Willie, a favorite cat for over 17 years, passed away today.

He was a great cat and will be missed.

Larry found this on eBay. I’ve always wanted one of these Airstream trailers. This one is in rough shape out in Michigan. It is going (at the moment) for $105. I feel like bidding on it and refurbishing it. Larry and I would have to drive to Michigan to pick it up.

Imagine a trip to Maine for vacation. There would be plenty of room for Erica and the cats, but I’d have to leave the chickens at home.

Willie is our oldest cat. He came to visit us 17 years ago. Willie has been suffering from diabetes and I have to give him insulin. He crashed over the weekend and nearly died. He had zero blood sugar and was in dire circumstances. Erica gave him some honey and he woke up be he was a very sick kitten, so we took him to the vet.

His kidneys had shut down. The vet thought that since he was not awake enough to eat that he would die.
Erica would not give up on him so we have been force feeding him food by squirting a puree into his mouth when we visit the vet. He was swallowing but as of yesterday he was still near death, even though his numbers had improved somewhat.

This morning his blood sugar was way up and he was standing up and yelling about the accommodations. His blood work is much improved. The force feeding was working.

It looks like he had a kidney infection and stopped eating. I did not realize this, so the normal dose of insulin crashed him, shutting down his kidneys.

He is an old cat and the diabetes can deteriorate his organs. He is still not well, but he is no longer in danger of dying right now. I hope we can get him to the point where his kidneys are working better and he eats on his own so we can bring him home.

Since this incident is costing us $3,000 to $5,000, Willie may soon be our most expensive cat. It seems silly to waste the money on a sick cat who would only have a few years more even if he was healthy, but if you’ve owned a cat, you know why I did it. I don’t spend money on travel, new cars, fine clothes or luxuries. My money goes to books (cheap), Harmonicas (cheap), and bees (not cheap, but they turn a profit). Allow me to spend money so that a good friend will feel a little better as his life winds down.

Larry and I drove down to the city last night to see John Shirley read one of his stories. He was good and it was worth the trip. Occupy Wall Street was making a stink with the traffic and we had to walk the last 7 blocks.

Here’s a picture of me shaking his hand. Damn cell phone doesn’t take a good picture.

John Shirley in Soho – YouTube.

I am fascinated by 3D printers. These are printers that create three dimensional objects by “printing” them with some kind of plastic. I’ve seen some that use sugar and the one in the link uses some kind of rubbery vinyl.

I don’t know, yet, what kinds of things that I’d like to print. The print cartridges look pricy – much more than printer ink – but eventually I want something like this.

Cubify costs $1299 list and will be released any minute now.

There are many others on the market, but all of them cost more than I can pay.

I think one that could print in hard styrene or some kind of epoxy mixed with metal would be very useful. The first think I would print would be copies of antique microphones that I could sell on eBay. I guess a rubber microphone would be cool.

My guess is that in these early machines, a 5 inch cube of plastic would cost $50 at least. It is not yet cost effective for actual manufacturing. It would be good for making prototypes.

Cubify – Express Yourself in 3D.

The space Shuttle Enterprise passed over NYC today, and Justine grabbed a picture with her cell phone.

I am reading the 1912 edition of Play-Making by William Archer. It is a nuts and bolts guide to writing plays by a premier critic. It is very readable, even though I have read only a few of the plays discussed, and I would recommend it to all writers, not just playwrights.

The best quote from the book so far is in a discussion of the Obligatory Scene or scène á faire. This is a scene promised to the audience by events or situations in the acts leading up to it. It is different than the climax in that it can occur more than once, but it is a pivot point of a play. Archer argues that it is not something that just happens to the characters. It must be something that the characters do. It is the essence of drama.

Archer: Drama means a thing done, not merely a thing that happens; and the playwright who lets accident effect what might naturally and probably be a result of volition, or in other words, of character, sins against the fundamental laws of his craft.

This is an extremely important principle in all fiction writing. This principle cannot be broken without harming a story.

Here’s another one of those Science Fiction readings that I won’t be able to make.

