I went to a really cool fundraising event last night… The city mag 8 Days ran a story on the Shanghai Small Animal Protection Association (SSAPA), a privately run, registered nonprofit. I was honestly quite surprised such a group existed, and with a legal status, no less.

The story about SSAPA is a touching one. It was founded my a former sales rep who spent his savings setting up a shether… Two years later, Mr. Jade Zhang is exhausted emotionally, physically, and financially but every day, he carries on to save each of these innocent creatures. I met him in person and in my broken Chinese tried to express thanks, but I didn’t do him justice. I feel so fortunate that Mandarin-fluent Carol Wolfson (an American who has lived in Asia for 20 years) took this project under her wing– the turnout was huge, and I’m confident a big pot of money was raised (and some volunteer signups were passed around too). Really reignited my NGO flames. What an incredible feeling, being around people who believe in an individual’s role in enacting change.

At the event, I hooked up with my friends (and fellow pup fanatics) Verinda and Christine. Always cool to update on our pups. Hopefully Remy and Maritn will have some play dates in the near future. God, wish the damn city would give up its attempts to regulate pet ownership. Anyway, the networking for dog folks continues…

The Wuster came over today, made my favorite cao nian gao. So fucking tasty– I pigged out big time for lunch. Ah, no worries. With John gone, I’ve been pretty hardcore with my “see how cheap you can live” game (which involves a lot of cereal, pasta, and hummus) so this was a feast for these days of light eating. I’m trying to go back to being vegetarian again. I know, I saw that article in the Washington Post talking about how the vegan stronghold of Takoma Park, MD is now succumbing to humanely-raised meat. I have my days of weakness, but generally, I don’t crave it much these days. Ok, so I have a sore spot for turkey club sandwiches… 🙁 But I haven’t had it since Bubs left.

Am I just into deprivation? I dunno. Maybe I’m a bit masochistic that way… I just like to think I’m free, free of dependencies. I know, a weirdo.

So things are getting busy these days. Well kind of… until my students cancel class. Then I have a good bit of free time to do project research. You should check out StarPups again. I discovered this really cool online interactive calendar, so now StarPups has an online calendar of dog events. Heheh, I’m such a dork.

I’ve been researching natural dog treats lately. Baked some PB whole wheat treats for R&M the other day. Of course, you know me: no free lunch. You gotta work, even for your little biscuits. So I cram the cookies into their Kong toys, and that keeps them both busy for at least 15 minutes (although Martin’s tongue is getting extremely skilled at getting the reward out in under 10 minutes. Time to upgrade to something more challenging. Damn dog.

I am just living and breathing my dogs these days. Even spoiling them with late night walks and exercise (we did 17 flights of stairs today!). Gotta spice things up for them you know? Speaking of which, it’s time for their walk now. Catch up with you later!