Bulbcat #4

meet Moby, our latest addition. he is nearly 17 weeks old, and we got him when he was just a 10 week old kitten. he is bulbcat #4, a little black and white cuteness exuder. it's almost a years since we lost Raku so should he be called #3 (moving up the rankings) or #4 (chronological)?.

a slight hint of bluishness in the eyes

where did we find Moby? in a supermarket. there was a notice that Bulbgirl saw on the local for sale board after we had done some shopping. the notice was selling a 9 week old black and white kitten. it didn't say what sex the cat was and it didn't show a picture or even a sketch of the kitten's markings.

Bulbgirl took the number down and phoned shortly after getting back. the kitten was still available and now 10 weeks old as the notice had been up for a week. we could have taken him that evening if we really wanted to, but it gave the family a little time to say goodbye to the wee fella. they were getting really attached they said and were on the verge of naming him and keeping him. they hadn't named him as yet, because once you do that how can you give them up?

you can't really say i want to see him/her before i decide to keep the little bundle of fur. how cold would it be to see the cat and say "nope, not quite what i'm looking for"?

a little unsteady on his feet

Moby arrived the next day (it was a tuesday) about 1pm. a little sniffing around and he seemed quite at home. at that stage when playing with a kitten, they get tired all of a sudden and just stop, instead of slowing down gradually. it's as if their batteries suddenly run out (and it's really funny to watch).

white chin. feathery toy just out of shot

we put him in a set of kitchen scales and he was 1.25kg. he then put on another 250g in the next 2 weeks. he has grown up even more since then. he could fit in the scales really easily. not now though; he has grown so fast in such a short space of time. sigh. their kittenhood goes so fast. people talk of missing their kids growing up, with kittens blink and you miss it!

i met Moby's former owners by chance in the same supermarket where he was advertised. they said that they would take him back if he wasn't settling in with Bulbcat #3. they almost had slightly watery eyes, they missed him. he is a naughty little kitten but has bags of personality.

Logo

slogan means war cry apparently. i found this intriguing.

The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm (sluagh "army", "host" + gairm "cry")

do we go into battle everyday trying to be heard, remembered, loved, feared or admired? what is your war cry? how do you project yourself. how does the world see you?

slogans are very closely linked to logos. a logo is almost a graphical slogan but more powerful. it's an image you want to be immediately associated with you, the wall you just tagged, your notebook, or your company. think of superman's S, mcdonald's golden arches, or apple's apple with a bite out of it. simple but iconic.

barrack obama's logo

pepsi's logo

obama's logo seems like it's missing something. the pepsi logo seems to be, to me at least, altogether better formed, self contained. i decided to create a logo for me. while it might not be something elemental, something terrifying like batman's logo, it's a graphic symbol that represents an idea. plus it has a letter B in it (if you tilt your head to the left).

what do you think? can you improve upon it?

Flat for Sale

capacious. that's a word you rarely hear, unless of course you happen to be interacting with an estate agent. they have their own lingo, most of which is lies. maybe not quite lies, but not exactly truthful either.

i had no idea how much you had to lie when selling your home. small things that haven't bothered you at all, ever, suddenly jump out at you. little cracks in the paintwork, right angles that aren't quite right, messy neighbours, pet hair, the list goes on, and on. is there a fine line between lying and "maximising potential?"

you obviously want to make your property seem to be worth the asking price. if you want to maximise the potential of your property, don't let the estate agent take the pictures. the lady that came to value Bulbgirl's place, had a camera at the ready, but having seen her previous clients' photos, Bulbgirl said "my partner can take the photos." take them yourself, or you could be lumbered with poor shots, that have a an awful flash, washing everything out. it's the highest value item that most people will buy and sell, so take a little time and consideration when composing the shots.

