thornezoo

After the death of my nephew, who touched so many lives at only 20 years of age, I decided I want to pursue a career that has the chance to make a difference. I want to pursue nursing but I'm confused between what the difference between an RN, LPN, Nurse Practitioner, etc. is. I am going to make an appointment with my college counselor to see how the credits for my business management degree will transfer, and I know there will be alot more work for me to get my degree, but I think its a rewarding career option. I've been a veterinary nurse before so I know about cleaning up messes, death, birth, exams, taking orders from doctors etc. and I think I can modify what I know into being a caring nurse and helping my fellow man. Also I was curious what the salary for a nurse is. Ballpark figures are fine. Any info would be appreciated. thanks!

I need some help transitioning three freshwater fish (an angel, a danio and some type of algea eater -I didn't get a good look at it) from a brackish water tank to a fresh water tank. My nephew knew how to keep the tank clean (the brackish one) and keep the fish alive, but he passed away recently. I want to convert the tank to fresh water for his younger brother if I can so he can care for them easier.

Would changing out small amounts of water and replacing it with fresh water over a period of months so that the salinity decreases slowly work? I've got no idea how to maintain it in its present state, nothing was written down and, since I know you have to change out water for water quality sake, have no idea how to keep it brackish.

I've had a fresh water aquarium for over 10 years with minimal fish loss. I even have an original pleco that was in my original tank. If his brother doesn't want the fish I've asked to take them and incorporate them into my tank, but I don't want them to die either.

Any suggestions?

My dog is facing his fourth surgery for an aural hemotoma, this time in his "good" ear. He is prone to this condition, having had three of them in one ear already. Now that ear is a solid meaty mass of scar tissue. The procedure was done by a vet I trust. I won't take my dog anywhere else so don't even try that. He is one of the best and most respected vets in our area. We have an appointment to have it drained today via needle to give him some temporary relief but I need to make a decision.

Now my dog has developed one on his good ear. I can't see putting him through the pain of multiple surgeries again. His head has to be wrapped tightly to prevent him from getting it off (he is VERY crafty at that) and even with the cone in place, he gets it off. The thing could quite possibly come back. Anyone that's had a dog with one of these knows exactly what I mean.

The surgery to correct entails having to lance the inner flap of the ear and stitch it up like a quilt, back and forth with several rows of stitches. There is absolutely no guarantee that it won't come back. Each time it comes back, he's older, and anesthesia poses more of a risk.

I'm seriously going to ask my vet about cropping his ears. In my opinion (and I've had dogs with and without cropped ears) this would be the lesser of two evils. I was a vet tech, I know what the dogs go through during both surgeries and the after care involved for each so if you want to rant on about me being a bad owner I'll just report you. All I'm asking for is a general consensus from owners whose dogs have been through this surgery several times. Some dogs are just prone to these things.

As a side note, he is a mutt, not some fancy showdog I'm looking to have conform to some breed standard. I don't believe in that these days. I just want what is best for him in the long term, whether it be to crop his ears to eliminate the possibility of it coming back or taking a wait and see approach and get the surgery done and keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't come back. Worthwhile comments are appreciated. I do plan to weigh all options with the vet today and get his honest opinion. I plan to have him explain all the pros and cons of both surgeries, taking into consideration my dogs age, health and so forth.

Hopefully, the haters won't come out in response to my question, but I'm already bracing myself.

Last month one of our employees fell ill with the flu, which developed into pneumonia. He passed away from the complications a week after contracting the virus. An autopsy performed confirmed that he had been infected with the H1N1 virus and the cause of death was pneumonia. He was 46 years old so he didn't fall into the "target group" for the vaccine.

I guess my question is if he worked up to the day he started exhibiting symptoms, then stayed home thereafter until his passing, how much of a risk does it pose to me and my coworkers having been exposed to him beforehand? Others have had other illness during that time (one had a sinus infection, one had pneumonia but worked while he had it, one had a stomach virus). We're not sure if any of these secondary type infections were due to others contracting the flu or just a coincidence.

How long is the virus active in the environment and can infect others? None of us fall within the target group for initial vaccination so we're SOL for getting a vaccination right now.

WIth all the press going on I can't figure out how long the virus is active, how long you have to be exposed to it to become sick, etc. I have not been sick despite others being ill around me. These days, people tend to work while they are sick instead of staying home. I wish I could thank our late coworker for having the foresight to stay home during his illness and not putting us at further risk. He was in and out of the hospital during the week he was ill but passed away at home from what we were told.

I started a human noble warrior and for the life of me can't get out of the castle during the first battle. Both paths to the larder are blocked and I can't find any other way and Duncan isn't coming to the rescue like he does for my other toons.

Can anyone tell me how to get to the larder to finish the starting quest?

