My kids

I haven't posted in awhile so I figure what the heck.

Here are my two little brats... I mean kids. They drive me bonkers sometimes, but I love'em anyway. I lost my sweet kitty Sophie early in June from Leukemia. That was a pretty rough time, but she lived much longer than most cats with it, do in large part to a safe, stress-free and loving home. I miss her still.

Anyway, before getting too mushy, here is a picture of little Loki (the black one) and Cleo (Cleopatra). They are playing in an empty litter container. I cut a hole in the top for them too. It's big enough for Loki, but it's almost too small for Cleo.

Click for full size (1200x1600, 410K)

She's about a month older than Loki. They aren't from the same litter obviously. My vets office had some kittens for adoption so I got them there.

I'm nor sure what Cleo's story is, but Loki was found abandoned in the Lowes (hardware mega-store) parking lot. Poor little guy. He was JUST past weaning when I got him, so he had to have been pretty tiny back then. He's well adjusted though. An ornery little bugger! I didn't name him Loki for nothing ya know.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share them. Enjoy. :)

Powerful Lyrics

I stripped this from a song by VNV Nation called Genesis. It's only one small bit but I says a LOT. Every adult can relate to the sentiments in these four simple lines. If you cannot you have not lived your life yet or are blind to yourself.

If I would shed my skin, the layers left

But not the lessons learned

It would not undo what I have done

Or grant forgiveness in some better days

Everyone has done something in their life they regret. Not regret because you got in trouble or because it's socially unacceptable. I'm talking about something you know in your heart was wrong.

Do we mourn our own inadequacies or do we learn from them and live on? I say you live and learn but never forget. Just as you look at a scar and vividly remember how it happened, these emotional scars will carry through your life, but they can be used to make you a stronger and better person, or you can let them weigh heavy on your heart and mind until you are crawling in the dirt dragging the baggage of your life.

But it's not that black and white. We all are at different levels of that at different times. The human spirit luckly is very strong and fights. I'm am optimistic.

Update to "Handicapped Parking Spot"

Last month, only June 15th I posted an entry complaining about an ill thought-out handicap parking sign they put in front of my apartment.

Well it's gone now. I noticed it was removed about 1-2 weeks later. Yea Yea I know I just now finally wrote about it. So it looks like managment either wised up or was bombarded with complaints. Either way they did the right thing.

Working Late

Well I'm working late tonight (like you couldn't gather that from the title?). There are a bunch of things I can only do after hours, when everyone is off the network, so I'm gonna try to take care of a bunch of them tonight. Anyone who's had to work on/upgrade/install a database knows what I'm referring to. For the rest, it's just a lot of work that requires the network server to be isolated, so no one tries to work on things as you are doing your thing.

I have to run system/security updates on the server first thing. It's a little bit behind. That's the trouble with servers. People expect them to remain up and running constantly, so keeping them up to date with security patches and what not is a tad bit more difficult than your home computer.

I then have to install the database server application, and then install its updates and security patches.

Next I have to configure the database server application to work properly with the CRM (Customer Relations Management) software we are going to be "going live" with next month (hopefully sooner!).

Finally I have to install the database.

All of this is pretty straight forward, but requires you to follow the instructions carefully, especially the CRM. There is going to be a great deal of rebooting as well. The rebooting is what will make this a long process.

After all that I'm getting me some dinner and then meeting John and Bill to see Terminator 3! My reward. LOL

Kids or Kittens?

I recently got a couple of cute little kittens. Loki, who's currently about 10 weeks old, and Cleopatra (Cleo), who is about 4 months old, or so. This is not the first time i've had kittens and yes they are a hand full, but this is the first time I've had two. I don't have to worry about one, I have to worry about them both at the same time. Trying to play with them both equally, get them not to fight too rough, dealing with a wet nose in the ear purring in the middle of the night. They wake up at 5am and run around, including on me while I try to sleep.

But none of that was as intense, scary and upsetting as this afternoon. Cleo went to the vet's office this morning. It was her big Spay Day. When I picked her up this afternoon she was pretty upset. She really didn't want to be in her pet carrier any more. That's all I could tell. She was meowing a lot more than normal, but I didn't think too much of that, she had surgery after all. But when I got her home I understood better why. She was in pain I think.

When we got home I took her into my bedroom and closed the door so that Loki wouldn't bother her. I knew she needed time away from him so she wouldn't play/wrestle. I'm not sure why I did, but I layed her down and looked at her stitching. It had come undone. It wasn't a gaping wound, but it wasn't going to heal right like that and could become infected. It freaked me out at that time though.

I quickly called the vets office. They had not yet closed, thankfully. They told me to bring her down. They quickly looked at it and agreed that it wasn't right. So she got staples. It made me feel better because I felt they'd hold much better. Well by the time we got home again one of them had already popped loose. Ugh!

Loki was being a nut ball because he could tell something wasn't right and I was trying to keep them separated. If I left him alone, he'd cry. If I left her alone, she'd cry. She was also running around too much and in general freaking me out. In hindsite I'm sure she was fine, but I was still upset about the whole thing.

I held her close and by the scruf (They don't squirm too much like that) for awhile, until I could get her calm enough to sleep. She's slept most of the evening. I have to keep her from licking her wound. I also have to keep Loki at bay, which isnt easy.

Well shit, as I write this, Cleo lays on the floor and snags one of the staples on the carpet and opens her wound again. It's one one of the ends and... Dammit, another staple lost. Ugh! We'll be going back to the vets office again in the morning. This friggin sucks. I'm all stressed out again.

I don't think she is in any danger, but she's in her carrier now. I don't know what else to do but keep her in there so she doesn't hurt herself.

I don't know how people with kids deal with kinda stuff. I'm a wreak and I don't think i'm going to sleep too well tonight. I just want to protect her and I feel like I'm doing a poor job. Both Cleo and Loki keep upsetting me. I'm snapping at them and periodically having to put Loki in the bedroom to leave Cleo alone and it bothers me terribly. Normally I don't have to act like this and everything is fine, but neither of them understand what is going on and they cant understand the rules. How do you hold your cat still in your arms to remove a half pulled out staple from her belly without hurting her and more and trying to maintain your own composier?

I feel like I've been a bad guy tonight. It upsets me greatly, but I'm only trying to help.

WHAT THE CRAP IS WRONG WITH BLOGGER!! I CANT POST LARGE ESSAYS ON HERE!! UGH!!!!

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When I have time I'll be redesigning this website. So if certain things dont work, just hold tight, they will eventually.