This Day In History: 05/31
Happy Memorial Day from rainy Sterling. I'm going in to work for a few hours this morning, and then taking the afternoon off.
On Friday afternoon, I saw the resident mother goose teaching the baby geese how to cross the street at the crosswalk.
It's been quite some time since I mentioned the welfare of the kittens. Everyone can be assured that neither one has met an untimely demise from hyenas or other natural predators. Since it's the end of the month, I'll take a news post to enthrall you with status reports on the major players:
Booty is still Booty. She likes to chase Amber all over the house or wrestle Kitty to the ground for world domination. She thinks Sydney is annoying and smacks her around when she won't shut up, but will use Sydney as the fall-cat for stealing food out of cabinets or the sink. Booty is slowly becoming a lap-cat and knows two tricks, "Fetch the String" and "Run to fridge when Kitty is doing tricks".
Kitty is losing weight and spends most of her time staring out the window at chickenhawks or crying at the door to go into the hypoallergenic non-cat part of the house. She likes short walks on the beach, and can Sit, Shake, Speak, and Roll Over. She's learning Come but it currently only works when you're standing by the fridge.
Here's a video clip of Kitty playing with Sydney, titled "Veiled Threat": (3.5MB WMV)
Sydney is the most obnoxious yet cute kitten ever. She has a 40-year-old smoker voice and whines for food all the time. Through perseverance, she's learned how to open food tins, closed trash cans, and cabinets in her quest for food. We considered changing her name to Alley since she acts and looks like an alley cat. Sydney follows Kitty around and Kitty licks her.
Here's a video clip of Sydney entering a room: (403KB WMV)
Amber is very shy and not too bright. We considered renaming her Eldie. She will sometimes stand on both legs to reach something and then fall over sideways. She plays pretend by herself a lot, and has the tendency to get toys stuck to her claws. Amber is the lappiest of lap cats, but skitters away from anything that moves.
Here's a video clip of Amber playing with herself: (1.5MB WMV)
Happy Birthday Maureen Fish!
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![]() My sister and brother-in-law at his graduation from Vet School (Virginia Tech) | ![]() I'll see your baby and raise you a kitten. |
![]() Amber practices cute-sleeping. | ![]() High Stakes Poker Game |
![]() BU wins first place, for the first time ever. | ![]() Ella gets an ethnic nanny. |
Cat Videos
Amber is a Muppet (2MB WMV)
Amber is Summoned to Fight Crime (1MB WMV)
Amber is Retarded (1MB WMV)
More New Pictures
Home Renovation
May Festivities
May Cats
New pictures have been added to the Life, 2011 album. You can also see pictures from Rebecca's Peru trip .
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There are no major spoilers in these reviews.
The Hunger Games (PG-13):
We watched this movie in the theatre last Sunday, bringing the total number of theatre visits for 2012 to 2, and bringing the total number of theatre visits since 2008 to 2. This is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book by the same name (which is also the best of the book trilogy). Well-cast, well-paced, and filled with actors like Stanley Tucci, who is obviously having a great time with his role.
The only problem with this movie is that the ultimate winner of the Hunger Games is "shaky cam". All but a handful of scenes in this movie are filmed in a handheld manner. While this is an effective way to slip the large amounts of non-gratuitous violence into a PG-13 wrapper, it really doesn't add anything to the rest of the movie. I have not seen so much "shaky cam" in play since I saw the second Bourne Identity movie in theatres (and even today, I'm not completely sure that Matt Damon was in that movie because the camera was so shaky).
Final Grade: B+
Pushing Daisies, Season One:
This nine episode season is available for free on Amazon Prime, but is even worth a purchase. The story is a modern-day fairy tale about a pie maker who can bring people back to life, but only for one minute. Episodes are reasonably standalone, as he uses his power to solve a different murder each week. What's unique about this show is its visual and musical style -- bright patterns and colors, a full orchestral score, and a whimsical dialogue patter that suggest a Tim Burton TV show, if Tim Burton were less emo. The show occasionally falls into the trap of recapping too much information from previous episodes (most noticeably when you watch them in a row), but I still greatly enjoyed its cleverness.
Final Grade: A-
Cougar Town, Season Two:
This show's second season about as funny as the first. A few episodes seem a bit more mean-spirited than necessary, as if it were channeling Everybody Loves Raymond rather than Scrubs, but overall it's worth a watch for some easy laughs.
Final Grade: B
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New photos have been added to the Life, 2013 album. Congratulations on surviving 41% of the year!
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A few new photos have been added to the Life, 2016 album.
May's Final Grade: B-, Rainy with proposal work and no major highlights.
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New photos have been added to the Life, 2017 album. Google Photos sucks.
May's Final Grade: A-
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New photos have been added to the Life, 2019 album. Google Photos sucks.
May's Final Grade: B+, the staycation was amazing, but why is it already hot?
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New photos have been added to the Life, 2021 album.
May's Final Grade: B+, life is busy but we're figuring it out
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