#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

My most recent adventure was a quick trip to a local dairy farm. It's really close to my house, like 5 minutes away. I pass it all the time and I've always seen the sign but its never really registered to me that there was a working dairy farm minutes away from me. I think one day I was stuck behind someone really slow and I looked and actually read the sign. It stated they were open to the public only on Saturdays between 9am and 4pm. I've been meaning to go for the last two weeks but something always comes up and I'm not able to make it or I'm too exhausted from work. On the sign it says they have eggs, cheese, and honey. Every time I tell someone about the farm they are surprised there is one so close, most farms are further out in the boonies...I mean I was surprised there was one there! You never know what you will find when you actually stop and look around.

Today really wasn't the best day for me to attempt a visit but I knew if I kept putting it off there was a good chance that I'd never get around to it. After work I wanted to stop by the house I was pet sitting for to check on the kitties and give them more food. After that I knew I had to pass by the farm to get home so it was an easy way to force myself into it.

I turned down the dirt road and slowly drove past several cows and horses happily grazing on hay and whatever was available in there feed troughs. You could tell it was a small, family owned farm by the layout: some equipment here and there, pastures up front, long driveway leading to barn and allll the way in the back there was a house. There were little signs to point you in the right direction labeled "farm shop."Just the kind of place I was looking for!

At first it was slightly difficult to figure out where to park but you kind of just park wherever. They turned the entrance of the barn into a little shop. I walked in and the girl welcomed me. They had butter, biscotti, jams, jellies, cheese, and honey. They also usually have eggs but they were all out when I got there. I was told that they were out of several things and should have everything restocked next week. All I bought was some honey, it was a little more than I would have liked to spend on a big jar of honey ($7) but its from a local beekeeper so I figured "support local."

I tasted the two cheeses they had available. Tomme and Bleu Cheese. They are "Florida raw milk cheeses", you can see the website for more information about that. At first I didn't want to taste the bleu cheese but the other customer told me I HAD to try it. Now, let it be known I don't care for bleu cheese. I'll eat it, if I have to (now why would I have to?) but I won't go out of my way to have it. The bleu cheese I sampled was AMAZING. It is nothing like the bleu or blue cheese you get with wings or salad. Its very mild and creamy, it doesn't have that weird sharp perfumey taste. The Tomme tasted like a soft, mild parmasean, also yummy. The website says they also have coffee.  http://www.winterparkdairy.com/ I'm definitely going back next week for some farm food!

I spoke briefly with the girl running the shop. The cheese and butter is made on site from the dairy cows. The eggs are cage free (I hope that's why they are so expensive!) but are from a farm in Eustis, FL. The honey is local from Orlando, FL. I didn't get to ask much more because she had more customers. A mom and her cute little boy, probably 3 years old. They were there to tour the farm and see the animals. I thought it was really cool that they would do that when asked. I needed to get home to let the dogs out so I didn't stick around for the tour but I may try to get one next week.  

It was a nice experience and now good to know that I have access to some local farm products that don't have growth hormones, antibiotics, preservatives or other chemicals. This past week has been pretty good, I enrolled in school for my veterinary technician license and I am really looking forward to it! I start in the fall but I'll share more about that another time, once I get all my classes figured out. At work I had a career first, anesthesia of a 4 week old kitten. The surgery went very well and the little guy is doing great! I hope everyone is doing well and well you know, #nerdsunite.

#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 started off really weird and ended...OK. So that's good, I guess.

I had some fun animal shenanigans this week. Normally when I find animals they are kittens or puppies (or the adult versions) but Sunday night was a first for me. I was driving my boyfriend home from work when we noticed an animal on the side of the road. At first I thought it was a cat, but I talking about a cat, plus I wasn't really looking closely because I was driving. David told me it was an owl just sitting in the road!! After debating for about 30 seconds we found a place to turn around and went back to the owl. We parked several yards away so that it wouldn't be frightened by the car, but we had driven right past him and he didn't even move. David went around to block traffic as I slowly walked up behind him and placed my jacket around it. I picked him up and carried him to the parking lot where the light was bright, so that I could examine any wounds. He didn't appear to have much more than a few scrapes and likely a bad bump to the head. Probably hit by a car as he was flying. I picked him up again (I had set him down to look at him) and he became startled and tried to fly away. He flapped, got some air, but seemed disoriented and was unable to actually get any altitude. Damn! I was hoping he would just fly away. He kind of glided into some bushes two feet away and I was able to get him out of there and into a cardboard box David got from his job. Once we got him home I placed him into my "kitten box" (that would be my kitten raising box, orphans will live in a large crate when unsupervised or too young), covered the crate with a sheet, and got to researching on the internet.

