Monthly Archives: April 2009

Best Friends Animal Society

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Last Sunday, I attended a Best Friends meeting at the Pacific Design Center. The founders Frances and Silva Battista were there from Utah, and so was Georgia, one of the rescued Michael Vick pit bulls. She’s known as one of the Vicktory Dogs – how cute! The attendees were people who represented many animal rescue and animal welfare organizations in the LA area. I went with my colleague Christina, a rep for the Rescue and Humane Alliance of Los Angeles.

This was more of a townhall where the attendees listed several issues they faced in working for animals in LA. Some of these issues included:

  • Volunteer management
  • Overlapping organizations and competition
  • Reinventing the wheel again and again
  • Working with their respective city halls

Christina and I were excited about this because this is what we aim to do with our business. We don’t want organizations to compete with each other. Each organization has an expertise or specialty, whether it’s feral cats, pit bull rescue, or education. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an umbrella organization or group that could pull a directory of regional groups and be the hub of education, volunteer management, and resources?

Grant Foundation Center

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I’m heading out this morning to the Hotel Stillwell in downtown LA for a grant-writing workshop, hosted by the Grant Foundation Center (NYC). It should be a good refresher as it’s been a few years since I’ve had to write a grant, outside of student association funding.

Last night, I spent the evening at the Pacific Design Center; I attended a Best Friends meeting with my friend Christina. (Yep, she’s got the same name.) I’ve got some stats I want to put up re: homeless pets and what BF is doing to help curb the number. More later on this!

X-post: Paleyfest – It’s Always Sunny panel

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Living in LA is great. There are a lot of people who like to bash my town. (Personally, I think those people are the ones who: 1. don’t know how to drive and 2. are transplants.) If you dislike LA so much, leave. It’s as simple as that.

One of the benefits of living in the city where a lot of shows are made is the Paleyfest. This is an annual showcase of shows that (I guess) catches the eyes of the Paley Center. I don’t know why The Hills (WTF!!!) would be on, unless they chose it to be their fake show event. Anyway, this year’s events include: It’s Always Sunny; True Blood; BSG/Caprica; Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog; Fringe; and Dollhouse among others. They have the casts and crew of these shows on a Q&A panel where the public is invited to hear about their shows, watch a screening, ask questions, et al.

I picked up tickets for the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia panel as a surprise anni gift for The Hubs. And I enjoyed it just as much. The cast was hysterical and you could see they enjoyed each other’s company. Kaitlin (Sweet Dee) and gang ripped on Matchbox 20 when someone asked them about Rob Thomas guesting on an ep. Danny Devito was insane; wasn’t sure if he was high or just nervous… There was a running joke about throwing the show into higher gear, higher flames, turning up the stove, and so on. The new season shoots in May and one of the eps will have to do with the economy (old poor vs. new poor) – haha!!

The moderator, though, was horrible. He was so bland and didn’t play off any of the cast’s stories or replies. I can’t remember his name but I do remember he works for TV Guide. Ugh. He did nothing to move the panel along. He was so boring.

I enjoyed this experience. It was at the Arclight Hollywood and there was plenty of seating. I felt the other fans were pretty nice; no pushing or shoving. Everyone helped everyone else with taking pictures and “keeping” a line to each star. That’s the way it should be!