Summary of day February 23, 2008 ~ 12:54 pm
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, Technobabble , comments closed
Only part of teh day. It hard to teach kittehs Guitar Hero!
Can you feel the love? February 14, 2008 ~ 4:02 pm
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats , comments closedThis morning, in a very special Valentine’s present to me, Freddie discovered he can knock over the bathroom trash can and paw through the debris. When I got out of the shower, it was to see him lying amongst stray tissues, hair scrapings from the tub drain, and bits of foil, looking at me with an expression that said “Dude! Look what I did! Aren’t I the best kitty ever? I’m so smart!”
The crushed look on his face when I tapped him on the nose and said “No! Bad kitty!” was almost heartbreaking. Or it would have been if I hadn’t had to pick ninety-seven pieces of garbage off the floor. When the day starts out this well, there is only one thing that can make it better. And yes, I am expecting that cat puke on one of the rugs when I get home. Let’s just play some music from Lion King and call it a day, shall we?
Definite yarnivorous behavior January 28, 2008 ~ 2:58 pm
Posted by Julie in : Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Da Cats , comments closedWhen Joe the cat was little, he was a hellion. Destructo kitty #1. During his young life, he was notably responsible for breaking a Depression glass punchbowl (valued at $200 at the time of its demise) and destroying an entire freezer full of meats and frozen goods because he accidentally unplugged it. In July. And if you don’t know what rotting meat smells like when you discover it after the freezer has been out of commission for three days in high summer, consider yourself blessed. I will never forget that smell as long as I live.
Fortunately for Joe, we allowed him to live after these escapades and he outgrew his youthful antics. Or so I thought until Saturday, when I put down the sock I was knitting for a quick trip to the bathroom. When I returned, it was to this:
Click on the photo for notes, but the breakdown is as follows. The little fucker chewed through the yarn while I was taking a piss. Note that he kindly left me with about fourteen inches, a full eight of which was covered with slime which had obviously gone down his little kitty esophagus before being horked back up. Since I know how to do a Russian join and could fix this pretty easily, it was more of an inconvenience than anything else, but one little black cat in Brooklyn nearly lost his life this weekend. As it is, I cut off the slimed yarn, fixed it, and Joseph Thomas and I had a little Come to Jesus talk. I don’t think he’ll be touching yarn again.
So, last week I promised finished objects. Here they are (behind the cut):
Just lucky, I guess November 27, 2007 ~ 3:31 pm
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, Rants, photo safari , comments closedThird time’s a charm, right? And bad things happen in threes? That should mean that after today, my debit card number is off the plate. Today, my debit card number got stolen for the third time. I’m starting to wonder if some brainiac out there sits around coming up with random combinations of numbers, slaps them on cards, and sees if they’ll work to pay for stuff. Because I can’t think of another reason why my card number would be stolen. I only buy online from secure sites. I always make sure that my transaction is over when I leave an ATM, and I make sure to take my receipt with me. I do not get cash from shady ATMs, only my bank and the ATM that’s in the same building as my office, which is surrounded by offices and has security cameras on it. And each of the three times the damn number has been stolen (three different numbers, mind you, twice with HSBC, once with WaMu), the friggin’ card itself has been sitting in my wallet. I just do not get it. Good thing I took money out of the ATM last night. Also a good thing that I bought some wine with it. I need a drink.
I decorated the small tree that I have left over from my college days last night, and while I was hanging decorations, I could see the wheels turning in Freddie’s head. “Oooh! Toys! Toys to swat at!” And every time I would tell him “No, this is not to play with,” he would give me a very confused look. When I thought about it from his point of view, I can’t blame him. He’s a little street cat who has never had an indoor Christmas, and I have spent the past 6 months encouraging him to swat at toys. He doesn’t understand that the Christmas tree is not a toy, only that it’s shiny and dangly. Poor little street cat. At least that’s what I thought until he took a swat at my icicle lights and knocked out the middle of the strand. Then I thought “stupid fucking cat.”
