Cats Are Strange

  Archer has settled in with all the other cats now it seems. He has been here 3 weeks and is used to the routines and the house now. He happily wanders around looking at stuff, has found multiple places to curl up and sleep in although like most cats he uses one place for a few days and then moves on to somewhere else. Fudge seems to be the only one who sticks to one place. During the day when he sleep you will always find him in his tunnel near the desk where I work.

  Archer though has started to vocalise some things. When exploring around he will chirp and make squeaky noises. He will also happily chase a red laser pointer although now quite as enthusiastically as the girls given his age and weight. The other night he even spent a good amount of time curled up on my wife's lap rolling over on to his back getting a tummy rub and stretching out with his paws.

  All this playing around and making noises does make you wonder what cats think about though. What is Archer thinking when he chirps and is looking around? Why does Fudge love purring so much especially when he sees us. Is he always that happy to see us? I would hope so. Still I would love to know what they think some of the time. Get to know the easy life of our cats kind of thing.

Building Blocks

  More thinking going on right now in my head. I have a few ideas on some basic building blocks for the large feature in the next release of software we are doing at work. It will be something everyone needs to use and is a vast improvement over what is currently used. Still is requires some careful thinking since it will be the basic building block for a long while. I did something similar in the very first release of our product, well quite a few of us did really. A few of us senior guys came up with the framework of how the underlying interworking of the various systems will be and created it.

  That initial framework is still in place and now almost 3 years later has been functioning flawlessly for most of that time. There were a couple of issue but mainly in how people used it and even then not in the stuff I created :) . The overall thing though is to design this kind of thing properly in the first place. If you mess this up then everyone who builds on what you created is going to have a real problem down the line. It gives me a lot to think about and try and cover all the uses cases and make sure it works every time.

  Times like this I can really like my job, something interesting to think about and create something that everybody uses. Even if they don't realise it they are using my stuff and it is just working for them time after time after time. It is a nice feeling being able to do that.

More Waiting

  This time of year always seems to be the waiting game. Work is waiting for the code we have been working on for months to finish testing and get released for the world. Home is waiting for Christmas and all the food, loot and time with my wife. Also more waiting this week until we know the results from Fudge's test and if he is ok or needs some other treatment.

  I find that I can only get through these times if I do something to distract myself from it all. For me that is usually lots of game playing and with the games I'm playing this year I suspect I'll be set for quite a while. With Borderlands 2 and the competition stuff that is running right now (17 entries and counting for me so far), Diablo 3 and trying to reach the highest level and hardest difficulty and the mass of stuff still left to do in GTA V. All that playing and a lot of TV to watch with my wife in the evening means I generally can keep myself busy a lot of the time. It makes the waiting easier and with my wife and cats around me I can't think of a better way to spend it really.

Yay Fudge

  Well Fudge went in to the vets today to get a lump looked at. The vet didn't like the look of some cells in the sample taken so he took him for surgery to remove the lump. The surgery just finished and Fudge is coming back around. Hopefully this will be the last of it and the results of the tests that come back in a week will be ok and there will be no more problems with Fudge. Still it is good to know everything went so well and easily with Fudge. As usual everyone there loved him since he is a lovely friendly cat who just wants to be fussed. He did hide a bit after being poked and amazed the vets yet again by his ability to simply jump down and get in to his carry case. He is such a great cat. I can't wait until he comes home again this afternoon with his collar on to make sure he doesn't disturb his stitches.

A Rural Life

  Went out today to a state park nearby to see the sights and walk around in the countryside. Compared to where we used to live there is so much more rural areas around here. Today there was trees changing colour (something we rarely saw), a river to walk along, people fishing, lots of birds and various wildlife all around. It is something we never really saw where we were given the climate and mass of people where we used to be. Here though it is so common to see animals around since there are so much fewer people here.

  It really does feel like somewhere out of the way even with the people around here. Sure it isn't completely isolated but it doesn't take much to get away from other people. In the park we were at we saw maybe 10 other people in the almost 2 hours we were there. Heck one of them was even openly carrying along a hunting gun on his was to the wildlife refuge to hunt some animals or more likely ducks/geese. You would never have seen that in California.

