Truer Words - A Journal

Our Little Letter M

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:01:42 GMT

We lost a special little cat today. Her name was Xodus.

Officially, you'd pronounce that the same as Exodus. We tended to call her Zodus, or Zodie-Pop.

Why the weird name? Birmans are traditionally named according to the year of birth: they're all 'X' cats one year, 'Y' cats the next year, then 'Z', then back to 'A', etc. Xodus was seven years old.

In her first year she was the New England region's Best Birman Kitten. We have the ribbons and the plaque to prove it. The picture above comes from that first year. That sweet face and the bright blue eyes melted the judge's hearts the moment they saw her. The pronounced 'M' on her forehead, the perfect head shape, the classic Birman stance, and the thick, deep coat all helped her to win over and over again.

Later we found that she wasn't the healthiest cat in the house. She went into heat in "stealth mode," and got pregnant (with the willing assistance of Xerxes) more than once without warning us ahead of time. She was a breeder, so getting pregnant wouldn't normally be an issue, but she usually had trouble with her litters and we lost a lot of her kittens. We finally had her spayed a couple years ago (in fact, we stopped breeding altogether, and got them all 'fixed').

Corinne has always said that Xodus was a great nap cat. They'd snuggle up in the afternoons and Xodus would just lay quietly under the covers, against Corinne's side, until nap time was over. The other cats were never as good, they'd sometimes wake her up too soon. Never Xodus, so she tended to get a little preferential treatment in the afternoons.

The same could not be said for Xodus at night. Instead of cuddling up with us and sleeping quietly, she would always come crying to me, head-butt me, and make her signature cry: "MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" That sound and the mark on her forehead produced the nickname, "our little letter M."

Another of our cats, "CP", took a strong dislike to Xodus. Being a much larger cat (she takes after her father, Xerxes), she would chase her into a closet or under the couch, and then stand sentry for hours to make suer she didn't come out. We'd put a stop to it whenever we saw it, but could never teach CP to just leave her alone and we couldn't guard Xodus all day long. For the last couple of years, she spent a little too much time hiding from the other cats.

We came home early this afternoon to the sound of a cat in loud distress. She wasn't making the "m" sound now, but I knew the voice. At first I thought that she was just tired of being hassled by CP. I lifted the couch with one arm, grabbed Xodus with the other, and brought her to the bedroom so she'd be ready for Corinne's nap time. She ran for the edge of the bed to jump down, and I immediately knew something else was wrong: her back legs weren't working.

Corinne was quite upset when I told her — of course — and asked me to please call the vet. The office was closed (Sunday afternoon before Christmas in a small town? Duh.) but Cheryl called back about an hour later and told me to meet her at the office at 3:30.

The diagnosis was a (likely) blood clot in a vessel that runs along the spine (aorta?), about 3/4 of the distance from her head to her tail. She had no feeling in her legs or her tail, and her feet were cold. Treatment would be very expensive, would not reverse the damage which was already done, and was not guaranteed to even clear the clot. Also, many cats (and dogs) who get these clots will get another one a few months later.

Little Xodus was obviously in pain. She hadn't stopped meowing since we came home.

I made the tough decision, told Xodus how sorry I was, and stroked her head and her little M until it was over just minutes later.

The Prodigal Cat

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:34:29 GMT

After disappearing sometime yesterday, Xodus has been found.

Nobody was sure when she was last seen, but my big concern was that she may have slipped outside through the garage.

We upended the house in search of the wee beastie, to no avail.

Late this morning as I sat at my desk, I heard a very quiet "mmmmmm". I couldn't tell where it came from, and it was so quiet that after a quick search I decided it must have been a cat upstairs.

This afternoon I heard it again. I moved around very quietly, trying to find the source. The "m" sound came from somewhere near one corner of my office area.

There's a closet there, but I'd already checked that.

