I spent lunch yesterday talking to the Tax people about OctopodiCon, purchasing the event permit and all.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
If you'd like to be part of the Itzl Alert Network, please leave a comment asking to join, or send us a message asking to join. We'd love to have you. The bigger our network, the less likely someone will be stranded all alone.
My tax rep was a very sweet woman. She's handicapped, too, uses a walker because of bad knees. We spent a lot of time talking about Itzl. She asked all sorts of questions about service animals - she knew all the tax codes rgarding them, but when I told her she could probably use a helper dog who would pick up things she dropped and bringthings to her so she didn't have to walk so far, and they could even turn on lights for her before she entered a room and act as a balance helper.
So we discussed some places she could go to see service dogs in action and decide if one would work for her.
Itzl, watching a room full of people: