All over the place!
All I can think of is, "I love my dead gay son!"
My baby Watson has asthma! Poor sweetie. We took the babies in for their annual checkup on Saturday, and then mentioned to the vet that Watson seems to have problems like he's trying to cough up a furball, but totally unproductive. Turns out that's what an asthma attack looks like for a cat. My poor button! We talked over some options, and decided that medication is the way we'd like to treat this, and we opted for the least invasive and scary method. Watson will have to take a bronchial dilator pill for the rest of his life, but maybe not every day. That has no side effects and it's a very tiny pill. If we're lucky, that will do the trick for him. Additionally, for the next two months or so, we're starting him on a steroid, of which I'm not a big fan, but they have their uses. I fed Watson his first dose this morning in a special Greenies brand thing called a "Pill Pocket." It's a squishy cat treat with a hole in the middle. You slip the pill in there, and squish closed the opening. Watson downed it right away without a complaint! I've been feeding empty pockets to the two of them since Saturday so I could sneak the pill in today. I'll try to fix up the delivery methods so that Watson doesn't get too wise to what Mama is doing here! My pudge goes back to the vet in two weeks to check on immediate progress with the medications.
Meanwhile, "pudge" is right, and more than ever (like mama, like son). Each cat has gained a pound since their checkup last summer -- and possibly even since their mid-year checkup (ne'er to be repeated as matter of habit if we can avoid that) in December 2010. Holmes is now 11.9 pounds, and Watson is 16.9 pounds. I'm not too surprised, but I concerned enough that we're making changes. We used to free-feed kibble, then we cut down on that and started measuring per day -- not really limiting the amounts severely, but just changing to any limitation. Then the habits of humans in the house changed, and so did the feeding habits, and all control is out the window! We're now changing to 1/4 cup kibble each at breakfast and bedtime. For now, we'll continue letting them split one small can of wet food at dinner. We'll gradually reduce amounts of both over time. I don't want to change too many things at once.
Our current small apartment just makes it tough for them to get as much exercise as they used to in the house in Austin. Still, we'll make due with what we have, and both Ian and I have committed to try to play with them more often. We're pretty good about that now, but clearly we can do better. I am hopeful that WHEN we eventually get to buy a house, the extra room to move around will really benefit my poor pudgy cats... well, cat. The vet claims that Holmes is on the verge of being overweight, but I don't agree with the assessment for him.
Speaking of buying a house...
Well, maybe that's premature, but this does bear on one very important step toward that goal: Ian got a call from LEGO on Friday! A new job has opened up in Design, and the hiring manager wanted to make sure that Ian knows about it, and applies. LEGO says that they have a 6-12 week hiring process, so we perceive this will be a long haul no matter what. Still, it's forward motion, and I and thrilled for that!
Today in "Spiritual Reflections From an Atheist..."
If the Christian belief in God is correct, what do you think is the relationship between restrictions on salvation, and the existence of free will? Would free will have any real value if there were not consequences to it? Therefore, has God restricted eternal salvation/entrance into Heaven specifically in order to give meaning to free will?
When you mop up the brains that just leaked out of your ears, I'm interested to read others' thoughts on this. I know I'll be meditating on this newly introduced question for quite a long time....
And in the shallow end of the cognitive pool...
Social life is going very well out here. Our smaller ant hills of friends seem to blend smoothly for movie dates like our 12-person outing to go see Harry Potter on Friday. Each of my groups of friends seem to get along a little better every time they meet, which is comforting to me. If we're pals on Facebook, you may check over there for a few random photos from that outing, which was full of laughter and good times!
For the movie itself, I was a little shocked that it really is a true "Part 2," and so little able to stand on its own as a movie... I probably shouldn't have been surprised by that, but well, I live in a perpetual state of surprise, so there ya go. I enjoyed it as a conclusion. This movie really brought home that there is just so much going on at the end of that saga that no film effort could really capture every detail. Despite that, I thought this film did well. Without spoiling for those who did not read the book (and really, WHO ARE YOU?!), I'll make a vague comment about the make-up in the very closing scene of both book and movie. I thought it was done very well, and I was specifically and exceptionally pleased with it! That is a unique opinion among my friends who saw the movie with me, however. They all thought the make-up was horrible and completely failed to do its job.
I do, however, have one comment: In the books, the Hogwarts Express train is scarlet red. In the movies, it's always been black. It's been black for 7 movies. In the 8th movie, the very last time we see the train ever, all of a sudden NOW it's scarlet? Really? What was the point of that? I'm not sure. Stupid detail, but something I noticed.
