The Promising Job Prospect . . .

. . . is now the promising job interview!

T-Bone got a call last night from the hiring director and is scheduled to have his interview this morning at 10:00. Thank you for all your positive thoughts! I personally think he is very gifted at one-on-one interactions so I expect he will be brilliant, though I may be just the tiniest bit biased.

Now here's hoping this will turn into the Promising Job Offer!

Hail to the Chief

As I sat blearily on the bed this morning trying to put on my socks, T-Bone suddenly burst out of the bathroom. "Guess what, mami?!" he cried, brandishing his toothbrush at me.

"What?" I asked cautiously.

"Guess what happened at my tribal meeting?!"

Weekends are always busy in the Cameroonian diaspora, but this Saturday was enough to make the most steadfast warrior tremble. A woman in Bowie was having a baby shower; there was a wedding in Laurel; the set-in-stone monthly meeting of T-Bone's tribe, the Banyangi, would be held in Columbia; and to top it all off, a bus full of lawyers and political activists had tumbled off a cliff in southwestern Cameroon and needed to be mourned. Their friends and relatives here in the States had to get home as soon as possible so a "sitting," the exile's version of a viewing - minus the bodies - was hastily scheduled for that night. Respects would be paid and financial gifts collected to help pay for plane tickets.

T-Bone being the moderate man that he is decided to attend all of these events in moderation. His strategy for hitting every occasion? He purposely wore shoes that are too small so that he wouldn't linger too long at any one event, thereby offending another host by depriving them of equal "T-time."

I know.

The logic is astounding.

Well, somehow he made it through his whirlwind tour and back home safely to me - yes, call me a bad wife but I declined to attend. So back to this morning, with T-Bone spraying toothpaste and me struggling to find two matching trouser socks.

"What happened at your tribal meeting?" I asked.

"They want me to be chief!" he crowed.

I blinked. "Chief of what?"

"Chief of the tribe!"

"Like chief chief?"

"Like chief chief!"

I considered this. Would T-Bone become T-Bone-Through-The-Nose?

And what sartorial options would open to me as Chieftess?

Happy Holidays from Megan and Tabe!

(Apparently the Universal Code of Dissatisfied Looking Fashion Models with Weird Hair is truly universal.)

"Does that mean that people can't approach you at parties?" I asked, recalling one such event where a particularly eager white guy in a daishiki rushed a platform of traditional tribal leaders, hugging and grasping hands with alarming urgency.

"No, no," he assured me. "You are thinking of the fons. Those are more like figureheads."

"Oh, and the chief is like the political leader?"

"Exactly." He laughed. "Can you imagine me, a chief?" He shook his head. "No way!"

I could, actually, but we both laughed.

I finished getting dressed and moved to the kitchen. I was shoving a banana peel into our overflowing trash can when T-Bone reappeared, ready to head out to work.

"Call me Chief T-Bone," he murmured as he kissed me goodbye.

"Chief T-Bone," I purred indulgently against his lips, "Will you take the trash out?"

Raid Uncovers Hundreds of Virginia Dogs Living in Filth

Following an in-depth investigation into puppy mills in Virginia, the Humane Society of the United States raided Horton's Pups last night and seized unlicensed breeder Junior Horton's 1000 dogs. That's right, folks. You read that right. One thousand dogs. This video clip, released on Monday, offers a look at the puppy industry in Virginia and features Junior Horton, among other.

The rescue where I got Gypsy, the Washington Animal Rescue League, received 105 of the dogs late last night and is in the process of assessing them and treating their numerous injuries, illnesses and birth defects. I received this press release from them earlier today:

WARL Rescues 105 Puppy Mill Dogs
Now the real work begins...

Dear Friend of WARL and Animals,

Forgive me if this is a bit disjointed, but it has been a long night.

After spending all day Thursday assisting authorities in Hillsville, Virginia with the puppy mill rescue efforts, the WARL team arrived at our shelter at 4:00 a.m. A team of staff and volunteers met them here to feed all the dogs, give them clean water, and make sure they were comfortably housed and at rest.

Nine nursing mothers with a total of 35 puppies (some as young as a day old) were immediately placed in foster care with WARL volunteers.

All 105 dogs are now safe and in good hands. Among the breeds we have are Yorkshire Terriers, Bichon Frisés, Shih Tzus, Lhasa Apsos, Cocker Spaniels, Maltese, Cairn Terriers, Corgis, Beagles, Peekapoos, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and Poodle mixes.

