Category: Pets

Ch-ch-changes and f-f-fax tones

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It was very, very strange this morning to actually commute to work. For the past five years I’ve been able to walk 5 minutes to my office, but today I had to take the subway. It was only a few stops, but still…it means (gasp!) I can’t go home for lunch.

Eating at my desk instead of on the couch…hmmph. This is not the lifestyle to which I’ve become accustomed…

.:.

Still tired. The cats (or cat, rather; Sonny’s having the time of his life and not whining at all) weren’t so bad last night, but a fax machine called us at midnight and then again at 4 AM. That was a treat. Then, this morning, our stuff is all over the place so our usual morning routine was all disrupted and I couldn’t find anything, resulting in me wearing a belt that doesn’t match my shoes. Oh, the humanity. I’m hoping to get most of the stuff sorted out, set up and put away before I leave on course this weekend.

[tags]new condo, moving, pets, fax machines[/tags]

Aaaaaaaaaand we're home

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The move is over. The pets have been brought to the new place and the basics (bed, tv, diet pepsi) have been unpacked. The cats are FREAKED OUT; Michael’s cowering in the walk-in closet, and Sonny’s just now coming out to explore.

All in all our movers were great. When we got to our building our elevator was being used by someone else, so our guys had to use a standard elevator while we got yelled at by the construction crew and angry residents. Four hours from the time they showed up to when they left. One or two little broken items, but nothing too substantial, and neither of us had to lift a finger all day.

Now we’ll rest our tired feet, order some pizza, unpack a few more things and sleep like the dead.

[tags]condo, moving[/tags]

Hee hee…that picture looks like half a fishy!

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Had a nice, relaxing weekend, in part to finally give my back a chance to fully heal. I’m terrible at resting injuries, and a back problem only gets better when you leave it alone for a while, so I spent the weekend with my ass stuck firmly to the couch (much to the chagrin of the cats) watching an entire season of Oz and a fair amount of sports.

Speaking of the cats, I’m obviously spending too much time around them, since this comic my brother sent to me seemed as insulting as it did funny.

.:.

RFID technology’s been around for a while now, but now it’s as small as powder.

The world’s smallest radio frequency identification tags have been unveiled by Japanese electronics firm Hitachi. The minute devices measure just 0.05mm by 0.05mm (0.002×0.002in) and to the naked eye look like spots of powder.

Freeeeaaaaaaky.

[tags]back pain, cats, rfid[/tags]

Why can't they ever vomit on, say, the kitchen floor?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Here I was, having a good weekend, and suddenly whammo…cat problems. Last night, around 1:00, one of the cats pukes all over my laptop bag. Seriously, it’s like he aims for personal items. Trying to clean everything out of the bag and wash it off while still half asleep was buckets of fun. Then this morning I woke up to find the other cat limping; I guess he did something to his foot/leg overnight. Probably beat the crap out of his brother a little too emphatically. I’ll watch it for a day or so and take him to the vet if it doesn’t get better.

.:.

Today’s idiots: Dr. Ted Baehr, who claims Talladega Nights makes fun of Jesus [via Yes But No But Yes], and the lady who thinks the tree in her backyard is gurgling out “God’s water”.

.:.

Another great picture from Sam at Daily Dose of Imagery. You can actually see our building under construction a few blocks to the southwest.

[tags]cats, vomit, injured paw, ted baehr, talladega nights, god’s water, daily dose of imagery, moss park[/tags]

"And like that…[they're] gone"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The Brits have been seen off back to London. We dropped them at the airport this afternoon after spending the day enjoying Ontario. We wandered around Elora for a while, checking out the gorge and a few shops (including Stÿll, which I think is worth making the trip back for) before jumping in the car and heading to a nearby lake. It wasn’t as impressive as we’d hoped; we just drove along it until we found a spot where we could walk down to the shore. It wasn’t the nicest lake, so we just jumped back in the car (but not before I snagged a chocolate milkshake from a walk-up snack bar) and made for a town. We passed through a little rain — as it turned out, the only rain we encountered; pretty lucky as the forecast had been calling for storms — before reaching Orangeville. We poked our heads into an art gallery, a chocolate shop and a restaurant for lunch (it used to be a pub, or so my pub guide said, but it had been replaced by a restaurant…which I think may have made me sick…anyhoo) before getting back in the car and heading south. We arrived at Pearson in good time, got our guests checked in and on their way, looking for a pub on which to watch the footie match (which Germany lost after Italy scored very late in extra time).

