Wow, how cool is this?  I knew John's doggie clothing line was going to turn some heads!  Please pass this post along to any and all who love doggies.  These outfits are great gift ideas for the Holidays!!  He will do custom orders.

Read The Daily News story here.

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Oscar in Coat

As I have mentioned before, my good friend John Vega has started his own doggie clothing line, fleas&biscuits. 

He is going to be featured at a doggy fashion show, Pawject Runway, tomorrow night in Astoria at The Jumping Bulldog.  Yay!  His Oscar gets to be a model...

Oscar in necktie

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One of my best friends, Connie Smith, the creator and author of Local718, a blog about Queens, interviewed him recently as the first in a series of videos Connie will be producing about inspiring and creative people in Queens. 

Enjoy!

What's your favorite Beatles song? Bonus points if you share it with us.

My favorite is "Something"

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Oh noes!  Teh internets are holding kittehs captive while their pictures are downloaded onto a silly website with ridiculous, misspelled, grammatically incorrect captions over their heads!!  Or at least that’s the theory in the highly entertaining musical, “I Can Has Cheezburger: The MusicLOL”.  This show, which feels like children's theater for adults, is featured as part of The New York International Fringe Festival 2009.  It is directed by Karina Bennett with the book, music and lyrics by Kristyn Pomranz and Katherine Steinberg.  What can I say?  These are my kind of women.

Inspired by ICanHasCheezburger.com, this show is one of the most absurd, off-the-wall, bizarre, messed up pieces of theater I’ve ever seen.  It is many levels of wrong and I loved every second of it.  Sure, it needs work in places but what new work doesn’t?  One particular musical number went on a little too long and considering the plethora of internet inside jokes the website ICanHasCheezburger.com has helped to create, there are even more themes that could be included…but I admit I was getting ahead of myself with ideas, being both a theater person as well as a big fan of ICHCB.  This show currently borders on chaotic, so perhaps it’s best left the way it is.  The use of media helps as most of the “set” is projected onto a screen along with a variety of LOLcats that move the story along.  I enjoyed the actor’s performances immensely.   This material is extremely delicate, as is any absurdist piece, and the cast has the imagination it takes to make a story such as this come to life.  They strike a balance between taking the story seriously and not too seriously.  This is no easy task. 

One could argue that LOLcats are simple, lowbrow entertainment.  But the genius in disguise is found in how they’ve been keeping people like me sane at work for over two years now.  I take cute breaks several times a day at the office with ICHCB.com and Cuteoverload.com.  These sites provide a short-but-sweet respite throughout the day for many a worker all over the world, hence their incredible popularity.  If someone has never been to the website ICanHasCheezburger.com and goes to see this show, they won’t be too horribly lost after the first few minutes.  The internet phenomenon of LOLcats is an acquired taste but once you catch on, the logic (or lack thereof) and humor behind it all soon falls into place.  That being said, this show is riddled with inside jokes shared by fans of ICHCB.com and that, coupled with the simplicity of LOLcats, is what makes this show work - it charms both LOL virgins with a sense of humor as well as die-hard fans of the site who have been following it since the beginning (like me).   

The silly romp takes you on an adventure in the ever expanding world of the internet.  An LOLcat (aka “Happy Cat” – though that’s not his name in the musical for some reason) gets downloaded onto the cheezburger site after he adorably makes a play for his owner’s cheeseburger in real life.  Finding himself lost in the internet, he’s now on a quest to find his cheezburger, his one true love.  He runs into familiar faces for us ICHCB fans including LOLrus who lost his bukkit, Drop the cat who hides in a box waiting for the cheezburgers to drop, Epic Win and Epic FAIL, the owl who cries *head tilt* O RLY?, a kitteh who adds up all the sumz for buying moar cheezburgers and last but not least, Mr. Wrong, a kitteh with a slice of cheese on his head who was once told “Cheez - You’re doin’ it WRONG” in his caption as a kitten and never recovered, thus leading him to cause evil mischief for all eternity.  (I have to say here that Clint Carter’s performance as Mr. Wrong is brilliant.)  In the land of teh internets, “Jodie’s” is where you go for cheezburgers.  Jodie is a mouse with a slick business sense and a strong desire to find love.  You know, “Just someone to eat cheese with” as the adorable musical number goes.  When LOLcat stumbles onto Jodie’s corporate headquarters he learns that he’s in the wrong place for the actual cheezburgers.  Thanks to the confusion caused by “sumz”, Jodie’s piss poor accountant who cannot tell him how much monies he will need for the cheezburgers, LOLcat finds himself lost once again.  He falls into the evil paws of Mr. Wrong who convinces him that “Jodie’s” discriminates against cats and that in order to get cheezburgers he ought to mousenap her and demand equal accessibility to cheezburgers for cats...or something like that.  (Are you following me?  Because I’m not.)  As expected the plan goes horribly wrong when LOLcat discovers that he has a forbidden love for Jodie the mouse and cannot bring himself to sacrifice her dignity and freedom for the cause…or will he? 

