A newsie addition, with short-legged doggies
By Gina Spadafori
December 6, 2009
We have two new bloggers joining us this week. I’ll write about the second one tomorrow, and give a welcome to David S. Greene today.
Yes, we have a lot of bloggers here. But they’re all either writers specializing in pet-care topics, dog-trainers or veterinarians (or dog-training veterinarian writers!). Which means that blogging is what they do when they have two spare moments adjacent — they’re very busy people, one and all.
I’ve long wanted someone who isn’t quite as opinionatedexpert on the subject of pets, someone who can pick up the “hey, check out THIS story/blog post” sort of thing that with more books looming I just don’t have time to do. Someone who can also help out with the editing work across our media platforms.
David. S. Greene is a person I have known for a decade, but as these funny things happen, I only met him in person last month, when he visited California to do some consulting work in nearby Davis. A victim of the sucky economy, he’s now a consultant since his company downsized sharply. Before he went into the software training that’s now his main gig, he had a long and noteworthy career both in journalism and government. (He’s also notably over-educated, Syracuse, Harvard, George Washington, etc., which doesn’t impress me, but he’s a Red Sox fan, which surely does.)
So yeah, he has the chops to write about those places where pets intersect with other subject areas, such as happened during the pet-food recall. (He also writes a general interest blog with a pet-related name, Blah Blah Ginger.)
He’ll be specializing in news/blog wrap-ups and general pet-related news, leaving the opinionatedexpert stuff mostly to the rest of us. Despite his skills as a writer, reporter and editor, he’s the first to tell you he’s no pet expert. And I think that might be a good thing, since the rest of us are pretty immersed in the topic, too immersed some times.
That’s not to say he’s not a pet-lover, of course, David and his wife, musician Perry Desmond-Davies, have two spoiledbeloved dogs, longhaired dachshunds Cami and Harry. And during his recent trip out here, he quickly established himself as puppy FayBee’s biggest fan.
Got a tip for good stuff elsewhere we ought to be seeing? Drop a note to David, here.
Welcome, David S. Greene, I certainly do look forward from reading your writings.
The only baseball game I went to was a Red Sox game. However, Harvard does impress me, just does somehow.
I shall have to go to the blog, Blah Blah Ginger, weird name and all.
Good luck, David, and I promised to treat your writings on this blog with kindness, only. (I hope I can keep my promise!)
Comment by Colorado Transplant — December 6, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
Dear Dave:
I went to your blog (Blah Blah Ginger), tried to answer the poll at that site. Guess what, I must be dumb or something but no way could I select an answer. Since you went to Harvard, and e-mail is out by your words, can you make it simple for a non-Harvardian girl like me to take your poll? Please answer on this blog only, if it is okay with you.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — December 6, 2009 @ 2:28 pm
Thank you Gina for the wonderful welcome to this terrific team! I’ve been a fan of Gina, Christie, Dr. Becker and the folks here for quite a while. I’m duly honored to be a part of the Pet Connection team.
And Colorado Transplant, first off, thank you for your warm welcome! The best way to respond to the blahblahginger blog post is to leave a comment. At the bottom of the post right now it says “7 comments”. Click on that, and you will see a box to leave your own answers.
Comment by David — December 6, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
David, I think you might need to take a look at what your readers are seeing when they click on “7 comments” and then click on “Show original post” so that they can see the poll while responding to it. It’s not impossible, but it’s not pretty.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18243608&postID=7282693332241979491
Would I be correct in guessing that the seven responses so far are from regulars?
Comment by Lis — December 6, 2009 @ 2:51 pm
Good point, Lis. Blogger doesn’t have a great setup for polls. And true, the responses so far are from regulars.
Comment by David S. Greene — December 6, 2009 @ 4:17 pm
David, I read your poll and have only one answer to all your questions; “All we like sheep…”
Comment by Anne T — December 6, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
My answer to all 7 questions on your poll, David, is
“Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night’s sleep”.
Good night, everyone!
Comment by Colorado Transplant — December 6, 2009 @ 10:22 pm
Welcome, David - glad to have you here! That makes me not the new guy anymore! I am now a grizzled veteran (veterinarian) of PetConnection.com!
Love the name of your blog - reminds me of the Far Side cartoon. I assume that the was the intent?
Hope you are having a great holiday season and a warm welcome!
Comment by Dr. Tony Johnson — December 7, 2009 @ 6:52 am
Thank you all again for the warm and furry welcome.
@Anne T: that was the single funniest comment I’ve ever had to a blog post, I loved it!
@CT. Good answer(s).
@Thanks, Dr. Johnson. Yep, I’m the new guy now. The blog name is indeed taken from the famous Far Side cartoon. It’s a constant reminder to me that what we’re saying might not be interpreted the way we wish by whomever is hearing/reading. And it’s also one of the best of Gary Larson’s cartoons.
Comment by David S. Greene — December 7, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
I figured you could ‘Handel’ my attempt at humor when I too caught the Gary Larson reference. :) Welcome to PetConnection, David! You realize though that the aria in question has now become an ‘Ohrwurm’ that I will not get rid of until the holiday season is over.
Comment by Anne T — December 7, 2009 @ 4:43 pm