Here is more information…

Felines & Canines was originally founded in 1977 as Felines Inc.; a licensed, cage-less, no-kill cat shelter located on the north side of Chicago. As a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, we are funded through adoption fees, fundraising events, foundations, and the generous tax-deductible donations of caring individuals like yourself. We do not receive any federal or state funding.

Up until January 2012, Felines Inc. has operated as a cat-only shelter caring for approximately 130 cats and kittens in our two-story house. After extensive thought, soul-searching and preparation, we made the decision to renovate and expand our facility in order to care for up to 200 cats/kittens and add a wing to house approximately 20 dogs/puppies – officially becoming Felines & Canines! Our mission always has been, and will continue to be: providing a safe and loving shelter to abandoned, injured, abused and neglected animals until their permanent adoptive home is found. We strengthen the human/animal relationship through counseling, education, and compassion.

Our goal is to find the right lasting and loving home for each of our residents. We work carefully with our adopters to find the right companion for them, with the understanding that a lifelong relationship is about to begin. Our staff follows up on all adoptions and is always available for consultations to help ease the animal’s transition into his or her new home. All animals admitted to Felines & Canines are examined by a vet, spayed or neutered, and kept up-to-date on all vaccines. Most of the procedures are carried out on the premises by a skilled team of vets and vet techs.

True to our no-kill policy, all “adoptable” animals are given the time, love and care needed to find their permanent home. We never euthanize for time or space purposes, and only perform humane euthanasia’s in the event of extreme, untreatable illness or aggression. If you would like to be a part of our life saving mission, whether as a donor, a volunteer, or an adopter, please contact us at (773) 465-4132. We invite you to tour our shelter and meet the Felines & Canines family.

One of the areas in my life where I have noticed my ADD and ADD related behaviours flaring up is in my obsession with time management and planners.

Obsession is a strong word but obsessive behavior I am told can be a by-product of ADD. Regardless, in examining my world now that I am looking through ADD glasses, I realize that my relationship with Time Management and Planners is not normal. I have spent many a day hyperfocusing and seeking out planners in stores and online. I am also very aware of them. If I watch a movie and see someone with a planner I can immediate tell you what kind it is. For example, in the movie “27 Dresses” the character Katherine Heigel plays is a wedding planner who carries around a Filofax Personal size with DayRunner pages.

I will state here and now in this blog that I, Rob Dorn have tried nearly every single system in existence.

DayRunner, DayTimer, Filofax, Franklin Planner, Covey Planner, Franklin Covey Planner, At-a-Glance, Agenda this, Agenda that, PlannerPads… I have made up my own systems and printed them out and spent hours and hours developing them and playing with them. It felt like a hobby. For a long time it was fun and it still IS fun. But as I am accepting my ADD, my awareness of it allows me to understand that as fun as it is to spend lots and lots of time “playing” with planners, I have to make a commitment to solve this issue. I need to see to it that my goals and plans will not get lost in this non-ending spiral.

Allow me to share a bit of my DayPlanner back story…

When I was five years old my Dad (who ran a printing company) would bring home a ream of paper JUST for me. I LOVED this. A great big package of 500 sheets of 8.5 x 11 25 pound paper. It was all mine. And I would rip it open and go through the stack writing and drawing on the blank white sheets.

I had no knowledge of sketchbooks or binders or calendar pages or meeting agenda pages or daily views, weekly views or monthly tabbed sections. The simplicity of THAT time in my life was the reason that I wasn’t aware of any kind of ADD symptoms. I was just a happy little kid, taking the time to draw and write for hour and hours on end… my very first hyper-focusing I suppose.

But then life began to get complicated. In school I would have to take notes and keep track of stuff and so was introduced to the notebook. I remember going to the school supply section of Ben Franklin and getting my pens and paper and blue denim notebooks with  dividers for all the different classes and subjects. Remember Trapper Keepers?  I found an assignment notebook at Ben Franklin. In addition to this, I began an awareness of calendar books and agendas. My grandpa wasn’t using his calendar book and gave it to me to “play” with. Dad would bring home all of the office christmas gifts calendars and agendas and let me have them. I gave these books lots and lots of power. I liked the idea of neat and tidy organization. I was also afraid to write in these books for fear of messing them up.

From High School to College and into my adult life, my schedule became more complicated, enabling my desire to find the perfect method of keeping myself organized.

Here was a typical scenereo…

I would purchase and start using a brand new planner and very soon into using it, I would start questioning whether I liked it or not. Was it working for me? Did I like having a week at a glance or a day at a glance… did I like the size of it? The fonts and colors? A great big binder or a small more pocket style one? I would go into a spiral of questioning these things and in order to quiet down the spiral thinking, I would impulsively go and buy a new planner.

And the process would start all over again.

