Life With Cats

Learning something new every day ...

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:47:38 -0700

In the US, what sport has screaming fans, cheerleaders brandishing giant score cards, inspirational music and biographies of the players, and the feel of the Super Bowl?

Bowling.

I'm watching Bowling's Clash of Champions. This must be seen to be believed. Here in Canada, bowling is also popular. Sure, we have championships. But the players don't wear shirts with more logos on them than race car drivers. And of course, because Americans use duck pins and balls so large they had to drill finger holes in them, it is unusual and disappointing when a player somehow doesn't get a strike.

The cheerleaders though, they throw me off. Scantily-clad, heavily makeuped (if that's a word) girls holding up placards with players' scores as if they're announcing which boxing round it is. And the players are totally digging it. Arms pumping, pandering to the crowd, waving to everyone as they are eliminated (by getting anything other than a perfect score). And the audience screaming and knocking together those inflated batons you can buy at hockey games. Stanely Cup? No.

Bowling.

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Eleventy Fish ...

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Sat, 03 May 2008 05:38:50 -0700

... and a squinting cat. I woke her up and she wasn't too happy about it.

Tubbs and Fish

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The Life of a Temp

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:50:06 -0700

Ahh, temping. I temped for several months in 2006 and I’m temping again until something permanent comes up, hopefully soon (fingers crossed). It’s not easy to temp; basically you’re thrown from industry to industry, a few days here, a few weeks there, constantly meeting new people and learning new tasks. The meeting and learning wouldn’t be so bad if the experiences weren’t so fleeting; these are people you won’t work with again, unless they decide to ask you back … for another week. Right now I’m in the security system industry, for a few days. I received a crash course this morning in who to forward what types of calls to, how to use the debit machine, navigating a program I’ve never seen before and how to get out of the office after you’ve locked the doors. Still not clear on that last one; if you’re reading this on my blog, you’ll know I figured it out.

The one good thing about temping is getting to “sample” many different businesses. It’s an opportunity to learn which places have nice bosses and which ones don’t. When you’re applying for permanent positions with these companies, you’ll know what to expect. Right now the person I’m covering for normally never takes breaks and works through her lunch, she’s so busy. I’m only doing a fraction of her job and have time to write this. It’s good to know how tough her job really is, though, so I’ll be prepared should I ever find myself applying for a similar one.

Then there is the lack of benefits, vacation and sick days, and the lack of a steady paycheque as well. On some assignments you make more, some less. Or you may have a few unexpected days off. (Actually, with my temp agency, down-time is a rarity.) For someone who doesn’t like change, it’s also stressful to never know where you’re going next when the agency calls with a new assignment. Fortunately, it *should* all lead to permanent employment with a company whose waters you've already tested. Plus being able to say you’ve worked in a variety of industries looks good on your resume. So I’m sucking it up and crossing my fingers for permanency.

Admin Photo

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Film Review: Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:34:53 -0700

Having not seen their first one, I really wasn't sure what to expect from this film, other than an Asian guy and an East Indian guy doing drugs and acting funny. The 18A rating should have tipped me off.

So Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) are mistaken for terrorists on a plane to Amsterdam and sent to Guantanamo Bay. They escape and have some crazy adventures trying to get their lives back. There is mucho full-frontal female nudity, fake full-frontal male nudity (of course), a very bigoted Home Security-type official hunting the boys down, Neil Patrick Harris as himself and ... George W. Bush. I don't think there's an American film being made today that does not have a version of the President in it.

The trailers I saw of this film are really quite funny. Unfortunately all the funny parts are in the trailers. There are only so many getting-stoned jokes one can make. The Home Security guy insults many different races with the most offensive "jokes" you can imagine, but the writers (whose only experience is with the Harold and Kumar films) just sound desperate to wring a laugh out of their wanting script. Apparently black people really love grape pop. Didn't know that.

Of course they meet the President, who coincidentally loves his pot too. Oh yeah, each boy has a love interest they get in the end, because that's something else no film dares go without. And that's hardly a spoiler since hey, of course they get the girls. Otherwise it would be Harold and Kumar Do Away With Paint-By-Numbers Scripts.

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This Little Fishy ...

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 06:44:06 -0700

IMG_1243

IMG_1242

This little fish is the first of many for the Ecology Action Centre's Stitchin' Fish project. It didn't take too long to make: here is the pattern I'm using (without the mobile, obviously). I plan on making as many as possible and then handing them all over. Also considering picking up some polyfill and making little stuffed fishies. I messed up this one's other eye, but that's our little secret.

Also, below is the first item I have made without a pattern. I've never been very good at following directions, including knitting patterns, so this is a big deal to me. This was supposed to be a dishcloth, but due to a bad yarn recommendation, it's not really anything. It's a cotton-acrylic blend that would be great for doll clothes ... Still, nice colours, eh?

