The complete contex of an e-mail this morning

From a random e-mail from Cincinnati Children's this morning...

Thanks for reading,

Alex

Pittsburgh >> Boston

"I don't know what's better - the YinzCam or iBurgh... Either way, it's always nice to see the Pittsburgh beat Boston :)" - Maria

As the Pittsburgh's Post Gazette's article, released on Aug 18th 2009 states, "Pittsburgh has won the 'space race' with Boston to adopt the first iPhone application for registering citizen complaints through a mobile phone."

The iBurgh, a free application and developed by YinzCam Inc., became available this past weekend and through the efforts of city council men Bill Peduto. Now residents of Pittsburgh can now snap photos of potholes and graffiti and have them sent directly to the complaint hot line!

This how great would this idea be in other cities! YinzCam, let me know when you're coming to Cincinnati and/or Seattle!

Thanks for reading,

Alex

Who is the MTC?

Midnight's Specialness Meter 2000

(it goes to 12!)

Midnight The Cat is my cute lovable almost 2 y/o cat with a unique personality. She was born on Sept 22nd, 2007 and has now made the trip with me to Seattle.

Midnight resting next to the coat rack.

Over the years she has made quite a few number of "friends" and continues to correspond by letters and e-mail behind my back. :-)

The first letter she received was from Ariane's Gordan and Jitterbug, or as they prefer "Thug and Queen of all Kittes."

The letter that started it all...

Jitterbug and Gordan

For a brief period of time, Midnight used to try to communciate with me via her personal e-mail address, Midnight T. Cat, but they were mostly full of meows and silly, i.e: NOTE: MTC's e-mail address is NOT managed by me.

meow i want to live in the pink room meow. meow dont make me live in the basement closet meow. meow meow meow. meow i am so cute meow. meow come home and purr with me meow. meow i want to eat a quatman burger meow. meow you didnt include me in your ad meow. meow i am upset meow. meow going to go drink the blue toilet water meow.

-midnight

AND

mmmmeeeeeeeeeooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww! wake up, im lonely! meeeeeeeooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!

Later, Midnight found friends Jack and Runa and graciously gave them her unused scratching post. Glimpsing through her correspondece over snail mail, I've noticed several references to a "P.o.F" and "P.o.L" which I've deduced is in reference to me (Provider of Food) and to Rachel (Provider of Lap):

Runa tells about her rebellion by "scratching nice things and squatting on laps" and sitting "on the eating platform without cause."

Midnight must have picked up some of her bad habits from Runa and even shares her adventures about "the OUTDOORS!" to add fuel to the rebellion fire:

Jack and Runa – Rulers of the Castle

c/o Rachel – the human and P.o.F.

Meow Jack and Meow Runa,

Thank you so much for your sweet card! It was quite the insightful glimpse into your lives and interactions with your Provider of Food (the human). I was beginning to wonder what happened to that scratching post – not like I ever used it. I much prefer to use the top portion of my human’s butt rest. It’s just so much more satisfying! I would highly recommend it. Lately, my P.o.F. has decided to discourage the use of my claws by placing a pad over the head rest. Little does he know, it makes his butt rest look horrible and I just scoot it around and continue on my merry way.

I feel I should tell you of the world beyond the door. I have experienced it, and I call it the “OUTDOORS!” I’ve been known to spend hours in the “Outdoors” but sometimes it’s frigid and I search for warmth after just a few minutes. It’s great that we have these build in coats that are easily shed, but I would still recommend only a short visit to the “Outdoors” if given the chance.

I’ve noticed that while our Providers of Foods are getting much friendlier with each other they have began to visit more often, and there has been a decrease in the number of hours that should be reserved for lap cuddle time. Have you noticed this trend too?

As the humans say “Merry Christmas” and my your bowels always be filled with food!

In loving paws,

Midnight

Sometime after the start of the new year, I began noticing Midnight walking around with more confidence and in reference to Runa's letter above, I too, have seen a caped crusader around my neck of the woods:

Yes! It is the caped crusaider - Midnight The Cat!

Midnight did eventually adopt more modern technology after abusing my e-mails to Jennifer and kept her longest running dialog with Gideon and Reilly:

Subject: To Midnight from Gideon and Reilly

Dear Midnight,

Hey! Gideon here! I can't stay on too long tonight because my mom says that she has to go to bed soon, and she's the one with the hands, so I guess I have to listen to her. You're a very cute cat, I have to say. I'm a pretty studly guy, myself, but my mom has to get her hands on a digital camera to take a picture of me so that you can appreciate my manly physique.

