Archive for the ‘Goldens and other Stuff’ Category

A month after Ben died, we decided to foster a rescued Golden Retriever from Sooner Golden Retriever Rescue here in Tulsa. We weren’t quite ready to adopt, but we thought that fostering would be a good compromise.  The dog we fostered was “Shadow” – a red Golden with blond highlights.

When we took him home he was being treated for heartworms (he had been kept outside – an absolutely traumatic way for Goldens to live – they are so focused in on their people that forcing them to live outside is just cruel.)  His coat was dull, his eyes and cheeks were sunken, and he was very lethargic. We had to keep him quiet for 2 months while he received his painful shots and got rid of the heartworms. For the most part he didn’t have much trouble with the treatment, though we did have a couple of nights when his nose bled and we had to stay up with him and try to staunch the flow. But that, too, passed. He knew it the day his doctor declared him well – as soon as he got back from the vet’s office, he took off running around the back yard after 2 months of staying quiet!

Shadow was a “velcro” dog – he attached himself to me and stayed by my side (usually pressed up against my leg) 24 hours a day. He has eased off this a bit now that he’s well, and we’re starting to see more of his personality. He’s very different from Ben and Andy, and has his own unique personality.

About 2 weeks ago we adopted him! (You should have known that was coming! LOL!)

Here’s his picture…

For those of you who have read my “About me” page and know about Ben, our Golden Retriever, there is sad news.

Yesterday Ben died suddenly during a vet visit. It was totally unexpected and devastating. He was such a constant, comforting presence in the house that it feels empty here now, and very lonely. I still can’t believe he’s gone. I don’t think I can say anymore about it right now.

BEN
May 4, 1999 – June 2, 2008

Ben had a total of 3 chiropractic visits, and is now “right as rain”. He is doing everything he did before his injury, and is once again a happy, healthy dog.

For those who may be sceptical about the benefits of chiropractic, or who think chiropractic is just a placebo, think about this… dogs don’t know from placebos. They hurt, or they don’t. Simple. Ben showed more improvement with each treatment, and now feels good. He sleeps better, he has no pain in any range of motion, and he is his old happy self.

No placebo – just a treatment that works. You might want to consider it yourself…

Wednesday I took Ben back to the chiropractor. He was doing much better as far as his neck was concerned, but he was still limping and still had hip pain and weakness.

She treated his neck again, his cervicals and upper thoracics, and his sacrum (base of the spine.) This time he slept the entire trip home, and when he got home, he went outside and then came back in and slept some more. He finally woke up when my wife came home for lunch. We watched him stand and move around, and we were guardedly optimistic. His limp was not as pronounced, he was getting up and moving better, and more often, and he was smiling and WAGGING – which he hadn’t done much of since he got hurt. Ben has always been a smiler and a wagger (he even wags at the vet’s with a thermometer in his butt!).

Since Wednesday, he has continued to improve – his muscles aren’t spasming now, he’s walking with a better gait, he has much less trouble getting up and down, and, of course, he’s smiling and wagging again. My wife said she would believe he was getting better when he greeted her at the door when she comes home for lunch. Well, Thursday and Friday he did just that! When he got hurt, I had just bought him a new toy, which he hasn’t paid much attention to – until today. Today he started playing with it and carrying it around. Yay, Ben!

Ben seems to be on the mend now. Hopefully, he’ll just keep getting better. And, yes, we’re going to continue his chiropractic treatments…

(BTW – if you are in Northeastern Oklahoma and want to take your dog or cat to a chiropractor, Ben’s chiropractor is Jody Barkley, DC and she’s located in Skiatook, OKlahoma.)

I’m going to go off on a little tangent here…

First, sorry for the delay in posting – if you’ve read the “about me” page, you know I have a Golden Retriever named Ben, and you know I’m also a chiropractor. (And, a lot of people email me and comment about Ben and Andy.)

Well, Ben got hurt earlier this month. We think he might have slipped on the concrete floors (we’re in continual remodeling mode here!)

He hurt his neck and is limping on his left front leg. He’s been in a lot of pain and our vet couldn’t do much for him. The vet thought he had a cervical (neck) disc problem, and we tried giving him a couple of different NSAID pain drugs, but Ben had reactions to them. We tried massage, heat and cold, but nothing was having much effect. After what felt like an endless week of listening to Ben whimper at night, and not be able to lift his head or even get up and walk without stumbling, I searched out one of the guys I had gone to chiropractic school with. In school, his sole goal was to do animal chiropractic. Since he was from our area, I looked him up. He gave me the names of several animal chiropractors around Tulsa.