The WARL Medical Center, with its three veterinarians, has cleared its schedule for the day so that each of the dogs can be thoroughly examined, treated for external and internal parasites, and given an individual treatment plan to correct any problems found.

This process has already started. So far we have found respiratory infections, parasites, dental disease, severe matting, eye maladies, and malnourishment.

Many of the dogs will be available for adoption in about a week, perhaps even a day or two earlier. The youngest puppies will be made available when they reach eight weeks of age.

Even by WARL standards, this rescue mission is a large one. We have managed to get these dogs out of a horrible situation and into a supportive environment with the best available veterinary care. Their suffering and trauma is over, but their rescue will not be complete until they are healthy and living in permanent, loving homes.

To finish the rescue, we will need the entire community's help. Specifically, we urgently need two things: adoptive homes for these dogs and funds for medical care and supplies.

The cost of treating and caring for these vulnerable dogs will be at least $200,000! It may even be more, depending on what our veterinarians find today. In short, we need everyone's generous help to save these 105 refugees.

You can make an online donation by clicking here for the donation form, or you can rush a donation to Puppy Mill Rescue, WARL, 71 Oglethorpe Street, NW, Washington, DC 20011.

And please help us find homes for these dogs. Spread the word far and wide!

Thank you in advance for your much needed assistance.

For the animals,
Scotlund Haisley
Executive Director

Safe Stuff for Kids and Pets

I talked to my old college roommate Aras yesterday and she told me about a webstore called Ape 2 Zebra where you can find fun educational toys that weren't made in China. Now I don't want to be alarmist but one of my primary concerns this holiday season is product origin, especially when it comes to shopping for the mancub. There are plenty of countries, including my own, with disturbingly lax manufacturing and consumer safety standards, but this site has many choices from more stringently regulated places like Germany, Italy, Canada, and France. Yes, they are more expensive, but that just means the mancub will get a couple of quality toys instead of heaps of toys that won't fit in our apartment anyway.

T-Bone's interview for the Promising Job Prospect was scheduled for yesterday but on Wednesday night, the man who was supposed to interview called to postpone. Apparently he had picked up a bug on his last trip to Africa and had to call out sick. He didn't have his schedule with him at the time but he is supposed to call sometime next week to reschedule, so please keep those positive thoughts/good juju/groovy vibes/prayers coming! Thank you to everyone who has lifted us up, with special thanks to Uncle Luap for his drum dance.

After work yesterday, I went home to get the dog and then we drove to the bank to deposit my paycheck. I decided to go to a different branch. As I turned into the parking lot, I noticed a new shop next door called bark! It promised "premium natural pet food and supplies" so I decided to check it out. They had so many wonderful things, gifts for pets and humans as well as a daunting variety of organic, natural, and raw food diet options for all kinds of animals. The staff was super friendly and very knowledgeable; they helped me select a bag of Orijen, which is a grain-free kibble made of 70% meat ( a combo of "the highest inclusions of fresh grain-fed chicken, fresh wild-caught Whitefish and fresh whole eggs — regional ingredients that arrive at our factory fresh — never frozen or dried, and are low temperature cooked at 90c to preserve their natural goodness") and 30% veggies, all farmed in western Canada. And the best part? It was the same price as the grain-based Chinese-made Menu Foods brands that have been poisoning dogs.

I think what I appreciated most, though, was the time each staff person took to get down on the floor and coax my somewhat shy dog into his or her lap. She is still shy of men but even the one guy in the place got her to eat out of his hand and roll over for a tummy rub. By the time we left, she was wagging every time he came near her. What a great place!

Remember when you borrowed 20 bucks?

Invent a memory of me and post it in the comments. It can be anything you want, so long as it's something that's never happened. Then, of course, post this to your journal [if you like] and see what people would like to remember of you, only the universe failed to cooperate in making it happen so they had to make it up instead.

Ethanolics?

Mother Jones had a graphic showing what could happen in an ethanol-based society. Click here to see the larger graphic and readers' responses. Makes you wonder when we as a people will focus on reducing energy use, not just finding ways to sap new resources and cause new pollution problems.

Trick or Treat!

"Does this suit make my head look big?"



"Hey, who gave me a Cadbury egg??"