Intervertebral Disk Disease in Dogs

Today, Maestro was officially diagnosed with Intervertebral Disk Disease and osteoarthritis. It sounds terrifying, and no doubt, was what caused me to feel faint upon getting the news and examining the x-rays.

I brought him in because I thought he had pulled a shoulder muscle and it just wasn't healing. Good thing I did bring him in - herniated disks are as painful to our furry friends as they are to us!

Our vet says that I/V Disk Disease is extremely common in dogs - just as it is in people (and cats)! As far as treatment goes, there are several options for pet owners and their furry loved ones:

• Surgery: From what I've read and heard from the vet, this is reserved for pets in severe pain.

• Medication: A combination of anti-inflammatory, pain relief and muscle relaxants are given.

• Alternative Therapies: Three treatments that I've heard about include chiropractic treatments, aqua-therapy and acupuncture.

Maestro is currently on medication and seeing as he's still fairly mobile, we will explore the alternative therapies prior to exploring surgery. Having said that, from the looks of the x-rays, I have to consider surgery as a viable option.

In the meantime, rest, level surfaces, gentle walks are on the roster. That, and losing the winter fat to ease the pressure on his joints.

No running, jumping, stairs or shaking his favourite toy to bits. I'm going out on a limb to say no bongo drum practice either.

For more information, visit:

Intervertebral Disk article on Veterinary Surgical Centers

Intervertebral Disk Disease

Dog Arthritis: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments

P.S. I can't stress enough the importance of getting pet health insurance!

Learn Japanese Through Song

みな-さん ごめんなさい！This is a busy time of year for me, so my posts are going to be a bit sporadic for the next month. In my hunt to find various ways to maintain my Japanese language studies at home, I found these clips to help one learn Japanese through song. どうぞ!

Let's Learn Japanese has countless songs on Youtube to help you study Japanese:

Let's not forget one of my fave self-study sites: GenkiJapan.net. I blogged about them earlier this year in search of Sesame Street.

The Quest for the Perfect Online Scheduling System - Part 2

As some of you have read, I'm exploring online scheduling systems in the hopes of using it in my music studio (read Part One here). It is my hope that it will make rescheduling more convenient for my students' families without it being a headache for me to administer. Also, I want to be able to accommodate ad hoc coaching and make it easier for those students to drop-in.

My Online Scheduling System Wish List

Before presenting the second fleet of booking apps, here once again is my Wish List:

1. Aesthetically pleasing and intuitive design

2. Easy to use – both on the client end and the administrative end

3. The ability to prevent short notice rescheduling

4. Various options for reminder notifications that can be customized by each user

5. The ability to synchronize appointments with several calendar platforms (e.g., iCal, Google Calendar, Outlook, etc.)

6. The ability to collect and process payments (might not use this initially but I’d like to have the functionality in the future)

7. The ability to customize the appearance for branding purposes

8. Various privacy options so that the general public cannot see who I am teaching/consulting with

9. Easy to reschedule appointments (client or me)

10. The ability to handle recurring appointments for a set period of time

11. The ability to allow group bookings with a cap

12. The ability to set different availability for each day

13. Solid tech support resources

14. The ability to specify a time zone for appointments (not needed initially but will once I teach online)

15. Viewable and usable on a desktop and mobile devices

16. Advance scheduling

Let's get started, shall we?

ScheduleThing

ScheduleThing has a module just for music teachers. I really like how you can schedule multiple schools, rooms and various equipment. It also could accommodate multiple teachers' schedules. Very slick design. Lots of customization options.

Unfortunately for me, this online reservation system cannot handle payments. Nor does ScheduleThing sync with Google Calendar. So ends my exploration.

Cost: As cheap as the Free version and as pricey as $129/month USD. The free version is good for two resources and only one type of reservation (e.g private music lessons). Go up to the Small Business version for $19.95 USD/month and you get the first month free. You can use up to 10 resources and an unlimited number of reservation types.

