It's been a litle while since the last Mojo update, and I know she's everyone's favorite three-legged mutt puppy, so sorry to keep you waiting!

Last weekend I was up at the cabin again on a 2-day software retreat (thanks for letting us use it Steve and Karen!). On Saturday, the weather was hot, but the cabin stayed nice and cool (it's very shaded) - still, I thought a hike with Mojo would be nice, so we hiked a trail along the Salmon Creek.

We've never really attempted to see what her endurance is, so I was fully prepared to carry her back if I had to. We brought plenty of water and snacks, and she did pretty well for the first half-mile. The next half-mile she slowed down considerably, and needed a few breaks. The third half mile was really pushing it... we had to stop every 100 yards or so to take a break, she'd lay down in the shade and recover.

But then... the river! When we got there, she flopped down in the sand along the bank, totally exhausted, and the sand (a little wet and shaded) was nice and cool. Then I tried to get her interested in the water... at first she was nervous and skeptical, but then suddenly she remembered (from the treadmill at Back on Track, I think) that she LOVES water, and she FREAKED OUT. I've never seen her go so completely crazy, it was insanity. She was snapping at the water, jumping in then out, then sprinting away from it, then sprinting back at it. She would stop at the shore, dig into the sand with her paw, and when the water started to fill up the hole she'd smash her paw down on it and bite it. At one point she was running on the sand and she sort of flipped over on her side, but like a bug her legs just kept cranking in the air like she was still running.

When she finally calmed down, I found a good spot with some shallow water she could stand in, with a sharp drop-off. I waded out into the deep part (brrr that stuff was SNOW just a few hours earlier) and held onto her harness to pull her out towards me, and she started swimming! Even with just the one front paw (going double-time) and her lean build, she was keeping her head up. Okay I was giving her a *little* bit of lift occasionally, but not much!

Next time we're headed out, we'll have some flotation for her (a little doggy PFD!) to help keep her front end up higher, and I think she'll REALLY love the water.

Unfortunately, I had my hands full, so between her, the water, and the sand, I couldn't really get the camera out for any "crazy dog" shots. Maybe next time.

Oh, and the sad pathetic puppy coming down the trail needing a rest, was magically transformed into a ball of energy on the way back. She was going so fast I was jogging with her, uphill, for about half a mile!
 

Mojo's car seat... watching the redwoods go by

I suppose technically this has nothing to do with the clinic, but since it involved Mojo travelling I thought some of you might be interested.

We drove down to Westport, CA in Mendocino County last weekend to meet Kristin's family, and took the dogs. DeeDee is a veteran traveller and camper, but this was Mojo's first road trip, and first night spent in the great outdoors. We only camped one night, but it was in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, and it was really beautiful there.

We also stopped at Navarro Vineyards and Anderson Valley Brewery while we were there, and since the tasting area at Navarro had some outdoor seating we were able to hang out with the dogs. They both did a little wine tasting - many of you may not realize just how much of a palate DeeDee has. We all thought the wine was great, but she said she's tasted better liquid in a toilet bowl - maybe this is a species thing?

taking in the bouquet...	tasting like a pro...	uh, not very impressed...

 

They both did great in the car, and Mojo helped to further prove our favorite axiom... "All Dogs Love the Beach!" Overall it was a great weekend, nice to get away and see family, and spend some time tidepooling and hiking in the redwoods.

Mojo and DeeDee tearing it up on the beach!

Once again, I took LOTS of pictures, and I've posted the ones from this trip on my flickr account if you're interested.

 

 

 

 

EDIT (MJS 7/7/08) I wrote this early *last* week, but never got around to publishing or announcing it. So, it's a week out of date. We've just returned from the trip mentioned at the bottom of the article, so I'll post about that in a couple days.

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Last weekend some friends let us use their cabin up near Rhododendron for the weekend. I left early, Thursday night, and brought all my computer gear - the whole system! Two monitors, keyboard, surge protector, etc. I've found that I can really produce a staggering amount of work if I'm alone with no distractions.

