Dusty Chalk

I'm thinking you should probably hear either the Byron Janis version or one of the Vladimiar Ashkenazy performances. I have yet to hear the Kempf myself, but it's widely praised. EDIT: The version on the Philips Silver Line version was played by Alfred Brendel, so I'd recommend that one, too.

I am fortunate enough to know several people who have integrated cats before, so have received some good advice. My cat #1 (Luvbug) is ...uh... ornery, to say the least. She still hisses every time she sees Missy (the house owner's cat). They have come to a decent truce of sorts in that one stays on one floor mostly, the other on the other mostly. We think we've found scabs on both of them, but there hasn't been enough bloodshed or tufts of fur to be sure of any out-and-out battles. The recommended methodology is to keep them in separate rooms for two weeks -- they'll smell each other through the door. Then introduce them in controlled circumstances (hold one, bring it into the room with the other, and vice versa). I'll see if I can dig up the email and quote it. The thing that's going to be difficult is that this little guy is only about 7 weeks old, and Luvbug is 14. As in, years; as in, a senior citizen. He's going to want to play; she's not. So yeah, there'll be blood, I'm sure. Probably mine. The other thing is, the little guy is a people climber, so if I'm holding Luvbug and bring her into the room with me, and he starts to climb me, she might try to kill me via acupuncture. I have a feeling that one will be a two person job.

Plus, it rhymes.

No, but I'll be following this thread with interest. I'd offer to help, but (a) I've got another project I should probably devote some time to first, and ( if I had my way, it'd be ultra-minimalist -- I.E. command-line input, zero text output. No curses, no nuthin'. In fact, all it'd be able to do is play files, and everything else would have to be done in scripts, cron, find, etc.

Okay, he's a keeper, I don't care whether or not my other cat accepts him or not. He was playing with a toy, and I snickered. He looked up, ran towards me, and leapt into my lap. I'm smitten. He's like a little ninja of love.

It's certainly worth reading about, if you love it anywhere near as much as I do.

Arrangement? It was originally written for the piano. It is easily my favorite piano piece (or, more correctly, "suite of pieces") of all time. Her rendition is quite good so far (I've gotten just past the Old Castle), if you want a cheap entry point into the solo piano version. EDIT: Oh jesus, I just got to the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks/Ballet of the Chicks in their Shells, this version is wonderful. EDIT #2: Okay, she doesn't do a perfect job of keeping time, but it's still quite good, and it's a modern recording so there's that. Nothing will ever match the power and pomp of a full orchestra, Ravel really did a wonderful job on that, so you kind of have to get past that to appreciate the piano version. I'm a pianist, so it wasn't difficult for me at all (to get past that as a listener). It certainly helps that I'm predisposed towards loving the sound of solo piano. That said, this has probably more dynamic range than any other piano piece I know. I also have to admit to having "grown up" with the Philips silver line version, which has both versions on one CD. I've actually been tempted to learn it, myself.

That one actually caught me off guard with a mental image.

Nino Gvetadze Mussorgsky Piano redbook

Dvorak/Walton cello concertos RCA Undead Unmonaural un-redbook shiny disk

1TB external w/eSATA, $70

's'awes....

No he doesn't, he's retired. Me: played with the little one. Some other stuff.

Read through the HD800 thread.

Yeezh.

Kitten Kibble More cat food (he's an eater)

Oh yeah, he's settling in alright. He's in toy heaven. He's like, "we don't get toys like this in Bulgaria! Oh, such fun!" And my sister's right, he does purr like a little toy chainsaw.

Don't have any good ones yet, let me see what I can come up with later. EDIT: believe it or not, this is vacuumed.

The cat has landed. On its feet, no less.

Dude, we stopped evolving when pretty much everyone started living past the age of procreation.

A random sampling of recent Fax releases.

There's a painting?

Kitty litter, kitty litter pan

Maybe he's put too much thought into it -- oil vapors/fire/etc.