  All this and it was a quick 40 minute drive away from the house. A change to get away from people, enjoy being out in nature and get a bit of a walk/hike in. Pretty damn good rural life I would say.

Easy To Please

  Talking to my wife earlier about what I want for Christmas and the PS4 I have preordered is all I really want. Obviously a few games to go with it but with that I'm happy and set for presents. We also talked earlier about if we are happy living where we do and came to the conclusion that we are. There is very little to complain about and once we redo a few bits of the house more to our liking it will feel like home. Give me a few yummy things to eat with Christmas and somewhere to cuddle up with my wife and I'll be a happy little guy.

  I don't know, I just don't seem to crave too much. I just want a few things that I enjoy to spend my spare time with and enough food to keep me sated. That and being able to be with my wife and I'm pretty much set for everything I need. I really am that easy.

Plan Ahead

  It seems my wife as usual is planning far further ahead than me. She has already acquired several of my Christmas presents where as I am only just getting around to ordering some. True her main one I can't get until next month but by the time most people actually start Christmas shopping my wife has finished. She really does get a good head start on things, something that just hasn't rubbed off on me even after all these years. Strange.

  I have no idea why this is clearly, I know things are coming and deal with them as they arise but getting stuff done way ahead of time never seems to be my thing. The end result is quite often the same although occasionally I can't get something due to leaving it too late but that isn't always the case. Damn you limited quantities, why isn't everything in the world infinite :| ?

Really Old Man

  I may be a relatively older person now but I'm nowhere near the equivalent that our cat Boots is. He is 14 now which equates to someone in their 70s or so I think. He Just had his yearly check up and vaccinations and he is pretty damn healthy. They could find nothing wrong with him, especially for his age. Other than the hyperthyroidism we treated him for a few years back he has been a healthy guy. He may be a bit slower now and sleep quite a bit more but if the vet is anything to go by he is in really good shape. A testament to how well we have looked after him and what a great cat he is I suppose.

  It would be good if both my wife and I could be as healthy as him when we are the same age he is. Admittedly if we had someone to look after us and give us our every need all the time it would be easier to do that. Something to look forward to in our older years so we can be as happy and as healthy as good old Boots.

Other People

  Well we met a whole bunch of our neighbours on Saturday and we are definitely the youngest around here by about 20 years at least. Admittedly people did think we were in our 30s instead of our 40s as we actually are but still, being the youngest does make you feel better about getting old. The snacks my wife made went down really well and we sent one guy home with the leftovers of one of them since he liked it so much. All in all it worked out well and everyone around here seems reasonable and lives here for the same reason as us, somewhere quiet to live in peace and get away from it all.

  In other news the new cat Archer has now settled in nicely, he for the last few nights he will come up to us on the sofa and sit with and around us. Either curled up near my wife or stretched out on the sofa back. He also isn't eating all the food in sight now that he is used to having enough food available for him and he doesn't have to compete for it with the other cats. It is a relief that he seems to be happy here and the other cats have accepted him. Yay for a bigger family.

  We did some more work on the garden/land around the house over the weekend. We have decided to try and brighten up the area we see out the front all day. So far I have planted 134 bulbs dotted around one area. We have another 100 or so in the garage to plant as well. A bit of strimming to clean up the dead grass and maybe a couple of trees to fill in some gaps and we will be much better. The area around the driveway then needs to be made a bit smarter, for some reason a large chunk of it is just bare dirt. If we can get stuff to grow there it will be so much better. The downside of owning so much land :| .

Here We Go

  We are off to meet the neighbours this afternoon. Well at least as many as turn up to the little get together being hosted by our immediate neighbours along the road. We've been around these people for some months now and barely met just a few of them. I have no idea who else lives around here really since a lot of people just keep to themselves. It is a really spread out kind of area full of people who live that way I suppose, nothing like the housing estates where you are 6 feet from next door.

  My wife has prepared a whole bunch of snacks for people to try, probably more than we need but again we have no idea how many are coming. They get to sample her delicious sausage rolls, lovely pavlova and a few other nommy snacks and bites to eat. We have to get them there somehow and driving seems excessive but we will have something like 5 plates I think. It may be easier for me to do a couple of trips back and forth since they are just the next house along although rather than a difference in house number of 10 or 20 we used to have this time it is 270. Quite a bit of difference this time and show just how spread out it is here.