I mean besides the occasional hairball or litterbox gifts of course. I've been feeding a feral outside for almost 10 years (she's still very shy and I've never been able to pet her). But the other day I went to put her food out and there was a dead shrew next to the bowl! Like she left it for me since I feed her every day. That's the first time that has happened. Besides the occasional bird or chipmunk we find out in the yard we've never seen her hunt anything.

I went and picked it up with a towel and there she was, watching me! So as not to offend her, I took it indoors where she couldn't see and threw it away, wrapped up the trash and put it outside in the can. When I was putting the bag away she was looking pretty happy with herself and taking a bath! Like she was thinking "I knew she'd like it!"

What surprises has your kitty (or kitties) brought you that was totally unexpected?

I was just wondering who is really hanging on the outcome of these media families? Certainly not me. I think if they weren't on TV no one would really care where they went drinking, how they partied or how many kids they did or didn't have or their divorces. Agree or disagree?

This is more of a "curiousity killed the cat" issue and its been bugging me to no end. Why is it, when I look on shelter websites, rescue group websites, any cat website trying to find homes for homeless cats, every fluffy cat is listed as a "maine coon mix"? Doesn't matter whether its medium hair, long hair - if its fluffy and friendly, its a Maine Coon Mix.

Is there an insurgence of maine coon cats running around impregnating females creating a million maine coon mixes? A Maine Coon cat is a registered breed, closely monitored for size, conformity, personality, etc.

Why can't they list these cats as a Domestic Long or Medium Hair cat, which is what 98% of them are. I recently took in a very friendly, muted grey tabby with a medium length coat. This was a STRAY cat, not a pedigree gone rebel. Yet, everyone referred to him as a Maine Coon mix. Amazing. Even though I protested, and he was no bigger than a normal tabby with big tomcat jowls (because he wasn't neutered), just because he was vocal and had big feet, he got tagged.

Is the Maine Coon Mix the new "shepherd mix" of the cat world? To me, if I were a Maine Coon cat breeder, I would be highly offended when all these "mutt cats" (and I use that term with great affection as I have three mutt cat's myself and I love them to no end!) were tagged as being a mix of my carefully bred, carefully monitored cat breed. Maine Coons aren't even as prevalent in the cat world as, oh lets say, persians or siamese. Just because my grey short hair male cat is vocal, does that make him a siamese mix. No.

My grandfather's cat was referred to as a Maine Coon mix. Not by him- to my grandpa she was a stray she took in that was a kitten of another non-descript stray cat (with completely unknown lineage) that had long hair and was a tabby. She looked NOTHING like a maine coon you see on the websites. Yet, when I had to find a home for her when he passed away, PRESTO, she became a maine coon mix because she was a long haired tabby. And she was in NO way friendly to anyone but him!

Like I said, this is just because I'm curious more than anything why that moniker is being given to every Domestic Long hair that are up for adoption.

My mom spent about a week in the hospital before she passed away from a long battle with cancer. When we knew she wouldn't be leaving, we brought her little dog Angel in to see her because she talked about her nonstop. All the nurses knew Angel on sight! But when we put her on my mom's bed, she didn't seem to want to stay.

The night she passed away, my stepfather went home and Angel met him at the door like she always did. She sat at the door waiting for my mom to follow him in. When she didn't come in, Angel looked depressed (this was not the first night that my mom didn't come home with him and she didn't have the same reaction on those days), went to the bedroom, jumped up on my mom's side of the bed and stayed there for a few minutes. Then she jumped down and went into her own bed (which was a little kennel she slept in on my mom's side of the bedroom) like she knew her mom was not coming home anymore. My stepfather told me she would sit and look up at the bed or lay where my mom used to sit on the couch and look up.

Has anyone elses pet exhibited this type of behavior after an incident (death,illness, etc.)? I know part of it was reacting to my stepfather's emotional signals, but she would sit and stare at where my mom used to be, as if she were there in spirit, talking to Angel, and only Angel could hear.

My mom named her Angel because her coat was as white and soft as angel hair, and she was very well behaved. She was a little Lhasa Apso/poodle mix and she's adorable!

Ok, I am a 44 year old mother of two teenagers and I'm not ashamed to admit I play EQ2, and some of the xbox 360 games occasionally, including Rockband 2 every once in awhile - when I can get my son off the drums that is. I was online the other day and there was some chat about "girls don't play computer games" which I found totally ridiculous. My husband and I both play. It's fun relaxation and we both have a great time, but I don't always play when he's on. I thought that comment was totally off the mark and, well, stupid. I was wondering how many girl (female is the term I prefer) gamers there were, the more devoted the better.

I hear in the news constantly about programs being put in place to help homeowners who are behind on their mortgages. I can totally sympathize with those who have lost jobs, have reduced salaries and higher bills. My anger is more geared toward government and banks.