I knew there was a local birds of prey center but it was sunday night!!! Animal control isn't even open, but supposedly are available for animal emergencies (not pet emergencies). Plus they only do dogs and cats I'm told. I called the Audubon Center here in Maitland and left a message--that wouldn't be open to the public until tuesday, all I could think was "What am I going to do with this owl for two days?!" Finally I found number for the Florida Wildlife Rehab Center in Gainesville that was open 24 hours a day. I left them a message hoping for a call back with some advice. As the recording promised they did get back to me within an hour and informed me that although the birds of prey center wasn't open to the public Monday, they would accept dropped off/rescued birds. FL wildlife got in contact with them and made sure they knew I was coming. I was instructed to leave the owl in a dark, quiet area and not to offer any food or water. Got it, easy!!

The next morning he was looking much better as he looked completely freaked out that night. I think he realized we weren't going to eat him and that maybe he was safe. Bright and early I showed up at the Audubon Center with my owl. They were so very helpful and friendly. They took him out as I filled out paperwork (as if he was my own owl!), weighed him, and did a quick look over. I explained to them I was a vet tech and examined his wings but didn't find any obvious fractures, but also I don't ever see owls so what do I know.  The Raptor Technician gave me a business card for the center and wrote the owl's ID number on it. She told me I could call to check on him later as she wasn't going to be able to do a full exam right away. I told her I wasn't concerned now that he was in the right hands and he appeared to be mostly uninjured besides a likely headache. His bruised noggin didn't stop him from trying to bite the technicians. Thank goodness he was too shaken up the night before to try to bite me.

I did call that afternoon to check on him. They found a few abrasions and some blood in his mouth and eye. Probably from head trauma. They expect a full recovery once healed. I told them if they needed help releasing him I would be more than happy to come along. I'm expecting a call sometime next week. It was really satisfying to be able to save him from certain death by car or predators and make sure he gets the proper care. Plus the FL rehab center thanked be profusely as did the Audubon staff, made me feel really good. I think if I can find some extra time I'd like to volunteer there now and then. 

Oh yeah! Turns out there are only like four species of owls in Florida so David and I were able to figure out what species it was before the Birds of Prey Center even told us he was a Barred Owl. 

Pretty cool I think! :)

#nerdsunite

<3 Lindsay 
twitter: @thecraftafarian
blog: craftafarian.blogspot.com
email: craftafarian at gmail d c

#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

What a week! We've been extremely busy at work lately (all except for my day off, what the hell?); which is great but we aren't really staffed to be busy all day long. So there is talk of hiring another person, not sure what position exactly. Besides being busy at the clinic we've had several of our patients pass away including one of our tech's dogs. The pup had congestive heart failure and collapsing trachea, she had lived a long and good life so it was time. Other than Peanut we have had 9 other sympathy cards to sign--some passed away at home, some euthanized at our clinic, and some at the emergency clinic. What a depressing week at the clinic!! The only upside to everything at work right is (I guess it's an upside..) is that we have 6 (we had 7) kittens that we are fostering. They were abandoned in cardboard boxes on the clinic property by our side door. The thing about this is that a few months ago the same thing happened with 5 kittens. These boxes were cut and taped exactly the same as the last ones ANNND these kittens look related to the last bunch we had. Great. If this continues we will be forced to just take them to the county shelter as strays. Its been very difficult to place strays into rescues or shelters lately as they are all full or too picky about what kind of pet they will accept. We've been told already by one group that because they are all black kittens they will be more difficult to adopt our and therefore they cannot take them for us. The county won't even guarantee that they will be put up for adoption. What's a small clinic to do when every few months we have a litter of kittens dumped on us? It costs us over $50 in supplies (not even time/effort) to make sure they are eligible for adoption. We feel it is only responsible to test them for parasites, leukemia/feline aids, vaccinate, and deworm them before we give them away...for free. It sucks because I know its only a matter of time before we have to stop helping the ones abandoned at our clinic. The 6 remaining kittens (one went to her new home today!) are most likely safe from being turned over as we've had them for two weeks and now we are all a little attached to them. It sucks to be a stray animal, or a lost animal even. 

If you are in Florida, specifically the Orlando area (although anyone willing to pick up the kitten is able to adopt) and are interested in adopting a baby kitten please let me know!!

I've also been pet sitting all week on top of coming home to care for my pets and taking my boyfriend to and from work. Oh and medicating all my pets including a sick bearded dragon. He's about 8 years old now and still very active. Busy busy busy week. This coming Wednesday my boyfriend is having oral surgery to place a permanent tooth implant--which I'm not even sure how we are paying for it. When he told me he scheduled it I asked him how we were going to pay for it and he said "I don't know yet." WHAT THE HELL? Um, so I don't know what the hell is going on. After tonight I get to come home for good from pet sitting, I can't wait to be back in my own place and just relax. 