One of my local friends is trying to get a LARP together here, and those efforts are going very well. Jim recently busted out - and that is the precise term for it - an entire novel set in the historical background for his LARP world. He wrote this novel in under seven weeks, I think -- first book he's written! My friend is on FIRE with creativity this year! The book is with its second editor of two right now, and Jim is selecting an artist to do the cover piece so he can self-publish it. I really admire people like my friends Jim and Louis who do things like self-publish books. I like to see people just jumping on the back of their dreams that way. Jim hopes to make his book available perhaps as soon as September. I'm really looking forward to reading it, both to support my friend and because I am interested in the world he's created for his LARP. I had the benefit of sitting next to Jim at dinner on Saturday night before our table-top game, and I got to hear the really broad outline of his LARP world. I think it has real potential; I'm very excited to hear more about the plot now. Of course I remain excited for him to get the game off the ground.
The table-top game that followed that night was less packed with enthusiasm, unfortunately. Players just seemed to grate on each other's nerves of a sudden, and we had a few bitchy snaps here and there. Then in-character, the party split over encounters, and that was just fraught with annoyance for a variety of people. Nearly lost one character, and it was only through the generosity of the DM and a couple of lucky rolls that we were able to save him. Ouch! We won't get to play that campaign again for a few weeks over various players' travel schedules. We're doing a one-shot ShadowRun session next week to help our GM prepare to run at Gencon, however, and that should be fun for a night.
School: Can't get into the ONE FUCKING MATH CLASS I NEED in person this semester, and I really don't want to take it online. I need like 3 other academic classes just for credit, however, so I'm thinking of signing up for an English class online.
Knitting: Working on some 100% cotton washcloths for a newborn baby now. I'm bored with the project, so it's not going very vast. I need to burn through this, then finish off a few other works in progress that also need "one little detail" to be completely finished. Then I can move on to a very large project of a cable-knit lap blanket for our living room, and probably advance work on some Christmas hats.
Reading: Still slogging through Vanity Fair, but I'm finally in the last 100 pages or so. I like the story itself, but I really could do without Thackery's running play-by-play commentary on it all.
Work: Has stopped eating my head for the time being....
Trace
My baby Watson has asthma! Poor sweetie. We took the babies in for their annual checkup on Saturday, and then mentioned to the vet that Watson seems to have problems like he's trying to cough up a furball, but totally unproductive. Turns out that's what an asthma attack looks like for a cat. My poor button! We talked over some options, and decided that medication is the way we'd like to treat this, and we opted for the least invasive and scary method. Watson will have to take a bronchial dilator pill for the rest of his life, but maybe not every day. That has no side effects and it's a very tiny pill. If we're lucky, that will do the trick for him. Additionally, for the next two months or so, we're starting him on a steroid, of which I'm not a big fan, but they have their uses. I fed Watson his first dose this morning in a special Greenies brand thing called a "Pill Pocket." It's a squishy cat treat with a hole in the middle. You slip the pill in there, and squish closed the opening. Watson downed it right away without a complaint! I've been feeding empty pockets to the two of them since Saturday so I could sneak the pill in today. I'll try to fix up the delivery methods so that Watson doesn't get too wise to what Mama is doing here! My pudge goes back to the vet in two weeks to check on immediate progress with the medications.
Meanwhile, "pudge" is right, and more than ever (like mama, like son). Each cat has gained a pound since their checkup last summer -- and possibly even since their mid-year checkup (ne'er to be repeated as matter of habit if we can avoid that) in December 2010. Holmes is now 11.9 pounds, and Watson is 16.9 pounds. I'm not too surprised, but I concerned enough that we're making changes. We used to free-feed kibble, then we cut down on that and started measuring per day -- not really limiting the amounts severely, but just changing to any limitation. Then the habits of humans in the house changed, and so did the feeding habits, and all control is out the window! We're now changing to 1/4 cup kibble each at breakfast and bedtime. For now, we'll continue letting them split one small can of wet food at dinner. We'll gradually reduce amounts of both over time. I don't want to change too many things at once.
Our current small apartment just makes it tough for them to get as much exercise as they used to in the house in Austin. Still, we'll make due with what we have, and both Ian and I have committed to try to play with them more often. We're pretty good about that now, but clearly we can do better. I am hopeful that WHEN we eventually get to buy a house, the extra room to move around will really benefit my poor pudgy cats... well, cat. The vet claims that Holmes is on the verge of being overweight, but I don't agree with the assessment for him.