Pictures, as promised:
The most hideous ornament ever. Yes, that’s a crab painted on it. Don’t ask. I love it for its kitsch value.
LED lights are bright.
For example, that green light throws this blinding beam of light two feet away to this curtain.
Do not fuck with the Frosty Friends or they will have you jumping through hoops, too.
Just for Rick, an shot looking up from under the tree. We like to look at the tree this way.
Lights on. November 26, 2007 ~ 10:55 am
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, Daily Grind, In Da Hood , comments closedEveryone in my neighborhood had the same reaction to the day after Thanksgiving as I did: days too short, nights too long and dark, must decorate. Even if houses were only half decorated on Friday, some lights or decorations were put up. Neighbor Forrest outdid himself and managed to put three giant inflatable light-up things on his porch roof, besting his record of two from last year. When he is completely done, I’ll take a picture and post it, although anyone who happens to check out pictures taken from the space station can probably see it. It’s that bright.
My apartment is lit up pretty well itself, and I’ve discovered that LED lights are like laser beams. I have them on my tree for the first time this year (trying to save the planet through my Christmas decorations, Al Gore would be proud), and holy shit, they are little multicolored spotlights. I was so blown away by them the first night I had them up that I totally forgot to put the ornaments on the tree and just sat there mesmerized by the glow. Freddie was also transfixed, at least enough so that he forgot to try to chew the cord for a bit. That’s good, because I’m really tired of saying “No! Zap! Zap!” to him. I don’t think he’s going to understand electrocution except by experiencing it - telling him “Zap!” ain’t cutting it. And no, “Bzzzt!” doesn’t seem to make much of an impression, either.
The short days depress me, and the lights only help so much. The past few days have seemed endless, and I always think it’s much later than it actually is. Today might not be as bad since I’m back at work and that eats up a lot of hours, but then again, I’m back at work and that sucks. When we compare that to endless days spent watching my TiVo backlog…well, work does not offer me the entertainment of Tim Gunn or Ugly Betty, ya know?
Coincidence? I think not. November 5, 2007 ~ 12:07 pm
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, Random Insanity, Shorty , comments closedGame plan for today: relentlessly stalk the Blue Moon website to see when the new Raven series is launched, make a big hookin’ order with my 10% discount and the gift certificate Jordana’s mom got me for my birthday. This may or may not happen before I leave for the day, since I’m leaving early for Joe’s monthly bloodwork appointment at the vet’s. When we get home from that, there will be time enough to take a shower, change into my Polamalu jersey, and grab a beer before settling in front of the TV with my knitting to watch the Steelers-Ravens game. Hmmm…Raven series launched the day we play the Ravens. Coincidence? Probably about as much as there is between me taking the kitty to the doctor today and going to my own kitty doctor tomorrow. 
Cheap thrills October 10, 2007 ~ 7:59 pm
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats , comments closedWhilst roaming around scenic Pittsfield last weekend, Rick and I stopped at Target. This is never good, because I always walk out of Target with three things I went in there to get and fifty things that just appealed to me as I strolled through. This week’s most notable impulse buy: a cat chicken hat. I believe the cost of it was $4.99. Pictures of cats modeling said chicken hat behind the cut.
Diversionary tactic. September 25, 2007 ~ 2:03 pm
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats , comments closedI am grumpy and grouchy and don’t have anything to say, so I will distract you with a picture of my cat watching lions on TV. He also enjoys shows about fish; he watched about five minutes of Blue Planet the other night.
