Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

Friday night we tried to go see Cloverfield but ended up seeing 27 Dresses instead. Last night we ended up back at the theaters to see Cloverfield.

27 Dresses was not your average chick flick. It was silly and hilarious and remarkably fun. There was a lot of excellent dialog and 27 highly amusing bridesmaid dresses. The options for torturing bridesmaids displayed in this movie almost make me want to torture some of my own. Almost. Katherine Heigl (who also played the lead in Knocked Up) really doesn’t do much for me but that didn’t lessen the amusement factor of the movie. Silly, happy fun.

Cloverfield rocked. I think in part I love movies where NYC gets destroyed. For me, Cloverfield maintained serious intensity through out, starting almost from the very beginning. There’s a certain anticipation I brought with me, knowing it was some sort of big, bad monster flick, but the film teased me in the beginning with a fun, fluffy intro. The first 15 minutes of the movie really don’t prepare you for how involved you’re about to get with these characters. And then the intensity builds and builds… it’s not so much a scary movie as an intense ride through a disaster. The ending credits feature an incredible piece of music entitled “ROAR! (Cloverfield Overture)” was intense and dramatic and capped off the movie really well. (Stay for the credits. All the way through.)

I’m not stunned that Cloverfield is breaking January opening records. The theater was pretty full last night at the 10:15 pm show (Sunday of opening weekend, though granted a holiday Monday was coming up) and I’d happily go see it again.

That’s all!

movies, cloverfield, 27 dresses, reviews

Who can resist Monster Kitten?

Once upon a time, Monster Cat was tiny! He weighed just a pound when I got him – rescued from the backyard of a coworker who swore she’d seen the kittens around for more than 8 weeks. Uh-huh… right. By the time the vet told me he was probably only about 4-6 weeks old it was too late to repatriate him. The vet recommended kitten milk and kitten food for him but the aforementioned “big cat” Falstaff really loved both the milk and kitten food so Tenny didn’t really get much of it. (Plus it gave Falstaff indigestion, so the kitten milk and food were quickly abandoned.) Tennyson has grown up to be a 17 pound cat from this teeny tiny kitten. He used to sleep on the bottom bookshelf on top of a paperback and didn’t take up the whole space. Now if he sleeps on a paperback you can’t find the book until he moves!

The Complete Chronicles of Monster Cat are but a click away!

cats, comics, kittens, monster cat, silly, tennyson

Logic is such a harsh mistress.

This strip features actual photographs of Monster Cat scolding me for trying to play with his toy… then being slightly despondent that I wasn’t playing with him and his toy… then on-going mewling to get my attention so that I would indeed play with his toy, pretty please with catnip on top.

Ah, the trials and tribulations of being a thumb monkey.

The rest of Monster Cat’s adventures can be found here: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

cat toys, cats, comiclife, comics, monster cat, tennyson

Happy Friday! The fact that this is a long weekend finally sank in while I was planning my work for next week. Hurray for long weekends! Eek for short weeks when I need to get stuff done! I have 2 major objectives for next week – both of which are critical, at least to me – so hopefully nothing else will blow up and steal my time.

I took this photo this morning while I was making coffee. The rain took away all my snow (well almost all my snow) but at least the residual water was pretty on my rose bush. (Special thanks to slyppi for her assistance with choosing the favorite of the bunch!)

I’m making excellent progress in NOT getting sick. I slept a lot last night. There’s something delightful about going to bed early only to wake up, look at the clock and think, “I’m usually falling asleep about now but tonight I’ve already sneaked in a REM cycle!” I’m actually feeling better as the day goes on, which is better than yesterday went so I’ll take it. Happily my network is feeling better today too – last night I was getting huge lag spikes. I suspect in the MASS CHAOS caused by less than an inch of SNOW FALLING FROM THE SKY (aka omgwtfbbq on wheels!), someone hit a utility pole somewhere and my network connection ended up routed through Nebraska.

work, health, photographs, photography, water, weather, snow, rain

I am not getting sick. I may feel icky and super tired, but I shall beat off this ick with tea and soup and popcorn!

There are itty bitty snowflakes falling from the sky… sparsely… but promisingly.

And while I was distracted by work, it started to snow lightly with more of those itty bitty snowflakes. I may have to reevaluate where I go grocery shopping this evening.

I really have very little for a personal update. Work has been very busy but not quite overwhelming. I’ve been continuing to eat my vegetables (which makes me more annoyed that I’m feeling icky). And I’ve been concocting lots of plans for projects when I have more time and energy. In the meantime, I’ll keep Monster Cat going for the amusement of all.

Oh, and I got a bird feeder for Christmas which has been very popular with the squirrel trio. Yesterday I finally saw some birds hanging out around the feeder.

weather, snow, birds, health, work, random

Monster Cat is victorious again! This time he has driven back the ninja armies! Go Monster Cat!