There's also a pile of stuff, there. To rescue this wayward cat, I had to:

Move all the parts to my parents' foldaway bed, which they're storing here until they have room for it again. This includes the solid wood, queen size base.
Lift the leaf of the old dining room table which is currently acting as "temporary storage" for a bunch of other "stuff," in the corner of the room (it was behind the bed). (This table has two "fold down" leaves, one at each end, that convert it from card-table-size to an eight-seater.)
Pull out one of the old computers from under the table, to prop up the leaf and keep it out of my way.
Pull out the other two old computers. Ahem. Anybody need some old junk?
Climb completely under the table and reach around/behind the other leaf, to rescue this cat who was trapped between the leaf and the wall.

Yes, I have some junk in my basement. Isn't that what they're for?

Anyway, the relief at finding this cat really does more than make up for losing her. In fact, Corinne is fawning over her so much, she's already plotting her next trick.

Kiki, The Houdini-Wannabe

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 26 Dec 2005 23:24:45 GMT

We have two cats that stay in our bedroom all the time: Kiki, and her daughter. They're *allowed* to leave our room, and occasionally they take an adventurous jaunt down the hall... but as soon as they see any other cats, they bolt back to the bedroom like their tails are on fire.

This morning, when I went into the bathroom to take my shower, I noticed that Kiki didn't follow me in there as she has been doing for months. (She's obsessed with figuring out how the water comes out of the faucet in the tub. It's like magic, man!!!) After my shower, I still didn't see her. She wasn't laying at the window listening to the rain, nor was she laying in my spot in the bed.

Curious, I grabbed a flashlight and looked under the bed. No sign of her. But, cats can be "invishible" when they want to be, so I didn't worry about it much.

I had to go back into the bedroom again a few minutes later. Still no sign of her, so I grabbed the flashlight and more throughly searched the room. She wasn't in the closet under Corinne's dresses, nor behind the chests of drawers, on the closet shelf, under the bed, in the bathroom. She wasn't even in the clothes hamper, where I've found her a few times. Trying not to awaken sleeping beauty, I poked around Corinne's sleeping form to see if she was under the blankets , in the crook of Corinne's knees, or perhaps between the blankets and sheets. No sign of her.

Somehow, this little escape artist must have managed to sneak out a closed door, at night, and shut the door behind her!

Oh wait, there's one last place to check. Behind the blinds! I had opened the windows last night because it's so warm (about 45 degrees F), so she had probably crawled behind the blinds to sleep on the window sill.

As my hand reached for the blinds to pull them back, I remembered one little detail and my stomach immediately headed south. This Summer, when I installed the air conditioner, I took the storm window -- frame and all -- right off the house so that the ac would sit properly. When I opened the window last night, I'd *really* opened it: there was no longer anything to stop a clumsy, curious cat from falling out and finding herself outside and alone for the first time in her life.

@&#$% !!! $%& +@() !!!!!!!

No more letting Corinne sleep late (in spite of working all day at the Westerly WARM shelter, Sunday). This was very bad.

Corinne woke up instantly when I told her what happened. In a few seconds she was dressed, and actually got outside before me while I put on my shoes. Calling didn't work -- this is a cat, after all -- so she went back in (probably to get some shoes on).

I thought about it. "She could have gone out the window any time last night. We live on the edge of some big woods, but she's a timid cat and has never been out here before. She'd try to find shelter... but where?" The car port seemed like a good place to start, so I walked around to that side of the house. Jed has a lot of stuff stored under there right now (tools, mostly), and I was afraid this was going to take awhile.

Actually, it was easy. She was on the stairs leading into the house, under the car port, curled up under the dryer vent! When I walked around the corner she started pirouetting and mewling in a staccato, plaintive fahion. "Please rescue me!"

Phew. That could have been really, really bad. Kiki currently has "most favored feline" status, is tied for first as my favorite cat, and was a big comfort to Corinne last year.

All's well that ends well, though. Right?

When Cats Take Over the World

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 26 Mar 2005 20:25:26 GMT

... and speaking of ways to destroy the planet, I bet you didn't know that our particular crop of super-villains have their own theme song, did you? Well, now you do. It was written and sung by Jamie Anderson (or more likely, by one of her cats).