Cats vs. Baby August 29, 2007 ~ 9:35 am
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, The Girls, Urban Family , comments closedJordana and Samang came over to my place last night, which means that the cats got to see their first baby. They were fascinated, Freddie especially. He looked her over, startled at the noises she made, and did not seem to understand that she was in fact a human. To be fair, he’s never seen a human the same size as he is, so I can understand the confusion. He seemed to like the way she smelled, though, and in the end tried to get her to pet him by headbutting her hand. He also licked her, perhaps to find out if she was edible. The best part of the night was when we had put her down on the bed for a nap, and Freddie (forgettting she was around because she was quiet) jumped up on the bed to get to his window perch, saw the baby kick and jumped a foot into the air. Because “Holy shit what the hell is that!!! Why is it on the bed??? Oh, wait. It’s that thing. The thing that makes noises and doesn’t pet me.”
Joe, in typical Joe fashion, took longer to warm up to her. (I think he’s also seen a baby or two in his long life, so he knew to be wary.) Late in the evening though, when the baby was still napping, I put him up on the bed to see her. She had gotten an arm out of her swaddle by this time, and when he got close to sniff her she whacked him upside the head. He looked at me to verify that I had seen this abuse, and then lay down at her feet to keep guard over her and protect her from that other miscreant, Freddie. Or maybe he just reasoned that the feet were still swaddled and less likely to make contact with him. But when I asked him if he liked the baby, he meowed. I take that as a good sign.
Baby-2, cats-0.
Grab bag July 10, 2007 ~ 11:05 am
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, Daily Grind, Urban Family , comments closedI have some really deep posts rattling around in my head…well, maybe not really deep, but deeper than this is going to be. Because today I don’t have the time for a deep post. Sorry ’bout that. On to the bullet points:
- Freddie thinks he’s a dog. He has taken to gnawing on our sandals, this morning going so far as to gnaw on my Tevas while I was wearing them. All of my sandals and now Rick’s as well have tiny teeth marks in them. And yes, I do put them away when I’m not wearing them, however
FidoFreddie can open closets as well, so we are screwed. - Somewhere in my upgrade to WP 2.2.1 or whatever it is, I lost my Flickr e-z uploader application. I’m sure there is an upgrade for that as well, but the computer at work doesn’t like it when I use FTP. So I have to do it at home. And we all know how much I have been at home lately. So instead I just have to point you towards this the old-fashioned way: my LOL Cats.
- My undergrad college made news all around the planet today, judging by the number of news sites I’m getting by typing in the words “Meadville wrecking ball” on Google. Apparently a wrecking ball broke loose from a crane and rolled 3/4 of a mile down a hill, damaging cars and injuring people in its path until it came to a stop in the trunk of a Taurus. Here’s an in-depth article. (I especially like the part on the second page about the guy who was injured when he “attempted to stop the wrecking ball by throwing bricks in its path.” Only in Meadville.) Here’s a picture. Meadville in the summer is slower than slow, so I’m assuming this will provide plenty of water-cooler talk at least until August.
- It is hotter than hell here right now, so rather than let the little kitties suffer while I’m gone, I left the a/c on in my house for them. Al Gore can’t bitch, though, because the thermostat is set for 81* and they’re on energy saver mode. I can hear my mom asking me why do I even bother having the a/c on if I’m going to have it set that high, and the answer is “Well, 81* is significantly cooler than the 107* it would reach in the apartment otherwise, so there you go.”
- I got a ceiling fan on sale at Home Depot for $37. It has no lights, but as we have no ceiling light there anyway, and I just bought CFLs for all of my lamps (yeah, Live Earth, making a difference), it’s all good. The Landlady is having an electrician wire it up for me, although I told her we could just swag it over from the corner. She is apparently unconvinced of mine and Thabiso’s swagging skillz.
- Speaking of Thabs, Samang turned one month old on Sunday. Where the hell did this past month go? Now we just need to get set for her little blessing/not-christening which is going to be next Saturday. I need to figure out what I’m going to say at this shindig. Crap.
I think that’s it. Or enough, at any rate. Now to go do work for a bit until 2:30, when I leave, head into the city, grab some scripts (did I mention I’m on the nominating committee for my theater’s playwriting award? I am.), and head to the Port Authority. The bus leaves at 5 and gets in at 9:20. I’m betting I will get through at least three scripts in that time period.
