Sunday, April 3, 2011

A Novel Concept: Service Rats

On April Fools Day I was reading the free local newspaper Metro and it mentioned something very interesting and cute.  I don't believe it was a joke however. It was about how rats (looked more benign to me - like a cute little mouse) could be used as service animals too. LOL.

Seriously. It seems that the little critter is of use to the woman mentioned in the article (which I lost so I can't even check if it included her name) as a way to tell ahead of time if she is going to have a seizure.

When I first saw the picture - complete with the small rat wearing a little version of one of those "don't touch me, I'm a service animal" vests - I thought the service an animal as small as a rat/mouse (tiny little guy) could perform would be smelling for a on-coming diabetic coma but ...

... the story said it was for seizures. Cool or what. What just absolutely "made" the story was the adorable picture of him in his "work clothes". LOL. Can you imagine running into someone with one in your daily travels? That would be the day to have a camera/camera phone on you for sure!

Carmen

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Back To Work

Yesterday I talked about NaBloPoMo and how I was going to try it this month. I also committed to posting daily without backdating. Well, there is one exception to that. It won't affect honestly posting every day.

What happened is for April 1 anyway and possibly like the previous 2 months (when it was easier because I was backdating) I may post on a 2 a day schedule on 1 week followed by a 1 a day schedule for the next week and then repeat.

Because I am using library computers while my computer is being fixed I did my post yesterday before signing up for NaBloPoMo so if there were any problems with the sign up I would still get my post done on time, which I did (the NaBloPoMo post).

However, in my hurry to get done before my library time was up and ideally get officially signed up (you can do that for the first few days after the month starts - you just have to have been posting on time beforehand) I neglected to notice the second post for the day which I actually wanted to post ahead of it (the Look It's A Squirrel - April Fools post).

Since I did have one done I think I'm ok. in my books doing this and really that's all that counts in a "non-official month. Now on to the topic at hand. Since I had to go to Best Buy with the computer yesterday (and again today as it turned out) I didn't get to go to Xentel to re-apply like I had planned to at the very beginning of the month.

Therefore, I have decided to go on the first Monday of April (the 4th) which is exactly one week before my 42.5 birthday (I celebrate half year birthdays at "critical junctures"). The 42.5 birthday being a critical one because it means I am 1/4 of the way through my 40's and heading into my 50's. Yikes. Hopefully that will be a good omen for applying.

Jatin did say I should come back and apply and that he would hire me back. It seems odd that I would need to officially re-apply but then again maybe not. Actually it does. Why not just fill out the legal paperwork and leave it at that if he was definitely going to hire me again as he seemed to say. So hopefully it is a sure thing like I was lead to believe.

If not then I will try the Heart & Stroke Fund like Debbie suggested although that is only short-term. I also met another old Xentel worker, Tim on the bus from Best Buy today (he lives in the area, one that I would never otherwise be in). He told me to try Regional Maple Leaf when I told him I wanted a central location. I think he thinks I'm nuts going back to Xentel considering the pay, etc. but he never actually said it. LOL.

So basically I'm saying here that hopefully in the next few days I will be working again. So I'd just like to ask you all to cross your fingers for me as I spent a bit of money on the computer (it was a warrantied problem but I needed anti-virus protection renewed).

Carmen

Friday, April 1, 2011

NaBloPoMo

A while back I talked about something called NaNoWriMo which stands for National Novel Writing Month. I found out about it, as I probably already mentioned, through reading someone else's (I forget whose) blog.
Well, not only is there a NaNoWriMo but there is also something patterned on it that deals solely with blogs that is called NaBloPoMo or National Blog Posting Month.
Like NaNoWriMo the "official" month for doing it is November. Unlike NaNoWriMo though NaBloPoMo does unofficial months all the rest of the year.
Also different is the NaBloPoMo, perhaps to differentiate the official and the unofficial months gives actual prizes that it solicits from the public during the official month.
NaNoWriMo simply (but still a nice thing to get for "bragging rights") gives a certificate if you reach the word limit and do it in the time limit (including submitting it on time).
I decided to try out NaBloPoMo on the very next full month after finding out about it (sometime in mid-March). So today is the day to start.
Oddly enough, NaNoWriMo does have one thing other than it's official month of November and that is a script writing month that it later started that starts in, yes, April.
So perhaps that is a good omen for my trying NaBloPoMo for the first time this month. On the negative side of things, my computer broke two nights ago and is in for repairs with The Geek Squad.
Therefore, it will take a level of commitment to follow the only rules to NaBloPoMo, which is to write a blog every single day, on the exact day (ie. no backdating), for the month.
This will be a challenge for the first week or so of the month since my computer went in for repairs/cleaning today and won't be back for about a week. Till then, it's going to be daily trips to the public library.
Also, weekends count to in this contest so there will be no slacking off on Saturdays and Sundays. Wish me luck on this as I can be lazy and the trips to the library might be a bit of a nuisance.
Carmen

Update: I dropped out after about one day! So much for my level of committment being up to using the library daily. LOL. I guess I'll wait for next month or maybe even wait till November.

Look, It's A Squirrel!

April Fools Day.