They made me post this.

Cat Hair Soup

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:24:35 GMT

For yesterday's ecclesial meal, Corinne provided three dishes: reuben casserole, buffalo chicken enchiladas, and cat hair soup.

Mmmm... cat hair soup! Sounds good, doesn't it?

That's not really what it's called. That's what I told everybody it was called, along with warning them about the spider that fell into it while cooking, in a mock attempt to have leftovers to bring home with us after the meal.

The soup is acutally Cajun Crab Chowder, and it's totally out of this world. Really incredible, I've never had anything like it!

Corinne has hit a few home runs lately. The most notable, recent success is her recipe (or implementation) for stuffed Jalapenos. Cream cheese, spicy sausage, and a strip of bacon.

Shoot, I'm drooling.

Anyway, they all knew me too well. Nobody believed me about the cat hair or the spider. Frank Locke announced that he got the last of it, but he was deceived by the width and color of the crock pot: I found a bowl and a half still in there! (The bowl and the soup were the same color, it was an easy mistake.) So, Frank got another half of a bowl, and I gave the last bowl (which would have been my second) to Bill Ellison when I found out he didn't get any.

Being married to a woman who is good at and loves cooking... there's just nothing else like it.

The tiBook Power Adapter Woes

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 06 Oct 2004 07:56:12 GMT

Last night I was working on my laptop in the bedroom -- actually, at the precise moment this happened, I wasn't working, Corinne and I were browsing some of these pictures -- when the tiBook suddenly went to sleep.

That's not supposed to happen when it's plugged in. Unless, of course, the power cord has been damaged by the teeth of a ferocious kitten (more of a full grown cat) and so the laptop hasn't been getting power for the last couple hours without my noticing it. I'd caught Kiki chewing on the cable last night, but the damage was worse than I thought. I'm not sure what was the last straw, as it worked all day yesterday and at the time that it died Kiki was sleeping on my lap, under my lap desk.

I tried fiddling with it to bring it back to life, but when it's plugged in the brick actually makes a rapid ticking sound. That was scary. Still didn't light up the powerbook, either.

Whatever did it in, I now have to spend at least $75 on a new one. Truly can not afford that right now, but I can afford going without everything on the laptop even less.

I'm taking someone (from my ecclesia) to the hospital this morning for surgery, in New London. That's just a couple miles from my closest Apple dealer, so I'll be visiting with my friends at The Computer Lab on the way home. If they don't have one in stock, I'll probably have to drive all the way to Warwick, RI, to the CompUSA. Ugh.

Back from Ohio, SCBF Annual Show

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 30 Aug 2004 17:12:29 GMT

We're back from a very nice weekend in Ohio. Too much driving, but it was nice anyway.

Corinne flew out on Thursday, and had no problems at all.. five hours after I dropped her at the airport in Providence, RI, she was at the hotel in Medina, OH. I drove out on Friday morning at 4:45, and got there a little before 2:30 that afternoon (if I remember correctly).

The weather was pretty much the same as every year: hot and sticky, with huge thunderstorms every afternoon. It's been the same for each of the three years we've done this, and the storms are as impressive as the biggest storms I remember ever having in New England (other than the hurricanes, which don't often include thunder and lightning).

I went for rides both Saturday and Sunday, but nothing significant: less than 30 miles both days. Stopped in to see the guys at Century Cycles, and the store manager, who I used to think was the owner, recognized me immediately, and remembered just about everything except my name. Very cool. Also cool: they were selling Gu for less than $1/pack, compared to $1.25 here in Mystic, so I bought three boxes.

They wanted to see the bike, so I rode over there again in the afternoon. Even though they're the biggest, most popular bike shop in the area, they sell no customs and very few high-end bikes. One guy said people walk in there and compare their prices with what they can get at K-Mart next door. That's ridiculous, but I guess it explains why they don't sell so many higher-end bikes.

