Posts

Showing posts from December, 2008

Wanted: WHOA-KTD Newsletter Compiler

I'm looking for a volunteer to put together a weekly newsletter for my organization, WHOA-KTD (Kids/Teen Division). It consists of news stories from the previous weeks with the title, link and first paragraph or two of the story. I would like the newsletter to focus on news stories involving kids/teens online, such as cyberbullying, predators, Myspace, Youtube incidents, etc. It would look similar to the newsletter I currently put together for WHOA, the adult arm of our organization (you can see past newsletters on my blog). If you're interested and you are 18 years of age or older, email me at whoa@haltabuse.org or reply to me here. Jayne A. Hitchcock President WHOA & WHOA-KTD haltabuse.org haltabusektd.org

Bandit Has a New Sister

Image
Bandit has not been taking Guin's death well. We have had to sit up with him some nights and he's just been sleeping in his dog bed all the time, only getting up when we make him to eat and go to the bathroom. I told Chris we should get another Shiba and at first Chris didn't want to. He really got attached to Guin in the short time he knew her. But when Bandit was obviously grieving, he agreed. I looked at Shiba Rescue to find an adult female - no puppies, please. She also could not be white (that was Chris' one stipulation) and she needed to be fixed and up to date with shots. No luck on the Shiba front, so I began looking at shelters in NH and Maine. We even started looking at Huskies (which are a bit bigger than a Shiba, but not too big). I finally found a Husky on Craigslist. She was 2 years old, fixed, shots done and in NH. Bonus! Turns out her foster mom, Angie, and dad own a bunch of Huskies that they race - I checked out their web site and these people are *se

WHOA Newsletter - December 15, 2008

I couldn't make this up if I tried. . .It was only a matter of time Zzz-mail: What happens when sleepwalkers go online http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ics/howaboutthat/3743289/Zzz-mail-What-h appens-when-sleepwalkers-go-online.html Doctors have reported the first ever case of someone using the internet while asleep, after a sleeping woman sent emails to people asking them over for drinks and caviar. It was only when a would-be guest phoned the next day to accept, that she found out what she had done. The 44-year-old woman, whose case is reported by researchers from the University of Toledo in the latest edition of medical journal Sleep Medicine, had gone to bed at around 10pm, but got up two hours later and walked to the next room. (read the rest at the link) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit WHOA on the web at http://www.haltabuse.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NEWS TO USE AND

Ice, Ice Baby

We've been looking to adopt another Shiba, only because Bandit really misses Guin. One night we both stayed up with him until he fell asleep because he was howling, then whimpering. If I went into my office downstairs, he'd bark until I came back up. I tried bringing him down here, but he prefers being upstairs. So I talked to him and explained that I had to do my work and I would come up as much as I could. I swear that dog was a human in another life. He settled down and hasn't barked since. We thought we'd almost found a Shiba - a family about an hour away have to give their 8 year old female up due to foreclosure on their house and the new place won't let them have their dog. But turns out she doesn't get a long well with other dogs. So we're still looking. Then Thursday night, at about 130 in the morning (actually Friday morning), the electricity went out. I noticed because our humidifier in the bedroom stopped working. I listened. The wind howled. It w

WHOA Newsletter - December 8, 2008

WHOA Newsletter December 8, 2008 I couldn't make this up if I tried. . .Don't people have better things to do than this? NYC man says he's circumcised, online story wrong http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081208/ap_ on_fe_st/odd_i_m_circumcised;_ylt=ArhM5o M6KsTvVJ1o7Aonw2AsQE4F A New York City man is suing a Jewish research group for libel, claiming it posted a story online with his photo that erroneously said he was not circumcised. John Singer says he was circumcised as an infant. His lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from the Central Europe Center for Research & Documentation and its Centropa.org Web site, which have main offices in Atlanta and in Vienna, Austria. Singer, 49, says his mother was quoted in an interview for a Centropa article saying her sons weren't circumcised, which would violate Jewish law. He says he warned Centropa director Edward Serotta the statement was wrong before the article was published in October. He says Centropa humiliated him. Serotta

Bandit Has A Girlfriend

Image
I kept meaning to write about this months ago, but something or the other kept coming up. My sister had a first generation Roomba in her basement that she gave to me in August. We named him Fred. He did a good job (we have hardwood floors) and I wanted to put him in my new office downstairs and get a newer Roomba for upstairs. So I hunted on eBay until I found one fairly inexpensively - it was a former demo model from a Sharper Image store. It's the 560 model and although it has a few scratches, it works really well and I got a helluva deal on it. When the battery had been charged, we turned it on (nicknamed Ginger - get it?) and let her go. I wish I could get it to do the R2D2 humming while it cleaned, ha ha. Well, Bandit was lying on the floor and Ginger bumped into him. He kind of sat up, but let her vacuum his, ahem, nether regions, and he appeared to like it. We both started laughing. After that first time (and remember, Bandit is blind as a bat), Bandit would go over to where

More things that stick in my craw

The way things are going, this may become a weekly post! Twilight - The Movie, based on the insanely popular book by Stephanie Meyers. I have two complaints about this. Number one: I am in the middle of the third novel in the series right now, so I was excited about the movie coming out and planned on seeing it. Then I read an interview with Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward, the "heartthrob" vampire in the movie, who falls in love with the lead female character, Bella. I thought he was an okay pick for the role (not a favorite, like many fans wanted), but after reading the article, I was disgusted. He's only 22 years old and he's already a terror on the set. Although the producer tried to be nice in the article, you could tell he was driving everyone crazy with his "method" acting. I have no desire to pay money to go see it in the theatre. I'll wait until it hits Redbox for $1 rental on DVD. Number two: Geez, women, get a grip. If I mention I'm rea

Guin Is Gone - RIP

Image
Many of you knew that Guin, my white Shiba, was not doing well just over a month ago. She seemed to bounce back, especially when Chris removed a tick he found on her. Last week she started going downhill. Not sleeping at night, roaming the living room (we had to put child gates up to keep her in there), yelping when she had to go out to pee. She would sleep for an hour or so and we took turns sleeping in the living room to be with her. The lack of sleep was affecting both of us. She seemed to be a bit better when we picked up Chris' daughter, C, for Thanksgiving, but last Friday I took her to the vet. He prescribed Valium to help her sleep and while we talked, she had a mild seizure. He looked at me and said, "It's not today, but it will be soon." I knew he meant to put her down. Took her home, and although the Valium let her sleep a little better, it was still only two hours at a time. On Saturday night, I picked her up, laid down on the couch and held her against m

WHOA Newsletter - December 2, 2008

WHO@ Newsletter December 2, 2008 I couldn't make this up if I tried. . .Oh, pooh! Ill. zoo creates ornaments from reindeer droppings http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081128/ap_on_fe_st/odd_reindeer_ornaments;_ylt=AlqwmwWAjzJuFKiaKv3L0mTtiBIF The Christmas ornaments for sale at the Miller Park Zoo's gift shop are partly manufactured by reindeer. Honest! Staffers make decorations out of droppings from the zoo's two reindeer, Ealu and Rika. The droppings are dried, then clear-coated and either painted or rolled in glitter. Zoo marketing director Susie Ohley has named the products "magical reindeer gem ornaments," and each comes with a label of authenticity. They cost $5 at the zoo gift shop. Staffer Katie Buydos, who makes jewelry as a hobby, donated wire and beads, saying, "Susie asked me to bring some creativity to the table." Some folks are surprised at the size of the "gems," which are only about as big as marbles. "Reindeer are so big,"