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Think your office is a zoo? Companies go pet-friendly Jun 22, 6:41 AM (ET) By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK (Reuters) - On a typical day at Tellme Networks Inc., Jackson snores, Penny spends time learning Chinese and the bosses and workers are delighted. Penny, a Labrador Retriever, and Jackson, a bulldog, are part of an effort at many U.S. companies to allow pets in the workplace. One survey shows nearly one in five U.S. companies allow pets at work. Millions of Americans believe pets on the job lower absenteeism and encourage workers to get along, according to the survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. Pets at Tellme, an Internet telecommunications company, help workers become friends, said Grant Shirk, whose dog Penny is learning Chinese commands from a colleague. "She can do 'sit,' 'lie down' and 'shake hands,'" he said. Tellme project manager Jaymer Delapena said co-workers know Jackson, famed for his loud snores, by name, and s

Jun 19, 9:19 PM (ET) ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A 17-pound beagle named Belle is more than man's best friend. She's a lifesaver. Belle was in Washington, D.C., on Monday to receive an award for biting onto owner Kevin Weaver's cell phone to call 911 after the diabetic Ocoee man had a seizure and collapsed. "There is no doubt in my mind that I'd be dead if I didn't have Belle," said Weaver, 34, whose blood sugar had dropped dangerously low. Belle had been trained to summon help in just those circumstances. She was the first canine recipient to win the VITA Wireless Samaritan Award, given to someone who used a cell phone to save a life, prevent a crime or help in an emergency, the Orlando Sentinel reported Monday. Weaver first heard about service dogs while he was working as a flight attendant after befriending a frequent passenger who taught dogs to help diabetic patients. Using their keen sense of smell, the animals can detect abnormalities in a person's blo

Well, I'm off for a week... so please take the time to visit my "blog renter": Coffee Crochet Enjoy! The WillaWoman Filed under: renter

May 6, 12:23 PM (ET) By GREG BLUESTEIN ATLANTA (AP) - It was created during the Cold War to conduct tests for the military, but now a Georgia Tech lab has a much more grounded mission: To find ways to make everyday items more accessible to disabled people. At the lab, researchers check out copiers to see whether wheelchair-users can easily reach controls. Fax machines are put through a battery of tests to investigate whether blind people can use them. And coffee jars are probed to determine if arthritic hands can unscrew the lids. About half the work at the Georgia Tech Research Institute's accessibility division is now dedicated to such testing, while the rest is still spent on military projects. There's also a flight simulator jammed with complicated tracking devices in the office. Testing Folgers and fighter pilots in the same lab may sound like a strange mix, but scientists say the work is quite similar. The research team uses the same methodology - primarily extensive chec

There are two comments people often say to me that I absolutely hate. One is when I'm in a long line, let's say waiting to check-out of a store, and some one says: "Gee, you're lucky, you can sit down." Dumb. The second is when someone finds out I don't work and am on disability and they say: "Gee, you're lucky, you don't have to work." Dummer. But you know what's interesting? The only way I can make it through week after week living with a mobility disability, living with almost daily pain, and with unexplainable, unpredictable, and untreatable leg-muscle fatigue... is by realizing that yes, I am lucky. I am lucky I don't have to work. I'm lucky that I have all the free time in the world to do things I enjoy rather than having to work. I can avoid having to get up at the crack of dawn, putting on make-up and doing my hair, slogging through traffic, and dealing with corporate BS. I can spend my time (when I'm feeling well

One of the "sporty" activities I used to do BD (Before Disability) was fishing. Oh, I was good too. I could fly cast, knew what bait to use, and had no qualms about worms and stuff (in case you haven't noticed yet, I ain't no girly-girl). DD (During Disability... not counting on an "AD" unless stem-cell research gets going for real), I've only tried fishing a couple of times. But that was when we were living in Vermont and I was physically doing much better. I went bass fishing once with my brother on a small rented boat, took my mom on a charter boat to fish for land-locked salmon (can you say The Perfect Storm? ...more on that below), and went fly-fishing once. The fly-fishing was a bust. I caught a very, very... very small trout. The size of my fly. Didn't know I had hooked a fish until I went to cast again and there he was. Good eatin', NOT. The salmon fishing was also a bust. In fact, we almost died. Apparently, there are terrific

Jun 6, 9:41 PM (ET) RACINE, Wis. (AP) - A spooked deer rampaged through an apartment on Monday morning, leaving a flood, temporarily displacing a family and leaving the family dog temporarily unconscious. Jerry Falkner said he "heard glass breaking" and "thought someone was breaking in," after the deer smashed through a window. "The next thing I know, a deer is running toward my room," he said. The animal ran into the bathroom, and the family locked it inside. The Falkners, however, did not know that their pit bull, Shadow, was in inside the room with the deer. The deer kicked on the water, flooding the apartment, and briefly knocked the dog unconscious. Police, with the family's help, got the dog out of the bathroom, while Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials tranquilized the doe and took it away. Police Officer Victor Cera said the deer apparently was behind the apartment building when it was spooked by dogs let out of a kennel. Falkne

Yes, I'm am a proud, card-carrying member of The Itty Bitty Titty Committee . Have been all my life, and I've never regretted it. Yeah, there was a brief period of time there when I had big-boobie envy, but I got over that quickly. Especially when I heard stories of women who had to buy a good "foundation" before they could buy certain clothes. The only "foundation" I've ever bought held up my house. Heck, I think I could wear a training bra and still have no actual movement in any direction. Of course, I don't run or jog anymore, so I don't have to worry about movement from that. And, even at the age of 44, my breastesess are still in the northern region of my chest. I can even go so far as to say my boobies are perky. One Halloween, I dressed up as a ho. I took two zip-lock baggies and half filled them with hair gel. I think I probably filled out a full-C cup each. Well, those damn things got in my way all night. Every time I tried to m

Dog Handler Convicted of Abu Ghraib Abuse Jun 1, 11:00 PM (ET) By DAVID DISHNEAU FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) - A military jury on Thursday convicted an Army dog handler of using his animal to torment a prisoner at Abu Ghraib. Sgt. Santos A. Cardona is the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from the abuse of inmates at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004. Cardona, 32, of Fullerton, Calif., was convicted of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his dog to bark within inches of a prisoner's face. But the panel of four officers and three enlisted soldiers acquitted Cardona of some of the most serious charges he faced, including unlawfully having his dog bite an inmate and conspiring with another dog handler to frighten prisoners into soiling themselves. Cardona, a 12 1/2-year veteran, stood at attention in his green dress uniform as the verdict was read. He faces a maximum penalty of 3 1/2 years. The jury began deliberating Cardona's sentence Thursday evening a

I'm sorry to say that today is turning out to be the same as the last few days, low on leg energy and high on pain. Pain meds are my friend today, and I'm back on crutches , but I just wish there was a pill for nerve fatigue . Oh yeah, it's called crack, but crack is whack. I find that when I'm having a particularly bad day, that my doggies seem to sense it. Even the non-service doggie, Barney , is staying out of my way. Maybe it's because when my nerves and muscles are fatigued, my balance is for sh*t and they're staying out of my way so they don't get trampled on. Smart doggies. Filed under: Coping Disability Dogs