I hear you like to try to sneak outdoors sometimes. Cool! I'm a little scared to go outside, but I really want to get into the garage. Sometimes, I cry at the door, just begging mom to let me out, but she says it's gross out there. I don't care if it's gross! I'm a boy! I can take it! One night, when she wasn't expecting it and when she didn't close the door all the way to take out the trash, I did it! I saw some dead bugs in there. It was so cool! I also went under the car where my mom couldn't get me! Ha! I knew she would have to offer food to get me to come in, and that was good enough for me. The bad part was that she had to rinse off my paws when I came back in. I HATED that! Still, I got my food, so I guess it was worth it. I absolutely LOVE to eat-- and will eat pretty much anything: candy wrappers (a little hard to swallow and mom quickly takes them from me), plastic bags from wal-mart, but mostly cat food. Do you ever eat people food? My mom tries to keep me from eating it, but I LOVE salt. Have you ever tried it? It is the best! Oh... you haven't tasted anything if you haven't eaten a piece of a potato chip or a little pretzel. It's like heaven.

Okay... mom says she's starting to fall asleep at the keyboard now. Reilly's asleep, so she can't talk to you.

Bye!

Gideon (aka Gid or Gid Kid)

Hey! This is Reilly. Gideon is sometimes a bully to me. I was partly asleep, but I wanted to say a quick hi to you, too. My name sounds like Riley but is spelled Reilly because that is the Irish spelling of it, and my mom thought that was cool. The bad part about that is that the vet is always saying, "He this," "He that." Oh well... I like it well enough, I guess. Your name really fits you well. It's a pretty name, too. I'm glad you like to write. I've never done this before, but it's a lot of fun. I have talked on the phone before, though-- well, mainly just listened. I come up to the phone almost every time my mom is talking to her mom. I just love to hear grandma's voice. Anyway... I am glad that my mom finally met a guy who isn't allergic to cats! I have to go back to sleep now, as does my mom. I love sleeping almost as much as Gideon likes to eat! :) Which do you prefer? Eating or sleeping?

Talk to you later,

Reilly (aka Rye Girl)

"Gid Kid"

"Rye Girl"

And, Midnight's reply back:

Subject: To Gideon and Reilly From Midnight

Meow Gideon, Meow Reilly,

Gideon, really? Your MOM!?!?!? Now, let me tell you how we run things over here at the Midnight The Cat Household. First of all - Bed time is when I want it.

Often my Provider of Food insists on keeping me out of the his human bed, and even goes so far as to close the door ALL the way! Don't be worried, I have him figured out now. As soon as my POF sets foot on the stair case, I make a dash into the green room and hide in my quite spot.

See, POF placed a collar on me with a bell a few months back. Now, how am I to stalk birds, squires, my shadow, other intruders into the homelands with a BELL?!?! POF says its so he can find me when I explore "The Outdoors." (More on "The Outdoors" later). I think he uses to tell if I'm in his green room or not when the lights go out. So, I lay still and wait for 5 rounds of the large pointer to move in round ticky thing on the wall and then I know I'm free to move about.

Back to "The Outdoors:" It's great! New smells, new hiding places, new friends in the yard. I try and explore once a day if not more often. Sometimes though there is whiteness that covers "The Outdoors" and that scares me. You don't want to get lost out there... I've heard some stories from Stray (the stray who wonders into my Homeland. I'm not sure if we're friends or not... yet...)

"The Garage!" Tell me of this "Garage!" Oh how grand! New playmates and new hiding places! The Homeland has a second structure in the back with a small opening in the door, but I haven't ventured to explore there yet. It's often dark and sometimes I hear grumbling from within. Did I mention that one whole wall moves up and down! I'm afraid it might chomp me!

Oh, Gideon, I'm so glad to hear that you share in the same love of plastic crinkle bags!

I have found a liking for something described as popped corn, covered in orange florescent cheese. Sometimes my POF's other human, Steve, (Interlude from Alex: Housemate Steve, rents a room, and works at Children's, and is often gone all weekends to visit his GF in Ft. Wayne) offers me such delicacies when POF is not around. I LOVE it! But often now, I have my feeder which POF keeps well stocked and the water is aways flowing next to it. I can't understand how it keeps running, but I'm glad it does.

Reilly! How could you let Gid-Kid be so mean to you? Show him what you're made of. You know if you're POF is a girl like you then you OWN that house! :-)

I prefer playing and walking over my POF lap when he's not paying enough attention to me, or walking over the POF's face when POF is trying to sleep. To think, my Specialness Meeter is reading at an all time high of 12 tonight! Well I guess the POF is helping to translate and communicate with you. My pur really wouldn't make it more then an hour drive. Hm... Maybe we'll have to try purring over the phone one night. Let your POF think that one over and get back to me. Purrrr!!!!

Yes, POF is great to not be sneezing in my food and water.

In loving, cat solidarity,

>^..^< (That's me!)

Thanks for reading,

Alex

What's this?

Inspired by Kate's Random Mussings' post...

Nope, it's not a condom...

But who ever helped me unpack my boxes for my move out to Seattle sure thought they were and placed them in my "personal drawer" in my nightstand!

They are really stethoscope diaphragms!

Just remember, practice safe sound...

Thanks for reading,

Alex