Kristin didn't get up there until Saturday evening, so for the first couple days it was just me and Mojo. It was her first time experiencing nature!

We hiked to the Salmon river, chased squirrels, chewed up a lot of douglas fir cones, and split firewood. Overall, I'd say I was better at splitting firewood, but she beat me at chewing up douglas fir cones. But I gave it my best effort!

As you might expect, she did a couple of faceplants trying to navigate the irregularity of the natural world, but she's unstoppable! She can plow face-first into the dirt and shake it off while she's moving, like nothing ever happened. The excercises and therapy we've been doing under the direction of Dr. Shaw from Back on Track seem to be helping a lot - Mojo's looking a little more surefooted, and a little less bent and bowed. It looks like at the very least we've avoided the need for an immediate surgery (hooray!) although someday as she ages she still may end up needing surgery for her hips. But, we'll take it as it comes - and for now, she's one happy puppy!

I also managed to complete the first (alpha) release of our clinic's custom software , which we'll use for client and patient tracking, appointment scheduling, exams, invoicing, reports, etc. (for those of you who don't know, my "real job" is developing and integrating computer systems) Kristin and I both have been pretty unimpressed with vet software we've seen in the past, so we're making our own. More on that next week.

This weekend we'll be travelling with the dogs, so we'll keep you posted on Mojo's outdoor adventures.  Since I take a lot of pictures, I decided to post a bunch from last weekend on my flickr account, so feel free to browse them there.

In the process of planning for our Grand Opening Celebration (you do know about it, right? you're invited!) we were discussing showcasing all of the elements we incorporated which focused on sustainability, and environmental concerns. I'm reluctant to jump on the bandwagon and make a big fuss about how "green" we are (like every other company today) but then again, it truly is important to us, and I'm sure those of you who know us will recognize it as genuine concern.

1. No Commute
The clinic is deliberately located close to home so we can reduce our fuel consumption. Kristin's previous commute was about 30 miles round trip, now it's 1.4, and she almost always walks or rides her bike. So she'll now use about 3 gallons of gas per year commuting, if she drives once per week. She was using about 6 a week before!

2. Supporting Local Businesses
Keeping it in the neighborhood is also key to doing business locally - we know the businesses around here, and we're buying from them, recommending them, and giving out gift cards to them for our referral program. Keeping our business part of a neighborhood (instead of a metropolitan area) helps people keep their lives focused locally, which further reduces fuel consumption.

3. Natural Light
The space we chose has abundant natural light from skylights, and we struggled to use it as best we could, basing the whole design around it. Where we needed ceilings, we used relights (interior windows) to use whatever natural light we could get. During the greater part of the day, the whole hallway, treatment area, laundry, and kitchen need no additional light at all.

4. Compact Flourescents
We used them wherever possible - unfortunately there's a few fixtures where these still don't work (a couple due to size, a couple because they're dimmable) - but the majority of the lighting we *do* have to add to our natural light comes from compact flourescents.

5. 100% renewable
We've signed up for the "Green Source" option with PGE, which means 100 percent of our electricity usage is offset with renewable resources - about 85% wind, and 15% biomass.

6. Paper reduction
We're still in the process of going entirely paperless, but almost everything we do is digital (faxing, record storage, emails) with very little printed material.

7. Recycled Paper
When we do have to print, it's on 100% recycled paper. Our business cards, mailers, printer paper - everything.

8. Heating and Cooling
The building's orientation and construction (masonry) keep the temperature pretty moderate and stable, so we don't anticipate needing lots of energy for heating and cooling. The owner of the building also added a lot of additional insulation on the roof while remodeling. Actually, once in the winter while I was working in the space, it warmed up for a couple of days, but remained 10-15 degrees colder inside the space the whole time!
We also incorporated fans into the design of the space to keep pushing the heat down from the open area above - you can really feel the difference, even with the fans on just slightly.

9. Tankless Water Heater
We have a gas-powered tankless water heater, which means the water is heated on demand, instead of keeping a 75 gallon tank heated 24 hours a day. The only drawback appears to be that the water takes a bit longer to heat up, so I suppose we're using more water than we should in return for a reduction in fossil fuel consumption - so...