Both days, I stopped by the show hall and talked to Corinne (and Bob, the other cyclist we know at the show). Storm clouds were rush in from the West, and both days I made it back to the hotel just seconds -- literally, just seconds -- before the "heavens opened." Since the hotel was East of the show hall I was riding ahead of the storm, but everybody told me it started raining just a couple minutes after I left. (I don't mind riding in the rain anymore, but these storms were crazy enough to drown me, and I don't *really* want to be struck by lightning.)

Corinne was showing two cats (one wasn't ours, she was just agenting). Ours (Kiki) didn't do great, especially the first day, because the judges seemed to prefer the "milk chocolate" color of the only other chocolate Birman. The other cat, Sugar, did quite well the first day but nothing the second day. Cat judging is *so* subjective.

The front desk said I could check out of the hotel a couple hours late for an extra $10. So on Sunday, after a 29 mile ride, I went to return the key at 1:15, and mentioned that I regretted not paying for an extra hour (of late checkout) so I could hop in the pool and then change my clothes in the room. It was so hot that after my ride I just couldn't stop sweating, even with a cool shower. Well, they let me do it anyway, and they even cancelled the charge for the late checkout. Thanks, Red Roof.

Corinne was mostly done with the cats at the show by the time I got there at about 2:30 (after my swim). I had the truck packed with the cats and the show gear by 4:15, and (after a few dozen kisses goodbye ;-) I was on my way home at 4:30. Like every other year, I hit really sick traffic jams at the road construction in PA, but made it home at 3:30 AM.

Ohio Bound

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 26 Aug 2004 15:13:23 GMT

Corinne and I are going to be in Ohio this weekend for the SCBF annual show, for the third time in as many years.

She flew out this morning, and (just like the last two years) I'll be driving out early Friday morning, returning very late Sunday night or early Monday morning.

This is more of a vaction-y trip than anything else. Corinne is almost done being the VP of this club, and I'm going mainly to be with her and to get all the show gear out there (and two cats). While she's at the show, I'll be working or riding my bike.

Speaking of riding a bike... it's almost time for the last time trial of the season. Must go!

Ride #27: Escapism

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 12:37:05 GMT

I've been hand-feeding the five kittens that were born last weekend, every few hours, every day. I just sort of have a knack for it, I guess, so I do it instead of Corinne. They need to be hand-fed because the mother isn't producing enough milk for them, so we supplement with KMR. (This involves putting the food in a 3 cc syringe, with a thin, flexible tube on the end. The tube goes down the throat into the stomach, and the KMR is squirted in.)

Sadly, one of the kittens started showing signs of weakness Thursday night. It's cries were much quieter, and it didn't grip my finger while I was feeding it. Friday morning, it died. I have no idea what was wrong with it... but experience has shown me that sometimes they just don't make it.

After burying the kitten, I decided to take the rest of the day off. I goofed around in the house for an hour or two, and then spun out my longest ride so far this year: almost 55 miles. It thoroughly wore me out, and kept my mind off things (I'm NOT a real big fan of death right now, that's for sure), so... mission accomplished.

Unfortunately, I was so worn out that when I went to the readings last night and finally played ping pong against Jim Burns, I was demolished. He really is as good as the legends said, but I was beaten by everybody else, too. I'm hoping to have more energy for a rematch next week.

Stats: 54.39 miles (87.56 km) in 3h 1' 48" for an average speed of 17.95 mph (28.90 kph).

New Kittens

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 19 Jun 2004 12:40:15 GMT

Corinne was totally exhausted last night, so I stayed up until 2:30 AM helping Z'est La Vie (Lovey) birth her second batch of Birman kittens.

I thought she was done after three. I'd been laying there on the floor, reading, for over an hour without seeing any signs of more kittens or contractions. I went to bed.

When we checked on her this morning, she had just had her fifth. Oops!

