Gone To The Dogs

End of the Line

2006-05-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

It should come as no surprise that I've decided to end my story here. It's harder to find the time to post, and even harder to find the motivation for it. Thank you all for sharing my adventures of being a new, small-business owner. It's been interesting - and FUN!!

Another Day in Paradise

2006-04-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

After a long day of doing nothing but eating, reading and sleeping, I guess I can muster up the energy to post:-) Let's face it, when you're on vacation, you shouldn't feel pressure to do anything, right? Well, so far, it's working! I should be working on the Furfection newsletter, but I can't focus on work stuff right now.

Mr. Furfection and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary with a trip to Maui. I don't think either of us has ever fallen into "vacation mode" so easily. Could be because we aren't having to get up to let the dogs out, or getting up to let them in, or feeding them, or feeding the cats, or scooping the litter box, or walking the dogs, or fighting traffic to get anywhere...well, you get the picture.

After a long-delayed spring with record-setting rainfall in California, it's great to be where it's sunny and warm. It's rained a bit the past couple of days, but only for a few minutes.

Poor Casey didn't eat for almost 2 days after we left home. Even tho his favorite "auntie" is caring for the furkids, he was still too depressed. Fortunately, hunger got the best of him and he started eating. Who knew we had such a "sensitive" dog/child??

Furfection orders are still coming in as I sit here in paradise. I immediately email the customer to let them know I'm out of town and will ship their order first thing next Monday. It would be GREAT to go home to a whole stack of 'em!

Oh, bummer...I've run out of energy for typing already;-) To be continued...

Blonde Genius

2006-04-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

The respiratory infection is gone. No more coughing. 90 percent of my voice is back. Woo-hoo!! Hope I never have that again!!

Busy week, but mostly spent on the phone with tech support at Palm. I decided to downsize my Palm because the one I had when I worked at X Company was overkill. I don't need a camera; I don't need an MP3 player; I just needed an address book and calendar. I found a "basic" Palm at Office Depot, called Z22. It weighs nothing, which is exactly what I wanted. (I downsized purses, too. Smaller is better these days.)

Got the Palm home, tried to install the software, but the CD wouldn't open. Poop. I tried for over on hour, using every backdoor method I could think of, but that sucker was NOT going to install anything. Next morning I called Palm tech support. After suggesting that I try everything I had already tried, Mr. Loser Tech Support told me to take it back to the store and get a new one. I asked why he couldn't just send me a new CD, and he said that if the CD was defective, the Palm probably was, too. Huh? How stupid is THAT?

Took it back and exchanged it the next day, got it home, tried to install the software, and had the exact same problem: The CD would not open. Poop. Again I tried everything I knew to get it open, but nothing worked. I went to the Palm discussion forums and discovered MANY people had the problem, and they'd been charged $20 by Palm for new disks. Sorry, ain't hap'n'.

I called tech support again, and a very nice lady tried to help me install the CD. We worked for over an hour, and nothing worked. While we trying different tricks, I asked if she had any idea about the number of posts on Palm's website about this issue. She sighed and said, "Yes, I'm aware. We're putting the finishing touches on a solution, but it's not ready yet. Finally she said she was escalating my problem to an engineer. They would call me the next day at 3, after they'd had a chance to recreate the problem.

They actually called at 3:30, but at least they called. Another 45 minutes on the phone, trying all kinds of workarounds, to no avail. Finally Ms. Tech Support said she wanted to try something on her own computer to see if it would work. When she was finished, she'd call me back. In the interim, the blonde brain started crackling. I didn't need EVERYTHING on the CD. I could download the actual software from the Palm website. What I couldn't get was the application that allowed me to sync my Palm with Outlook. Hmmm...

So Ms. Tech Support called back and said she had bad news; her idea hadn't worked. So I asked her a few questions....

Me: I still have my CD from my old Palm. Couldn't I download what I needed from that??

She: Well, you could, but it's outdated and probably won't work.

Me: It couldn't hurt anything to try, right?

She: No, it couldn't hurt.

Me: OK, I'm gonna try it. Wanna call me back in half an hour to see if it works?

She: No, I'd rather stay on the phone while you try. I'm really curious about this.

Me: OK.

So I dug through all my application CDs to find what I needed. (Why do I keep old CDs? Why am I afraid to throw them out??? Question for next therapy visit.) I found the disk, found the file I needed, and I installed it. Ms. Tech Support asked if she could put me on hold for a minute, which was OK. While she was gone, I installed the application I needed, held my breath while I tried to sync the Palm and the computer, and OMG it worked!!!!!!! Smiling all the while, I configured the Palm with my preferences, etc.

Ms. Tech Support came back on the line and asked what had happened.

Me: It worked. I'm all synced and I'm a very happy camper:-)

She: WHAT????? ARE YOU KIDDING???

Me: Nope. It really does work. All the info is now on my Palm, and it looks great.

She: I can't believe this. Do you have any idea what you've done?

Me: I synced my Palm???

She: No! You've just solved a major problem. Do you know how many people need this??

Me: Well, after visiting the discussion forums, I have a pretty good idea.

She: This is great! I can't thank you enough!

Me: Well, thank YOU for hanging in there with me, trying to solve this issue.

OK, so I'm a blonde genius. I can live with that;-)

Sounds of Silence

2006-03-25T15:30:00.000-08:00

Can you say, "Week from hell"?? I just had one. Unfortunately, it's not over yet. Last Wednesday, I woke up with no voice and a terrible sore throat. (Yes, I'm sure Mr. Furfection was pleased about my silence, although I didn't ask him.) I called my internist to see if she could get me in that day to rule out strep. Sorry (even though I've been her patient for over 10 years), she couldn't fit me in. Her receptionist suggested I go to Urgent Care.

Next, I called my Gyn., who is also in internist. Their office is closed on Wednesdays. Damn. So I drove myself to Urgent Care, where I was told the wait would be one hour and 45 minutes. Uh... I don't think so. Then I remembered I also have an ear, nose and throat specialist. Duh. I called from the Urgent Care lobby and was told to come right in.

Mr. ENT diagnosed me with having a viral respiratory infection. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done for it, except to take antibiotics to prevent a secondary infection, and for me not to try to talk. I have knee implants in both knees, and I have to make sure an infection never gets the chance to set itself up in those implants. If it did, my titanium knees would have to come out, and I would have to lie in a hospital bed with an IV antibiotic until the infection cleared, then the implants would have to go back in. In a few words: It ain't gonna happen. I'd rather have a root canal without anesthesia than to have that surgery again. (According to James Frey, it's doable;-)

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I've had no voice. Today is only slightly better, but hey, it's an improvement! I still don't feel up to running any marathons. But then, I never did.

I've learned the boys do NOT like it when I whisper. I asked Bono if he wanted to go outside, and he looked at me like, "Not with you, lady!!" then he ran upstairs to Mr. Furfection. So much for loyalty:-/

Yesterday, I received a FedEx package from my last employer. It seems a laptop containing all the employees' 401K info was stolen, so they wanted to make me aware. Gee thanks. I called Equifax and put a fraud alert on both my and Mr. Furfection's credit reports. It lasts 90 days, and they will automatically pass the info to the other two reporting agencies.

No sooner had I taken care of that, I got an email from the phone company, saying my monthly bill was ready to view. Hello?? $375 for one month?? I don't think so. I was charged almost $275 for a 90-minute call to my sis in Tasmania, even tho I have an international calling plan. So I called AT&TSBCAT&T (they've changed names so many times, even they don't know who they are) and explained the problem. (Try doing that with no voice. It's quite the trick.) They had no record of my having the international plan until they looked way back into my account. The rep was nice enough, and he reversed over $250 of the charges.

Most of yesterday afternoon was spent moving all the Ask the Vet questions and answers to the new pages that contain a search engine. Visitors will be able to type in a keyword to check for any existing info in the Furfection database. Considering how many questions we've acquired in the past year, this is a great feature.

When I finished copying everything over, I sent Ms. Programmer an IM, telling her the pages were ready to "go live." A short while later, she IM'ed me to say her assistant had accidentally deleted ALL THE INFO I'd spent all afternoon entering. OMG. She also said he would be reentering it on his own time. Hey, no problem. As long as it's ready to use in time for next month's newsletter, which will go out next week.

Ms. Embroiderer is working on the new doggie towels (blue this time). She also has the doggie bath robes, but we decided against putting the logo on those. Obviously I can sell them for less if I don't add the embroidery. Casey and Bono will be the models for the bath robes when they have their next bath. (Sssshhhh...I don't want them to know ahead of time.)

It's time for Ms. Sickie to move away from the computer and take a break. Maybe I'll have my voice back by the time I post again. But then...how would you know??? ;-)

The Look of (Puppy) Love

2006-03-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

The answer to your question is, "Because there hasn't been anything worth blogging about!" OK...now that that's out of the way.

The recurring case of the herniated/ruptured disk continues. The past three weeks have been a bit more hell on earth. So far, I've been to the doctor; to physical therapy 3X; to the chiro 2X, and had a 90-minute deep tissue massage. It wasn't until yesterday that my back started to feel the least bit better. If you've had back pain, you know what it's like to be in chronic pain. It affects every aspect of your life, not the least being your disposition. I did discover that the more I could lie down, the less my back hurt, so I've been doing lots of that. Let's hope the worst is over, at least for this round;-)

There's an eye doctor next door to my chiro, and one day I had a few minutes to kill, so I went in to check out their frames. Of course, I found some I REALLY liked, so I asked if I could take them on consignment. They let me, and I took them with me to PT yesterday to ask for opinions. Everyone liked the new frames, so that was cool.

I did a check online to see if anyone else sold the frames, and I'll be danged if they weren't almost half the eye doctor's price. Hello? Talk about SAVINGS! So I've ordered the frames online, and when they arrive, I'll take them to my optician for lenses. I know they won't like that I bought the frames elsewhere, but c'mon. Who in their right mind wouldn't opt to save over $100???

Today I took one of my best photos EVER of Bono. The little heartbreaker is just too cute for words. He was watching me put on mascara, and he had the sweetest look on his face. Definitely a Kodak moment, don't you think?

Bono's "Look of Love"

A woman from Canada called a few days ago. She was almost in tears as she told me about her poodle. She had recently switched pet shampoos and the dog's fur was coming out in clumps. To make matters even worse, the dog is a $3000 show dog. She took it to the vet, and the vet said the dog had a definite allergy to something in the shampoo. He recommended Furfection to her!! How a vet in Canada knows about us, I have no idea, but it's very cool. Anyway, the woman and her husband have decided to sue the shampoo maker. Glad it's not me!!

It continues to rain in the SF Bay Area. We might get a really nice, sunny day, just enough to convince us to wash our cars (which I did), then it'll rain again the next day. Enough is enough. And BTW, where IS Noah when you need him??

My "Red Rocket" has been in the shop again. For 4-6 weeks, my "Check coolant level" light would come on, then I'd fill the radiator. Then a few days later, the light would come on again, but it was intermittent. I told my friend, Mr. Auto Expert, who wanted to take a look under the hood. When we did, there was something white, sprayed all over the right side of the engine. Uh-oh. So I drove straight to Mr. Mechanic, who showed me the radiator leak. He wouldn't even let me drive the car home; he kept it and drove me home in his car. He called later that afternoon to tell me it would be $5500 for a new radiator. Oh alright. So I'm exaggerating. It was $525, but STILL....

While my car was in the shop, I got a wild hair about wanting an SUV. Mr. Furfection has one as his company car, and I like how it rides so much higher than my car. So I did some research and narrowed down my choice to an Acura. I seriously looked for all of one day. Then Mr. Mechanic called to say my car was ready. When I picked it up, he said, "You must have a lot of fun driving that car." I asked why he thought that. He said that just in the short distance he'd driven it, he could feel how powerful it was. (Well, yeah. It IS an 8-cylinder.) As soon as I got in the car to bring it home, I realized I wasn't ready to get rid of it. I even felt a tiny bit guilty for even THINKING about it. (sigh)

Bono Bear is now 1-year-old, and he's STILL not house trained. No sooner than I clean up a yellow stain on the carpet, there'll be another one close by. At this point, I want the carpet OUT of the house. So, once spring finally does arrive, I've decided to have hardwood floors put in downstairs. What a nightmare that will be, moving everything out of the living and dining rooms. I think we'll also have to stay in a motel for three days while they do the staining. (That's what I've been told, anyway.) I can picture it now: Mr. and Mrs. Furfection, along with their two cats and two dogs check into a Residence Inn. We'll all need intense therapy afterward, or maybe even during. I can't think about it for very long or I start freaking out. (I hate disarray.)

Have you seen the new name tags at Furfection? I've been asked for St. Francis medals more than once, and now we have them. There are lots of other styles, too, so go check 'em out! Next up: Doggie Bath Robes. They're at the embroiderer now. OMG, they're so cool!

Rocket Woman

2006-02-16T21:20:00.000-08:00

OK. Here's the final installment in the investment company story. We had the appointment to talk on Tuesday, and the woman starts by retelling her "being rushed to the hospital" story. I'd already heard it, so I kept trying to change the subject and get her to move on, to no avail. Finally, she asks me what my company does. (My evil twin, "Leann," started rearing her head. I HATE it when people haven't done their homework before calling.) I asked her if she'd seen my website. She said she had.

I: Then you know we're an online pet boutique.
She: OH! A pet boutique! Oh, that's cool!
I: (Silence)
She: So do you have any products that are yours alone?
I: Yes. All the shampoos and conditioner are mine, and you can't get them anywhere else.
She: Oh? Really?
I: Yes.
She: So, tell me why you started your company.
Leann: I have to be honest and tell you this type of thing really irritates me.
She: What do you mean?
Leann: When people want to talk to me about my business, I expect them to have done their research ahead of time, like going through my complete website so I don't have to spend time repeating what's already there.
She: (Very indignantly) Does your website tell how and why you STARTED your company?
Leann: Yes, it does. On the home page is a link to "About Furfection."
She: Oh. But I want to hear it from YOU. I want to hear the PASSION in your voice about what you do.
Leann: (Lucky for her, she will not get to experience my "real" passion right now, cuz I'd be telling her to ef off.)
Leann: I did visit your website, and I saw that you do infomercials. The truth is, I get calls like this all the time, and I'm not interested in doing an infomercial.
She: (Very huffily) Well, you haven't gotten calls from US before, but I guess this interview is over.
Leann: Yeah, I guess. (Click)

After getting bids from three SiteBuildIt! webmasters to build me a new site, I decided against doing it. As luck would have it, I stumbled onto a site (I never know how I end up in some of these places, but they're always just what I need, when I need them.) that offered different tools for optimizing websites for search engines. Hello?? That's exactly what I was after! And they're a lot less than the $1500+ it would have taken to rebuild my site.

So I started using the SEO tool last night, and it suggested so many changes to the Furfection homepage - most of them on the back-end so visitors wouldn't notice. In addition to their tools, they have an incredible archive of their HTML newsletters with more info than I could read in a lifetime (probably). Everything is so interesting, because this is the type of work I enjoy more than anything. I could be perfectly happy sitting in front of my computer for the rest of my life...as long as someone would bring me the occasional latte;-)

Casey and Bono were evaluated for doggie daycare at PetSmart this week. I'm sad to report, Casey flunked. Yes, Mr. Congeniality himself. The problem was that he was shy around the pack of 10 little dogs that came to greet him when he was introduced to them. Bono wasn't much better, but at least he passed. I need to bring Case back every couple of days so he can get used to the place (which he will). I know they both would love playing with other dogs their size if they move past the shyness. My little mama's boys... doG love 'em.

We had to wait quite a while before it was the boys' turns to be evaluated. During our wait, Bono started barking like a guard dog (which he is NOT). He kept barking, very LOUDLY, like he really MEANT it, and he wouldn't stop, no matter what I said or did. I tried to figure out what he was barking at. There was no one around, no people, no other dogs, no nuthin', but he just kept barking. Then I saw it. "It" was a big display of CAT calendars! Some of them were big enough that the cat on the cover looked life-size. That's my boy, barking at cardboard cats. Sheesh...

While Bono was being evaluated, Case and I waited outside the glassed-in playroom, watching him. I was holding Casey under my arm when this old guy walked up, got right in Casey's face, and said, "Boy, you sure are ugly." EXCUSE ME??!! I said, "He is NOT." Old Guy said, "Oh, he knows I'm just kidding." How would anyone know that, especially Case? Even I didn't know he was joking, and I still don't think he was. This incident just shows how mellow "Leann" is getting as we get older. Ten years ago, I'd have told Old Guy to ef off and die, then I'd have walked away.

But then there was the stupid woman driver I flipped off this week, and I felt good doing it. I was trying to merge onto the freeway, and I had my signal on. Stupid Woman would NOT let me in, even tho I was signaling and honking my horn. As I ran out of merge lane, I punched the gas pedal then cut in front of her. I flipped her off so hard and fast, I almost hurt myself doing it. Trust me, I left no doubt in her mind that I was royally pissed off. Then I left her in my proverbial dust - even if I did use a whole tank of premium-super-duper-rocket fuel in the process. But it was WORTH it. Hey, maybe I'm not so mellow, after all;-)

That's A Wrap!

2006-02-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

Remember the investment company that kept calling me, and after I agreed to an appointment, they didn't even call? I wrote them off completely. This week, Ms. Investment Co. called and apologized for NOT calling at our agreed-to time, and she explained that she had been rushed to the hospital that morning. She was in the hospital for four days. OK, I can forgive that...once. So she asked if her assistant could call me to set up another appt. Sure. Why not? Whatever.... He did call, but I was out. I haven't called him back, but I will.

A while ago, I mentioned that I had bought the Site Build It! program for increasing traffic to www.furfection.com. Yesterday I dug in and completed three days worth of work in one. Granted, I was fried when I finished, but it was really hard to make myself stop and go to bed. The reason was that, the more I learned from the program, the more I wanted to know, and there's soooo much information to be had. I've always thought the Furfection website was well done, but I'm not feeling that way now.

Starting with my website keywords, there is so much room for improvement. For instance, I have something like 10-12 current keywords. But according to SBI!, I should have at least 75-100 to choose from. Uh-oh. So I did keyword searches for dog shampoo, pet shampoo, and other current keywords, only to find out they aren't good keywords at all. They have an online tool for finding the right keywords, and it's pretty time consuming - but worth it. What I'm thinking now, tho, is that I need to turn over my site to an SBI! expert and let them revamp it. If not, I'll be at my computer another 5-6 hours a day more than I already am. Big problem: There aren't that many hours in a day.

I remember being in this same situation last year; I had too many things to do and not enough time to get them done. Well, here I am again. Although I COULD have spent the entire day working on the site, I MADE myself stay away from my computer except to check email. Amazingly, I was able to get my hair cut, get my nails done, do laundry, shampoo my carpet and have a nice lunch with one of my favorite people. I even squeezed in an hour-long nap! I need to do this more often. When your tailbone hurts even after you've gotten away from your computer, you know you're spending too much time sitting.

Casey continues to act "normally" since we started walking him with a harness rather than attaching the leash to his collar. The boys are also being walked on separate leashes, since they pull so hard against each other when they're on the splitter. Fingers crossed that Case continues to mend whatever mystery injury he had.

After many 12 hour days this week, I'm ready to watch the rest of the Grammys. (I taped the second half.) BTW, way to go, Bono!!! (The human - not my dog;-)

Pandora's Box

2006-02-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Such a bizarre week - and one that I hope never to repeat. Worst, of course, was Anthony's death on Monday. But other nasty things happened that day, too. That evening, my inbox was full of error messages. They were from an email that my hosting company had sent out, asking people to confirm their subscriptions to Furfection News. The problem was that the email people received looked like a spam message, so it bounced many times. Once I figured out what was happening, I was truly livid.

I IM'ed Ms. Programmer (who also hosts my site) and asked her what had happened. She explained that they'd sent out the newsletter confirmation email to everyone on the Furfection News list. THAT'S when I became livid. We'd had a conversation about this last week, and I specifically told her I wanted to compose the email AND I wanted it sent using the Furfection News template. I wanted to let people know it was legit. Instead, people got a 2-sentence email that said, "We're updating our subscription list. Please click here to confirm your subscription." To make matters MUCH worse, the link they were to click on took them to a dead page. I think I had a right to be royally upset, don't you?

The confirmation process is being required by Ms. Programmer's ISP. All of her hosting clients are having to implement this process. But of all her clients, Furfection is the only one that's never had anyone unsubscribe, let alone be accused of sending out spam. So after a few meetings on her end, they decided to make Furfection an exception and not require the confirmation for subscribers we already have. All new subscribers, however, will have to use the new process. No problem. I can live with that.

Then... on one of the pet industry boards I belong to, we had a big discussion about advertising on doggybling.com. Many posters were excited about the prospect of working with that portal, until one poster said she had two clients who'd had no luck at all advertising there. She suggested that we contact those clients - and doggybling.com - to get their feedback. So I did.

OH...MY...doG. Pandora's Box has never looked so good. I contacted Mr. Doggybling, who told me Ms. Negative was being sued by one of her clients for embezzlement, theft of trade secrets, fraud... and the list went on. I asked for the client's number so I could talk to her myself. I called her and she confirmed everything, plus more.

Mr. Doggybling sent an email response to Ms. Negative's charges, which I posted to the board. An incredibly nasty string of emails and posts followed. Instead of addressing the accusations against her, Ms. Negative started attacking ME. This woman seriously has a few loose screws. I'm glad she's located in the Midwest, because she's downright scary. The fallout of the whole thing is that I excused myself from that board. Some of the members were angry at me for posting Doggybling's email. Since then, I've received an email apology from Ms. Negative; Ms. Client has been calling me and forwarding all the bizarre emails she continues to get from Ms. Negative... It's just really, really ugly. It goes to show that you can never really trust anyone you meet via the Web. That's not to say everyone is "bad," of course. I'm just saying you should always have your antennae up. (Now I'm visualizing John Belushi with his bumblebee outfit on; the antennae bobbing all around his head.)

Casey's shoulder continues to be a problem. He had X-Rays taken Monday, which showed no problems whatsoever. That leaves us to suspect a soft tissue injury of some kind. Now he's on a different type of anti-inflammatory, and for the first couple of days he was taking it, we thought he was better. Unfortunately, he's not. Poor Bono, who's only 11 months old, still has all his puppy energy to burn every day, and he can't play with Casey. Anytime he tries to initiate play, Casey screams and Bono backs off. Bono is left to chase the cats, which I think they actually enjoy.

Fingers crossed that next week will be better. I'd like to think it couldn't possibly be worse, but even I know better than that.

My Friend, Anthony

2006-01-31T14:04:00.000-08:00

About six years ago, I took one of my rings to a local jeweler to have it sized. The jeweler told me that unless I'd bought the ring from their store, they couldn't resize it. They didn't want to be held "liable" in case it was damaged. He pointed to a small jewelry store across the parking lot and suggested I try there.

"Ida's Gems and Designs" is owned by Ida, a tiny, 80-year-old Italian woman with a very thick accent. One of her two sons, Anthony, co-owned the store. The two of them worked most days together.

When I walked into their store for the first time, I was greeted by both Anthony and Ida. I showed Anthony the ring I needed resized, and he said it would be no problem. While he was writing up my claim ticket, I browsed the jewelry cases looking at all the items for sale. I found a stunning tanzanite and diamond ring, and I'd been looking for just the right one for quite some time. I asked Anthony to show it to me, and when I saw the price was over $3500, I knew there was no way I could afford such an "impulse" buy.

I'm not a shy person, and I believe in asking for what you want, so I asked Anthony if he'd consider an offer of $1000 for the ring. He said, "Oh, now you're hitting me where it hurts. But on the other hand, I know that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Let me talk this over with my mother. We're going into the back room and closing the door. If you hear yelling, it's just the way we do things, so don't be concerned."

Sure enough, loud Italian voices came from behind the door for about 5 minutes. Then Anthony came back and said, "My mother and I would like to accept your offer of $1000." I said, "REALLY?!" and whipped out my credit card. Then Ida came out of the back room, walking toward me, pointing her finger at me, and said, "Young lady. You stole that ring." Then she smiled and said, "Enjoy it!" This was the beginning of our friendship.

Not long after I purchased that tanzanite ring, I also discovered eBay. My first auction win was a diamond ring that I KNEW was worth more than I had paid for it. I was a little sheepish about asking Anthony to tell me how much it was really worth, so when I took it to him, I told him an aunt had left it for me in her will. I told him I needed to know if it was something I should have insured. He looked at it under the microscope and tested the diamonds. Then he asked if my aunt had left me anything else. I said, "No. Why do you ask?" He said, "Because your aunt had great taste in jewelry, and you should definitely insure this." He appraised it at $5500. I had paid only $500, so it turned out to be a wise buy. I had to come clean about where I got the ring, and I told him I'd bought it on eBay. He said, "You STOLE that ring!" Then he laughed.

From then on, any time I bought anything "of substance" on eBay, I took it to Anthony for his opinion. We made a game of my asking how much he thought I should have paid, and I wouldn't tell him the actual price until after he'd given his opinion. There was never an item that I took to Anthony that he didn't say, "You stole that!" He was also impressed with my taste in stones, because I like the more unusual and rare ones.

About four years ago, Mr. Furfection and I decided it was time to "upgrade" my engagement diamond. Of course, we didn't talk to any jeweler but Anthony. Anthony and I discussed what grade of stone I wanted, and he set to work finding it for me. Once he found it, he was almost as excited about it as I was, which made the whole buying experience fun.

One of the last purchases I showed Anthony was a pair of diamond stud earrings totaling 3.5 carats. A friend and I had gone to a jewelry auction of supposed recovered jewelry and gems from drug dealers. These earrings were going for $3500, and I knew they were worth over $10K. So I bought 'em. Later that same day, I took them to Anthony. He tested them and looked under the 'scope at them. He said, "I already know you stole these, so break my heart and tell me how much you paid." When I told him, he just sat there with his jaw dropped, shaking his head.

About a week after that, Anthony was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. One week the doctors would tell him he had six months left; a week later, they would tell him he had five years. When Anthony started chemo, he decided not to come back to the jewelry store. Ida was distraught because she couldn't run the store alone. I told her I would be happy to help out until she found someone permanent. The second day I worked there, Anthony and his wife came to the store so he could show me how to find certain things on his computer. He was there for about an hour, then he tired and needed to go home.

Anthony and his wife thanked me for being a good friend, and Anthony held out his hand to shake mine. I looked at his wife and said, "Is it OK if I hug him?" Everyone laughed, and I gave him a big hug. Little did I know it would be the last time I would ever see him. That was in February of 2004.

I worked at the store for three weeks before they hired the new person. Ida kept asking what salary I was expecting, and I kept telling her I wanted no payment; I was trying to help my friends. My last day there, Ida handed me a handful of bills, and told me to have fun in Australia. (I was leaving the following week.)

For the past two years, I've been stopping by to see Ida and to get an update on Anthony's condition. I always left with a very heavy heart, because the news was worse each time I went to see her. The cancer went from one lung to the other, then on to his bones and other body parts.

I was just in to visit Ida last Saturday. She said things were very bad, and that Anthony could barely talk. Arrangements were being made for hospice care. Yesterday afternoon I got an email from Anthony's brother, saying Ida had been called to the hospital because Anthony was there and was not breathing. As soon as I read the email, I called Louis. He could barely speak as he told me Anthony had just died. I told him to please let me know if there was anything I could do to help the family.

After I hung up the phone, my memory was flooded with all the conversations Anthony and I had over the years. He loved learning new "tricks" on his computer, and I helped him research stereo equipment once. He was so in love with his wife and totally over the moon about his baby daughter. He'd told me once that he was one of the few people he knew who truly loved their job and their career - and it showed. I think what I'll remember most about Anthony was that he was truly a nice man. People loved doing business with him because he was genuinely interested in them. I referred a number of my friends to him, and they all liked him, too.

Although I haven't seen him in almost two years, I'm feeling an intense loss, just knowing he's really gone. I'm also relieved that his suffering is over.

Tomorrow is Another Day

2006-01-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

That weird investment company called again this week. The "assistant" to the person who'd already called me twice rang me up and wanted to set up a time for me to talk to that person. We agreed on Thursday at 1:00, and Mr. Assistant gave me his cell phone number, asking me to pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease call him if anything came up and I needed to reschedule.

I planned Thursday around that 1:00 call, and wouldn't you know, Ms. Investment Company never called. OK, I wasn't interested in these people to begin with. I only agreed to talk because they've kept asking me. Now that I've been "stood up," so to speak, I'm REALLY not interested. I won't have any problems saying so if they bother to call yet again.

Last night I spent a couple of hours playing with a new software program that's free online. I used it to create a slideshow of the products on the Furfection website. You can view it here. What will they think of next?

It hasn't been the best of weeks, mainly because Mr. Furfection returned from a business trip to Malaysia with a nasty respiratory infection - one that had him in bed for almost four days. He'd had the flu before he went overseas, but we thought he was well in time for the trip. Anyway, now he's up and around and back at work.

