#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician (Citations, Kittens, and Blogs)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

Weird combo, huh? Well that has been my week so far! Getting hassled by the man was probably the worst point of my week despite a few sad times at work. I got out of work super late one night and instead of going all the way back home to wait for like 20 minutes and then leave again for David, I just hung out around downtown, or attempted to. I pulled up to a stop sign, stopped briefly, looked for any other cars/pedestrians, actually saw one crossing where I was going and paused, then made a left into a traffic circle or rotary (or we call them round thingies) where a police vehicle was with its lights on. Across the street another police vehicle had its lights on. I make my circle around and the officer walks over and shines his flashlight at me. I figured he was going to tell me they were looking for someone or something but he demanded my ID. I was rather taken aback and definitely gave him a little attitude. I had a headlight out and he stated I ran the stop sign. 

"No sir, I did not." And I handed him my ID and registration.

I mean seriously, I saw two police vehicles on either side of the street would I really run a stop sign? He proceeded to ask me repeatedly (like 3-4 times) if my license would check out ok, if I had any drugs or weapons, and oh yeah is my license ok? Fucking moron. Literally, he asked me three fucking times. Just run my fucking ID jackass. Ugh. Then he began questioning me as to where I was going, where that location was (honestly if he works downtown he should know where the oldest members club is), and why I was in my current location if I was going there. Seriously??? So I was beginning to feel harassing, badgered, whatever. On top of all that bullshit he kept asking me how you stop at a stop sign. WTF.

"You stop at the stop sign, sir, I not sure what you are asking me. You stop, look, and go."

Apparently that wasn't the correct answer, he kept pestering on how to stop. I kept trying to answer him but he rejected what I said. I knew what he wanted to hear but there is no law stating how long I have to stop or where exactly I have to stop as long as its before the stop sign. I told him what he wanted to hear and then he asked me why I was being "snooty."

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

I explained to him that I felt like he was talking down to me and I was beginning to feel harassed. Of course he didn't like that answer, he didn't like any of my answers and continued to be disrespectful throughout our entire encounter. Oddly enough with another officer sitting in his vehicle. He started off with an attitude so what does he expect? You only get respect when you give it, I don't give a flying fuck who you are. So he proceeded to write me two tickets, one for running a stop sign and the second for my headlight. He told me I could take them to court but I won't win. Ha! I have a lawyer you bastard. I spoke to him right after the encounter and we are going to try. I already have him working on something else so he's gonna just charge me a tiny bit more to represent me for this. I told him I'd pay him any amount to keep my money out of the court. I hate cops on a power trip. You are just regular citizens also, no need to treat the rest of us like crap. The officer who was the passenger had my cop write his name on my citation also so they will both get to show up for court. How nice, paying two of them to come to court and lie. Awesome. Thankfully I had a better experience last night with a nice officer so at least I know they aren't all bad. Karma will get those who can't play nice with others. 

Ok, better things....Kittens!!!

Ohhh so cute, these little guys are two of seven that were dumped at my clinic (again...). We have found homes for two (not pictured), the tabby pictured has been adopted by one of our technicians, we have two at Petco as featured adoptables with the help of Faith Hope and Love Rescue, and two are still at our clinic. So a very successful weekend! We only have to find homes for 4 little babies still and hopefully the 2 at Petco will find awesome homes in the next few days. Not sure if I mentioned but we still had a few kittens left a few weeks ago and all five have been adopted. 3 into separate homes and the two that were litter mates were adopted together, we will see them Saturday!

About blogs! It's not that big of a deal but I offered to help the rescue create a webpage using a blog platform because right now all they have is the one you can get with petfinder....it sucks. (http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/FL785.html) Really bad. I'm hoping with my decent amount of experience I will be able to put something simple but highly usable and functional. I will definitely keep you all posted!

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

Thank you Twitter!

So most of you probably know from my last few posts that we have been without cable/internet due to financial reasons. Anyway we finally got back on track and called last night to pay and have the service reconnected. The first guy David talks to I can tell immediately that the dude had no idea what he was talking about. (The company had recently sent us a letter asking for the equipment back but David called to tell them we were planning to reconnect so the rep advised us to keep our cable box/modem-router.) First the guy kept asking what address we were inquiring about for service, our old address still has an account but its 'closed' so apparently it confuses people--I don’t understand why he couldn’t just assume we were calling about the address we have equipment at...whatever. Then once we finally get the rep to understand what address we were at he tells us since the letter for equipment return was sent out we were required to bring it back to a local office and then schedule a new installation. I can see David getting irritated so I told him to either hang up or ask for a manager. He hung up.