I'm not sure she needed our help at all. She's quite good about cleaning the babies, cutting the umbilical (not sure if she uses the scissors like we did for the first three, but probably not), and disposing of the placenta (don't ask if you don't already know...). We're really there just to provide fresh towels, boil water, and coach her on her breathing. ;-)

It's time to start taking pictures again! I think it's been a year since we last had kittens.

Not as Bad as it Sounded

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 24 May 2004 09:24:52 GMT

This morning, I was already down in my office when Corinne woke up. I heard her moving around upstairs, and then after she came out of the bedroom she screamed bloody murder!

I moved so fast, there was a sonic boom.

In the short distance between my office and where I found her -- freaking out -- in the kitchen, I somehow managed to review all of the cats I'd seen this morning. Xerxes, Missy, Xodus, Lovey, Ysabel (a.k.a. Gidget), and the kitten who still doesn't leave our room. All alive and accounted for, and there's no way one of them could have died in the hour or so that I'd been downstairs...

Well, when she came out of the room, she had found what looked like a little "cat yak" on the floor outside the door. She picked it up with a tissue and was about to flush it, when she got a better look at it (still in her hand). The "it" in this case was the back half of a mouse.

So, you see, she really *was* screaming bloody murder. The only mystery here, though, is why the mice are so stupid. This is a house full of cats, and one or two of them are particularly good mousers. One of those mousers is pregnant, which just hones the hunting instinct.

The mouse is the perfect cat food, though. (Seriously.) Betcha didn't know that.

Oh, and uh... don't worry. My heart's ok now that it's beating again.

The Last Cat Carrier You'll Never Buy

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 05 Mar 2004 13:09:43 GMT

This cat carrier is an interesting idea.

Odd that I haven't seen it in the local pet supply store.

Long Weekend

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 14:08:04 GMT

Corinne and I are leaving tomorrow for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, returning on Sunday evening.

I'm actually going to meet my elusive and mysteeeeerious friend Clark Venable, after years of phone calls, email, and IM!

Other than the driving and Friday's lunch with Clark, this is a work weekend for me. I'll be holed up in a hotel room working furiously on one or two projects for a couple of my most important clients.

Corinne plans to do some very exciting grocery shopping in PA (no joke), as the extended Lancaster area (her home) is the only place you can buy *real* food. Saturday and Sunday there's a cat show in NJ, in which she's a clerk (or, "will be clerking," if you prefer verbification).

Out for the Weekend

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 17 Oct 2003 07:19:16 GMT

Corinne and I will be away for the weekend, we're going to the National Birman Fanciers show in southern Jersey. Should be back late Sunday.

Actually, I'm going to the hotel to work on a feature for Conversant that I've been partially paid for but haven't yet managed to complete. Corinne's going to the cat show, and we actually have a couple to show this time! :-)

See y'all on Monday.

I'm Back, Wish I Wasn't

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 09:19:00 GMT

The weekend was great, thanks for asking. Coming home wasn't so great.

Thursday night before leaving I asked Greg to watch the servers (the only things I was worried about leaving behind). I gave him the passwords to all of the machines, and knew he'd be able to handle anything that came up... after all, he helped write Conversant, and manages his own servers at ALT. I was travelling without email for the weekend, so he'd have no way to reach me.

I left on Friday at 4:00 AM, and reached the hotel in Medina at about 3:15 PM. That's almost an hour faster than last year, simply because I missed all of the heavy traffic in the worst areas.

While Corinne was trying to take a short nap, I went over to Century Cycles. I'd been there last year and really liked the place, but now I had to go. My bike was fine, but my cleats were broken (on my shoes) and had to be replaced, or I wouldn't be riding again for awhile. Unfortunately, nobody in this store had any clue what they were, so I had to go back to the hotel and get my bike, so they could see the pedals they lock into. (I couldn't remember the name of the pedals at the time, but they are Campagnolo ProFit.)

Unfortunately, they didn't have them in stock. Century is a chain of four stores, so they called their biggest store and found them there. I thanked the guys in Medina for their help, and planned to head up to Solon in the morning.

