Making tough pet choices

will279802 came home from Midgard to find his kitty had fallen out of a window and broken his leg. As many pet owners know, medical bills for a pet can be astronomical, so many pet owners face tough choices when dealing with an ailing pet.

Some people's first reaction is "Put the pet down!" rather than pay the medical bills. I'm ashamed to say that was my first instinctive reaction to will279802's predicament, but I knew immediately that I could not do the same to my cat.

So it led me to look something up. I wondered if you could get medical insurance for your pet, and it turns out you can!

http://www.vetinsurance.com/

http://www.petplan.com/

I'll be looking into this in the coming weeks. I've had my cat Newton since September 1999 (coming up onto his 7th birthday!) and I intend to keep him as long as he lives (which is probably another 7 years or so).

Anyone else have medical insurance for their pets?

Book or CD? Boxers or Briefs?

As many of you know, I published my first book of stories way back in February 2005. And Gods love you, many of you have purchased copies since then. Many thanks for your support and I hope you're still enjoying the book (why not dust it off and give it another look/listen?).

I'm in the process of putting together my second book/CD which is more of a solo project. It will have another 6 stories, but this time the focus will be on Irish and Quebecois tales (appealing to the two halves of my heritage). And yes, it's Canadian-ness is no accident: hopefully, the Canada Council might help me out with this endeavor.

But as I'm putting this together, my focus is shifting. I look at other storytellers and they're mostly putting out audio CDs only. An audio CD is way cheaper and easier to put together, but I find my book/CD has more value to it because it is written to be read and recorded to be heard (although it is much more costly and complicated to put together).

There are other considerations (changing publishers, getting grants, personal investments, etc.), but if you have bought a copy of my book/CD (or even if you haven't), tell me what you think.

For my next storytelling publication, should I produce an audio CD only or should I hold off and go for the book/CD? I'm leaning towards the book/CD, but I'm curious what you think.