Our Kitty Nicknames

My family has given many nicknames to our 3 cats.  Many of them were made up by our child.

Phoebe has been called: "fee fee", "pheebs", "pheebles", "asshole" (because she's a bully)

Sadie has been called: "Sade", "Sadiebug", "Sadiekins", "Turdsmuggler" (because she's got long fur and semi-poor hygiene)

Mailyn has been called: "Mai-Mai", "Dink Eye", "Toothless", "Curly Paw", "Mama Kitty", "Poop Rocket" (the reason for me writing this blog entry!)

Mailyn and Phoebe were both shelter cats and were born in the wild.  Seriously, they were feral cats living out of dumpsters and such.  Phoebe was rescued at 4 months old, but Mailyn was about 4 years old when she was caught.  The shelter is totally guessing on this, but there had been sightings of Mailyn for years before they caught her.  She was captured behind a dumpster behind the Chinese restaurant at the 28 and 97 junction in Salem, NH.

Phoebe was captured very young so she learned to be around humans very quickly, Mailyn took years.  She's now about 10 years old and has been "normal" for only about 2 of those years.  Now she's a lap cat!  4 years of her hissing at us, hiding under furniture and now she sleeps with me, we can pick her up to pet her and she's good for us when we use the inhaler to give her her asthma meds.  That's right, we have to use an inhaler on her.  LOL.  It's actually kind of cute and funny ;)

Sadie was a pet store cat and is pretty normal.  For the first 3 years of her life, she hadn't been spayed.  She was 100% and went into heat every so often.  That was an interesting time.  She would knead anything and everything with her butt in the air.  Her nightly cry sounded like a damned human baby or a chupacabra.  My wife got a hold of her and had her spayed.  She immediately doubled her weight and stopped cleaning herself!  Ack!  She's getting better at the cleaning, but she is medium hair so every so often we have to comb out mats (see my previous posts).  She actually sleeps every night with my daughter.  She has her own pillow and blanket and sleeps under that blanket.  She's awesome.  Heck, they are all awesome!

Got lots more stories coming later, including how the kitties got some of their nicknames ;)

From the top to bottom: Sadie, Phoebe, Mailyn

The Wolf at Our Heels

If you are interested in music theory and want to get some knowledge about tuning and intervals dropped on ya, check this out.  Nothing special to say about it, but it is very cool atricle.

http://www.slate.com/id/2250793

Bathroom Etiquette for the Men's Room - Double Whammy

Men's bathroom, (3) urinals, all open.  I take the farthest urinal to the left and start my business.  Door squeaks open and someone walks in... taking the middle stall right next to me.... ugh.  Okay, that's just weird. 

I finish up my business just as another gentleman walks in.  I turn around, looking down to buckle my belt and the new guy walks in front of me towards the fartherst right stall (the correct one he should have taken) but then turns quickly, brushing against me TO GET TO THE STALL I JUST USED.  Dude, I was buckling and you brushed me as you were unbuckling.  This isn't a relay, it's a bathroom.  Sheesh.  It's not like I left the seat warm for him, they were urinals.  My toilet wasn't even done flushing.

So, two of the Bathroom Etiquette rules for the Men's Room were broken on me in same visit.  I think I threw up a little in my mouth.

I Need a Bigger Couch

My wife was pretty ill yesterday with a cold or flu or something.  She currently sounds like Kirsty Alley if Kirsty Alley had a cold.  This morning I asked her "how was it working with Ted Danson on the the set of 'Cheers'?"  She responded quickly, "He was an asshole.  He was all hands!"  Because of the aforementioned cold/flu thing, I stayed home from work with her yesterday.  Her body ached and she didn't want to get out of bed so I stayed home and helped her out. 

Most of this home time was spent on the couch watching TV.  We have a normal 3-cushion couch, nothing fancy, but it's not undersized.  Well, not undersized until you get (2) grown adult humans trying to lay on it and throw in (2) couch hogging full grown cats.  Yes, those cats love to stretch out exactly where you are planning to sit.  They also will not move as you are sitting. They won't move if you try to shove them out of the way.  They are like rocks.  Rocks that purr.  I guess any touching is petting to these cats, even if that touching comes from your buttocks!

So, we've talked about getting a bigger couch, but I'm not sure that will do anything, really.  I think the cats will continue to lay where they expect us to sit, just to keep getting petted.  My cats run my house, I just have to accept it.  Heck, I'm honestly sixth in command, behind the wife and kid too! 

Moby Dick vs. Xena's Sidekick

Oh man.  Barry Bostwick and Renee O'Connor?  Wow, this movie is going to be an awesome pile of suck that will be featured on SyFy and I will gladly watch it and, honestly, will probably love it!  YES!!