10. Dual-flush toilet
...hopefully we're offsetting that increase in water use with this - it's got two buttons, let's just call them button "number one" and button "number two". I'll let you figure out what they're used for, I don't have to spell it out for you do I? And button "number one" only uses a half-volume flush, which is what's used most of the time.

11. Fleece exam pads
For the exam rooms and kennels, we're using fleece pads instead of cotton, since they dry so quickly, and therefore require a lot less energy.

12. Humabuilt Doors
We really wanted wood doors to contribute to the warm feeling we were trying to achieve, but luckily found an option that we thought was the best of both worlds - Humabuilt Doors. They're made from wheat chaff - which is annually renewable - pressed into a particle board, and then covered with a thin, nicely engineered maple veneer. The result is a beautiful door that looks like solid wood, and is about halfway between the weight of a solid-core door and a hollow one.

13. Natural Finish
The doors are finished with a clear wood wax called "Osmo Polyx Oil" which is really beautiful and durable, and easy to repair when needed. It's made of ingredients like sunflower oil, Carnauba and Candelilla wax. It's got a very small amount of (benzene-free) mineral spirits in it, but other than that it's all natural.

14. PaperStone
This stuff is truly awesome - it's dense like hardwood, durable, beautiful, and it's made from recycled paper and natural resins. And when I say dense and durable, I'm serious - we went through 3 jigsaw blades just cutting the oval for the sink! One of them was embedded so tightly I thought it was going to have to become a permanent part of the countertop. A few stats:

A 1" by 60" by 144" (we used about twice this amount) slab of PaperStone Certified (versus a regular phenolic composite manufactured from virgin fiber and a regular, commercially available, solvent-based resin) saves:

• 1233 gallons of water
• 2.03 million BTU's of energy
• 131 pounds of solid waste
• 254 pounds of greenhouse gases
• 55 pounds of petroleum-based phenol
• 22 pounds of natural gas-based methanol

Plus it's dimensionally stable, and amazingly tough structurally - it has a compressive strength of 45,000 psi and you can cantilever it 4' with less than 1/16" deflection.

15. Salvaged Redwood
Our shelves up front are reclaimed railroad timbers from the great people at EcoPDX here in Portland on North Interstate. They typically reclaim Indonesian hardwoods and make furniture, but at the moment they have a huge pile of reclaimed California Redwood railroad ties from a dismantled goldrush-era railroad. They split them and glued them for us, and we built them into the design. You can still see holes from the railroad spikes, and staining from the oils that got into them.

16. Mango hardwood furniture
Yet another way we managed to get some really nice wood without cutting down trees in a tropical rainforest. Mango plantations are a great source for beautiful dark hardwood, since the oldest trees stop producing fruit, and are felled to be replaced by new ones.

17. Marmoleum Floors
In a couple areas we wanted floor covering (near the kennels) and went with Marmoleum - which is a "true" natural linoleum, as opposed to the PVC-based stuff that passes for linoleum these days. It looks cool, comes in a million colors and patterns, and it's made from linseed oil, jute, and rosin - no harmful chemicals are used, so there's no long "offgassing" period like there is with vinyl flooring. Plus when it eventually does wear out, it's completely biodegradable.

18. Low/No VOC paint
Most of our paints were extremely low VOC or no VOC paints - Benjamin Moore Aura, Yolo, and Devine Green. VOCs are emitted from traditional paints for years after they're dry, and some are known carcinogens.

Okay, enough already. That will teach you to get me started. If you're still here after all that, you deserve a drink on me. Come to the Open House and take me up on it! It's this Saturday, June 14th. General Public from 3-6, Industry/Friends/Family from 6-8, then from 8-midnight we've got space reserved at the Backstage (behind the Bagdad Theater) for food, pool, and beer.

yeehah!!!