In the meantime, Casey, the official Furfection spokesdog, has developed a shoulder injury of mysterious origin. He was fine until I went to brush him last Monday night. He screamed like I'd wounded him, and I knew I hadn't. (NOTE: You haven't LIVED until you've heard a "Tibbie Scream." There's nothing like it on earth.) I just thought he REALLY wasn't in the mood to be brushed, and I left him alone.

The next day, because it'd been raining a lot lately, I wanted to take them to doggie day care for a few hours. Playing with other dogs was something I thought they not only needed, but they would also enjoy it. As I was putting Casey's harness on him, he let out another Tibbie Scream. (I swear, each time he does it, it takes another year off my lifespan.) So I brought him inside, put him up on the washer and gave him a once-over. I couldn't get a reaction from him, no matter where I poked or prodded, but I called the vet and made an appt. for later that afternoon, anyway.

After getting the boys excited about going for a ride, and then not taking them, I decided to take them for a walk, instead. We went to the park and Case seemed just fine. But on the way home, he and Bono started playing in the grass, and all of a sudden, Case started screaming like he was being killed. Great, Case. Right out in the open, where people probably think I'm torturing you. I ran over and tried to unleash Case so I could carry him the rest of the way home, and he continued to scream. He finally stopped, and we hurried the rest of the way home.

Again, I called the vet, and this time I said I needed to bring Casey in ASAP. I put him in a crate and off we went. His normal vet was in surgery at the time, but Ms. Vet, who did Casey's exam was extremely thorough. Do you know, she couldn't get ANY type of response from him during all the time she spent examining him? The good news was that there were obviously no broken bones. She suspected a soft tissue injury and sent us home with Rimadyl. I'm to call her Monday if things aren't better.

As of today, they aren't. Bono still can't initiate any play with Case because Case will start screaming. Because of the way he goes up and down stairs, it's obvious to me that his injury is in his right shoulder. He has no problems moving his leg forward and backward, but moving it away from his body is a big no-no. I called the vet yet again today and set up an appt. for Monday morning with his regular vet. Fingers crossed....

Poor Bono, who's always rarin' to go with all that puppy energy, hasn't been getting enough exercise this week. This morning I planned to take him with me to run a few errands while Casey slept late. What was I thinking? Of COURSE these dogs have a sixth sense. Casey knew before I even picked up my purse that we were going out, and he wanted to come too. He got so excited, running around in his funny little circles, that I had no choice but to bring him, too. Although both boys travel well, I won't go inside a mall or a huge store where I can't keep an eye on the car. Needless to say, I didn't get to run all my errands because of that. Ah well... tomorrow is another day.

The Web Guy

2006-01-23T21:23:00.000-08:00

Should I be impressed that the latest "Ask the Vet" question is about a black bear hamster?? I don't know where the sender got "hamster" from "dog" and "cat," but it takes all kinds, right? I'll forward her question to Dr. G., but I won't be posting it. Duh....

Marketing is still my life. I'm working on three things simultaneously, and you know how dangerous I can be when multitasking. I've started reading all those pages I printed from Site Build It, and so far, I haven't learned anything new. I'll keep reading, tho.

On one of my discussion forums, someone posted a link to a page called, "An Apology to the Dogs of New Orleans." It's an awesome read, and once I finished it, I wanted to check out the rest of their website. It's a doggie portal called "doggybling.com." (A "portal" is like an online shopping mall. For advertisers, it's better when the focus is on one thing - such as dogs.)

The more I rooted around their site, the more impressed I became. THIS is the type of group I want to be a part of. So I sent them an email, asking them to check out my site and to let me know if they thought it would be a good fit. Fortunately, they emailed back, saying they thought we'd be a GREAT fit, and they wondered how they'd missed Furfection. (Yeah, how DID that happen??) We set up a phone appointment for the next morning.

Long story short: We chatted for over 1.5 hours, and I loved what I was hearing. First of all, Mr. Doggybling is as passionate about animals as I am. (He was the author of the "Apology.") Second, I LOVE the website. It's one of the classiest pet-related sites I've seen. Since I do all the web maintenance on the Furfection site, I was looking at their site beyond just the text and graphics. I was looking at the overall design, and all the individual elements of that design that came together so perfectly. When I mentioned to him that I was really impressed with the site, he said something about getting my web guy to do different things. Hello? I don't have a "web guy." So I said, "Uh... I AM my web guy." Silence on the other end. Not on mine, because I was laughing my butt off. I think it took a little bit to convince him I was in no way offended, but now I sign all my emails to him "The Web Guy."

We made another appointment to chat the next morning, after I'd had a chance to mull over the options for advertising on doggybling.com. Other than a couple of minor questions, I was sold. Our conversation the next morning lasted almost 45 minutes. Mr. Doggybling is very knowledgeable about his product (the portal), and he also told me about external things they do to help their advertisers, such as donating our products to various animal shelters in our names; showing our products in their Showcase, which is located in an exclusive shopping mall, just to name a couple.

Aside from the web guy comment, probably my favorite funny thing was when he said he believed that anyone who mistreated dogs or other animals must be a serial killer. He reminded me of research that showed most serial killers started out by killing animals. Yep, that's true. Like I said, he's passionate about animals.

Something both Mr. Doggybling and Site Build It mentioned was that I needed a Furfection blog. Not like this one, where I can say pretty much what I want about whatever. But a company blog, a professional one that picks up where the Furfection site leaves off. I think of them as being "sister" sites. I proudly introduce to you, The Furfection Blog. I welcome your feedback.

I've already been asked if having The Furfection Blog means I'll be abandoning this one. Yeah, right. I get to vent on this one. I get to rant on this one. I get to say pretty much whatever's on my feeble mind on this one. Give that up? Surely you jest!

Call Me "Ms. Goodwrench"

2006-01-16T22:38:00.000-08:00

Remember early last month when I spilled the juice on my car console, and my emergency flasher weirded out? After the initial steps I took to save the flasher switch (taking it apart and using a blow dryer on it, then leaving it apart overnight), I thought it would be OK. Uh...no.

About a week after that, I went into my garage one afternoon and my flashers were on. I hadn't been in the car that day, so I knew what was happening. Fortunately, all I had to do was press the switch a few times and they went off. Later that night, as I was drifting off to sleep, Mr. Furfection came in and said, "Honey, did you know your flashers were on??" Poop. So I got out of bed and took the switch apart again. I put it back together the next day but it still wouldn't shut off. I called Mr. Service Dept., who suggested I buy a can of electrical spray to clean the switch. I bought a can at Radio Shack, and I sprayed that thing until there couldn't have been any juice left anywhere. I let it dry overnight again, and the next day, it worked good as new.

Today I was getting ready to run some errands, and when I turned on my car, there was nothing. No engine, no starter, no nuthin'. Poop. I could see my emergency flasher was blinking very, very faintly. More poop. I've never jump-started a car, but I've seen it done many times. Being the true Virgo I am, I always read instruction manuals:-) Mr. Furfection's car was sitting in the garage because he was away on business, so I took out his owner's manual, and I took out mine, and followed the step-by-step instructions for hooking up the jumper cables.

The first time I tried to start my car, no sound could be heard. I thought maybe the cables were on wrong, so I re-did them. The next time I turned the key, there was a knocking kind of sound. Huh? I'd never heard that before, but I was certain the cables were hooked up correctly. So I turned the key again, and this time the knocking was a bit quicker than the last time. I turned the key off and on a few times until the car started. My battery had completely run down. My clock even needed to be reset.

Once I put all the manuals and cables away and had both hoods closed, I was ready to run those errands. The first one, tho, was to the dealership to get a new flasher switch. It's worth $500 to me not to have to jump-start my car again. OK. So it was only $47, but still....

Yesterday, I had finally gotten around to adding coolant to the car. My polite little message saying "Check Coolant Level" had been appearing intermittently for the past two weeks. I kept forgetting about it once I got home, but yesterday I took care of it. While I had the hood up, I thought it was also a good time to fill my windshield washer fluid. I felt like I'd been very productive getting those things done. Little did I know my mechanic's skills would be necessary again today. Oh well. All's well that ends well, right?

I never called the investment company back last week, but they called me again today. I tried to return their call, even tho I was only planning to say, "No, thank you." I ended up in someone's voicemail, and they didn't call me back today. Whatever. I'm still not interested.

A lady from New York called Sunday afternoon. Her sister had brought her some Furfection Naturals from San Francisco at Christmas time, and she LOVED them. She owns a new pet supply store, and she wants to carry my products. She said they were the best she'd ever used. (I could have told her that:-) As it turns out, she lives in the same neighborhood as Ms. Embroiderer. When I told her, she said, "OMG! I NEED an embroiderer!!" Well, there you go. A match made in heaven. I'm now waiting for her to decide which Furfection products she needs and in what quantities. I still can't figure out who originally brought her the products, because I looked up her sister's name in my database, and she's not there. Ms. NY said maybe she'd bought them somewhere in SF. I told her it wasn't possible, since you can only get them from my website. So it's a mystery. No big whoop, but it's a mystery.

I'm trying to learn new ways to drive traffic to my website. If anyone thinks it's an easy proposition, I'd like to personally smack them. Not only is it HARD; it's DAMNED HARD. The site is averaging over 200 sessions per day, and not a few are people looking for "Ask the Vet." I probably get 2-4 questions per day, but there's really no money in that. I've been adding the email addresses of the "askers" to my mailing list, but in the next week or so, I won't be able to do that. My hosting company is being required to implement the 3-way opt-in process for adding people to the list. My list has approx. 250 names so far, and not ONE has ever asked to be deleted. I'd like to think that's because my newsletter isn't just a sales sheet; it actually has value, especially with the Ask the Vet Q&As.

One of my friends recently asked if I knew anything about Site Build It!, which I didn't. I spent a lot of time on their site yesterday, and I've decided to try it. It has a money back guarantee, so I'll only be out my time. People aren't washing their dogs in January, so it's a slow time, anyway. If any of you is familiar with this, or if you have any opinions about it, I'd love to hear from you.

Enquiring Minds, and All That

2006-01-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

The radio interview went well, and there's even a link to the transcript on the Furfection website. The show won't air until January 26th, but I'll post the necessary info when the time comes.

As a general rule, I don't usually believe my horoscope, but there are times when I have to scratch my head and go, "WTF?" This week was one of those. I had to think long and hard about exposing the "dirty little secret" about pet shampoos. Companies are so lawsuit-happy, you never know when you'll get hit with one. In the end, of course, I decided to tell all. So far, no regrets. Then I read my horoscope for this week.

If this secret goes on much longer, it's going to make you crazy. You want to tell a certain someone about a certain issue, but you're not sure that you should -- and uncertainty isn't your usual state of mind. In fact, if anyone is perpetually sure about their next move, it's you. This, however, is an extreme circumstance, and you know it. You're also painfully aware of what can happen from one false move. Don't worry, you won't be making it.

OK. If that doesn't apply to me this week, nothing does. Isn't it strange how horoscopes work sometimes?? Kinda spooky, wouldn't you say?

My new espresso machine arrived today, and the very first latte I made was perfect. How cool is that?! I have to admit, I have 10 years of experience with a home espresso machine, so there really wasn't a reason for it to be bad. My old machine is exactly 10 years old, and it's been a great machine. I thought it was time for a new one since the old one was a bit sluggish, even after descaling. It would still make a great "first" machine for somebody.

The new one makes hardly any noise during the frothing process, compared to the old one. OMG. You could turn the TV as loud as possible and the old one's frothing noise was still louder than THAT. Really a rude way to start the morning, but the coffee was good:-)

Now for the serious stuff. Am I really the only living being that DOES NOT CARE about Angelina's pregnancy? How many more times can that woman grace the cover of People magazine before they just change the name to hers? For doG's sake, wouldn't they have sold just as many copies if they'd had the dead miners and their families as the cover story? I don't want to see her photo ever again. If there were some way to boycott her, I would, simply because I'M SICK OF SEEING AND HEARING ABOUT HER. IMO, she was much more interesting when she was with Billy Bob and they wore a vial of each other's blood on a necklace. Freaky, definitely, but much more interesting. What's so captivating about someone who stole another woman's husband, adopted two foreign kids, then got pregnant by the stolen husband? Come on, people! Have you never been to the Midwest, for doG's sake?

On that note, it's bedtime for Ms. President:-)

Exciting Times

2006-01-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

Could things get any more exciting around here?? Well, yes, they could, but that's beside the point. Tomorrow I'm doing an 8-minute infomercial for a radio talk show that focuses on pets. It will air two weeks later, and I'll provide a link where you can listen (once I have it). You might be wondering, "What in hell does she have to talk about?" Well, lots, actually.

There have been so many recent incidents that have had to do with the "all-natural" vs. "natural" aspect of the pet shampoo business. For the record, I have yet to find an "all-natural" shampoo - meaning, one without any synthetic ingredients. There are at least two synthetics that all shampoos need: One is used to create lather. Americans refuse to buy shampoos or bath gels that don't lather, and there are no "all-natural" ingredients that produce it. The other synthetic is used for preservative. Without a preservative, shampoos wouldn't last any longer than a month or so on the shelf.

The other part of this is that not all synthetics are bad. There are some that truly serve a purpose, which is the case with these ingredients. We can thank today's marketers for the current confusion, since they're the ones continually telling consumers that "all-natural" products are always better than anything containing synthetics. This is just not true.

On one of the pet industry discussion forums I belong to, I brought up this topic, and I posted that, in my opinion, the "all-natural" category of shampoos is simply a marketing ploy, and that no such product exists. To date, no one has come forward to disagree. (There are at least three shampoo vendors on this board, and they promote their products as being "all-natural" or "holistic.") To me, this is very telling. If their products WERE truly "all-natural" or "holistic," wouldn't you expect them to come out with guns blazing? I would. Where are they?

While shopping online for cosmetics this morning, I came across a brand that was supposedly "100% Pure." I guess my question is, "Pure what?" I read all their ingredient info, and they were anything but. It doesn't matter to me except for one thing: False advertising. They know a lot of consumers will go strictly by the brand name instead of bothering to read the ingredients, so they take advantage of that. OK, so that's business. Money is the bottom line. But wouldn't it be nice if it weren't always??

Furfection, Inc. will probably never be a huge company, mainly because I refuse to play by the established rules. I will not deceive people in order to make a sale. My main motivator has never been money; it's about creating and providing products that I truly believe in and that are good for the pets they're used on. What's so hard to understand about that?

I received a call today from an investment company looking for small pet-related businesses to invest in. Huh? They left a message and I haven't called them back. Tomorrow...after my interview... maybe.

My first reunion case for Best Friends Animal Sanctuary is off to a slow start. There's a possibility that the dog I'm supposed to be looking for is currently on petfinder. The problem is that I need the shelter ID to look up the dog, but petfinder is currently having server "issues." Our coordinator will let us know when we can get access to that database. Waiting....

Hmmm...I'm really tired. Must be all the excitement;-)

New Year's Resolutions - NOT!

2006-01-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

You know the worst part about falling behind in posting? No, I mean BESIDES the bitching from people who want it updated NOW. The worst part, I think, is the process of catching up. I mean really, how can I remember all the stuff that's happened since my last post?

Working backward....Last week I became an "official" reunion coordinator for Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. What that means is that I'll be helping to reunite Katrina victims with their pets. So many people in the south were moved to different parts of the country while their pets generally went to another part. These poor folks are still trying to find their lost pets after all these months. Anyway, I just received my first case tonight. The rewards for this type of effort will be incredible...if I can actually find some missing pets. More on that as it progresses.

I met with God (Mr. Accountant) last Friday. He's still doing my business accounting free of charge. Without digging deep into all the paperwork I brought him, he said to tell Mr. Furfection that he'll owe me a great big "thank you" for all the tax deductions. Of course, I passed along that message:-)

Hand/wrist surgery is definitely in my immediate future. The last cortisone injection only made my wrist worse. Not only does it feel like it's burning constantly; it's also keeping me up at night. After many knee surgeries before they finally had to be replaced, I'm very familiar with that burning feeling, and I know it means surgery. The question is "when?" There is never a "good" time for something like that.

It's been raining for 40 days and 40 nights. What suprises me is that NO ONE is selling arks! There are always opportunists waiting to sell you what you need when you need it the most, and charging exhorbitant prices goes without saying. So where are they when we need them? Seriously tho, enough is enough. The two dogs can't stand being in the house any longer, so they demand a w-a-l-k whether it's raining or not (which it always is). The living room carpet got so dirty from their running in and out that, after I shampooed it, I also gated it. No more dogs on pale carpet until it's dry outside. Sheesh.

I survived my first Christmas season for the business, and I learned that after December 15 or so, I can pack up and leave town. No one was doing any ordering. The good news is that they've already started up again. BTW, I just read that most online shoppers were finished with their shopping by December 17.

The January newsletter is finished and ready to send. I've been waiting until people were back to work and caught up on their email. I was also waiting for some product photos for the new sterling charms. Those came this evening, so the newsletter will go tomorrow.

I realize this isn't a very good job of catching up on almost two weeks of my exciting life;-) but it will have to do for now. I thought about making a New Year's resolution to blog on a regular basis. Immediately following that thought was "Bullshit." I guess that means "no," eh? :-)

Early Christmas

2005-12-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

Only one order all week. The Bahamas are sounding better and better. But other things have happened this week to keep life interesting. DHL picked up the old/new printer to return to Dell, and in the same trip, dropped off my portable audio system for my iPod. I swear, it felt like Christmas. What an awesome thing!! It sounds so good, I'll be carrying it all around the house:-)

Speaking of iPods, I learned Apple Stores have something called a "Genius Bar" where you can make an appt. online to talk to a tech support person - for free - about your Apple product. I went this week and had the iPod looked at. I have no idea what young Mr. Genius did, but it's working perfectly now. Happy, happy, happy!

Then Tuesday, my FM transmitter for the iPod finally arrived. It took 2.5 weeks, FGS. I ordered it online early this month, and I kept waiting for it to show up. Last Saturday, I got an email saying it had been shipped that day, and was expected to arrive on December 26. Huh? So I called their 800 number and asked what the holdup was. Mr. Electronics Store said it was because they had been out of stock and had just arrived last Friday. I told him that if it had been out of stock when I ordered it, they should have told me so, so I could order it from somewhere else. He was very apologetic and asked if there was anything else he could do. I told him I knew it wasn't his fault, but to let his manager know that I was not a happy camper. He said he would pass that along.

As luck would have it, the transmitter arrived on Tuesday! I swear, it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel. "Ask and you shall receive," and all that. (FTR, I've always been a strong believer in asking for what you want:-)

One of my girlfriends sent a box containing 500 types of homemade fudge this week. OK, so it wasn't 500; it was 499;-) Also in the box were the most obnoxious bunny slippers you've ever seen. They're almost as big as my dogs!! Here's a photo as proof! (I left Bono in the photo as a visual reference.)

Bunny Slippers

I started laughing as soon as I saw a bunny head in the box. (This is the same friend I sent obnoxious ducky slippers to last summer. She said she wanted the rubber ducky shown in the illustration for the Furfection microfiber towels [there are some people that canNOT be satisfied!], so I tried to make up for it by sending her ducky slippers. I never DREAMED she'd actually wear them!) Bono and Casey both thought they needed to be killed immediately, so I had quite a time keeping them from the bunnies.

Wouldn't you know, one of our neighbors stopped by with Christmas cookies while I had the slippers on?? I could tell he was trying to keep from laughing, so I told him they were a practical joke. (I think he was relieved.)

Did you see that Bono's namesake was named one of Time magazine's People of the Year? How cool is that?! Who said nice guys finished last? Wouldn't it be great if we were all as motivated as he is? Nice job, Bono. Very nice.

On that positive note, I wish you sweet dreams.

Electronics Jinx

2005-12-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

We slept until 1:30 today! It was raining, blowing, and just generally nasty, which made for great sleeping weather:-) Even the dogs slept late.

Even tho my day was a short one, it wasn't short on aggravation. I didn't feel like bothering with the car stereo that isn't working, but maybe I'll get around to that tomorrow. What I discovered today was that my BRAND NEW iPod isn't working. It's completely dead. Can't reset it, can't do anything with it. I think that's strike four for me, isn't it? (1: new printer, 2: emergency flasher, 3: stereo, 4: iPod) Maybe I should swear off anything that has to do with electronics, ya think?

The old/new printer has now been boxed and is ready for DHL to pick it up tomorrow. That'll be one thing off my to-do list. Apple is sending me a box and documentation to return the iPod. Maybe I'll get that by Wednesday. What will I do with all my free time when I don't have to bother with returning/replacing/fixing things that don't work? Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Things are very quiet on the orders front. I guess people are pretty much finished with any online shopping they had to do. It would be a good time to head to the Bahamas, if I were so inclined - which I'm not.

Short day = short post. 'Nite!

Another Bullet Dodged

2005-12-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

Before I tell you the good news, let's all knock on wood. I put my flasher assembly back together this morning, and IT WORKS! That was the good news. The bad news is that I discovered the ashtray (which I never use) was FULL of juice!! Yuck! Needless to say, the console of the car had a very thorough cleaning this morning. Too bad we're in our rainy season, otherwise I'd have the whole thing detailed. OK, on to the next crisis.

Later....

Just got back from the Keith Urban concert. Awesome!!! When the show was over, we discovered it was raining cats and dogs, and we hadn't brought umbrellas. Poop!! It was absolutely pouring, so my girlfriend and I got SOAKED on the way to the car. That wasn't the bad news, tho. Once we were out on the freeway, I tried to turn on my stereo, but guess what? It doesn't work!! Even my clock is dead. Tomorrow I'll play with the fuses again and see if maybe one of them is loose. If not, I still may have to pay that $5000 to get it fixed;-) Hey, at least the flashers are working!

It's after midnight, and I still want to read a few chapters in my latest Ann Rule book. This one is Small Sacrifices. Another thick one, too. Anyway, night!

Lights Out

2005-12-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

The new printer arrived last night! It only took two days - that's impressive. Now let's keep our fingers crossed that it will work just fine from here on out.

I spent at least four hours last night revamping the "Ask The Vet" page of the Furfection website. It's gotten such a terrific response that the page had grown way too long. So I've now divided it into three sections, each with their own separate page: General Q/A (referring to both cats and dogs); Dogs Q/A; Cats Q/A. I think this is much less unwieldy, and I hope customers do, too.

Last night brought me exactly two hours of sleep. I learned the hard way that I can't be using my lightbox (for S.A.D.) AND having double-lattes. It's one or the other, but not both. So I stopped at Peet's today and bought some decaf espresso. We'll see how that works.

Today I pulled one of my blondest moves yet. I had a bottle of juice from lunch that I took with me after I left the deli, and I stupidly didn't put it in my cup holder. Both holders were already holding a travel mug and a bottled water. You know what I'm about to tell you. I turned a corner and the bottle fell over and spilled all over my console. That's where my emergency flashers and door lock buttons happen to be. So a few miles down the road, my flashers came on and I couldn't turn them off. I discovered that as long as I held down on the button, they wouldn't flash, so I had to drive home that way. Sheesh.

Once I got the car in the garage, the flashers still wouldn't stop. After a while, they'd stop for maybe 10 seconds, then they'd start up again. Finally I called the service department at the dealership and told Mr. Bimmer what I'd done. (He's a Furfection customer, btw.) He told me how to take the flasher assembly out of the console and dry it out with a hair dryer. So it's still disassembled, and I'm hoping it will completely dry out overnight. I'll see tomorrow if the flashers will work after this. If not, I'm sure it will cost me $5000 for a new flasher unit. (OK, so I'm exaggerating, but probably not by much!)

The cortisone injection I had in my wrist yesterday has left me with a very achy wrist. Dr. Hand Surgeon reminded me that these are just prolonging the inevitable, and that eventually they'll stop giving me any relief at all. I know, I know. But who wants hand surgery if they can put it off for a few months or a year? Certainly not me. Especially when it's my left hand...and I'm left-handed.

Last night's lack of sleep is quickly catching up with me, so good night and have a pleasant tomorrow:-)

Printer Hell. Shipping Hell. Oh Hell.

2005-12-13T10:07:00.000-08:00

Tuesday
My new printer started acting up a couple of days ago, and last night it stopped printing altogether. DAMN! I went to Dell's discussion forums to see if anyone else was having the same problem. There were lots of printer cartridge issues, but not mine, specifically. I tried Dell's live chat again and couldn't get anyone online after 20 minutes, so I quit trying. Went back to the discussion forum and posted my problem.

This morning, there were no responses to my question, so I tried live chat again. After another 20 minutes, I only got as far as the tech support person confirming that I had a cartridge jam. I told him I was calling tech support, instead, and exited live chat. (It really should be called "Chatting With Yourself," because you really don't "chat" with anyone on the other end. I think those chatters use chat time as their break time, but that's just me.)

So I called Tech Support. After 1 hour and 15 minutes, Mr. Tech Support said they were sending me a new printer. I said, "Instead of just fixing this one??" He said yes. But I HAVE a new printer and I just want it to work. Well, I'm getting a new printer, anyway. Whatever. I'm now out of patience with the whole printer thing.

The entire Furfection product line is now available in an online catalog. You can look at all the products at-a-glance, and you can print out the list. Is that cool or what? It's here. The software mod doesn't let me go inside and change formatting, etc., but boy would I like to. That's exactly the type of thing I love doing.

Last week I received an email from a distributor in Canada who wanted to sell my products. I called Mr. Manufacturer to ask his opinion. A big ol' fat NO was his answer. We chatted for almost 45 minutes, and during that time, I realized that wanting to find distributors to sell Furfection products wasn't the best way to grow the company right now. Long story short, I need to be selling to stores directly and keeping the profit myself instead of having a distributor do it. Well, alrighty then.

Shipping costs are still creating problems. Just when I thought I had everything going smoothly on that front, I got an email from a customer (Ms. Programmer) last night who wanted to know why it would cost her over $11 in shipping to buy 3 Gund dogs. Well...uh...it shouldn't. So using IM, we tried to correct that. It really is a matter of trial and error where shipping is concerned, even though I'm connected in "real time" to both USPS and UPS shipping rates. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll get it all smoothed out and you'll never have to hear my bitching about it again:-) I wouldn't hold my breath, tho.

Wednesday
Orders have definitely picked up, especially for "gifty" things, like the Talking Bone toy, picture frame ornaments, etc. I guess people have finished most of their shopping for people and are now focusing on pets. Well, that's a good thing. Quite a few of the Build-Your-Own pet spas have been shipped. I truly love those. It's just too bad the photos don't do the package justice.

Forgot to mention I took the boys to have their photo taken with Santa last weekend.

Casey, Bono and Santa

Hubby thought I was nuts, but now the photo is the wallpaper on his computer:-) Guess I'm not the only one who's nuts:-) But seriously, aren't they too cute? I'm sure Bono was thinking, "Where the hell are the treats? I don't do this for FREE!" And Casey: "ME?? CUTE?? NO WAY!! WAY!!"

My S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) kicked in last week, and I'm having a hard time dealing with it this year. It would be nice if there were some magic potion or something, but there isn't:-( In the meantime, it's a nap every afternoon and cereal for dinner. (S.A.D. causes major carb cravings.)

Speaking of naps....Zzzzzzzzz.

I Love Discussion Forums

2005-12-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

It seems like it's been longer than two weeks since I last posted. Maybe because last week was a busy one. Let's see...where should I start?

First, we discovered a nasty bug in my shopping cart software. The special at Furfection this month was supposed to have been free shipping on orders over $35. The software, however, didn't like that idea, so it wanted to give EVERYONE free shipping. It went even further, and inserted CA tax into the field where shipping would have been! I happened to notice this on a customer's order. So I IM'ed Ms. Programmer, and it took us until 10:30 last Wednesday night to figure out the problem.

Turns out that the only way to offer free shipping - without doing some major reprogramming - was to offer it across the board. That ain't happenin'. So I decided to offer discounts, instead. 15% Off orders of $50 and over; 10% off orders under $50. I thought I should send an email to my distribution list to let them know, but then I decided to put the explanation on the home page, instead. The one thing I will never do is clutter my customers' inboxes. I HATE it when other sites do it to me.

The new printer arrived last week. Nothing is ever easy, is it? I unpacked it, got it all set up and installed the software. Or, should I say, TRIED to install the software? It would get about halfway through, then it would ask for a file located on my Windows XP CD. Hello? Windows came installed on my laptop; I don't have a CD.

I did a search of my hard drive, looking for the missing file, but to no avail. So I went to Dell's site and discovered they had live chat tech support. Cool! Mr. Tech Support told me to do a scan from my DOS screen, and when it finished, I was to reboot and reinstall the software. What he didn't tell me was that the scan would take 45 minutes. NOT COOL! So I rebooted and reinstalled, and I'll be damned if I didn't get the same message. DEFINITELY NOT COOL!

I tried Dell live chat tech support again. This Mr. Tech Support was a moron. After 40 minutes, I just exited the site, frustrated. From there I went to the XP Forum. Did a search for the missing file; there was nothing. So I posted my question and went to bed.