top floor flat

the competition

i took the top one, making a natural border out of the trees. it's not your usual home selling pic, but i liked it. the darkness of the tree frame the block nicely. compare it with the competition's picture. two flats pretty close to each other, but one pic instantly more appealing because it was taken in better light (and some thought to composition).

the flat is on the market has been on sale for a little while and had very little interest. it's the current climate they say. a neighbour nearby on the ground floor (see above pic) let the estate agent take their pictures, which didn't do them any favours. the neighbout moved in about at the end of last year and is wanting £5k more now 6 months later (he's put it at a fixed price). Bulbgirl was wanting to put her flat on at a fixed price when seeing this guy do it, hoping to undercut him. it can only be a good thing for her, as with fixed price you can only come down, whereas with the offers over option there is more wiggle room for negotiations. myself and a friend told her this is probably unwise, although there are lots more people doing it now.

the problem is that Bulbgirl doesn't really believe in her property. the main selling points of the flat are space and views. it doesn't have central heating, but electric heating instead. that wouldn't bother me. if i was going to buy somewhere i'd rather go for space over heating any day. you can always fit another heating system later on, but you'll never be able to buy yourself more space, in a wee ground floor flat. the storage in the loft is a boon, because it's like another house (filled with canvasses and junk of mine). my junk is like expanding foam. it seems to grow and fill the allotted space, but i digress, that's another story.

dining room

in the picture of the dining room there is light coming in from the left. there is a window there and it appears as if the dawn is breaking through. it does do that, but wasn't at the time of the picture taking. we left it late and needed to get the pics to the estate agent the next day, so we faked it. Bulbgirl stood holding a long fluorescent light, just out of shot, to mimic the daylight coming in through the big window. she also made the 3 little stripey acrylic paintings you see there.

another benefit is that you can go and see horses, sheep and 2 highland cows less than 10 minutes walk away, that i will miss if we move closer to the city centre.

have you told any lies when selling your property?

update: the flat has now passed to the new owner.

Helicobacter

after having an endoscopy a couple of weeks ago, i got the results. apparently there is bacteria in my stomach. i got a call from the gp confirming this and telling me to come to the health centre to pick up my medicine. the girl on the phone sounded really young then mentioned "irradiation." it must be pretty bad if i have to pick up the medication at the health centre "i thought to myself", normally one picks up a prescription.





sure enough it was a prescription and a newbie on the phone who was giving out garbled messages. at the health centre they couldn't even tell what type of bacteria in my stomach was causing too much acid, and preventing me from keeping food down. bacteria in the stomach seemed like saying "blood in the veins". what do i know about biology though?

electron scanning microscope pic of helicobacter bacteria. i think they look pretty cute.

the pharmacist told me that the medication was probably for helicobacter. pharmacists train for nearly as long as gp's and usually have a more friendly manner. my sister had the same thing a few years ago, and suffered from acid reflux too. i wonder if there is a link there? my sister studied biology at university, and heard somewhere that a lot of people in the Glasgow area have helicobacter. According to wikipedia:

The most widely known species of the genus is H. pylori which
infects up to 50% of the human population.

it also says:

Acid reflux and esophageal cancer

As the incidence of gastric cancer has
decreased,
the incidences of gastroesophageal
reflux disease and esophageal cancer have
increased dramatically. In 1996, Martin J. Blaser put
forward the theory that H.pylori might also have a beneficial effect: by regulating the acidity of the stomach contents, it lowers the impact of
regurgitation of gastric acid into the esophagus.[3]
While some favorable evidence has been accumulated, as of 2005 the theory is
not universally accepted.

i have no idea what that means, if anything, but the medicine is making me feel pretty pukey as the pharmacist said it would. i'm keeping food down better so hopefully this will work.

to get rid of the helicobacter bacteria, i have to take 8 pills a day. 4 in the morning and 4 at night. they give you a horrible 'medical' taste in your mouth all day. chocolate spread helps but the taste comes back. it's only a few more days until they are all finished though, so hopefully all will be well then.