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So, I fished washing the dishes yesterday and noticed the sink seemed a bit clogged and tried to run the garbage disposal but nothing happened. I then noticed that when running down one side of the sink, the other backed up and vice versa. I called the office who sent a request into maintenance and we left to see The Day the Earth Stood Still and take Phantom to PetSmart.

Upon returning, we saw that the maintenance guy left a note on the counter which said not to use the garbage disposal because it was rusted and corroded and he needed to order a new one. Unfortunately, this apartment was the model and while it looked good, it hadn’t been used on a daily basis for an unknown amount of time. This is also why I reluctant to use the dishwasher (which had a loose piece) and the filter had not been changed in the air conditioner forever.

The movie was okay. It was a nice change of pace to not have the entire Earth be destroyed by aliens (is that a plot spoiler? oops!) but they obviously only picked Keanu Reeves to play an alien because he talks in that strange, halting manner.

At PetSmart, we got Phantom a new toy so he hopefully redirects his aggression away from him. We also spent some time looking at the adoptions centers for possibly a new friend. We saw some adorable little kittens who were barely 2 weeks old. We decided to stop at the other PetSmart and saw a nice female cat about one year old but we have not made the final decision yet. We let Phantom and the kitty get to know eachother and while they didn’t love eachother, I think they could be good friends in time.

Phantom was really nice in the car. He eventually calmed down and curled up in my arms. He was also surprisingly mild when he was meeting the other cat; almost scared. This was the most mellow we’ve ever seen him! It was almost as though he was a different cat!

Today was spent looking for a Christmas tree (which we didn’t find) and a little Christmas shopping for Samantha (she’s getting PixOs).

This last week has really flown by.

In my case it’s technology and, sometimes, my kitty Phantom.

Not too long ago I asked for ideas for keeping him out of places and one response was to use double sided tape. Apparently cats don’t like the feeling of it on their paws and if you put it over the entrance to a place you want to keep them out of, it should help. Well, I went to the extreme when I used some double sided tape; I put a grid of the tape over our entire fireplace.

It didn’t work.

That’s right. When faced with this barrier, Phantom simply chewed through it and made a hole big enough for himself. Since then, we have resorted to zip tying the chain link metal “curtain” over the fireplace. This seems to have worked. But, it renders the fireplace completely useless. Pah!

I also needed suggestions for how to get the kitty to stop going places we don’t want him, like near the computer, behind the TV and on counters, tables and dressers. Ashe suggested I get a can of compressed air and this has actually worked really well. I’ve only had the air a few days and Phantom already knows not to fuck with me. If I even grab the can, he scrambles.

Still, if the cat can’t be kind of naughty, he tries to be really naughty. He is now spending time on top of the fridge. He originally went up there because he could smell a ziploc bag of treats I had. He proceeded to chew open the bag. Now, I tihnk he just likes being up that high and he reaches down to play with the magnets and papers on the freezer door. This is especially problematic because I can’t spray him very well up there and we moved everything to the freezer door because he was jumping to get everything on the bottom door from the floor. I guess no magnet is safe.

When it comes to technology, I really like my computer and my MP3 player and the internet but when it goes wrong, it’s so costly. I caught a trojan (W32.Renos) the other day which was redirecting my search results and slowed down my internet as well as blocking potentially helpful sites and webpages. It took over 2 days to finally find a trojan scanner which fixed it. I am very grateful to Dez for finding, downloading and sending me the program since I couldn’t fully utilize my internet.

A lot of people had the same trouble with Renos and similar trojans which fall into the family of Smitfraud. I downloaded/used at least a dozen programs and only 1 of them detected it. I even used tools specifically for these type of infections like SmitFraudFix which did not help. The program which finally did the trick is Simply Super Software’s Trojan Remover and I highly recommend it to anyone with Renos or a similar invasion.

I hope that anyone with this problem stumbles across my site and finds a solution that works for them.

There you have it, the things I love to hate.

Back home. I awoke yesterday long before the sun would be up after too few hours of sleep. Not to mention late. I had enough time to hop in the shower, pack up the rest of my things and we were off to the airport. Samantha’s coat and snow pants were pulled over her fuzzy Spongebob pajamas and during the course of the ride, she dozed a bit and held onto my arm the whole time.

It was only 9 days and it went amazingly fast. On the other hand, most of those days Samantha did not have school and she was plastered to my side. I felt suffocated by the time I left. Still, seeing the tears on her pudgy little face in the airport made me cry as well.

On the other hand, I had an adorable little kitty to go home to and he’d been on his own – for the most part – a couple of days since Ryan left. I missed my kitty terribly yet part of me wondered why I should go home when no one would be there.

I felt more at home with the colder weather and it snowed a bit the last few days. It definitely felt more like winter weather and it didn’t seem so strange to hear Christmas music. Nevertheless, it was cold and I knew the weather in San Antonio would be much more enjoyable.

I enjoyed seeing almost all of my family and friends, some of whom I had not seen for years. We hung out and went out and I got to know a few new people as well. However, my time there was so packed with acitivities that I felt really tense by the time I needed to leave.

I was exhausted and slept a bit on the plane back. Both physically and emotionally, I was ready to return home. But after I entered the door, it wasn’t long before I was heading back out to check the mail, open packages and return to unpack my bags. I checked e-mail and completed tasks that had been put on the back burner for over a week. All in all, I didn’t head to sleep until after midnight – over 7 hours after I had headed home.

And I suppose the best way to sum up my return home is that I was conflicted. It was bittersweet, after all.

As much as I love my kitty, he is still a kitten and very curious. Unfortunately, he likes to get into places which are hard to block off and just as difficult to get him out of – places like the back of the TV, the fireplace and under the dishwasher. I have tried distracting him with toys as well as spraying with water and while he doesn’t like being sprayed, it doesn’t phase him all that much.

Any ideas?

Phantom woke me up today, as he does every day. I guess he gets to a point where he decides “That’s enough; I need love, dammit!” Today wasn’t silly, annoying licks as usual but rather rough bites; he must have really wanted to play but as he is growing, it hurts more and more.

It’s hard to believe we’ve only had him less than 2 weeks; he is growing so fast. Where there used to be a cute little kitten with scruffy fur, I can see him blossoming into a beautiful cat with a sleak coat. Unfortunately, the scruff fur seems to be shedding all over my floor. LOL

He is also developing some more markings like a circle of lighter fur on each of his sides/thighs which is pretty cute.

Phantom when we first got him

Ryan and Phantom

Phantom sneaking out from under the dishwasher

Phantom being Phantom