I called back. (Another problem is you can get stuck in the automated system, I just keep hitting 0 until it transfers me to a human being.) I tell the woman our situation: we want to pay off our balance and have service restored. She reviewed the account, "No problem!" I told her what the other rep said and asked that they be informed of the actual protocol--she tried to look him up via the call trail but since he was a 3rd party rep all she could acquire was an ID number. No worries, I said. Turned to David, no wonder he gave us the wrong info. David thinks he always gets this kind of employee on the phone.

Our new rep processes our payment and tells me service will be back tomorrow since they just have to turn the outside box on. I hang up, very satisfied. Apparently this morning David called to ask what time we should expect service and he is told we were misinformed about today and we are scheduled in 6 days--still only the outside box needs to be turned on but due to the holiday they are super busy apparently. David calls again and is able to get it moved up one day. I tried live chat online but the rep, while very nice and informative, he couldn’t help me.  

So I turned to twitter and sent a tweet to @brighthousecare. The rep Nick was very understanding to our dilemma (I'm going back to school now for veterinary technician online) as he too is an online student. After reviewing our account Nick immediately called the dispatch manager and was able to move it up to Monday--only two days away. Yes! Just in time for David's (and mine!) fantasy football draft. Satisfied, I retire my attitude for another time.

David texts me shortly after because a Brighthouse service agent came to try to pick up the equipment (he couldn’t turn our service on though)...what the hell guys?? Check your records!!!

As many times as we called we couldn’t get anyone to budge, but good ol' twitter came through. Or at least Nick, the customer service rep with a heart, went the extra mile and made a few calls for us.
#stillacustomerfornow

<3 Lindsay

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

This week on my way home from work my front driver’s side tire got a flat while on the interstate during rush hour.  It was weird because at first I didn’t realize then suddenly my tire was flat. Usually you can feel something is wrong before it goes totally flat. I immediately called my boyfriend to let him know and then my dad (he helps me with car troubles). We determined that I needed to call AAA since my spare tire was no good either. (Thankfully we have AAA membership courtesy of my boyfriend's dad.) Since I was stuck on the side of I-4 (which they don't consider a safe place apparently) my call was out on priority. Just a word of advice if you are ever in this situation: make sure hazards are on, remain IN the car, and keep seatbelt on! You never know, it’s possible to get hit.

As I was waiting for the tow truck I called the closest tire kingdom which ended up being closed but it forwards the call to a service center which helps direct calls and answer questions. The guy I spoke to was very helpful and patched me through to a shop that was open until 8pm. I absolutely had to get this fixed immediately as I had to be back at work at 730am. At this time it was about 7pm. It still took about 30 minutes for the tow truck to arrive.

Once the driver put safety cones out, he came up to my window and offered me an ice cold bottle of water! I was totally surprised! I have terrible luck it seems with cars so I’ve been towed many times and no one has EVER offered me a drink! It was great as my car’s AC is broken and I was really hot. He does his inspection, takes photos of the car with his tablet (to document condition of the car), and we were off in a few minutes. Thanks to that driver I avoided another potential blow out--he noticed my other front tire was in bad shape and recommended I have that one replaced also.

We finally make it to Tire Kingdom near my house (only one open in the area til 8). It was 7:55pm, the driver and I had conspired for him to get the car off his truck really quick so they "have" to take me. Being the smarty pants that I am, I had the tire kingdom employee pull my previous records and have the tires ready in advance--I was just hoping they would be willing to help me out just minutes before they were scheduled to go home.

And they were! It took 15-20 minutes for them to change my tires out. While I sat in the lobby I caught the tail end of the "republican war against women" and just shook my head...what is wrong with those guys??

Anyway, thank you SO much AAA driver--you rock!! And tire kingdom guys--you saved my ass, awesome dudes!!

Good to know there are a few nice people out there, without having to look very hard. :)

Internet is still out, poo! Hard to believe how difficult it is to find free wifi in Orlando, FL. 3G and trips to Starbucks will suffice.

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

Thursday night was my friend Michelle's first art gallery in Downtown Orlando. It was at a club/lounge place called 57 West. They have been having gallery hops downtown every third Thursday of the month and this club is one of their stops. It helps local artists get their work out there and they only pay commission if they sell any pieces. We had an awesome time! It didn’t go quite how I thought it would but it was an incredible yet short night--good thing as Michelle and I had to work at the clinic at 730am the next day.

