The first version of Smudge arrived with a tint on his white face and kept it long enough to earn his nickname. He also had quite a cold, no appetite, and began losing weight. That’s not good for a kitten so he made several trips to the vet and back to the Austin Humane Society. We worried he might not make it. He was very tiny and fragile and sleepy.

But that was then and this now! Thanks to Jackie’s ‘kitten growing’ expertise, Smudge — Take 2, got over his cold, began eating again, and hasn’t stopped. In fact we call him Pudge now as well, especially when he pushes four adult cats away from their food, in order to get first pick. He’s growing into an energetic, playful and happy cat. He will literally play himself to sleep in your lap, on a sofa, or on the floor. He’s on his way to becoming an expert fetcher. I’ve only known a few cats who really fetch well and they are a lot of fun to have around.

So Smudge returns to the Austin Humane Society in the next week or so to await his permanent home. If you’d like a new friend or know someone who does, contact me or Jackie or the AHS. As parents do, we took lots of photos and a few movies. You can browse these in the April and May sections of the web gallery.

A couple of Smudge’s Oscar worth films. (You’ll need QuickTime to view).

                                       That’s My Box!                                                                                Fetch Boy!

But wait…what were those care instructions again?

OSX Photo Booth to the rescue!

And wallah!

I need about four of these, so the price is right. Put a little TLC into the project and you are sure to create a planter of your own that looks like it cost at least three or four bucks.

People who pass away too young often possess that extra zest for living. They seem more adventurous, creative, passionate, and successful. Maybe some part of them knows they should squeeze the most of out their time here, as we all should. One of these was born to a modest family in Birmingham, England and lived her adult life all around the world. Sylvia Billinge, later Sylvia Reynolds and my mother, made her first stop in New York City working as a secretary in the Empire State Building. She there met an Air Force officer, Patrick Reynolds, with whom she and her new family made homes in Bangkok, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and bases across the continental United States.

To see a small example of her spirit, take a look at an interview she gave to Newsweek in 1964. British secretaries were in vogue. Some felt this limited the opportunity of American women seeking work, so an embargo was considered. It’s the type of immigration debate that continues even today. From the July issue of that year:

“For their part, English girls already beached in New York viewed the ban as, as best, a trifle lowbrow. Said blue-eyed, sparkling Sylvia Billinge, a 24-year-old stenographer now making about $100 in a Madison Avenue firm: “As there are plenty of vacancies, it does seem a pity. I know lots of girls at home who would like to spread their wings in America. I’m having a whale of a time.”

Thanks for reminding me to keep having a whale of a time, mom!

I’ve occasionally been asked about and benefited from summaries of preferred Mac / OSX applications. Here are mine:

• Mac the Ripper DVD Ripping
• Handbrake DVD encoding
• Adium IM Client
• Skitch Lightweight graphic tool
• TweetDeck Twitter client and search engine
• Psst Stops or lowers volume of the loud bong chime from firing at startup.
• Cyberduck Secure file transfer client
• Stuffit Unarchiver
• DivX Player for Macs lets QuickTime play films, HD, etc.
• Carbon Copy Cloner Backups and migrations
• Chicken of the VNC Remote desktop client.
• TextMate Text editor / IDE ~$52
• 1Password $40 handles all your password management
• Text Expander Autotyping manager.
• iTap Mac kb/mouse tool for iPhone
• Adobe Photoshop Elements Photo/graphics editor
• VLC Media player
• Transmission Bittorent client
• Pure Tools Flash panorama generator
• Omnigraffle $99 diagraming application
• Perian QuickTime utilities
• Growl System message/notification subsystem
• Flip4Mac Play WMV media files