I must point out too that I LOVE Renee O'Connor.  ROC is so pretty.  I loved her back from the Xena days (where she played Gabrielle, for those who don't remember!) even when she popped the pixie cut and lost her long blonde hair.  I miss Xena.  At least we have 2010: Moby Dick and Spartacus to remember Lucy and ROC!  AYIYIYIYIYIYYI! 

http://io9.com/5613416/2010-moby-dick-the-fail-whale-cometh

If the Earth stops spinning, Africa will be sittin' pretty

What I found so interesting about this article is that my daughter asked some similar questions of me yesterday.  Weird huh?  What happens if the Earth stops spinning, what happens if we didn't have a moon, etc.  She was in one of her inquisitive moods (which I love!).  Maybe she reads http://www.io9.com/.  My only answer was we would all die.  This takes it a little further.

George Strait should have been singing "I've got some ocean front property in Pittsburgh" instead of Arizona.

http://io9.com/5613101/this-is-what-the-earth-would-look-like-if-it-stopped-spinning?skyline=true&s=i

Lion of the Sun - Animal Costumes

Wow, this stuff is killer!  Kind of creepy, but cool enough to override the creepiness!

http://www.lionofthesun.com/

Google Street View Prank

Girl causes panic by playing dead on Google Street View.  My buddy Eric shared this with me.  Hilarious.

http://gizmodo.com/5611668/girl-causes-panic-by-playing-dead-on-google-street-view

Agora

This movie looks great.  I get so angry when I think about the Christians burning the Library at Alexandria and I'll get angry at this movie, but I'm sure I'll still enjoy it!

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100721/REVIEWS/100729996

Lauren over Kent #SYTYCD

I loved all (3) contests on finale of So You Think You Can Dance.  My favorite was Robert and I voted for him 30 times, knowing that I didn't have much of a chance.  No surprise, he came in 3rd.  The big surprise, at least for me, is that Lauren beat Kent!  I know, they were all great, so I shouldn't be upset, they all deserved it, but still, I got a little upset. 

Sometimes I wonder if SYTYCD fixes some years so that a female will win (like Jeannine who also came out of left field to win).  I hate conspiracy theories, but most of the people that vote on this show are young women who typically vote for hot dudes.  Perhaps Kent and Robert split them so Lauren squeaked through, who knows.  I'll drop this because it doesn't matter.  Here is what matters from this show:

1. Great Routines!  Holy crap, the judges favorites were amazing.  Killer routines and many of them were danced better second time around!  This doesn't often happen, but I loved it!

2. The All Stars were just amazing.  Seeing Mark, Neil, Lauren, Pasha, and the others just made me happy.  Each week I was just so excited to my favorites hit the stage.  Even more though, it was amazing to see the contestants rising to their level.  It is so true that you get better when you work with people better than you.  It was great!

3. The Neil and Kent "Backstabber" routine was one of my favorite dances ever.  Two dudes, looked like it was a break up, and it was just danced so well, so much emotion, so much pain.  It has me speaking in incomplete sentences!  I was so glad to see it Wednesday and then it's picked as a judge favoirte for Thursday.  SWWWEEEET!

4. This finale was one of the best ever.  I actually watched the whole show, not just the end. 

Country Music?

A friend of mine asked me to sit in next week with a country singer named Krista Angelucci.  She's pretty good, got some Carrie Underwood sounds to her.  Just two songs on a TV show called PFG-TV.  We are taping next Tuesday. 

Normally I'm too lazy to do much sitting in.  Gotta learn too many songs and I like my wife, kid, cats, and TV too much ;)  But this is only two songs and sounds like fun!  So, here I go, sinking more into the country music abyss.  I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame this summer, started writing some country music type songs, and now filling in for a country singer.  I guess I should embrace my Oklahoma roots ;)

Soccer Tennis or Futennis?

This is very cool.  Pro tennis players get together for some fun on the court.  I always forget that Europeans grow up playing and loving soccer (futbol) like we do baseball.  This is fun and interesting!

http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/blog/busted_racquet/post/Video-Nadal-and-Djokovic-play-soccer-tennis?urn=ten-261745

So You Think You Can Dance

Last night I watched the Season 8 finale of "So You Think You Can Dance."  It was great.  The top 3 dancers this year all amazing and put on a hell of a show.  I thought I knew who I was going to vote to win (Kent) until last week when Robert just exploded!  I'd always thought he was a brilliant dancer, but didn't realize he was good enough to win until just last week!  With this show, he proved himself again!  So I spent my night calling in votes for dancer #3, ROBERT!

Man, I'm lame.

Oh yeah, and we also combed more mats out of Sadie. She's almost cleaned up!  Weee!

Facebook Pokes

I dig poking people on facebook.  I guess it used to be a big deal back in the day, but I hadn't seen it used often.  Now I'm poking like 30-50 times a day, depending on my pokebacks.  It's so easy and addicting, yet it's really nothing at all. 

I guess I'm easily amused.  *poke*

Plastic Pencil Holder Contest

On a walk around my work building, one of my friends (Cale) held a trivia contest.  The contestents were myself and another friend (Eric).  The game was one point per correct answer, with negative points being thrown around arbitrarily.  Unfortunately, the questions were NOT prepared in advance.