One of them specialized in dogs, so I made an appointment for her to see Ben. She treated his neck problem, and the results started showing up on the way home from her office. It was about a 40 minute drive. Ben slept about 20 minutes, and then sat up to look out the window! His neck was moving much more easily. Over the next couple of days, it improved even more. He was able to raise his head, twist and turn it, and reach those parts of his body he had been unable to get to before treatment. He sleeps well and no longer whimpers in his sleep. He’s more active, but his front leg is still a problem. Needless to say, I’m taking him back to see the chiropractor tomorrow and she’ll treat his leg and hips.

I have no doubts that Ben will be keep improving. We’ll keep working with him and his chiropractor…

Ok – end of tangent…

I’m going to post again a little later today on “Make it easy on yourself…” – ways to keep from doing everything the hard way and how to automate as much as possible…

Well, as you can see, my last post was in 2005. That is NOT good!

Part of the problem was that I was using Nucleus. And, I didn’t like it. It was hard to work with and it just didn’t have the flexibility that WordPress has. Then my mind got hung up on the fact that Nucleus was using index.php in the root directory, and how was I going to change that over when WordPress was in another directory. (Actually, I just didn’t want to have to rewrite all my website pages!) There was a very simple solution – and you’d think I would have thought of it since I’ve been online since the early nineties, but all I had to do was a re-direct to the correct page. Like many of my clients, I tend to make things more difficult than they actually are. (sigh)

Another problem with the old blog was that it was too specific. I had the idea of writing an ebook via the blog, but that did not work. So, I’m changing the game plan here. I’m just going to “chat” – for lack of a better word! Sometimes it will be about design and ebooks, sometimes about Golden Retrievers, sometimes I’ll rant, and sometimes I might actually have something important to say.

I’ve posted all the previous stuff below – some of it’s actually worth reading – even if it is old. I’ve got a couple of things that I really want to rave (and rant!) about so I’m going to post those a little later tonight.

for me, anyway! 2 posts in less than a month!

First a follow-up on the “obnoxious” forum poster discussed below. I posted in Ken’s forum that I had made a blog entry. He made his way over here, and after reading the post I made on Netiquette in forums, apologized for his behavior. So, a direct confrontation was avoided – and maybe he learned something. I hope so- he’s still getting some flack, though..

I’m going to be doing some fall housekeeping soon. I’ve got a ton of new files to add, more links, and some new projects. I’m thinking about changing my site logo – take a look and tell me which one you like… logos…

I’m also going to be raising my prices somewhat on my design services. I hate to do it, but they’ve been at this level for over 2 years now, and my workload is getting to the point where I can’t keep up. Don’t worry, my prices still won’t break your budget! This change will go into effect when I can get new pages written for it. (Heck, that might be another 2 years before I get that done! LOL!)

OK – I’ve got to get back to work, but I’m not done commenting. Looks like I may break another record here soon…

Neil

Here it is the second day of the new year.

Will it be a good year or a bad year? It’s interesting – some people will end this year saying it was good – some will end it saying it was bad. So, which one is right?

Well, it’s really a matter of perception, isn’t it? You’ll be the one to determine how your year comes out, so perhaps you should make that decision NOW!

I’ve already been asked a half-dozen times about my new year’s resolutions… Last year, I posted an article to my newsletter about my hang-ups with the word “resolutions”. I think I’m going to post it here again – it may help some of you who also have that particular hang-up with words…

Here’s the article – if you’ve read it before, scroll down – I have some additional comments after it.

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“So, how’s that workin’ for ya?”

by Neil Tarvin

This week my thoughts were spurred by an “emailer” who asked if I’d made my New Year’s resolutions, and if I’d set any goals for this year. The man actually hit two of my hot buttons in one sentence!

I hate the words “resolutions” and “goals.” They’re intimidating. I don’t know why – maybe when I was 5 years old I saw that big ball dropping from the sky in Times Square on New Year’s eve and thought it was going to fall on my head. Who knows?

But, to me, “resolutions” means I have to give something up that I’m really attached to, and “goals” implies some lofty, totally unattainable desire that I should be striving toward. They just aren’t positive, energizing words. To me. And, that’s the crux of this week’s commentary…

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“So, how’s that workin’ for ya?”

Here in the US we have a daytime TV phenomenon who’s name is “Dr. Phil” – an Okie-bred, outspoken, shoot-from-the-hip, blunt, occasionally irritating, occasionally arrogant, psychologist. He can stop a guest dead in their tracks – like a deer caught in the headlights – with his Okie-drawl catch phrase “So, how’s that workin’ for ya?”

The funny thing is – it really does make you stop and think.

Let’s look at my problem with those two words “resolutions” and “goals.” Obviously, if I’m totally resistant to the words, I’m certainly not making any resolutions or setting any goals. I just dig in my heels and come to a screeching halt. And in my head, here comes Dr. Phil…

“So, how’s that workin’ for ya?”

