Farewell Felix

Monday, November 4, 2019 at 9:30 AM, my cat Felix went to sleep for the last time.

The previous Tuesday, he was listless and uninterested in his usual routine. We took him to a clinic that found his heart "galloping" but could do nothing else for him.  The next day we took him to his regular vet, and they took some blood.  The results showed that he was severely anemic.  They recommended taking him to Oak Vet Animal Specialty Hospital.

After admitting him, Felix had more blood taken, and received a blood transfusion.  They kept him overnight for observation, and took a spleen aspiration as well as ran an ultrasound.  The next evening he was deemed stable enough to come home while the tests were run.  We were given steroids to give him twice a day, and would return Monday for a diagnosis based on the test results.

Friday he was a little better.  He ate some Gerber's chicken baby food, and moved around some.  Saturday he was more active, but didn't eat, and Sunday he was little better than he had been Tuesday.  That night we put him on a towel and he sat in my lap for a few hours of television.

Monday morning he was tired and weak, and no longer had the strength to reach the litter box.  Jennifer and I went into the appointment having already talked about our options.  The diagnosis we were given was that his blood and spleen had a high count of neoplastic cells. The doctor said Felix could have another transfusion to get him strong enough to see an oncologist who would then talk options of chemo therapy.  This could have given him six months to a year if he were strong enough for the treatment.  When we told the doctor we didn't want to put Felix through all of that for something that might not work.  He understood and agreed, and we said we were ready to move ahead.

Before the two injections, we were told that he could perk up for a moment as he fought going to sleep, but he was ready to go because as the injection entered, he laid his head down against my arm, and went to sleep.

Felix was exactly the cat I had wanted.  He liked to cuddle.  He was playful.  He would come visit while I sat.  He purred easily.  We could chase each other around the house.  He kept Jennifer company while I was away.  He and his brother Oscar were amazing together.

I will never forget our big boy, our cuddle muffin, our Hole in the Stairs, our hungry Void, our house panther.

Farewell Felix.

Happy Birthday Dad - 2019

Several years ago while I was in the CSU Sacramento Marching Musicians, we were at Disneyland on my dad's birthday.  I don't if they're still there, but AT&T had these big speaker-phone booth rooms that were soundproof(-ish).  To start the day off, I got a bunch of the band members to go with me straight to Tomrrowland and pile into one of the booths, and we all sang my dad "Happy Birthday".

This is a callback to that day.

How to Find a Nerd in Hiding

So this morning at our job site, we were gathering for our daily safety meeting.  One of the crew was in socks and flip-flops.

Now this is okay, because we're outside of the work zone.  But it still got him some ribbing.

People were asking if they were the new style of steel toed shoes.

I said, "No, their transparent aluminum."

And off to my right, I heard someone snort.

That's how they'll catch us in the end: obscure jokes we can't help but snigger at.

Up and Down and Up and Down and...

So this week, I'm working on a small barge.

Now, this isn't a barge like a coal barge that carries (or carried, I don't know how much it still happens) coal down the Ohio River.

This isn't even like the barge that I worked on when they were retrofitting the Webster-Posey Tunnel from Oakland to Alameda.

This is a small barge.

The barge in the Alameda Slough had a conex on it.  And a full sized drill rig.  And three large diameter spuds that kept it in place once it was in position.

I'm on a small barge that uses three small anchors to place itself.

And I'm on it for about 8 hours.

Now, I sometimes have motion sickness.  I've gotten seasick on whale watching trips.  I used to get Doom-sickness with the old FPS games.  I still sometimes have motion sickness symptoms when I play Portal or the new Doom.

I've been okay so far this week.  I know the symptoms and if they start, I stand steady and watch the horizon until they subside.

My issue is that this is the longest I've been on a small craft.  The ferry is less than an hour.  Other things haven't moved as much.  And with this, I'm having to get my land-legs.

I get back to the hotel, I sit at the computer, and everything in my peripheral vision keeps bobbing up and down.

I almost fell on the floor when I stood up from the toilet this afternoon.

At least I feel like I'm rocking myself to sleep without even moving.

Sir Terry

So yes, I am re-re-...-re-reading the Discworld.

An d as the anniversary of Sir Terry's birthday passed there were two great articles about his writing.

First one on Tor.

And then one on Hobbylark.

The first came to me in an email newsletter I get from Tor.  The second came via Google News.

Share and Enjoy.

Ribs and Butcherbox

So let me tell you about my dinner last night.

First I have to tell you again about the wonders of vacuum sealing.

We've been doing vacuum sealing of food for a little over a year now.  The length of time we can store food, both raw and cooked is amazing.  Jennifer has been eating on frozen, vacuum sealed peach halves for months.

Towards the end of the summer last year, I signed up for Butcherbox.  What sold me was that the offer when I signed up was free ground beef with every delivery for as long as I use the service.  The first package came with a mini-recipe book, and for the ribs that I got with my latest delivery, I used the pork rub recipe.

The ribs sat for about a week in just the fridge, then Saturday afternoon I applied the rub, and Sunday I cooked them up.  All it took was an hour on the grill on medium-low.

