|
|
|
the arrival of Janet the Kitten
Wednesday, July 19 2017
I was up early this morning again, getting good work done on an interactive query tool that I don't much like and had mostly ignored. Though I don't like it, most of those in fundraising prefer it over the reporting system that I've put most of my efforts into. The query tool gives them finer-grained control over the kinds of data they want returned, though adding capabilities to it has been complicated by its obtuse backend. The way it assembles conditions is Byzantine and this business with two SQL statements: one that populates a temp table and the other that queries from it, is a real head scratcher. But today I figured out how to add an important new feature on the frontend: dropdowns built by AJAX-mediated SQL calls to replace inputs where fundraisers were expected to know and type in IDs.
At a little before 10:00am, Gretchen, Andrea, and I all piled into the Subaru to do a couple tasks. Andrea needed to be dropped off at the Kingston bus station yet again so she could go down to New York City to apply for one or more jobs. And Gretchen and I needed to pick up our new kitten Janet (who, in the shelter, was going by Diane) at Pets Alive animal shelter in Middletown. We'd taken the Subaru because we needed to put more miles on it so its computer could reset and stand a chance of passing inspection. Unfortunately, though, the check engine light came on about half way into our hour-long drive to the animal shelter. I checked it at the shelter and found it was throwing a P420 code, which is the one it throws with no oxygen sensor tampering. This suggested my current modification comprised of a one kilohm resistor and a smallish electrolytic capacitor were insufficient at altering the signal from the sensor, though a one megohm resistor with that capacitor had pushed things too far in the other direction (resulting in P137 codes). My next attempt will be with a 500 kilohm resistor and perhaps a bigger capacitor.
We managed to get in and out at Pets Alive fairly quickly, though not before I'd been petting an affectionate little patching white kitten between the bars. Later my left eye started getting mildly itchy and irritated and I realized I must've rubbed my eye with the finger I'd used to pet that kitten. I'm mildly allergic to a few cats, including Clarence and apparently that kitten. But it could be worse; in Portland, Oregon, Gilly's late cat Eleanor once forced me to sleep in a car out on the street, so toxic did I find her dander. On the drive back, we had what must've been a golden oldies station on, and it was playing music exclusively from the dawn of rock 'n' roll (and perhaps a little before). I wondered how old one would have to be for this to be one's music, and whether there are enough people in that demographic to justify a radio station. And what would they advertise? When the ads came, they were (not unexpectedly) about things like pain management. It also occurred to me that people from that increasingly decrepit generation are more likely to listen to the radio (in places other than cars) than younger generations, and they're also more likely to buy things like music on physical media.
Back at the house, Gretchen immediately set Janet up in the upstairs bathroom, though it wasn't long before Janet was allowed into the bedroom, and it wasn't long after that that she made it from beneath the bed to on the bed, where she would spend most of the rest of the day being tiny and adorable.
Janet the Kitten today.
Back in June, I'd been pulled over for driving the Subaru while not wearing a seatbelt. I'd decided to contest this, and my court date had been set for 1:30pm today. I'd even arranged time in the workplace calendar for this. When I showed up at the Kingston traffic court (just off 9W in the Rondout), I of course found myself standing in the metal detector queue behind a befuddled older man who didn't seem to know what he would need to shed to make it through said detector. I'd arrived just at 1:30 and was a little concern any tardiness might be a problem. But no, it wasn't. Some court employee in a rumpled suit came around with clipboard calling out names and then quickly offering them plea deals. It seemed this is how it is done. Though Gretchen has done this a number of times in recent memory, this was the first time I'd attempted to plea down a traffic infraction since many years ago when an attorney-friend named Peter acted as my pro-bono lawyer and got me off with just community service. Offered a fine of $100 for a plea of illegal parking, I took it. That seemed to be what everyone else there was doing. Soon the judge came in ("All rise!/Please be seated.") and we were called up in the order we'd been on the list. A substantial fraction of those called up (I would say over a third and perhaps nearly a half) weren't present, and for each of these the judge declared "scoff" and wrote something down. I have a feeling that's not a good thing for a judge to do. So why would so many people be doing it? In any case, the judge processed my plea in less than twenty seconds, his clerk gave me some paperwork, and I paid my $100 fine upstairs to a friendly young woman behind a glass panel. Legal problems over.
On my way back home, I stopped at Herzog's in Uptown to see what their options were for vinyl bolts (of the sort I could use for fixing my metal detector). It turned out that they had a much bigger selection than either Home Depot or Lowes had had. Clearly, if one needs an obscure fastener, your best bet is to shop at a True Value Home Center.
The old Uptown pet store appears to have closed for good, meaning I had to go out to Barnyard feeds to get kitten food for Janet. Being out on Route 28 anyway made the Tibetan Center thrift store not so badly out of the way, so I went there to poke around through their mostly-dreary pile of old electronics. Nonetheless, I found a treasure: an old Nikon CoolPix E2500 digital camera (made in Japan!). Unfortunately, it lacked the necessary proprietary charging cable, though it did come with a 128 MB CF card with, I would discover, several random photos on it.
[REDACTED]
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?170719 feedback
previous | next |