No one considers those who are making their mortgage payments on time because we were smart enough to read the fine print, ask questions before signing, living within our means and getting a fixed rate loan instead of a too good to be true adjustable rate mortgage. My husbands business has been stalled for a good 8 months (its still very very slow, not enough to meet the bills) and our savings (yes we were smart enough to have a few months of his salary in savings because he's self employed) has dwindled to the point where its getting scary. How come the government is so hellbent on bailing out people that couldn't have made these types of payments in the first place, but signed the papers anyway? I even read some article where the lady said she was "made to sign". To me, that's a load of bull because I've threatened to walk away from a settlement when I didn't get what I was told would be the terms. You've never seen a real estate agent jump so high as when threatened by the prospect of no commission when they were betting on making $5000 off of you! No one put a gun to her head and threatened her with a house if she didn't sign. Anyway, I digress....

Why don't they offer "rewards" to those that aren't losing their homes, who don't carry a huge balance on their credit cards, who spend responsibly and the like?

Its very disheartening and frustrating to hear every day that this or that program is going into place that you don't qualify for unless I decide to consciously stop paying my mortgage, when all your life you've lived within your means and it means nothing at all now.

Am I the only frustrated homeowner that doesn't need a bailout but still feels that there should be a break for us as well? I'm not talking cash. I'm talking maybe two years of half payments, so we can all be on the same track. My financial strength is dwindling. By the time I can qualify for one of these programs, there will be no programs. Or perhaps an incentive to refinance and offering customers such as myself maybe an entire percentage point BELOW whatever their best rate is for not ever coming close to foreclosure. Any one else have any ideas?

I am not a rich person, I have two kids, one in high school and one we're putting through community college (and yes we planned for that as well with a state college fund program when they were in diapers), I just finished putting myself through college and I still don't make over $40K. How is it that I can afford my modest house, still pay everything else on my measly salary and I get no government consideration for any form of incentive to keep doing what I've done for all my life?

Just curious why the pirates that attack ships of any nation off the horn of Africa and take prisoners and property for ransom or even kill people are not considered terrorists, but are only considered "pirates". Now that they've specifically come out and said they will target US vessels, isn't that considered a threat of terrorism? More curious than anything.

I have a stray we've taken in. I want to get him ready for adoption and he's being treated for two bacterial strains. The problem is that every night at 7:30 and thru the night he meows. He tries every meow tone he knows. He'll be quiet for about an hour, just long enough for us to doze off and then he starts up again. Part of it is that he's not neutered yet, which is being done in the next week or two, depending on how fast the bacterial infections clear up.

I know he doesn't like being isolated from the rest of the house but that's necessary as well. He's going for a follow up at the vet on Thursday to see if he's well enough for neutering. So I think its safer to keep him isolated until I get the green light from the vet.

Has anyone got any ideas on how to get him to stop meowing so much? (besides the obvious, get him fixed, etc.) I've fostered for many years with a variety of cat personalities and I've never had one this vocal! He's driving my husband nuts (he shares his office with the cat).

I'm almost to the point of moving him at night to the downstairs bathroom, but that's just a hassle. I just plugged in a Feliway diffuser to hopefully calm him a bit - it worked on my other cats.

Any suggestions (besides obviously stupid or cruel answers) would be appreciated!

Recently I asked a question about an algea bloom in a 5.5 gal fish tank housing one cichlid and a pleco. Thanks for the replies but my husband solved my problem, in an odd sort of way.

One day he's putting the dishes away and drops a cup, it bounces off the granite counter (not broken), taps my fishtank and the tank cracks. All the way through. Water starts weeping out slowly. It kept overnight but I was forced to buy a new tank the next day.

So, off to the store I went. Armed with a new tank, some product to hopefully make the water safe so my fish doesn't die and a new thermometer (the old one was stuck to the old tank glass), I went home to disassemble my tank.

Jeff and Rupert (the two fish) didn't care much for sitting in a goldfish bowl while I obliterated their tank but they had no choice.

The product I bought was called AquaSafe. It comes in a bright yellow bottle and you only use just a small amount (for a 5 gal. tank anyway). Despite what the bottle claimed it could do, I thought for sure I'd see Jeff and Rupert floating belly up from shock within 30 minutes.

But NO! This stuff worked superfast, my fish are happy in their new tank and all is right with the world. So if you're ever faced with this dilema, use that product. I have been a firm user of Cycle to start tanks and for water changes, but this stuff is great for emergencies.

I have been taking Imitrex for my migraines for many years. By now, you usually see a generic form of a drug come out. At a little over $200 US for 9 stinkin' pills is outrageous, but it works so I pay it - out of pocket no less. This drug works great for me, but I'm at the point, with the current economy, that I won't be able to pay for it and will have to try something else.

