Fresh Running Water!

I read a lot of forums about the care of cats, because I want to look after mine the best I can.  A lot of them say that fresh water is better for cats then water sitting in a bowl, so I found a great looking small pet water fountain.

They love boxes so both watched me open the box, then sniffed each part and watched me wash everything. When it was put together and water was added they just sniffed at it.  As soon as the power went on and the water started to run, they both backed up a couple of steps and just watched it.  Both watched for an hour.

Alex was the first to get close, putting her paw underneath the fountain.  Then dip her paw in the water.  This carried on for over an hour, Paw in, shake the water off, and run away.

They realised that they could drink from it, now they are drinking from all the levels of the fountain. They seem to love it.

Katherine

New Dry Food

As the kittens are growing I am trying to find food that is better for them.  I bought them some store brand crunchy food, they ate it with no problems.  Emily told me that GoCat has dry food for the indoor cat, it sounded good especially the part about keeping litter box smells down.  If you have ever had a kitten you will know what I mean about that one, hits you about 30 seconds after they have vacated it.

GoCat indoor sounded great.  So I put it on my Asda delivery order.  When my groceries arrive it sits in the hallway for the kittens to sniff through and check everything out.  Otherwise they follow me into the kitchen and try to get to everything. If they sniff, they sit on their food table and watch me, makes life easier.

This time they sniffed through everything and found the GoCat bag, they sniffed it and moved on.  It was sealed so I didn’t think anything of it I put it on the kitchen floor and put the rest of the groceries away.

The next morning I walked into the kitchen and found the bag, clawed open and bits on the floor.  Every morning assoon as I walk into the kitchen both Cleo and Alex jump onto their feeding table and Alex is very vocal about food.  As soon as I fill their bowls up with more GoCat Indoor cat food, they munch away and are happy.

Katherine

Pizza Crust Heaven

I order in takeaway once in a while, usually ordering extra for the kittens. Chicken is a favorite of theirs so some chicken strips broken up for their dinner is quite a treat.  I ordered pizza from Papa John’s last friday night.  The pizza was good, but I didn’t eat the crust, just left them on the plate on the table.

Saturday morning I got up and walked around my bed finding a crust on the floor.  When I came into the sitting room there were no more crusts left on the plate.  I am still finding them.  It became a matter of which kitten was doing it.

So I gathered up the crusts, put them on a plate and set them in the middle of the floor.  Cleo sauntered over sniffed and walked off, but Alex, she ran over and picked one up and threw it up in the air.  I’ve seen cats play with mice, and it was exactly the same.  She got bored with one, then picked up another one and ran off.

I ate the leftovers today and she watched until I finished.  then played with one crust then put a paw at one end and started to eat the crust.  Cleo still can’t be bothered with them.

Katherine

Extracting Parts of a Date

It is too bad that we could not extract part of a day, but I guess that is what memories are.  In Microsoft Excel we can take part of a date and extract it to use elsewhere.  Why? If you want to sort dates in a funny way, say all the 1^st day of the months together, then the 2^nd s it can be difficult to accomplish.

By extracting the day into another column this is easy to do. Say the date is 1 January 2010 and is sitting happily in C4. The next cell is blank so I click into D4 and type

= Day (C4)

it will return 1. I can copy this down for the other and use that column to sort, hiding it if I would like.

There is so much more I can do with these functions.  There are 3 of them, Month, Day and Year. They can be used on their own or nested (imbedded) within other functions to create extreemly powerful calculations.

An example is in a list of clients.  I have the date they last ordered in a column.  If I want to call a month later to find out how their order is I could add 30 days but this would not give me the date exactly one month in the future. By using the following calculation I can:

=Date ( Year (C4) , Month (C4) + 1, Day (C4) )

Then I could use conditional formating or auto filter to show all the dates since the last time I called, which hopefully I would know.

Katherine

Crazy Cat Lady

I have just received a pet stroller.  Yes I am now crazy cat lady.  The one your parents warned you about.  I don’t have a car and have been tying my pop up carrier to a shopping trolley frame and dragging that to the vet.  The cats cry the whole way.