Corinne had a club meeting Friday evening, and then we went to the club's pizza party around the pool at the hotel. There was another cyclist there, Bob, also the husband of one of the committee members, so we stood around talking bikes and riding most of the time. I stood right on the edge of the pool, inviting (or perhaps daring) someone to try to push me in (I wouldn't have gone alone...) but nobody took the bait. Oh well. ;-)

Saturday morning we set up our show cage and grooming space in the show hall, let Ariel get settled into her temporary new home, and then I took off for the big Century Cycles store in Solon, OH. Forty-five minutes later...

Oh my word. What a bike shop!!!

I stood there in the entrance, open-mouthed with awe. The place was huge, and beautiful. Rows and rows of bikes, with plenty of space between. It was very well designed and decorated, with gear and clothes along the outside walls and the repair shop at the back.

Turns out I actually said something when I walked in the door, like, "Wow, what a bike shop," or whatever. Didn't mean to say it out loud, but one of the guys behind the counter smiled and said, "Yeah, we hear that a lot."

They sold me the cleats and transferred the metal hooks from the old cleats (sold separately, and these were still in good shape), and then forty-five minutes later I was back in the hotel room.

After writing some Weblog II documentation for a few hours, I went out for my ride: 36 miles at about 18 mph. I even stopped by the fair grounds where the cat show as being held, but couldn't get anyone to go into the building and tell Corinne I was there. Perhaps my bright blue and yellow jersey scared them. I headed back to the hotel, showered, and left to pick her up in the truck... but I was late and she was gone. When I returned, she was there and told me that another person from the show brought her back, and they passed me on the way out.

Sunday I dropped her (and Ariel) off at the show again, and worked for a couple more hours on the documentation. Then I packed up the truck, checked out of the hotel, and headed back to the show. We had decided to drive home together (she flew out), but we would stop at a hotel half way so she wouldn't go crazy being stuck in the car for twelve hours.

We found a room at an Econo Lodge, approximately 200 miles into Pennsylvania. She set up her laptop and started checking her email, and I asked her to try to reach [tw]. No good, the site wouldn't come up. I sent an email to Greg from her account, knowing he wouldn't see it until the next morning.

Monday morning we slept a little late and left the hotel at ten o'clock. We hit a lot of traffic and a few jams due to construction and accidents. The worst was in CT, there was an accident at exit 25, and traffic was backed up for miles, to exit 21. We left the highway and took Route 1 to Milford. Believe it or not, Corinne wanted to go to Hooters: she wanted to find out if her Buffalo wings were as good as theirs. We went in together, and placed the order, and then I decided to just wait in the car: too many meaningless, worthless distractions.

Now, just to make the trip take that much longer, we had to stop in Old Saybrook for an hour because she had an appointment at the hair salon at 5:30, which took an hour. (We arrived five minutes early, so there's no way we could have gone home first for her to return alone.)

Finally, we were home at 7:00 PM. Nine hours for 300 miles, versus six hours the day before, and eleven hours for 600+ miles a few days earlier.

Email from Greg explained that the server had completely crashed, and I hadn't given him the phone number for the ISP to ask for a little help with a reboot or diagnostic. I called them immediately to have the server rebooted, which cleared all the problems. (Clearly, I need to either figure out why it crashed and prevent it from ever happening again, or I need to install something which will reboot the machine automatically.)

This crash happened on one of Macrobyte's two most stable servers, the one we use for most of our paid-hosting accounts. Now I have to hope that the downtime wasn't enough to lose any clients.

Travelling

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 21 Aug 2003 14:54:05 GMT

Corinne and I will be in Ohio all weekend, just like last year, at the SCBF annual cat show.

Actually, Corinne will be at the cat show (she's the VP of SCBF). I will just be there, either on my bike or working in the hotel room. ;-)

She flew out this morning from Providence. Another person from SCBF (I think it's the Secretary) was also flying into Ohio, a couple hours later, so they agreed that she would wait in the airoport and then they'd drive to the hotel together.

