Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3501870/Happy-National-Cleavage-Day.html
Current Mood:
Amused
Month: March 2011
A weekend update on the pet situation
So, first off, Tolstoy is starting to feel better after being a very sick boy. He went downhill very quickly two weeks ago and, after several tests and a week’s stay at the vet, they diagnosed pancreatitis. He also had a bout of E.Coli and some anemia. Fun stuff. The good news is that symptomatic treatment has been effective and, after having had cage rest for the past two weeks, he seems to be perking up. The bad news, as it were, is that in the course of diagnosing the pancreatitis, the vets discovered that he’s had a herniated diaphragm as a result of being hit by a car two years ago. Part of his liver and spleen have herniated into his chest and that’s compromised his lung capacity and constricted his heart. All of which can be rather, well, fatal and needs immediate attention.
It’s a weird situation. He was fine, and could very well stay fine for years, until he’s not. Then he’s dead. To avoid this, he’s going under the knife tomorrow. The vets wanted to make sure that he’s gotten over his previous malaise before they operated. He’s a lot better now, but he’s still not out of the woods yet. Because the hernia’s been around for so long, there is the possibility of nasty complications. He’s in good hands, and we’ll find out how things went tomorrow. Poor little guy. He’s not even 5 and will have had two major surgeries and a minor one. Yay, insurance…
On a more positive note, we went to visit Annie this weekend. Bean’s very excited about the prospects of getting his dog. Everybody at nursery knows the name of *his* dog :)
She’s really good about not pulling on the leads, so when we went for a walk, we were only loosely holding on to the middle of the lead while Bean was trotting along behind Annie. It was a case of not being sure who was walking who :)
We had very nice visit of Cambria Farm, which is run by a lovely lady called Jane Wilton-Clark. She runs a rare-breed pig farm that produces some truly excellent pig products. We bought some sausages and patties and had some for lunch when we came back. YUMMAY! Definitively have again, and driving back there with Annie will give us an excuse to go visit and buy some more :)
Speaking of food, I made a lasagna and a roast chicken, neither of which I’d done in a very long time – both of which were very good and therefore must re-enter the rotation of weekend dishes. Note to self.
Current Mood:
Giddy
*gigglesnort*
I’m going to get into so much trouble for this one ;)
Current Mood: Amused
Yay, insurance
Tolstoy’s vet bill so far is over 1300 quid, and he hasn’t even been operated on yet. Shudder to think what the final bill will be…
Happy… Belated…… Birthday…. Captain Kirk!
William Shatner has cemented himself into geek science fiction lore forever. Yesterday, he began his ninth decade on this planet – yes, Captain Kirk is now 80 years old.
Current Mood:
Calm
Happy Pi day
It’s 3/14, so it must be Pi day!
There is – FINALLY – no more cake!
As a follow-up to this post, I am happy to annouce that it took us two weeks but we’ve finally eaten all of that damn cake. Even after giving lots away, bringing some to the office (twice) and eating it way to often, we’ve finally managed to get rid of all of it.
It was good.
But no more!!!!!!!!!
Current Mood:
Full
New addition to the family
We thought long and hard and we’ve asked the breeder if we can adopt Annie.
It might be a few days of fun while everybody, especially the cats, get used to each other but we think we’re up for the challenge. She’s a really gorgeous girl and she seems very sweet-natured. Hopefully all will go well. Watch this space.
Current Mood: Giddy
Reason #425,896 why I don’t want to go to the US anymore
In a case against a New York website owner, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is claiming that merely linking to copyrighted material is a crime. DHS, along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), seized Brian McCarthy’s domain, channelsurfing.net, in late January. The site has now been replaced with a government warning: “This domain has been seized by ICE – Homeland Security Investigations, Special Agent in Charge, New York Office. It is unlawful to reproduce copyrighted material, such as movies, music, software or games, without authorization… First-time offenders convicted of a criminal felony copyright law will face up to five years in federal prison, restitution, forfeiture and fine.”
[…]
The advocacy group Demand Progress has claimed that McCarthy never reproduced copyrighted material, and that his website simply linked to other sites. While the criminal complaint alleges that McCarthy did engage in the “reproduction and distribution” of copyrighted material, it is never clear that he actually reproduced any of the specified broadcasts.
“Under that sort of thinking, everyone who’s sent around a link to a copyrighted YouTube video is a criminal,” Demand Progress warned, calling the prosecution a “radical shift” in the way the government polices the Internet.
Seriously, shit like this makes me scared. If only to avoid the potentiality of trouble, I’m temped to relocate my website away from US soil. I wonder if Sealand is still running a web host…
Current Mood:
Angry
One of my more random impulse purchases
I love the for-sale list on campus. The amount of weird and wonderful shit that people routinely buy and sell is simply fantabulous. Just today, this came up for sale:
Beautiful Hand Made 4 Tier Celebration Cake for Sale
The cake is here on campus.
Freshly baked, chocolate and baileys flavour.
Basically, it was for sale because the chef is going to make a wedding cake for a family member and this is the practice run.
So I bought a cake that would normally be sold for £180 for a fraction of the price :D
EDIT: Oh, and as a side-note, I’m told that the topmost tier would give 8 large portions. We might have cake for a while…
EDIT:
[14:33:24] Joe Foster: heheawesome [14:33:40] Joe Foster: looks like its about to topple over, or is that the design? [14:33:49] Richard Cote: by design, doofus [14:34:23] Joe Foster: i have no idea about wonky cake design [14:34:44] Joe Foster: i am a victoria sponge man, anything more is voodoo to me. [14:36:18] Richard Cote: I should have Katy give you a course in the proper nuances of cake :) [14:37:37] Joe Foster: nuance schmuance, its victoria sponge or gtfo. [14:41:19] Richard Cote: what about lemon? chocolate? chocolate and orange? [14:41:42] Richard Cote: there's a whole world of cake out there to be explored [14:41:43] Richard Cote: philistine!
EDIT: Crap, it has marzipan in it. I was specifically told that it didn’t contain any nuts :(
EDIT: Well, ok. After some cake surgery, I was able to remove the marzipan and shave off the outside layers of the cake. It was a hell of a job and took all of our tupperware to store the results. Jaysus, that’s about 30 pounds of cake!!!
Current Mood: Amused