Don't they look amazing?

I really should have taken a picture before I cut them.  However, I still have another half rack, so I'll be experimenting again.

Now, Butcherbox is pretty great.  The food all comes vacuum sealed, frozen, and shipped in green Styrofoam pellets and dry ice.

The latest deal they're offering is if you sign up with a referral both of you get you get free salmon in your first box.  Interested?  Go here, and use my e-mail "schadwen@yahoo.com".

Visulaization

So, as promised, here are photos.

I couldn't remember when I was typing, but I double-checked, and it is a Woflgang Puck dutch oven.  Not that is necessarily indicative of quality, just what it is.

Here's the Cincinnati chili.  I did it a little different not adding onions, but using onion powder instead.  I also didn't add the vinegar that it calls for.  Everything else was as written.

The first time he made it, Dad put the chili in ceramic boats, and we cut the pasta and ate it almost like a loaf.  Mine wasn't that thick (I had to set the lid a bit off to get it to cook down.  Dutch ovens are great for keeping in the moisture.), but it turned out thick enough.

It's also traditional to top it with sharp or extra sharp cheddar, but we were out having used up the cheddar for the last time I made chili.  Instead I used Colby jack.  It added a nice smoothness to the recipe.

And I Was Doing So Well

So, I'm back after a gap.  I had wanted to get back to daily, but oh well.

And so I'm cooking dinner tonight.  I'm trying to do more.  Jennifer is eating meat less, and I'm okay with less, but I still like some.  And then as most who know me know that I'm a bit of a picky eater.  So it's nicer that I cook and do what I like.

I'm not going to go so far as make a separate pot of chili with beans (not technically chili if it has beans right?).  But I will add things.

But what I'm really enjoying is my cherry red dutch oven.  We got it at Marshall's one day and actually walked it home.  For those that don't know, a dutch oven is a cast iron cooking pot with a lid that are enameled.  The inside of mine is white, and the outside is a gorgeous red.  The really cool thing about the dutch oven is that there are these bumps on the lid that acts a condensation points for the moisture inside and so it can self-baste.

But I've been playing around with sauces and such.  I've made the basic chili that I like, and a pasta bolognese sauce.  I recently did a chili mac with rotini that turned out amazing.  And today I am making the deconstructed recipe for Cincinnati chili.

I can remember the Christmas that Mom bought the cookbook for Dad.  She had marked the recipe with a bookmark so that he would see it.  And when he unwrapped the book he was so excited he almost pulled the bookmark out before Mom could stop him.

It's not that hard of a recipe.  It's just getting the ingredients together.  And I don't use the onions or beans it calls for, so yay!

Can I say that the most dangerous thing about the dutch oven is that the handles are of a piece with the pot?  Get you some silicone gloves, or holy cow, that gets hot.

I'll be sure to add pictures later.

Lunch

So, I have a reputation among coworkers and some of our subcontractors that I only eat one thing for lunch.

It's not entirely true, because there are times that I change it up, but this usually due to circumstance rather than desire.

I like peanut butter and jelly.

Then I saw this a few months ago, and thought yeah, this is me.

Now, John hates peanut butter.  When we were roommates, I always knew my Reese's were safe.

And when I'm in the field, my peanuts and peanut butter consumption goes up.

I have peanuts for snacking with chunks of dark chocolate.  I have Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Cookies and peanut butter M&Ms.  I also love making peanut butter and cinnamon graham cracker sandwiches.

And so, on a final note:

Enthusiasm

So, today I'm back in Oroville, and I had a craving for ice cream.

It's 40 degrees up here right now, but I sent for a walk.

It reminded me of this old Nancy comic strip I cut out long ago.  I think Mom saved it for me.  I used to have a book of all the old comic strips that I'd saved.  Jennifer scanned them for me, so now it's in my computer's digital archives.

I was in two coats and wearing gloves.

Those that know me will note a certain lack of beard.  This morning was my annual physical for my HAZWOPER certification.  I had three fit tests with half-face and full-face respirators, and the newest bit was a dust mask.  The dusk mask is a new thing based on us being up in Oroville during the Camp Fire.  I passed everything, but man am I sick of that stupid Rainbow Passage.

Rainbow Passage
When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. A rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch with its path high above and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I read it six times.

Six times because there's a timer going and you have to keep talking during that portion of the test.  Last year I convinced the proctor to allow me to read it backwards the third and fourth times just for some variety.

And I've read it now for 14 or 15 years.  You'd really think I woudl have it memorized by now.

Micro-management

First off, here is a quote from The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross:

The besetting vice of high office is the temptation to micromanage, to take direct control of a small, concrete, easily understood subsidiary operation and start issuing orders, to the detriment of the chain of command (and the neglect of the big picture). The reason micromanagement is a vice is that it's a temptation to self indulgence: it's too easy to get carried away. Taking on a low-level coordinating role while retaining the full executive authority in fiscal responsibilities of senior rank is like playing a game you've mastered on the lowest difficulty level.

I just hits the spot after some of the things I've had to deal with in the last few months.

This Dilbert comic from closing on 24 years ago is also fitting.