So I thought a proper pet stroller would help them and make going to the vet easier.  Fond a deal on ebay.  It looked sturdy and easy to push.  And the colour was not too bad, not bright and “look at me” but quite sedate.

It also looked versatile so I could use it when I get a car.  It can be unclipped from the stroller frame and straps attached.  They are for hooking over a seat headrest to hold securely.

Cleo and Alex would hop in and out of the basket.  Thought this might be a good sign.  So I did a test drive.  First in the sitting room.

I shoved Cleo in and zipped it up.  Then watched as he found a weak spot.  The zipper does not go all the way around.  The zipper only goes down the sides.  Then at the front is a clip in the middle, so on the front there is space on each side that anyone can stick a hand in.

A cat can stick it’s head out and depending on what angle they can stick a paw and a head.  Cleo started choking at that point.  I was not impressed.

I found some heavy duty sticky velcro.  It takes 24 hours to set.  So I waited then put the two monsters in, zipped it up and went out the front of the house.  They whined less then usual, but still tried to escape but half heartedly.

When I got back inside they both tried to escape and Alex started to choke.  It was not good.  They had ripped the velcro off.  I thought that maybe this was because the velcro was old and the sticky back was probable not as strong as it was originally.  So Saturday I walked to the high street and picked up some more.

I put it on and waited until this morning to test it.  Put the cats in the carrier, attached it to the stroller and off we go.  We had walked about 3 blocks before Cleo’s nose was out.  Then his head, then a paw and head, then choking.  I stuffed him not too gently back.  This continued for the rest of the walk.  Twice I tipped the stroller up to try and push them to the back.  That didn’t work.

When I got to the vet, I was a tad stressed.  Gave my name and told to sit down.  I waited an hour and was the last to be seen.  Don’t think I was logged in properly as the receptionist had to go in and tell him I was there.  Not like he didn’t see me each time he came out for someone.  Even those who arrived after me.

When we went in, Alex got her stitches out, yeh.  I held her and she didn’t squirm while he used the blade to cut the stitches, they came out easily and her wound is healing well.  Then I had Cleo weighed, and found out that I needed different flea treatment for Cleo then Alex.  He is now 4kg 2 pounds.  A big boy, almost grown up.

The vet used some strong tape to try and seal the carrier.  My trip home was better but as soon as I got in the door, they were worse, and scratching to get out, I unzipped one side and both shot out.

I need to find out who the make is and tell them about their flawed design.

Katherine

Drafty Windows

It is like they have no toys.  They have their own toy basket. Balls, stuffed animals, ribbon, scratching post.  Most cats don’t have it this good.

But no, that is not good enough.  The pull cords from the blinds are a favorite, when they hear me open the blinds they come running.  Then stand at the window and bat or chew the cord or plastic ends.

This week has been different.  the cords were not good enough, no Cleo found out that there is a rubbery bit between the window and the wall.  If he claws at it, it bounces back, then comes apart. I sprayed him with the cat disciplinarian (water bottle) and he moved to another window, but Alex saw Cleo and followed her big brother and has done the same.

Water did not stop them, now there is a strip of rubber sealant hanging from the window that I have to remove and replace.  Oh joy!

Neutered

Alex went into the vet.  Emily picked me up in the car so we could take both Hobbes and Alex to get fixed.  I stopped at the high street and walked back which left Cleo alone for the first time since Alex and Hobbes arrived.

When I arrived home he sat on my lap, stayed by my side and was not happy that I had to go out again so I could get Alex.  Alex was very quiet until she heard me then she squeaked as she normally does.

Both Alex and Hobbes made a lot of noise all the way home, they normally do.  As soon as the carrier was in the house and on the floor, she was ready to come out.  Of course I was not quick enough and more squeaking.  Then she was off to find Cleo.  She brushed against him and sat down.