The Ball-On-Stretchy-String-Attached-To-Stick (BOSSATS for future reference) is famously popular this month. The Fop’s family often gives him some sort of cat toy for Christmas… since he has a cat. Inevitably, my cat ends up hauling said toy around the house. BOSSATS toys are fabulous. Evil has even batted at this one! Imagine that!

In order to properly transport a BOSSATS around the house, Tennyson grabs the ball in his mouth and goes. One morning I found a despondent Monster Cat because he’d gotten the string stuck on a piece of trim in the hall. The noise the stick end makes dragging along the floor or clattering up or down stairs is quite distinctive. It’s fair warning that there’s a large gray cat on his way with a toy and that he’s likely to meow at you until you play with him.

Of course, it was Evil who participated in my conference call last week with a few well-thought out meows. Luckily the call was with a new team member rather than some formal presentation!

All the Monster Cat episodes: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

cat toys, cats, comics, monster cat, ninjas, silly, tennyson

Alas, the weekend is over.

Congratulations to The Fop and Collin_m on winning King’s and Queen’s Fencing Champion respectively. (Don’t they make a cute couple?) I still marvel at the fact that 7 Tadcasters survived a very long drive in one vehicle, no matter how roomy the Durango might be. I’m glad everyone had fun! There is now a reliquary containing the severed head of the first King’s Fencing Champion in my living room. Woo hoo!!!

Congratulations to oaken_glen on receiving her Silver Crescent as well!!!

It was a Monster Cat-intensive weekend with Tennyson demanding attention and to play with the latest favorite toy (featured in today’s episode). He drags it around the house to where ever he thinks he’ll get a thumb monkey to play with it. I think it’s on the bedroom floor at the moment, while he sleeps under the covers. I made my half of the bed on top of him this morning – his head was sticking out but that’s it. He’s enjoying it apparently because he was still there a little while ago. The toy will probably end up back in my office when he wakes up.

In other news, I still have no snow. Nix! Zip! Diddly! Bupkis! Niente! I may cry soon. Good thing there was snow in New England over the holidays, or I might be already weeping uncontrollably in the corner while my cat cries for someone to play with him. There are flurries in my weather forecast at least. Not that I trust the forecast at all. But seeing the little snowflakes on the weather widget do make things a little easier to tolerate.

All the Monster Cat episodes: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

cat toys, cats, comics, monster cat, silly, snow, tennyson, weather

I know… this is unprecedented! Three episodes of Monster Cat in ONE WEEK! My brain isn’t fried for the year yet, what can I say?

Many of you know I work from home. I have an (un)tidy little home office and an L-shaped desk that is home to my personal desktop, personal laptop and the pesky IBM laptop I use to access all the super-secure places for work. Or something like that. In the absence of his usual spot on my desk (due to a growing pile of “books to read” that won’t fit on my “books to read” shelves), Monster cat has taken over the tiny spot behind my work laptop as his home on the desk. He is larger than the spot. It’s quite amusing to watch him settle in, which of course I must watch because he’s doing it behind the laptop I’m trying to work on and bumping the screen a bit as he does it. He doesn’t quite fit but he makes due. I’m sure he also gets a lot out of the presentations up on screen while I’m on conference calls.

There are worse officemates to have. Sure, Tennyson sheds everywhere and wants his share of attention, but he’s pretty darned cute while he does it. At least he doesn’t have intensely personal phone calls in the office or play bad music or eat incredibly stinky lunches at his desk. (We’re a “No Wet Food” household, thank goodness!) He does occasionally try to steal my lunch and he’s quite vocal about getting the last bit of milk from my cereal bowl, but that’s about as bad as it gets.

Geek note: Featured in the center-left photo is a dearly loved 12″ Powerbook, now in the hands of one of my technology enablers… best Apple laptop format ever. I’m really hoping for that sub-compact Apple notebook rumored to be in the works. I love my newer, faster, cooler 15″ MacBook Pro, but it’s heavy and big compared to the wee little 12″ Powerbook.

All the Monster Cat episodes: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

apple, cats, comics, mac, monster cat, powerbook, tennyson, work, work at home

All the Monster Cat episodes: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

baskets, cats, comiclife, comics, laundry baskets, monster cat, resolutions, silly, tennyson

So I thought my lunch was cute today. Hummus, crackers, fennel with balsamic vinegar, carrots and cucumbers. Tasty, nutritious and cute! What more could I ask for from a lunch?

It’s Tuesday.

This is to remind you. Because, of course, I *know* it’s Tuesday.

And how do I know?

I know because I went through half the day thinking it was Monday. Every meeting reminder Outlook popped up confused me because I had looked at my schedule first thing and there weren’t any meetings on it. For Monday.

But, of course, today is Tuesday.

That’s right. Tuesday. Not to be confused with Monday (yesterday) or Wednesday (tomorrow). Definitely Tuesday. For another few hours at least.

Hmm… by the time some of you read this it will be Wednesday. I hope that doesn’t confuse you too much!

food, lunch, random, silly, vegetables, work