EEE version 2.0

I finally updated to the new version of Blogger so I thought I would give the thing a little makeover.

I'm not quite happy with it yet, so expect some changes in the future. But it's a start.

Oh, and happy belated New Year.

A Rare Moment

A rare moment of peace from Mickey and Maggie.

Enjoy!

Another failure in the books

Well, it's the end of NaNoWriMo month and, needless to say, I didn't come close to writing my novel. But I have some ideas for next year. For instance....get an idea. And do a little research. And turn off the TV. But mostly, don't start writing about an event that is still too fresh in your mind.

My hats off to anyone that tried (even if you didn't get any further than I did). The NaNoWriMo community is a hoot and I definitely plan on trying it again next year.

Me and Richard Petty

Hey everyone,

I now have some in common with Mr. Richard Petty, one of my favorite drivers. His famous car was numbered 43. Today, the birthdate on driver's license indicates that my number is 43 as well.

It's been an eventful year for me. Shortly before I began this blog over a year ago, I lost one of dear cats, Cymbah. A little less than four short months ago I lost Spot. I'm still not over that one.

But on the plus side, I had several good things happen (I've written about them previously on the blog....I leave it as an exercise for the reader to find them):

- I took in Mickey and Maggie. They can't replace the loss of Cymbah and Spot, but they are an absolute joy (yes, I know I owe all of you some pictures!).

- On the work front, I took over a new position and things have been going better than I expected. Apparantly, the people I work with think higher of me that I do myself.

- I finally got some overdue dental work done. I can't wait to finally pay the bill in February (note the sly sarcasm in that statement).

I think that's enough for one year.

It's been HOW long?!

I knew the date was near, but I didn't realize it had already passed. What day, you may ask?

Why, the anniversary of this blog. It was a year ago yesterday that "Ensign Eddie's Extravaganza" entered the blogosphere.

A lot has happened to me over this past year. I plan to write more about it this weekend. Of course, I've been planning to write that novel too, and yet it still sits there mocking me.

Anyway, it's been a pleasure to write to all of you this year (even with all of the heartache it brought). Hopefully, this coming year will be better.

Well, I'm going for it

I have officially joined the NaNoWriMo site as "Ensign_Eddie" (of course).

Now I just have to write the thing...

Can you NaNoWriMo?

I didn't realize until looking through Lifehacker that NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow.

What is "NaNoWriMo"? It stands for "National Novel Writing Month" and the intent is to write a 175-page (50,000 word) novel in a month. Specifically, the month of November.

It doesn't matter if the novel is complete garbage...the intent of the exercise is to produce quantity instead of quality. To get something...anything...on the page.

I plan to do this. I haven't decided if I am going to "officially" join at the website, but I am at least going to do it on my own.

I think everyone should try something like this at least once in their lives. This is going to be my turn.

Check out the website at www.nanowrimo.org

Here's to Hugo

Today, during a speech at the UN, Hugo Chavez (President-for-Life of Venezuela) called President Bush "the Devil".

All I can say is that two can play that name-calling game.

So...let me be the first to call Hugo a big doody head.

From the Archives

This picture was taken on June 11. I hadn't posted it before now because it was really washed out by the flash. But I really liked the pose so I tried a little Photoshop magic on it. I hope it's not too noticable.

I still miss Spot an incredible amount, but I'm sure glad I finally bought a digital camera last year. I have many pictures of the old boy that I probably won't ever share with anyone (especially the ones from his last days), but I have them. They both comfort me and make me sad all over again. I guess that's to be expected, though...

Maggie's confused by this "mouse" thing...

Rest in peace, buddy...

he's gone

6:10PM, August 1, 2006

Another update

Well, I suppose some of you may be wondering what's going on with my dear old cat, Spot. In short, he's still with me. He's still mobile and seems to be able to go where he wants.

I took the problem of his lack of eating into my own hands by feeding him with a syringe. He doesn't enjoy it much, but he's eaten more in the past three days than he had the entire week before. Perhaps because of this, he doesn't seem to have declined as quickly as I expected.

Before any of you say anything, I'm not fooling myself. I know that he will be gone soon, but I take whatever little victories (and time with him) that I can. If he wants to lay on a pillow and purr as I pet him, I'm taking it as a bonus.

