The most excellent Multnomah County Library system honors its volunteers for each year of service by purchasing a book in their name and marking the occasion with a personalized bookplate. How cool is that?We get to choose the overall category -- fiction or non-, adult or kids' -- and the general subject area, and can opt to be the first person to check it out. I'd specified Animals/Pets as my first choice, adding "preferably cats." No surprise there.
Joan from the Woodstock branch, where I volunteer, called the other day to tell me my book was in. It's The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild, by Craig Childs, and it has a
photo of a mountain lion on the cover. Perfect, as Abbie and China Rose can attest. I started reading it at the dentist's office yesterday, and I think it'll be good. One so wants books in which one's name appears to be good.Speaking of animals, I saw a small sign yesterday in the window of one of those do-it-yourself dog-washing parlors that seem to be everywhere in town (though I've never actually seen a person and/or a dog in the process of bathing or bath administration). It read: "This establishment is run solely for the entertainment of Bob the cat."
And speaking of the dentist's office, oh argh. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about my dentist; he seems competent, and about 18 years old. But I walked in yesterday and, ta dah, they've gone all rock star on me. Literally: A sign in the reception area proclaims "We give your teeth the rock star treatment." Thickly hung on the walls are large framed b&w prints of celebs ranging from John Coltrane to John Lennon. (Many of these people I'm pretty sure had awful teeth.) The door to the dental inner sanctum is stenciled "Backstage." I'm not too sure that metaphor works at all, but: whatever. The toilet has a gold star on the door, with the annotation "dressing room." Along a hallway, Rolling Stone covers, many dating from before the dentist himself was born. In the john, framed album covers. Some extremely tasty choices, but that's beside the point.
Sigh. Undoubtedly the new decor sprang from some dental marketing magazine, probably called Dentistry Now! or Modern Tooth. I could riff on this superficial glam veneer bullshit forever. I do like my hygienist, but I sat there in the waiting room totally turned off and thinking "Hmmm, this might be my last visit to this establishment."
Ironically, the receptionist/office person mentioned, as I was leaving with my bag of dental freebies, that as of next month they were no longer accepting my dental insurance plan. Well then. I believe I'll be looking for another dentist. Anyone know a good one? S/he doesn't have to be a rock star.
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I love my dentist. Her name is Elizabeth Kierkegaarde at Burlingame Dental Arts. She's on Barbur just off Terwilliger. Her husband, Mark Wilson, is the other dentist in the office and I like him as well. They might tell you she is not taking new patients, but if you tell them I recommended her and schmooze them a little I think she makes exceptions. She did for my daughter. The decor is pretty standard dental office, except for a carousel horse sitting in the entry.
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