Stacy Horn – Page 451 – A blog about New York City, my books, and my cats. Mostly.

The Story of Buddy and Finn

July 14, 20112

I’m smiling, Finn is about to rip my face off. Typical.

This is the story of Buddy and Finn, the short version, because I just noticed how late it is.

I got Buddy (the gray one) to keep my remaining cat Beamers company when my other cat Veets died. Given the same circumstances, I will never do that again. I thought Beamers would be lonely without Veets and would like the kitten company, but in reality I think he would have just liked me all to himself in his old age.

Four or five months later Beamers died (my heart is still broken) and that’s when I got Finney.

Finney was extremely affectionate right off the bat and I was afraid he was going to become my favorite because Buddy didn’t like to be held or picked up. Beamers had been my favorite before, I always felt enormous guilt about slighting Veets, and I didn’t want a repeat of that dynamic.

So I showered showered showered Buddy with love and even though he still doesn’t like to be picked up, he responded to the love and he curls up next to me or on me and I can say in all honest I love them both equally.

They both came from a rescue organization called City Critters, so thank you City Critters for the two furballs of my life. Here’s to all the animal rescue organizations of the world!

9/11 Picnic at St. Paul’s on 9/10

July 13, 20116

St. Paul’s Chapel (the church on the corner of ground zero which did not get smooshed) is going to have a picnic for the 9/11 volunteers on 9/10. They’re having special services on 9/11 as well, but because this is the 10th anniversary, and Obama is going to be here, security is going to be VERY tight, etc., everyone felt it would be easier to have the picnic the day before.

I volunteered to call all the various groups that came to St. Paul’s to help in the volunteer effort to let them know. I’ve got a huge stack of papers for phone calls. I’m going to start with the close states, NY, NJ and CT, and then fan out from there.

This morning I’m going to go swimming, take the quickest shower on record, and run to the library. In other words, a perfect day. This is a view of the Empire State Building from within the library.

Treating Cats with Arthritis

July 12, 20114

I saw this thing on the news about using low level cold lasers to treat cats with arthritis, IBD and a whole host of things. So I looked into it for Finney, who has arthritis, and now I have an expensive appointment today at the Animal Medical Center to get him a work up to see about physical therapy (including the laser treatment). Now that I know that there’s something out there that will likely make him feel better, how can I not do it??

Because he’s something special. I got him at the Something Special store (not really).

How to Write Effective Email: Tip 1B

July 11, 2011July 20, 20113

Tip 1B. Be Honest About What You Want

Be honest about the true goal of your email. Sometimes people email me asking me to read something they’ve written. Or to listen to a theory or idea they have. Okay, fine, but why? It’s not enough to say, “I’m Jane Doe and I’m writing to see if you’d be willing to read this book proposal I wrote.” What are you really hoping will happen? You have search your heart and once again, be up front about it. You have to go on to say, “I’m hoping you’ll be able to suggest an agent” or whatever.

I’m using this type of example because I get this a lot, but the logic applies to many email situations, both professional, personal, and romantic.

Bite the bullet, tell the truth. Don’t be rude and demanding about it of course, you must still be polite and respectful, but you stand a better shot of getting what you really want if the person actually knows what you really want.

Tip 1A here.

Tips to come:

Tip 2. Give them What They Need to Give You What You Need
Tip 3. Come up With a Reason Why Should They Help You
Tip 4. The basics.

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I wanted to go swimming last night but I knew the pool would be filled with boys doing cannonballs. Again, not complaining, I was a kid once too. And the kids at this pool have always been sweet. Oblivious, but sweet.

There’s Nothing You Can’t Find Online

July 10, 2011July 11, 20111

And right away! I’m so happy to be living now, except it’s probably going to get much, much better as time moves on (except for the environment stuff, and the fall of the American empire, which may not be a bad thing).

On my way home the other day I took a closer look at the memorial pictured below. It sits in the park off St. Luke’s Place, which is next to the ball field which was apparently once a cemetery. One of the inscriptions says that the bodies of two firemen, Eugene Underhill (20 years old) and Frederick A. Ward (22 years old) are buried underneath, and that they “lost their lives by the falling of a building while engaged in the discharge of their duty” on July 1, 1834.

I was going to start researching it, but I found the whole story at a blog called Daytonian in Manhattan, and other details here. Daytonian in Manhattan also has a picture of the memorial in it’s original location some yards away (where the ball field is now).

Daytonian in Manhattan also mentions how the body a six year old child, Mary Elizabeth Tisdall, was found in 1934, so of course I had to research her! I found her whole story on the website for Trinity Church on a page called The Archivist’s Mailbag. Along the way I came across another useful blog called the New York City Cemetery Project.

Information that would have taken a few visits to the library was found in under a minute. INSANE. People might think it takes the fun out of it, especially since I love going to the library, but there are tons of things I want to research and for me it just means that I’ll get to more of them this way. So thank you Tom Miller, Diane Fisher, Leah Reddy and Mary French!