Monthly Archives: January 2006

Changes

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Templeton’s had his ups and down since getting his stomach operated on to remove the sewing needle he swallowed. After recuperating at home, he had to go back to the vet for a weekend to get antibiotics and fluids to battle a fever. Then he came home and every morning for the past couple of weeks has had the pleasure of me shooting a pill down his throat (and let me tell you, for a sick old man he sure could put up a fight).

A few days ago he really started coming around, back to about 70% of his normal self. He was moving around, wanting to play, meeting me at the door when I came home. He had another check up at the vet on Saturday and they will have the results on Tuesday. Today he was pretty quiet again and spent part of the day sitting in his cat carrier. I’m not sure if that’s a bad sign or if its irrelevant. Normally when we put him in there he goes to the vet, so I hope he’s not trying to tell us something. Usually he’s a bit more vocal when something’s on his mind. On the other hand, we usually don’t leave the carrier out like it is now, so perhaps he’s just trying out a new napping location.

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Resolutions

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I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions, so my New Year’s resolution this year is to have New Year’s resolutions. One problem is to not set the bar so low that you’re guaranteed to go over it, but not set it too high that its unattainable and you give up to early.

For example, I’d like to read more books this year. I could set this goal three ways:

  1. Read more books than I did in 2005.
  2. Read more books than I did in 2004.
  3. Read more books that my wife did in 2004.

I’ll probably meet the first goal as long as I don’t go negative — and I’m not even sure how you’d go about un-reading a book. In 2005 I mostly read magazines in an attempt to reduce the leaning stack of unread magazines in my office. Not a total success, but at least the stack is short enough that if it falls over it won’t kill anyone. And in my defense I wrote a novel last year, something I’ve never done before.

OK I only started a novel, but I made a lot of progress on the first draft, so that ought to count for something.

The second goal will be much harder, I read quite a few novels in 2004. So that’s a good goal to set. I might not get there, especially since I hope to do more writing this year, but it’s at least a stretch goal. And I’d better do more writing this year, I have ideas piling up in my head faster than I can write them.

Then there’s the third goal, to read more than my wife. This isn’t even a stretch goal. I couldn’t stretch that far even if I was wearing my fat pants. I’m not sure how she does it, but my wife can read a book in the time it takes me to eat breakfast. Granted I’m a slow eater, but even so, she reads books at a phenomenal rate. I could quit my job and read full time and not keep up with her. So I need to set my sights a wee bit lower.

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Scout Hates Pelicans

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A brown pelican flies over the Pacific Ocean at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area in Newport, Oregon

I was editing some pictures of brown pelicans that I took on the Oregon coast last fall when Scout jumped onto my desk. Nothing unusual there. But then she took a great deal of interest in what was on my computer screen, which was showing an adult pelican soaring through the air. Before I realized what was going on, she took a swipe at the bird.

Bad Scout! Bad Scout!

My old CRT had a big scratch in it thanks to my little kitten and I didn’t want the same with my LCD. Fortunately she kept her claws retracted and no damage was done. She was eyeing the pelicans later in the day but made no further attempts to attack the digital birds.

Remind me never to take Scout to the coast.

Templeton goes to the vet tomorrow, he’s been sleeping all the time and not eating and drinking as much as he used to. I wasn’t too concerned when we first brought him home but he should have bounced back by now. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain and is as sweet and loving as usual, but he’s lost weight and just sleeps constantly.

I Need a New Brain

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I was walking down a hallway at work this afternoon when a thought popped into my head: “I used to eat jelly sandwiches.” I don’t know where it came from, or why my brain decided I needed to remember that just then, but it’s true. When I was a kid I hated peanut butter in my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so I left it out, reducing my PB&J to just J.

I’d like to believe that a more important memory could have been placed there instead. Just how many useless memories are lurking in there?

ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” just came up in iTunes (don’t laugh, admit it, it’s a great song) and for some reason, whenever I hear this song I always think of a Starsky & Hutch episode about vampires. I can’t quite figure this one out. I haven’t seen Starsky & Hutch since I was a kid several decades ago (ouch it hurts to say that), and I doubt they would have had an ABBA song as their theme music for one of the shows.

And I really doubt that Starsky & Hutch ever had a show about vampires. As I recall the show was fairly grounded in reality. Which means bigfoot and the abominable snowman would have been fine, but vampires, werewolves, and talking Trans Ams would have been right out.

However, I think that concept would have made a great episode, so perhaps I should put off finishing my book and write a screenplay instead. I could fulfill two dreams at once, just think about this: TV’s David Hassellhoff as Starsky! Tell me you wouldn’t see that movie! Christopher Walken would be perfect as the lead vampire. Not sure who should play Hutch, guess I better pencil myself in for now.

But no way is the cool striped Torino going to be a talking car, no matter how much Hasselhoff wants it. I have my artistic integrity.

A Return to Normalcy

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I’ve always loved that President Warren Harding made up the phrase “A Return to Normalcy” as his campaign slogan and it stuck, so now people seemingly talk about returning to normalcy after every disaster. At least something good came out of Harding’s administration.

Things are starting to return to normal, both cats went to the vet this morning and had good reports. Templeton has mended pretty well from his stomach surgery and the only real issue is the possibility of early stages of kidney disease. One of the little tidbits that came out of his emergency surgery is that we learned he only has one functioning kidney, as one of them never properly formed.

I’ll give you one of mine if you need it little one.

The picture above probably seems like it was setup so that it would look like Templeton was working on my Powerbook, but it wasn’t posed. He was still recuperating at that point, isolated to the guest bedroom, so I had spent the evening with him on the bed while I sorted through some pictures I had taken. I went downstairs to get something and when I came back up, Templeton had moved to where I was sitting and plopped himself down in front of the keyboard. He likes to take my seat when I get up for reasons I don’t quite understand, but it can get a little comical in my office when he steals my seat the moment I get up.

Templeton is zonked out in one of my office chairs as I write this, with Scout sleeping on the floor below him. Just like the old days before Templeton’s little adventure. Scout hasn’t been willing to be around him until today, and I eventually decided that she probably thought he was a ghost. He was away from the house for about a week, and then this cat shows up who looked like Templeton and sounded like Templeton but who smelled kind of different.