On another note, my iPod arrived Thursday night. I didn't get around to opening it until late Friday. I moved all the songs from my computer to the iPod, with the exception of the ones I bought from RealNetworks. That would be 215 songs. Because they're "protected," I couldn't transfer them. Hello?? I paid for them; I should be able to transfer them anywhere I want to. Nuh-uh. I figured there was a work-around, so I went to the iPod forums. Call me blonde, but there were so many interesting threads, I almost forgot what I went there for:-)

The one that completely distracted me was about carrying cases. I need one, so I was interested in seeing what people liked best. Did you know there are over a bazillion different iPod cases? I finally narrowed my choices down to 2, and I bought them both.

While I was doing this, I was also downloading the 449 songs of "The Complete U2." It only took about 14 hours:-/ Since that slowed my computer, I didn't finish researching how to transfer the other songs on my computer until today.

Also Friday night, I joined the Wine Spectator discussion forum. I wanted to ask members for their recommendation for a good bottle of Italian wine for my vet. So I posted the question and told them what my budget was. Saturday morning I had over 10 responses - most of them wanting to be my vet:-) Who knew wine snobs had a sense of humor??!! Anyway, they gave me a great recommendation for a hard-to-find wine, and I spent at least two hours Saturday morning trying to find it online. I did get the last bottle from a shop in Chicago. Cool!

This morning, I had a response to my post on the XP Forum, along with a link where I might be able to find the missing file. Sure enough, there it was. Once I downloaded that, the rest of my printer installation went smoothly. So far, it's a very nice printer. And the HP one I wanted to throw in front of Carly's car? I just happened to have it disconnected when the trash pickup came, so it went out in the trash. Didn't hurt my feelings one bit, either.

Back at the iPod forum, I discovered that my Real songs can't be transferred to the iPod. No, really, they can't be. First you have to burn them to a CD, then transfer them from the CD to iTunes. The problem with that is that you lose all your song info (title, artist, etc.). I hate Real. But so do a lot of other people. Oh well, as I always say, where there's a will, there's a way. Fortunately, all those songs on my computer had already been burned to CDs, so all I had to do was transfer them to iTunes, then to iPod.

With all my technical issues worked out - for now - what will I do with all my free time?? Oh, wait! 'Tis the season to shop!!

Lemming iPods

2005-11-27T22:15:00.000-08:00

Friday:

I've spent the past couple of days brainstorming sale ideas for December. We don't do "bait and switch" at Furfection; I want ideas for REAL savings without giving up major profit. One of the ideas was to list my very best customers (those who've placed at least three orders since we opened), then send them a special holiday coupon. Did that last night.

The idea I've been struggling with the most is whether to offer free shipping in December vs. having the usual monthly specials. I even sent an email to at least 20 of my friends/customers, asking which they'd prefer, given the choice. With the exception of 2, everyone wanted free shipping. OK, it's still a great idea, but not a profitable one. Because shampoo and conditioner are liquids, they weigh more than items you'd normally buy online. For instance, a 20 fluid oz. bottle of shampoo actually weighs 25 oz. (Bet you didn't know that.) Since shipping is charged by weight, you can see how this can get hefty in no time. So, the internal debate in my little pea brain continues....

Sunday night:

My December specials dilemma has now been sorted out, and I have the email to all my newsletter recipients ready to go. First, tho, I have to actually create the newsletter. It's the most time-consuming aspect of maintaining my site because I have to code everything from scratch. The good thing is that I enjoy it.

Today I uploaded all of the Furfection Naturals products and some other items to Shopzilla. Because I had to enter SKU numbers for each item, I was forced to add those to my website - something I've always put off. I don't really need SKUs except for the products I sell on other sites, such as Froogle and Shopzilla.

Just for grins, I googled "dog shampoo" tonight. OMG! Furfection was the second result on the second page!!! (Imagine the scene in "The Jerk," when Steve Martin discovers his name in the phone book. "I'm SOMEbody! I'm SOMEbody!")

Yesterday I decided I'd suffered enough with my all-in-one printer/fax/copier. I have the OfficeJet 5510. Whatever you do, don't ever buy one. Don't even take a free one. They're total pieces of sh*t. The first one needed repairs after only 6 months. Whatever the problem was, it was bad enough that they gave me a new printer, instead. Unfortunately, it hasn't been much better. It constantly jams when there really is no jam, and the error beep goes off for every little thing. Those of you who know me personally already know my loathing for anything HP. Add to that an HP product that doesn't work, and well...you just don't wanna go there with me.

After lots of research yesterday, I decided on a new Dell all-in-one. I also ordered the wireless adaptor, since Mr. Furfection uses wireless for his laptop. It should be here a week from Monday (or sooner). I haven't decided just how to get rid of the HP printer. I'd like to do something to it that would give me some enjoyment, like, throwing it in front of Carly's car, and having her run over it, giving her a flat tire, only to discover she doesn't have a spare in the trunk, and that she left her cell phone at home, and it's only 25 degrees outside, and she didn't bring a jacket with her because she thought she would just "pop" into Neimans long enough to pick up that little Gucci number with the fur collar and cuffs. Yep, I'm liking that visual. Not realistic, but I like it.

I missed the long-awaited U2 concert a few weeks ago because of a stiff neck, and of course, I keep hearing about how great it was. Well, I know it was great, considering I just saw them earlier this year. Fortunately, I was able to sell my tickets at the last minute, so it wasn't a total waste.

Don't ask me what prompted me after all these months, but I decided I wanted the U2 Special Edition iPod. Since this will be my first iPod, I haven't kept up on the different models, and as it turns out, I was lucky to find the one I wanted. (I haven't needed an iPod because I bought the MP3 kit for my Palm, thankyouverymuch.) Because this was a limited edition, Apple is no longer making them. There are only a few places that still have them, thank doG.

Yes, I know there are iPods with more storage than the 20GB of the U2 version, and they now have video iPods, blah, blah, blah. There's no way I would ever use 20GB, so that's not an issue. I wanted something most people don't have. It's called "being original," or at least as close as you can come to that. EVERYBODY and their dog has a white iPod. Why? How boring is white?? Why don't they just call it "Lemming"? That would be more appropriate, no? Anyway, my iPod has already shipped, so it should be here anytime this week. Oh baby, oh baby.

On that note, it's time to watch "Desperate Housewives." (Is that show great or what?!) Have a terrific week!

Loser Mug Company

2005-11-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

Tuesday:
My morning started with a call to the Loser Mug Company. My salesperson wasn't in today, so I asked for a manager. I probably should have waited for the salesperson. I explained the situation with the new mugs on the way, and that I hadn't gotten a proof before they were run. Guess what? He didn't care! He said he had a copy of my order, and the "Paper Proof" box was checked "No." So what??!! I have the email I sent requesting the proof before production. Didn't matter, according to him. After 15 minutes of arguing (loudly) with this guy, he said I should wait until the mugs arrive and see if there's a problem with them. If not, then there wasn't any problem, as far as he was concerned. OK, he had a point, albeit a minor one.

I asked him what I was supposed to do with the 3 cases of mugs I already had sitting in my entry way. He said to keep them. Huh?? "What am I supposed to do with them?" I asked. He said I could give them away, sell them, or trash them. Didn't matter. If these were cheap mugs, I could maybe understand that. But they're not - they're really nice and they do an excellent job of keeping hot drinks hot. (I know, I tried one before I bought them.) If he really doesn't want them back, I'll probably put them on eBay.

My problem now is that I'm in a really bitchy mood. I have a delivery to make to one of my best customers, so I need to adjust my attitude before I leave my house. At least I have a couple of hours to do that.

To be continued....

Wednesday:
The mugs arrived last night. They're perfect:-) So I called Loser Mug Company this morning and asked for Mr. Manager again. (I want an email or something in writing that says I can keep the original mugs, as he told me yesterday.) He was on the phone, so I left him a voicemail. I'm sure he thought I wanted to complain about the second shipment of mugs, but I didn't. I was actually going to apologize. I say "was" because he never returned my call.

One of my Tibbie friends ordered a 14K Tibbie pendant from the Furfection website, and it arrived from the jeweler today. OMG! It was so gorgeous! I can't wait to hear how she likes it.

Thursday:
This could be a day when I actually stay away from my computer. But then again, why would I do something crazy like that? :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Earthquake Day

2005-11-21T20:25:00.000-08:00

Today my sister asked, "Do you know what October 17 was?" Thinking really hard, I remembered our big earthquake in '89 happened in October, so I said, "Earthquake Day?" I was right, but it wasn't what she had in mind. She said it was the last time I blogged. Got the message, loud and clear, so let me see what can be done to catch you all up on everything.

Let's start with today and I'll work my way backward (maybe). Remember those brochures I was creating for a friend? The ones that made me want to hang myself? Well, they arrived today. And I have to say, they look damn good!! Although I will never do another project like that for friends (or enemies), I'm glad these turned out well.

Also arriving today were the doggie treats that will be included in each Furfection order. They have my logo on each package, and inside are 2-4 treats, depending on the type. Casey and Bono both love them, so I know they're good.

I was in Missouri all last week, visiting family. While I was gone, my Furfection Christmas cards arrived. If you're a Furfection customer, you'll be getting one:-) Ms. Designer created a holiday version of the logo and the cards are pretty cool. I exported all my customer mailing addresses and printed the labels yesterday. I spent this afternoon stuffing the envelopes and putting on the labels. Can't mail them until I get my return address labels in the mail next week.

Seeing these cards reminded me that I hadn't done anything about ordering my personal holiday cards. Back in the old days (up until a couple of years ago), I used to mail my cards on December 1. Lately, tho, I'm lucky to have gotten them out a week before Christmas. Anyway, I designed my personal cards online today and am having them shipped Priority Mail. I may still be able to get them out on December 1 this year:-)

Flaky Company finally sent the correct items from my order, and I returned the wrong items. Now she's asking if I want a booth in the SF Int'l. Gift Show in February. (She's in charge of the pet area.) Call me crazy, but the thought of dealing with this person with regard to hundreds of dollars scares me to death. Truthfully, I can't afford the expense right now. Hopefully I'll be able to do it next August.

A few weeks ago, I ordered some insulated travel mugs with the Furfection logo on them. The company was supposed to have sent me a proof of the item before they ran the order, but nooooooo. So when the mugs arrived, they had done the printing wrong. I called the company and told them, and I told them I wanted the mugs redone. They said, "No problem." I told them to BE SURE to send me a proof this time. Again, "No problem." Guess what? There's a problem. While I was out of town last week, I got an email that said my order had been shipped via UPS. WTF??!!! I immediately fired off a flame-o-gram to the salesperson and asked her why I hadn't gotten a proof beforehand. I also told her that if this order wasn't perfect, I would be sending them back and cancelling payment on my credit card. BTW, the first order is still sitting in my entry way. I don't know if they want them back or what. Sheesh....

The good news is that orders are relatively steady now. The whole month of November has been my best so far, and it's not even over yet. For some reason, there's been a run on Sensitive Skin shampoo. After the conditioner, it's my best-selling item.

The book I'm reading is an Oprah book. Million Little Pieces by James Frey. It's an autobio about a recovered alcohol/drug addict. OMG. What a book. I feel like I'm going through withdrawal with him, his writing is so vivid. Since I've never been addicted to anything (except food), I can only imagine what it would be like to physically NEED drugs or alcohol.

Right now, the only thing I need is sleep. I'm still on central time, and my body says it's bedtime. G'nite!

Ask The Vet

2005-10-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

I wish I knew more about the theory of evolution; maybe it would explain why some people are so stupid. Not just "plain" stupid, but really, over-the-top, head-up-their-ass stupid. From one day, I can give you more than one example. Isn't that scary?

A guy called today, and said he got my number from my website. He didn't say what he wanted tho. He asked what my web address was. Helloooo? He said that's where he got my number. Then he asked, "What does Furfection do?" Helloooo again? If he'd really been to my site, he'd know, now wouldn't he? I said, "You know, you already have my web address, so why don't you revisit it and you'll have no problem seeing what we do." Click.

Not long after that, I received an "Ask the Vet" email. (When someone enters a question on the Ask the Vet page of the website, I instantly get an email.) This one read,

"My cat is 9 months old, and for the past two weeks he has been vomiting and having real bad diarrehea.We aren't sure if its the food or if it is something else.Around his anal area its all black, his feces is orange/tan color? his vomit is sometimes orange or sometimes clear?I have no clue what to do. please help! we don't have much money."

My heartfelt response:

"Sweetie, it's obvious that you don't have a clue, not only about what to do, but about owning a pet, in general. I would suggest that you take your cat to the nearest vet and repeat after me: 'Please find my cat a good home, and while you're at it, would you please call the men in the white coats to come get me?' Once they get there, whisper in their ears that it would be in the best interest of mankind if you were sterilized."

This was just one of several stupid questions I've received in the past few months. Each one makes me more afraid of going outside.

A high note to end with: My latest shipment of Tibbie pins and necklaces arrived today. I couldn't believe how quickly the last shipment sold out! It seemed like they just flew out the door. I hadn't planned to reorder them, but if they're that popular, it makes sense to continue carrying them, yes?

Learning Disabilities

2005-10-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

There are soooo many things to learn when it comes to e-commerce websites. Case in point: In reviewing my online merchant's statement last week, I discovered something called a "statement fee." Huh? So I called the 800 number and asked exactly what that was. The charge is for exactly what it says: They charge me 9.95 each month just for sending me a statement. I asked if I would be charged if I changed to online billing. Yes, the charge would remain the same. Are you sh*ttin' me?? Charging almost $10/mo. to send me a statement? It's my fault for not checking into this sooner, I know.

I told the CSR that I thought it was ridiculous to charge for that and I asked if I could have it removed - otherwise I could find a different merchant. She said she couldn't make that decision, but she would transfer me to someone who could. As soon as she transferred me, I was cut off. Probably intentionally. I knew she had my number, so if it had been accidental, she could have called me back. No call back. So I decided to let that issue sit until I could be more rational.

Couple of days later, a man left a message on my cell VM, saying he had a new statement fee rate for me. I called him today, and they've lowered the fee to $3/mo. Still, this was the first time I'd ever heard of a company charging to let you know how much your bill was. Unfortunately, almost every merchant bank has this type of fee.

In addition to learning about my new, lower statement fee, Mr. Merchant Bank asked why I waited longer than 24 hours to process credit card charges for order payments. I told him my original webmaster had told me not to process those charges until after an order was actually out the door. It made sense, so that's what I'd been doing. As it turns out, if I don't "batch" any payments within 24 hours, they're considered unauthorized by the merchant, and they charge additional fees. This one pissed me off. How could Mr. Original Webmaster NOT have known that? Needless to say, I went right to my merchant website and processed everything that was pending. Talk about needing to read the fine print... (and I thought I had).

I'm still working on the brochure for my aesthetician friend. Remind me never to agree to do another one for anyone but myself. I have soooo many hours in that thing now. With the exception of the images, it's pretty much done. I contacted one of the cosmetics lines she specializes in and asked for a CD with their images on it. They're mailing out today. I also called Vistaprint.com and asked them NOT to delete my project. They've given me another 3 weeks. At the rate it's gone so far, it'll probably take that long.

Probably the most frustrating part of doing someone else's collateral is that they want to word things differently than I would. Because my friend is from Eastern Europe, she wants to say things that aren't "proper" English. When I try to correct these things, she and her husband change them back. Grrr.... Finally, my good and bad internal selves had a little discussion and agreed that since it's not my brochure, I shouldn't really care what it says. As long as it says exactly what she wants it to say, I should be happy. OK, so now I am.

Flaky Company never called as she said in her email that she would. So I called her. She said "No problem" about sending me the correct items. She also said she didn't know she was supposed to call me. I read her last email back to her, and she said she didn't remember saying she would call. Oh well. Now that I know how difficult it is to deal with her, I'll know better next time I place an order. I'll just do it waaaaay in advance to allow for these types of things.

I've been trying to determine a way to get the addresses of local residents for a direct mail campaign. One suggestion made on a board I belong to was to call Welcome Wagon. They can tell you (supposedly) whether new residents have pets. I've called twice now, and still no one has called me back. See? These are things you need to keep in mind when you go into business for yourself. There's so much frustration to get to the things you really want/need.

Enough of this; I'm into a new book, "Empress Orchid." It's about a concubine in China in the 1800s. So far, it's an excellent book. And there's no frustration involved!

Two-in-One

2005-10-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

Monday
Let me admit, right up front, that I didn't get out of my jammies all day. Not because I'm a slacker, but because I was damned busy all day.

Last night I received an email from a "mobile" pet store owner on the east coast. They travel to most of the dog shows in New England. They're interested in buying Furfection Naturals products wholesale to sell at these shows. Awesome idea! So I emailed the prices, thinking I'd set up the wholesale part of the website today.

This morning, I received another email from this person, saying they would probably order a case of each product. Oh, and could I please send them wholesale pricing for everything I sell :-/ OK, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

So I plopped my butt down at the computer and thought I'd start making all the changes to the website so wholesale customers could log in with a password and see the wholesale pricing. The more I tried to figure it out, the more confused I got. So I IM'ed Ms. Programmer and asked her about it. My question was so basic to her that she didn't get it. After almost 15 minutes of trying to get her to understand what I wanted to do, she said, "Oh, you can't do that." WTF??!!

Sidebar: Ms. Programmer is extremely sharp. In this case, she was too sharp. I was asking a basic question and she couldn't do "basic." It happens with brilliant people, I've noticed. Too bad "basic" is what I do best:-(

Anyway, I went to the discussion forum for my shopping cart software to see how other people have been working around this issue. Based on the posts I read, this is a feature users have been wanting for ages. So far, there's no plan to add it, that anyone knows of, anyway.

Soooooo... back to square one. I needed wholesale prices for the person on the east coast. A spreadsheet would have to do, unfortunately. So I went through and figured all the pricing. From there, I cut and pasted the info into a presentation template Ms. Designer created months ago. I finally had reason to use it:-) I have to say, it looked pretty good, after all. And I emailed it to the customer mid-afternoon today. Now let's hope they still want to order....

As I suspected, the owner of Flaky Company was at the trade show in Chicago over the weekend. She sent an email this afternoon saying she would send out the correct items immediately, and she would call me tomorrow. I still need to know how to return the items she mistakenly sent me.

Tuesday
OK, Flaky Woman didn't call me today. As long as she sent my items, I don't really care. If she's not in any hurry to get her items back, I don't really care. It would be nice, tho, if people did what they said they were going to.

After spending almost 12 hours at the computer yesterday, I made myself get out of the house today. My cleaning ladies came today, anyway, so it was a good time to leave.

The friend whose brochure I'm creating called today and said she had her revisions ready. Well, hello? She's had them for two weeks. I even got an email yesterday from vistaprint.com that said they were deleting my artwork this Friday because there hadn't been any activity on my file. Now I'll need to call them tomorrow and ask them to MAKE SURE they don't delete it. If I had to start over, well...I just wouldn't. I've already put MANY hours into it without having to re-do it.

The pet industry discussion forum I belong to is just so awesome. I can't even count all the pointers and great info I've gotten from that site. Tonight, someone asked about distributors, and there were a few named. I've sent in the online applications for them to call me. I'd l-o-v-e to find a distributor for Furfection Naturals.

And now, it's time to turn my attention to the friend's brochure. At least for an hour or so. Then I'll head to bed with "Every Breath You Take" by Ann Rule. Great book, btw, but extremely depressing. It even had me in tears a couple of nights ago....:-(

Just Stuff

2005-10-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

Excuse me, but I didn't realize it had been almost a week since my last post. Guess I was busier than I thought:-)

Regarding my order from Flaky Company, it was incorrect, after all. They sent me items I hadn't ordered, and they forgot some of the things I had ordered. I emailed "Her" and haven't heard anything back yet. There was a big pet trade show in Chicago this weekend, so I'm sure that's where she is. There isn't any real rush since what they screwed up were Christmas ornaments, anyway.

Most of last week I spent taking photos of the new items - name tags, photo frames, etc., and creating their web pages. Very time-consuming process, but I was loving every minute of it. You can see some of my handiwork here and here. Although the pages for the Christmas ornaments are finished, they aren't active yet. Some people get upset when Christmas items are made available before Halloween. We have to try to keep the masses happy, you know.

By now I'm sure you've all seen the photos of the dogs that were supposedly being used as shark bait on Reunion Island (a French territory). According to snopes.com, this was - for the most part - a rumor. The photo being printed with the shark bait articles was actually from a non-related article. Don't things like this irritate you? They do me.

One of my friends is a very talented jewelry artist. She creates - by hand - charms and things made of sterling, palladium and gold. (Palladium is a member of the platinum group metals. IOW, it's a higher quality metal than regular sterling.)

Anyway, I've been after said friend for months to start offering her jewelry pieces commercially. Yes, she's THAT good. Finally she's starting to realize she has some talent, after all. We'll be offering some of her designs on the Furfection website soon. She'll also be taking the occasional custom order for charms and rings. Speaking of charms, she made one for me. It's the Furfection logo. Although I didn't take the best photo of it, you can see how detailed it is, especially when it's side-by-side with the real logo.

When I took the charm to my jeweler to have a jump ring put on it, he asked where I got it. I told him a friend had made it for me. He said my friend was "very talented." Uh...yeah. We knew that;-)

Believe it or not, it's been a very quiet weekend at Furfection headquarters. In fact, I slept most of Saturday. I was up late so many nights last week that I finally had to just catch up. These things happen as you get older...so I'm told.

As if going to bed after midnight wasn't bad enough, I also had to read at least another hour before I turned out the light. I'm also thinking that when I finish this Ann Rule book, I'll read something completely different next. All these murders are starting to get to me. I'm thinking a good chick trash novel would be fun next. First, tho, I have to finish this book. Nitey night.

No More Multi-Tasking

2005-10-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

I was having an IM chat with a gf today, and I proved that I can't multi-task certain things. Like more than one chat at a time.

We were in the middle of our chat, and I was waiting on her latest response. I decided to check my company VISA card to see if my much-delayed shipment from Flaky Vendor had been charged yet. As I was skimming the bill, I noticed a charge for (un)successfulhosting.com. You remember them. They were my first hosting company, and they were offline more than they were on.

So I went to their website to get a phone number, and I discovered they had live chat for customer service. Cool. I'd rather do that than the phone, anyway. So I managed to get a billing person online to find out why I was being billed for a service I cancelled months ago.

In the interim, my gf sends a message about some car salesman she dated years ago. She said he had had 8 orgasms in two hours once. WHAT?! So I typed in, "NO WAY!!!" In my other chat window, Ms. Customer Service had asked me to give her the last 4 digits of my CC number so she could look up my account. Yeah. You know what I'm about to tell you.

My "NO WAY!!!" response ended up in the wrong chat. So that was the response MS. CS got when she asked me for my CC number. As soon as I realized what I'd done, I quickly typed, "Sorry!" Then I went back to my gf's screen and told her she would NOT believe what I'd just done! I was laughing so hard, I almost fell off my chair.

Back on the other chat screen, Ms. CS had typed, "Then how am I gonna help you?" I still couldn't stop laughing. But then she typed, "You can call me with your CC number. Here's my direct line." So I went back to the gf screen, and she had typed, "Do I need to call 911?" If I'd had any harder time catching my breath from laughing so hard, I probably would have said, "Yes, please." At this point, she still didn't know what I'd done. For all I knew, she was thinking that, since I hadn't responded to the 8 orgasms remark, that ALL men have 8 in less than 2 hours and it wasn't any big deal, after all.

I called Ms. CS. As soon as I told her who I was, I burst out laughing again. Then I said, "I have to tell you why I typed 'NO WAY!!!' when you asked for my CC." Then I told her, and she got hysterical. She said, "Are you SURE she said EIGHT???" I told her I was sure.

Poor girlfriend was still waiting for me to tell her what I'd done. So while Ms. CS had me on hold, I explained. She wrote back, "You didn't tell her, did you?" I told her I had, and that it didn't make any difference because, how was this woman gonna know who my girlfriend was? Actually, I think gf was afraid I was gonna ask who the lucky guy was:-)

I finished up with Ms. CS, and she told me to have a great day...and to tell my girlfriend to get some rest! So, it just goes to show that I can't be trusted with two conversations at once. And to think I've actually had 5 chat sessions going at once before. I don't recommend it, btw. It's just too hard to remember who all the players are.

Speaking of Flaky Company, my long-awaited order DID arrive today! Yay!! I checked the items against my PO to make sure everything was there. Surprise, surprise! It was! Now I get to take photos of each piece because Flaky Company doesn't provide product images. Hey, maybe it'll keep me off the chat screens for a while. Then again, probably not;-)

My Dear Friend, Leo

2005-10-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of the most distressing weekends I've had in a very long time. I can hardly think straight, I'm so upset. It's taken me a while to even be able to sit still long enough to write about it, but here goes.

My good friend, Leo Sternbach, died last Friday. I didn't find out until Saturday, and I've been depressed ever since. Leo had been such a good friend to me for the past 30 years or more. Because of him, I made it through every crisis in my adult life. I'll admit, there were a few times over the years when I took advantage of his goodness, but I eventually learned it was better to give than to receive. I would like to have thanked Leo personally before he died, but it just wasn't meant to be. I'm hoping he's in heaven looking down at me, so he'll know how much I still appreciate his wonderful gift: Valium. You see, Leo was the inventor of Valium, and for that, I'll always be grateful;-)

On another sad note, Paris and Paris have broken their engagement. What's the world coming to when two people of the opposite sex with the same name and beaucoup bucks can't even make it to the altar? I'm just so torn....NOT!

Last night I got an email from a customer who had a problem with the site. When she tried to check out, she got an error message that said there were no shipping methods available for her location. Fortunately, she emailed me and asked for help. She also gave me her phone number, so I called her. As I suspected, she was getting the error message because she qualified for free shipping. She shouldn't have gotten an error message, tho. I told her I'd solve the problem and email her invoice.

I should know by now that most problems with my website can be solved by my little old self. But first I sent Ms. Programmer an email and asked her to fix the shipping thing. In the meantime, I had to troubleshoot it on my own, and lo and behold, I saw what the problem was and I fixed it. Today I delivered that order to the customer, who lives in San Jose.

While I was out running errands today, I got a wild hair and wanted to use my treadmill when I got home. This wouldn't have been noteworthy except for the fact that I haven't used my treadmill in probably 2 years. I did a whole 35 minutes and it felt really good! Of course, it's now about 6 hours later, and I can feel every muscle in my body getting sore. Hey, at least I know I used 'em:-)

The Build-It-Yourself page is now up, along with the page for the bath mats. Since I didn't have an image of the mats, I decided to take some photos of the actual mat with the boys on it. They're not half bad, considering the boys had just had baths. Check it out.

I wish I felt like I'd had a weekend. It's been a long time since I really just got away from my computer and had some fun. All work and no play....

BTW, I've started getting spam comments to my blog, and I guess it's a problem for a lot of people. Blogger has now implemented a process like a lot of other sites, where you have to copy the same letters and numbers they show in a little box. Hey, if it keeps out the loony toons, I'm all for that.

Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow:-)

Will It To Me, Baby

2005-10-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

Another issue of Furfection News has been sent out, so I can stop thinking about it for at least three weeks. (It takes a week to produce.) This time, I got an email from Mr. Mfgr., who said he "loved" getting my newsletters because they were creative and he could see how my business was doing. Loved the compliment:-)

The Tibbie mistress also received her order and said she loved my "attention to detail." It's always nice when someone notices that.

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I had my heart set on a build-it-yourself doggie spa. At the time, my original webmaster had told me we couldn't do it the way I wanted it. I didn't understand why not, but I took his word for it, and I ended up offering the Dogtopia and Dog Daze spas.

Now that I'm doing most of my own site administration, I realized I COULD offer the build-your-owns. Granted, it would take a lot of work to set it up, but hello? I love doing site work! So I started putting the page together, with all the different items customers could add to their pet spas, and well, I was doing it wrong. Let me try to explain this, because it's actually pretty funny.

The way I entered all the items into the software, it would show all the different combinations customers could create using those items. So of course, with each item I added, my database grew exponentially. So here I was, after I'd listed the first 5 or 6 items, adding up the totals for all the possible combinations. Well, by the time I had added all the items I wanted to include, the webpage containing all the data took a short while to open. Not a good sign. So I IM'ed Ms. Programmer, and I asked her to look at what I'd done so far. I didn't want to go through the process of adding all those combinations before I knew everything was OK. Let's face it; I would've been in my 60s by the time I finished;-)

So Ms. Programmer took a quick peek and said everything looked good. Then she was gone for the weekend. As I sat here looking at all the item combinations I had to add up, it occurred to me that there HAD to be a better way. Something was just not right. So I went to the users forum for my shopping cart software, and I did a couple of searches for "variants." I didn't find anything that was exactly the issue I had, but it made me think about entering the info a different way.