John Shirley, one of my favorite writers, will be reading May 1 down in Soho. Unfortunately it is on Tuesday and it starts at 6:30 which makes it nearly impossible for me to get to. Although only about 30 miles away, the whole of NYC lies between the place and me, and it takes hours to get there.

Here is what the announcement says:

John Shirley is some f*cking guy who walked in off the street every day for a
week, smelling of beer and vomit and old cigarettes, and saying that if I didn’t
let him read he was going to pee in the doorway of the venue every night.
Finally he convinced us. He is also known as the winner of the Bram Stoker Award
for his story collection Black Butterflies — which was also chosen as one of
the Best Books of the Year by Publisher’s Weekly — and is the author of the
cyberpunk trilogy A Song Called Youth, recently reissued in an omnibus by Prime
Books. He was one of the original cyberpunk novelists with William Gibson, Bruce
Sterling, Rudy Rucker, Pat Cadigan, and Lew Shiner. (“John Shirley was
cyberpunk’s patient zero, first locus of the virus, certifiably virulent. A
Carrier.”­William Gibson)

Where:
The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art
(www.sohodigart.com) is dedicated to re-establishing
SoHo as an international center for the development of new artistic forms,
concepts and ideas. A screens-instead-of-canvases approach allows a wide
selection of art from around the world which would otherwise never make it to
the City. The SGDA is available for private gatherings and events of all kinds.

The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art
138 Sullivan Street (between Houston & Prince St.)

The following Flickr Gallery is a list of roadside stands for your approval.

I am researching roadside stands. I will build one soon. I need some good weather and that doesn’t look like it will occur for another few weeks.

Roadside Stands, a gallery on Flickr.

I’m sitting at my desk, back at my job. The contract dispute is over and my contract has been approved for another year.

The whole time that I was out of work, my back and legs did not bother me much. As soon as I sit in this chair, all the pain comes back. Either I need a new chair or I have to quit.

I lost 12 pounds in the three weeks that I was out. I am already gaining it back, I think.

My story “Mizuki” is at Freezine. Warning, it is not safe for work.

the FREEZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

My boss just called and asked me to return to work on Monday. I could have used another week, but my bank account would have suffered.

I completed the Chicken coop, except for some minor finish work. I did not write any short stories, fix any amps, restore any mics, or read any books. I worked in the backyard the entire time, and fell exhausted into my TV chair at then end of each day. My back and knees are in pain, and my arms are so sore from hammering, sawing, drilling and toting that I can hardly lift a hand to scratch my head.

Good things about being unemployed:

1. No need to shave.

2. Sleep until 8AM

3. No stupid meetings.

4. Take a few minutes off to watch the chickens.

5. Able to check the bees whenever I get bored.

6. Collecting unemployment checks.

7. Visiting my friends at Home Depot twice a day.

8. Drinking beer on my 3pm coffee break.

Lots of other minor things.

At least I will be doing more blogging now that I will be at work sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a day.

I’ve been at home for two weeks now, while the county irons out their problems with issuing new contracts. I am supposed to return to work on the 23rd.

I am nearly done with the Coop. You can see it at my chicken blog.

I have been calling it the Taj-Ma-hen, but I am not sure that I like that title.

Don gave me a list based on the fact that it looks like a New England country inn.

1. The Egg Drop Inn
2. The Cluck and Peck Inn
3. All Cooped Up
4. The Cock and Pullet
5. Free Range Inn
6. The Yokes on You Inn

And from Don’s Wife, the Beak Wood Manor.

I’ve been thinking about calling it:  Castle Chickenstein.

But, I think the best idea is Palais de Poules. (palace of hens).

I make the illegal right turn from Snake Hill every morning and the illegal left turn every night. I was stopped once a couple of years ago by a cop and given a warning. It is a dumb place for a no turn sign. There is no safety or traffic reason for it.
I may show up to the board meeting with a sign that says “Free West Nyack – Allow us to Turn – We shall overcome”.

West Nyack Traffic Signage Changes Considered By Town Board – New City, NY Patch.