Month: September 2009

Okay. More housekeeping notes: I moved the “Get me a random entry!” link down the sidebar so it’s under the “journal” heading. Can everyone see it there? If not, let me know and I’ll get Fred right on it.

(Poor Fred.)

I changed the pictures in the sidebar so that they shouldn’t be blocking the words underneath. Are they blocking the words for anyone still?

And since enough people have mentioned it lately, I’m taking a poll as to whether y’all want links to open in the same window or a new window. I’ll leave the poll open for a week, and majority’s going to rule on this.

Links open in a new window or the same window?

Do you want the links you click on, on this site, to open in a new window, or the same window? Same window New window I don’t care, I just want to click on something Current Results

That is, assuming there’s a WordPress plugin that will encode the links so that they’ll open in a new window, because I am NOT hand-coding all the links I do on a daily basis. I don’t love anyone that much.

Alternately, if anyone knows of a WordPress plugin that will allow the reader to decide whether links open in a new window or the same one, let me know, would you? Thanks.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Why are so many people searching on “Dooce” all of a sudden? Seventeen searches over the weekend? Really? Is this about the BOYCOTT MAYTAG thing?

For the uninformed:

Dooce had issues with her washer, got no love from the repairman, called upon her million-plus Twitter followers to boycott Maytag.

Sundry considered that an abuse of power.

Dooce’s followers were all “OH NO SHE DI’IN’T!”, Sundry’s followers were all “YEAH SHE DID! EAT THAT!”

Jon Armstrong was all “HEATHER INVENTED MAYTAG WHEN SHE WASN’T BUSY INVENTING BLOGGING AND BEING THE FIRST EVER TO EXPERIENCE NATURAL CHILDBIRTH.”

Snarkers were all “Ever heard of a laundromat instead of letting your nasties pile up in the corner and stank up the house or are you boycotting the obvious as well?”

Sundry was all “This is how I see it.”

Dooce was all “MY CAPSLOCK, LET ME SHOW YOU IT.”

Various people were all “Blah blah blah we have no excitement in our lives, let us discuss the holy motherfucking shit out of this, COME ON EVERYONE, LET’S ALL WEIGH IN ON THE TOPIC!”

People with a life are all “What’s a Dooce?”

Frankly, as an internet slap fight, I found it lacking. I give it a C minus. Where were the personal attacks, the insults about each others’ appearances and mothering skills, the snide comments about each others’ spouses? WHERE?

Were y’all searching to find out my super-important opinion on the topic, is that what those searches were about? Because come closer.

Lean in, now.

My opinion on the topic is that… I kinda don’t really give all that much of a shit.

Does Dooce have a point? Sure. No help from the Maytag repairman after repeated visits, who wouldn’t snap?

Does Sundry have a point? Sure. When you’ve got a million people dying to read the words from your Twitter, maybe you have a responsibility to watch what you’re saying.

(Please note: I do not follow Dooce on Twitter. I do follow Sundry, which is the only reason I had any idea any of this was going on.)

On the other hand, if even one person who follows Dooce on Twitter was juuuuust about to go out and buy a Maytag appliance, and they read Dooce’s post to Twitter, and they said “OMG! Dooce says do not buy Maytag! Must. Not. Buy. Maytag. LOL!”, then I would say Maytag dodged a bullet on that one.

Who wants, as a customer, someone who is such a blithering idiot that a Twitter post calling for a boycott of Maytag would cause them to NOT buy the Maytag appliance they were just about to buy? And what kind of blithering idiot would immediately NOT buy that Maytag appliance instead of maybe putting it off the purchase until they found out what exactly the issue was?
Not a blithering idiot you’d want calling the service desk all the time, is what I’m saying.

Okay. Now I’m going to stop talking about it before I bore myself, and y’all, straight to death.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Someone asked in yesterday’s comments if Sam can close his eyes. He certainly can – in fact, we had a bit of a scare on Sunday when we walked in to give him his medicine, and his eyes were mostly glued shut by, I guess, post-surgery gunk (I noticed that his eyes were tearing a little on Saturday). We put some drops on the outside of his eyes, and soon enough he was able to open his eyes and he hasn’t had the problem since, thank goodness.

He’s not one of the kittens who couldn’t close his eyes completely before surgery. Terry and Bill are the ones with so much of an upper eyelid missing that when they close their eyes, you can still see their eyes. Sam’s eyelids weren’t nearly as bad as that, though with the pieces of eyelid missing, he had fur rubbing directly on his eyes every time he blinked. Now, his eyes are protected from that abrasion.

I’ll try to get some more pictures of him later today so you can see how well he’s doing. From a distance, I’ll say that he looks like he has completely normal eyes, it’s not until you get up close that you realize something’s different.

He had the last of his pain medication yesterday morning, and today he’s perfectly fine. When I went to let them out of their room, he came running right over with his tail sticking straight up in the air, let me squirt medicine down his throat, put ointment in his eyes, and then ran off to play.

Now, however, we’re going to talk about another of the True Blood 6, someone who doesn’t get his picture posted nearly often enough.

I speak, of course, of Lafayette.

Lafayette, being a black cat, is kind of difficult to photograph because he tends to show up as a dark mass in pictures. I can take his picture with the flash on, but his fur is so shiny that it reflects the light and looks terrible. Yesterday, as I was visiting the kittens (I visit them many times a day, as you can imagine), he flopped down in the sunlight, and I managed to get a few good shots of him.

“O crystal ball, when will I get my fancy new eyelips?” Soon enough, sweet boy, I promise.

Cheesecake pose.

Casually considering whether to chomp on Sookie’s foot.

Happy boy in the sun.

He is not only a good-looking boy, he’s super-sweet. He’ll come over and press up against my leg and wait for me to notice him, and then when I speak to him, he purrs and purrs. He likes to be held on his back like a baby, and when I give him a belly rub, he starts off cleaning his own paws, and finishes up by cleaning my fingers.

He’s all about the cleanliness, sweet boy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Spanky plays shy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Previously
2008: I know. I’m an unreasonable monster.
2007: No entry.
2006: The truth is, Fred has been excitedly pricing tractors every minute of every day since our offer on the house was accepted.
2005: Ahhhhh, smell that fresh, crisp autumn air! Why, it’s down to 90 degrees today. I almost need a sweater.
2004: She turned 86 last Thursday. She’s the only grandparent I’ve ever really known.
2003: (and you KNOW he insisted on it, was all temper tantrumy, screaming and beating his fists on the floor, wailing “ACTOR AND NOVELIST! ACTOR AND NOVELIST!”)
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.