Kitty Stress

Honestly, what in the HELL was I thinking to get a kitten. Sure they're cute. That's where it ends. They are also EVIL. Henry spends his day thinking of new ways to piss me off. Turns out he is very good at it. little mofo...

So here is the latest incident report:

• he thoroughly enjoys jumping up at posters, and scratching at the wall below them...I have no idea what this is about...particularly when he does it at 4am...
• we have longer days now, so he is up EARLY and in order to get my attention, LOVES to walk over everything on my nightstand, including the telephone and answering machine, causing them to go off - so at 5am I hear "please leave a message after the beep" or a nasty ass dial tone. If the tissue box is turned right side up, there is some digging going on until he destroys the tissues in the box
• playing the blinds like a piano is still popular...only the ones in the room I happen to be in count. And when it doesn't get my attention, he steps it up and tries to climb them...
• he ran off with all three of my beading dishes...they are just empty applesauce cups with tiny beads in them for a project...the beads are ALL OVER THE FUCKING CARPET and the beading cups were jammed under the couch. I will not be picking them up...that's what vacuums are for...cleaning up after idiot cats
• I can't have a plant or clipping from a plant anywhere in the apartment, except inside the cupboard. He has chewed every single plant down to the nub, often within minutes of me bringing it home.
• He won't stay off the counter top. It doesn't seem to matter HOW many times I yell and scream at him, spray him with water, flick water at him, shove him off the end, you name it. He will come right back up there.
• He loves to ROOT. Particularly when I am sleeping. He will root at the wires behind the dresser where my TV and VCR are, and especially loves to root at the underside of my bed. It used to be open and he climbed up in there, (he had ripped the fabric off the underside of the boxspring) but now I have a duvet cover covering my boxspring and he can't get at it. It doesn't stop him from trying...again, usually at 1am, or 5 am.
• He is a puker. He looks for a clean piece of carpet on which to hurl the insides of his stomach, just for my enjoyment.
• Doors are meant to be scratched at, not closed. Particularly at 4am...I closed the spare room door to keep out some light and limit the places he can root around in while I TRY to sleep. So instead he scratches at the door, endlessly...
• He keeps knocking down the little jars of kitty treats. I have no idea why. He turns his nose up at all of them and won't eat them when I give them to him. Stormy does not suffer from this problem. He will eat all of Henry's treats. Henry just looks at them and flops on the floor.
• He loves to chew plastic. Particularly the plastic on my heating pad. There are teeth marks on it all over. He doesn't even care if I am currently using it. He will lay down next to me and start munching. Pity he wouldn't get a little jolt one of these times...
• I cannot leave a drink standing ANYWHERE. He will seek it out like a missile, and drive his head down into the glass, knocking it over and spilling the drink on whatever is near, usually my computer or some paperwork.

Okay. I'm calmed again for now. I'm sure the neighbors think I'm killing someone here by the sound of the roars coming out of me sometimes. I hope they know I'm not yelling at a child, but an insolent kitten. I know he doesn't understand what I am saying...but I can guarantee you he knows that the tone is not warm and fuzzy.

Password Hell

We've all been there. Many of us visit there frequently. I have so many passwords I want to scream...I even have a book for most of them. I have several at work, and they all expire, on different days so it is a constant struggle to keep up with them. I have a few key phrases/combinations with slight variations that I use for more than one login, but sometimes I use a service so rarely that when it comes time to sign in, I haven't the faintest idea.

We have passwords to login to our computer network at work, then to login to our email, to our child protection server, then the child protection application. We report our time and overtime through another online program, and there is a password for that. This is the one I forget frequently...when you forget it they don't email you the current password, they get you to change it again...sigh...

At home I have passwords for all of my email programs, blogger, facebook, banking with 2 banks, ebay, paypal, my sister's ebay, all the forums I visit (like lonely planet thorntree, hip forums, cbc news, etc) and passwords for other online buying accounts like Westjet, Amazon, Chapters Indigo, Staples, Future Shop, Dell, etc...the list goes on. Then there are passwords to get into the alumni stuff at university, passwords to sign into chat programs like msn and yahoo messenger.

Then there are access codes for computer, and for phonecalls regarding my student loans. I call them maybe twice a year and they expect me to remember them...I spend more time trying to forget they exist...

Password hell, I tell ya...

Computer Crash...

I can't respond to any emails today, Something has crashed on my computer...

Henry's Outdoor Adventure

Henry was out on the balcony today while I barbecued some chicken skewers. He loves hanging out in my kayak...as long as it doesn't tilt like a teeter totter and send him flying off the balcony like a rocket...

