Fifteen work days until winter break

[rolanni]

. . .not that I'm counting.

Took pictures of Application Mountain, there at the day-job. My, that's some stack of file boxes. It may be that the worst of the data entry is over. I'd cross my fingers if they'd bend that far, but since they don't, somebody out there please do it for me. There are still two searches yet to reach their deadlines, but they are by their nature "small" searches -- maybe another 50 applications to input and file between them -- so that's all good.

Next step, after the various committees have done their work: threading the logistics of bringing (counts on fingers) nine-to-fifteen job applicants to campus and setting them up with individual faculty meetings, official dinners and the means to deliver presentations (aka "job talks"). So much for there being no work to do in January.

Having dropped the Hexacat off at the vet's office on my way in to work, I met Steve there on the way home, and we both heard the results of the tests, which is. . .

Kidney failure.

. . .which isn't as dire as it sounds, what with that "failure" thing in there. The vet did admit that, "if he was a person," Hex would be in line for a kidney transplant, but, as it is, we have some meds to give him, and we need to find more ways to bring liquid into his life, which means Hexapuma discovering the joys of wet food. Maybe even wet food with a tiny dash of salt. This will be Puma's Extra Treat, so he'll also be able to hold his Certified Specialness over Mozart and Scrabble, which will cork them off no end.

I make that win-win-win, in the Coon Cat Official Scoring System(tm)

I fear there will be no work on George this evening; there are dishes to wash and I'm kinda washed out my own self. Early to bed -- that's the ticket.

And, yeah, early to rise.

Everybody have a good evening.

Comments

[elbales]

I'm sorry to hear about Hex's kidneys. I note that we kept a cat alive and in actually quite good health for... six years? seven?... after her diagnosis by administering subcutaneous fluids. She just wasn't done being with Mom until the day before we had to let her go. Our vet still calls her Miracle Kitty.

(Edited for clarity. Misplaced modifiers FTW.)

Kittie Kidneys

[(Anonymous)]

We've been through numerous bouts of kidney failure with aged cats. We put them on KD (Kidney Diet Dinner) and they do well on it. It is, however, expensive, although not as bad as CD (the diet food for cats that grow magnesium crystals in their urine).

[zola.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you knew, but increasingly, feline kidney transplant *is* available

http://www.felinecrf.com/trans0.htm

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Crossing fingers for you!

[readinggeek451]

Crossing fingers for you, and for Hexapuma!

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

**crosses fingers too*

[nlbarber]

I too kept a kitty going for 5–6 years after a kidney disease (but not kidney failure) diagnosis, a lot of the time without the special food. One help with getting more water in her was to make the wet food wetter by adding a little water. Agatha-cat had a point at which she considered this to be Unacceptable, but at lower dilution levels she didn't seem to notice.

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

Kitty-karma and positive wrist-n-finger thoughts winging your way, as needed.

[eseme]

Best wishes for the kitty.

And seriously, has the day job heard of online applications? The applicants should be doing all that data entry themselves. I know I did at most places I've applied to, and was always baffled at the ones that still wanted paper.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

Yes to online apps. Any way someone would take that suggestion? I was on a Search Committee here last year and all info was entered by applicant on-line with attachments. It certainly saved the poor folks in HR a lot of work.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

The new dean is going to force email applications starting next round. Forms on the web would be super, but! The first thing our college historically cuts, when the president needs a little extra spending money, is the IT department, and apparently programming forms is Hard.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

We teach the skill to second semester Web Design students. This is a community college and these are art/design students we are talking about. It isn't that hard, just nit-picky.

[eseme]

I beg to differ. Designing web forms is not too bad.

Designing the database that the data is stored in is harder. Making the website talk to the database and deposit the right data in the right places, and ensuring that some jerk can't utterly kill your database by putting programming code into the form is also hard. Making sure that the data can be pulled out by programs like Word so that form rejection letters can be sent with the applicant's name and address filled in in the right place is harder still.

Or, you can pay an outside company to do it. Having applied for jobs at colleges, I ran into what was clearly the same software system, with a really similar look, at a few different colleges or universities.

Of course, if one is cutting one's own IT budget, there is probably not money to pay an outside firm to set it up and also provide ongoing tech support.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

The day-job is going to force electronic applications, starting next fiscal year. By "electronic applications" they mean -- applicants will email their materials. There will stil be data entry involved so that rejection letters can go out and the EEO data can be tracked.

I'm administering a search at the moment that is accepting both electronic and paper apps -- this means that I have to scan the paper apps into electronic format, sort them all into electronic folders, and hang them on the server for the committee to access. This is said to be "easier".

. . .I'm not seeing it, myself. . .