We had a minor complication with the inspector today involving something the Fire Marshall already signed off on, then he sort of shrugged it off, and said "want me to sign the final on this?" - do you think anyone ever answers that question in any other way than a booming and emphatic YES?!?! That's what I did anyway, so he signed it, wished us luck, and disappeared. So, as of 3pm today, we were officially OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

We can barely use the phone system, the software's not ready, the shelves are empty, the credit card processing machine just showed up this morning, we still need to put up the door trim and baseboards. But the phones have been ringing - lots of existing clients, and even a couple new ones already. We've got six appointments scheduled for tomorrow already, and a few surgeries on Friday! So, despite having a lot to do still, we're open, and we already have a little momentum, which feels great!

Sorry this didn't get posted until so late, I know some of you were dying to know how it turned out - but we're just getting home now, and I still need to rig up some temporary patch so we can produce statements for clients tomorrow when we charge them. So I've got to get back to work, just thought we'd share the news.

CLICK HERE for a nice big image of our completed inspection card :)

 

Well, one final (?) gripe about the permitting process, then you won't have to listen to me whine anymore.

As Kristin mentioned, JUST LAST WEEK we heard that our modest little oxygen tank requires its own sprinkler, and a vent, and a fresh air supply, and a 1-hour fire rated enclosure. Yes, just LAST WEEK - after months of permitting, reviews, discussions, phone calls, emails, inspections, and corrections... someone just finally figured this out.

Well, we got that sorted out - it turns out we don't really need all that - just a separate "room" for our oxygen. Apparently nobody at the city bothers actually READING the code, so I have to do that for them. I think maybe they sort of *glance* across the pages, see the word "sprinkler" in there somewhere, and make the rest up. I'm serious. And since they don't even read the code, I'm hoping they don't read this blog either. Or if they do, I'm betting they won't see it between the time I post this and the time they sign the card tomorrow morning. They can read it all they please after that :)

So anyway we built a tiny little wall, with a steel door on it, and the Fire Marshall came out today and, after scaring me with a couple new suggestions, said he'd sign off on it as it is... and there was much rejoicing (hooray!)

We also got our final approval on our mechanical permit today... additional rejoicing ensued (hooray again!)

So all that's left is to get the final inspection completed - last time he was out, in addition to the oxygen tank incident, he pointed out that we needed a smoke gasket on the back door, and a door closer... fair enough. I put those in, and called him back. Hopefully when he comes out tomorrow, he'll just nod and sign the card... then I'll scan it and post it here in victory... wish us luck!

Also - the REAL website has been released! All this blog activity is groovy and all, but we need a general-purpose sort of site. It's not all final, or perfectly functional (the record-access parts aren't hooked up yet) but it's generally all there, and looking pretty nice thanks to a spectacular design by Lia at Avive Design, some excellent copy written by Kristin, and some mediocre photos by YT (no Drew, not the girl from snowcrash).

So, go check it out by clicking on the "Mt. Tabor Vet Care Home" link on the top of this page... or in case that one's too subtle for you, here's a more conspicuous one...

http://www.mttaborvetcare.com

let us know what you think! You can also check out the "Portland Picks" website - we're running an ad there all month on the lefthand side of the front page.

starting to look like a genuinely official place of business, is it not?

 

It was a pretty exciting long weekend for us, with a lot happening. Our lab equipment was delivered and installed, our digital radiography system was installed along with the dental xray system, and the electricians hung the ceiling fans and light fixtures. Then on Saturday, we painted like mad, and then hung out drinking and eating pizza afterwards. Thanks VERY MUCH to everyone who came out to help us paint, we were really seriously relieved to have gotten so much done in one afternoon. And thanks to everyone who stopped by to hang out, have a few drinks, and check out the clinic - it was really nice to see everyone there!

Omar setting up our lab equipment	Electricians installed the ceiling fans
light fixtures from Schoolhouse Electric	Paint and maple doors

Digital radiography system installed, and working! This is our test shot of Katie's dog Frida who was kind enough to pose for us

Dad	Mom
Lia	Barb
Ben	Katie

Hopefully tomorrow we'll actually be flipping light switches in the space, turning on our lights! Kristin and I put bulbs in them all today, and the electricians have been finishing everything up quickly - things are moving fast!