Unfortunately the car she (the Secretary) rented was too small, so Corinne is still sitting at the airport while the other lady drives to the hotel (an hour away), drops stuff off, and then goes back to get her. Poor Corinne. :-(

Another person from SCBF, the Secretary, was driving out to Ohio. She was going to pick up Corinne at the airport, but didn't have room in the car. She had to drive an hour to the hotel, then go back and pick up Corinne, then back to the hotel... meaning Corinne had to sit there for a couple hours, with the same sore throat and cough that I've had since the PMC. Poor Corinne. :-(

I'm driving out early tomorrow morning. Ten (maybe twelve) hours of open road -- 320 miles due West -- with one cat and a whole bunch of junk. My laptop is still broken, so I'm having to pack up an entire computer to take with me... plus all the odds and ends she'll need at the show, my clothes, my cameras, etc., etc., etc.

It surprises me that I remember almost everything about the trip last year. I really liked Medina, and riding around it on my bike must have fixed it in my memory better than just driving would have.

My strongest memory, though, is the rain. The first night I was there, it rained harder than I've ever seen it rain anywhere, ever, in my entire life. The thunder and lightning were very impressive too, but the rain came down so fast that the parking lot filled up almost entirely (a few inches deep) in less than an hour.

Anyway... see y'all Sunday night!

Google Calculator

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 12 Aug 2003 14:34:11 GMT

Wanting to find out where a certain area code and exchange was located, I entered them into Google's search box to see what I'd come up with. Here's another example, using my own area code and exchange: 860-572.

To my surprise, the first answer Google displayed was the result as a mathematical expression: 860 - 572 = 288.

Turns out that Google has a built-in calculator, and it can do a lot more than just addition and subtraction. Their own description of the Google Calculator says:

To use Google's built-in calculator function, simply enter the expression you'd like evaluated in the search box and hit the Enter key or click the Google Search button. The calculator can evaluate mathematical expressions involving basic arithmetic (5+2*2 or 2^20), more complicated math (sine(30 degrees) or e^(i pi)+1), units of measure and conversions (100 miles in kilometers or 160 pounds * 4000 feet in Calories), and physical constants (1 a.u./c or G*mass of earth/radius of earth^2). You can also experiment with other numbering systems, including hexadecimal and binary.

That's cool! Corinne will like this too, I think, because we frequently have to convert liquid measures between English and metric when medicating the kittens. Now she can just type the spec from the medicine and the units we have available, like, "5 ml in teaspoons."

The Blogger's Credo

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 24 May 2003 17:57:29 GMT

The blogger's credo: When Inspiration Fails, Shoot the Cat

;-)

With that in mind, here are pictures of our two month old kittens.

My Best Writing, My Worst Days

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 22 May 2003 11:01:55 GMT

Why is my best writing always about death?

Depressing thought, huh? Years later, my 'eulogies' to Roy and Dave can still jerk a tear out of some of my friends who knew them, and I think the one about Wixie is just as good.

Yes, writing from pain is a well documented form of inspiration. It still bothers me that those are the three pieces I remember best.

(On the other hand, based on the number of hits certain pages get, the guests to this site only care about Japanese Red Maples, Manchurian "Miss Kim" Lilacs, and my sister's Wedding Rehearsal Dinner... none of which have anything to do with my writing, and everything to do with my photos.)

Wixie is Gone

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 01 May 2003 17:25:07 GMT

The vet called, early this afternoon, to say that Wixie, my cat, was perkier this morning.

When I picked up Corinne at work, I told her that it probably means she'll "go soon."

I was right. Just a little while later, the vet called again to say that Wixie was having a bad seizure. It was time to give up. I agreed, let her go, there's no life left for her even if she could somehow live a little longer. Whatever had her in its jaws wasn't being gentle. As if sucking her dry, dropping her weight from eight pounds to just three -- in just of a few weeks -- wasn't enough, she'd gone partially blind in the last few days, with numerous small hernias around the corneas in both eyes.