It wasn’t. Those are two pretty important concepts to just toss away. You can’t just eliminate them from your life and expect to get anywhere. It’s totally counterproductive. Now, if you’ve read any of my ebooks or articles, you know that I’m very big on “thinking outside the box” and finding alternatives. So why had it never occurred to me to find alternatives for “resolutions” and “goals”?

“If it’s not working – change it.”

My job was to find an alternative to those words. It was extremely easy to do – once I realized that’s all it would take. It’s true that sometimes we just can’t see the forest for the trees. I’m sure that Dr. Phil would have preferred that I more deeply analyze why those words triggered immediate resistance, but I want solutions, not reasons!

What words, phrases, or concepts push your hot buttons? What are you resisting? What problems are you having? Just remember Dr. Phil and ask yourself – “So, how’s that workin’ for ya?” and if the answer is “It’s not!” – think “alternatives.” If you can’t go through a barrier, you can often go around it.

Oh, yeah – curious about my alternative to “resolutions” and “goals”? My solution was “priorities”… and, yes, it’s working well…

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So, what about you?? Are you hung up on those words, too? You’ll hear all kinds of things about “positive thinking”, “setting goals”, and “making improvements” – and, to tell you the truth, a lot of it just sounds like New Age gobbledy gook to me. But some of it is worth exploring – just change the words…

I came across an ebook the other day that might help you put all this in focus. It’s called “Spiritual Marketing” by Joe Vitale. There are lots of places to pick up a copy – here’s one…

http://www.total-success-4u.com/SPIRITUALMARKETING.html

Don’t worry – I’m not asking you to buy anything – it’s free, and makes a very interesting read to start the year.

I’ve got a ton of things I want to do this year, so right now I’m going to go get my “priorities” in order.

Hope you’ll do the same – remember, it’s your choice whether the year is going to be good or bad…

Later -

Neil

As you can tell, a couple of days ago, I changed the look of ebookgraphics.com. I was tired of the same look, things seemed a bit jumbled to me, and I just wasn’t totally happy with the old look.

Unfortunately, after all that work, I don’t think I like it enough to keep it.

Why?? Well, here’s a quick lesson for all of you who are interested in internet marketing. I check my site stats frequently – what pages are being viewed, time spent on each page, and all that kind of stuff. I’ve been paying particularly close attention since i changed the site. Here’s what I’ve discovered since changing the look…

1. ebook sales are down. (This is a biggie!)

2. Same traffic, but overall fewer page views.

3. Less time spent on each page.

Now, this is interesting because the *copy* on each page is the same as with the previous design – I’ve updated some links, added some free ebooks, and added some software, etc., but the pages themselves are “cut and pasted” from the old pages.

So, I have to believe that it’s the design that is affecting traffic flow, sales, and time spent.

Needless to say. I’m going to go back to the old design – maybe with a few refinements.

Moral of the story?? How about… “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

Anyone care to comment???

Neil

Read the rest of this entry »

With all the problems spam is creating in distributing newsletters, I decided to create an online blog as well. This should work out well since my newsletters all seem to be rambling discourses on various and sundry subjects – some of which are actually related to ebook design! I expect this blog to go the same way…

Just choosing a blog to use is a lot of work! I finally decided to go with Nucleus – it allows a lot of flexibility in design and layout, and if there’s one thing I like, it’s flexibility. It also allows the readers (that’s you) to add their own comments, so feel free to comment on any of my posts.

Obviously, I haven’t done a lot of design work on this yet. (And the cobbler’s kids have no shoes…) For some unknown reason, my clients expect me to put the majority of my time into working on their projects, not my own. (Any clients reading this?? I’m kidding, I’m kidding!) So, I’ll “fancy” it up a bit at a time whenever I can grab a few minutes. Meanwhile, we’re stuck with “blah”…

Im going to try to post on here as often as I can. I’ve never been very good at keeping a journal or anything like that, but people tell me blogging can be addictive. (Great – just what I need – another addiction to join caffeine, nicotine, and reality TV!)

I’m not totally new to this kind of thing, though. I did something similar ‘way back in the early 90′s with my very first website (altcare.com). I was in chiropractic college then, and I kept an “online diary” of what was happening in school. (There was no such thing as a blog back then.)

Nucleus has a feature that will allow you to “subscribe” to this blog and get a notification every time I update it. I don’t know how well it works, but we’ll give it a try…

Well, this was just an “introduction” to the blog – in my next post, I’ll pick up where I left off in my last newsletter, and we’ll continue talking about design.

Neil

BTW – I’ve got a couple of new projects coming *very* soon – One is a much expanded version of eBookLibrarian (I’m calling it “Pro”…) which is specially designed for ebook affiliates and resellers. It has everything you need for tracking your resell and affiliate products. If you want a sneak peek, go here – http://www.ebookgraphics.com/wordpress/ebooklibpro.html