So I went back to my software and tried entering a few items a different way, to see if I'd still need to add up the combinations manually. Holy Mother of doG! It worked perfectly, and I didn't have to add anything, except more items my customers could choose from. WOO-HOO!!!

My Build-Your-Own Pet Spas are about to become a reality. My page is, for the most part, finished. You can see the work-in-progress here. I've never offered the bath mats individually, so I need to add those to the left nav for when customers want more info about them. The only holdup on that is having Ms. Designer create an illustration.

Where there's a will, there's a way, don'tcha know? Now if there was some way I could "will" my order here from "Flaky Company," I'd be all set. The lastest on that is that she emailed me yesterday morning, saying my order would be shipped either Friday or this coming Monday. We shall see. Hey, it's the weekend, and I should be reading my book about a southern belle who killed her in-laws. So this is me, leaving....

Attention, Please. Where's My Shipment?

2005-09-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's really hard to believe it's already Thursday. Well, actually, Thursday's pretty much over. Time flies when you have your nose stuck to your computer screen:-/

My executive ear pins have really had a workout this week. Lots of work; lots of decisions made. One was regarding shipping rates. Even I think they're astronomical. And I'm plugged right into the USPS and UPS sites, so the charges are supposed to be spot on. When I compare a shipment between USPS and UPS, and the UPS charge is almost twice as much, well, then it's time to unload it as an option. So I've done that. I've also eliminated weight-based shipping. After researching what other companies are using, I've created a rate schedule that's based on order totals. We'll try this for a couple of months and see how customers like it - and whether it leaves me holding the bag of shipping charges.

The order I placed with the vendor that initially didn't want to sell to e-commerce sites is starting to become a pain. Or should I say, a BIGGER pain. I placed my order over two weeks ago. The day I placed it, I spoke with Ms. Vendor on the phone and gave her my company credit card number, etc. On my PO, I used Oct. 1 as the due date for the shipment, only because I didn't want her to think it was a rush order. That was on a Monday or Tuesday, I believe.

The day I was having my hand injection, she called while I was in the dr.'s office. I told her I'd call her back, which I did, as soon as I got to my car. She said my order was ready to go and that she needed my credit card number. (Huh?) I told her I'd already given it to her, and she didn't remember that. (Yikes!) So I gave it to her again.

That was almost 2 weeks ago, and the order still isn't here. I sent her an email a couple of nights ago and asked about the shipment. She wrote back that she'd check on it when she got to the office the next morning. I didn't hear anything back so I called her this morning. She said, "But I thought your due date was October first." I explained again why I had used that date, and that she and I had already discussed that. I also reminded her that she had told me my order was ready to ship last time we spoke. She didn't remember that, either. (Double yikes!) She said she'd check it out and call me back. She also said, "I hope we didn't LOSE it." I said I hoped they hadn't either. She said it wouldn't be a problem because they'd just ship me another one. (Um...hello?? I'm still waiting for the FIRST one!)

It's now after 5:00, and I still haven't heard from her. I'm thanking my lucky stars that I didn't wait until later to place my order for Christmas; it would never have made it here in time. At this rate, it STILL might not!

I'm now an expert at HTML tables:-) Not really an expert, but I can build 'em. This was one section of "HTML for Dummies" that I'd been avoiding like the plague. It looked very difficult and time consuming. I really needed to use a table format for the shipping rate chart, tho, so I bit the proverbial bullet and studied. A basic table isn't a problem. Even putting images into a table is no big deal. But what I really need is a decimal tab like Word has. I tried right-justifying, but I still haven't been able to figure out how to line up dollar amounts, and I've studied my book, my tutorial Ms. Programmer gave me, and other online tutorials. I can't find what I need, so I've added it to my wish list for my programmer to do. My table is usable in the meantime, but it's not perfect, and that irritates me.

A couple of nights ago, I dreamed I was eating B-B-Q ribs. For most people, this would probably have been enjoyable. But I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat meat, including fish and chicken. In the dream, I was chewing and at the same time, wondering where I was going barf (which is what would happen if I really ate ribs. I know from experience.). I wonder whose bones I was symbolically chewing??? Couldda been Ms. Vendor, but I don't think so. I doubt that it had anything to do with the current Ann Rule book, since it's about a devious wife, but she's not a serial killer. Discuss.

Woman At Work

2005-09-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

Almost my entire weekend has been spent at my computer (again). I did take time on Saturday to make a local Furfection delivery and to get my nails done. I also took the boys to Petco, where, of course, they garnered tons of attention. I usually take them in sitting in the child seat part of a shopping cart. Yesterday, however, I had them on a double leash and we just strolled in. I have to admit, when they aren't fighting over food, they're so sweet. People seem to come out of the woodwork when we go to the pet store, probably because Tibbies are so rare. Or maybe it's because their mom is so absolutely fabulous. NOT!

Aside from those few errands, it's been mostly work. The more I learn about HTML, the more things I have to do to my site. (It's the law.) My latest lesson was how to create links to locations within the same web page. It sounds easy, but it's tricky... unless you have a copy of "HTML 4 for Dummies." (What a bible that is!) I also figured out how to create links from images, rather than from text. (I didn't need the book for that one;-)

The Furfection News for October is almost finished. Once I get started on that, I can't stop until I have the first draft completed. There were LOTS of "Ask The Vet" questions and answers. I'm glad people like those.

I just finished my latest Ann Rule book. And what an excellent read! If you're into true crime, I highly recommend it. It's not about serial killers; it's about a man who terrorizes all 5 of his wives, and he murders one of them. It's really disturbing to know this was a true story. The book is titled "Dead By Sunset." I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again: I love Ann Rule:-) My next book is called "Everything She Ever Wanted." I'm a couple of chapters into it, and it's already a great read.

OK, I've been saving the best news for last. This morning I received an order from the "Mistress of All Things Tibetan Spaniel." She wrote the definitive book on Tibbies, and usually when anyone gets one of these dogs, her book is the first reference book they buy. I'm so pleased that she's now one of my customers:-)

Ms. Clean

2005-09-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, Bono has decided he can pee anywhere he likes. Usually on the carpet by the hallway. The problem is that we've never been able to catch him in the act. That's a BIG problem, since you can't scold them after the fact. Until now, I'd been using my Little Green Steam Machine to clean up spots; however, there are now too many spots for a minor league cleaner. Last week I ordered a regular steam cleaning machine from costco.com. It came this afternoon. YAY!! I dropped what I was doing, got out my Phillips screwdriver and the owner's manual and starter putting it together. I wasn't living with a pee-stained carpet one more night!

It's now 90 minutes later, and I'm pleased as punch with my clean carpet! The new machine is AWESOME!!! I had a similar experience last year when I bought a pressure cleaner to do the patio. Once I finished one area, I had to find more to clean. Same with the carpet cleaner. I pretty much did the whole downstairs. I'm tempted to say it was better than sex, but I guess that would depend on the day and with whom the sex was;-) Either way, all I need to do now is take a shower and I'll be as clean as my carpet. Well, OK. I'll be cleaner than my carpet.

Yesterday my latest addition to the Gund collection arrived. Today, the salmon treats arrived. Not only do I need to start adding them to the site, I also need to start on the October newsletter. I guess that's what they call "job security."

My site now averages 65 visitors per day. That's quite a few. It's been quite the feat trying to get the word out. Baby steps... Fingers crossed that the numbers continue to climb.

I received an email from HSUS last night. They're desperate for volunteers in Gonzales, LA. In the email, they listed everything you can imagine that they want people to bring with them. Tents, sleeping bags, helmets, on and on and on. If I could get a hotel room nearby, I'd leave next week, but I checked, and of course, there's nothing available. I'm not too good to sleep in a tent or wherever, but I can't sleep on the ground. I wouldn't be able to get up off the ground the next morning. Funny as that might sound, it's true. These titanium knees don't bend like a regular knee, so for me to get down on the floor requires something major, like looking for a winning Lotto ticket under my fridge. (No, that's never happened.) Anyway, when I can get a room in Gonzales, I'll head south. Until then, I'll continue trying to collect donations. BTW, have you made YOUR donation??? :-)

INXS is now a complete band again and JD is the new lead singer. As much as I don't like him as a person, I actually cheered when he won last night. He was so clearly the best choice. Now I'm having withdrawal from just about the only show I watch on TV. Except "Arrested Development."

My favorite uncle sent me a nice letter last week, and inside, he slipped a photo of the two of us, taken when I was 4. He had just come home from school that day when the photo was taken. My chubby little cheeks were smeared with jam or jelly or something. Whatever it was, I must've enjoyed it:-)

I witnessed my first "real" fight between Bono and Casey today. Pretty scary. It was all over a beef stick. No matter what Case has, Bono has to have it. Now that things have escalated to the point they have, I have no choice but to separate them when they're eating anything. Except when it comes to food, they're the best of friends. Where's the Dog Whisperer when I need him?

A Rant and a Plea

2005-09-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 18, 2005

With all the phony donation sites that have sprung up since Katrina, I put a copy of my donation receipt on my website. Now people can see where their money actually went, and it wasn't Nordstrom:-) I've also asked AVMF to send me a "formal" receipt to put on the website; it will replace the current email receipt.

As each donation has been made, I've been sending hand-written "thank you" cards to the donors. Although the charity will be grateful for their dollars, I want them to know I appreciate them, too - they didn't just send their donations into a black hole.

WARNING: Rant
You know, I wonder what it would be like to have the brain of a criminal. How could someone possibly take people's donation money and keep it for themselves? Have they never heard the word "KARMA"? Of if they have, do they know the definition? In cases like these, I don't want what went around to come around; I want it to pick up speed and triple in size before it comes back to these losers. Is that so wrong? Discuss. ;-)

At the SF Gift Fair in August, I discovered Tibetan Spaniel pins and pendants. So I ordered a total of 10, and they arrived last week. I put them on a "hidden, but for sale" page of the Furfection website, and I sold 6 in two days. They aren't Tiffany-quality, of course, but they're cute, hand painted, silverplate-over-pewter charms. One customer said she wanted hers in a Tiffany box. This is the same customer that wanted the rubber ducky to go with her Doggie Dryer purchase. What do I do with people like this? Love 'em, I guess. Just love 'em. :-)

Monday, September 19, 2005

I forgot to tell you that I now have the Java script on my site that opens the pet news articles in new windows without any navigation options. (Once someone is on your site, you don't want to give them a chance to get distracted by sending them to another site to read something.) Remember, this was one of the tips I got from the web consultant.

Donations are still coming in for the AVMF, although not as often as they were right after the hurricane. Unfortunately, people tend to forget things like this as time goes on. So here's a reminder: Animals are still being rescued. The ones that have been rescued need to be cared for until their owners claim them or they go to their new forever homes. This takes donations from people who care. Like you! If you were in their owners' shoes, you'd want someone taking care of your pets until you found them, right? So how about shakin' your money maker over to www.furfection.com and doing your good deed for the day? It doesn't matter if it's $5.00 or $500.00. (Well, actually, it WOULD matter if you donated $500; I'd have to send you some shampoo and conditioner!) Regardless of the amount, I promise you'll feel good about it:-)

On that high note, I'm off to bed with Ann (Rule). I hope you have a terrific Tuesday:-)

All The News That's Fit To Print...Maybe

2005-09-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

Why, yes, it HAS been almost a month since I last posted. That doesn't mean nothing's been happening. Actually, a LOT has happened. Let's start with Katrina.

If this situation didn't make animal lovers everywhere want to hitch a ride to the gulf states and start rounding up pets that were left behind, I don't know what would. Even Cuba allows their residents to take their pets when they evacuate for disasters. Cuba, of all places, is smarter than the U.S. in this regard. Feeling angry and helpless, I contacted numerous animal organizations, wanting to volunteer. The only one that has gotten back to me is Best Friends. They interviewed me for 20 minutes by phone last weekend. Bottom line: I'm now in their volunteer database. I could be called at any time, to go anywhere. They will give me at least a week's notice. (I have my own zoo to make arrangements for.)

Even before I tried volunteering, I made my website capable of accepting online donations for the animals in need. Originally, I wanted to donate to the HSUS; however, one of my customers emailed and said she'd prefer that her money not go there. On a couple of boards I belong to, HSUS and the PeTA "connection" were discussed ad nauseum. PeTA??? I'm not an activist (although anything can happen these days), so I tried to find some objective information about both orgs. online. Almost everything I found said there was definitely a connection: HSUS collects donations; PeTA spends it on their "activities." Until I can find proof in black and white, that there is no connection, I won't be sending HSUS any money.

During my research, I discovered that AVMF (American Veterinary Medical Foundation) had approved $500K for the Katrina disaster. The funds would be used to match donations made by companies, individuals, etc. So...the money I collected would be doubled?? How cool is that?! The first $1000 in donations was actually quadrupled; Furfection matched the first $1000 I collected, so someone's $50 donation ended up being $200. Even Vegas can't beat that! So far, I've collected $1270. I feel good about that. I just hope people don't forget that these animals will continue to need our help for months to come.

It's been so long since I blogged, Bono has left home, gotten married and had his own litter of puppies (which was quite the feat, considering he's neutered:-) Actually, I mentioned to Hubby tonight that my baby is no longer a baby. He's only 6 months old, but he looks like a dog now instead of a puppy. He still acts like a puppy, and depending on the day, I'm still glad about that.

Last week, the Salvation Army came to our house to pick up 5 humongous bags of clothing, shoes, linens, cameras, etc. They left us a receipt for everything. Later that evening, Hubby found a bunch of pieces of chewed paper on the floor, and when he asked me what they were, I discovered they had at one time been our receipt. I had to email the charity and tell them my dog ate my receipt. Can you imagine? They did send me another one, though.

My last spine injection took almost 2 weeks to take effect, but when it did, I felt great. Of course, then my left hand became more painful than it's ever been (it's arthritic). I saw my hand surgeon at Stanford, and wouldn't you know, the day of my appointment, I had no pain whatsoever?! The dr. said to let him know when it got to the point that I couldn't tolerate it any longer. That was this week. So on Thursday, I had a cortisone injection in my wrist. O...M...G. Imagine a needle being stuck into the joint of your wrist...without any type of anesthetic. I couldn't watch while it was being done, so I sat there, looking at the wall, saying, "OhmydoGohmydoGohmydoG...." The good news is that when it was over, it was over. Even better news: It's not hurting now.

I've joined two more boards in the past few weeks; both are pet-industry related. I've found some great info on both boards. Customers have been asking me from the beginning if I planned to offer treats on the website. With so many out there to choose from, I just said, "No." On one of the boards I joined, I learned about a new treat for both cats and dogs. It's called WildSideSalmon. They're freeze-dried salmon cubes, with nothing added. They're for both dogs and cats, although they come in different packaging. I asked for samples, and the mfg. sent them. I tried them with both cats and both dogs. Even picky Casey loved them. Yep, that's a good sign, so I placed an order.

I've also added Crunch Cards and Purrfect Greetings to the site. The Crunch Cards are greeting cards for dogs made from flat rawhide. They're just too cute for words. And again, Casey and Bono liked them. Purrfect Greetings are for cats (duh), and they have a catnip toy attached to a cute card. I have a feeling these will be hits - especially since I'm offering them less than anyone else on the web, and with free shipping. http://www.furfection.com/home.php?cat=17

Remember the vendor I met at the Gift Fair in SF, who told me to email her about wholesale pricing, and when I did, she said she didn't know if she wanted to sell to e-commerce sites? Well, ever since then, I've been searching everywhere for the items she offers. I can't find them anywhere. I thought I had, but they weren't the same. So I decided to call her one last time. Lo and behold, this time she was chatty and happy to have my business. I did my holiday stocking a bit early, just to avoid any outages. It's a good thing I did, because I'll have to create web pages for each item, and that's time consuming. (BTW, I'm doing full administration of my site now.)

I made my first sale for a full case of shampoo last week. A lady from the east coast called and said the 20 oz. bottles weren't big enough. Huh? She only had two Boxers. I offered to sell her a case, and she was thrilled. So was I:-)

Is anyone watching Rock Star: INXS? This show is better than American Idol! I'm just sad that the next episode will be the last:-( I was hoping Marty would be sent home last time, but they sent Suzie, instead. That was a bummer. And now, of the three guys that are left, I really have no clue who the band will choose as their new lead singer. Marty is creepy and a control freak; MiG has the most experience with live audiences and he's a great performer, but his voice isn't as good as JD's; JD has the looks, the talent, the stage presence, the whole package...with one exception: He's a jerk. I keep asking myself that, as long as I don't have to deal with him on a daily basis, why should I care what he's like backstage? Well, because I'm a control freak, too, dammit! Truth be told, JD is the best fit for the band...as long as they can put a Hannibal Lechter mask on him and keep him in a cage when he's not onstage. (Don't you wish I had an opinion about this;-)

I've been on a reading tear the past few months. I read an Ann Rule book about the Green River Killer, and I was hooked on her books. I'm on my 5th or 6th one now. They're real page turners that you just can't put down. After the first couple I read, I went to amazon.com and ordered 9 used books. None of them were more than $3.50, even the hardbacks. It's pretty safe to say I have enough reading material for the next couple of months.

Speaking of reading, I'd like to get back to that. If I think of anything else to tell you, I'll do it tomorrow...or the next day...or....

...In the World

2005-08-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Before I tell you how Bono (aka Sugar Bear) graduated at the top of his Puppy Obedience Class tonight, I have to admit to being the stupidest person you know.

My cortisone injection was scheduled for 7:00 this morning, and I was there with bells on. Since the last two injections had been such pieces of cake, I declined any sedation this morning. I just wanted to get the injection and get out of there. I had a puppy graduation to attend at 5:30 and I didn’t want to be groggy for that. That decision made me the stupidest person you know.

So there I was, lying on the operating table, thinking about how I was going back to bed when I get home, when all of a sudden, the most blinding pain shot down my inner thigh, past my knee. It felt like acid in my vein… (not that I’ve ever HAD acid in my vein, but it’s what I imagined it would feel like). I don’t know what kept me from hitting the ceiling, probably not wanting to scare my doctor, in case I need another injection somewhere down the line.

Instead, I took in the deepest breath I could then said, “OH MY GOD!!” Hey, it was the most ladylike thing I could come up with on such short notice! Mr. Doctor said, “Talk to me.”
I said, “I did. Didn’t you hear me?”
He asked, “What do you feel now?”
I said, “Burning flesh on my inner thigh.”
He asked, “How about now?”
I said, “It’s down past my knees now.”
He asked, “How about now?”
I said, “Sheesh….(heavy sigh)"

And then it was over. As soon as I got back to the recovery room, I asked to start getting dressed. Now I REALLY wanted to get home and in bed. I was in and out of the surgery center in an hour and 15 minutes. I can promise you this: If I ever need another spine injection, I will NOT decline the sedation. I had no idea what a difference it made.

Anyway, Hubby drove me back home, and I went straight to bed, a dog under either arm. (It was an early morning for them, too.)

We all slept until around 12:30, when my hunger pangs had to be attended to. While I ate my Honey Nut Cheerios, it was obvious that I had had SOMETHING done that day, but nothing that really kept me from doing anything.

For Bono’s graduation, I made up some cute bags with shampoo and conditioner samples for all the puppy graduates. Then I unpacked the Double Doggie Car Seat I had ordered and put it in my car. It fit perfectly!

At 5:00, we headed to graduation. I’m so proud to say that Bono was the only pup of eight that did all his commands on the first try. I’m such a proud puppy mom. All the puppy parents were pleasantly surprised with their gift bags, and it was just a nice little class.

As luck would have it, Bono made friends last week with the horse dog. He was no longer afraid of a dog 4 times bigger than he was. At the end of today’s class, feeling his own puppy strength, he went over to the Jack Russell mix and snarled and barked like the horse dog had done to him a few weeks ago. Everyone was stunned; Bono had always been the shyest dog in class, and in the very last one, he had to be Monster Dog?? What’s up with that? I apologized to the other mom, and she was OK.

So, the stupidest person in the world had one of the most obnoxious dogs in the world…at least for 30 seconds. Let’s hope we both learned our lessons and never have to carry those titles again!

Untitled

2005-08-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

My doctor was on vacation last week, so I wasn't able to get a cortisone injection. He's back this week, and I have an appt. for Thursday at 7:00 a.m. Originally they weren't going to be able to fit me in until NEXT week, but I managed to convince them that I needed it done THIS week. Taking Demerol every night just to be able to sleep is just not a good thing. Luckily, they agreed.

My call to SBC lasted 45 minutes. When I explained to the CSR what the problem was, she said it "just wasn't possible." After she checked through my account, she agreed that my account was all paid up, and that, yes, I was on automatic bill pay. She couldn't figure out the problem, either; that's why the call took so long. Most of the time I was on hold while she was talking to a supervisor. We think - and I stress that word - it's taken care of. But there are no guarantees with SBC (or anyone else, for that matter).

Remember the consultant whose seminar I attended at the show a couple of weeks ago? I paid for an hour of her time that day, and today I got my hour. (Her normal charge is $250/hr., but if you attended her seminar, you could purchase an hour for $95.) She gave me some excellent tips for revamping the Furfection website. She said I had "fabulous" content but that I wasn't using it to its full potential. The suggestions she made were actually common sense things, that, after she suggested them, I felt like, "Oh yeah." So, you'll be seeing some changes next time you visit.

I'm also in the process of creating that brochure for my facial lady. I need to show her what I have so far, just to make sure I'm on the right track. She specializes in Guinot products, so I had the bright idea of emailing their marketing department and asking for some of their images. They couldn't have been more helpful. It's just so cool when things work out the way they're supposed to.

Remember the vendor I spoke with at the show, who sent me an email saying she had too much business (yet she was still going to shows)? I did a lot of searching over the weekend, and I found another source for the items I liked so much. I've emailed the new vendor, but haven't heard back yet. Where there's a will, there's a way. When I get my voodoo doll, it will get some pin sticks for the snotty vendor.

Casey and Bono had puppy pedicures today. This was a first for Bono. His puppy graduation is Thursday, so he has to look like the perfect little dog he is:-) He learned "shake" today, and he's learned that "down" and "roll over" are two different things. He does both perfectly.

Although my spine injection is Thursday, I'll still plan on taking Bono to his graduation class. I'm also making up cute sample bags with shampoo and conditioner for all the graduates. There are 8 besides Bono. Talk about a captive audience;-)

Rock Star: INXS is on again tonight. It'll be interesting to see who leaves this week. There really aren't any contestants that I'm dying to see leave, but someone has to, right?

Cheap Thrills

2005-08-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

I guess I should have expected some nonsense today, considering it's the 13th. I just didn't expect it to be from SBC...again. We have another disconnection notice today, this time, it's on the home phone. I checked all my records, and we're paid up. We even have automatic bill-pay, so what's the deal?

I called the customer service number, and once I entered my phone number, I was directed to the "delinquent payment" automated service. What the hell, I may as well pay the bill again while I'm trying to get things straightened out, so I do. Now I have until Monday to stew about this goofiness. At this point, my fear is that the more they try to straighten things out, the worse they'll make them.

Also in the mail today, "everything I need" to set up my new voicemail services on the business line. Remember, this was all taken care of a week or so ago. Here we go again. According to SBC, I still need to set up my "new" voicemail. The funny thing is, my "old" voicemail still works just fine, thank you very much. Am I the only one beginning to see a black hole here? If you don't yet, you will in a minute.

As I read my "everything I need" letter, I looked over the features I supposedly have. One is "Call Forward/Busy/Don't Answer." Um...what I THOUGHT I had was call forward/busy/voicemail - meaning, if someone called, and the line was busy, it would go straight to voicemail. I just did a check, and that's what it does. Chances are pretty good that I won't be bringing this up in my call Monday; otherwise they'd probably really screw it up.

You know, last year I gave my sister and her new husband voodoo dolls so they could take out their frustrations on something physical, yet harmless. He needed it because of his psycho ex-wife, and she needed it because of her psycho ex-inlaws. I laughed so hard when he would poke the pin into that doll at 1000 pokes per minute. He said it made him feel better, too. So I'm thinking a voodoo doll is in order for SBC. It won't hurt them, but it'll make me feel a tiny bit better. (NOTE TO SELF: Cheap thrills are better than no thrills at all.)

OK, I have orders to fill, so this is me leaving....

The Man Who Sold The World

2005-08-12T15:53:00.000-07:00

Most of this week has been spent following up with vendors I met at the show last weekend. Everyone is friendly and they're happy to respond to any requests for catalogs, wholesale pricing, etc.... except one. The vendor I LOVED had the coolest picture frames/ornaments/collar charms/etc., but she didn't have any price lists at her booth. She said to contact her via her website. So I did. The response I got from her went something like, "We're turning away business because we're so freakin' busy." (My words - not hers.) I sent her another email, reminding her that she TOLD me to contact her, and she said she was off to another show and would contact me at the end of the month.

What's wrong with this picture?? If you already have more business than you can handle, why would you be doing more shows... which will bring in more business?? There must be a method to this madness that I didn't learn in any of my college business classes. Maybe I need a refresher night class?? Regardless, it irritates me that her response was so flip.

Today I went through the entire list of pet product exhibitors from the show, and I checked all their websites. I found a few things, but not what I had in mind. I wish there were some way to find the supplier for this vendor so I could just order without her. Heck, maybe I'll just ask her.

We're still getting lots of compliments on the website, and it continues to morph (with help from the owner, of course:-) I hope what I'm hearing about slow summer sales is true, and that they'll pick up again in the next month.

Bono had his next-to-last puppy class tonight. He's just a little star. He does sit, stay, leave it, come, and down like a pro. His graduation is next week, and he has to do all these things for the trainer. I'm teaching him "high five" this week as a bonus. I figure if he can't bring the teacher an apple, he can at least give her a new trick. Actually, his "down" is pretty tricky. He goes down and rolls over, kinda like extra credit. It works for me:-)

Is anybody watching "Rock Star: INXS" besides me? This is a great show. When you see what goes on behind the scenes with these people, you realize that musicians/performers really are different. Whatever.... Last week, Jordis did a song called "The Man Who Sold The World." I'd never heard it before, even though it's an old Bowie tune. I was just mesmerized by it. After the show, I replayed her performance another 5 or 6 times before I went to bed. That was almost 10 days ago, and I can't get that song out of my head.

The day after she sang it, I Googled the lyrics. Um... they didn't make any sense to me. Didn't matter, I still loved the song. So I went to my favorite music site and did a search for Bowie's version. Turned out there were more than 5 versions, including one by Nirvana. It was the closest to Jordis', so I downloaded it. Later than afternoon, I discovered that MSN had started offering the Rock Star performances as downloads. Woo-hoo!! I downloaded Jordis' and have been playing it ever since. Don't ask me what it is about this song, because I have no idea. What I do know is that I haven't loved a song this much since the 70s. (I don't want to remember what the song was back then because I won't be able to get THAT song out of my head.)

If anyone knows what those lyrics mean, would you please explain them to me?? I'm at a total loss, although I think they have something to do with death:-/

My facial lady is so impressed with my brochures that she wants me to design her new brochures. She also wants to pay me for doing it, but I don't want her money. I love doing this type of work, and besides, it keeps me out of trouble;-) Most likely, it will keep me busy all weekend. Hope you have a good one, too.

Thank doG for Demerol

2005-08-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Int'l. Gift Fair was held this past weekend. There were over 2200 exhibits, so you can imagine how huge it was. I went Saturday to check out the pet items. This was the first year they offered a pet section, and I was hoping to find some unique items to offer on the website for the holidays.

I also attended a seminar about attracting people to my website. It cost only $15, but it was worth the full price of $250. Seriously, remember the dilemma I had last week about offering the Pet News page on the Furfection website? At the seminar I learned that I don't have to send people away from my site to read the full news articles; I can code the pages so the full articles appear in a new window that isn't navigable...meaning, once visitors read the news, they have to close that window, then they'll be back at my Pet News page. How cool is that? I learned some other cool tips, too, which Ms. Programmer and I have already started implementing.

Like most pet-oriented shows, (actually, this was just a pet section), there were live pets. I didn't bother to count all the Chihuahuas, but there were more than five. The only dog that really interested me was a TIBBIE!! Yep, a real, live Tibetan Spaniel. Her name was LuLu, and she was 8 months old. I asked her owner if I could pick her up, and when I did, she gave me enough puppy kisses to last the day. (LuLu, not the owner.) The owner said he only paid $100 for her because she snored!! I said, "Hello?? They ALL snore!" He said, "Not like she does." Hey regardless of how bad she might be, paying $100 for a Tibbie is one of the steals of the century.

Note: I've since learned that not all Tibbies snore. Since both of mine do, I assumed they all did. You know what happens when we "assume," now don't we?

So I found unique items, just as I'd hoped. I won't mention them here yet; I'll wait until they're on the website. I was also asked by a pet treat vendor if I would be interested in sharing a booth with them next year. I'm planning to have a presence at that show, anyway, so sharing a booth sounds good, at least initially. It would be nice to have someone show me the ropes for my first trade show.

