Long Days Call For Long Exhalations

What a busy day it's been for me. Incoming calls were steady before I went to lunch, but shortly after one of my co-workers inexplicably disappeared for the day, this in addition to the one who had taken a vacation day, and those of us left barely had a moment to breathe in between calls. Compound it by the fact that our office floor is now between 5 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than usual due to renovation of the windows and it was a pretty grueling day.

In spite of this I managed to find time to pursue some of the goals I stated for myself in the entry I drafted last night. I managed to cobble together an initial contact email to Dr. Cyndi Wolf of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine; alleged to be an enthusiast of small ruminants including the maintenance of her own goat herd. Hopefully this effort at first contact was not overly clumsy and should prove an initial step in setting up an informational/occupational interview. If I'm really lucky it will even lead to opportunities for me to work on a goat farm.

I also called Uptown Veterinarian in Minneapolis. I was reminded by Kristin over the weekend that they had suggested I might have an opportunity available to me there to shadow one of their vets when we brought our younger cat, Katie, there for her final boosters last winter. I spent my afternoon break on the phone with their office manager, Kate, who informed me that they could not offer me volunteer opportunities (what I am really seeking) due to their level of liability insurance being insufficient in the event I were to be attacked by a patient. Shadowing one of the doctors was weighed as a possibility, thought that particular vet wasn't on duty today and could not be consulted at the moment. In spite of their facility being less than prepared to provide me opportunities for on-the-record animal interaction in a professional environment, Kate was very forthcoming with suggestions of other clinics and hospitals that might have more opportunities for the sort of volunteer-time, informational interviews and opportunities to shadow a vet I am seeking. Multiple facilities in South Minneapolis and the near suburbs off of the main street closest to my home were suggested, and a a Humane Society facility in one of the suburbs closest to my corner of Minneapolis was identified as a likely place to be able to log some volunteer time, particularly on the weekends. I will have to look into this further tomorrow. With any luck work will be a bit slower and I can make some other inquiries and also attempt that Craigslist experiment of offering myself up as a vet clinic/hospital volunteer. I have no idea how likely it is, but it might turn something up.