Scheduly

Scheduly truly has a lot of bang for your buck For $9.99 USD per month, you get an unlimited number of appointments within an infinite time frame. It can synchronize with several calendar platforms. There are reporting functions, safety features, yadda yadda.

Sadly, it doesn't allow us to put start and end dates, for instance, for a music theory course. As for aesthetics? Well, I've seen nicer ones out there. Again, my search comes to a screeching halt. Next!

Clickbook

I didn't get very far once I learned that this online reservation system could not handle classes. It looked nice and easy to use, however.

The free version gives you one location, unlimited services and service categories, 50 bookings a month, mobile locations and services, booking widget and a customer database - standard fare for the freebie systems. You have to step up to the ClickBiz5 at $19.95 USD/month to get the online payment functionality as well the ability to export your customer history.

Schedule Once

I really wanted Schedule Once to work for me. This online appointment schedule has a nice design, easy to use interface, decent tech support and the ability to handle multiple locations and resources. I liked how all bookings could be automatic or with approval.

Schedule Once cannot handle payamets, although the tech support team mention a good workaround. You can get a Paypal button widget which will post a button on your scheduling page that redirects a client to you pay you. The appointment doesn't get confirmed until you receive payment for the service.

Sadly, it does not handle class scheduling.

Plans are very affordable. After your 14-day free trial, you can sign up for the Basic (Free) version, which gives you group scheduling and appointment scheduling with approval. For $5 USD/month, you get group scheduling, booking with approval, productivity features and email reminders.

The Search is NOT Over

I just realized that although I visited SimplifyThis' website and read the features and testimonials, I did not take it for a test drive. It looked promising. However, my booking app search partner mentioned that the system seemed too simplistic. One thing that held me off from exploring it right away was the fact that I couldn't get my brain around paying $18 USD/month to use a system in which a primarily selling point (invoicing and handling bookkeeping) is redundant. Now, if SimplifyThis could talk to my QuickBooks...

There are two other scheduling programs I was thinking of looking at (GenBook and ScheduleVIEW). However, what is fast becoming clear is that I may need to rework my criteria for an online scheduling system. At the very least, I may need to rethink how I want to use the system. At any rate, I plan to take a break from these scheduling programs and instead, explore some of the WordPress scheduling plugins before making a final decision.

The Retro Recording Project

Recently, I purchased a retro player:

It was a hit at my Music Appreciation class earlier this month. My students have been enjoying listening to my old records. For me, it's a trip down memory lane.

So far, so good. However, I loosened the screw that balances the turntable arm and unit, so the needle arm doesn't play the first 30 seconds of a record. >_<

I bought this unit at The Source for $200 CAD. There are other models available at Future Shop and Amazon.

Once I sort out my technical glitch, I'm looking forward to is my summer project: to convert my parents' vinyl collection to CD. First up: disco, soul and funk!

The Practice of Practicing Performing

Music examinations start in two weeks. After months of slogging over pieces, technical exercises, ear, rhythm and sight-reading exercises, there is light at the end of the tunnel for music students, their parents and us, their music teachers.

In the meantime, how can students best use their time from now till D-day? In addition to tweaking, they should practice performing. Some glitches don't fully reveal themselves until you add the pressure of an audience. In the case of pianists, part of the challenge is learning to adjust to a "strange" piano on the fly. Here are some ideas to get your performing chops up:

• Play for teachers and classmates at school.

• Throw a short recital for your family, friends and neighbours (don't forget to add treats at the end!).

• Play for family and friends on FaceTime, Skype or Google Talk.

• See if you can book some time to run through your pieces at church when there isn't anything happening.

• If your library or community centre has a piano/performing space, see if you can run through your pieces there.

Practicing performing is different from "just practicing". When you practice performing, you are trying to get into your "performance zone". You are trying to tell your musical story, without trying to correct anything that isn't in the score. You are practicing how to recover and adjust to what life throws at you when you are on stage.

It pretty much goes without saying that the more often you perform, the easier it gets. So, what are you waiting for?