My boyfriend David and I got there right around 6pm which was when the gallery showing was. It was supposed to be 6-9p but the place was also a bar/lounge so they were open for more than the exhibit. Michelle showed us around and pointed out where all her paintings were. There weren’t many people there yet so we got a drink and sat down to chat as we waited for others to arrive.

Once more people arrived and the rest of our group I started to walk around and took some photos but since it was also a lounge the lighting was pretty terrible. Good thing a friend came who is in school for photography so she had a better camera and skills. I played with several settings and got a few good shots but I soon left it to the more experienced--plus the band finally came! That was the first interesting thing that happened: the band playing was melodic dissent (local band) and it turned out that David knew the lead singer. The play sublime-reggae sounding stuff (love!) and promised to open with "Badfish". They had to do sound check and as we were waiting Michelle's husband G arrived. David and I were getting hungry and thought about leaving but apparently the party hadn’t started. G was over at the bar and as we went to say bye he brought over a bottle of vodka, bucket of ice, and mixers. He came over and counted heads, went back to the bar, and brought back enough glasses for us all.  He asked us all to grab a few things and head upstairs to the loft area. I saw Michelle as I was carrying a mixer and glasses, gave her a silly grin,  and mouthed "oh no!"

It was really cute because she hadn’t seen her sister in a long time and the family surprised her by arranging to have her sister show up from New York!

Drinks were made and passed around, they didn’t taste very strong at all. I still had a buzz from my martini when I first arrived but I really wasn’t feeling anything from these drinks. In fact, the bottle was almost gone already! G said he thought it had been watered down. He took a swig right from the bottle and immediately knew they had diluted it!!

They went downtowns to talk to the bartenders and manager--the situation was remedied and a replacement bottle was sent back up. The band was awesome, I knew all the songs they covered and really enjoyed their original. The drinks, finally fully alcoholic, left us silly and smiling. I felt like we all connected really well, especially because we stayed almost all night with Michelle and her family. Not to mention when we tried to leave G convinced us to stay another half an hour. David and G really hit it off and will probably goof around in G's home studio sometime. When Michelle and I talk about our dudes they always have so much in common.

One of the artists/rich dudes/gallery hopper/reiki-dude was crazy trashed and super hilarious as he walked around talking to everyone with his girlfriend’s bright blue silk scarf around his neck. He was talking about light from within and making it big. He was a funny soul--strange but nice.

Finally we could no longer ignore our hunger and grabbed some pizza a few blocks away. I was in bed by 1230a and back at work by 7:40a. A little tired but ok.

Great night, art, people, music. Ah, happiness.

#nerdsunite

Check out my etsy shop!
www.etsy.com/shop/craftafarian

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

We are still hanging in there! The boyfriend has been getting around 20 hours the last two weeks at work so we are headed in the right direction. However somehow we neglected to pay our cable/internet bill and that has been disconnected. Sad times, luckily we both have iPhones and therefore internet.

Thanks to some help from parental units I am still going to start school this semester. I officially registered for veterinary medical terminology and made my first payment--I still have to order my book but I have about a week till class starts. I’m really excited! I’ve been a vet tech for almost 13 years and I am on my way to earning my license! this also means I will be able to attend conferences for a discounted rate! Eventually (I recently decided this) I will go to vet school. :)

Today I went to the Aveda beauty school for a friend as a hair model (she’s a student) and got a new haircut/style. My hair is really thick and since she’s a student and has to check in with the instructors it took forever!! But it was free, kinda, they ask that you do make some purchase when you have services done so I got a roll-on tube of natural headache oil stuff. I already have something similar so I knew I would like it. My hair had gotten so long and the girl took off about 6 inches in length then a bunch all over by putting in tons of layers. I wanted to cut it shorter but my boyfriend would die (oh the things I do to keep him happy--well he does deal with my crazy ^.^). It’s kind of short in the front but I really like it. So that was fun.

I finally listed a few pairs of earrings I made on my etsy shop. (www.etsy.com/shop/craftafarian) I use natural gem stones and hypoallergenic metal when possible. $1 from every sale goes to a non-profit animal advocacy group: currently our local SPCA. The rest will go to supplies and other bills. Eventually my kitty needs surgery and the money will go towards that. One thing at a time.

My damn phone died partway thru the haircut so I should be able to share photos next time! Next week (Thursday evening) I will photographing my friends very first art exhibit during a gallery hop in Downtown Orlando.

<3 Lindsay

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!