Happy Hallowe'en!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Cat Had My Tongue
Napster, doing his impression of a stray cat.
Slow again to chronicle something that is set to affect a huge number of Haligonians, and in this case their fluffy friends -- city council finally passed that ridiculous cat by-law by a vote of 11 to 9.
It's basically a combination of law enforcement nightmare and fiscal extortion for cat owners. Starting April 1st, cat owners will have to register their pets at a cost of $10 to $30 per year. The money will go to fund a new SPCA building that will then handle the huge influx of cats expected once the other part of the bill kicks in -- the legal trapping of neighbourhood strays and pet cats by your average Joe citizen.
It bothers me that they want me to now pay a yearly fee for our cat. It bothers me that they are further endorsing a neighbour vs. neighbour mentality in the city and playing up to the animal haters among us. It bothers me that it's going to cost $3.3-god-damned-million. What most infuriated me, however, was when the Daily News interviewed as many of the yes-voting councillors as they could get on record as to how many complaints are actually made annually about cats running amok. The bulk of these anti-pussy brigade apparently have to deal with as many as one entire call per month on average! That's their own admission. More during elections, possibly, they suggest. It's a wonder their ears haven't dropped off from all that call-fielding.
That's it for this post. I do my best to keep profanity out of this blog... Honestly, I don't think anyone should vote for someone who isn't smart enough to reply, "Cat in your garden, M'am? Don't call your councillor. Try mothballs or buy a dog."
Thanks to the Daily News for publishing the names of the 11 wastes of flesh that voted for this insane waste of the public process, though I can't seem to find a link to the online list.
Honestly, this is the same crap that caused the bubonic plague. Get rid of the cats and it becomes a paradise for rats and other vermin. Lovely city we're going to have here. Fact is, we've pretty much made the decision that we won't be living in Halifax by the time this law kicks in. That's fine because even if we were, I wouldn't be wasting my money to register our cat. I don't support the firearms registry, so I sure as Hell don't support this ludicrous enterprise.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Made it to NB on time
The storm hit but it looks like we timed things just right. We left Halifax by 9:30am and got to Miramichi by 1:40pm. We encountered rain at Kouchibouguac but no snow yet. We made it to Service NB, got the marriage license and were out by 2:30pm. It had just started to change into snow and huge flakes were coming down as we returned to my folks place, parked the car, and stayed put.
Now we're just relaxing at home. My parents are hosting a cat named Ozzy right now and Napster's been introduced. They're chasing each other up and down the stairs.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Total Recall for Pets
I'm sure you've heard about this by now but if you're a pet owner and haven't checked yet, there's a massive recall of pet foods right now. Products supplied by Menu Foods have been causing renal failure in dogs and cats and the exact cause is still unknown. Be sure to review the list of dog food and cat food affected.
I've check on Napster's food and he should be fine since he eats Whiskas and Friskies, which don't appear on the list. However, we have had some of the products listed before, possibly even from batches during that affected period. For the odd treat, we'd given him a President's Choice Mixed Grill pouch or two.
It's scary in that it affects both generic foods and some of the higher end ones that are often recommended by vets, such as Iams and Eukanuba. (We tried Iams canned food when we first got him but he hates it.) This is a staunch illustration of the problem of suppliers and labels. So much of our food is the same inside the can, but with different labels. One day they're packaging it under Company Label A and the next day it's Company Label B and the only difference is in the superficial marketing campaigns. The same could befall human food in the future, just as it does now.
It's a sad state of affairs for the poor people and pets that received the tainted products. Symptoms for animals who may have eaten the deadly food are increased thirst and vomiting. The kidney damage to the animals is irreversible and terminal, but the animal can be left to suffer on for months.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Happy Birthday, Napster!
Labels: Napster
Well, Napster made it to his first birthday today. Congratulations, pal!
This was the best picture I could get. He was out partying with Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Bea Arthur, all night long.
Born on the cusp of the Year of the Dog, he's got a few peculiar, almost canine personality traits (the panting, tail wagging, love of water and car rides) but has fit in around here just fine. He's plenty cat too, as displayed by his cupboard hopping and demands for attention (knocking over cups onto the floor is his favourite tactic, which he did three times last night alone *sigh*) We waited quite a long time before finally deciding to get a cat, but now things seem much more settled and it's nice to have him added to the household mix.