Oh!!! I just found out last week that my boyfriend's family will be taking us on a 4 day vacation in the Bahamas. His stepmom works for a timeshare company so they get points and special deals. We will be staying in Atlantis at the Harborside Resort. I have been the last two times with them at it is just AMAZING. So yeah for vacation!! Less than 30 days to go. Which is also why I'm exercising more...hehe. I will be looking into international texting and data so that I can share some experiences, if I'm not too busy kicking back :) http://www.atlantis.com/default.aspx

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician (jury duty)

<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

*Disclaimer--I have finished serving jury duty and have been discharged by the judge. I am now legally allowed to share information regarding the case if I desire.*

Hey nerds, what's shakin? Well this week I had to go for a jury summons. You know-- that civic duty anyone registered to vote is required to perform. Many of you probably have never even received a jury summons. Lucky bastards. I have received FOUR jury summons. Thankfully I never actually had to go until this last one. The first two were while I was in school and I was excused (both Orange County, FL). The third I think I was eligible to be excused but I must have procrastinated and/or forgotten about it until right before and I had to call to see if I was called. To get excused or have your jury duty postponed you MUST submit your form at least 10 days before the day you are required to come for selection. They may or may not excuse you. There is a list of mandatory and optional reasons that would enable you to not have to serve but you can also try to be excused if you are facing hardship. So on the third jury summons I had to call the night before and see if my number was called, it was not! Woo, score three for Orange County. 

Well now I'm living in Seminole County, FL and at the end of February I received my fourth summons. Dammit! I informed my job and sent in my form to be excused stating that taking time off work would put a financial hardship on me and the $15 per day compensation would not be sufficient to cover bills. (Yeeeah so in FL they pay you $15 per day for the first 3 days and then $30 per day for each thereafter...lame!) I also stated that my job would be short handed if I wasn't there. The clerks office called my job to speak with me and told me they were not able to excuse me for my listed reasons but when I came in for selection I could try to discuss it with the judge and see if she excuses me. Not a good sign I thought. Apparently seminole county isn't as laid back as orange. 

We were required to report to the Seminole County courthouse at 8am on Monday. After some instructions by the clerk the judge came out to hear who needed to be excused and why. I figured out veerrrry quickly that my reasons were not going to fly with this judge. As other people who seemed to have much more legitimate reasons than I were denied to leave, I realized that there was a really good chance I would be selected based on the age demographic in the room: AKA not that many under 35 people. I'm 26 soon to be 27 but I know some 30somethings that I wouldn't have guessed there were over 30. 

Being trapped in a room with other people who dislike being there just as much as you really helps to build camaraderie. A small group of us quickly formed as we were the goofy, cynical, and oddly enough the only ones with electronic devices other than cell phones. (Nerds always unite!) We had a good time joking around for about 3 hours. Unfortunately the clerks were actually kind of rude to us. I accidentally left my phone in my car and we weren't allowed to leave the room at one point. Finally I got so annoyed that I just told them I was going to get my phone from my car--and I went. It wasn't until after lunch that I was called for selection. It was around 1:30pm. Thankfully when you call the number that night you are supposed to report for the summons the message tells you to prepare to be there all day and bring books, games, laptops, etc. I brought the second book of the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire and my laptop. 

When we went upstairs we had to sit inside a courtroom with the judge, lawyers, and defendant. The whole thing made me nervous for some reason, but the judge and lawyers were SOOO nice and SO much nicer than the courthouse staff we were with downstairs. (Oh the deputies were very nice as well) The three of them thanked us for coming in and told us how much they appreciated our time. The judge told us the case was a criminal charge of battery and we were asked if we knew any parties involved. The judge read off a list of people including a few police officers. We were asked to say our name, occupation, marital status, if we had children, if we had ever served as a juror before, if we had any court experience, and if we knew anyone who was a victim or charged with battery or had any experience with the charge of battery. They asked us if any of that experience would alter our ability to have an unbiased opinion on the case. We were not given any other details except that it was a criminal charge of battery, the name of the defendant, and the witnesses involved.

Then the state attorney and the defense attorney asked us questions about when it is and is not appropriate to hit someone; what our feelings were regarding seeing someone in the police car and if that would make us assume immediately that they were guilty. They asked us if we were peaceful or more likely to react if someone got in our face. They also asked us on a scale of one to ten, how much each of us wanted to be there. After they finished with their questions we were asked to sit outside the courtroom while the attorneys decided which jurors they wanted. I had this feeling from the very beginning that I was going to get picked. And I was. The judge informed us that we were under court order not to discuss the case or trial with anyone and not to research it. I knew I would honor this no problem. 