Sheetrock, taping, and wall finishing are proceeding smoothly (heh heh, smoothly) and it's starting to look like a real place. The doors are going up too! We'll be painting a few key areas over the next few days so we can be ready for our digital radiography machine on Thursday, and our lab equipment which is also coming on Thursday.

We'll keep you posted - until next time, here's some pictures...

view down the hall from the front	comfort room doorway and window

treatment area with the wet tables in place

Humabuilt doors, ready to be hung. These doors have a thin veneer of maple, but 85% of the volume of the door comes from wheat stalks, so it's annually renewable

  

Wow it's been over two weeks since my last construction update - sorry about the delay. Let's get down to business...

Week 5 (3/17 - DONE)
The majority of the rough electrical was completed this week, and work continued on the pressure piping for Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Vacuum systems.

Week 6 (3/24 - DONE)
Okay, well - the original plan was to be done with drywall by the end of this week, but in fact by the end of the week it hadn't even started. So, we're now officially 1 week (or slightly more) behind. However, this week we *did* get everything else completed:

• Rough Electrical: Completed, and approved to cover up
• Rough Plumbing: Completed, and approved to cover up
• Network Cables: Completed, approved to cover
• Medical Gas System: Inspected and approved, still pending some extra paperwork and permitting. I had to work HARD to find someone at the city who wanted to look at this system. Nobody thought it was their turf, yet everyone figured someone wanted to look at it. Eventually I found "Special Hazards Inspector" Bob Happle who works for the Fire Marshall, and he was excellent. He came by, inspected the system, told me how to file the permit (which will land on his desk) and gave us the okay. So, despite my previous bitching about the city, there have been quite a few good people to work with there, and Bob is certainly one of the best so far!
• HVAC Venting and Gas Line: Completed, and approved to cover - this included a vent through the roof for the dryer, the water heater, the bathroom vent, and the medgas evacuation system.

So, with all those subtasks completed and all the approvals lined up neatly... we're ready to SHEETROCK!

We also had the "Wash 'n Roll" truck come by to groom DeeDee - it's a cool RV turned into a mobile grooming service. They did an excellent job, and they were very good with DeeDee!

BEFORE	AFTER

Week 7 (3/31 - THIS WEEK): Derek, the contractor doing the framing and sheetrock, had a hard time finding guys to do sheetrock this week - everyone was working on other projects. So Monday and Tuesday went a little slower than expected, although he got some leftover framing tasks completed, which was good. But Wednesday he found a crew of 4 guys who came in and sheetrocked ALL of the main walls and ceilings in 1 day! Wednesday night it looked like there had been an explosion in there, what a freaking mess - my tidy and orderly job site had been ruined, but at least the sheetrock was up!

So the rest of the week the drywall guys are taping and mudding, and derek is hanging doors and window frames. It's starting to look really different in there. I'll hold off on sending sheetrock pics until they get the joints taped and sanded, it looks pretty ugly in there at the moment.

Week 8 (4/7): The plan next week will be for us to paint a few critical areas in the evenings like the bathroom, breakroom and the lab area, so we can hang the cabinets and countertops, and the plumber can get in and do his finish work (hooking up sinks and wet tables). Hopefully we can also get the electricians started on some of the finish work up on the ceiling (pendant lights and fans). Then, next weekend, we'll be painting like mad.

Week 9 (4/14): Now the electricians can really come in and finish up. We'll also be bringing in a lot of equipment, and getting the floors cleaned and re-finished with a couple final coats of sealer. Then, towards the end of the week, we'll start setting up equipment, bringing in furniture, touching up paint, and putting down carpet tiles.

So, technically if all goes as planned, we could still *possible* open on Earth Day (4/22), but it seems unlikely that we'll be able to get all of that together by then. So, the next holiday to shoot for would be May Day (5/1) which is either "Loyalty Day", "International Workers' Day", or some pagany druid thing, or a day where you put flowers in baskets, or something - I don't get it, it's sort of a strange multi-purpose-holiday with a lot of functions all trying to stack up on that one day, but they may need to make room for one more... MTVC Grand Opening Day!

