Categories
Critters

Kitten pics of the day

C’mon, you know you want ’em.
My, how things change, from this…
Olivia's Group W fuzzball bench (May 2006)
to this:
Olivia on the Group W Bench (February 2007)
It’s almost time for Olivia’s first birthday! (It may barely look like it, but she has grown.)
And here it looks like Olivia’s pal has rolled “Oberon” his side.
Olivia and Oberon
Have you noticed how many pictures of him have him upside down? 😆… Read more

Categories
Critters Home Base

My nose isn’t running. It’s engaged in a carefully planned tactical retreat.

Fevered thoughts:
To work or not to work. I don’t see how I can possibly go to work tomorrow. I feel like total crap. Every sneeze makes my head feel like someone’s shot me from the grassy knoll – back, and to the left, back, and to the left. I don’t see how the hell I’m going to get any sleep tonight. And yet if I don’t go in tomorrow, I can’t pick up the paycheck I wasn’t able to pick up on Friday. Worse yet, between snow and adventures in the emergency room, I only worked one day last week, and not even a full day at that. The place where I’m working right now is so tiny that it operates on an “if you don’t show up, you don’t get paid” system. At that rate I might as well be working from home already – I can sit around and edit video in this state, but answer phones? Don’t think so. And yet my not being able to get my check on Friday already has us in the hole. All of this scares the crap out of me when it comes to the impending arrival of a third human being in the house. As if the state of the house itself wasn’t already scaring me for that reason.
I missed the Super Bowl, but I am watching the Puppy Bowl. Might as well confiscate my testes now, what kinda red-blooded American male does that? 😆 Seriously, since I can’t sleep and I’m still up doing laundry and working on the site and a video assignment, I’ve got the replay of the Animal Planet Puppy Bowl on. As much as I love the little camera at the bottom of the water bowl, that Puppy Bowl (and the Kitten Halftime Show) kinda creeps me out a little bit. I doubt very much the animals are being mistreated, but there’s just something about it that makes me look at it askance, sorta like “would these animals be in that room, under those lights, doing those things if they didn’t have to be?” Then I get to wondering why Oberon tries to run out of the house if a door’s left open just a little too long, and the whole free will thing bugs me even more coming from the other direction. I’m hoping I can chalk this whole philosophical dilemma up to being sick as hell, but if watching a bunch of frolicking kitties and puppies on TV puts me in this state of mind, I’m not gonna survive having to raise a critter with two legs. Then again, I’ve heard enough about my utter unsuitability as a potential parent from some corners that I’ve probably got a reservoir of doubt built up.
On that cheerful note, I think I’m gonna finish my hot chocolate, chase it down with some Nyquil, and maybe actually get some sleep.… Read more

Categories
Critters Home Base Music

…and tired always followed sick.

Thanks a lot, Oberon. Little fart ran out of the house around this time last night, and I had to get something/anything on to go outside and fish him out from under the side deck, again. This time Xena was no help at all – she thought me wallowing around in the snow on the ground was a sign that it was playtime, and wound up scaring Obi back under the deck repeatedly. The result? I woke up this morning feeling like death warmed over, and not even properly warmed over, but like someone kinda half-ass read the microwave instructions for warming death over and forgot to peel the film back on one corner of death and didn’t stir death halfway through, so the applesauce is still frozen and the melted cheese hasn’t melted over anything that it was actually supposed to melt over. (In fact, half of it is in the applesauce.) I must really love that little dipwad because that’s the second time in a week I’ve had to go retrieve him before he wanders too far off, and the second time with snow on the ground.
The wife was unbelievably happy that I made Jello for her tonight, like it’s the most remarkable thing anyone’s ever done for her. Erm…okay. Maybe I need to make Jello more often. It’s a kitchen challenge that taxes my cooking skills to their very limits, and maybe someday I’ll be ready to move up to Jello Pudding! Not that there’s anything wrong with making her happy, especially when she’s lugging my two-headed mutant love child around in her belly, but I’m just gonna chalk this one up to the hormones. 😆
I’ve been munching on some Reese’s chocolate dipped peanut butter cookies lately and wondering why it is that no one outside of the Girl Scouts can seem to nail down the perfect balance between peanut butter, chocolate and cookie that we mere mortals know only as Tagalongs. Then again, if Tagalongs were available more than once a year, I’d probably be hovering closer to 350 pounds than 250. The terrifying thought also just occurred to me that, no longer working at the station, I can’t order my usual annual forklift pallet of Tagalongs from Donna anymore. Holy crap, my source has dried up! I’m going to start having tremors somewhere around Easter weekend.
Without even really deliberately setting out to do it, I embarked on something of an exploration of electronic music today, from Raymond Scott’s 50s and 60s experiments to the non-Doctor Who repertoire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to Hot Butter to Jarre to Art of Noise to early Juno Reactor and Christopher Franke. (And some other stuff in between that I’m probably forgetting.) I need to hurry up and get a USB MIDI cable extra soonish because I’m feeling the music-making bug chewing away at the edge of my consciousness almost around the clock right now. Maybe it’s inspiration from recent events, but I’ve had some lyrics that were very vague suddenly swim right into focus, along with a lot of other stuff, and I’m charting out arrangements as best someone can when they can’t actually read or write music, working out and practicing guitar parts, that sort of thing. I’ve got one humdinger that I’ll probably use as my first experiment, but it’s a bit daunting, what with some rather specific instrument sounds that I’m gonna have to coax outta Cubase, and at least 8 part harmonies on the vocals. (Yeah, fair warning, I’m probably finally going to sing.) (Gee, I wonder who could’ve inspired me to pile that many vocals on something?) But it’s the one piece that’s just burning a hole in the back of my brain, so challenging or not, that’s probably the one that needs to come out of my head first. I’m not sure what’s flipped a switch in my head that’s made me feel like actually exposing the rest of the world to my singing voice, aside from the possibility that I’ll be having to sing to someone a lot here in a few months.
You have been warned.… Read more