In all the years I used planners and calendars I have never ever been able to stick to just ONE for the entire year. I would make it a month and then go to a different size and then another couple months (maybe) and I would begin using an entirely brand new system that I might have discovered at the planner store or at an office supply store or online.

The red flags appeared when I began to be embarrassed about it. People would begin to notice. You went to Office Max AGAIN?! Didn’t you used to have a black zipper binder?

It truly is remarkable to me that I got ANYTHING accomplished at all. The big joke to me was that people would see me with this amazing state of the art planner and they would remark, “wow… you are SO organized.” I would chuckle nervously. If they only KNEW. I pondered whether there might be a twelve step program for this but the only thing I found was “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and the planner that went along with it.

Let me emphasize here that the planner was not the problem. Planners are wonderful tools. They are a wonderful accessory. For someone who doesn’t have ADD, they can use them without obsessing. For myself, in the long run and with the luxury of age I can see a broad overview of my life and the patterns that spell out this problem. It is definitely out of balance and I want/need to solve it.

So today is a new day.

From what I have learned about myself and ADD, I know that in order to embrace a system I can stick to, I have to first examine the root of the problem.

Going to the root of the issue is key because every attempt I have ever made (especially the years I was unaware of my ADD) is tainted with a memory of failure and the emotional burden attached to it. Through these patternes, I have trained myself to assume that I will not succeed in ANY attempt at using a planner. So it is important for me to divorce myself from every kind of system I have ever used or attempted to use. Letting all of it go without guilt is the best way to move forward.

My past attempts at trying a new system, changing to digital for example or trying to use BOTH paper and computer were always fraught with the fact that I knew it would fall apart. I always dove in way over my head and the complexities of trying to make it work always doomed me to feeling like a failure.

So the best way to start anew, with everything I know NOW and in the moment, is to keep it bare bones simple.

I will begin by using just the following three things…

1. My google calendar
   I already have it in use, it is filled with future dates and is relatively secure and trusted. I will keep it simple by not syncing it with anything for the time being.
2. A stack of 8.5 x 11 white cardstock
   I choose cardstock because I have some already and the heaviness of the paper will give it a sense of importance.
3. A pen of my choice.
   My preference is black marker.

From these BASICS, the system that will work for me will create itself out of necessity. If I truly need to add something to this I will let it’s importance speak to me and inform me whether I need to add it or not. I may even find out that I don’t need a planner at all.

In addition to this I will continue to do the exercises that my ADD coach has assigned me, keeping track of how I spend my day and also estimating how long it takes to do stuff and noting the actual amount of time spent.

As I work with this basic, basic system, I will make note of  my progress via this blog… I was going to say I would find a notebook to use but that would just start this new ball of yarn to begin unraveling.

Wish me luck! I will keep you posted of my progress.

©2011 Rob Dorn

About Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre

Theo Ubique Theatre Company was founded in 1997 by Fred Anzevino, Artistic Director, Matt Yde and Farell Wilson; then, incorporated in 2004. Productions were held mostly in the 30-seat Heartland Studio in Rogers Park and periodically at the Athenaeum Theatre in Lakeview. Company productions initially were an array of theatre forms, including drama, one-acts, comedy and musicals.

In 2004, Anzevino’s experience with the DC Cabaret Company in Washington, D.C. in the 1980s led to a new artistic vision for Theo Ubique. The company took a bold step and reinvented itself as cabaret theatre, which started a new trend in Chicago with European-style cabaret but with a definite Chicago flavor. Since then, Theo Ubique has made the 60-seat No Exit Café in Rogers Park by the Morse el stop its home. The same year, Performink, Chicago’s foremost theatre publication, named Anzevino as one of the leading creative artists changing the face of Chicago theatre.

Three Cat Media has also designed Stephen Wallem’s website.  For more information, please visit stephenwallem.com.

Three Cat Media has recently completed a new logo and website for an amazing company based in Goddard, Kansas.  We worked hard to create a brand and website that represents the client.  For more information, please visit creativeparadiseinc.com.

About Creative Paradise
Creative Paradise is dedicated to providing innovative projects and tools to light the creative fire in every artist. Plaster molds for casting ceramics, plaster forms to aid the clay hand building artist and potter as well as the world’s most innovative line of earthenware molds for glass artists are designed and manufactured at our facility in Goddard, KS. Dedicated to innovation, quality and customer satisfaction, Creative Paradise, Inc. continues to discover fresh new concepts and tools.

Three Cat Media recently designed the poster for “The Other Steve and Edie” starring Edie Falco and Stephen Wallem. Falco and Wallem who appear together on Showtimes, “Nurse Jackie” recently made their cabaret duo debut at The Laurie Beechman Theatre in New York. Three Cat Media was hired to create the poster graphic based on Wallem’s vision of an old Steve and Edie record album from 1962. Rob Dorn who did the design, recreated the poster creating an original graphic background based on the original album and using photos of “the other” Steve and Edie taken exclusively for the project. The design was also featured in the New York Times Sunday “Arts and Leisure” section.