Look Ma No Pattern

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My cats' faces.

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:24:49 -0700

Convincing either cat to look at the camera while taking their picture is a real feat. I managed to get both of them today, so now y'all get to see their faces. Tubbs:

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Not a very good pic of Buddy, but you should expect bad photography from me by now:

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And it wasn't even supper time. Good kitties ... for the moment.

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The scarf is done!

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:05:49 -0700

Scarf

Scarf Too

It's about 64 inches long with only a couple of small errors. For those interested, the yarn is Misti Alpaca chunky 2-ply, and the colour is wine melange. Yaaaay, it's finally complete! It took about two weeks. Still haven't decided what to do with it (give it away or keep it); at any rate it's too heavy to wear until next winter. Next up is a throw made on circular needles. I'll be practicing with beer bottle cozies first (for Mike, ahem), to get used to using circulars.

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The Cat Tent

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:20:46 -0700

So Mike and I attended the Bluenose Cat Show at the Dartmouth Sportsplex on Saturday. Ironically the cats don't interest me (you can't pet them and they look bored to tears in their cages); we go for the vendors. Unfortunately there are never many and this year there seemed to be even fewer, maybe five tables. We bought a corner scratching post for our poor couch (they scratched right through the last post) from a New Brunswick vendor who makes lovely cat trees ... but charges way too much. We also picked up this bright pink cat tent. We had no choice but to buy pink as they only had pink designs left.

Cat Tent

Yes, that's our treadmill covered in plastic in the background, to keep the cat hair off (Tubbs sleeps on the belt). Tubbs actually checked out the tent first, then Buddy thought he'd see if two cats could fit in there. They probably could if one didn't hiss and swat him. The bottom of the tent is a nice fuzzy material, and Tubbs scratched the heck out of it yesterday. So it's a tent and scratch mat. Hopefully they continue to use it once the novelty wears off.

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Film Review: Vantage Point

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:59:27 -0700

So Mike and I are probably the last people to see this film, since it's been out for quite awhile. It was much better than I was expecting, since some reviewers didn't care for the repetitiveness. I think generally they pulled it off.

In a nutshell, the US president is the target of an assassination by terrorists. Uh-huh, so what else is new? He's shot, a hotel lobby is blown up, then the grandstand explodes. This takes place in Salamanca, Spain, where world leaders have gathered for some kind of kick-terrorist-ass summit. We watch the chain of events from the perspectives of several different people: a news exec (Sigourney Weaver), a tourist (Forest Whitaker), a Secret Service agent (Dennis Quaid), the terrorists themselves and the president (William Hurt). While it does get a bit tiresome to keep returning to 12:00 p.m., with each telling we at least learn something new.

Neither director Pete Travis nor screenwriter Barry Levy has worked on anything of note (no-name films and mini-series), so I'm not sure who is responsible for the hokey aspects of this film. Whitaker's tourist acts like he's never seen people or buildings before, and he befriends a kid with an ice cream cone. Unfortunately this kid plays a pivotal role much later in the film, so she keeps popping up in all her wholesome goodness. There is a lengthy, exciting car chase on the narrow streets of Salamanca in the tiniest subcompacts I've ever seen.

Despite the replaying of the assassination and the unbeliveable things Whitaker the tourist does (how many other tourists in an unfamiliar country chase Secret Service agents around town?), Vantage Point is an emotionally intense, generally satisfying action/drama that kept me guessing until the end. As long as I can't predict the "bad guy" within the first 15 minutes of a film, I'm happy.

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Giving away your work

nobody@vox.com(Life With Cats) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:34:19 -0700

Ever have a project you're working on start speaking to you? "You know, I'd be perfect for Such-and-Such," but you really planned on keeping it for yourself.

Have you ever given something to a family member or friend and have them not react enthusiastically? "Oh ... thanks for the tea cozy, even though I don't drink tea and don't like this colour ..."

My scarf has been asking me to give it to a co-worker who has been admiring it. She loves purple and used to knit. Problem is, we only see each other at work; we're not friends per se. But my scarf, which should be completed this weekend, won't shut up. "D. would love me, you know it. She'd probably wear me in summer, she'd be that smitten with me." I thought I was knitting it for myself, but the scarf has other plans.

So I'd like to know if you've ever had a project dictate who its ultimate owner would be. Knit/crochet/sew something for your mother only to give it to someone else or keep it for yourself? Make something to sell but found yourself handing it over as a Christmas gift? And have you ever completely miscalculated and have a recipient give a half-smile and a bland "Thanks" for all your hard work?

Comments will help me decide who my talking scarf belongs to - me or my purple-loving, former-knitter co-worker.

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