DeeDee feels much lighter on her paws since her haircut

Belmont Sunset, after that crazy day of hail, snow, sun, and rain - btw, "Belmont Sunset" would be a good name for a drink, something with carrot juice in it maybe, and tequila... not sure yet. I'll work on it.

Today was really insane - so much going on in one day! Let's see - over the course of this ONE day here we had:

2 network installation guys
2 HVAC guys
5 painters (still there as I write this)
4 plumbers (still there as well, pressure testing our O2 and N2 delivery systems)
1 landlord
1 sales rep
1 delivery guy (dropping off a couple 200lb doors)
1 interior designer (Cheryl!)
2 guys working for the building owner (putting plywood on the ceiling in back)
1 roofer (patching up the holes the HVAC guys were drilling)
1 Doctor (that's Kristin)
1 Official Clinic Poodle
1 tired computer geek posing as a general contractor

And there's drama emerging too, so in addition to guiding a lot of work, unloading a truck, and going on a lumber run, I spent a lot of time mediating in person, and on the phone...

1. Painters vs. HVAC
The painters had to leave this morning because the HVAC guys were in the way. I didn't know the HVAC guys would still be here today, so, I screwed that up. We gave them all some extra cash for their time, and they came back in the afternoon.

2. Owner's HVAC vs. our HVAC
The owner's HVAC guys claim our HVAC guys screwed something up on the roof (bypassing the economizer, and not putting the thermostat cabling in hard pipe). The problem is - our HVAC guys didn't do anything on the roof except turn on the gas. We think maybe the other HVAC guys are sore because they didn't get the bid, and everyone's been very impressed by the obviously superior quality of the work our guys are doing... Eastside Heating and Air Conditioning - doing excellent work, quick and on time, for a good price.

3. Our HVAC vs. Owner's HVAC - the empire strikes back!
In retaliation, our HVAC guys happened to point out to the building owner's contractor that the common area HVAC duct is broken at one of the joints. Ha, take that!

4. Plumbers vs. General Contractor
The general contractor moved some pressure pipes around in the back, and dismantled some of the brackets, in the process of putting up the plywood on the ceiling. I didn't know this until the plumbers came in and saw it, and they were pretty pissed - that stuff is oxygen-purged for use with medical gas, and they'd taped it off to prevent contamination. None of the tape was moved, however, so all is well, and everything's back in place just fine.

5. HVAC vs. Roofer
The HVAC guys drilled a nice hole for the water heater vent, with the proper clearance (1" minimum) around it through the wood decking (since that vent gets HOT) but when the roofer patched it up he moved it, so it was touching the wood. Not good. Oh and he also goobered a couple giant slabs of tar down into our space. So, they were sorta pissed. By the time they noticed it he was gone. They managed to maneuver the vent around a little, enough so we've got more than an inch of clearance all around, but it's not quite as perfect as it was when they first did it. They did go up to the roof afterwards though, and commented that the guy did an excellent job with the roofing.

6. DeeDee vs. the Scissor Lift
The little baby scissor lift we have now (to steer into tighter spaces) overcompensates for being pathetically tiny and lame by beeping CONSTANTLY at a Kiss-concert volume level, and DeeDee hates it. I hate it too, so I can't blame her. I miss the good ole SkyJack^® 19' Platform Scissor Lift (*sniff*).

7. HVAC Guy Nick's Hand vs. Some Sheet Metal
While drilling some sheet metal, a piece got away from his grasp and sliced three of his fingers pretty badly, OUCH! He went to the hospital, and probably needed some stitches - haven't heard back yet.

So, lines have been drawn, alliances formed, and blood has spilled! This is starting to feel seriously epic.

 

Our fancy designer-color CAT5E network cables!	DeeDee stops by for a visit	Finishing the connections on the pressure piping system