  Anyway here we go to meet everyone.

Happy Cat

  Well it is official we have a happy and healthy cat. Archer's first visit to the vets went well, he has no real problem other than being overweight and the ringworm that is clearing up. The vet did give us a prescription to help clear it up faster. Now we just need to get it down his throat every day for a month, never an easy thing with a cat. Still I'm glad he is ok and seems to be happy here. He definitely doesn't like being in a carry case though, he peed himself in there again, the same as he did on the way here originally, so we had a slightly stinky cat at the vets.

  On another unrelated note, my weight seems to be stable again after going up a bit on holiday. It could go down a little bit but is staying within a lb or two at the moment. Nicely going with what I'm eating at the moment and I don't feel hungry all the time. Seems I've found the balance point to stay healthy with eating assuming I don't eat too much bad stuff. True we did go out for lunch today and I had a burger but it wasn't a huge one and I doubt I'll eat much for dinner tonight. My wife is also going well with her exercise and careful eating. Good on her.

  One final important piece of news, less than 5 weeks until playstation 4 comes out. Woo Christmas present for me. The only annoying bit about it is that one of the games for it I was looking forward to has been delayed until next year. Still lots to look forward to there with even higher def gaming.

Whats Happening?

  Let me see, whats going on right now? Work is a slight pause slow period while we get ready for the beta test of our latest release. In house testing is mostly done and not too many bugs this time around so it becomes the time when we wait to see if we have created what was actually needed by the customers. Then we get to put the final polish on it and do it all over again for the next release. I can't even count now the number of software releases I've been involved in. Generally they are anywhere from 2 to 6 a year and that has been over 16 years now. Good god that is a lot of software.

  Archer has settled in nicely, he has found a good spot on the office on the sofa here to spend his time on. I think once he realised he could sleep anywhere he tried out a few spots, even on top of the living room sofa and once actually stayed on my wife's lap for a bit (after being put there of course but still).

  Been very quiet around the house otherwise, we have barely seen anyone other than the odd delivery driver as parcels turn up. Living here really is very quiet now, especially since the neighbour over the road seems to have finished whatever construction they were doing. We barely hear anything from outside which is extremely nice.

  Other than that more game playing is under way. GTA 5 quite a lot although due to the size of that game I've still not finished it. I've also gone back to Borderlands 2 since they are running a competition at the moment where you kill a certain boss creature each day and get entered in to win a prize of $50k plus other weekly prices. Not bad for playing a game I enjoy. I doubt I'll win much but it can't hurt to try.

  So there we go, a good life here doing what we like in peace and quiet with our furry companions around us. Not a bad place to be at this point in life I think.

Bigger Family

  Well we did grow our family by one last week. The new cat arrived, a little stinky from messing up his travel crate, and took to us pretty easily. He needed a wash as soon as he got here and even after that had no real problems with us. It did take him a day or two to get used to being able to go where he wanted to in the house and only last night did he finally not spend all his time in his new basket. Anyway without much further ado let me introduce Archer.

  He is a very big cat, weighing in about 22lbs or so. He is also physically large, about as large a Boots but not quite as muscle bound, more fatty. We are trying to get him down to a healthy weight but he does seem keen on eating anything he can get ahold of and is always right there when food is being dished up.

  Other than that though he is an incredibly relaxed cat. He really enjoys a good comfortable place to curl up and sleep, being 9 years old I suspect he is used to that life, although he does try to be a little bit active unlike our older boys. He will try and chase a laser pointer but has problems moving quickly due to his weight. I do think he has lost a little since being here since we are not over feeding him as his previous owner apparently did. All the other cats get on with him ok although they were a bit wary and we did get some hissing from Lucy at first. Now though he is just another one of the gang that happens to be new and big. Here's hoping we can give him a happy life here with us so he can live out his older days comfortably.

More kitties

  Well to be specific one more cat. We promised ourselves we would get another cat when we got back from holiday and we have been looking at the local rescue/shelter cats. We found one grown one we liked the look of in the local shelter and called about him yesterday. Very soon he should be here for us to meet him, see if we like him and probably adopt him. Apparently he is very large cat at 24 lbs which is 6 lbs more than Boots. He has ringworm as well so we need to make sure that has been treated properly and he is not contagious to the rest of the cats and us. Other than that though we should have yet another cat here to live with us.