Friday, December 29, 2006
The year winding down
Loyola Residence, Saint Mary's University.
So we're in the last weekend of 2006. I'd like to offer up some predictions as well as some plans/resolutions, but I should also give a bit of a recap of this past year's events.
We moved to Halifax in the fall of 2005 so this year, we've been here completely from start to finish. It was Yeji's first time to live in Halifax obviously, but for me it was the fourth time that I came to the city after being established somewhere else (i.e. that's not counting summer breaks during university.)
Miramichi had a few rough points. The business I was running there was flying level but not climbing fast and to grow it was going to take more people and greener pastures than I could find at home. It was a lot of work for a tiny piece of pie, and Yeji wasn't adjusting as well as I'd hoped to the change in population density. Halifax was a much better compromise. I signed up with an old, familiar company which allowed me to do the parts of media work that I best loved, while being able to rely on a group of coworkers to handle the other stuff that was hither to bogging me down. I don't miss the book keeping and accounting either, which were the most labourious of tasks. It's nice just to do what you love and have someone else sign your cheque every two weeks.
The downside, irrespective of location, was that Yeji's work visa had run out and we came to the city on a single income. The cost of living has really gone up in Halifax from when I lived here before, while salaries haven't matched their growth. Probably the best thing to happen to us was her permanent residency being accepted in June. That finally put us back into the double-income crowd and it's letting us start to plan a future. We're still not rich, but we've got room to breathe now. If all continues to go well, maybe I'll even be able to justify buying that extra cable TV package next year... I miss Discovery Civilization so very, very much.
I'm thankful that we have no major tragedies to report for 2006. It's largely been a long march toward reestablishing ourselves here. We have our routines, we go to work, come home, get groceries on the weekends.
This blog has become a big part of my routine too. For the last several months I've been faithful to daily postings. Sure, I get nagged a bit for spending a lot of time on it but in my defence, the internet is the way of the future. Young people, myself too, get their news from the internet now. Paper and ink is really only the demesne of older readers and as they disappear, they're not quickly replaced. For someone who needs to coax another thirty years out of the business, I have to keep one foot in cyberspace as much as the other stays in traditional media.
Nonetheless, I still love a byline. In Miramichi, I'd done thirteen issues of my magazine before pulling the plug. Here I've had my name attached to over sixty to date. It's quite a body of work when I stop to think about it.
In 2006, I've now started exercising regularly, barely drink a drop of liquor, though I still take in a pack a day which is just as bad a habit.
The other addition to the household should also be mentioned. We got our cat, Napster, in the spring, after five years of pleas and requests by Yeji. He's changed the dynamic quite a bit around here and broke most feline stereotypes we had. He acts so much like a dog -- whether he's happily jumping in a bathtub full of water or nosing around for crumbs -- it's like having a hybrid pet.
All in all, I can't complain. However, I'm hoping for 2007, and the Year of the Pig, to be a more prosperous time for us, if we keep our noses to the grindstone. There's lots more I am sure that I could write, but I'm out of time. Best to just publish now. Yeji's got a craving for poutine (something I've never heard her request yet) and she wants to use the computer to look at houses and real estate... and she's making New Year's plans for a party (even though we're not having one) and if she invites only one or two people who have other plans already, we'll end up spending the night at home, alone, waiting for people to show up who only said they would out of politeness since last week we said we weren't having a party... I can't afford to have my attention divided, if I know what's best. Publishing now.
Addendum: I shouldn't forget another milestone in 2006, which was the release of my collection of political cartoons, taken from those published between 2003 and 2005 in the Miramichi Leader/Weekend. Christmas might be over, but it makes a great gift any time of the year... provided you're one of those weirdos who are into the municipal and provincial politics of New Brunswick. I'm thinking of picking up my pen in the new year too. I just stocked up on assorted art supplies yesterday and have some projects in development. I'll speak more of those later though. For now, buy the book. Please. *grin* I have to pay for all those new pencils.Labels: cartooning, Halifax, holidays, Miramichi, Napster, personal
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Introducing Napster
I figured it'd be the time to introduce some of you to our new co-apartment-occupant. This is our kitten, Napster. Yeji's quite please to have a captive model for photography. Here's a few that she took recently. He's already made a trip to New Brunswick and back, and turns eighteen weeks old today. A typical Aquarian, he loves to play in water.