As I read that last paragraph, I feel I must admit that I do take a few moments several times a day to believe that healing is possible. I know that may seem weird, but I believe that with God, anything is possible, even this. I don't think it's probable (and most of the time I prepare myself for the inevitable), but, as I said, for a few minutes...for as long as I can muster...I believe he will get better.

Please don't think less of me.

"What a crappy week"

I said that this evening to my Dad at supper. But as I look back, obviously the situation with Spot has been front and center on my mind most of the time. However, I have had more time with him than I expected (and it has been mostly quality time), so that's not so bad. In addition, my two kittens, Mickey and Maggie, went to the vet to be "Barker-ized" and came through their surgeries in fine shape. Even a project at work (for which I am responsible) was successful. In other words, my feeble management skills didn't screw up the people doing the real work.

So, there have been some successes amongst the extreme heartache.

And that, my dear friends, is the last I am going to write about this until the situation changes. There are some other subjects that I feel lead to write about that I plan to start soon.

Life must go on, after all. Even if it seems a little bit emptier.

Hanging in, but not much hope

Well, the news from the vet wasn't good. My poor kitty's pancreas and kidneys are shutting down and most likely by the end of the week he will be gone.

I can't tell you how much this hurts. At least with Ferrari and Cymbah I had months to be prepared. This has come on very suddenly. Again, I covet your prayers.

I would like to leave you with a picture I took of Spot last night (before I only suspected the truth...it wasn't confirmed). It's hard to accept that this face is not only sick, but soon won't be with me anymore...

I need your prayers...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

However, this morning I am taking Spot to the vet. He has not been eating well as of late and appears to be getting weaker. Last night he seemed to be walking a little wobbly, although he seems to be a little better this morning.

A few months ago he was diagnosed with pancreatitis and we have had to deal with that. It doesn't help that he really doesn't like the food required to treat that condition.

Anyway, I hope to have good news to report. But I'm not feeling lucky.

Please keep Spot and me in your prayers.

Two Lugnuts Up

I just got back from a showing of Cars with my nephew. We both loved it. Do yourselves a favor and brave the crowds to see this one.

Incredible. Beautiful. Funny. Poignant.

And talking cars.

Two lugnuts up.

Three's a crowd?

The ice is beginning to thaw...

Unfortunately, I have not been able to get good pictures of the new kittens (at least not good enough to put up here on the blog). I have been playing with camera settings in order to take pics without using the flash (I just hate that washed out look). This effort has been somewhat successful, but I'm still working out the kinks.

However, something happened yesterday that I just had to have a picture of, so I used the flash. Mickey and Spot were both on the chair together for about five minutes without batting at each other. The spell was broken when Maggie tried to join the party. I bet you can guess how that worked out....

Anyway, here is the photographic evidence:

Mickey and Maggie

Meet Mickey and Maggie. Maggie is the tortoise- shell cutie in front and Mickey is the black kitten in the back. I expect their coloring to change somewhat as they grow older.

I picked them up from my vet, Dr. G, this morning. They are strays that were taken in by another of Dr. G's clients who just didn't have the room to keep them. I had asked Dr. G to keep me in mind for some new mouths to feed earlier this year. If you go back to the beginning of this blog you will see why I do have the room to keep them.

My other cat, Spot, has not been the same since I lost Cymbah last year. I am hoping that these new "bundles of joy" will at least give him some amusement while I'm at work. At least he hasn't swatted at them yet.

By the way, the names were given to them by their rescuer and I liked them. Well, actually the male was named Mikey. I misheard her the first time and thought she said Mickey. I guess it's not surprising that a Disneyana fan like me would make that mistake.

However, for some reason I have unconsciously called him Mikey several times today so I'm wondering if that really is his name. Hmmmm....what do y'all think? Where's T.S. Eliot when you need him?

I'll put up some better pictures soon.

Blast from the past

A few days ago I received an interesting e-mail. My old college buddy Jim sent out a bunch of inspiring pictures from Iraq (as opposed to what we normally see on the nightly news....but that subject's for another time) and included me on the distribution.

What he probably didn't know is that I had lost track of him a few years ago. Needless to say, I was very pleased to be able to reconnect with him. I've already exchanged one set of e-mails and am proud to include his blog It's All Up In The Air over there on the right side of this page.

Jim is an airline pilot (and is also with the Phoenix Air Guard) and has some very, very cool pictures on his blog. Check it out!

Jim is also the only person besides avgeek and his wife Amos to ever call me Scooter. In fact, I think he might have started it....