Find out, if you can, by seeing the show Wednesday August 26^th at 9:15 PM or Friday August 28^th at 4:45 PM at The Cherry Lane Theater.  Buy your ticket online in advance as these shows will sell out.  Even if they don’t win at Fringe, I smell a future run of some kind for this play.  Go to fringenyc.org for more details!!  KTHNXBAI!!!!

Stupid walrus

Theatur Cat by Jaypo (THNX J!)

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Hello All! 

I'd like to introduce you to a BRAND NEW doggie clothing company Fleas&Biscuits (Click link for the etsy site!)

My dear friend John, known to a lot of you as Oscar's daddy, is a remarkably well rounded artist.  He paints, draws, decorates, designs clothing, you name it.  So when he told me a while ago that he was starting his own clothing line for dogs, I knew it would not disappoint.  And sure enough...I saw his sketch book and fabric samples, oohed and ahhed (and SQUEEEED - I totally squeeeed) and could not WAIT to see the finished designs.
 
They are finally here!  I just had to share them with you.  I am thoroughly impressed with the unique items he is starting out with and I'm sure you'll agree.  Each design is one-of-a-kind.  In John's own words:

"Inspired by the 1920's, Fleas&Biscuits aims to capture the delicate sensibility of children's clothing of this era. Using rich, organic fabrics such as wool, cotton, linen and cashmere, Fleas&Biscuits was not only able to bring forth a functional design but also one of high-end luxury."

Enjoy!

Oscar in necktie

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Oscar in Coat

My friend Eileen's mom stayed at a goat farm called Celebrity Dairy in Siler City, North Carolina just outside of Chapel Hill. According to her mother:  "They also run a Bed and Breakfast called the Inn at Celebrity Dairy. I stayed there for a few days while I did some research at Chapel Hill and had a great time. Very laid back and no worries."

Linky-poo to their site here

I heart goats and I heart kittehs.  It's a good combo. 

I hope you find them squeeeee-worthy as well!!  Photos courtesy of Kathy Lowe.  Thanks Kathy!!

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The other day I walked into my office building and noticed a pile of flyers with a smiling, familiar face looking back at me.  I stopped and read that Angela, a woman who works in my building, is searching for bone marrow donors and was holding a potential donor drive in a few days.  I picked up the flyer and went upstairs to read further.  It seemed easy enough, all they need is some cheek cells.  I made a vow to myself to do it.  I've heard that donating marrow could be a real pain...but all I could think was "I'd want someone to do this for me."

So today on my lunch break I went upstairs, filled out a form and gave them my cheek swab.  It felt good to know that even if I could not be of help to Angela, I could potentially help another person.  Cool.

I recognized the two women at the table and came to the conclusion they must work in the buidling, too, and know Angela.  I pointed to the picture of Angela and asked, "I'm curious, does she have bone cancer....?"  One of the women smiled and said "I have leukemia..."  "OH!", I said, "That's you...its weird, I thought the picture looked familiar but now that I see you in person, you are very familiar...I've been in the building for almost 8 years so...I know I've seen you around."     

Angela then told me her story.  She's 30 years old and has been living with this cancer for two years now.  She's been told that a marrow donation is her only hope.  She has three children and the last pregnancy was particularly difficult.  She was put on bed rest for most of it...her daughter was nearly miscarried a few times, but being a fighter, survived and is now a healthy baby girl.  But all the while, even after the mandatory post-baby blood work and the struggles she had with breast feeding...No one realized that her body had been trying to tell her something.  Then she became gravely ill and the diagnosis was made.  Angela gave me a piece of advice that could be life saving for everyone - if you ever have a baby KEEP YOUR UMBILICAL BLOOD.  She wishes she had known that...

There is an important factor that makes her fight even more difficult...she's a little of everything ethnically, but primarily Hispanic.  This narrows her search drastically.  She had 90 members of her family tested who were of age and none of them were a match.  While it is true that some matches have been made between people who are not of the same ethnicity, they are extremely rare.  In the U.S., Caucasians have an 80% chance of finding a match.  But the case is not the same for minorities because of population size.    

Her baby girl clearly takes after her...this woman is a fighter.  So many people with this disease are.  I was blown away by the efforts she and a few volunteers have made through The Icla da Silva Foundation and the National Marrow Donor Program to help find a match for her.  Even though she is fighting for herself at this time, she knows that even if a match isn't found she may help another person have a second chance at life.  The rewards are endless. 

