Lockdown!
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: The White Stripes

I recently did a story on environmental monitoring for PC Mag.  More specifically, server room monitoring.  So now I've got this thing mounted on the wall, with cameras and thermometers and motion sensors.  I've got one camera aimed at the living room and another aimed at the food and water.  this way i may be able to tell if they're ok or not while I'm traveling.  I also installed a door strike so when someone opens my front door the system sends me a text message.

 I think all of this is quite reasonable.  Tina thinks I'm crazy.  She says that I should have my own reality show because this is not a normal way to take care of cats.  I think it is.

 I think i could adapt the door strike so that when their food dish is empty it sends me a text message.

I'm one connected Daddy.

Which reminds me.  I was thinking about it for some reason the other day, and I still think that I want my tombstone to say "Beloved Cat Daddy".  I may have to adapt that someday and say "Beloved Daddy". 

Daddy Is In Heaven
Mood:  caffeinated

I've been doing a lot of travel lately and haven't spent much time with the girls.  They've held up pretty well, only turning slightly feral and nocturnal.  I came home last night and at about 4am Nina decided it was time to crawl on my chest and rub her paws against my face until I woke up and petted her.  I thought that was fairly cute so I gave in.

When my alarm went off at 8, Nina crawled up from the foot of my bed and up onto my chest in her usual cuddling position.  She was purring and purring.  And then Sonja jumped up on the bed and started rubbing against me.  I petted her too.  So I was petting them both and they were purring and everyone was happy.

It's nice to go to a place where everyone is happy every once in a while. 

Sonja Appears on GearLog

I wrote an article for GearLog about the Solio "hybrid battery charger" and my photos included a cute one of Sonja.  Here she is.

  

great news for voice recognition
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Black Sabbath

I've got some great news for the voice recognition market.  There's a new angle here it's not just about making things easier.  It's about having your hands free.  And every good cat lover knows what having your hands free means -- that you're expected to spend the whole day petting the beautiful little baby laying on your desk.  Nina is overjoyed to lay on my desk nowwhere instead of getting petted every once in a while she now gets petted constantly.

 

I had better stop spoiling her or she'll go crazy the next time that I leave the apartment for a few days.  He it's great that she and I can be so close by I worry that she get so used to me that she can't live on her own.  Whereas Sonja, on the other hand , sort of does her own thing whether I'm here or not so my going away doesn't seem to affect her as much.

I've got a conference call scheduled with the product manager for Dragon NaturallySpeaking next week.  I'm going to point out that they can add a whole new feature and benefit to their marketing materials.  What?  Nina just said that if I got a Bluetooth headset I could walk around the apartment dictating hands-free and untethered.  Then I would be free to do cat related things all day! 

Nina naturally speaking
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Allman Brothers

dream

I've been taking a look at Dragon NaturallySpeaking.  I haven't really looked at voice recognition software for a long time.  I'm pleasantly surprised.  This is a much better product than it was when I looked at it 10 years ago.  I guess that's to be expected.  It is much easier to write simply by dictating.  But it does force me to for my ideas differently.  I think so spatially that it's so much easier for me to write thinking about how the words are formed from the letters that are connected to my fingers via the keyboard.  Now I can't think like that anymore; I have to think in terms of what to say and how to say it clearly.

It was funny.  Earlier today, Nina jumped up on my lap while I was dictating into a Word document.  See, that's smart.  The software even knew to capitalize word he can as I said Word document.  Okay maybe it's not that smart if it can't even in transcribed what I'm saying when I'm trying to complement it.  And

so Nina jumped up on my lap.  And I was dictating.  So I said something like in order to achieve an ROI hey Nina what are you doing?  I am trying to work here.  Why to?  And then I went right on talking.  I finished the article.  And then when I went back and reread it, which thank God I do, there was that little Nina statement.

Now she's back again.  Nina.  Any CAD name is CAD CAD and his cat cat.  Hello Ms. cat cat you are just the cutest.  Lose deities little baby.  Such a big girl.

So that's what it sounds like when I talk to Nina and I need to jump up you jumped up on daddy's lap and I anti- 

Everyone Has Gone iPhone Crazy
I don't know what's going on.  Apparently the whole world thinks that Apple has revolutionized mobile communications today.  I really don't see it that way, but then again I've also been shocked at the number of people who think that the iPod is the best music player when there are hundreds of less expensive players with more storage.  Apple's really good at designing something that looks so cool people think that they need to have it.  I even caught Nina and Sonja talking about it before.  Sonja was saying that she can't wait for Daddy to leave the door open again so she can run out and buy an iPhone.  Nina said she was crazy, how could an iPhone help her obtain more cat food.  Then Sonja said that they could use the iPhone to order cat food and have it delivered and maybe Daddy wouldn't even know.  Now Nina's trying to distract me while Sonja runs to the store to get one.

Welcome Layla!
Mood:  caffeinated

Nina and Sonja are pleased to announce the recent addition of a foxy female feline to their circle of friends.  Below is a photo of Layla Mangis making herself at home.  Carol adopted her the other day.  Apparently it was love at first site.

Oreo Cookies
Have you seen the new oreo ad on TV?  It's so adorable.  Two little girls are singing the Oreo song and a cat jumps up on the table and swats the Oreo into a bowl of milk.  I love it.  Although I would never let Nina and Sonja eat chocolate.  But it's high time America realized the selling power of cats.   I looked for the video like someone would post it on YouTube, but no one has.  If anyone finds a link to it please post it.

A Pleasant Surprise
Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to a pleasant surprise.  Nina was sleeping on my left side where she usually does and Sonja was sleeping on my right side.  It's very rare for Sonja to sleep on the bed.  I was surprised and happy so I reached out to pet both of them.  They were both really digging it and then they saw each other and Nina pounced on Sonja.  Nina believes that it's her bed so she gets really mad when she sees Sonja on the bed. 

Rambunctious Nina
Mood:  energetic
You would not believe how difficult Nina has been today.  I don't understand what has gotten into her.  Sonja, as usual, is my sweet little darling who would never get in any trouble at all.  First, this morning Nina decided she just had to crawl behind my desk and start playing with the dozens of wires there.  She ultimately ended up turning off a power strip and shutting down my network.  Then, I caught her laying on the couch where she knows she shouldn't be.  I chased her away.  I came back into my office and worked for about 15 minutes.  Then I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water and she was on the couch again.  I picked her up and she looked at me like she had no idea what was wrong.  Now she's on the window sill and every once in a while she shoots me a poisonous look.  But I bet I'll pet her and everything will be OK.