Tag Archive for cats

A Good Sunday, Except…

November 22, 2010 Bike, Life No comments

…except for the part where my mom called me to let me know that her cat, Lynx, had died in the middle of the night, it was a pretty good day.

Lynx

Lynx. One cool tabby.

That morning, I decided to try the drive up to Princeton to do some framebuilding. We’d suffered a pretty heavy ice storm during the night and having driven in it at about 1:30 in the morning, I was pretty wary of getting back out there. Fortunately, all the main roads were fine. The side streets were only a tiny percentage of the trip, so I went.

Upon arrival, I was super-productive. Right away, I sweated the canti brake stop and the derailleur cable stop off, and filed down the area they’re intended to sit and got the two parts into the hydrochloric acid to start the clean-up process on both of them. While the bike cooled and the parts soaked, I worked on Justin’s and Paul’s bikes. In the end, I accomplished all of the following:

  • finalized the commuter (it still needs clean-up work, but is basically done)
  • cold-set Paul’s BB/ST and joined up the two main subassemblies
  • got Justin’s HT/DT mitered and tinned, and the BB/ST mitered and tinned
  • got the pursuit frame underway with a tack-and-tinning of the BB/ST
Paul's Bike on the Table

Paul's bike, laid on the blueprint, ready to tack DT into BB.

And so things are coming along quite nicely. I’ll be back in the workshop on Friday. During that time, I’ll do the following:

  • remove any headset twist from Paul’s bike and prep the top tube and lugs
  • cold-set Justin’s ST, double check the HT angle, build fillets and join the ST/BB combo to the HT/DT combo
  • miter and join the HT and DT for the pursuit bike
  • prep BB for Andrew’s bike

So Long, Pal

October 20, 2010 Life One comment
Mom's cat, Tony.

R.I.P., Tony. (1994-2010)

Tony was my cat for about two weeks. I adopted him from the SPCA while I was in college, and was planning on moving into an apartment. The apartment thing fell through and my mom took him in, and the two of them bonded very tightly.

He was an abused cat before I got him, that much is obvious. He was about a year old, and totally freaked out by people walking near him in shoes. He was shy and nervous throughout his life, except with the people that he encountered regularly. When I first met him at the SPCA, he was so adamant about staying in his kennel, he tried to pull himself back into it. Once in my arms, he wrapped his paws around my forearm and buried his face in the crook of my elbow, and I was sold.

Mom tried to resist him, thinking I’d be taking him back. Within weeks, she told me that I’d have to find another cat and that Tony was now hers. I didn’t fight it — the bond between the two of them was obvious.

His health had been failing for awhile, and today, after a trip to the vet, my mom had to make the decision that every pet owner dreads doing. It was the right thing, the humane thing, and the most painful choice a person can make. She’s handling it a lot better than I did Mooch’s euthanizing, but she’s had time to see it coming.

He had a wonderful life after his rough start, and he was a well-loved member of the family.

Help This Charity

August 20, 2010 Life No comments
Stormy, the Cat

Stormy, a resident at Home for Life.

This is Stormy. He was injured by blunt force trauma to his face, an injury that required one of his eyes to be removed. The other eye is covered in cataracts as a result of bleeding inside the eyeball. Stormy is blind, with no chance of having his sight restored. He’s our “new cat” — I put that in quotes because he won’t be coming home with us. Stormy lives at Home for Life, a facility in Stillwater that provides a home to sick, abused, and special needs animals, so that they can live out the remainder of their lives in a peaceful and safe environment. His whole story is here.

Kate and I sponsored Stormy so that he, and other animals like him, can continue to benefit from the work that Home for Life does. I know that a large majority of you that read this have pets, and I’d ask that if you haven’t done your good deed for the year yet, to please consider sponsoring one of their cats or dogs, or making a small donation.

(As a friendly note, keep a box of kleenex handy when you read some of the animal stories.)

If There’s an Afterlife…

July 14, 2010 Bike, Life No comments

…I hope there’s a lot of stuff like this. Tooling around on my Cervelo with Mooch and my other cats on penny farthings sounds like a pretty awesome time.

Cat on a Penny Farthing. Source unknown.

Happy Friday!

June 11, 2010 Life No comments

Hey Internets, how’s your week been?

Mine’s been pretty awesome, despite the hard labor at the office.

Last night, we hit up Mac’s Industrial for trivia and I discovered their awesome menu (and food), and Odell’s IPA. We also won both rounds of trivia that night. Kate came up with some awesome answers, and I had my moment of idiot savant, wherein after struggling for 15 minutes and giving up, the answer to a question popped into my head while I was engrossed in the Twins’ sudden, unexpected, if ultimately futile comeback against the Royals. (The answer: “The Big Me” by the Foo Fighters.)

Today, I woke up to lightning and thunder. Granted, that was like 3:30 in the morning — the first time it happened — but I love that sound. I was very amused to see that both Calvin and Max were handling the inclement weather with a lack of concern. Calvin was curled up by Kate’s feet and if not sound asleep, faking it very well. Max was standing with his paws on the windowsill, with his nose pressed up against the screen, watching the downpour and the light show. Pretty brave.

Let’s see…what else happened this week?

WWDC went off and made me regret buying a 3GS iPhone when I did. To be fair, I didn’t have much choice — my 3G had basically thrown in the towel and was nothing more than a fancy, if small, web browser with some nice Twitter/Foursquare apps. And since the new version of the OS will run on my phone, I’m not in any hurry to rush out and upgrade, anyway. I can go for another 18 months or so.