Here are a few of the gems I remember:

• What movie is synonymous with "God of the Circles"? - Lord of the Rings [I got this one]
• Which country sounds like a person comparing another to a high rise construction vehicle? - Ukraine [I got this one]
• Which berry is in fact not a berry and canno- (question was interrupted with the answer) - Dingleberry [I did NOT get this one (too slow)]
• What bodily condition sounds like a mix between a donkey and a marsh? - Swamp Ass [I got this one]
• What road, that is not a road, burns the back of you mouth? - No known correct answer [I answered Highway to Hell and he gave me a point.  Eric answered Hannah Montana and lost 2 points]

This was a sampling of the 15 questions Cale came up with in the 20 minute walk.  Others were either dumber, boring, or even more inappropriate.  I just wanted to spare some of my younger readers... if there are any!

Abandoned Momma Kitty and Kittens

Got an email from a coworker about some abandoned kitties.  A neighbor has to move and there is a momma kitty with (4) 4-week old kittens.  It breaks my heart :(  My wife is calling around to shelters she works with to try to find someone to save them.  I wish we had room, but our (3) adult cats might not take too kindly to the little ones.

We have to keep them all together for at least another 4-weeks.  You shouldn't adopt a cat until they are 8-weeks old.  Hopefuly we can find a way to make that happen.

Sleigh Bells - Treats

Recently purchased about 15 CDs (discs, albums, whatever you call it on iTunes) and by far, my favorite one is the Sleigh Bells. Check them out here: http://www.last.fm/music/Sleigh+Bells

You can get their album at iTunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/treats/id371959684

They are coming to the Orpheum with LCD Soundsystem, but the tickets are a little too rich for my blood! Hope to catch them in the future. I hear their live set is AMAZING!

"I desire to go to hell and not to heaven. In the former place, I shall enjoy the company of popes, kings, and princes, while in the latter are only beggars, monks, and apostles." - Niccolo Machiavelli

I love this quote. I completely disagree with it on a spiritual level, but it is funny, along the lines of the rockers quote, "I'd rather rule in Hell than serve in Heaven." So, everyone can rule in Hell? No one can tell you what to do? Sounds like anarchy to me and anarchy is typcially ruled by the strong. They just beat the weak into submission and there's no group to stop them.

Anyway, just liked the quote.

Wonderful Insanity

One of my friends (Cale) loves antagonizing another friend (Eric) by making insane MS Paint drawings featuring bad things happening to his nuts and other parts. They are wonderful. I'm sharing a couple here:


Exhibit A - tickle, tickle, tickle


Exhibit B - this one is going on his next YouTube skate video

Exhibit 3 - a must have for yankees fans!

Knowing is Half the Battle

Friend of mine sent me the link to this t-shirt today. LOVE IT!

Sadie and her Mats

My medium hair golden kitty, Sadie, weighs about 13lbs. The other (2) kitties weigh 9lbs. Problem is, Sadie's a total wussy. She backs down each time one of the other (2) kitties raise a paw or walk her way.

Now, 4lbs doesn't sound like much, but to these cats it's about 30% more girth in favor of the wussy. When she gets upset, she TEARS the other cats up, it just takes a lot to get her to that point... unless you are trying to comb out mats. Then it takes about 30 seconds.

Last night, my wife decided to pull out Sadies mats. I was given the chore of holding Sadie in place. I hold all the kitties when cutting claws, brushing, etc. and let me tell you, 4lbs of muscle makes a HUGE difference. It is way harder to hold Sadie down! She had shoulders like a linebacker and fought hard. We had to give up halfway through cause we didn't want to hurt her too much. Luckily she forgave us quickly and wanted snuggles!

Not looking forward to finishing the job...

Comcast making something better?

I hear there are new features on the DVR. Folders and such... I'm hoping so. Woke up to a green TV screen this morning and after rebooting, remote didn't work. Hopefully it was by design, but one thing is for certain, it would have been nice if they told us this was going to happen. Though, in their defense, they probably did, I just didn't pay attention! LOL

iPod Love

I love iTunes, I love my iPod Touch, I love music. I spend hours and hours arranging, rearranging, and rating songs and albums on said iTunes and iPod. I absolutely love rating tunes. I build my playlists on these ratings:

Greater Than Everyone (5 stars)

Greater Than Me (4+ stars)

Greater Than No One (3+ stars)

Greater Than Them (2+ stars)

Greater Than You (1 Star)

Am I Pretty to You? (Unrated Songs)

My (2) most played playlists are "Greater Than Me" and "Am I Pretty to You?" The latter cause I'm always getting new CDs or buying albums off of iTunes. There's always something to new to listen to! "Greater Than Me" is my normal listening list. While driving, working out, working, etc. It's a mixture of all genres and changes often.

I have something like 180GB of songs and videos. that's a lot of music to sort through and rate, but I have listened to each tune at least once, maybe not 100% all the way through, but I gave it a chance! I love my music. I love iTunes. I love my iPod!