Yesterday I was snooping around my shopping cart software on my website, and I discovered an email tool. It's so awesome! Now I won't have to send my newsletters via Outlook. Today I created the newsletter template, so it matches my website format. It's pretty much the way I want it, but I'm sure I'll tweak it a bit more before the September newsletter is ready. You know me and computer programs; I can't play with them enough:-)

Because of all the walking around I did Saturday at the show, I woke up with a sore back Sunday. By the end of the day, I had a constant backache. This afternoon, in addition to the backache, I had that pain down my right leg... again. I know the warning signs now, so I won't be waiting to get another cortisone injection. Hopefully I can get one this week before all hell breaks loose. For now, Demerol is taking care of things:-) It's such a bitch getting old....

Make My Day

2005-08-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Another day, another aggravation... or two. Ms. Programmer and I have been trying to figure out why my website isn't charging enough for UPS shipping. While I'm sure Furfection customers love the little discount, shipping charges shouldn't be coming out of my pocket.

First, let me say I have no beef with my local UPS guys. They're awesome. The problems are with the unknown UPS universe behind their numerous 800 numbers. I called the 800 number for shipping customer service, and I explained what the problem was. The person at that number listened to my story, then said I needed to talk to someone in Billing. She gave me the number for Billing, and I called it. Again, I went through the story, and this person said she couldn't give me any info because the invoice I was calling about hadn't been posted yet. (I still don't understand that. If I can see the invoice online, why can't she? She's in Billing, for doG's sake.)

Ms. Billing wanted to keep telling me that she couldn't help me because of the lack of an invoice, and all I wanted from her was to tell me what type of billing account she was showing for Furfection. (I'm sure the problems began when I changed my account from a daily pickup to a customer drop-off.) She couldn't even tell me that. She directed me to a website for Billing.
Me: Wait. But aren't you in Billing?
She: Yes
Me: Then...why are you giving me a website to visit instead of having you fix the problem?
She: I can't see your invoice, so I can't help you.
Didn't I just have this conversation???
Me: My problem isn't just with one invoice; I just want to know what type of account you show Furfection as having.
She: I can't. You'll have to log on to the Billing website.
Me: (heavy sigh) Okey dokey.
She: Is there anything else I can help you with?
Me: (Thinking: Like you've already helped me with something????)
Me: No thanks. (click)

I went to the Billing website she directed me to and had to register. Once I registered, I got a message that said I had to wait to be approved to use the website. Huh? I just left it alone. After all my go-arounds with UPS in the past six months, I've learned not to fight the system. It only pisses me off and doesn't accomplish anything.

Tonight was Bono's third puppy class. Remember last week the bull mastiff puppy (horse) scared him to death. So this week, we were there a few minutes early. Ms. Puppy Trainer had brought her own dog to show us how a well-trained dog should act. (And yes, she was very well trained.) Bono and her dog were sniffing each other and around the corner came the horse. As soon as the parents entered the pen, they started to let the horse go wild and jump into the middle of our dogs. Bono tucked tail and ran under the chair. Smiling, I told the horse's parents that Bono was afraid of their dog after last week. Of course, they probably took that as a compliment about their humongous dog.

Tonight's lessons were "stop/sit/wait" and "come." Bono had no problem picking these up. But toward the end of the class when we were working on "down," forget it. No way was this puppy goin' down. Not even for a treat. The next exercise was "come." The trainer held the leashes of our dogs, one at a time, while we were telling them to come to us. Bono again was a little champ.

When it was the horse's turn, NO ONE, not even the trainer, could get that dog's attention. He was jumping all over the place like a chicken with its head cut off. The trainer kept popping the leash and telling the dog to sit, but it wasn't gonna happen. One of the parents kept yelling, "Come on, Marino, come!" The dog was out to lunch and wasn't coming back anytime soon. Was I enjoying their embarrassment? You bet. They have the biggest dog in the class, but it's also the most obnoxious.

After class, as we were all walking through the store on our way out, the horse and its parents were behind us. The horse was trying to catch up to Bono, but those little Tibbie legs were in overdrive. I heard the dad say, "Marino, stop! That's the little dog you scared." I know that was intended for me, but I pretended I didn't hear anything. I don't like those people or their dog, and I won't pretend I do.

In my email this morning was a message from someone who loves the Furfection website. She especially liked the Pet Q&A section because it contained exactly the type of health info she needed. Awesome! Isn't it amazing how something so "minor" can make your whole day?

It Never Ends

2005-08-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who shudders at the thought of calling the phone company? If I have to call them again after today's call, forget shuddering; I'll just go into full-blown convulsions.

First I had two different phone bills - for the same number - that were dated five days apart. And they had different balances due. I tried calling SBC over the weekend, but of course, no one was working then.

One of my calling features for my business line is call forwarding. I can't believe how much I use it, which is great. But I also need to be able to forward calls from any phone, just in case I forgot to do the forwarding before I left home (which has happened). I had already planned to call SBC today, and then, in today's mail, there was a notice that my phone service was being cut off unless I paid $38.45 that SBC said was overdue. Huh? This was yet a THIRD balance due for the same phone line.

Ms. SBC was nice enough, but I told her up front that I was ready to pull up my pants and take my business elsewhere. As she dug into the can of worms that was my account, she asked if I wanted my voicemail "reactivated." WTF???!!! It hadn't been "deactivated" that I was aware of. It was just another little thing they had screwed up on my behalf. I yelled, "ARE YOU SHITTIN' ME??!!" I'm sure Ms. SBC was horrified, but she also knew I had good reason to be upset. She jumped right in and started correcting everything, which I give her lots of credit for doing.

As she was making corrections, she said she wanted to offer me some type of compensation. I told her I wouldn't be happy with anything less than a winning Mega-Lotto ticket. She laughed. I tried to. Then she said, "How about $50 off your next bill? Does that sound fair?"
Me: Well, OK.
She: Did you have something else in mind?
Me: Well, yeah. I already told you about the lotto ticket.
She: (giggle)
Me: (not giggling)
Me again: I would be happy with one month's credit to my bill.
She: And I have authority to do that for you!
Me: Awesome (...but not awesome enough to make me do my "happy dance.")

So she finished up all the needed corrections, then told me I could save 20% on my mobile service by switching to Cingular. No matter how hard I try to avoid it, I enter the Twilight Zone almost every time I have to deal with any utility company. I said, "You must be joking, right?"
She: (giggle)
Me: (not giggling)
Me again: Uh...no. There's nothing wrong with my mobile service, at least that I'm aware of, so I'll be staying put with that one.
She: I understand, but I had to ask.
Me: Alrighty then. Have a nice day.
She: Thank you! You too!
Me: (click)

Last week I was working on RSS news feeds; this week it's webrings. Unfortunately, my idea for "live" news feeds is not do-able. Copyright issues, etc. I know this because I consulted Mr. Attorney. Good thing I did, too. What I'm doing instead is monitoring daily pet news and adding links on the Furfection News Page, along with a summary paragraph. While I don't like that it takes visitors away from the Furfection site, it's either that or no news. I figure if people are in the mood to read articles, they're either finished shopping or were just stopping by, anyway.

Webrings, however, are a whole 'nother animal. I applied to a Tibetan Spaniel webring, got accepted, and before I knew it, I was applying for all kinds of dog and cat webrings. I couldn't help myself. Of over 20 that I applied to, only one has denied me...so far. I still have a few pending.

Another positive note: My sister in Michigan emailed over the weekend. Said she had done a Google search for "dog shampoo," and Furfection came up fourth in the results. I'm not sure, but I think she was more excited than I was. On second thought, tho... probably not:-) It's taken so long to get any recognition in the search engine results, and I'm just happy that all my efforts are finally paying off. "Good things come to those who wait." But only after four months....

Mensa Member... Who? Me?

2005-07-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

Responses to my press release are continuing to come in. Just this week, I've had:

A request for my wholesale price list (from a gift store)
Request for permission to use Furfection products in a wholesale items website
Request for product info from a local doggie boutique
Request for samples from a grooming service in Michigan

Probably the coolest result of the press release was that, before the release, if I typed "furfection" into Google, it came back with just a handful of results. Now, it comes back with 14 pages of results! It's truly amazing!

My main project this week has been trying to get RSS news feeds to a "Pet News" page on the Furfection site. I found a free feed, but you know what they say about things that are too good to be true.... Normally, the news feeds update themselves, and the one I found said it updated daily. But it didn't. It still has the same news on it three days later. I've spent literally hours trying to find a suitable news feed, but it's not happening. I'm starting to think that for "custom" news, like pet news, I'll have to pay a service. I hope that's not the case, but we'll see. I'm not finished searching yet:-)

I've had a new banner ad created, and it's in the approval phase at MSN. This one looks better than the original one I was using. I tried to upload it here, but it looked funky so I deleted it. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to come across it while you're surfing one day.

Bono Bear is now in puppy classes. Truth be told, he's one of the most obedient dogs there. The problem is that he's shy around eight other dogs; he's exactly the opposite at home. Tonight we were learning "leave it," and a bullmastiff "puppy" (more like a small horse, holy mother of doG) nipped at Bono. Aside from the fact that Tibetan Spaniels are drama queens, it scared the little guy. No way were we going to get anything else out of him in class - treats or no.

When we got home, of course, he and Casey played HARD for over an hour. I wish the other puppy owners could see what a wild man he really is. In class, he acts like he's been smoking puppy pot or something; he couldn't be more mellow. It just goes to show, you can't start socializing your pup soon enough, and we definitely got a late start with Bono Bear. (But that was because of his eye surgery, remember?)

Until this week, BB had been sleeping in his crate, next to our bed. A few nights ago, he started whining shortly after I put him in. (He'd never done that before.) I thought he needed to pee one more time, so I took him out on the leash. Brought him back in, put him back in his crate, and 10 minutes later, he started whining again. He was also panting. I thought maybe this time he needed to poo, and I hadn't given him enough time last time out. So outside we went again. He had no interest in walking on the grass. He looked around and kinda moseyed around the yard, like "Oh what a nice night. Look at that big moon! See that, Mom?" So I brought him back in and put him in his crate for the third time.

Another 10 minutes passed, and he started whining and panting AGAIN. Duh...it finally occurred to me that he was HOT! (Even though it was 68 degrees in the bedroom.) I took him out of the crate and put him up on our bed, and he stretched out like a cat and fell asleep immediately. So much for sleeping in the crate. And yes, I felt dumber than a box of rocks for not figuring out the problem sooner. Hey, no one's ever mistaken me for a Mensa member, and I guess I don't have to worry about that happening anytime soon:-)

Life's A Bitch

2005-07-24T22:33:00.000-07:00

My press release seems to have been noticed not only by media outlets, but also by every type of salesman known to man. It figures....

I got an email from some guy in Florida who is looking for "premium quality pet products" for his holiday showcase TV show. His email included everything from what to wear on-camera to what the host will say about my products. He left out one important detail, though: The cost involved. I emailed him asking about that but haven't heard back yet.

I also got a call from a dog magazine (one that I'd never heard of), saying they'd really like to use my press release in their mag. The catch (and isn't there always at least one?) is that they'd also like me to buy ad space. If you've had even ONE journalism course in college, you already know that's a pretty stupid proposition.

Another email was from someone here in the Bay Area who's starting a doggie boutique and wants some of my samples to try. The problem is that he doesn't seem to know exactly what his business is or will be. My gut feeling is to avoid him, which I will.

Knowing how long it takes to create my online newsletter every month, I got a head start on the August issue. It's all but finished, and it's not due for a whole week! Last night I did other work on the website; you know those little things that you figure you'll get around to "someday." It's nice to get those out of the way.

One of the members of the Tibetan Spaniel discussion forum I belong to lost her Tibbie today. He was only 11 months old. He became deathly ill last week and the vet did everything to save him... to no avail. We're like a family on that board, and it feels like our dogs somehow belong to everyone on the board. So learning this afternoon that one of our own had been put down was just a bit much to handle. Of course, it also brought the memories of other pets we've lost, and by the time I thought about them all, I was just a big puddle of tears.

I will never understand those who don't like pets or have never wanted them. They're such an integral part of my life, I can't imagine being without them. I kinda scratch my head when someone says they don't like animals. Not because I have dandruff, but because I can't relate. All four of my furkids bring me so much pleasure and laughter, each in their own strange little ways. The ones I've already lost will be with me forever, and I can tear up in a heartbeat when I think about them.

Yeah, it's a bummer to end on such a sad note. But you know, sometimes that's just the way life is.

Writer's Cramp

2005-07-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

OK, OK. I got the message. You're tired of seeing "the same damned page" when you check the blog for updates (as one of my readers bluntly put it). Truth be told, I've just not been in the mood to write. There seems to be so much going on at any given time that I'm too distracted to sit down and concentrate. Actually I'm too distracted to live, but that's a whole 'nother matter:-)

Baby Bono had a slight complication after his eye surgery. It looked OK for a day, then took a turn for the worse. I took him back to the vet, who discovered that one of the stitches was actually irritating Bono's eye, and it needed to be fixed. Bono needed to be sedated but not anesthetized, so they kept him until the afternoon. His eye looked much better even when I picked him up. Each day it got better and better until now you can't tell he ever had surgery.

A couple of weeks ago, Hubby was playing in the backyard with the dogs, and he tripped on one of their "halfway to China" holes. His ankle looked like he had broken it. We spent two hours in the ER before finding out it was a bad sprain, instead. For more than a week, he got around on crutches, with me there to do everything but bathe him. After about the fifth day, I needed a break from the zoo.

As you know by now, I seem to go from one health crisis to the next. I thought my last one had passed, but unfortunately not. Frankly, I just haven't been feeling well. I may end up needing surgery, but we'll have to wait and see. I should know by the end of this week. Send good vibes, OK?

My business has the summertime blues. I was feeling a bit down about it until some of my friends said their businesses were slower than usual now, too. In the interim, I sent a press release to one of the wire services. It was released today. The numbers aren't bad, at face value.

My press release was "accessed" 41,145 times.
Estimated number of times it was picked up by a media outlet: 318
Number of times my press release was printed: 9
Number of times it was downloaded as a pdf: 7

I've had two inquiries today, as a result (I believe). One company wanted to know if I sold at wholesale. Well, yeah... I do. The other wanted to know if I would link to their site since they'd already linked to mine. This guy also wrote a nice little blip about this blog. (Now you understand how the pressure to write was building.) You can read it here: http://www.doggienews.com/2005/07/blog-for-doggie-business-owners.htm.

Other work is being done by Ms. Programmer. She's using this month's retainer to "SEO" (search engine optimize) my site. Now that I'm doing most of my own site maintenance, I can use her for other things. I continue to ask her how to do different things so I can do them myself next time. She's so busy with major clients, it works for both of us.

In other news, "Greenies" has chosen a photo of Casey with said treat for their next calendar. Casey also gets a month's supply of Greenies as his prize. Being the proud puppy mom I am, I think this is very cool. I'm trying hard not to be the backstage mom, tho;-)

Bono will attend his first puppy class this week, so I've been teaching him to "sit." I already knew the little guy was a member of Canine Mensa, so it shouldn't have surprised me that he picked it up immediately. In fact, all I have to do is look at him now and his butt hits the floor - even if I don't want it to. Let's hope he picks up everything else this quickly... without going overboard.

I haven't written this much in weeks, so I'll be taking my writer's cramp and heading to bed with a juicy Hollywood bio:-)

It's Always Something

2005-06-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

Baby Bono had his eye surgery/neutering/microchipping done this morning. I was able to pick him up at 3 this afternoon. He's still groggy, but he's already eaten, drank water, and pooed. Poor baby looks so sad. He still has some cherry eye, but the vet said it will get better every day as the swelling goes down. I hope so. Can't wait for him to get back to his rambunctious self.

My search engine ranking for this week was NOT zero for a change! Overall, it was 23.74, with a score of 82.13 on AOLSearch. (I don't even know how I got on AOLSearch.) Bottom line here is that we're making progress. Woo-hoo! Now let's hope it keeps getting higher every week!

My Palm Zire 71 is going haywire. (Why does it always have to be SOMETHING?!) It used to sync with my laptop just fine. Now it won't sync photos. Among other things, I use my Palm as my photo album, so this is not making me happy. I went to the Palm forum and asked what might be a solution. So far, nothing works. I've done a hard reset; I uninstalled Palm Desktop; downloaded the updated software from the Palm site; installed the new software; tried to re-sync, and it still won't sync photos. The error log says it can't load a photo that was deleted quite a while ago. Where this "phantom" photo is, I have no idea. I don't understand how it can still exist after I did the hard reset and uninstalled the software. What I do know is that I'm losing patience with the whole thing. Normally I love a challenge when it comes to my "toys," but this one isn't a challenge any longer; it's just a pain in the ass. Too bad I don't need a new Palm:-)

I've been on a reading tear for a few months now. As soon as I finish a book, I jump right into the next one. Last night I was anxious to start a new book, so I just pulled one out of the stack I had waiting. The first few pages were really good, very tense, very well-written. Then I started reading things about spells and magic swords and such, and I thought I needed to do a bit of research on it before I read any further.

Today I looked it up on amazon.com, and it's the 9th in a series of books about a magic tribe or something. Definitely not my kind of book. The question is: Where the heck did it come from? I usually buy a book after I've read a couple of good reviews about it. I just add it to the stack of to-be-reads and know that it will be a good read once I get to it. I have no idea where this one came from. I certainly don't remember buying it. Anyway, while I was on the amazon site, I bought 5 or 6 used books (the only way to buy books, IMO). There are still others in my stack to choose from, so I have something to tide me over.

Speaking of reading, I'd rather be doing that than writing right now. G'nite!

Another Game of "Catch-Up"

2005-06-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm very much aware that I haven't posted in quite a while. (How could I NOT be with all the nagging from you all?!) Sometimes I feel like writing, and other times I don't. I will admit, quite a bit has happened since my last post.

The good news is that my doctor released me from his care for my back. I'm pain-free, and unless something comes up, I don't need to see him again. Of course, being the fragile flower I am (grin), there's always another medical crisis waiting around the corner, and now is no exception. It if develops into something major, I'll let you know about it, but because we have "gentlemen" readers, I won't go into now.

My ads on Google have started showing up! When I saw one for the first time last week, I screamed. Well, not blood-curdlingly, but excitedly. It's about damned time is all I can say. Ads aren't showing up on Yahoo! yet, but maybe someday before I'm old and gray. Wait...that would be now, wouldn't it?

Baby Bono has continued to make himself at home with the rest of our zoo. He and Casey play hard most of the time. The other part of the time, they're sleeping. I could watch them for hours when they're play-fighting. It doesn't matter that Case is 4 pounds larger than Bono; Bono still appears to be the new alpha.

Unfortunately, last Sunday night, Bono developed a case of "cherry eye." Although it's common in dogs, and supposedly it's not painful, it still breaks my heart every time I look at my little guy. The way I understand it, there's a tear gland that provides 30% of the tears in each eye. It's located under the dog's third eyelid, and sometimes it pops out. Casey had it when he was a pup, but his corrected itself overnight. Bono's, unfortunately, isn't. He'll be having surgery to correct it probably this Tuesday. He'll be neutered then, too, to avoid having general anesthesia more than once in his puppy life.

Bono's First Bath

When we took Bono and Cheeto in last weekend for their vet visits, we learned that Bono weighs 7.3 pounds (Casey weighed 4 pounds at his "new puppy" visit), and Cheeto weighs 16. Dr. G. suggested that we put Cheeto on a diet. Ahem... we already had. I don't think he looks fat; I think he looks like one humongous, healthy cat.

A friend forwarded an article last week about sellers who were moving their items to amazon.com from ebay. Of course, I had just loaded all my product info into eBay. After reading the article, I went to the Amazon site and loaded everything there. If you go to amazon.com and type in "furfection," you'll see a whole page of Furfection stuff. It seems that small companies like mine can't do enough to get their names out there.

Well, a new week is starting, so it'll be interesting to see what it holds. Hopefully something exciting and fun. Yeah, right....

I Hate Outlook

2005-06-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Well, Mikey, it looks like you won...this time, anyway. If 12 of my peers found you not guilty, then who am I to judge? I just hope you've learned a valuable lesson from all this: It's NOT OK to sleep with kids. Not now, not ever. If you're really into boys, how about making sure they're of legal age? No one will be surprised if you're gay or even bi-sexual. What you do behind closed doors is your business - unless you're doing it with kids. Again, that's NOT OK.

I've spent so much time today trying to figure out what's wrong with my Outlook. When I try to create a message, I get a banner that says something like "Opening MS Word as your email editor." Then it just hangs. I have to control/alt/delete and reopen the program. I've been doing this all freakin' day.

I ran my AdAware; I ran The Ultimate Troubleshooter; System Cleaner; Norton Antivirus; I defragged my hard drive. I even restored back to early yesterday, when things were just fine. Nothing worked.

I have a number of computer forums I belong to, and I can usually find a solution to any problem on at least one of them. I found my problem on the MS Office users forum. MS acknowledges the problem, but they haven't been able to fix it yet. Well, OK. We know what the problem is and we know there's no solution. Isn't that special? In a word: No. I have too much data entered into the program to reinstall it, and I don't want to go back to Outlook Express. Maybe if I restore to an even earlier date.... Decisions, decisions. And damn you, Bill Gates.

On a lighter note, Baby Bono has taken charge of the zoo. Cheeto (the cat) probably weighs between 15-20 pounds (he's huge), but Bono chases him all over the place. Sophie (the other cat) thinks he's interesting, but she really doesn't want anything to do with him...yet. It'll happen, wait and see.

Although we're working on making my site more visible to search engines, it's becoming painfully obvious that I need to advertise. San Jose Magazine doesn't seem to have been a good choice, but Dog Fancy would be. I know I already sent them the new product release, but I want/need more business. Sales calls will help, of course, but I still need more people visiting the site.

And now, I need to do a restore, so this is me...signing off.

It's A Boy!

2005-06-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

In case you've been wondering where I've been the past few days, I have good reason to have been absent. I became a puppy mom - again.

Bono - age 13 weeks
Baby Bono (BONN-oh) arrived early Friday afternoon on a direct flight from Denver. He was no worse for the wear, but he was initially shyer than Casey was when we picked him up at the airport.

Casey was so excited when we brought Bono home. (Casey thinks every dog and person are playmates.) Around bedtime, though, he was thinking it was time for the playmate to go home. When Casey gets sleepy, he's a little grumpy. Add a bouncing little puppy and, well, you have an unhappy Casey.

Bono slept all night in his crate next to our bed. He woke up at 6:30 and wanted to go out. He took a little puppy pee and Hubby brought him back in and put him on the bed. He wanted to play with Casey, but Case is NOT a morning dog. He'd sleep until noon if we let him. The look of disgust on his face was soo obvious when Bono tried to get him to play. Case got up and went to the foot of the bed, letting out a big sigh when he curled up. Bono fell asleep and didn't wake up until 11.

Ms. Breeder told us Bono wasn't housebroken, but so far, every time he's needed to go outside, he's gone to the door and stood there until we noticed him and let him out. He's been here over 48 hours now, and he hasn't peed or pooed once in the house. We're lovin' that!

Saturday, Bono wanted SO MUCH to play, but Casey hadn't yet forgiven him for taking some treats right out of Casey's mouth the night before. Today, however, he was finished sulking, and he and Bono played most of the day. They're so funny together, which is exactly what I'd hoped for.

Bono Rides Again! Saturday, the felines were nowhere to be found. Nothing personal; they just don't care for strangers. Today, they're very curious about the new kid, and they've come nose-to-nose more than once. It won't take any time for them to be friends, I'm pretty sure.

On the work front, I've continued to make small changes to the Furfection website here and there that I had always wanted but didn't know how to do. Ms. Programmer is awesome about showing me how to do things. She's also working on optimizing my site for search engines. doG, do I need that!

Since I can't afford to advertise in Dog Fancy magazine, I sent them a new product release/photos. I asked (nicely) if I could be in the September issue, since that's that month they're featuring Tibetan Spaniels. Fingers crossed....

I've also upgraded my MS Office to MS Office Pro. It includes the program I need for Mr. UPS Tech to finish making my site automatic when it comes to entering addresses for shipping. I converted my email from Outlook Express to Outlook, and I can't believe how much it's changed in the past two years. There are so many bells and whistles - most of them are crap. It's really slow compared to OE, too, most likely because of its size. The good news is my datebook, email and contacts are all in one application now.

The puppy needs some hugs, so that's it for tonight:-)

The Ultimate

2005-06-07T22:16:00.000-07:00

After spending the entire day Saturday working on my first online newsletter, I felt like I'd given birth. Ms. Programmer has been showing me how to manage/maintain my site as she goes along, and I can't believe how much I've learned already. While it's great, it also leaves me a bit disappointed that my former webmaster didn't bother to show me this stuff. I'm computer literate, and I LOVE doing this type of thing, so I could've been doing my own updates all along. Whatever... I'm learning now. That's what important.

So, the newsletter. That entire page (all the text) was coded - no cut and paste, no templates anywhere. I did all the headings, images, hyperlinks, etc. See? That's why it felt like I'd given birth. (Not that I actually know what that feels like, but still....) I'm very happy with the finished project, and if you haven't already seen it, you can by clicking here: http://www.furfection.com/pages.php?pageid=14&mode=preview. Comments are welcome... as long as they're complimentary;-)

Today, Ms. Programmer and I worked for four hours on finishing my wish list for June (all the little things I wanted done on my site). Using instant messaging, she showed me how to do everything. The only project we have haven't finished is the "Paw Prints Referral Program." Unfortunately, she actually has to write a small program for that, so it remains on the wish list.

We changed all the fonts, made the left nav easier on the eyes, changed the order of the links, etc., etc. Tons of stuff, and all of it fun. I'm in geek heaven doing this. What was really cool was that we'd finish one thing, and she'd ask what I wanted to do next. We went from little project to little project. I'd tell her want I wanted, and magically it was done on the other end. Finally I told her I felt like an astronaut or something - just saying I wanted (fill in the blank) and *poof* it was done. I wonder if she'd be offended if I called her "Hal."

Wouldn't you know, now that I finally have my car running like a charm again, my "Check Brake Linings" light is on. Are you kidding me? EARTH TO MOTHER UNIVERSE: Would you p-l-e-a-s-e let me start making some Furfection money before you take another crap on my birth sign? My "Ultimate Driving Machine" is no longer under warranty (even though it only has 34,700 miles on it), and I have to take another mortgage every time it hiccups. Well, OK, I exaggerate, but STILL. I'd like to do more driving than just to the mechanic and back. Enough whining.

Little "Bono" isn't coming until Saturday:-( After months of having to cancel my massage appointments, I have one scheduled for that morning. Now I need to cancel it, too. True, a new puppy is worth it, but I haven't had a massage since my back took me to hell and back. (It's as good as new, btw.)

Speaking of pampering, one of my college girlfriends had a coupon for a new spa that recently opened here. "Buy one service; Get the second one free." We had facials yesterday, and we only had to pay for one. Awesome. Those of you who've had facials might find this a bit humorous. If you haven't, you can go ahead and skip to the next topic:-)

I usually get a facial every 4-6 weeks, and I've seen the same aesthetician for almost 15 years. When I get one, I use the little towel wrap thing for my chest area, and I just slide my bra straps off my arms, keeping my bra on. I've never taken off my jeans/shorts/capris. At the spa yesterday, the "hostess" told us to take everything off but our undies and put on the fluffy terry robes. Hmmm... "just my undies" for a facial?? If my facial person turned out to be a man, I worried that he just might offer me a "happy ending," if you know what I mean.

I was much relieved when Ms. Facial came to collect me. She took me through the warren of treatment rooms to her station. Then she told me to take everything off and lie on the bed/table, and said she'd be right outside the door when I was ready. OK. At this point, I'm starting to question what "ready" means. Take off all my clothes for a facial?? WTF? So I primly said, "Oh, that's OK. I have my undies on." She said that was OK and she bowed out of the room. Damn straight, it's OK, lady. I will NOT be taking off all my clothes for a facial.

My facial was wonderful, and the type of facial I'd signed up for, "The Ultimate Facial," also included a foot massage. So Ms. Facial was doing my face while Ms. Foot Massage was doing my feet. Fortunately, no one tried to "do" me. I still haven't figured out the "take your clothes thing," and maybe it's just as well. If I'd known that was part of "The Ultimate Facial," I'd have questioned what made it "ultimate."

Hmmm... "The Ultimate Driving Machine" and "The Ultimate Facial." Coincidence? Discuss.

Bono

2005-06-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

Ah-ha! So you really thought yesterday's post was "real"?? Come on, people! The only things real were the surveyor's questions and my answer to the first question. Everything else was a figment of my very fertile imagination:-) Sheesh... All work and no play is ... well, it's just WRONG.

I spent most of today updating my website. With the exception of a couple of "projects," most of what I wanted for June is now in place. Check it out: http://www.furfection.com/home.php. I created the new pages myself, as well as doing everything on the home page. The changes in the left nav had to be done by Ms. Programmer. She's still working on those, btw.