Work is work, for the most part. My boss said some really complimentary things to me yesterday, and the timing was awesome. I’ve been kinda down on the gig lately, and it’s good to know that I’m appreciated.

That’s all for now.

Another Update and I’m on a Roll

June 9, 2010 Life No comments

So TempCat™, Max, goes back to Jimmy’s place this Sunday, and I’m really going to miss the goofy bastard. He’s been settled into our routine nicely, and I’m getting attached to the guy, which sucks. Kate was right when she said that he fit neatly into the empty spot that Mooch left. He didn’t replace Mooch, not by any means, but he filled the little hole in our family. I seriously doubt we’ll get a fifth cat, what with the plan to have a kid, and all that.

The framebuilding stuff continues to gather steam. I’m pulling together the paint masks right now, have figured out a logo that will work as a head tube badge for frames made in 2010, and am looking at business card pricing, all the things I need to be ready for Minnecycle. As soon as the 29′er is finished, I’m going to charge straight on ahead and get the commuter done so I can start riding that sucker to work.

The 101 Things in 1001 Days gig stalled for a little while there. Tonight, though, I start learning Japanese online (#93), and I start laying down the HTML for the first of the three WordPress themes (#80), which I’ll be releasing here as soon as it’s done. And in about two weeks, I’ll be ordering the telescope kit from MakerShed (#86). I’ll be making my appointment for teeth whitening (#50) this week. Additionally, I will be starting to set up one of the two shoeboxes for children in the Third World (#66) soon, too. Getting over the loss of Mooch (#68) is essentially done — I can look at pictures of her and talk about her without getting choked-up, but I still miss her — I have one final thing to do before I am ready to lay all of it to rest, and I’ll write about that when it happens. So June is going to be a productive month, I think.

Anyway, much left to do with my day, so I’m going to get moving. Hope you’re all well.

It Seems I Only Update Once Weekly

June 7, 2010 Life No comments

Okay, not really. I just haven’t had a lot of time to post here, which sucks, because I was just starting to build up some readership (per Google Analytics).

Wedding prep continues. We discovered that we under-registered, so we’re looking to add a few things. Ordering invites tonight or tomorrow. Groomsmen gifts tonight, too. Got to figure out the stuff for my groomschicks yet. Talked to Kate, we have a good idea. Just need the personalizing touch.

The framebuilding thing is chugging right along. I got the new website up and going, and while it still needs some tweaks, it’s a damn sight better than the old one. As for the bikes themselves, the 29′er is about a day’s work away from finished. It’s down to just the small details. Right behind it in the queue is the commuter frame, which is approaching completion, as well. I should have two bikes to show at Minnecycle, at the pace things are going. Expect a whole slew of photos about a week from now, showing off the finished work.

The integration of our TempCat™1 has concluded. Max is pretty much part of the family now, which is cool, but it’s going to be tough on everyone in a few weeks’ time when he goes back to Jimmy’s place. He fits in quite well and has turned into a pretty affectionate guy. It’ll be hardest on him, because I think he’s adapted quickly to having feline friends, something he doesn’t have at his usual place.

Like many geeks today, I will be watching and salivating over the Apple WWDC. Going to be hard, having geeklust for new products.

Beyond that, not a whole ton to report, Internet. Hope you’re well!

1. Original TempCat technology was pioneered by John Scalzi.

Sad Anniversary

June 6, 2010 Life No comments

Mooch, smug and happy.

Today marks a year since we had Mooch put down. I still miss her terribly.

Another Post

May 24, 2010 Bike, Life One comment

Going to try to get a few more posts up this week. Going to be busy again, but probably not batshit crazy like last week. A few new things to report:

1. Framebuilding. You knew this was coming, didn’t you? Yeah, well. Here’s what’s up — all that’s left is mounting the disc brake tabs, water bottle mounts, and filing down the fillets, and then the bike is done and ready to go to paint. The most-difficult part of the build is done — the running of the internal cable routing through the fork, something that I haven’t seen done before. The brake cable housing enters through the top of the right fork blade, goes through the steerer tube, and out mid-way down the left blade.

2. Feline Drama. We’re cat-sitting for a few weeks, and have integrated the young lad into our household. When I say “integrated”, what I really mean is that “none of the cats has called for artillery fire or close air support yet.” There’s still some hissing and growling, but I suspect by mid-week, everything should be fine. My only problem so far is being able to visually discern between Happy and Max — I have a very difficult time with it, as the only real difference is their facial structures. Also, he has been roaming around meowing at the top of his lungs repeatedly, like he’s lonely or looking for someone/something.

3. Registration! We finally went ahead and did our wedding registries on Sunday. Another item off the list! Woohoo! This coming weekend, we have a few more things to do, but at least this is done. And bear in mind that Kate hates shopping and I’ve been having upper back problems again (C6-C7 disc degradation), and we not only didn’t kill each other, but we had a pretty pleasant time. We hit up Macy’s and Target, and we have an Amazon list with a few things on it. And that’s it. This coming weekend, we’re headed to Duluth for food tastings and more prep. Fun!

Soul

May 12, 2010 Life 4 comments

This video, taken in Antalya, Turkey, is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen — a cat, hit by a car, and her companion that refused to leave her side for two hours, and then only when medics took her to the veterinarian.

Seriously, you cannot tell me that animals don’t feel emotion and don’t grieve. You cannot tell me that there’s not a soul in there.

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