The trial was Friday. We had to go to the courthouse at 9am. I was late...of course. And of course they were waiting for me!! (omg! so embarassing!) We were given some instructions and then we were led into the courtroom. We had to leave our belongings (even my phone, booo!) in the jury room which was locked while we weren't in there. We listened to all the testimony and the lawyers questioning. 

Basically the story was: A group of parents and kids were waiting on the sidewalk at a school bus stop. The defendant was driving along the road at what appeared to be too fast for one parent who stepped out partially into the road to wave and shout "slow down." The driver gave the parent the finger. Allegedly the driver fake swerved at the parent and the parent slapped or possibly punched the car trunk or hood. The driver stopped almost immediately, checked his car (which was a rental), and confronted the parent. Both exchanged heated words. Allegedly the driver swung at the parent. The driver decided to go back to his car. He handed his passenger his phone because he saw another parent come up and was supposedly unsure what would happen next. (Both parents were fathers as was the driver) At that point they exchanged more curses and insults. Allegedly the driver then pushed the parent but in court and on his written testimony he stated he never touched him and left after they exchanged more words. The witnesses written testimonies except for the man who was supposedly pushed all differed from their responses in court). After deliberating (when we did this the deputy took our phones!! AHH!) which took about 30 minutes we decided on not guilty due to reasonable doubt. You are not allowed to find a verdict of guilty if there is reasonable doubt. We were there from 9am to 4:15pm. We each will earn $30, which will come by mail...at some point.

So, once it was all over, I appreciated the experience. It was interesting to see how our court system works from the inside, by actually being a part of it. I still don't ever WANT to do it again, but if I HAVE to I won't be as pissed off =^.^=

It wasn't so bad I guess, other than being stuck and "wasting" two days. If you get summoned make sure to bring stuff to do!!! If you go to trial you will be busy most of the time listening to testimonies, but bring snacks if you are allowed. 

#nerdsunite

<3 Lindsay 
twitter: @thecraftafarian
blog: craftafarian.blogspot.com
email: craftafarian at gmail d c

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician (Social Networking for Vet-Nerds)

<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

I keep trying to write my post but I'm distracted by my boyfriend watching this episode of National Geographic CIA secret experiments. This stuff is CRAZY. Whoa, I mean I knew about the MK Ultra experiments but watching a documentary on it is just so much more incredible than just hearing about it. Very interesting, I recommend watching it if you have cable...which we just got a few weeks ago. YAY! We've been without cable for about two years and finally decided to sign back up. Ok he just changed it to espn and I'm not interested in what is on there. Anyway this week I discovered something really cool for veterinary people and even pet owners. It's kind of like a social network for veterinary professionals. It's called VetVine (www.vetvine.com) and I originally found it when checking work emails. The email offered free e-course about heartworm disease if you signed up for the free service. I'm always up for a good bargain and registered myself the next chance I had. Although I missed the course and apparently there was some login issues (which have now been fixed); I have had the opportunity to browse the site and use some of the features. 

The purpose of VetVine is to bring veterinary professionals together in an online community, provide accurate and "expertly-authenticated" information for pet owners, and continuing education for professionals (free for students!). It also has an option to search for veterinary staff by location or name--in case you have a patient traveling and want to find a networked clinic/staff member. It's a very new website with only about 279 members but I think it may be a very useful tool. Pet owners aren't able to join but there are resources there for anyone to use if they are interested. It's just starting out but I can only imagine how it will help with contacts and networking at the next big veterinary conference. They are still adding information to the library as they go but right now for pet owners there is dermatology and ophthalmology topics to view. 

I think what they are trying to do is have a website like www.healthypet.com (pet owners can search for networked vet clinics/staff and find educational information) but also have resources and socializing for staff. So far its much more geared towards vet staff but hopefully they will be adding more so that its interactive for everyone, but I'm rather impressed. Most websites exist for one purpose: Veterinarypartner.com has information for anyone. VSPN.org (for staff) or VIN (for vets) has forums, chat, courses, and library--almost all of it except the social aspect. VetVine isn't made to replace any of these other websites but to enhance the connections we make anywhere. Well at least this is my impression. Check it out :)

In other news, I reorganizing my apartment as we signed the lease for another year and we really need to figure out how to use this tiny space. I'm adding a bunch of shelves in the two rooms and bathroom in an attempt to take advantage of some unused vertical space. So far so good! It also makes it feel more like "my home" as I'm finding places for everything and making it look like we have more room then we have (not an easy feat!!!).

#nerdsunite

<3 Lindsay 
twitter: @thecraftafarian
blog: craftafarian.blogspot.com
email: craftafarian at gmail d c