That's always how it works: the body seems to use all its energy fighting whatever is killing it, but when it gives up, there's a little time -- maybe a few hours -- that its few remaining resources aren't being wasted on a lost cause. The sun shines again, just a little. This is when those new to death's way will often, sadly, take hope. It's almost always a false hope.

Wixie's gone now, coaxed gently to sleep eternal by a doctor who had come to love my sweet friend in just a few days -- caring for her in the doctor's own home -- nearly as much as Corinne and I do.

Goodbye, little girl. It truly is better to have loved, and loved, and loved, and loved, and loved, and lost, than never to have loved you at all. You had a wonderful four years.

What a Day

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 19:48:54 GMT

Today was a bad day.

First this. That's the mess I woke up to.

Then I spent the entire day at an auto garage (where Shane works) while they tuned up the Blazer and I tuned up their computers. Bartering is good, but they took all day for a tune-up and a flush of the cooling system, which is very bad.

Finally, I had to decide that my cat (Wixie) -- who won so many awards at the cat shows that in a single year she achieved the highest ranking possible (Supreme Grand Champion) -- is probably not going to live out the week. She's only four years old, but has lost nearly all of her weight, is severly dehydrated and isn't eating. The vet picked her up this evening, and is going to give her IV fluids and try to force-feed her (probably through a tube) for a couple of days. If that doesn't work, we'll never see her again.

That was just today. The whole week is a do-over, but let's not go there.

Out for the Day

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 22 Apr 2003 11:39:50 GMT

Corinne and I are travelling to Poughkeepsie, NY, this afternoon to pick up a new Birman from the same folks that gave us Wixie and Winnie. A free queen for the breeding program! This is a good thing, and this girl apparently has very good bloodlines.

If anybody needs us for anything urgent, send an email or call and leave a message. We'll get back to you when we return home tonight.

"There's No Place Like Home!"

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 20 Oct 2002 20:17:05 GMT

Corinne and I just got home from "Huffywood," the nickname of the NBF North-East regional cat show in Carney's Point, New Jersey.

Actually, I didn't really see much of the show. I worked all weekend on "the plugin" (for Conversant) and Corinne went to the show. (This is not a bad thing. We saw a lot of each other, but both got to do exactly what we wanted to do while knowing the other was always close by.)

I did far more on "the plugin" than I thought I would. So much that I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Also, one of the cats that we sold almost a year ago has come home again. The owner found that she was allergic (she discovered this by going on vacation, in fact), and couldn't keep her any more. We originally called this cat Y U So Fat? but the owners renamed her "Makita." Well, if we find out that they never registered her, she's getting her original name back. She's a tub, only now she's a full grown, gorgeous Seal Lynx Point tub. (Pictures soon, if I can make the time.)

It's good to be home!

Recovering from the Weekend

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 22 Jul 2002 18:49:42 GMT

Corinne and I are recovering from the weekend in Baltimore. We had a nice time, the weekend itself was relaxing, but the driving was brutal. Nine hours for the 350 mile trip home!

We found nice homes for two of the kittens, and the breeder that gave us Xodus took a third so we're down to a much more manageable number now. (Corinne's feeling the empty nest a little, though.)

I feel like I've been on auto-pilot (or maybe cruise-control) all day. Hopefully I'll be back to normal in the morning.

Another Cat Show in Baltimore

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 19 Jul 2002 06:58:01 GMT

Corinne and I are going to Baltimore for the weekend, for a cat show. We have a plethora of kittens right now, and we're hoping to find buyers for two of them (plus, Corinne's been suffering severe cat-show-withdrawl).

Actually, the show is in Laurel, MD, right outside Baltimore. Cat shows are pretty hectic, but it would be nice if I could find some time to visit with the Klings, who I haven't seen in years and live right there in Laurel. (Not likely, but it would be nice.)

I'm hoping to write a lot of documentation for Conversant this weekend, too. We'll see.

We'll be leaving in a couple hours (after I drive up to Mark's and Jed's place to borrow their mini-fridge), and be back late late late Sunday night.