and that my work is probably going to be a bit grimmer. I ... Read more »
Lions and spiders and bears…
After my post about spiders last week, Marcie from Helen Woodward Animal Center reminded me that their Fall Harvest Tour was happening this weekend. I remembered seeing the haunted house as it was being set up on my tour with Mike Arms a few weeks ago, and I was really excited about getting a chance to take my kids. Like everywhere, we have our usual assortment of pumpkin patches, hay rides (but in San Diego, that translates to a ride on a tractor around a cement parking lot) and the like, ... Read more »
Genesis
When we last left this topic... I wrote to Mike Arms after the whole 'terror at the podium' thing, to ask him for his ideas about how we bloggers could help in the bigger picture to improve animal welfare. He was gracious enough to invite me to Helen Woodward for a tour, and then he got me lunch AND a drink. I mention that last part only because some of you were keeping tabs, so I had to make sure I let you all know he kept his word. ;) I didn't have to read the letter again, though he did ... Read more »
Rules of Engagement: Sit in the back
I'm back from my second BlogPaws conference, exhausted but happy at the prospect of yet another fantastic success. I think everyone had a wonderful time (Kate's attempt to sneak a bottle of wine into the Saturday event and subsequently getting busted by a beverage services manager who takes his job EXTREMELY seriously notwithstanding.) To do the conference justice in one post would be impossible. To do it in three or four would still be paltry. However, if for no reason other than I promised ... Read more »