Speaking of buying a house...
Well, maybe that's premature, but this does bear on one very important step toward that goal: Ian got a call from LEGO on Friday! A new job has opened up in Design, and the hiring manager wanted to make sure that Ian knows about it, and applies. LEGO says that they have a 6-12 week hiring process, so we perceive this will be a long haul no matter what. Still, it's forward motion, and I and thrilled for that!
Today in "Spiritual Reflections From an Atheist..."
If the Christian belief in God is correct, what do you think is the relationship between restrictions on salvation, and the existence of free will? Would free will have any real value if there were not consequences to it? Therefore, has God restricted eternal salvation/entrance into Heaven specifically in order to give meaning to free will?
When you mop up the brains that just leaked out of your ears, I'm interested to read others' thoughts on this. I know I'll be meditating on this newly introduced question for quite a long time....
And in the shallow end of the cognitive pool...
Social life is going very well out here. Our smaller ant hills of friends seem to blend smoothly for movie dates like our 12-person outing to go see Harry Potter on Friday. Each of my groups of friends seem to get along a little better every time they meet, which is comforting to me. If we're pals on Facebook, you may check over there for a few random photos from that outing, which was full of laughter and good times!
For the movie itself, I was a little shocked that it really is a true "Part 2," and so little able to stand on its own as a movie... I probably shouldn't have been surprised by that, but well, I live in a perpetual state of surprise, so there ya go. I enjoyed it as a conclusion. This movie really brought home that there is just so much going on at the end of that saga that no film effort could really capture every detail. Despite that, I thought this film did well. Without spoiling for those who did not read the book (and really, WHO ARE YOU?!), I'll make a vague comment about the make-up in the very closing scene of both book and movie. I thought it was done very well, and I was specifically and exceptionally pleased with it! That is a unique opinion among my friends who saw the movie with me, however. They all thought the make-up was horrible and completely failed to do its job.
I do, however, have one comment: In the books, the Hogwarts Express train is scarlet red. In the movies, it's always been black. It's been black for 7 movies. In the 8th movie, the very last time we see the train ever, all of a sudden NOW it's scarlet? Really? What was the point of that? I'm not sure. Stupid detail, but something I noticed.
One of my local friends is trying to get a LARP together here, and those efforts are going very well. Jim recently busted out - and that is the precise term for it - an entire novel set in the historical background for his LARP world. He wrote this novel in under seven weeks, I think -- first book he's written! My friend is on FIRE with creativity this year! The book is with its second editor of two right now, and Jim is selecting an artist to do the cover piece so he can self-publish it. I really admire people like my friends Jim and Louis who do things like self-publish books. I like to see people just jumping on the back of their dreams that way. Jim hopes to make his book available perhaps as soon as September. I'm really looking forward to reading it, both to support my friend and because I am interested in the world he's created for his LARP. I had the benefit of sitting next to Jim at dinner on Saturday night before our table-top game, and I got to hear the really broad outline of his LARP world. I think it has real potential; I'm very excited to hear more about the plot now. Of course I remain excited for him to get the game off the ground.
The table-top game that followed that night was less packed with enthusiasm, unfortunately. Players just seemed to grate on each other's nerves of a sudden, and we had a few bitchy snaps here and there. Then in-character, the party split over encounters, and that was just fraught with annoyance for a variety of people. Nearly lost one character, and it was only through the generosity of the DM and a couple of lucky rolls that we were able to save him. Ouch! We won't get to play that campaign again for a few weeks over various players' travel schedules. We're doing a one-shot ShadowRun session next week to help our GM prepare to run at Gencon, however, and that should be fun for a night.
School: Can't get into the ONE FUCKING MATH CLASS I NEED in person this semester, and I really don't want to take it online. I need like 3 other academic classes just for credit, however, so I'm thinking of signing up for an English class online.
Knitting: Working on some 100% cotton washcloths for a newborn baby now. I'm bored with the project, so it's not going very vast. I need to burn through this, then finish off a few other works in progress that also need "one little detail" to be completely finished. Then I can move on to a very large project of a cable-knit lap blanket for our living room, and probably advance work on some Christmas hats.
Reading: Still slogging through Vanity Fair, but I'm finally in the last 100 pages or so. I like the story itself, but I really could do without Thackery's running play-by-play commentary on it all.
Work: Has stopped eating my head for the time being....
Trace