OK, there's another Furfection dog on the way. If things go as planned, "Bono" will be here next Thursday. (For those of you who live in a cave, without a phone, it's pronounced "BONN-oh.")

"Bono" at 12 weeks
Casey's just been too lonely without a playmate, so it was time to give in and get him one. We decided on Monday; found the puppy on Wednesday, and he'll be here in less than a week. Now we'll keep our fingers crossed that Case likes his new "little brother." Parenthood: It's not for everybody.

A couple of friends have asked if we thought about getting a female pup. I said, "Uh...no. There's only room for one bitch in my house, and that would be me, thank you for asking."

This was another jammie day, since I spent all my time working on my site. I've learned my lesson about taking breaks and getting away from my desk occasionally. So far (knock on wood), I'm still pain free. Woo-hoo! And on that positive note, I bid you goodnight and a pleasant weekend:-)

Funny Girl

2005-06-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

Just had one of those calls where they ask if you've seen any movies at the theater lately, and as soon as you say you have or haven't, they start asking the rest of the questions on their survey. I don't mind this type of call, after all, my opinions could help shape the youth of tomorrow. Yeah, and monkeys still fly outta my butt....

The conversation went something like this:

Mr. Movie: Have you heard anything about a movie called "Star Wars - Episode III"?
Me: Uh, no. I live in a cave. With a phone.
MM: (giggle) OK, how about "Crash"?
Me: Uh...I saw that.
MM: REALLY! GREAT! Would you consider seeing it again?
Me: And the reason I'd do that is because....
MM: (giggle) I'll take that as a "No."
Me: If you must.
MM: How about a movie called "Lords of Dogtown"? Have you heard anything about that?
Me: I saw that one.
MM: REALLY? GREAT! Would you consider seeing it again?
Me: Well, it has been over 20 years ago. I remember Al Pacino was great.
MM: Oh, no. This one is about skateboarders.
Me: Well, obviously I haven't heard anything about it, then.
MM: How about "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"?
Me: Weren't they a bunch of hookers?
MM: (giggle) No. So you haven't heard anything about the movie then?
Me: Only the title. I saw it in the movie section of this morning's paper.
MM: Great. Great. How about "Monster-In-Law"? Have you heard about that?
Me: Saw that. I was so happy when Charlize Theron won the Oscar for that.
MM: (giggle) What about "Kicking and Screaming"?
Me: Are you asking when was the last time I did that? Let me think.... It was pretty recently....
MM: (giggle) OK. Do you think you will go see "Cinderella Man"?
Me: You know, it's really not my kind of movie.
MM: Really? Why not?
Me: There's just something about Russell Crowe in glass slippers that really turns me off.
MM: (giggle, giggle) OK, last one. How about "Madagascar"?
Me: Mmmm... LOVE their whole vanilla beans.
MM: (laughing) OK, OK. May I ask your age, strictly for survey purposes?
Me: 25
MM: I really appreciate your time. You're a funny girl; d'you know that?
Me: Uh, sorry, but that was Barbra Streisand.

What Couldda Been

2005-06-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

I love Nordstrom. I just wanted to say that. When I took those Chanel cosmetics back today, the lady didn’t even bat a thickly-mascaraed eyelash. Just gave me credit and, “Boom!” I was outta there. Well, actually, I took a detour and learned that I am fickle, after all. Yes, I have a new favorite lipstick. While I loved the color (Chanel Key Largo), the SPF 15 is what sold me. Love the name, love the protection, love how it feels. I should write for Allure or Glamour or something.

It’s been an eventful evening. We’ve located a “sibling” for Casey from his same breeder. Beautiful little blonde boy, 12 weeks old. He’s getting his routine tests tomorrow, results back Friday, then it’s just a matter of getting him to SJC from Denver. Now we have to think of a name….

Ms. Programmer spent a couple of hours with me via IM this evening, teaching me how to add new web pages to my site. Sheesh, I could have been doing this long ago. At least I know now.

My DSL connection started going haywire sometime after 5 pm today. After an hour or so of its sputtering – on 5 minutes; off the next 10 – I called my ISP. They checked and said the problems started at 5:15. Yeah, that was about right. My first suspicion was that it had something to do with my speed upgrade. I had no idea when it was supposed to take effect, but I ordered it a couple of weeks ago.

After 20 minutes or so, I was up and running again. Before I hung up, I asked Mr. Tech Support if my speed had been upgraded yet. He said it had, but that it had nothing to do with my current problems. OK then.

The rest of the evening, my service was still intermittent. I called Mr. Tech Support again, and the short version is that what I originally suspected WAS the culprit. The new speed had taken effect at 5:15 – just when all my issues started. I had increased my speed at the expense of stability (the line’s; not mine, personally). Hello? That’s not acceptable. Just put it back to the old speed. Well, as much as they’d love to do that, they have to create a trouble ticket for the phone company, and the phone company has to do the actual switching. I love Nordies, but doG, I hate SBC.

Knock on wood, I haven’t had any back pain for two whole days now. I want to get excited about that, but I’m afraid I’ll jinx myself. Like with my car… remember the stalling/dying problem I was having last month? The last time I took it to the dealership, they replaced that expensive part under warranty. That was almost three weeks ago, and I’m almost afraid to say my car hasn’t died once since. I’m knocking on wood, just in case.

Now that I think about it, that was similar to my current DSL issue. I did all the research on my car, trying to find out what could possibly be causing it to die, and let me be the first to say I’M NO MECHANIC. (Nor do I wanna be. Imagine what my nails would look like....) When I took it back to the dealership this last time, they didn’t do any diagnostics or anything; they just took my word for it that that particular part had been a culprit for other owners. I should charge THEM a diagnostic fee!

OK, now I'm being overwhelmed by thinking of all the things I should have been when I grew up. I hope I can fall asleep quickly so I won't think about the high-paying jobs I could have had. Sh*t. Too late....

Playing Catch-Up

2005-05-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

I had no idea it's been almost a week since I posted. You know what they say about "when you're having fun." Of course, that's true, even if you AREN'T having a good time.

My rejection letter from QVC arrived Saturday. I'd like to say I was majorly disappointed, but I wasn't. A couple of friends were way more upset about it than I was. I truly believe things happen for a reason, and it's just not my time yet. It'll happen.

After I opened the QVC letter, I left for a shopping trip. I was looking for another of my favorite lipsticks, only to discover it had been a "limited edition" and it hadn't been available for two years. Huh? But I just bought mine in November...in New Zealand. Are those Kiwis really that far behind us??

As it turned out, the lady I spoke with was a district rep or something. She will try to find a tube or two of my discontinued color: Chanel #48 - Rock Star. She asked if I wanted to look at the new shades and find a "new" favorite. Uh, no. I wouldn't. I'm not that fickle. She kept saying, "Oh come on. Let us do a make-over with the new colors and update your look." I kept politely refusing, but when she put it that way, I started feeling like yesterday's newspaper. Finally, I told her I'd never had a make-over that didn't leave me looking like either a hooker or a clown. She said she had the just the person for me, and she grabbed a lady who was just coming back from lunch. Before I knew it, I was sitting in a director's chair in the middle of Nordstrom, getting a make-over.

I told Ms. Chanel that I didn't want anything over-the-top; I just wanted a basic, every day look. She must've used 20 different products on my face. She didn't show me how to use any of them. She just chatted away while she painted me. We actually had lots in common. Both married 19 years; similar wedding ring sets; both read Vanity Fair; both read "The Kite Runner"; she had 2 dogs and a cat - I have one dog and 2 cats, etc. I liked her, and it's a good thing, since I was "made-over" for over an hour. (I was obviously more outdated than I realized.)

Afterward, you know how they lead you to the counter and ask what you plan to buy out of all the things they used on you? Well, she must've used $1000 worth on me, so the least I could do was buy $500 worth. (Oh, please. You should know better by now. I spent less than $150, and half of that, I'm taking back because I don't like it.) Love their lipstick; don't love their other stuff.

The dog towels have been embroidered and were shipped out last Friday. Can't wait to see them. I have the sample that's not embroidered, and it's such a great towel. Haven't used it on Casey yet because it's just too nice. Next bath, I promise I'll use it. It IS a dog towel, after all.

Ms. Designer finished the towel illustration for the website, as well as "polishing" my data sheets. Fabulous job, I must say. Which is why I keep giving her more business. I just gave her another project today: the Gund dog that arrived last week. I have to use Gund's photos on my site, but I need an illustration of an idea for what you can do with this little guy, and Gund doesn't provide that. Hopefully she'll have him ready by the weekend.

Oh yes. The spinal injection. I had it last Thursday, bright and early. It was anti-climactic since I'd had one a few weeks ago. Before the procedure, they like to give patients something "to take the edge off," usually meaning Versaid. I don't like it because it causes amnesia. Can you imagine? I get myself into enough trouble with what I KNOW I said, let alone things I DIDN'T know I said. Holy Mother of doG! Anyway, the dr. asked if I wanted that little something, and I said, "No thank you. But I'd love some Fentanyl." "No problem. Coming right up," he said. Where else could you possibly have that conversation and not be worried about getting arrested?

The procedure went as expected and I was back at home in about an hour. I slept the majority of the day and that night, but hey, I didn't have any back pain:-) So far, so good. I hope I'm on the mend because this "invalid" stuff is getting old.

My new programmers have been great, but I don't think I made it clear enough to them that I want my site updated BY the first of every month. I think (hope?) I'm on their schedule for later this week. I have lots of wishes on my list for June: A birthday club for customers' pets (they'll get an e-card the month of their birthdays, which will be good for $5 off their owners' next order); free delivery for certain parts of the Bay Area (I sent the programmers a long list of eligible zip codes. Customers just enter their zip to see if they qualify for free delivery.); a referral program (Customers can earn "Paw Prints" for each new customer they refer to Furfection. Those Prints can be redeemed for Furfection products.) See? There's actually a lot to be done, and I wish I could do it myself. Alas, I'm just a lowly business owner, not a programmer:-( I'll choose more wisely in my next life....

We've decided to get another puppy. Casey needs a playmate during the day, and the cats are not cutting it for him. He stays out in the yard (his choice), while the cats sleep all day. No excitement there. Unfortunately, Tibbies aren't the type of dog you just bop down to the shelter and pick up. Rarely, if ever, can you find one that way (although it's been known to happen). I've contacted a couple of breeders, so we'll see what happens.

On all other fronts, there's nothing to write home - or blog - about. Can you believe tomorrow's already Wednesday?

Way To Go, Carrie!!!

2005-05-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

To all you doubters, I just wanna say....

NEENER, NEENER, NEENER!!!!!!

Spinal injection Thursday morning...send good thoughts, OK?

Tempting Fate

2005-05-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

So the Google ads are now for designer handbags and not for vibrators or dildos. I'm gonna mention vibrators and dildos throughout every post this week, just to see if they ever pick up on it:-) Well, every day but Thursday. That's the day I'm having another spinal injection, so I probably won't feel like antagonizing Google.

My back is getting progressively worse. I now have tingling down my right leg (which has nothing to do with my vibrator), which I didn't have before. I can't get through the day or night without any pain meds, it's just too much. Enough of that.

I had a nice chat with the president of the company that manufactures dildos. OOPS! I meant my shampoo and conditioner. He was giving me tips for how to set my wholesale prices when I'm ready to make sales calls. He basically said I wasn't charging enough for items on my website.

It occurred to me that my offer of free delivery in the Bay Area isn't posted anywhere on my site. Duh... I fixed that tonight. Ms. Webmaster will do even more to it next week. At least it's up there now. Progress comes in steps, you know;-)

If my blog doesn't appear after tomorrow, you'll know Google has banned me for life. But like they say, "Hey, if they can't take a joke...." Well, you know the rest.

Mack Trucks and Unmentionables

2005-05-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

The woman from the Humane Society never called/emailed about the samples she didn't get. Guess that proved my point about their unimportance to her. It all worked tho....

I've been looking for a while for a nice tote bag for carrying my products once I start making sales calls. I found a r-e-a-l-l-y nice Kate Spade bag at Loehmann's this weekend. (Thank doG for discount designer stores!) While I was paying for it, the lady next to me was trying on sunglasses and asking people if they looked good. Then we got to chatting and she said she had four big dogs and four cats. She lives on a ranch here somewhere. When I told her about my company, she asked for one of my cards. I also told her that I had samples in my car if she wanted to walk out with me. She did, and I loaded her up with them. I wouldn't have been able to do that if I'd taken them all to the Kiwanis:-)

The project I spent the most time on was my catalog (data sheets). I created a sheet for each product and a full price list at the end. I'm having Ms. Designer polish it for me. It looks good, but to me, it still looks homemade.

Today has been a jammie day. My back seems to be getting worse instead of better. I'm not discouraged, tho, since I'm having another spinal injection on Thursday. It's a matter of learning what my limits are, which includes time spent sitting at the computer.

Have you noticed the Google ads on this page have been for Mack Trucks the past few days? Way to go, Google. Just rub in the fact that I was almost wiped out by one last week. If my post mentions vibrators and dildos, will the ads start showing porn sites? Well hang on, we're about to find out. (BTW, I just went to eBay and looked up "dildo" to see whether the plural form has an "e." Did you know that all the dildos on eBay are from Great Britain? And we thought they were so conservative;-)

On that note, I'm outta here....

Change of Plans

2005-05-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

My first order for a Dog Daze spa collection today:-) Another new experience in packaging coming my way this weekend. Very cool. I knew that as soon as my website was up for more than 15 minutes at a time, I'd start getting more sales.
Speaking of the website, it's official: I'm moved to the new hosting company. The old site was down so much, even the new company was shocked. I'm sure they thought I was exaggerating when I told them how often my site was down. And FTR, they said this was "the most difficult" switch they'd ever had. A couple of days ago, it was "one of" the most difficult. At least it's done and I'm a happy camper.

I'm also official with Gund now. My retailer "welcome" package arrived yesterday. I'm anxious to get the first order, but I have no idea when it's supposed to be here.

My appointment at the Humane Society was at 1:30 yesterday. I was there about 10 minutes early, only to find out the person I was supposed to be meeting had forgotten to put it on her calendar. She was in a meeting that she couldn't leave. Whatever.... It worked out because her boss met with me. The plan for the "Walk and Wag" event in August is set. I'll be providing 400 samples of my shampoo to be dropped into the goodie bags given to the participants in the race. That'll be way easier than standing in a tent all afternoon, handing out samples.

The lady I met with is VP of Development for the HS. She said she was also a member of the Kiwanis Club. They're having a walk-a-thon this weekend, and she asked if I could provide 300 samples for that. Yikes! I had no bottles, no labels, no nuthin'. So I high-tailed it to my bottle store and bought all the 2 oz. bottles they had: 135. When I got home, I called another of their stores and located more about 20 miles from here. I also dug around my garage, looking for anything I might have stashed while we were rearranging things there. Lo and behold, I found a bunch. So all told, I managed to print 20 pages of labels and fill 275 bottles last night before I went to bed. Today I had to pick up the extra bottles before I could finish, but they're all ready. Then something happened....

For reasons I can't fully explain, I've had a gut feeling that this donation wasn't in my best interest. After all, the samples are going to walk-a-thon participants - many of which, I'm sure, don't have dogs. And in no way is this event tied to the Humane Society. If I'm donating products, I want them to be put to good use - like with the shelter dogs.

I sent Ms. VP an email this afternoon, asking if she'd mind stopping by my house to pick up the samples. (She goes right by here on her way home.) That would save me a trip in the early morning. Late this afternoon, I got a response from her that said, "I am really sorry but I am unable to help you out today." Ex-squeeze me?? Who's helping whom?? It's not like this little donation didn't cost $400-$500, not to mention the five hours it took to make up the samples. After using a friend as a sounding board tonight, I decided that, ready or not, those samples are not going to the Kiwanis Club. In fact, I'm (finally) washing my hands of this particular shelter. They've been a pure pain in the ass for over 6 months. There are lots of other shelters in the area I can donate to.

My follow-up visit with my surgeon was this afternoon. He suggested another cortisone injection, which I'll be having done next Thursday morning. He said I should have gotten more relief from the last one, but that sometimes it takes more than one. Hey, I'm there! Anything to get this burning feeling out of my thigh.

I'm down to the last few pages of my book, so I'm heading to bed to finish it. Maybe I'll even sleep in tomorrow:-)

After Midnight

2005-05-20T00:15:00.000-07:00

OK, I missed posting Wednesday because I had a "back emergency" that called for heavy drugs. Today, I was almost good as new:-) There's a lot going on with the biz - all good - but you'll have to wait for this weekend. It's now after midnight and I need to sleep!

Two-Headed Monsters

2005-05-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Remember how last Friday, I said the 13th wasn't so bad, after all? Now I know why; my Friday the 13th actually came today. It started with a wake-up call from my back at around 4:30. After that, I couldn't find a position that wasn't painful, so finally, at 5:30, I just got up.

One of the things I do to start my day is check in on a dog discussion forum I've belonged to since it was formed a year or so ago. There's the greatest bunch of gals and we've had lots of fun discussing our dogs and other things. Unfortunately, there's always one bad apple, and our group is no different. I won't go into any details, but I will say the group imploded this morning. The whole thing has been upsetting, and there's sooo much I'd like to say about it, but I'll refrain. The good news is that the bad apple has left the tree, so to speak. While I wish her lots of things, they're probably things she'd much rather avoid.

On my way to PT this morning, I was literally trapped between a Hummer and an 18-wheeler tanker truck - both of them wanting my lane. The tanker was coming off the freeway; the Hummer wanted to get on. The tanker actually came into my lane on the right until he had half of my lane! The Hummer, in the meantime, was trying to get in from the left. Neither could see what the other was doing, so I was trapped. They came so close to crunching me from either side that at one point, I threw up my hands and yelled "Holy Shit!" I really believed I was about to buy the farm - or at least a casket.

At the very next stoplight, I'm sitting there shaking, and there's a car sitting in the middle of the intersection. The woman had missed a left-turn arrow and tried to run it, anyway. Unfortunately for her, the oncoming traffic didn't let her get away with it. So she sat there, in the middle of a 16-lane intersection, scared as a bunny. I motioned to her to pull back, and I was making room for her in my lane. She inched backward until she was out of the intersection, and then she sat there - with her car in reverse. Uh-huh. You know what's coming.

I kept waiting for her to put her car back into 'drive,' but it never happened. Finally, I jumped out of my car and ran up to her side of the car. She looked at me like I was car jacker. I gave her my friendliest smile and asked her to roll down her window. When she did, I asked her to take her car out of reverse. She looked at me like I had two heads. I explained that I was afraid she'd forget she was in reverse, and when our light turned green, she'd be heading backward. She got it and immediately put her car into drive.

As I got to the PT clinic, there was a construction crew blocking the parking lot. There was a guy holding a sign that said, "Slow." I rolled down my window and told him I needed to get into that parking lot. He said, "No problem. Turn your car around and we'll let you in." So I did. As the guys waved me into the parking lot, they had forgotten to tell their co-worker, who was driving a piece of heavy machinery. (I have no idea what it was.) Everyone was yelling at him to stop, and he did, finally... less than 6 inches from my car. He yelled, "Sorry! I didn't see you!" Yeah, this was now the third time that had happened in less than 15 minutes. What I wanted to know was, since when did a red car become invisible?? When I got inside the clinic, my hands were still shaking. My therapist asked how my day was going, and I looked at her like she had two heads. Hell, I didn't need PT; I needed a handful of Valium, for doG's sake. And maybe even a wine chaser.

After my therapy, I came home and picked up my birthday dog. Yep, Casey was 2 years old today. We went to PetSmart so he could pick out a couple of squeaky toys and get a couple of Bully Sticks. (If you don't know what they are, someone else will have to explain it to you. I ain't gonna....) As I was taking Casey out of his doggie carseat, a man came walking toward me, out of the blue. Since I was out in the middle of a huge parking lot where no one else was around, he got my attention. No car, no shopping cart, no nothing. He said, "Lady..." I looked up and saw him coming, and I said, "Back off." He asked if I could help him out. Hello?? This guy was better dressed than I was. I didn't say anything, but I picked up Case and we headed toward the store. The guy yelled, "That dog you're carryin' is an ANIMAL! You should care more about people than animals!" OK, now I know I'm dealing with someone/something from another planet, so I, justifiably, looked at him to find his second head. He had to have one somewhere. It was probably growing out of his back.

A lady walked up to me as we were leaving the store and asked if Casey was a Pomeranian. Yep, I looked at her like she had two heads. I told her he was a Tibetan Spaniel, and she said she'd never heard of one. (Yeah, you and most of the US.) She asked all kinds of questions and kept saying what a handsome dog he was. (Well, yeah!) Then she asked where she could get one. I told her Case came from a breeder in Colorado. I think she changed her mind right about then.

Once I got us back into the car, I thought we'd better head home before an airplane crashed on top of my car. On days like this one, you can never be too careful.

Safely at home, I decided to check my horoscope. Surely it would say something about all the weirdness happening today. Would you believe? Here's part of what it said for the month of May:

This month you may enter a difficult patch when every word will seem to provoke a heated response. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to why everything appears to be reaching critical mass now, and no way to avoid certain issues. Tiptoeing around won't help. Barrel forward and face problems head on.

Well, OK, that explained the discussion forum implosion. The rest of it...doG only knows.

On the business front, my new hosting company is still waiting for the DNS to switch over. They said this is one of the most difficult transfers they've ever had. (Well, duh! It's MINE; of COURSE it's going to be difficult. Haven't they read my horoscope?!)

I finally received a response to my nastygram from (un)successfulhosting.com. They explained their weekend outage by blaming it on a switch that my programmer said anyone could buy for a few bucks and have it replaced in a matter of minutes. Am I surprised? You be the judge. They just sent me another email, saying they've credited me for two months. Sorry, buddies, I'll be long gone before my two months are up.

So after being awake since 4:30 a.m., I feel the need to crash. Not into anybody! You know the old saying, "There's nothing so bad that a puppy kiss can't fix." Now where's my birthday boy...?

Unleashing Leann

2005-05-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

My website was down all weekend. By late yesterday evening, Leann had had enough and she fired off a flaming email to the loser hosting company. FTR, if anyone ever recommends successfulhosting.com for your company, just slap 'em and walk away. No one in their right mind would ever recommend them at this point.

My new webmistress has been trying to get my site moved. Now we're just waiting for the DNS to switch over. It could take anywhere from 24-48 hours. With all the downtime I've had since my site went live, what's another day or two? With the website down for so long, of course I haven't had any orders.

I finally have an appointment with the Humane Society this Thursday. The president wants to meet with me while I'm there. Don't know what that's about, but it's probably something to do with that email I sent her when no one was responding to my offer of donations. We'll see....

Later....
My site came up late this afternoon. Shortly thereafter, I had an order. I wonder how many I lost over the weekend. It would be better not to stew over it because Leann would get pissed all over again.

Hey, I'm in the perfect frame of mind for my depressing book!

Very Superstitious

2005-05-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

For someone as superstitious as I am, Friday the 13th wasn't so bad. Until tonight. Then it got really bad. First, the good stuff.

More nice orders today, which is always good. I also ordered the towels and am having them drop-shipped to Ms. Embroidery. Stopped by Office Depot and bought a laptop riser and new keyboard. I have to make serious adjustments to my computer arrangements. Raised my chair, raised the laptop, etc. See? I'm taking my back injury very seriously:-)

Then tonight I decided to work on my search engine optimization. Long story short: MS said to change some code in my home page, so I did. I didn't want to save the changes until I previewed the page on the site, but I had to. The only reason I went through with it was that the software said there was a "restore" button I could use if I didn't like what I'd done. So I saved, then went to my home page. If I were 10 years younger, I'd have freaked and probably had heart failure. Fortunately, I'm older and wiser now, so I just felt stupid.

I knew there had to be a backup copy of the changed file somewhere, but I had no idea where. So I sent Ms. Webmistress an urgent message, explaining what I'd done. Obviously, somebody up there loves me, because while I was writing the above paragraph, Ms. W. logged on to IM. Again, long story short: she fixed my page in less than two minutes. I'm not kidding. Well, let that be a lesson to me. When it comes to programming code, keep my mitts off it!

OK, so that turned out not to be so bad, after all (thank doG!!!!!). The only other "bad" thing that happened today was that I got an email from Anna Nicole. Yeah, that one. The subject was, "Join Me For Happy Hour!" Well, I would LOVE to...on the same day monkeys fly out of my butt.

I started a really good book earlier this week. Good, but extremely depressing. "The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1594480001/qid=1116046374/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-7582634-1250506?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) Last night before I fell asleep, I came to the first disturbing incident in the book. It made me so sad, I closed the book and just stared at the ceiling. I know there are other disturbing incidents to come, and I just didn't know if I was up to this kind of story. I started reading it again and could think of nothing else after I turned out the light.

Today, I saw the movie, "Crash." It's gotten such excellent reviews, I had to see it. Granted, it truly was an exceptional movie. And exceptionally depressing. Just what I needed while I'm reading such a depressing book. Between the book and the movie, I feel like I'm surrounded by dark clouds. Even as late as it is, I'm planning to watch "Sideways" or "The Incredibles." I need something else to think about. Something entertaining. Something funny. Something light-hearted. Something to take me from Friday the 13th to Saturday the 14th!

I'm "Official"!

2005-05-12T23:11:00.000-07:00

I'm now an authorized Gund reseller! Woo-hoo! Ms. Gund rep. was here for a couple of hours this afternoon. She didn't have anything resembling a Tibbie, but she had tons of cute dogs. My first of six shipments will arrive in two weeks, then other shipments will arrive every other month. Wait 'til you see the Christmas dog! OMG, too cute for words.

I've asked the Humane Society if we can schedule some time next week to get together. The latest round of emails has them thinking I want to sponsor a booth where I can wash dogs after a walk-a-thon:-/ Uh...no. I'm not washing other people's dogs. I'm more than happy to provide the products for people to wash their own dogs. We'll see what happens.

Ms. Webmistress is now officially on board. She's moving my site as I write this. Yesterday and the day before, I thought she was working on it, but she was out of town. Turns out my hosting company was down for the bazillionth time in the past month. I'm not leaving there a moment too soon, as far as I'm concerned.

Received a call today from Mr. Service at the dealership. He said his dog, Jake, INSISTED that he call and order shampoo and conditioner:-) I'll deliver it tomorrow. He also wants me to visit his friend across the street at the Mercedes dealership. She has MANY dogs, according to Mr. Service. I'll take a mixed case of products with me tomorrow in case she wants any. BTW, Ms. Gund also bought shampoo and conditioner:-)

Speaking of cars, mine hasn't died since I picked it up Tuesday. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that it never dies again;-)

It's been a good Furfection day. Nice sales and my Gund order coming. On that note, I'll take my wrecked back and my fluffy dog and head for bed.

Zip

2005-05-11T22:24:00.000-07:00

Not a damned thing happened today:-)

Toys 'n' Towels

2005-05-10T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's official: I have a new webmaster/programmer. And she's a SHE! She's already working on the site, so I should be moved to a new host in the next few days. There shouldn't be any downtime, either. Cool, cool, cool.

The doggie bath towel sample arrived today. It's definitely a Furfection item. Now I'm waiting for a quote from Ms. Embroidery for having the logo embroidered on each one. The bummer part is that they only come in red, but they're such a nice towel, it really doesn't make a difference. They're microfiber, so they aren't very thick, but they act like a chamois when it comes to absorbency. Can't wait to use the sample on Casey. Too bad he had his bath last night:-(

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that I found a Tibbie plush toy!! (In case you didn't know, that's the equivalent of the Holy Grail.) I've requested a sample to make sure they look as good in person as they do in the catalog. With these and the bath towels, shopping for www.furfection.com will be - for the most part - complete. At least for now....

Last but not least, I'm down another 2 pounds. That makes 14.5 total. Woo-hoo!

New Webmistress

2005-05-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday, Hubby and I went to the storage unit and rearranged things. I directed; he rearranged;-) Now I can get to everything I need to. It only took about 15 minutes and we were out of there.

The charity event was fun. I have no idea how much money they raised, but there was a good turnout. I've volunteered for events in the past where volunteers were viewed about one notch above cockroaches. Those types of experiences really make you want to donate your time. Not. This event wasn't like that. We were allowed to enjoy the event as much as anyone else, as long as we got our "chores" finished. We were also allowed to eat the same food as the guests. (Yes, I had my cake. It was yummy....)

Yesterday was such a dreary day. Rain, wind, darkness. I'm convinced that when the rain finally stops, we'll go straight into summer and miss spring completely. Grrrr.... Anyway, it was a jammie day. I worked on the label template for the gallon jugs of conditioner. Those million dollar labels are very cool. They're more like plastic than paper, and they look GREAT printed out. Now that those are done, I need to get my arse over to the Humane Society with my donations.

Speaking of that, I've been exchanging emails with the person responsible for the Walk and Wag event in August. I had offered to supply the products for a dog wash after the race. The new Mr. HS doesn't know anything about a dog wash, so he's checking into it and will get back to me.