Categories
Critters Should We Talk About The Weather? Television & Movies

Log cabin fever (it’s a remote possibility)

This blog is about to become a chronicle of my descent into madness. I couldn’t even get out of the driveway to go to work this morning, which is just as well because the road our house is on is a solid sheet of ice. They’ve plowed it, but didn’t sand it – what’s the point? All that does is just expose the ice. Might as well have left the snow there so at least there’d be something to get some traction on. Anyway, yet another day where I’m not making any money. Yeesh.
I do have some cute new kitty pictures for ya though. Isn’t that what this blog is really supposed to be about?
Othello, Oberon, Olivia
Guess who’s keeping the bed warm for mommy? How about…everybody? (Well okay, the dog’s not up on the bed. But she would be if she could.)
Othello, Oberon, Olivia
The beast awakens.
Othello, Oberon, Olivia
The beast asks his big brother to handle that bright flashing thing and then goes back to sleep.
Speaking of cute kitties, there’s a newly-re-processed, higher-resolution version of Olivia Vs. The Daleks here for your amusement – and this one doesn’t even go to another video when it’s done! 😀
Watched the very, very good bonus features on the Doctor Who Inferno DVD today, and did some more work on the massive, nigh-insurmountable task of converting our entire music review section into a database.
Thanks to everyone who’s ordered stuff through theLogBook.com – the first quarter revenue is in and I’ve turned around and spent the lot of it. 😆 Your patronage is appreciated – don’t stop now, please!
I’ve been following the saga of Boston vs. the Mooninites with great amusement. Keep in mind, I don’t even really like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but the hysteria surrounding this whole things has been amusing and frighteningly enlightening. I’m almost convinced that the city officials who are going balls-to-the-wall with the pressing of charges and so on are just doing this to try to justify their initial reaction. In the end, the joke really is on them – and it’s created the kind of publicity that Cartoon Network couldn’t have bought if they had originally wanted to. Now that it’s News, don’t expect any arm of the Turner octopus to let it drop out of the headlines any time soon. Maybe I’m sympathetic to Turner because I’m left in goggle-eyed admiration of what they managed to pull off here (without even trying!) in the name of promoting a TV show, but I’m also less than sympathetic to Boston for just not getting it. Yes, I’m sure they spent money mobilizing their task force of terror…but they’d probably get a lot more points for laughing it off, bragging about how well they responded, and asking Turner Broadcasting to reimburse them for the “exercise.” This is kinda like prosecuting someone to the fullest extent of the law for toilet papering your house.… Read more

Categories
...And Little E Makes 3 Critters

Horse Power

I was immensely saddened to see that Barbaro didn’t make it. Not a total surprise, but still heartbreaking. I’m sure some folks wonder why his owners poured a fortune into saving him, but I completely understand. Almost better than I’d like to. It’s sad that he didn’t get a chance to add a few little Barbaros to the world, but of course he couldn’t be bred in the condition he was in.
I’ve had a roughly four or five day period where I’ve questioned my own breeding. Namely, the wife is in the hospital for the second time in a week, unable to keep liquid, food, or much of anything down. Even water would make her throw up. She’s coming home tonight (her mom is bringing her home after taking over for me at around 6pm tonight; we’d been in the ER since 11:00am) with yet another batch of prescriptions that are supposed to get her back on her feet and working again. At present, I have no idea where my offspring’s well being stands with regard to her ill health and the barrage of medications. I’ve spent much of the day bracing myself for very bad news.
One thing is for sure: the old tale about mood swings during pregnancy ain’t a lie. I’m going to have to find something to do, or friends to hang out with, within a reasonably close driving distance, and soon, or I’m convinced we’re gonna strangle each other with our bare hands. I’ve been advising the guys at Star Trek: Origins, a new fan film being made in Kentucky, but Kentucky is hardly a short drive away. (Though there have been nights recently where I’ve felt like I’d rather Olivia, Othello and Oberonbe in Kentucky…) Hopefully once we’re both back to normal health and I’m not staying home waiting on her hand and foot around the clock and can actually sleep, there might be some equilibrium restored. God, I hope so. If I can survive this, I’d like to think it’ll be a while before the kid can do anything to try my patience near as much. I’ve tried at all times to be understanding and compassionate, but I can only take so much abuse in return.
For some reason, Livejournal didn’t receive an entry I posted early this morning during one such sleepless interval, so here’s a link to it if you didn’t catch it. Why that happened, I’ve no idea. It’s kinda disjointed anyway, so maybe you folks are better off in that universe where the last entry was the picture of Oberon and Othello curled up asleep. To make it up to you, here’s a picture of all three of them, just moments ago, keeping the bed warm for Jan before she comes home.
I miss sleep.
(Reposting to make sure LJ crosspost still works.)… Read more