What are the rules for allowing other manufacturers to make a generic of a name brand drug. It didn't take long for Claritin and Prilosec to come out OTC. A bunch of other migraine meds have generics. Just over the past year my prescription has gone from $118 to over $200 for the 9 pill pack. I don' t have to take them but every few months if I'm lucky but its to the point that I will suffer a few days first before resorting to taking one of my "gold" pills.

Now there's the Imitrex/Naproxen pill on the market, I can imagine what THAT one costs! If they're muddying up the recipe, shouldn't we who take the regular imitrex get a break on the price or at least be offered a generic?

My pharmasist said that drugs are allowed to hold the patent for 5 years. I know its been at least that long. I think the hike in price is the greedy drug manufacturer getting every last bit of coin before they have to release the patent.

I have a lone cichlid (the bright yellow with the black dorsal fin - not sure of the type) that is a sole survivor of a tank of cichlids gone wrong (my husband's tank). He's set up in a 10 gallon alone now with one small pleco and he's extremely happy. He has his own rock cave to protect and is happy.

However, we've developed a green algea problem that normal filtration won't remove. I've tried for weeks, changing filters, doing frequent water changes, etc. I don't want to do a drastic water change because he always acts sickly if we change out too much of his water. I'm used to the larger tank maintenance, which is always crystal clear.

I was wondering if putting him in my larger community tank would cause an issue. The small pleco I'm not worried about. The bigger tank can take another two fish, no problem. That water is crystal clear. However, I have two angels, three gouramis, and various tetras/white clouds/threadfin rainbows/neons (a few of each for color and activity). All the fish are healthy.

I know cichlids can be aggressive towards other fish. It may only be a temporary set up until I can get his tank refilled and cycled again. But I don' t want him eating my other fish! I only have one semi aggressive fish in the big tank and it's a large angelfish. I think they may have "issues" with each other.

I really don't want to add algeafix chemicals to the 10 gallon because I had a really bad experience with it before in a larger tank and I ended up emptying the tank anyway because the tank got so green. That stuff screws up the balance of the tank something terrible.

Does anyone have any experience with those fizzy tablets for algea and do you think it may help my small tank, or what do you think about putting the cichlid and pleco in my larger tank?

If I had another 10 gallon I'd already have it set up and cycling, but I don't. This was one of those things where we thought he would end up dying like the other cichlids did, but he lived - for almost 2 years now! We call him Jeff (as in Jeff Probst from Survivor) and his buddy - the ugly little pleco - is Rupert. HAHA

I am toying with the idea of starting a business. Difficult during these hard times I know but I want something I can turn from a hobby or interest into something I can truly love working at.

My interests are mostly in the pet business area. My entrepreneur class focused on establishing a cat boarding business as my project. That I may be interested in. I like the outdoors and was considering a dog walking or dog clean up business. I love animals in general and am concerned for their well-being. I like to see dirty dogs cleaned up to be the best looking that they can be (dog makeovers!) and I love coffee.

My ideas were a dog wash/coffee shop combo, either self serve pet wash or grooming available with a waiting area that sells coffee - OR-

The cat boarding business, which would require me to renovate an existing kennel to be more comfortable for our feline companions

Or dog walking/dog sitting/cat sitting.

I have experience as a vet tech so I could give medications to boarders if they required them.

What do you think is the best idea? I live in an area that is mostly middle class, but I'm near Annapolis so I think there would be some richer folks that would cater to their animals more.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas and or suggestions! Thanks!

Does anyone know where I can order a printpak (includes the ribbon and paper refill) for a Dell 540 photo printer? It's a very small desktop printer that uses film-like printer cartridges - not inkjet cartridges.

So far I can only find them from Dell and they messed up the order the first time around. Every time I search at Staples or Office Depot all I get are inkjet refill cartridges.

Maybe it's proprietary and I can only get it from Dell. Any suggestions? I live in Maryland in the U.S.

My last semester of a two year college will require me to take a math core class. the two that apply to my degree are College Algebra or Statistics. I've spent the last two semesters taking beginning and intermediate algebra to prepare for the credit class. Assuming I will pass the current class, which do you think is better for business majors? Just a note, I've read that Statistics is a lot of formulas and it's just plugging in the right numbers. If that's it, and its just practice practice practice I'll do fine. I am leaning towards stats because even though I am doing well in my developmental classes, algebra seems to have no real world meaning to me. 25 years ago when I was in high school it made no sense either which is why I'm in developmental algebra now!

I've taken Economics and, though I heard that class was boring and difficult, it was pretty easy and I enjoyed it (sorry, had to admit that). So if statistics is along those lines I think I'd do better in that class than regular college algebra. But if I have to take it, I have to.

Any opinions will be appreciated. Thanks!