The bath mats arrived today. They weren't packaged they way the were supposed to have been, but it's no big deal. They're nice, and they have the Furfection logo on the lower left corner. They're part of the Dogtopia spa package and won't be sold separately, at least not for now.

My car went back to the dealership today. I swear, if they could have rolled out a red carpet for me, they would have. They're replacing that $500 part that's covered under warranty, and I should get the car back tomorrow. They gave me a 2005 BMW 525 with 300 miles on it as a loaner. Probably if I hadn't been driving a 540 for the past four years, I'd be impressed. But since mine could blow the doors off this one, it's no big whoop. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this new part will fix my stalling/dying problem, once and for all.

I had a conference call with Mr. UPS Tech today. We're still working on getting WorldShip set up for my business. I need to install MS Access in order for it to work smoothly, so I've asked a friend to buy it for me with his educational discount (he's a high school teacher).

I have all but signed on the dotted line with my new webmaster/programmer/hosting company. I'm still trying to negotiate the setup fee, but other than that, we're ready to roll. Once I sign, my site will be moved within a week. Woo-hoo! No more downtime! At least not 36 hours at a time, anyway. My new computer guru is a female, and she's located in Ohio. She and her husband own their consulting firm. I love the idea of a woman webmaster, mainly because there are so few of them. I like to give my business to women when I can.

My weight loss of 12.5 pounds held steady the past two weeks when I wasn't paying much attention to what I ate. Of course, I wasn't that hungry when I was taking the Percs, either. I'm back on the plan this week, so I'm still heading in the downward direction on the scale. I haven't heard anything about my application for QVC, so I figure no news is good news. As long as that's the case, I'll keep using those new black pants as my motivation:-)

Let ME Eat Cake!

2005-05-06T22:32:00.000-07:00

So all that rearranging I did in the garage yesterday? Bad idea. My back/leg hurt so much after I went to bed last night that I finally got up and took two Percocetts. (BTW, did you know they act like an upper instead of a downer? I was WIDE awake after I took them. I digressed...sorry.) I learned my lesson, tho. No matter how tempted I was to go to the storage unit and get some supplies, I refrained.

My first order for a gallon of anything was received today. Lady in Texas ordered a gallon of the Extra-Shine Moisturizing conditioner. Another new experience in packing is mine to be had this weekend. This is why I needed to go to the storage unit. All the gallon jugs are there. And to make matters worse, they're on the pallet in the back far corner, because I figured I'd need them the least. That was true; however, I still need to get to them SOMETIME. Tomorrow....

I've been requesting samples from different plush toy companies because I've been thinking about having a Tibetan Spaniel toy made. (There aren't any out there, at least not that I know of.) I found the company to do it, and the samples they sent me are exactly the quality I had in mind. The problem is their 600-pc. minimum. I have absolutely nowhere to store 600 Tibetan Spaniels, and besides, I already have more than I can deal with having one real one!

The other item I've been searching for is a microfiber dog towel. I think I've found what I wanted, and the sample will be here next week. The guy I spoke to at the company, Mr. Towel, has two Cavalier King Charles spaniels. We chatted for a bit about them, and he asked if I knew of a good creme rinse he could use to make their fur silky again. Well, gee...let me think... There IS this little company called "Furfection," and I hear they make a pretty good one. Duh....I asked for his mailing address so I could send him some samples. Fair exchange, no?

Hubby and I are volunteering at an AIDS charity event tomorrow night. One of my girlfriends is in charge of volunteers and asked if I would help out. I get to be the performer coordinator. Too bad U2 isn't playing:-( Forget the transvestites, Mardi-Gras, cabaret show, dance bands, etc. I'm just interested in the CAKE!!!! Just kidding.... Well, on second thought, no I'm not. I'm a true cake fanatic.

NOTE: After all these many years of controversy about whether Marie Antoinette really said, "Let them eat cake," I'd like to set the record straight, here and now. No, in fact she did NOT say that. I said, "Let ME eat cake." Somewhere along the line, my statement was twisted and attributed to Marie, although doG knows why. I'm sure Dan Rather is responsible, given his notorious lack of research on important topics.

This week seems to have flown by - probably because I was out of commission Monday and part of Tuesday. Maybe I can make up for it next week. If not, so what? My boss isn't worrying about it, so why should I? ;-)

Paula! How Could You?!

2005-05-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

The first-ever Furfection Naturals ad is in the May issue of San Jose magazine. I saw it today, on page 56, I believe it was. Cool. Very cool. Now let's see if it brings me any business:-)

When I went to PT today, I took some of my brochures and calendar magnets to leave on their table. The therapists have known me forever, and they love promoting Furfection. Hey, so do I;-)

Didn't call Service Dept. God until after 6 pm. Frankly, I had hoped to get his voicemail and leave a message rather than talking live. That's how it worked out, too. The car didn't stall once today. BTW, when I say "stall," I mean "die," as in, engine shuts off, dead as a doornail. I'm lucky to have enough momentum to coast to the side of the street, road, etc. before I have to put it in park and start it up again. At least it always starts!

So many packaging things and boxes of inventory have collected in the garage that I had to walk around the back of my car to get in. Today while Hubby's car was gone, I rearranged everything. I expected to have to take some things to storage, but I found a place for everything in the garage. Speaking of storage, my rent for the storage unit was due on the first. I just remembered it last night. I've set it up for online bill-pay starting next month, but I made a quick trip over today to drop off my check.

They say you should make notes to remind yourself to do things so you won't forget. But what happens when you start forgetting that you WROTE the notes?? I'll ponder that some other time. Right now, I have way too much hand wringing to do over this Paula-slept-with-Corey disaster!

NOT!

Ben and Jerry's, Anyone?

2005-05-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

The website was up this morning. Surprise, surprise. I also had an email from Mr. Webmaster, who had received it from my hosting company, (un)successfulhosting. They had "emergency system maintenance" last night. Really?? And was there something new about that?? Didn't matter; I've already decided to move my site.

While I was lying in bed this morning (and before I opened my eyes, only to discover one of Casey's hind feet right in my face), I remembered that yesterday, when I went to the hosting website, there were very strange things going on. For instance, when I clicked on the "contact us" button to send an email, I had typed in maybe half a sentence before the window started filling itself in! I'm serious. Not only that, it wouldn't stop! Finally I closed my browser and reopened it. Same problem. So I restarted my computer. My desktop started flashing:-/ I could open my email, but I couldn't type anything. Uh-oh.

I tried to run AdAware, but it wouldn't open. Then I tried a couple of my other "clean up" programs. They acted strangely. Then I decided to hell with it, that I'd better do a system restore. Fortunately, that seemed to take care of the problem. Oh yeah, it's time to get away from this very schlock outfit.

I went to one of the discussion forums for my shopping cart software and lurked around, looking for a poster that seemed to know what they were talking about. I found one, and it turned out to be female (yay!). I instant-messaged her, and we chatted for a long time. Yes, she can move my website. Yes, she's an expert in my shopping cart software. Yes, she does contract programming. I haven't hired her yet, but I plan to. In comparing my current hosting plan to hers, my current one is less expensive. Hello?? Yes, I'm getting what I'm paying for. If I'm lucky, my site will be moved by this time next week. If I'm UNlucky, it will be where it is now (dammit).

My first phone order today. Very nice lady in Sacramento who's getting her first Tibbie. OMG, I wonder if she knows what she's in for. She said she'd done a lot of research on the breed. What I didn't tell her was that a lot is still not enough for these little knuckleheads. Anyway, she was afraid to enter her credit card number online, so she asked if she could place the order by phone. Not a problem. I actually enjoyed the conversation with a real live customer for a change.

Remember my stalling car saga? I think I left you at the point where I had dropped my car at the dealership while they tried to diagnose the problem. While I was down and out, they called and said they couldn't recreate the problem and that they wanted me to come get the car. Oh, and they charged me $150 for the privilege of not diagnosing any problems. Sh*theads.

Leann has a real hard time with things like this, so she insisted on writing a letter to the general manager of the dealership. It was a nice letter, compared to some she'd written in the past. This one didn't ask for anything, though. She just retold her experience and told the guy it was pretty obvious their mechanics were incompetent, since, even with all their state-of-the-art equipment, they couldn't figure out well-known problems. She signed off by acknowledging that she was only one person, and she knew her opinion didn't matter, but at least she'd gotten it off her chest.

Today I took my car back to my own Mr. Mechanic, and he installed a new $500 part that - we hope - will take care of the stalling. He didn't even bill me; told me to drive the car until I felt safe in it again, and if this did it, then he'd bill me. If the car continues to stall, though, he'll put my old part back in and try something else.

Wouldn't you know, the dealership received my letter today, so I got a call from Service Dept. God (SDG). He said he and Service Dept. Disciple were sitting there reading and discussing my letter. (O-M-G!!! They can READ!!!) OK, that was mean, but they deserved it. Anyway, he said they wanted another chance at fixing my car. They had decided that it might be yet another part. I told them about having the other new part installed today. They said they still wanted to try this other new part. I said, "Fine," and agreed to stop by tomorrow.

Not 30 seconds later, SDG called back to tell me that $500 part my mechanic installed today was covered under warranty. He wanted me to take my car to my mechanic, have my old part put back in, then bring the car to the dealership and let them install the same new part for free. Uh...OK. On top of that, they ALSO want to install that other part that - they think - could be my problem.

I let out a deep sigh, then I said, "Why did it take my letter for you to want another chance at fixing my car? Why couldn't all this have been done when you had the car?" He said, "We made a mistake. That car should never have left here with that stalling problem." Well, DUH. How many mass airflow sensors had to fall on his head before he came to that realization? So I agreed to take the car in tomorrow and give them a chance to redeem themselves.

Of course, I had to call my mechanic back and tell him about it. He had no problem with it, but he suggested that, since the new part is already in the car, why not drive it around for a couple of days just to see if it DOES make a difference? Either way, I still get a new one under warranty. Makes sense. Now I need to call SDG back and let him know I won't be in tomorrow, after all. I'll plan for next Monday.

Frankly, all these hassles with the hosting company and the dealership are making me tired. Whatever would I do without American Idol and the Prime Time Live "expose'" tonight to lift my spirits? Oh, wait...there's some Ben and Jerry's in the freezer....

Furfection Lives!!

2005-05-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

Granted, the past week has been one I hope never to repeat. You know that old saying, "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger"? Well, I'd like to smack the dipstick that came up with that one. I don't expect to be back to "normal" for a while yet, but I'm definitely on the mend.

Today was my first physical therapy visit for the ruptured disc. It wasn't much more than an evaluation of my progress and some "feel good" massage, plus ice and electrical stimulation, but after the pain I experienced last week, I wasn't ready to have anyone messing with my back. Onward and upward, right?

The orders continued to come in while I was lying low, but we were able to keep up with them. I don't think there was anything that fell through the cracks. (At least if it did, I'm blissfully unaware of it:-)

The Furfection Spa Collection was a couple of days late showing up on the website, but it just couldn't be helped. As far as I'm concerned, they were worth waiting for! The packages are just so cool, and they're one of those things that a photo or illustration just doesn't do justice. The good thing, I guess, is that if customers think they're attractive when they order them, they'll REALLY think they're great once they see them in person. You can check them out here: http://www.furfection.com/home.php

I made a quick stop at God's (my accountant) office this afternoon. Week before last, I had dropped off my first batch of invoices, etc. for him to start my bookkeeping. He actually called me a couple of times to check on me while I was down. How many accountants do that? Such a sweetie. Today he said he "had fun" organizing all my papers, and that it had been a nice change after doing everyone's taxes. In fact, he had so much fun, he wasn't charging me. He said he'd wait until I started making some money. Isn't it great to have so much support?

Mr. Webmaster is getting ready to make a graceful exit as I look for a full-time webmaster. He has a new job, plus he and Mrs. Webmaster are in the process of buying their first house. He won't have time to do everything plus the Furfection website. If anyone knows of a good programmer, please let me know. I have Mr. Webmaster until he leaves for the Caribbean on the 19th.

Which reminds me, I haven't heard anything more from Mr. UPS Tech and Mr. Webmaster about WorldShip. I need to make sure that's all squared away before Mr. Webmaster leaves.

My website is down - again. At least it's almost the middle of the night. I'm 80% ready to change hosting companies, but I don't want to think about it anymore tonight. Besides, it's still painful to sit for a long time in the same position, so Ms. Furfection is heading to bed.

Lying Low

2005-04-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 25
It's always nice to start my week with a call from VISA, wanting to verify "suspicious" charges on my card. The good news is that they weren't suspicious at all. They were real; I made 'em.

Next, at 8:30 a.m., UPS arrived with all those packing materials I ordered: peanuts, boxes, etc. If I thought my garage was full before, I was mistaken. Now it's REALLY full! It's a good thing the loaner car I'm driving is smaller than my car. At least I have some time to get rearranged.

The software patch that was supposed to take care of the erroneous billing didn't. Just for grins Saturday, I double-checked an invoice for an in-state order and found it was wrong. Mr. Webmaster received an urgent message from me. Sunday morning, I had an email from him saying it was definitely fixed this time. I did more checking, and so far, everything looks good.

Friday, April 29
Monday night, Hubby had the unpleasant task of rushing me to the emergency room. I had the most doG-awful pain in my back, running down my right leg. They diagnosed it as sciatica. Starting with Dilaudid, they gave me an injection almost every hour, trying to get the pain under control. After two shots of Dilaudid, they tried Morphine. After that, Demerol. After that, I was calling Hubby "Brad Pitt." At around 8:00 am, the dr. said he couldn't give me anything else because my blood pressure was too low. Hubby brought me back home and I slept off my heavy-duty drugs. Oh, and did I mention today was our 19th wedding anniversary? Thank doG for the "in sickness and in health" part.

I had an MRI later that day, and my PT friend came over to view the films. The dr's. note said he suspected a ruptured disc, and my friend saw exactly where it was. I was scheduled for a cortisone injection into my spine Thursday morning, so Wednesday was just a lost day due to the Percocett I was taking.

I was awake for the injection procedure, which was no big deal. Unfortunately, there was no immediate relief. I asked the dr. if there was anything he could give me to lessen the pain, and he said there wasn't anything, that the injection would probably start making a difference in about a week. So in the interim, I've been flat on my back since that's the only way I can lessen the pain to a dull roar. In case you're wondering what a ruptured disc feels like, imagine a butcher knife, about 2" wide and 8" long, rusty and dull, being pushed into and pulled out of your lower back, over and over and over. You have to add the leg pain that goes with it, so imagine having acid spilled over your right thigh and there's nothing you can do to wipe it off. The burning will not let go, no matter what you do. That's about as vivid as I can make it. And true.

I've overstayed my time on the computer, and now I'm headed back to bed. I wouldn't expect any updates here for the next few days....

And God Said....

2005-04-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

It turns out that I can process a credit without the customer's credit card number. All I need are their transaction numbers and the last four digits of their card. Cool. Now I wonder what the next website crisis will be....

Mr. Mfgr. called early this a.m. to discuss an outstanding invoice from the label printer. I thought I had paid my share with my credit card, directly to the printer. He didn't know that. I told him I'd call the printer and confirm, which I did. Funny thing, tho. After I hung up from talking to the printer's accounting person, it occurred to me that I never saw that charge come through. I didn't have my company credit card back then, and I gave them my personal card number. I checked all my statements for this year, and there was no charge. I checked my check register; no check written.

I called Ms. Accountant to tell her I had not been charged, and she said they had discovered the same thing. They had processed the charge just before I called. Hey, it's only money, right? :-(

While I was going through statements and such, getting ready for my appt. with "God" (our accountant), I discovered a charge on my company card from me - to me. Huh? How does that happen? So I called Wells Fargo and asked them to explain. The guy said, "Wow, that's really weird. I have no idea." Then he wanted me to talk to someone in the Disputes Dept. I asked the second guy what that charge was for, and he said, "Wow, that's really weird. I have no idea." OK, people. I know it's weird; that's why I called. He said he would just send me the form to dispute the charge because he didn't know what else to do. (Looks like there's no training necessary in the Disputes Dept., because I could have suggested that. See? There are so many other careers I could have chosen besides Presidential Bitch of a dog shampoo company. At least I'll always have something else to fall back on.)

The orders continue to come in, which, of course, I'm tickled pink about. I'm starting to be able to tell which are the best sellers. So far, the aprons, the blue T-shirts, and the dog body brushes are hits. The dog body brushes are really popular. I expected them to sell, but I didn't think they'd go over this well. I'll have to re-order shortly.

I took the Spa pak with me to physical therapy this afternoon. I wanted to see if it got the same raves it got at the hair salon. Yep, no question. People love it. (BTW, my elbow is finally getting better, so I asked the therapist to work on my back, instead. He evaluated it and found the same thing the dr. did. It has to do with facets in the vertebrae, which I'd never heard of. Anyway, yeah, there's definitely cause for the pain that shoots down my butt, around my hip and down my right thigh. He said he could feel a muscle spasming in there, which explains why the muscle relaxers I took last night did lessen the pain. He said this type of irritation is "nasty," but with ice and anti-inflammatories, it should get better soon.)

From PT, I had a meeting with "God." I showed him the Spa pak and dropped off all my invoices, statements, etc. He thought the box was awesome and wanted to know when I would be putting it on the website. We had a nice visit, and I'm sure he was happy to talk about something other than taxes, for a change.

I received a package today from one of my friends in the Midwest. Among other things, it contained "The Official Dog Codependents Handbook." I have no idea why she sent it to me. Doesn't everyone kiss their dog on the face? Don't all dog owners feel guilty for not taking their "kids" for a walk at 3:00 every day? Doesn't owning a dog change everyone's careers? Like I said, I have no idea why she sent me the book;-)

So, those labels for the gallon jugs...you know, the ones that cost a million dollars? I printed out one sheet of 4 labels last night. O-M-G. They're beautiful. I had no idea an inkjet was capable of such printing. It was a bear trying to adjust the template so the graphics were perfectly aligned on the sheet. I still have to do the one for the conditioner labels, but it will have to be before I've been sitting for a long time.

The car saga continues. I asked Hubby to stop by the dealership and get the keys to my storage unit. While he was there, he asked my service advisor what the scoop was on my car. Mr. Service Advisor said they're still unable to recreate the stalling problem. He said they would not return the car to me until they found the cause. Yeah, that's right. Empty that $50 gas tank for me, wouldya? I'm sooo dying to spend another afternoon filling it up again. In the meantime, I have a new 328 to drive around. I used to have one of these, and it was so much fun to zip around in. The best part, though, is that I'm not worrying about the car stalling every time I slow down. Funny how that can take the fun out of driving.

I'm headed to bed after a long work week. (The commute is so awful;-) I'll be taking my codependents handbook with me so I can learn how to help my poor dog friends deal with their addictions....

Are We Having Fun Yet?

2005-04-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I can stop crying long enough to write this, but here goes....

I just learned from CNN.com that Paris and Nicole are no longer friends. I had heard the rumors for the past couple of weeks, and I was just PRAYING they weren't true. Now, Paris has confirmed it, saying, "Nicole knows what she did."

doG, don't they think of their fans when they do things like this?? I remember when Simon and Garfunkel split in the '70s, I cried for days. What's up with these celebrities, anyway? Doesn't anyone besides Dan Hill care about our "FEE-lings"?

OK, OK, in reality I could give a rat's a$$ about Paris or Nicole. But what's with CNN thinking this crap is "newsworthy" on its home page? Truly, I don't get it. But enough about me....

I called UPS this morning, first thing, to ask how to return the thermal printer I rented. Would you believe it took 15 minutes for the guy to figure out what I needed to do? I was seriously tempted to hang up and call back in the hope that I would get a different person. Sheesh....

The doghouses - "spa kits" - were delivered today. They were delivered to my house instead of to the storage unit, for a very simple reason: I didn't have a key to the unit. I carry it in my car, which I dropped off at the dealership yesterday for an "investigative visit." (It's been stalling at the most inopportune times - like in the middle of intersections. Yep, big problem. Even bigger: They can't figure out what's causing it. Even bigger still: It's a German car. Parts cost 89 times the prices of American car parts, and labor will probably be 400 times the norm. Biggest problem of all: HELLO! I'M A START-UP, PEOPLE! Pardon the digression....)

Shipping the spa kits will pose a new challenge. Rather than using the bubble pack I've been using for all my shipments, I'll need peanuts. And bigger boxes. So I ordered these supplies. Lord only knows where I'll put them. Do you have any idea how big a "unit" of peanuts is? Me, either, but I'm about to find out.

So I packed up a "spa box" and took it with me to my hair appointment. OMIGOD! You'd have thought it was made of intricately carved gold the way everyone was talking and raving about it. Granted, it's very cool, but let's be serious...it's a box. Another client asked where I got it, and I explained about my company. She said she loved it and had to have some for all her friends who were dog lovers. She must've said, "I can't believe how cute this is!" a hundred times. Well, OK, at least 3. She asked for my card and said she would be checking my website soon. Perfect segue....

Wouldn't you know, my website was down almost ALL DAY?! I called the hosting company and was put on hold. The first announcement I heard was that I was the third caller in the queue and that my wait was expected to be 3 minutes. Well, about every 15 seconds, the same announcement played. After 15 minutes, the announcement said, "You're the second caller in the queue and your estimated wait is 8 minutes." Huh? The next one said (condensed version), "You're the second caller and your wait will be 10 minutes." WHAT?! The next one said, "You're the second caller and your wait will be 12 minutes." Seriously, I couldn't believe it. The longer I waited, the longer my wait got. How does that work? (No wonder my site was down; no one at the hosting company could tell time. They probably all think it's 1999.) Finally, it said I was first in the queue - for at least 10 minutes, when after a grand total of 35 minutes, "Peter" took my call.

I told him my website had been down for hours, and he said he already knew that. He said they didn't know what was causing the outage, but that they were working on it as quickly as they could. EARTH TO PETER. NOT QUICKLY ENOUGH. I told him that this was the third time my site had been down in 2.5 weeks, and that it was NOT OK. He said he was sorry, but they had changed to a new system and were still "working out the bugs." My guess is that they were using a bargain-basement exterminator. My site didn't come back up until around 5:30 p.m., and needless to say, Leann was fit to be tied.

I sent Mr. Webmaster an email, telling him I didn't have warm fuzzies about this hosting company. It would be a good idea to have a back-up plan if these guys don't get their act together. He said changing at this point would be MAJOR, and that if I really wanted to, I needed to make sure that's what I wanted to do. I think it was really a nice way of telling me to bleep off. Seriously, tho, these outages can't continue.

When it rains, it pours, of course. Just received an URGENT message from Mr. Webmaster. He just received an URGENT message from the software provider for the shopping cart on my website. (This is NOT the provider of the credit card authorizations.) Seems they've discovered a bug that totally hoses the balance due of any sale over $50 - if they paid CA sales tax. Yes, KDGN, you're one of them. I owe two customers a credit. But here's the interesting part....

In order to enter a credit, I have to provide the customer's credit card number. The problem here (and isn't there always at least one?) is that I NEVER have access to a customer's credit card info. The authorization provider gets it and it doesn't show up anywhere in my reports, records, etc. I'll call customer service first thing tomorrow and ask how to process these. If need be, I'll send my customers a check for their overpayments. All I can say is THANK doG, THANK doG, THANK doG the two customers know my business is new and they're some of my biggest supporters.

Yep, we're having fun now! NOT!!!

Good Things

2005-04-20T23:35:00.000-07:00

After spending over $48 to fill my car with gas today (I'm not lying!), I was really happy to get lots of orders this afternoon. Woo-hoo!! And they were from people I didn't know, so word is starting to spread. The one person I (kinda) knew was one of the first people I talked to when I was looking for a Tibetan Spaniel. She placed the largest order I've had yet:-)

The bathmat sample arrived today. I don't love it, so I'm sending the mfgr. back to the drawing board. I also got a big box of stuffed squeaky toy samples. Casey and the felines were all surrounding me as I listened to the different sound each toy made. The little bandits made off with some, too. Again, these weren't up to Furfection standards, so I won't be buying from this particular company.

My new thermal printer arrived this afternoon. It's exactly the same as the UPS one I've been renting. The difference was that installing the driver for the new one was a royal pain in the arse. I'm usually pretty good at installing hardware, software, etc., but the longer I spent trying to figure out why the printer didn't work, the more determined I was to figure it out. Every time I sent a test label to print, it came out of one of my inkjets instead of the thermal. All told, it took a good hour to get it all squared away. I was so relieved when the labels finally came out of the right printer, I felt like I should have a cigarette. (And I've never been a smoker.) Instead, I had a couple of anti-inflammatories and a pain killer;-)

I packed a doghouse today and showed it to a couple of people whose opinions I value. It got rave reviews from both - as I expected it would. Instead of doghouses, I'm going to call them the Furfection Spa Collection. There will be three different ones to choose from. I'm really anxious to see the reactions from customers.

BTW, Mr. Printer called today and said the doghouses were ready for delivery. They'll need to go to the storage unit, and there will have to be some rearranging to make them fit. In case you're wondering, NO, I will NOT be helping with any pallets this time around.

There are some issues with my WorldShip integration, and I don't know how it's all going to turn out. I don't know what the issues are (I'm leaving that up to Mr. Webmaster and Mr. UPS Tech), but I hope they're workable.

Lots to do before I head to bed, and even more to do when I get up tomorrow. But, hey, that's a good thing!

"Whatever...."

2005-04-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

We sold the first Talking Bone today. Yay!! Well, actually, it's the second one, since the first one went to Casey the spokes dog:-) (He still loves it, btw.)

The labels for the gallon jugs arrived today. I've asked Ms. Designer to set up a template for the label graphics. After what these cost, I can't afford to waste even one!

Ms. Embroidery sent the last of the T-shirts today. I hadn't planned to keep smalls and mediums on hand, but I changed my mind after getting orders for them.

I'm still deciding how to offer the doghouses. It's pretty clear now that I won't be able to let customers pick and choose what they want included; I'll have to make up a couple of different assortments and let them choose from those. The next project will be figuring out how to present them on the website. I have a couple of ideas that I need chew on.

Froogle...the current bane of my existence. I've uploaded my data feed and they've approved it. They said there were no errors. If that's true, why is only one product showing up instead of eight? I've asked Mr. Webmaster to look into it for me. I still think Froogle leaves a lot to be desired from the merchants' aspect. Love Google. Don't love Froogle.

My appointment with Mr. Physiatrist for my low back went well this afternoon. He took a set of X-rays and there appears to be no damage, other than a narrowing between my vertebrae. He thinks I just irritated the muscles and they're letting me know about it. Gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory and a painkiller and wants to see me again in four weeks. Trust me, I will NOT be pushing any pallets in the next four weeks...or ever, if I can help it.

I'm starting to accept the fact that getting older is a bitch, no matter how you slice it. There are lots of things you can't do when you get older that you could always do in the past. (Not that I pushed a lot of pallets in the past, but you know what I mean.) I saw an ad once that said something like, "I don't intend to age gracefully. I plan to fight every step of the way." Usually I feel like that, but lately I'm feeling more like "Whatever...." Another thing you learn as you get older is how to pick your battles. Fighting something that will win in the end would be one of those you should pass by. Yeah, right.

Boxes and Bones

2005-04-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

Mr. Webmaster is still ill, although he's working a bit here and there. I don't have the heart to ask him about the status on WorldShip. He did manage to add the Talking Bone to the site, so there is some progress.

Speaking of Talking Bones, I kept about 10 of them here at home and took the rest of them to the storage unit. That unit has become a very handy little place. It's now housing my shampoos, conditioners, boxes and bones. Soon it will contain doghouses.

Mr. Printer stopped by with a doghouse today. They're so awesome!! He had a question about how the handles would be folded. Aside from that, I guess they're ready to be die-cut. The shipment should arrive later this week. I'm still deciding which items will go in the doghouses. I want customers to be able to "build" their own doghouses online, but determining the pricing is tricky. I may have to give up on the "building" idea and just offer a couple of different versions.

I'm still trying to locate a wholesaler for pet towels. I found a vendor in SF that makes microfiber pet towels, and I emailed them and asked about wholesale pricing. That was almost three weeks ago, and I still haven't received the catalog they promised. Ms. Embroidery is also trying to locate a supplier for me, but so far, nothing.

It's been two weeks since I helped Mr. Delivery Man push that pallet of cases into the storage unit, and instead of getting better, my lower back has gotten worse. I gave in and called the physiatrist I've seen in the past. I was able to get an appointment tomorrow afternoon. Let's hope something can be done to put me out of my misery.

Saturday night, I took a Demerol, hoping to short-circuit the pain. The only thing I short-circuited was my brain. In addition to being a space case, I was nauseated and had some chest pain. Not to mention I was a zombie all day Sunday. If it had worked on my back pain, it would have been worth it. BUT IT DIDN'T. It amazes me to think there are people who get addicted to narcotic drugs. Obviously I'm not one of them. Chocolate? Cake? Cookies? Oh yeah, I'm definitely addicted. Unfortunately they do nothing for pain.