He smelled her for several days, guess she still smelled like vet, and operation.  Sad how the female operation is so much more severe then the boys op.  Her little belly was shaved and she had a bandage covering her leg where they shaved and put the IV in.

She did not want me to take the bandage off, though she did not want it on.  She could not lift her paw and clean her head and face as her little leg could not bend, it was so funny I wish I had a video camera that connects easily to my computer.

It has been just over a week and she is ok, only a little bit of fur growth.  Still not cuddly, but we all keep trying.  She still follows Cleo wherever he is and searches when she is not sure where he is.

This friday she gets her stitches out.  This time I am just going to take them both, that way neither will miss the other.

Successful rollouts require more then just new software

No two software migrations are the same. Each software has a set of pro’s and con’s along with needs and wants from the users. To have a successful migration you first have to start with selecting the right software, but then if there are any customisations to be made they must also be researched well.

Before selecting software finding out what the users actually do with the software currently is a must. Most people would think that this is a give in. That the IT department of a company would know this, but the number of times I have trained on a project and taken user concerns to the project team to find out that they did not know the users used a particular feature is too numerous to count. We always dealt with this and found work a rounds or fixes but it would have been easier to know from the start.

Once software is selected have several testing groups is a good thing. A fresh set of eyes once in a while can bring insight that was not there before. Each person’s job requires that software is used slightly differently. A new person to test the software might have a problem that no one else has encountered.

A facilitator between the user or testing groups and the project team is also extremely beneficial. If the software is accounting software that everyone in the company have to enter information into, what happens when the users use a term that is technically an accounting term but they don’t mean it in the same way. The accountants would probably take it in the accounting sense and not think that it could be something else. To have someone who can understand both sides can forestall issues later.

As the project continues having user buy in can also help the project go smoothly. Then close to the rollout go live date training the users on the project so they can start using the software from the first day is necessary and having professional trainers who have experience in migration training and support make the go live run smoothly.
Even though some issues might be the same for 2 rollouts, remembering that there will be a lot of different issues is a must.

Katherine

O Christmas Tree

Today I put my Christmas tree together, thought I would decorate in stages.  Seems I left the lights on the tree when I last put it in the box.  I am one of the rare (but not unusual) people who are allergic to real Christmas trees.  According to research it is not the actual tree but mold spores which are dormant in the cold then when the tree is brought into the warm house then spore.

Not all trees will do this so I don’t know when I am going to see a tree and have an asthma attack.  Happens more at home where it is minus 30 at the moment.  Guess I’m not going home for Christmas!!!

My 4 foot tree is one from Woolies, I used to live above a shop next to Woolworths and bought quite a lot of decorations and things there.  This tree has lasted well.  Easy to put together, think it took me longer to get into the box.  The cats thought the box was exciting, Cleo sat in it and refused to get out.

Then when the tree was up and Cleo had been lifted from the box he started sniffing about, then tried to eat the tree!  The cat disciplinarian has had to come out and Alex (who was chewing on a light) was sprayed.  After another few sprays they have now decided that it is nap time, round 2 to follow…

Katherine

New Kitchen Wall Cabinets

Emily and Adam brought Hobbes around to visit while Adam and I put up the kitchen cabinets.  Adam was a wonder and put most of them up without much help!!!  Hobbes greeted Alex with no problems but saw Cleo coming over to say hi and he started to hiss and spit putting his bum in the air and his head to the ground with his large ears back.

The poor little thing was terrified of Cleo, Emily calls him giant cat, but I don’t think my baby is that big, just big in comparison to the babies. Hobbes calmed down a bit ad played with Alex.  The two of them making terrible noises, even Emily was a bit worried they were killing each other.  I told her that was exactly how I felt when they first arrived but they seem to run back at each other when you pull them apart.

It took most of the evening to put the cabinets up but they were easier then we all thought, thank you IKEA!  When we had finished and Emily, Adam and Hobbes had gone home Cleo and Alex started sniffing around the new cabinets.  I put them in one so they could sniff around, guess it passed inspection.

Katherine