Man's Best Friend

This topic has been in the back of my mind for awhile now. I've been mulling it over thinking about if I really wanted to blarg about it, or keep it in my overflowing filing cabinet of thoughts. But, I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to share my thoughts. After all, that's what blogging is for. I'm also most likely writing about this now because I should be up cleaning and being a responsible adult. But instead, I'm parked in front of my computer drinking wine and wasting time. It's sort of my specialty.

So as many of you know, I work at a veterinary hospital. Now to the layperson a 'vet hospital' has one envisioning a little clinic where you take your puppy or kitten to get it's 'shots' or 'fixed'. And while I have worked at this type of vet clinic, my current employer is far from such. Let me elaborate a bit for you. The vet hospital I work at is a 'Specialty Practice'. We do the things your regular Vet can't or won't do: major surgeries (ie: fractures, ACL repair and other knee problems, spinal discs, and foreign bodies [your dog ate your underwear and now we need to remove them]. My job is to prepare for and assist with these surgeries. That is about it. I rarely deal with owners (clients), never answer the phone, but unfortunately still have to clean up dog poop if Brandon hasn't already taken care of that. If someone were to ask me what I liked about this job opposed to a 'regular' clinic, most likely the first thing out of my mouth would be, "I don't have to deal with clients". Now as awful as this may sound, it is true. I in NO way miss talking with the obnoxious clients out there: the know-it-all breeder, the my-dog-is-a-human person, the people with 20 dogs and no money to care for them, the woman that drags her 40 screaming brats into the clinic to get her dog vaccinated, and the list goes on. I also don't miss answering the phone. "Hi my dog just ate my whole bottle of Xanax, is that bad?" or "My dog got hit by a car a week ago and his leg is rotten and dangling, should I bring him in?" I'm sorry, but people are dumb. It's unfortunate that humans look at pet ownership as a right and not a privilege.

Now that you have read that, let me share the other side of my feelings.

Working with animals without their owners by their side definitely has its benefits. But it also starts to make one look at the animals as just a patient, and you forget about the bond that some person out there has with this dog or cat. This all sort of hit me a few weeks ago when I was taking a dog down to ICU after a surgery. In ICU there was a guy laying in the kennel with his very sick dog. The man came everyday for hours to see his dog, who I believe we sadly had to euthanize eventually . It made me really sad. I was almost mad at myself for becoming so immune to the emotional side of my job. Because I barely work with the owners of the animals, I forget how good it feels when you're returning that 3 month old puppy who broke his leg to the owner who hasn't gotten any sleep since they dropped the dog off. Their eyes watering with overwhelming joy and thanks that you were able to fix their beloved pet. That is what makes my job worth it, and how I wish I were reminded of that more often. So to my dismay, my job is not 'playing with puppies and kittens all day'. It is slowly becoming more physically and emotionally wearing.

I apologize for the melancholy undertones of this blog. It was just something I felt I needed to share, as many people have no idea what I even do for a living.

A Little Reminder

It's good to catch up with friends you haven't talked to in a long time. Recently I was talking with my fellow CAHS graduate, Brody, who I haven't been in contact with in quite awhile. His birthday was yesterday, so I IM'd him to ask how his day had gone and to bring the friendship up to speed. I had forgotten that Brody also has a blog, which I used to read quite regularly. So I updated myself with the blog, and with the help of Brody, stumbled upon a post that I myself was featured on. Oh how this little note had slipped my mind. I had completely forgot about it, and was completely reminded of what a raging dork I am. However, I did enjoy a good chuckle at myself. So have a look. Laugh at my retardedness. But also read Brody's blog. I find it quite enjoyable.

BE. It's Your World - as featured on http://brodythejet.blogspot.com

Serial about Cereal

I made a trip to my local Marsh grocer last evening to pick up a few essentials: toothpaste, cereal, and impulse candy bars. My initial intentions were to purchase but one box of breakfast grains; Lucky Charms for my gentleman friend who is an occasional inhabitant of my zoo. The downfall to purchasing Lucky Charms, is that I tend to be the one to finish off the box of sugary goodness, and quite quickly might I add. So, in an attempt to prevent this from happening I decided to additionally purchase a cereal with a healthier twist. Looking at the vast array of cereals spread before me, I decided to go with some Special K (vanilla almond to be precise). I've had it before, I like it, and it's healthy...that's what I thought anyways. I get home and as I pulled the two boxes out of the bag I took notice of the nutritional info, and low and behold; they're damn near identical (considering calories, fat and carbs). WTF? Who hasn't seen the ridiculous Special K commercials about eating the cereal and losing weight and blah blah blah? Well F that! If I'm going to get serial about cereal as part of a healthy diet, I may as well enjoy a substantial bowl of magical deliciousness. So what have I learned here? Advertising is stupid (although obviously effective), and I might not feel quite as guilty about polishing off a bowl of LC.

Can't Touch This (Ne Toucher Pas)

While casually chatting with a friend today (using my newly utilized blackberry messenger), the word 'touché' arose. While I have heard the french term used many times throughout my years, I do not feel as if I've had a complete understanding of its true meaning and history. Taking a few years of the French language in high school as well as in college, I am aware that the world 'toucher', means "to touch". But, I wanted to dig a little deeper into this schmancy little word, so of course, I turned to wikipedia. Here it is for all of you. Consider yourselves a bit more cultured for the day.

In fencing, touché (French: touched, Pronounced Too-shay) is used as an acknowledgement of a hit, called out by the fencer who is hit. A referee can call out touché to refer to a touch being called - for example, the French call for "no point" is "pas de touché" (English: no touch).

It is from the infinitive verb 'toucher' which means to touch and is changed to the past participle by removing the -er ending and adding the appropriate ending (-é).

The word touché is often used in "popular culture" and general conversation—for example, in an argument or debate. If one person presents an argument and another delivers a clever or apt response, the first person may respond with "touché" as a way of acknowledging a good response. A synonym of this word would be "Good point".

It is considered orthographically incorrect to express the feminine form of the past participle, "touchée," when speaking to a woman.

And if you were already well versed in the history of this term...I don't care. Thank youuuuu.

Blarg

So I feel like I need to post another post because my blog looks a bit lonely. I also just realized I start a lot of sentences with 'so'. I do this in verbal communication as well. I've been contemplating all day on what the subject of this post should be. Earlier I had some good leads, but now, after a 12 hour work day, I am exhausted and my brain is fried. I'm feeling very blarg now, at 7:53 p.m., drinking my chocolate milk and eating peanut butter off a spoon. More to come when I'm not feeling so consumed.

My First Blog

So, here it is, my first blog. Not quite sure how I feel about it yet. It's like a new pair of underwear (or jerps if you will). At first it's constrictive, but after a while it becomes a part of you.

Inspiration for creating a blog came from several sources:
1. Myself: hoping that in writing about random, most likely useless crap and venting on a semi-daily basis, may help relieve some stress. 2. Dr. H (a coworker of mine) who has a super cool blog of his own. He felt that creating a blog was definitely something I needed to do.
3. All the cool kids seem to be blogging these days.

So we shall see where this fresh idea takes me. Everyone is welcome, and encouraged to dive in and take a look. But reader beware: blog most likely contains purposeless and stray thoughts, ideas and personal views.