links for 2006-09-30

links for 2006-09-29

Upcoming events

(For some reason, this didn’t post when it was scheduled to, so a couple of the items are out-of-date. Sorry about that.)

A few items of regional (well, varying regions) interest I wanted to note:

  • (Portland, OR) The Herbistore is having its grand opening on September 30th. If you’re within a 15 hour drive, I expect you to go there. I, of course, am much further away, but my spirit will be seen floating around issue 12 of the magazine.
  • (Loudoun County, VA) A new vegetarian society is forming for the area, which is great because it means that I won’t have to do it (I was kicking the idea around for a while). E-mail vegeats -at- gmaildotcom if you’re interested.
  • (Salem, OR) Lighthouse Sanctuary is having their 4th annual Wine and Music at the Farm event on September 30th from 4-7pm. So maybe go there and then drive to Portland?
  • (VA, MD, DC) Poplar Spring Sanctuary is having their Ninth Annual Open House and Fundraiser on October 8th from 1-4pm. This is their big event of the year and always has great food, speakers (this year it’s the PCRM’s Jonathan Balcombe, author of Pleasurable Kingdom, which will be reviewed here very shortly), and music. Plus, I’ll be there. Isn’t that incentive enough, really?
  • (Woodstock, NY) On October 1st, Woodstock Sanctuary will have an interesting event, a Tibetan Buddhist Blessing of the Animals. Sounds neat.

If this type of stuff interests you, let me know and I’ll do more periodic postings of similar items.

Ending the hiatus

Let me officially break out of my hiatus by first thanking everyone who’s sent in kind words about the new addition to our family. She was born on the 16th and is doing great (as is mom, though she’s still doing some recovering). I’m really loving this fatherhood thing so far.

A few thoughts that struck me during those days at the birthing inn:

  • I feel really sorry for any vegan that finds themselves in a hospital. They can do vegetarian meals pretty easily on request (like veggie burgers) but I suspect that a vegan meal would be pretty tricky to obtain. My guess is that they might be able to accomodate you if you let them know a few weeks in advance, but often one doesn’t know exactly when they’ll be checking in.
  • We received so, so many freebees to take home for the baby. Everything from diapers (which we used) to formula (which we donated). One, though, kind of stuck out. It was a postcard-sized coupon for Chik-Fil-A that had a picture of a baby on the front and says something along the lines of, “Her first word will be ‘chicken.’” and then it has the standard annoying “Eat Mor Chiken”-sign holding cows on the back. The coupon was for a free chicken sandwich. I said to my wife, “Yeah. Her first word will be chicken, but it’ll be while she’s petting one.”
  • One of our attendants looked like Jessie Spanno from Saved By the Bell. But her name was “Kelly.” How odd.

links for 2006-09-27

links for 2006-09-16

Downtime

So, after eight days of no new content, did any of you suspect the worst when you hit the site yesterday and got an error?

Apparently, a comment spammer DOS‘ed us which killed Movable Type and caused my host to disable the site. I swear, I’d forego my vegetarianism for a meal if I could eat a meal of deep fried comment spammers. They’re a scourge and have done the same thing to two other sites of mine in the past. It’s a waste of my time and resources.

Anyway, the site’s back and I’ll have some new content for you soon. I’m trying to get on a more normal writing schedule. Thanks for bearing with me.

(BTW — no baby yet. Soon!)

links for 2006-09-06

Escaping dogs

I’m not sure, but I think the animals in my neighborhood have been conspiring on Dogster to escape their homes.

It started about two weeks ago when I saw a nearby dog named Bandit wandering around. Fortunately, he let me come right up to him and put a leash on him. He was also wearing a tag, which made it easy to get in touch with his caretaker, who didn’t even realize he had escaped. (Here’s a shot of us hanging out before we could get in touch.) “Bandit never does this,” he told me. “If he gets out of the backyard, he usually just sits on the front step.”

A week later, Bandit escaped again. This time my sister saw him and returned him home (no one was even home at his house at the time).

Last night, I was walking Amina and an tiny, older mutt was loose. I found out where he lived even though he only had a non-identifying rabies tag on. The woman there had no idea he had even gotten out. “He’s never done this before,” she told me. I nodded and suggested she consider getting him an ID tag, just in case.

This morning, for the first time in the 16 months she’s lived with us, Amina forced her way past me and bolted out the front door. I freaked out and yelled to her, which only made her keep running. So I took a deep breath and slowly followed. She had already gotten halfway down the block and visions of her getting hit by a car or running where I couldn’t find her had already entered my head. I kneeled down and called to her and offered her a treat (which I didn’t really have) and she came back, thankfully. But it’s really weird, because it’s totally against her normal personality to do something like that.

So, dogs, if any of you are reading this (including you, miss Amina!), cut it out. Stop running away.