We jumped back into the car once more (after I searched frantically for my Blackberry, which I — whew! — found on the floor) and I fought back post-lunch nausea long enough to return the car to a downtown Hertz, squish onto a subway and get home in time for some prime-time chilling. By the way, I like Toronto a lot less when I have to drive in it.

TimmyD blogged the whole affair on The Plummet Onions. It was great to have them here, great to show them a little more of Toronto, and great to know that it wouldn’t be too much longer before we see them again.

.:.

Recent tidbits:

.:.

Finally, I’m sad to say that Ash, the tiny-but-fierce cat and companion to our friends CBGB passed away this weekend. She was ancient and storied, like all great legends. I’ll miss her padding around CBGB’s place, I’ll always smile when I think about how she fell asleep on my lap on the way to Collingwood, and I’ll always laugh when I think about poor Ed having to pick her up with hockey gloves. Hopefully the smiles & laughter will come as easily to CBGB as missing her will.

R.I.P., Ash.

[tags]elora, styll, orangeville, indietits, philosopher’s walk. polaris prize, tornado, ash cat[/tags]

Breakin' shit down

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From Cinematical: Mara Leveritt’s book Devil’s Knot about the West Memphis Three has been optioned, and could be made into a feature film. Regardless of how well (or how poorly) the film is made, it can only help draw attention to their cause. Here’s hoping it gets made and more people become interested in finding the person who really killed those three kids.

.:.

The head of Homeland Security in the US has declared that the media will henceforth be embedded with government agencies during natural disasters. Presumably this will be to keep the public from seeing and hearing the, you know, facts about what’s actually going on. [from Antonia Zerbisias]

.:.

It’s been a nervous couple of days for us pet-owners. One of our cats — Michael, the smaller/stupider one — ate some string on Sunday night. About eight or ten inches worth, which can be fatal to cats (as it gets bunched up in their intestines). A couple of phone calls and a visit to the vet later, he seems to be ok, but they told us to keep a very close eye on him as things can turn very quickly. As such, we’ve been practically in the litter box with him for the last couple of days, and have found ourselves doing unpleasant things like breaking up his shit to see if there’s string inside (there is). This, I have decided, is a sad state of affairs. The things we do for our kids…even the furry ones.

Anyway, he seems to be ok for now. Fingers crossed.

[picture from QuestionableContent]

.:.

[tags]west memphis three, wm3, devil’s knot, homeland security, chertoff, cats[/tags]

How I plan to deal with selfish, dimwitted assholes

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Let it be known: if ever I see some fuckwit throw a puppy out of a moving car and into a river — like this mouth-breathing shitbag did — I’ll make it my life’s work to track him down, spit in his face and piss on his foot. If I were a more violent man I’d bring along a softball bat and break his dog-throwing arm.

I wonder if he did it because he’s so incredibly cruel that he doesn’t mind throwing a dog into a river to drown, or if he’s just so stupendously ignorant that he doesn’t know what else to do with an animal he doesn’t want or can’t care for. Either way, he deserves to wear some of my piss.

.:.

[tags]assholes, puppies[/tags]

Clinch already

Dan Dickinson

Montreal beat Boston tonight, so they’re that much closer to the playoffs. Atlanta and Toronto both won as well, though, so a playoff berth isn’t assured quite yet. We were at The Rebel House when the Leafs scored in OT to win the game, and some yahoo yelled, “Bring on the cup!” Uh, make the playoffs first, pal, then win a playoff round or two. Then we’ll talk.

.:.

Speaking of The Rebel House, je suis tres full.

.:.

Je suis tres sleepy aussi. I couldn’t sleep last night , what with the cats doing the Lindy Hop on my head. Gonna try to watch the latest Sopranos episode before I crash. So early on a (pseudo) Friday night, but I just can’t stay awake.