Miscellany; feline affection, winter children, eclipse

Not a lot to report these days. Working hard. Going to see MacHomer tonight; hope that it's good. At the least, a trip to Canada should be fun and exciting.

I'm *finally* back on the weight loss train/wagon/boat/generic transportation analogy. SIX POUNDS. That's it. I just need to lose six pounds, and I can start transitioning to maintenance. Oddly, I've been essentially in maintenance since about November ... but not on purpose; it just kinda happened that way.

In other news, I'm staying at the Walper Terrace hotel in Kitchener. I had to call them today to ask them about something, and noticed that, on their website, they advertise that they will have availability for the Elton John concert on March 3. "Huh," I thought to myself, "You know, self... Elton John, he has some pretty good musical chops. Perhaps I will invite my wife up and we will watch him tinkle some ivories (and ebonies, too. And, for that matter, I'm sure that Sir Elton would never touch actual ivory keys; I'm sure that he would agree that elephants needn't lose their teeth for him to play ... but I digress) ...so I looked into tickets. It's sold out. Which means that not only will I not be going (which isn't a terribly big deal), but that parking is probably going to be hell on earth that night. Yee freaking haw.

Happier stuff:
Today's 3 beautiful things:

Feline Affection. Studies come out fairly regularly that promote pet ownership as being correlated to good health. And if you've ever woken up with a cat smugly purring on your chest, you know why.

Winter Children. Couple of days ago, I was leaving the hotel in the morning, and there was a little girl -- she was three or four -- crossing the street, bundled against the cold. She was wearing a sky-blue down jacket that was a little grubby, and mittens dangled from the ends of her sleeves. She was wearing a jaunty, brightly colored winter cap [1]. Her nose was red from the cold. She was walking with her mom, in that "I'm almost tall enough that my feet can touch the ground and my mom can hold my hand without stooping" way. And she just looked really, really happy to be out stomping around in the snow. Unabashed childhood joy makes me happy.

Eclipse. Coming back to the hotel a couple of days ago, heard about the eclipse on the radio. Dutifully trudged outside to see it at 10pm. And ooooh, it was pretty.

Oh, and one more thing: I'm in the process of putting up wedding pictures -- I think I did a good job.

Best donation yet

Worked an outdoor event for Hawk Creek today. It was a fun "Winter Festival" thing. On the whole, it was pretty enjoyable, in large part because I'd had the sense to dress appropriately. But I couldn't find gloves before I left the house; in any case, the ones I have reduce dexterity to the point that I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing them while working with a bird. (In emergency situations, nimble fingers can be critical)

So I was out there, doing my bit, talking about the Peregrine Falcon, and shifting my free hand from pocket to armpit and back... when a woman who had come by earlier came back and donated... a pair of gloves!!!

Whoever you were, wonderful stranger in West Seneca, *THANK YOU*. The glove was perfect and warm and delightful, and couldn't have come at a better time. May you have a warm cat in your lap by the fire (and a perfect night for it, too -- the snow is coming down hard this evening, threatening to stick!

First annual week-before-thanksgiving update!

Running:
Somewhere in the past few months, I've become a runner. While I'm always going to be a cyclist, and I have a special fondness for cycling, running has, amazingly, become more than a challenge and a way to exercise that doesn't involve nearly as much expensive equipment. I think the moment of "Hey, this isn't so bad" has come in the past month; I'm at the point now where, while running, it's not a constant effort. When I started, each stride was tough, and each stride was an effort. If I stopped pushing, I stopped running. Now ... if I stop pushing, I slow down... but I've managed to get momentum in my legs, if that makes sense -- when I start to slack, my legs keep moving.

The training is going really well; last night, I did 4.3 miles in under 50 minutes, so I think I'm ready for Turkey Trot! Go me!

Google Webmaster:
So Google knows everything about everything...even itself. I've become amused and disturbed looking at the search results that lead to my pages. A lot of it is searches like "Flight cancelled help" type searches; I hope I've been helpful for those. The weirdest to date is "lorna bagged latex". What?!?!? Random Googler, I ... hope you find what you're looking for.

Cat in the Lap/Porcupine in the Pants
After much thought, I came up with the "Cat in the Lap/Porcupine in the Pants" series; I thought it was rather inspired. But, since its inception, I haven't given any of these awards out. So, without further ado, a Porcupine in the Pants to Virgin Mobile for taking a week to get my Canadian cell phone activated. Sooner would have been better, guys. A Cat in the Lap goes to me, apparently, for being gone all week. Only ... this Cat in the Lap is...an actual Cat in the Lap. Apparently, Shadow really missed me this week. I'd been using my computer for about 20 minutes, when she got up in the chair beside me, then onto the handrest of the laptop, and has finally settled on top of my arms (my feet are stuck out on the ottoman; the laptop is on my thighs; my hands are on the keys; Shadow is on my forearms). She curled herself up with her head in the crook of my arm and is half-asleep, purring and making soft sleepy-noises. Seriously....this stuff is good for the soul.

Autumnal splendor, cats and porcupines.

I love this time of year. It's like the heat of the summer finally climbed out of the tub and jumped into a nearby icy stream. As vegetation dies back and the harvests come in, I always feel invigorated and alive. Everything feels crisper, cleaner, thrown into sharp relief. The sky is that deep cobalt blue, the yellow leaves swirl around my feet. I love the way that autumn smells. People are starting up their fireplaces, mowing their lawns one last time. When I had my convertible, this is the time of year when the top was rarely up - I just wanted to drink everything in all the time.

I recently read some melancholy musings on the season; and while I agree that the acoustics of the season are well-suited to the echoes of the past.... for me, autumn is a time of coming together. This has always been the time of year when people began to need to crowd around the fire for warmth, and it is still -- a time of gathering, of storytelling, of imagining. This is the time of year when I got married.

I love this time of year.



I have no good segue from that, so I'll just plow on.

I'm going to start a new segment that I've been thinking about for a while: a "good and bad" bit. Something like TV Guide's "Cheers and Jeers", or Stephen Colbert's "Tip of the Hat/Wag of the Finger". I've been dragging my feet, though, trying to come up with a good name. At long last, though, I have:

Cat in the Lap/Porcupine in the Pants.

Because who *wouldn't* like a cat happily purring in their lap? And who would want a porcupine in the pants? Ow!!!

As in, "A cat in the lap goes to Sonya, who is feeling lousy and crappy and is dealing with a cruddy cold and mountains of work. A porcupine in the pants goes to the jerk in front of me on the highway, who tossed some trash out of his window. " Anyway, I have a bunch of CitL and PitP that I've been thinking about posting, so watch this space for more developments.

[No porcupines or cats were harmed in the making of this post]

I was thinking of going with "weasel in the pants", but "porcupine in the pants" had a better ring to it. What do you think? Tell me in the comments...