[eseme]

I would image, from the viewpoint of those that work at a college, the best system is the one with a login and entirely online forms.

I typically had to fill out the application form (name, address, EEO info, complete education and job history). This information was, for the most part, also still in my resume, but they needed me to put it in the form, to it would be in their database. I then also had to upload a copy of my resume and cover letter (typically in .doc or .pdf, but some places wanted .rtf) to their server, which presumably went into some shared folder that the search committee could log into and access. There was often a naming convention that they wanted (though my personal LastnameResume generally is acceptable).

Places that had such a system did not want paper.

Now, as I noted above, there is a cost to such a system. But I would imagine the cost is well worth it, even for institutions of higher learning who are cutting their budgets.

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

Wishing Hexapuma well.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

You might check with Kristen -- I think one of her kitties had kidney problems.

Best hopes for Hex. And for you . . .

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

Virtual hugs, and real prayers headed your way.
Why am I crying about a cat I've never met? I think Hexapuma is about the best cat name I've ever heard, and he is so handsome. =(

We've also had kidney challenged cats. Yes on the HD food (which comes in wet & dry). Other ways to get more moisture into kitties, yogurt, and canned pumpkin. Our bunch get a tablespoon of plain fat-free yogurt morning and night as a "treat", it also helps with hard poops.

It seems we've never had a cat die of "natural causes", our generally average-to-long lived cats seem to always end up with complex or extremely rare diseases. And with each subsequent illness we've decided that we won't go to that particular extreme again, and so we slowly ratchet back. So no more experimental chemo-therapy, no extreme surgeries (they wanted to amputate a leg to add on 2-4 months in a terminal case), etc. Right now long term sub-q fluids is my current line in the sand. I'm not sure which side I will come down on when we next have to make that decision. But I would be more willing to do it with an animal as young as Hex, if he handles it well.

[adriannem.livejournal.com]

Poor Hex! He's had more than his fair share of trouble. I hope he hangs in there for a long time to come.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

my Newt loved his wet food with gravy, and he did okay for over a year after his diagnoses (he also had a funky thyroid going on at the same time)

Hexapuma

[claire774.livejournal.com]

Gus sends all his best barks to Hexapuma. As far as I know a previous comment is what I'm used to....sub cutaneous fluids being administered is the standard treatment. Although perhaps the vet doesn't think that's necessary right now. Also there are special prescription foods - that is, food that you buy from your vet --- that may be prescribed. I've had experience with kydney failure in dogs. I'm defnitely not a cat expert.

Your day job seem overwhelming to me. "official dinners?" to arrange? At Best Friends you're lucky if you get an in person interview with our recruiter HR lady in her office. No food involved for sure. A gal I talked to in the local Dollar Store told me that there are 160 applicants for the job at BFAS she is applying for.

Good luck with everything.
C.

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

Purrs & prayers from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Kitty Horde & their Feeders.

I don't recall, do they have a water fountain? I have found with my Senior Cats drink more from a fountain than from a bowl. Which reminds me, I really need to find a new pump.

[(Anonymous)]

I second the fountain option, if you don't already have one. Drinkwell makes several versions. The 360 is the easiest to clean since I take it apart and put all the pieces in the dishwasher. The regular Drinkwell is more trouble to clean since it has more nooks and crannies that need a though cleaning. Petmate makes a good one also. However, since the Petmate makes a gurgling noise when refilling the bowl from the reservoir, I had to stop using it. The dog objected to the noise it made in his ear as he was drinking. My current setup is 2 fountains. A BigDog Drinkwell in the kitchen to allow enough water for a 50 lb dog and 2 15 lb cats. Backed up by a Drinkwell 360 in the cat’s room so that they don’t have to travel far for water immediately after eating.

Best wishes to Hexapuma.

Susan
Orlando

Promo opportunity

[(Anonymous)]

Check out John Scalzi's WHATEVER blog site. He's hosting a listing of lists of books (only authors can submit) of books suitable to give as holiday gifts. It might be another way to get word about CAROUSEL TIDES out to the reading public since Baen didn't do much (anything) to promote its release. Apologies if you already knew about this opportunity but I didn't want to let any opportunity to promote a delightful book go by.

Anne in VA

[tammy-g.livejournal.com]

We also gave our cat subcutaneous fluids, and it worked wonders! She lived six years after her diagnosis. Our vet didn't sugget it, but I read about it online and asked, and he said it couldn't hurt. He was really amazed at how well she did. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask.

We also got a fountain, because she refused to drink standing water. Cleaning it once a week was a nuisance, so I strongly recommend one that has dishwasher-safe parts.

My best wishes to Hexapuma.