I am a man in his forties. I am of Danish/Austrian decent. I am a actor/vocalist. I am a graphic designer and Illustrator. I create websites. I have acted in plays and have performed throughout the country on the concert stage. I love horror movies and musicals. I love singing in harmony. I am an adult with ADD, and I cannot tell you how long it has taken for me to give birth to this first entry.

Welcome to the brain of Rob Dorn. Please wipe your feet.

My intent with this blog is to allow you, the reader to follow along with me as I navigate my way through life as an adult with ADD. I do everything I can to not bar the door and happily invite you into my life, my goals, my challenges, my screw-ups and mishaps. I will chart my progress as I work with an ADD coach and I will do my best to present to you tools you can use to help you steer your own ship. It’s complicated. It’s maddening. It’s hilarious. It can be isolating and overwhelming.

What is it like to have ADD?

For me, it’s as if I am sitting in the center of a great big round room. Around me are several closed doors. From behind each door I hear knocking. Some of the knocking is loud, some of the knocking is a polite tapping. Behind some of the doors the pounding is so loud it drowns out the others. BEHIND each door is a goal, a dream, something that needs to be done. And I sit in the middle and have absolutely no idea WHICH door to open. And so they all remain closed and I just continue to sit there and listen to the knocking. Some of the more insistent knocking begins to fade and sadly, some of the goals and dreams behind particular doors, the knocking stops altogether and I can hear those dreams turn around and walk away.

I have a lot on my mind and there is a lot I want to accomplish. Yes, I have been able in the past to open some of those doors but over time, the unopened doors are the ones that cause me to feel immobilized. WHERE do I begin and WHICH door should I open. Should I just go and open ALL of them? Do I open the doors with the loudest knocking? Do I take time to discover the soft tapping and see what’s behind THOSE doors?

It’s all about making a commitment but the idea of making a commitment and then sticking to it freezes me up.

Making a commitment and sticking to it…

For the average person it takes 21 days or three weeks to learn and instill a new habit. For someone with the extra special and unique ADD brain, it takes three MONTHS. No wonder I paddle through a stream of broken promises and commitments.

So I have learned to go ahead and make a commitment (for example – taking a morning walk) and even if at first I just do it for a few minutes, I am DOING it and that is what my brain will remember… the fact that I DID it. Eventually I will train myself to understand and appreciate the concept of following through with something. In other words even if I do it for a minimal amount of time, I still get the reward and that is what I will remember.
Over time I tend to wear myself down with so many unfinished things. So by committing to doing something and then do it even if for just a minute, it starts me on a healthy and productive path and I won’t be intimidated to make more positive promises!

Resources

If you are an adult dealing with ADD or ADHD or you think you might be, find someone who can help. There are lots of Therapists, Psychiatrists and ADD coaches out there ready to help. Google it. You will be amazed at all the information available.

There are also some great books on the subject and a wonderful documentary called “ADD and Loving It.”
You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo

Illustration by Rob Dorn ©2011

Welcome to the new Three Cat Media website.  Three Cat Media is thrilled to be able to present this new website.  As you may or may not know, Three Cat Media is committed to providing our clients high quality marketing materials (including web design, graphic design, and brand identity), as well as, marketing strategies and public relations services.  I am especially proud of new enhancements – particularly our blog.  We will be highlighting the work that we do for our clients.  As projects are completed, you will get a special peak of our work and will showcase our wonderful clients.    I  am also particularly proud the new column ADDrift.  Written by Three Cat Media co-owner Rob Dorn, you will witness his journey of living with adult ADD something I know many small business owners and artists struggle with.  Whether you have ADD or self, or just need some extra motivation, this intriguing new blog will provide helpful organization tips and a first hand account of “navigating through life as an adult with ADD”.

In this weekly column, I will be taking you through Marketing Tips and ideas that I have learned over the years, as well as discussing various news in the industry.  But for you, the artist or small business owner, I will be providing ideas to help building your business and brand identity.

Enjoy perusing our new website,  check out the exciting new projects we have finished recently including a postcard design for Edie Falco and Stephen Wallem, the new show poster for Theo Ubique’s upcoming production of “Some Enchanted Evening”, a new website for fired kiln artists and instructors TimnJon Productions, and the great new website for ceramic mold, glass mold, and handbuilding mold company Creative Paradise Inc.

Until next week,

Jason Smith

About Creative Paradise
Creative Paradise is dedicated to providing innovative projects and tools to light the creative fire in every artist. Plaster molds for casting ceramics, plaster forms to aid the clay hand building artist and potter as well as the world’s most innovative line of earthenware molds for glass artists are designed and manufactured at our facility in Goddard, KS. Dedicated to innovation, quality and customer satisfaction, Creative Paradise, Inc. continues to discover fresh new concepts and tools.