Pops in his bed at Good Mews

This is Pops. We don’t know anything about his life prior to about ten days ago, when an anonymous woman near Canton found him in her yard during the worst of our recent bitter cold spell. He was emaciated to the point of starvation, dehydrated, hypothermic, and generally in very bad shape. She brought him inside, gave him warmth, water, and food, and began searching for a place to take him.

Clearly Pops is no feral cat, but most likely someone’s long-time pet who had for some reason been left to fend for himself. He doesn’t show typical feral behavior, and his poor physical condition is evidence that he wasn’t used to surviving on his own.

Fortunately it’s been a very good adoption month at Good Mews, so we had a space for him. First, though, we got Pops to a vet, who treated the hypothermia over several days, gave him fluids and food slowly and carefully, and medically evaluated him. Tests showed that he appears to be between twelve and fifteen years of age, which makes him Good Mews’ oldest current resident. He also turns out to have hyperthyroid, which is treatable in cats just as it is in humans. His initial weight was a mere five and a quarter pounds, which is simply horrific. The pads of his feet are all torn up, and his teeth are in such bad shape that dry food is difficult for him to eat. Chances are most, if not all, of them will have to come out when he has his dental.

Pops’ age and condition make me wonder if, when his prior owner found out about the medical issue, they just chose not to deal with it, or him, at all. If that’s the case, well, there’s a special place in hell for those people.

Now that we’ve gotten Pops into the shelter, he’s slowly improving. His weight is up over six pounds already, though we can still feel every single bone in his body. He’s starting to realize that he doesn’t have to be food-aggressive, because there’s plenty there and it’s not going to run out. In fact, the challenge is to just give him small amounts at a time so he doesn’t overeat and make himself sick.

His energy level is still very low, and it’s clear he’s still got a ways to go before he’s completely recovered. He’s still not strong enough to groom himself well, so Joyce Fetterman has been working on him bit by bit getting the knots and mats out of his coat. We could shave him, I suppose, but he needs what coat he has to keep him warm. Besides, as I commented today, “leave him what little dignity he has left.”

With all he’s been through, though, he is a love! He’s been justifiably wary since he arrived, but we volunteers have been loving on him and trying to reassure him that he’s safe now, he’s cared for, and the nightmare is over. Apparently we’re getting through to him. The notes on the Cat Catalog say he loves to be held. Also, this afternoon both Joyce and I were with him at separate times, and we both heard him very quietly, tentatively purr as we cuddled and petted him.

Cats like Pops are why I make my own small contribution to the animal rescue cause.

Pops — Another Reason to Rescue is a post from: Art of the Firebird. Some Rights Reserved. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Lucky for me and everyone else, all the presenters are sharing their presentation slides at Slideshare (hashtag #wcatl). All the presentations were also taped and streamed, and are being made available online for later viewing, hurray! Plus some people took notes and have posted them online, as I will be doing for the sessions I attended over the next few days.

So what did I choose to do while there? On Friday night I:

• Listened to Alejandro Leal and Thomas Wheatley of Creative Loafing talk about the journalists’ (read: users’) perspective of using WordPress. The technogeeks in the audience weren’t too appreciative but I think it was a good perspective to hear.
• Became evangelized in the ways of SEO by Topher Kohan of CNN — thirty minutes that made the $35 registration fee seem like a bargain.
• Heard from Chaz Parizman about how Scripps Network uses WordPress to cover their “quick and dirty” “need a website THIS MINUTE” needs.

Saturday I spent my time with:

• Jane Wells of Automattic as she shared what we have to look forward to from WordPress during 2010 in her keynote address.
• Ryan Imel, who finished the job of convincing me that parent/child themes are a GOOD thing.
• Chris Scott, who told us all how we are coding things wrong and how to do it The WordPress Way (or rather the correct way regardless of platform).
• Scott Kingsley Clark, who failed to absolutely convince me that the Pods plugin is the answer to my CMS issues, though he did pique my interest enough that I will investigate further.
• Wade Kwon and audience, who all wanted to break those barriers to blogging and brainstormed some good solutions.
• Dave Coustan and his suggestions on strategies for creating quality content and not losing out to the “content farms.”
• and finally Mark Jaquith’s closing Q&A session, straight from the mouth of a WP lead developer.

The live Twitter stream (hashtag #wcatl) moved at warp speed, it seemed, and it was hard to catch all the information on it. Attendees posted a lot of good links there, and I tried to “favorite” all the good ones so I could find them later.

I feel like my poor brain is in information overload, so I just may process some of that in my next few posts here. I also have some new ideas and tasks in my head to handle in the next few days/weeks — a GOOD outcome!

The only downside for me was personal. It is always hard for me to just walk up to unknown people and start chatting thanks to my little psychological disorder combination which makes me withdraw into myself in crowds, and it was certainly true here. It seemed like people already knew each other to a large extent (how?? I don’t know.) and that made it doubly intimidating. However, that’s an incentive to try to connect with the local WordPress community before next year. If I already know people, it’s manageable. It’s only when I’m surrounded by strangers that I freeze.

WordCamp Atlanta 2010 is a post from: Art of the Firebird. Some Rights Reserved. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Chris has been chronicling his adventures with Lexie both at his own blog and on the Our Pal’s Place website and newsletter. I have followed the story with great interest, particularly when in chapter 2 a small, fearless orange and white kitten introduced himself to Lexie. Lenny, as the kitten was soon named, and Lexie have become the best of friends and live together in the Learning Center at OPP.

On Saturday, Chris and I finally meshed our schedules and Gary and I traveled to OPP to meet the pair. I freely admit I am a cat person rather than a dog person, but both dog and cat won my heart immediately. In the hour we spent there, I saw exactly what my brother has accomplished in the months he’s been working with Lexie. It’s a facet I’d not seen before of the man I still think of as my “baby brother.” Her trust in him and love for him is so clear! I also got quite a nice little introduction to the nuances of dog behavior, as well as my own share of slobbery dog kisses (something which I do NOT allow from just any dog). Of course Lenny was not omitted — he got as many rubs and ear scritches as he would permit.

Watching the two of them interact was so cute! Lexie is a good-sized and rather rambunctious dog, while Lenny is a small-to-average sized cat; yet Lenny is clearly in charge but lets Lexie THINK she is. I’m used to seeing very bonded cat pairs, but I’ve never seen a dog/cat pair quite like this.

I also could tell what a challenge Lexie has been, and still is. Given the “hard cases,” medical and behavioral, we take in at Good Mews (including this year’s socializing of three completely feral adult cats), I really applaud groups that don’t just concern themselves with the easy rescues, but are willing to work with the challenging animals as well. A dog like Lexie is well worth the effort!

Oh, and since it’s almost Christmas, don’t forget the animals — your local animal rescue group would really appreciate a gift from you. If you don’t have a favorite group of your own, you can donate to either Our Pal’s Place or Good Mews. Better yet, become a volunteer and really get involved — Chris and I will both tell you that it’s an incredible experience.

Meeting Lexie and Lenny is a post from: Art of the Firebird. Some Rights Reserved. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Dear Student,

Rest assured, the grade you saw this week on your semester grade report was the grade you EARNED in my class. Let me repeat that. I did not GIVE you that grade, you EARNED it. As far as discussing that grade with you, I do not discuss grades via email, via phone, or in any other way than in person. I will not be back in my office until the beginning of next semester’s registration, therefore I won’t be having any discussion with you until then. Not that there is really anything to discuss, mind you — the calculations don’t lie.

Furthermore, let me remind you: I am on vacation,a vacation which I have earned, in no small part thanks to you. If you continue to insist that I interrupt my vacation to deal with your dissatisfaction, I have two simple words for you. HELL. NO.

Sincerely,

Professor _________

A Followup Letter is a post from: Art of the Firebird. Some Rights Reserved. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

hello professor

this is ********** in your ********** class, according to a friend in the class that you gave back the exam 2 grades in class which i asked you for it before i left the class on monday, you told me you didnt have them graded yet and do not know when you will, may i please know my first exam grade(after corrections) and the 2nd exam grade please?
if possible, i would like to know my average up to this point before the final exam so i can estimate how much i need to get on final in order to get an A in your class, since i do not know any assignment grades after the midterm drop point. it was very hard for me with school work this semester. Regardless of my (medical condition), i kept up with the assignment due days (except ch9 hw, my (medical treatment) prevented me to do them on time).

greatly appreciated if i could get my average in the class.

Dear Student,

You are correct. Your class’s tests were not yet graded when you asked on Monday. They were graded and returned on Wednesday in class. However, you chose to not come to class on Wednesday. Your test, along with those of the other students who were not in class, is in my office.

It is Friday night, I am at home, and I am not going back to my office until Monday. I do not have a copy of my gradebook at home, nor do I memorize each student’s test grade as I enter them. Therefore, I will not be able to inform you of your grade until Monday.

As for giving you your average in the class, there is no such thing as an “average” in my classes. Your grade is calculated with a rather complex formula which weights assignments, tests, and the final exam differently, and at this point would only tell you your grade for the class if you made a zero on the final.

Rather than worry about “how much you need to get on the final,” I suggest you worry about making sure you have completely mastered the material that will be on the final exam. That way, you can ensure that if it is mathematically possible for you to earn a grade of 90 or above in the class, you will do so.

Sincerely,

Your Professor

My Latest Special Snowflake is a post from: Art of the Firebird. Some Rights Reserved. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.