No Room At The Inn

2005-04-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

The packages I sent out have been delivered throughout the week. Aside from the email from yesterday about the missing bottle of shampoo, I heard today about a package that was damaged. Nothing inside was affected, but the box itself was damaged and open. Sounds like it was dropped hard somewhere between here and Mankato, Minnesota. The good news is that customer LOVED her apron and wants to order more.

Mr. Printer called to say the doghouses were going "on-press" at 4:30 today. Hubby and I decided not to go, after all. The printing facility is halfway between here and San Francisco. Trying to get there on a Friday at that time would just be asking for trouble - and aggravation. While it would have been fun to see the doghouses come off the printer, I've seen the process before. I'd rather save myself from any road rage (other people's; not mine).

Mr. Designer finished the gallon labels last night. I tweaked them some this morning, and now they're just waiting for the blank labels to arrive. Looks like I'll be heading to the Humane Society with my donations sometime next week. The hard part will be trying to get out of there without adopting a cat or dog....

The logo dog tag samples arrived this afternoon. Instead of leaving the dog tags blank, I'm thinking of using the "F" with paw prints, as it appears on the product labels. The samples look good, and I'll have to think about it. The cost of the dog tags already includes the stamping. Decisions, decisions. Where are those ear pins, anyway?

For the past week, I've been trying to get my site included in Froogle, Google's shopping area. I set up the account and got as far as trying to upload my data feed with product info, and it wouldn't take the feed. Their error messages had me going in circles, trying and re-trying the same things. Finally I gave up and decided to delete the account and start over.

Froogle sent me an email saying I already HAD an account, so they wouldn't approve the second one. Helloooooo Froogle? I deleted that first account. Now I can't get into the new one because their site won't accept my login and password. I sent them an email asking for help, and we've been sending messages back and forth since yesterday. They keep telling me to try things I've already tried. Eventually I'll decide it's not worth the trouble. I expect better than this from Google.

Sometime this weekend, I need to take some boxes of the Talking Bones to my storage unit. My garage is getting fuller by the day. Mr. Printer said my doghouses would probably come in boxes on a pallet. Yikes! I hate that word for two reasons: 1. There's no room at the inn for another pallet; 2. My lower back is still screaming at me for helping Mr. Shipper push that pallet of shampoo into the storage unit. They'll fit somewhere, I'm sure.

Next day:
My sister in Michigan got her package yesterday. All was fine except that the shampoo had leaked a little. Because of the way I wrap the bottles, it didn't get on anything else. I'm a step ahead of this problem, now that I'm using the tall boxes instead of the flat ones. The bottles will be transported standing up instead of lying down. Better to have these problems in the beginning, right?

I haven't heard from Mr. Webmaster because he's been down and out with food poisoning since Thursday. He sent an email last night. I still remember my last case of food poisoning - after having seafood pasta at a very nice, very expensive restaurant in Carmel. That was many moons ago (before I became a real vegetarian), but I still remember how sick I was.

Weight loss update: 7.5 pounds, so far. Yessss!!!

Baby, You Can Drive My Car

2005-04-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

Another quiet Furfection day. No orders:-( But I did get an email from a customer who said I shorted her order by one bottle of shampoo. Yikes! And I thought I was doing so well. Anyway, I responded, telling her a bottle would be sent out today - which it was. I included a personal note of apology, along with a free chew toy. At least she was a friend of a friend, so she knows I'm not a low-life:-)

Mr. Printer called to say the doghouses would be printed tomorrow. He asked if I'd like to be there. Well, yeah, I would! Maybe I'll get to take the first one off the line. I'll take these little milestones wherever I can get them.

Ms. Designer is working on the gallon labels. Instead of having them done by a printer, I'm using my own printer. I ordered waterproof labels this afternoon. Who knew they would be so expensive? I comparison-shopped online, and no matter where I bought them, they would cost between $58-65 for 100 labels. Still, that's a lot less expensive than having them 4-color printed like I did with the other bottle labels. (For one bottle, I needed 4 plates, at $150/ea., PLUS the cost of the labels.) Yep, this is a much better deal. And thanks to Mr. Mfgr. for suggesting that I do them myself.

I've heard next to nothing from Mr. Webmaster this week. He's working with Mr. UPS Tech on my shipping connection. I can't WAIT for that to be finished. Mr. Big Bigshot commented last week that WorldShip was "the Maserati of shipping software." Hello? I'm into fast cars...and excellent shipping software:-)

On the weight loss front, I'm down 4 pounds after my first week. Woo-hoo! Off to a good start:-)

Reeking of "Me"

2005-04-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

The new boxes arrived this afternoon. I love placing an order for something and having it arrive a day or two later. There oughtta be a law....:-)

When Mr. UPS Rep was here this morning, he said I could buy the thermal printer online instead of renting it for $2/week from UPS. There are three pages of them on eBay, but either the printers are older, used, the sellers have lousy feedback, or they're asking regular retail. I'll just watch the auctions for a few days and see what pops up. There should be a way to purchase them at a deep discount from UPS if you have an account. Maybe I'll suggest that...since that UPS Lady cost me so much extra money on my freight shipment. Hey, it never hurts to ask, does it?

Today I received the first piece of feedback on my shipments/packaging. I passed with flying colors:-) I actually enjoy all the steps of filling my orders. Each time I fill one, I think (sadly) how it won't be too long before I won't be doing it anymore; I'll have to hand it off to a fulfillment center somewhere. They'll never get the satisfaction I get when I do it; it will just be a job to them. I've decided to enjoy each and every order I package.

One of my friends said my company, my website, my packaging - everything has my "print" on it. I think it was just a nice way of saying my stuff reeks of ME. That's a good thing, since I planned it all this way. And if people like it, so much the better!

Ms. Designer has finished the Talking Bone illustration, and it's been forwarded to Mr. Webmaster. It should be on the website in the next day or so.

Later....
Just bought a new printer on eBay. Brand new in the box. No shipping charge, either. Cool.

No orders today (sniff, sniff). Maybe tomorrow??

Talking Bones and Mini-Wieners

2005-04-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

For the record, Mr. Big Bigshot (aka Mr. WorldShip) does have a dog. A mini-wiener. Named Reeses. Too cute for words. Thank you, again, Mr. Big, for the order:-)

The Talking Bones arrived today. Of course, everything gets tested by the official Furfection spokes dog, Casey. And according to him, IT'S A HIT!! He loved it from the minute I tossed it onto the floor. Cool! Where I came by this knack for choosing dog items when I've always been such a cat person is beyond me. Let's just hope it continues:-)

When Mr. UPS delivered the Talking Bones, we chatted for a minute. He said he'd heard that Mr. UPS Rep. was coming to see me, and I told him the meeting was tomorrow morning. He said Mr. UPS Rep. was a good person to be handling my account because he's an "action" person. When Mr. UPS gives him a sales lead, Mr. UPS Rep. is right on it. Cool. That's my kind of rep!

Mr. Printer came by today with a proof of the doghouse. It's sooo awesome! We discovered there was no web address on it anywhere, so we need to add that. At this point in the process, that will cost me, but it's worth $45. Live and learn....

Next Day:
Mr. UPS Rep. was here at our appointed 9:30. (Very nicely dressed, I must add.) We discussed my immediate shipping and software needs, then he installed WorldShip on my computer. We did a quick tutorial, then discussed more ways to use UPS.

Although I tried to use UPS when Mr. Mfgr. sent my shampoos/conditioners from the Midwest, the lady I spoke with on the phone at that time said my company was too small to use UPS for freight. Thanks a bunch, lady. UPS could have saved me at least $300 on that shipment. Too bad I don't have her name so I could garnishee her wages. Well, OK, so I couldn't, but I'd still like to. At least in the future, I'll know what I can use them for and what I can't, e.g., the two big boxes filled with Talking Bones could have been sent using my account - saving me some $$.

The Humane Society finally called to talk to me "live" yesterday while I was having PT on that bum elbow. She asked what I had in mind, and I explained that I wanted to donate shampoos and conditioner to the shelter. She asked, "And what is it that you expect in return?" Uh...hello, Shelter Lady. Does the word "donate" mean anything to you??? I told her I didn't expect anything in return. She seemed a little stunned. I told her it was something I had always planned to do once my company was up and running. Truly, she was a bit flustered. She asked if she could call me back this morning (which she did). I guess she had a case of the vapors because someone wanted to give the shelter something without asking for anything in return. Call me naive, but I would think/hope that was a common occurrence...then again, maybe not.

The tentative plan is that I will email her with a date and time that I can go there to talk in person. I can bring my products then, too. They want to try them out before they agree to anything long-term. Not a problem. I already have a "Testimonials" page on the Furfection website, remember? I KNOW the products are good.

Before I can schedule the meeting with them, I have to have labels on the gallon bottles of shampoos and conditioners. Ms. Designer and I have been putting that off, thinking we wouldn't need them anytime soon. OK, so we were a bit mistaken. Now the labels have moved up the priority list a bit.

Sales are slow, but I'm making progress getting things set up (UPS software and the shelter program). Now if I could just snap my fingers and have the search engines pick up my URL....

The Morning After

2005-04-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today was slow getting started. Well, actually, I was slow getting started. After the U2 concert last night, I was too wired to go to bed, so I stayed up and worked a while…until 1:00 a.m. Needless to say, I slept in a bit this morning. (BTW, yes, the show was every bit as good as you may have heard...which is why this was my 6th time seeing them.)

I had a couple more orders to process, and other than that, it was a slow business day. My conference call with UPS took place at 5:30, as scheduled. I explained what I wanted in shipping software, and now Mr. Webmaster and Mr. UPS Tech are going to figure out how I can have that. Wednesday, Mr. UPS Rep will be here to install some software and get the process started. I believe I’m in good hands at this point, and that feels good.

To top it off, Mr. Big Bigshot placed an order! How cool was that?! Now…I wonder if he really has a dog (or cat)….:-)

I’ve decided to try new boxes for shipments. A smaller size will work better for the smaller orders, and they’ll certainly save me some bubble pak. Speaking of bubble pak, I’ve used almost the whole first roll.

Ms. Designer has finished the web illustrations for the doghouse, as well as the body brushes. (I've been using photos for the brushes, but since everything else on the site is being shown in illustrations, I want to keep it consistent.)

I can no longer take Casey for a walk without also taking a pocketful of business cards. Hubby has done such a good job of telling people about the products that when I took Case to the park this evening, at least six people asked if I had my cards with me:-/ Uh...no. But I will in the future!

Although this was a quiet day, it seems to have flown past. I guess that's what happens when you sleep in;-)

The Rain in Spain

2005-04-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

...is falling mainly on California today. Lots of it. And with the blustery winds added for effect, well, you have the perfect makings of an ugly day. If this isn't a day for staying in my jammies, I don't know what would be.

I'm still trying to optimize my URL exposure with various web rings, link exchanges, etc. Geez, they're endless. Some of them are pure crap. I received a notice this morning that I've been approved for a "watchdog" site that investigates sites and determines whether they're "safe." Kinda like a Better Business Bureau for the web. In order to use their seal on my site free, though, I have to include a link to a bookstore on my site. Huh?? I'm selling pet products, not books, you dipsticks.

Mr. Webmaster said it takes up to eight weeks sometimes before URLs actually show up in a search. The problem is that you can’t get a head start on the process because you can’t submit URLs until your site is functional. It’s a case of “hurry up and wait.”

I've really stirred up things at UPS. Yikes!! This morning, bright and early, I received a call from yet another person that wanted to help with my account. Six months ago, I couldn't have gotten a UPS employee's attention if I'd ridden naked on a unicycle down Market Street. Now they're coming at me from all directions. Geez…I’m not trying to boil the ocean here; I just want a shipping plan that eliminates any redundancy.

Mr. Printer just called to say the doghouse illustration I forwarded to him was perfect. (We knew that.) My boxes will be ready around the 19th. Once I have them, I can start making sales calls on the local boutiques, especially the "pet" ones.

The T-shirts arrived today, and they look as good as the aprons. Ms. Embroidery does a beautiful job, I must say. I had three orders waiting on those shirts, so I finished packaging them. Too bad UPS doesn’t run on the weekend.

Well, my first week of “real” business is over, and I guess I’m happy with 14 orders. Of course, I’d prefer more. Maybe in seven weeks or less (the time it takes for my URL to be recognized by the search engines), I’ll be busier. Let’s certainly hope so!

Shipment #1

2005-04-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

What a busy day! But, hey, the busier, the better, right? It started with a physical therapy visit for the bum elbow. Slowly but surely, it’s getting better.

When I got home, my packing boxes had been delivered. I immediately started packing the orders I’ve been sitting on. Once I had the packages all stacked up, I loaded them onto my new handcart for Mr. UPS. That way, all he had to do was roll them out to his truck then bring my cart back. See how nice I am? (Besides, I love Mr. UPS, remember?)

My next errand was a drive to Mr. Sticker’s company. His office manager called and said my order was ready (the little notebooks). (It wasn’t supposed to be ready until early next week.) I was able to fit two huge boxes into my car, but only one fit in the trunk.

On the way home, I made a stop at the storage unit to get more shampoo. As luck would have it, the formula I needed was on the pallet in the back corner of the unit. The only way to get to it was to move two layers of cases on the pallet in front. Even then, I had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h to reach behind and pull up two cases.

Later this afternoon, I was trying to reach some semblance on normalcy in my kitchen, which had become “packing central.” I looked up just as the UPS truck was driving by. Hey! I’m supposed to be getting daily stops now! Knowing the truck would be making a stop a few houses down, I went out to flag down the driver.

As I reached my driveway, Mr. UPS was already headed to my house. He apologized profusely and said it wouldn’t happen again. I believe it. I told him he was the only reason I even use UPS, and he said it was nice to hear that. I also told him about Mr. Worldship’s calls yesterday, and how much trouble I’ve had all along, trying to get someone at UPS to call me. Mr. UPS knew exactly what I was talking about.

He said he’s always bringing in sales leads to the sales reps, only to have them fall through the cracks. The potential customers then get angry with Mr. UPS because they think he didn’t pass along the info. I told him Mr. Worldship had said my troubles with UPS would end with him, and Mr. UPS said he was glad there was someone willing to get to the bottom of this. He said if I didn’t get satisfaction with Mr. Worldship, to let him know. He said his boss was also someone who took action when they heard about customers receiving bad service.

It wasn’t an hour later that I received a call from Mr. UPS’ manager. Yikes! I’ve really stirred up a hornets nest! He said he’d heard that I’d been getting the runaround at UPS, and that he wanted to help me. I told him I was already being helped by Mr. Worldship. He didn’t know Mr. Worldship, but he told me to take down his name and direct number in case I ever needed more help. It’s funny, because I wouldn’t be getting any of this help had I not ordered the wrong software.

Ever since I began building my company last year, I’ve run into numerous vendors, etc., who don’t want to talk to me because my company is a start-up (most of those encounters have been written about here). As I’ve said before, every company has to start somewhere. Now, when I encounter this attitude, I have a standard reply: If you don’t want my business while my company is small, you won’t GET my business when it becomes successful. I can’t make it any more plain than that.

So, my first shipment went out today. How cool is that? I think I’ll knock off for the day.

Two Steps Forward....

2005-04-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like a phone call from UPS to start the day. Seems my request for their software attracted some attention. I'm sure that usually when a company asks for Worldship, UPS thinks it's a BIG company. $$$. So a very nice man called and asked what I had in mind for their software. I explained how I wanted to streamline my shipping process, and he said there were other, simpler ways to do that, besides using Worldship.

Mr. Worldship asked if anyone from UPS had advised me on the various products they offer. Hello?? How many times have I called to ask about different things and been transferred around the world and back without ever being connected to someone who knew what the hell I was talking about?? Leann was sitting on my shoulder saying, "Let me at 'im!! I'll give him an earful!! Those lousy sons of b*tches!!" I kept her under control and recited some of the many instances in which I'd asked for help from UPS and got nowhere. The latest was last night's fiasco with the shipping boxes. He said, "You don't like us very much right now, do you?" I said, "Not really." He said, "Well I certainly understand why."

That missing UPS rep the lady in Atlanta has been trying to locate all week? Mr. Worldship knew who it was. He said he wanted to make some calls and get back to me. If he's like everyone else I've dealt with there, I won't be getting any calls....

I'm hoping that someday, someone with authority at UPS will read here about my various misadventures with their company and decide that something needs to be done. OK, so it's a pipe dream. I can dream, can't I?

Later....
Mr. Worldship did, in fact, call me back. He wanted to set up a conference call for tomorrow with Mr. Webmaster, himself, my area rep and me, to discuss what my needs really are. Unfortunately, Mr. Webmaster has a full-time job elsewhere and can't participate. He's willing to talk to my area rep, tho, so that's cool.

Mr. Worldship said my UPS woes would be ending with him. I told him I sincerely appreciated all his help. Hey, someone from UPS actually called me!! And they want to help me!! Yay!!

BTW, he asked if I had documented any of my UPS problems. I told him everything could be found here in my blog. He said he printed it out and was taking it to show some managers what's actually happening out here in the real world. I like to think I'm fair-minded, and if good things start happening with UPS, I'll certainly be mentioning them here.

My UPS thermal printer arrived today. I installed it this evening and printed out all my shipping labels for the packages going out tomorrow. Worked like a charm:)

The embroidered aprons also arrived. They're so beautifully done, I may use one as part of my "uniform" when I make sales calls. They're also very nice quality - not discount store stuff. I wouldn't advise wearing one to church, but you know what I mean.

We discovered a glitch in the website shipping, or should I say, a Canadian customer discovered it. She tried to order an apron and her shipping charges were quoted as $164.53! Houston, we definitely have a problem. Fortunately she's a friend, so she understood about my website being new and all. Mr. Webmaster fixed the problem immediately. Turned out that ground-shipping rates to Canada weren't being accessed. Her actual charges were less than $15.00.

Now I'm just waiting for the T-shirts and my new boxes to arrive tomorrow. Hopefully all my orders will go out late tomorrow. So far I've had only two orders from people I didn't know. All the rest are from my friends or acquaintances. I'd better start making more friends f-a-s-t!

Rude Awakening

2005-04-06T00:50:00.000-07:00

Delivery Day...yay!! As instructed, I called the freight company at 8:30 this morning to find out when my delivery was scheduled. They could only tell me that the driver would call me 10 minutes before he arrived. Cool. I live 5 minutes from my storage unit.

While I waited, I started putting the heart tags on the elastic loops. Kinda reminded me of the mindless tasks I had at my many factory jobs when I was much younger. (I've done everything from folding plastic laundry bags; trimming the "flash" off plastic containers; spray-painting bath scale housings; connecting bottlebrushes to their handles...oh, and my personal favorite: sorting wet lima beans on a conveyor belt in exciting Modesto. This was probably my shortest employment; I lasted less than 4 hours because of the motion sickness. Trust me, you can only watch lima beans on a conveyor belt for so long.) Anyway, I have more than enough tags made up for the bottles.

Still no call at 11, so I ran some errands, making sure I was never more than 10 minutes away. At 12:30, the call came, so I drove over to meet the shipment. He got there less than 5 minutes after I did. (In case you're wondering, yes, I wore a cleavage-revealing top!) The driver was a young guy, maybe 30-ish. He had one heck of a time getting the largest of the 5 pallets off the truck. Once he got that one down, he had an even harder time getting it into the storage unit.

The drive of the storage facility is a bit sloped, so in order to get a hand truck into a storage unit, you have to kinda run at the unit and get some momentum going. Mr. Driver tried 3 or 4 times and just couldn't get it up (no pun intended). I asked if he'd like some help and he said, "No." I told him I really didn't mind helping, so he said, "OK." We took a couple of runs at it and didn't make it quite far enough. On the third try, we were both pushing as hard as we could (actually, he was pulling), and we made it into the unit. Cool.

Once he got the 5th pallet off the truck, it was obvious that 5 pallets would not fit into the unit; one of the pallets would have to be broken down and stacked on top of the others. I didn't have to ask Mr. Driver to help me stack them, since I had helped him. All told, it probably took close to an hour. I brought (what I thought were) 2 boxes of each formula back home with me. Unfortunately, I didn't bring any of the Sensitive Skin formula, so I need to go back before I start filling orders.

Once I got home and sat at my computer for an hour or so, I could feel the nagging pain in my lower back. OK, so I'm not a youngster anymore. At least it felt good to do some actual hard labor for a change. Not that I want to do it again anytime soon, mind you....

Ms. Designer is having a problem with the illustration for the doghouse. She says she's not an illustrator, so she doesn't feel she can do justice to this particular piece. I think she can, so I'm encouraging her to keep trying. If it doesn't work out, we can call her friend who is an illustrator.

The UPS saga continues. They were supposed to start daily pickup at my house starting last Friday, but they didn't. Today Mr. UPS (whom I love) brought me a package and asked when my daily pickup was to start. When I told him, he said there was no notice of it for him. He gave me his boss' number and told me to call him and complain. Well, alrighty then....

The other UPS "thing" right now is that I'm supposed to have an area rep. if I'm having daily pickups, but I don't have one. Yesterday while talking to the IT company in Atlanta, the president told me to call his rep, who should be able to tell me who my rep is. She has since called me 3 times to say she cannot find out who my area rep is. You know, there is such a thing as being too big, and I think UPS definitely is. But, like, they look so "together" in their commercials;-)

I talked to two vendors today regarding squeaky toys. I need them for my doghouses. I placed a small order with one of them; the other wanted a 2500 piece minimum. Hello?? Start-up here.... Yeah, way over here. See me waving??

Later....
OK. I take back what I said yesterday about wanting to grow with my business. I "grew" enough today to make up for the next few weeks.

After packing more than half of my orders, I toddled back upstairs to print the shipping labels. During that process, I had a very rude awakening. The "free" boxes from UPS are not allowed for ground shipping. Huh? I searched their larger-than-the-state-of-Texas website for info on ground packaging and never found a danged thing. Finally, I examined the boxes themselves, and sure enough, there, in very fine print, it said, "Do not use this box for UPS Ground." (gulp) At least I discovered my blunder before I sealed the boxes and had the UPS guy pick them up.

Ever the resourceful one, I immediately searched the web for packaging suppliers. I ordered the boxes I needed, and they'll be here Thursday. Hey, the new boxes will fit my products better, anyway. (There's always a bright side, no?)

Mr. Webmaster is making final tweaks to the website, and it's looking better and better. Even tho the site is "finished," I still have his services for another 30 days. The doghouses will be on the site by then, along with "The Talking Bones." (You record a digital message on the recorder inside the canvas bone. Your voice will play - up to 10 seconds - when the dog nudges the bone. It can help with separation anxiety. And it's covered by a lifetime "Rip it up" warranty. I wanted these for the doghouses.)

It's now almost 1:00 a.m., and my lower back is screaming. That'll teach me to be so helpful, although, if I had it to do over, I'd do the same thing. I'm not "The Queen of Nice" for nothing:-)

"Is That All There Is?"

2005-04-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

What a busy day! I didn't even get up from my desk until after 1:00. Finally I got so hungry, I had to get something to eat.

In the past 48 hours, I've received 10 orders. Can't complain about that. Now wouldn't it be nice if I had something to fill those orders with? At least I've entered all the shipping info into the database. I'll be as prepared as I possibly can when the products arrive, which is tomorrow. I'm supposed to call at 8:30 a.m. to schedule the delivery. I can't wait to see how my labels turned out.

Now that the website is live and running smoothly (knock wood), I'm feeling a bit of a letdown. Everything was geared to April 2nd, and now that it's passed...well, it's quiet. The next "big thing" will be the doghouses. Ms. Designer is planning to have the illustration finished by Friday. Those doghouses could be printed next week. I keep coming up with more and more ideas for the illustrations; it would be nice if I could draw even a stick figure, which I can't.

The feedback on the site thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. And I'm overwhelmingly proud of that. I've heard everything from, "It's so clean looking!" to "It looks very high-end." Well, yeah, that was the idea. Looks like we accomplished what we set out to build.

After digging around the UPS site more today, I found the section on the shipping software. It's actually free and can be incorporated into my site. They also sell a thermal label printer just for their labels. (How convenient....) I forwarded the info to Mr. Webmaster in hopes that it's something he can do. Otherwise, it will cost around $2K to implement it. If it frees me up to do some selling, it will be worthwhile.

Mr. Bimmer's (the man with the sticker company) office manager called today. They had a sample package of the notepads and wanted me to see them before they actually produce them. The company isn't far from me, so I drove over this afternoon. What a nice setup they have. I've never seen so many stickers in all my life. A kid would die and go to heaven in there. So would a scrap booker. He loaded me up with a bunch more samples (freebies) and said my order would probably be ready by the end of the week. It pays to have friends in high places;-)

I received an email from a friend in Kansas today. She was at an award dinner last week, and one of the major dog-treat company reps was there. Seems there's a possibility of teaming up with them as their first grooming products line. That would be very cool, but TBH, I'm not looking to hit the big time anytime soon. Strange as it sounds, I want to grow into this, and I still have some growing to do.

I've been doing lots of another type of growing: Outward. Today I made the decision to start a formal weight loss plan. Tomorrow will be Day One. I won't say how much I weigh, but I will tell you how much I lose each week. Hey, if I get the QVC gig, I have to look good in those black pants, right?

Ms. Mogul

2005-04-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

I was able to sleep until 9 this morning! Well, actually it was 10 since we moved ahead an hour last night. Either way, it was a good night's sleep that was sorely needed.

Now that my site is online, I spent the better part of today submitting my URL to different search engines. That might sound easy, but it's not really. Most of them want different information and have different requirements. It's more time consuming than anything.

Casey's breeder placed a nice order last night. She followed that with a message asking if she could link to my site. Yay!! Of course!! I told her I'd be happy to reciprocate, too. I've decided to add a section to my site called "Links We Like." There are some links I'm happy to share with people, i.e., West Valley Pet Clinic and Tibroke Tibetan Spaniels.

The shipping part of this business is going to be the most time consuming. I thought we had the capability of plugging into UPS' site to import shipping info for the labels. The only things we're plugged into are their shipping rates and tracking. As it turns out, companies the size of mine don't use the automated shipping tools UPS offers. Very expensive, and you need an IT person to administer them. Alrighty then. I'll be looking for a fulfillment company sooner rather than later, I'm afraid.

The orders I've received thus far are proving I made the right choices in my product offerings. There really isn't a product that's outselling the others - including the T-shirts and aprons. (I knew the aprons would work.) The brushes seem to be a hit, too. I just need to keep following my instincts on things and I'll be fine.

Ms. Designer sent me a preliminary drawing for the doghouse, and as I expected, she was on the money. Everything I told her I was envisioning, she is putting to paper. Few people that I've ever worked with have had that talent. I'm very lucky.

The products are arriving Tuesday morning, so until then, all I can do is stack up the orders to be filled. I'm chomping at the bit to get people's reactions to my product packaging. They already know the products are great;-)

I started a book last night about the man that owns more farmland in California than any other. It's really interesting so far. I figure there's no time like the present to learn how to be a mogul;-)

LIVE! FROM CALIFORNIA! IT'S FURFECTION.COM!

2005-04-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

The site finally went live at 5:30 today. Woo-hoo!! I took advantage of the (literal) downtime and went for my long-overdue nail appointment. My nails were in such pitiful (and ugly) shape, I was embarrassed for Ms. Manicurist to see them. Boy, do they look great now, tho.

From the nail salon, I drove to a Starbuck's about 15 miles away to meet with Ms. Designer. We went over ideas for the Doghouses (gift paks), and we came up with some great ones. She's starting on the design tomorrow. These will be the most exciting thing in the Furfection line up. Since I wouldn't want anyone to take my ideas and run with them before I finished them, I won't post them here. But as soon as I have something to actually photograph and post, I will.

My first order came from my girlfriend's sister in Rockford, IL; I didn't even know she had a dog! The second order came from Casey's breeder. She also wants to add a link from her site to mine. Very cool!

I've let my mail stack up all week, and now I have at least 30 envelopes to open. My boss said I could take the rest of the evening off, so taking care of the mail - and giving Casey and the felines lots of hugs - are my priority for this evening. Happy Furfection Birthday to me:-)

Special Edition - Going "Live"... NOT!!

2005-04-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

7:30 a.m., and the site is still down. I'm more disappointed than stressed, although I'm starting to feel stressed, too. In the interim, I made an interesting discovery.

You know how I mentioned my horoscope a while back? Whatever it said then, it was spot-on. Last night as I headed to bed, I remembered a little something from March's horoscope.

"Let me also remind you that electronic equipment often breaks down, and communications can go haywire, when Mercury is retrograde. It would be best to back up your computer now."

I'm not making this up, I swear. Even more interesting, when I went to my favorite astrology site this morning, I couldn't get in. I got the same error message I've been getting from the Furfection site. They must use the same hosting company I do. But seriously, how ironic is that?

Anyway, you know the old saying, "What doesn't kill us will make us stronger"? I'm just hoping this makes me strong enough to kick someone's ass.