We have returned safely home from our trip to Wisconsin for the funeral of Phil's grandmother, Romayne. There was (just our) family cabin time and snow and more travel and funeral and funeral ham with cheesy potatoes and then the kids besieging their teenaged cousins and (extended) family stories and drinking and family gossip and very poor sleep ( ( Read more... )

It feels like this week has been full of socializing, although that's partly because any week where I see friends more than once feels crazy-busy!

It also feels like this week has been horrible for productivity, and that is true for a couple of reasons. Primary among them is that I have been a bit stuck in the two novels that I'm writing in parallel ( Read more... )

Everyone who knows our cat, Fu Manchu, has been expecting this day for some time. It all began innocently (and photogenically) enough....


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You know those little posturepedic pillows that people get to put against the small of their back when they're sitting in a desk chair? Well, I'm not sure how posturepedic the cat is, but he's sure giving it the old school try! He's being supportive of my writing in his own way.

The end.

Spent my morning and early afternoon working on the work-from-home day job project that's scheduled for the next two weeks. Or rather, correcting and communicating with the client about a project. Just got back the results of a smaller test load, and unfortunately that led to me needing to go back and change a lot of stuff. Not mistakes on my part ( Read more... )

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Fu Manchu is a very loving kitten (when he's not trying to destroy you). He's also a very food-motivated kitten. Love comes first, though. I know this because he always jumps up on my lap, paws on my chest, head butting my chin, and demands love and pettings first thing in the morning. When I'm eating breakfast. But all he's interested in is the ( Read more... )

• It's pretty awesome having a hugging cat. Regularly scheduled cat-hug breaks from working!
• Fans of Jonathan Coulton might like The Funny Music Project (new songs x2 weekly): www.thefump.com/
• --Paranoid that the contractor boarded squirrels up inside our walls. Worried about them.
• Current effects of climate change (American Public Media): ping.fm/ ( Read more... )

I put a thumb drive in my shirt pocket and head upstairs towards the computer. The cats are being needy, so I stop to feed them. As I am bending over the kitten's dish, the thumb drive slips out of my pocket and lands in the water dish. Crap! I fish it out and go downstairs to submerge it in the rice container ( Read more... )