(5x life size)

But... I just want to play! Why won't you wake up so we can play together!

Say hello to Pierre!

He's a baby dwarf hamster who now lives on my desk :)

We decided that kitties were not in the cards right now, since we've got so much travelling going on... but a hamster was just the right kind of relatively low cost/maintenance. Plus I've never had a teeny furry pet creature before. Just fish, ferrets, cat, and dogs. Always wanted one. Rats seemed very cool, but nearly as much care and interaction required as ferrets... so a hamster it was. He's got his own little dwarf hamster palace, nothing too elaborate, but a few tubes and things to run and climb in. I hope he has a happy hamster life with us.

You know what this totally means I've gotta do... HAMSTER CAM!

Boo to late nights and early morning meetings. At least the commute is short :) Despite our neighbour deciding to take up bongo practice about 15 minutes after I crawled into bed for a nap late this morning, I did manage to conk out on the couch for a while this evening. Lack of sleep and I really do not get along well.

Tried to take it easy today for our one day off, despite a to-do list that throws me into a panic every time I look at it. Chris and I have been brainstorming and project managing ourselves over the past couple of days in order to cut down on our stupid number of working hours lately. Bottom line is that we're loving working with CA, it's amazing clients and coworkers with much less hassle than doing it completely independently, and we're absolutely flooded with work from them. So we're going to focus on that rather than doing a ton of smaller one-off projects too. I keep saying yes to projects and realizing that I really don't have the time, or quite frankly the interest either :( I just want to help get us back onto our feet as quickly as possible, but what's the point in making us miserable along the way...

Trying to get loose ends tied up before the trip... so much more to think about than just going away for a few days. And why must the Tool concert on the 9th be in Hamilton rather than Toronto? Driving down two hours from the cottage is potentially tolerable, but another hour and a half to Hamilton is just miserable. Urg. And so expensive.

Oh and Zoe got shaved today. Teehee. I feel silly taking and posting photos of her every time she gets shaved, so you'll just have to check her out on the cams.

PS. Court and Spark is definitely taking a place in my list of top albums. Joni Mitchell rocks.

Oooh, what's this?

YOINK!

 

You weren't going to be using that stylus, were you? 

So Zoe curled up earlier on the coffee table, but happened to be laying on the heating pad.  I thought to myself, I wonder what would happen if I turned it on?  I set it to high and try to guess how long it will take for her to get up.

A couple of minutes go by and she still hasn't moved.  It's getting pretty toasty by now.  Then she starts getting fidgety.  Onto her side.  Then the other side.  Then moving over.  Then nearly on her back.  But all still on the heating pad.  I'm guessing she didn't exactly register it as being the thing under her that was making her hot... just that she was hot. 

Cuddling her after was like snuggling into a warm pile of laundry though  :) 

StephThePink!  Oh so nice to have shortish hair again that I don't worry about turning into straw. 

GeekFitters.com kindly sent me one of their nerd t-shirts a while back to round out my collection  :D  Binary, tech conferences, error messages, online acronyms... my drawers are looking mighty nerdy.

I, um, "accidentally" got some dye on Zoe...  *cough*

 

Here she is performing her tricks as a young doggy, with my mom as ringmaster and my dad as camera man :) And yes that's a 9-10 year old me giggling in the background every so often.

Download File

Finally got online at the hotel last night (laptop cooling pad is working somewhat) and I had an email from my dad...

Stephanie,

Bitsy suffered a major stroke/seizure late Friday night which left her incapable of walking properly and very disoriented.

I took Bitsy in to the animal clinic Saturday morning after I saw her difficulty in walking and being very disoriented. Dr. Pocha examined her and confirmed that she indeed had suffered a major seizure/stroke which she may or may not come out of. She gave me medicine to use to ease any discomfort she may have if another seizure occurred and said I should monitor her and see how she was on Monday. Saturday night and Sunday morning saw a little improvement but not much, and she was still incapable of walking and had to be hand fed and drinking water was with difficulty, but she had no accidents in the condo.

Sunday afternoon and evening saw Bitsy trying to walk to her food and drink and not able to do so. I hand fed her again Sunday evening but did not have much hope. Grandpa and Grandma returned late Sunday evening and Grandpa took her out Monday morning, but as hard as she tried, she was still incapable of walking properly or eating her food and water as she was too disoriented.

I therefore decided that it was time and called Southdown to schedule her last visit. Grandpa and I took Bitsy in for the last time at 7:00 p.m. tonight after Grandma said her good-byes.

Grandpa and I were with her to the end and said our goodbyes and I also said a goodbye to her from you.

We both held her for a while and she seemed to be comforted by this. She suffered no pain and was at finally at rest. She would have been 15 years old this coming December 27th so , for a dog, she had a long and generally prosperous life. While she was blind, she was also extremely healthy and the last 2 years of her life, she was spoiled rotten by Grandma and Grandpa. What a way to go ! I should be so lucky !

I have asked for her to be cremated and I will save her ashes until you return. When you are here to do so, I suggest we assemble at the cottage and formally you will either inter her there or scatter her ashes there – after all , she was your dog and It’s the only property I still own that she was connected with.

Love,
Dad

Quick, no pain, at a ripe old age, and surrounded by people who loved her very much.... couldn't ask for much more. Hard to believe that little doggie I've had since I was nine is gone... you never think the last time you see someone (or a pet) that it will be the last time... She was blind, old, cranky, and slept almost all the time for her last years, but she was still Bitsy. We never hesitated to give her the best care possible. My mom spent so long training her to do all sorts of neat things. She even knew our names.

This is the only photo I could find of her that I have on my laptop right now. Actually it's the earliest one I have of her too, from when she was a puppy. It's kinda funny because it really doesn't look anything like she did for her adult life. I'll have to post a cute video I know I have of her when we get home. Bye Bitsy...

If I was a hamster, this would be my home...

 

(from HamsterTracker.com) 

That is all  :)

~~~  

Ok, no it's not.

We have curtains up!  Yay for no blinding sun at 6:30am!  

So many pictures to post.  

I have a new Spaz.  Well, a Melissa  :)  She's starting out by helping me get the new cam stuff together and up as soon as possible.

Thank you to everyone in the chat (and particularily Chris in, uh, real life) for putting up with my whining and yelling about the fact that every webcam in the world seems to hate me at this particular moment  :P  Seriously... I have never, ever encountered so many problems with one project.  And I have never encountered anything so shitty as any and all software surrounding network cameras.  

Gah, so much to post but I'm trying to focus on actually DOING stuff and taking care of myself rather than talking about it... so please forgive my serious lack of communication lately.