Footloose and Fancy Free

For our friend C.'s birthday, K. bought her a ticket to Footloose, and we all went yesterday. One of the local high schools put on the theatre production of the movie, while they were out of tune most of the show, the acting was terrific and the energy was high. Good for some laughs, and one particularly energetic fellow may very well end up going far, as he was quite talented - the youth who played the character Willard.

Nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Grammar and Spelling Takes A Hit

Is it just me, or is anyone else bothered by the decline of good grammar, proper spelling and word usage. I mean, besides being annoying, I can't believe that educated people seem to be unable to use the proper words in their writing. I'm not talking about difficult technical words, but everyday language where people commonly misuse words, again and again. Here are a few examples, used by some of my friends and family, all of who have a minimum of high school diploma, and most have at least one college degree, if not more. One of the worst I have seen lately is a cousin of mine who is also a teacher. Now that's scary. A typographical error is one thing, where you appear to be typing with your toes instead of your fingers, however when the entirely wrong word is used, well, that is something else.

1. "I seem to have loosed my dictionary". Come on...the word is LOST! The past tense of to LOSE. There is one "O" not two. I see this one misused ALL THE TIME.


2. "I like putting epson salts in my bath". Um, Epson makes printers. What you put in your bath are EPSOM SALTS. (used by my teacher cousin)


3. "There's not to much going on here". TOO. The word is TOO. To implies you are going somewhere.


4. "Your coming with me". Sigh...the word you are looking for is YOU ARE = YOU'RE. Your implies possession, and does not refer to you doing anything at all.


5. "Well, supposebly it's going to rain tomorrow". There is no "B" in supposedly. I kid you not. Apparently you can use this form in the United States. I don't believe it. In any case, we are in Canada.


6. "I am smarter then you". The word required here is THAN. Then refers to what happened next.


7. "Live life to it's fullest". Now this one is very common and one of the trickier ones. There is only an apostrophe if you are contracting these two words - IT IS. If it doesn't make sense to use the two words, then do NOT use the apostrophe version. Sounds easy enough, but you would be surprised how many people will argue this one.


8. "This doesn't really effect me". Sigh again. The word you are searching for is AFFECT. Effect is a noun. Affect is the verb. Nouns do not describe action. The tricky part is that affect can also be a noun, but not in that sentence. You would use it like this "She has a flat affect" meaning she shows no emotion.


9. "I drank so much last night I past out". Again, no. You passed out. Notice the "D" and past tense. I know it gets complicated, but come on. Try at least.


10. "I wanted to right you a letter last night but I couldn't find a pen". Okay, this is just stupid. The word is WRITE. Not WRIGHT, RIGHT, or RITE. Get with the program.


11. "I wrote my affidavid last night for court". You know what. David isn't part of the document. The correct word is affidavit.


12. "The drugstore did not have that pacific kind of hair jell". The words you are reaching for are SPECIFIC and GEL.

I could go on and on like this website, but I think you get the idea.

Henry the Horrible

I should have known better. I should have seen it coming. Actually, I did see it coming, but chose to hope for better. I was wrong. Henry is horrible. I spent a couple of hours yesterday repotting and separating my plants at the office, where they have been since I moved here last November, not wanting to bring them home in the frosty temperatures. The end result was quite nice, and I was able to give my friend K. some plants, and have a few to take home.

Then Henry had a look at them. First when I brought them home, he tempted himself to get close to one of them best ones, a strong stalk of leafy splendor. I ROARED at him and he got the point. Or so I thought. He backed off, taking the cue, and left them alone yesterday. Then today came.

I was cuddling with Stormy, who is as needy as ever, and heard Henry doing something. You know, when the sound doesn't make sense you just KNOW they are into something. So I get up to look and he has ripped my shamrock out of it's home by the tender roots and was calmly nibbling on it sprawled on the kitchen floor, leaves nowhere in sight (down in his gullet by that point). So I ROARED at him again, and put what was left back in the pot and placed the pot up high.

Hours later I stepped out of the apartment to bring the garbage down. I may have been gone about 3 minutes at the most. When I got back the horrors met me. My strong stalk of leafy splendor was now in the middle of the kitchen floor, and there was wet mud all over the carpet, end table, and MY WHITE COUCH. Henry was skulking nearby. There were ROARS. Oh yes, there were ROARS. Henry got a time-out in the bathroom while I cleaned the mess up, and now I have shoved him out on the balcony. If only he would run away to the neighbors and never come back.

Henry is horrible. Don't let the cute fuzzy looks fool you. There is evil deep inside.