Monday, January 15, 2007

TV brain won

The TV centric part of my brain won the debate, so I now own a shiny new TV that fixes a lot of the problems we had earlier. Our old TV really was very small. The HD tuner cleans up the signal coming through our "bunny ears" antenna so well. The new TV has an energy saving mode where it can be dimmed slightly and you save on electricity. If you watch most of your TV at night like I do, then this is perfect, during the day you may want to use it on standard so it can compete with natural light. As an LCD it doesn't generate as much heat as plasmas do and is cheaper to run (Oh yes, I did my research. This is one reason I went with LCD). I can now see DVDs a lot better. The PS2 can be plugged in permanently. No more having to swap between PS2 and DVD cables and less mess now that everything has it's place. The screen has a matt finish so reflection is reduced. The sound is in stereo. It's very nice.

Having said all this, I'm suffering from consumer guilt. I really don't like the idea of spending largish amounts of money on something like this, even though I really did get it at the cheapest possible price. I look at this way though: It did fix a lot of problems and I won't be needing to buy a TV for a very, very, very... very long time.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Work Review

I had my yearly work review yesterday. They still love me. The imp in me had the urge to say: "Woo! So I'll be expecting a raise then! Thanks!" I refrained. It was nice to hear good things about me. It helped to lift my mood.

Having said that, I am hoping for a simliar bonus to last year. When thinking about the best use of this bonus, my brain tells me two things: "This money would be better off used in my online savings account, accruing interest, or knocking some of that old student loan out with", but it also says:"You've had this TV for 6 or 7 years now. It wouldn't be so frivolous to upgrade it now. Every time you watch dvds, the 16:9 content is scaled down to fit your 4:3 screen and it makes the content annoyingly small. If you set it to crop the content, you miss vital detail and nobody wants that... You should buy an LCD TV with that bonus." It puts forward a very logical and persuasive argument. Don't you think?

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

CD Afternoon

I arrived home from work yesterday to a little package from a friend. This friend and I haven't conversed via mail for ....oooh 15 years? Upon seeing her handwriting, I experienced a personal zeitgeist, since we used to write letters to each other all the time. It was a most welcome feeling. She'd been thinking about me and about how I must be doing of late and decided to send me a couple of CDs. My favourite was from Mew. Their harmonies remind her a little of Ride and their soundscape approach to guitars reminds me of My Bloody Valentine. So I forgot all about the things that needed doing and just let myself lie there for a good couple of hours listening to music. I think it was a good idea to spend some time just being still, rather than trying to distract and busy myself.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Kimba ?/09/1991 to 29/12/2006


Kimba was put to sleep on Friday evening, the 29th of December 2006.

Initially we were trying to stop an infection with antibiotics. It turns out that the infection she had was due to a rupture in her gut which was caused by either a tumor or an abcess. In either event it was inoperable for several reasons, not the least of which was that she was so anaemic and unfit that she wouldn't have survived an operation.

So, given the above info and that she was weak, not enjoying life, no longer had an interest in food, which had to be force fed daily via a syringe (those who knew Kimba will know how telling this is), and no interest in water, which was being administered via subcutaneous injection daily, the vet and I came to the conclusion that it was time to let her go.

She was quite a unique cat: very vocal, never wandered outside our fence line unless she was chasing off another cat, and for a lot of her life she took to following me around like a dog might. She was very affectionate and was far more interested in getting pats and time on my lap than chasing toys. Often, when I'd try to entice her to play, she'd look at me as if to say: "You must be joking". Those times when she was inspired to play, it'd often end with her pausing as she realised I was watching, then trying to make it look like she was just cleaning her paws, or just stretching, or that she was engaged in some other sensible pursuit.

Kimba was friendly to other cats when she was a kitten and as young cat, but a after a few bad experiences she would readily attack any other cat (or dog) who came onto our property. She was still tolerant of animals that she had seen me accept, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She suffered family dog Chan, a little Shih Tzu that loved her dearly and wanted to play with her all the time, and never hurt Ebony, a sensitive domestic shorthair cat that belonged to my sister.

At this stage I don't know if I could own another cat. No time soon at least. People say that getting another cat helps you to get over it. I think that getting another cat would be unfair to the other cat given that I'd only be wishing for Kimba back.