  Still it will be nice to get to know another cat, see how he reacts to our other cats who all get along with no fighting and seem to be extremely happy cats. I'm hoping we can give him as happy a life as we have manged with our current cats. I'm also sure that I'll post a couple of pictures of him once we get him settled down. In the mean time here is a picture of Lucy from earlier.

Actual Autumn

  After moving here and basically having summer that was nice without being too hot and after living in California for 15 plus years you tend to forget about the actual four seasons as opposed to California's summer and not summer. However getting back from holiday and you can tell summer has finished. Getting up in the morning to work and it is damn chilly and takes quite a while to warm up. Even during the day it doesn't get that warm anymore whereas where we used to live is still in warm summer days kind of weather. Lots of intermittent rain here as well (although most of it was when we were on holiday).

  Just makes it clear that we will get actual weather all year round and I can't wait for it to happen. After growing up with proper seasons it is nice to be back in that again. California wasn't bad but got too hot and had very little variation unless you really traveled around. It seems slightly off to be wearing jeans at this time of year but there we go. I think I may actually wear jumpers this year as well.

Back to normal

  Seems strange to be back to the normal day to day stuff after the holiday. The eating meals in the house and having to clean up after ourselves, the actual doing of work to earn money, going to doctor appointments, basically all the stuff that you don't have to deal with. There is nobody to call up to sort something out for you, nobody to feed you food and clear away everything and nobody to just make sure you have everything you need at any particular time.

  Still being at home does mean I get to spend quiet time with my wife with nobody else around. Just me and her sitting around living our lives. Us and the cats who are pleased to see us again now that we are home. Although it does seem the cat sitter gave them lots of attention, hours a day according to the report from her. Even then they are very keen to see us and one or more is always at our sides or sitting on us since we have got back.

  It seems weird the difference between that kind of holiday and normal life. Not that normal life is bad but the being waited on hand and foot most of the time is a really good way to live if you can afford it. Time to get really rich.

Can we do that again?

  Well we are back from our all important and fancy anniversary holiday. It was well worth it in the end, the lots of travel to get there. I got to spend some great time with my wife in a place which is pretty damn nice. Great scenery, amazingly clear waters, good weather (if a little hot every now and then) and in the first place we stayed a really quiet place to be.

  Just about everything I planned happened ok, a couple of trip mess ups due to weather etc (we had rain on one day that messed up that day) but we had things to do, lots of swimming and looking at tropical fish and other sea life, a private dinner on the anniversary day. We even got to do the swimming with green sea turtles that only a few people at a time a few times a day get to do.

  I'm just really happy we got to go, it is something we have been wanting to do for a long long time and making it happen for our anniversary is so great. Being able to take the woman I love to there and treat her to somewhere like that. Full 5 star hotel resorts (with prices to match) and to experience that kind of holiday where you are treated about as well as you can without having your own private island with huge staff of slaves. At the first hotel we stayed at especially everyone was so careful to be helpful and friendly. We got so used to people saying hello and thank you in Tahitian to us that we started to do it as well.

  There did seem to be a few strange things, like people bringing their children to a resort aimed at couples on honeymoon or romantic trips. That and the quite sorry state of the main island, seriously don't stay at any of the hotels on the main island of Bora Bora, stay at the ones around the outside or on their own island like we did.

  It still seems slightly surreal that we managed to do that trip. It was something we have been trying to do for so long and getting it done for this important wedding anniversary. If it wasn't for the huge cost of going there I suspect we would go every year. At least it is something we can now say we have done and I manged to treat my wife to it to show her how much she means to me. If only the travel to that place was easier (2.5 hour drive, wait at airport, 2 hour flight, 8 hour at airport, 8 hour flight, 5 hour wait at airport, 1 hour flight, 1 hour at airport, 30 minutes on a boat.....), maybe I should persuade work to open an office there for me to work from :| .

  Anyway we really really enjoyed ourselves despite the annoyances that happened there. It really was a great place for us to celebrate being together for so long.