Just Another Day

I had to buy a brand new laptop power adapter today.

But the adventure really begins before I had to buy the new power adapter. It was sometime in the morning. And me having not a whole lot to do who knows what time it was.

Anyhow I was hanging out on my bed, watching TV. Fred the orange cat was in here bugging the shit out of me to feed his fat ass or something. Fred likes to be fed. But I did not feel like getting up just then. So I reach for the computer which is plugged into the wall. I keep the laptop plugged in far more than it is on battery power.

Anyhow Fred likes to chew on things when he is being nice and purring and trying to get me to feed him. So what did he choose to chew on?

The power cord. And NOT the AC side of the cord, but the DC side that goes to the computer.

And the computer screen goes BLACK. It would not turn back on.

OH FUCKING HELL! Right now is a really bad time to have to get another computer. Really. Later will be a better time for that. But the laptop would not turn on.

Meanwhile Fred has jumped up on the bed and plopped down next to me. I think he knew I would not stab him there because I would get cat blood all over the sheets.

But I got the computer to work again. I removed the battery then put it back. For some reason whatever was causing the thing to not turn on was resolved. It turned on.

Of course this presented a new problem. How was I going to charge the battery once it ran out?

As for the adapter, that I could not fix. There is a green LED indicator that lights up when you plug it in. The light is dark. I think that when Fred bit the cord he shorted two wires on the DC side. The short caused some sort of internal fuse to blow.

The Dell website wants something like $70 for a new adapter. And then it would not have shipped till Monday. And who knows how long it would take to get there.

So I trudge off to Best Buy. I figure I can find something there.

And I did. For $109 plus tax. One fucking hundred nine of my FAVORITE DOLLARS!

Well Fred, there is your vet health exam for this year. If you get rabies it is your problem.

Along For The Ride

This is going to be one of those posts. I have no idea where it is going. Seriously. I got nothing.

But I am prepared! I have another Firefox window open so I can search for stuff. This could either be good or it could suck.

But first....FRED UPDATE!

As you may remember from yesterdays post, Fred the formerly fat orange cat got an infected eyelid. Or cat pink eye. Or something. I still think that one of the MANY Skipper induced cat squabbles caused the infection. Skipper's favorite cat game is called "harass the other cats". I have to admit, it is fun to watch. But I always knew that sooner or later the game would result in a visit to the vet.

Anyhow - Fred's eye is much better now. There is this goop I have to put in his eyes three times a day. Fred does not really like this too much but that is too bad. He gets the goop three times a day. Already the goop has really helped.

But then there is the other Fred issue. He had hookworms. Worms. So this means it is likely the other cats have them too. I have no idea where the hell they came from.

So I have an interesting choice. Choice 1 is to bring the other cats to the vet, resulting in another bill.

OR I can become a cat shit collector. I have to monitor the litter box, and wait for one of the cats who is not Fred to shit. Then collect it. Then take the shit in a bag to the vet, where I can have someone look at the shit under a microscope for signs of worms.

Or come to think of it - I have a microscope! I got it decades ago. It is a decent one - not one of those toy microscopes. I got it at a used medical supply place. Gross huh - used medical supplies? Anyway it is similar to the optical microscope used in high schools and freshman biology classes. Only mine is in better shape as nobody has tried to make a pot smoking device out of it. Yet.

I suppose I can dust that relic off and use it to check the cat shit myself. But then I would need some slides and other related microscope supplies.

I used to have all that shit. I decided to liberate it from back when I was in junior and senior high. I had a whole kit. Slides, covers, all sorts of dyes, and so on. I have no idea where any of it is now.

And why would I need a microscope? This may shock many long time readers but I was a strange person. I would look at a body of water and ask myself "I wonder what kind of microscopic critters are in there". So I would take various water samples (I would sometimes carry around plastic vials) from the water, the mud, and so on. Then rush home and prepare the slides to see what is in there.

I would also take samples from my aquarium filters and look at the stuff that would end up in there. A LOT of stuff ends up in an aquarium filter. All sorts of blobs that move around. Some move fast, some move slow. Some even look like worms.

Now we are back to worms. In at least one cat. So I have to collect the shit, bag it, then haul it to the vet.

So I have this wireless web cam thing. It was on clearance from Office Depot. The original price was $300. I can see why they could not sell them all! $300 for a web cam??? Shit for that spread I can almost get a REAL video camera.

I paid a whole lot less. Clearance items rule.

The web cam is wireless. I think I mentioned this. It will connect to the wifi router thing so I can view things through the camera without any wires attached to the computer. It also has a web server somehow included, so I can put the camera on the internet if I wanted to. I can also control the zoom, pan, and tilt. Pretty cool huh?

Litter Box Cam anyone? This way you can watch the boxes with me. Fun huh? Using the technology of advanced microchips and a vast worldwide computer network to watch cats shit in a box.

Do not worry - the wireless web cam is still in the box. I am considering returning it. But most likely Ill keep it. I suppose.

Monday Madness

Is this a good idea?

PMS Guns and hearing protection. Who are they trying to sell to here? Cause you could take this in two ways.

1. Get a gun and some excellent hearing protection, cause it is PMS time for someone else. You may need to block out a lot of noise and/or possibly defend yourself.

2. Someone else is making your PMS worse, so you need a gun and some hearing protection so that you do not have to hear all this shit about "is something wrong"? OF COURSE SOMETHING IS WRONG! And what are you anyway? Some sort of "pick up the dry cleaning" machine? Hell no! Someone else can get the damn dry cleaning!

Anyway, I think I would avoid that gun store. I would go somewhere else for all my gun needs. No matter how small the town is - there is not going to be any less than two gun stores. People seem to need a lot of guns! And for good reason.

BERSERK HOUSE CAT ATTACKS OWNER

HAILEY, Idaho (AP) -- A house cat attacked its owner, sending her to the hospital by ambulance with more than 20 bite wounds.

The cat, a black and white domestic male, went on the rampage Wednesday when a neighbor showed up at the door with a different cat, mistakenly thinking it belonged to the woman.

"She went to the door, and her cat went berserk," Jeff Nevins, assistant fire chief for Wood River Fire and Rescue, told the Idaho Mountain Express.

The woman in her 60s was taken to St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center with what Nevins described as "pretty serious puncture wounds." Neither the hospital nor the fire department would provide any details to The Associated Press on Saturday, or say whether she has been released.

The owner said in a statement that she recently had the cat declawed, and she thinks it is still pissed off about that. "I think it was a mistake to declaw Mr. Tibbs. Every since the operation Mr. Tibbs seemed to be plotting something."

By the way, this is a true story. That lady has a mean ass cat. Like this one, only not as orange.

PS that is not Fred. Fred has more white on him than this cat. But Fred has a mean streak in him. If he is hanging out somewhere and you try to move him - he bites. If he is laying next to you and you disturb him - he bites you. They say fat cats are jolly. THEY are wrong. Fred is here with me now, and I am afraid to move or put away the laptop. He is purring now, but I know that is just a ruse.