I promised her I would write this post and make it available to the public to help spread awareness about the donor program.  Marrow donors are rare.  There is very little awareness about the need for it and there are all sorts of boogey man tales about how invasive the procedure can be which wiggs people out.  But the truth is, regardless of the amount of time you may have to sacrifice and the VERY minimal pain you must be willing to endure, I imagine the reward of saving a life will stay with you forever.  I hope I have the chance to find out one day.

The links provided in this post can give you more information about how to register as a potential donor or how to make a gift.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.       

Yeah, I thought you might.  I know you guys.  This may take a minute or two of your time but its a worthy cause. 

The website zootoo.com is sponsoring a contest for an animal shelter to win a FREE MAKE OVER!  How cool is that?

Whats even cooler is that my beloved animal shelter, The Central Missouri Humane Society, has enough points to easily put the shelter in the top 20, to be toured by the judges and narrowed down to the top ten, BUT it can't hurt to show how many people support them, which may help to keep them in the top 10.  From there the winner is selected by us Animal Lovers.

My folks were very active in the shelter and I spent a lot of time there as a kid.  Some of my best memories of that place include going along with my parents for volunteer work, pet fairs, pet contests...you'd always find me in the room with all the kittehs, making friends.  ^__^  And one of our more precious cats (my mom's favorite), Little Red, the stripedy marmie flash of floof that she was, came from this wonderful place.  She was taken from us too young, only two years old, hit by a car.  :(   

Mom wrote an excellent review of CMHS on the zootoo site here that explains more about the history of this great shelter and why they deserve this honor. 

So what can you do to help?  It's really VERY easy.  All you have to do is go to the homepage of zootoo.com and join as a member of the site.  They only want the very basics - your name, location and email.  Easy enough. 

In order to benefit CMHS directly, in step 3 of your joining process, enter the zip code 65203 and select Central Missouri Humane Society. 

Simply by joining this site and becomming an affiliate of CMHS, you earn points to keep them in the top 20. 

Here is how the contest works (taken from zoo too):

This year, the makeover contest is divided in 3 phases.
Phase 1: shelter supporters earn points by being active on zootoo for their affiliated shelter. The shelter with the most points accumulated is NOT the winner of the contest. The top 20 shelters become semi-finalists.
Phase 2: Zootoo and its advisors will tour these shelters in order to narrow the 20 semi-finalists down to 10 finalists. The top 10 finalists will be announced at the HSUS Animal Care Expo in Las Vegas on Tuesday, April 7th.
Phase 3: it will be up to America to vote on the most deserving shelter. The shelter with the highest number of public votes by America will win the makeover! For the complete set of rules, please see the contest rules (‡) below. 

PHASE ONE ENDS MARCH 13TH!!!! You can also give them points by uploading a profile picture and writing a review of the shelter (which can be something as simple as:  My friends have told me about this place, they really deserve this, etc.).  So far by simply doing these three things, I've earned them 110 points, which is the bare minimum.  I've included a *list of things members can do to generate points below...  

If you want to "friend" my family and I, our names on the site are "DKN", "Ironhead" and "aaplinc".

I hope you can help!  This place means so much to me and while it isn't the prettiest of shelters it is efficient, clean, well staffed and compassionate.  Hence, they deserve to be the prettiest!  Once the voting commences in April, I will be sure to let you guys know so you can participate.

Thanks for your support!!!!!!!!!   

*How to get points

Vote on Pet War

1 point

Limited to 5 votes per day

I still exist!

Hello all!  As some of you know I spent this last weekend in Providence, RI to visit my friend Megan. As usual she spoiled the heck out of me by showing me a kick-ass time.  But this trip she really outdid herself by hooking me up with a bunch of her hand made bags and a "Catnip Activity Mat" for good measure (There's a special kitteh in my life who will be enjoying that).  In fact, let me start by showing you that item: 

Totally cute, no?  (note the complementary bag of organic catnip)  AND practical - which is what Megan and her mom Nancy are all about.  No more nip flakes on the floor!  All you gotta do is unzip the back of the mat, sprinkle some 'nip inside, zip it back up and viola!  A place for kitteh to zone out or wig out and settle down for a nip nap.

Megan sells her items in boutiques including Oak on the ever bustling shopping strip, Newbury St., in Boston, Mass. In addition to bags, pouches and nip activity mats, she also makes super cute aprons, plastic bag holders and CD holders.  All of these are also available on her Etsy Online Store. 

My personal favorite of all of their creations are the trusty totes that come in all sorts of cool designs and colors:

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Their totes are sturdy and have handy pockets inside!!

I also love their smaller bags that can serve as anything from toiletry travel bags to make-up bags.  The smallest size makes for a perfect coin purse.  There is a wide variety of these to pick from, as well.  They also come in similar patterns and colors so they can be matched up as a set.  My array:

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