| Can Apple products and peripherals help rescue a kidnapped German Shepherd? | | Date Created: 22 Apr, 2005, 12:36 AM |
 Two weeks ago I blogged that my pedigree German Shepherd had gone missing.
We now believe he was found, reported located, but not brought to the local Lost Dogs home or shelter, as the local state law demands.
I received a phone call from the guy who claimed to find him, and was unable to negotiate his release. As of the time of blogging, I must assume this is not a hoax and he is still in another's posession.
Rather than sitting around and looking at four walls (and an empty dog bed) we got active, and brought in whatever Apple-based equipment we could!
So, here we go:
I created several different flyers in Pages on my Powerbook to post around the neighbourhood, place in letterboxes, and give out in dog-friendly parks and to anyone walking their dogs. Everyone was quite sorrowful of the situation.
Pages was terrific for laying out the flyer, and we used iPhoto 5's cropping tool to bring a picture of Shrek onto the flyer, taken with a Pentax Optio S. The uncropped picture included me with Shrek, and this photo was emailed to various media outlets, via Mail.app.
I added a cartoon bubble to give Shrek some anthropomorphic characteristics, by having him say "I want to go home". I used a new fun application called Comic Lite by plasq.com. The app. lets you create whole comic books and integrates brilliantly with iPhoto, and has mouse sounds reminiscent of those found in Discus by Magic Mouse's CD cover printing software.
Safari's built in Google-search function allowed me to track down local vets, dog walkers, pet suppliers and the general dog community and their email addresses. I sent out via Mail.app's Bcc function, Shrek news and updates to keep the theft alive in people's minds. I used Address Book and Pagesender to fax the many vets who didn't have an email address.
Rather than being rebuked as a spammer, I principally got sympathetic replies, and the promise of vigilance for Shrek's welfare.
Finally, but not at all leastly, my new Epson Colour laser printer, the Aculaser AC-1100 has proved to be a real workhorse, allowing me to churn out colour flyers at the rate of 5 per minute. They have been eye-catching and most still remain up on poles and walls even after almost two weeks. Australian buyers who snap one up soon (for under $700) will also get a free Epson all in one unit free until May. The Aculaser took advantage of Apple's Airport Express I use to wirelessly print from anywhere in the house.
So that's where things are. There is still some hope that my Sony T-610 cellphone will hold the key to Shrek's return. I bought it on eBay for $280 principally because the phone would synch. with the Powerbook, and I could use it with Keynote with Salling's Clicker as my remote controller.
While the call to my cellphone had no Caller ID show up, there may still be ways and means...
Oh, and I started a dogblog written from Shrek's perspective to appeal to schools and media to encourage them to take up the story and bring public pressure to bear. I used Lifli's iBlog software to create the blog, housed it on my .Mac account, and used Godaddy.com to register the web address (http://www.shreksdogblog.com) rather than the homepage.mac.com/xxx URL. It cost USD9.20 and included a free redirect which masked the homepage.mac.com URL. I couldn't fault the speed and ease of use of GoDaddy.com.
So that's how I've engaged principally Apple-based products to try to save a life. Sure, you could so the same on another platform, but it's been quite cathartic to use my Apple interests - including my local MUG who have been truly supportive - to keep my hopes alive.
I'll keep you updated.... although the Blogwavestudio blog software is proving buggy of late!
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