I'm

feeling less and less depressed about Sparky. Anne had a talk yesterday with the receptionist yesterday paying the balance of our bill and she said that they were not really 100% sure the FIP virus is what took Sparky because FIP is very complicated and apparently not all that well understood by vets. Sparky's main concern was his heart as it was somewhat abnormal and that and the possibility of having FIP is what did him in. We were talking about this on my break at 2:30pm. I said how after 1 of our other cats dies off, then we're could look at adapting a couple of young cats from the same cage so they all get along. Anne thinks Boot's will go first. I hope not, I kind of like the little guy.

Enough about cats already. I left out of here shortly before 9am and after a brief wait under clear sunny skies. I caught the train waiting at Clairview for awhile and 15 minutes later I was taking the escalators at Corona up to street level and into Tim's. There was little James and Kingsly leaving with coffees and I enjoyed my breakfast inside for a change. This time I brought my insulin

.

My day wasn't bad. I work in a call centre and I had top total, which for this campaign isn't saying much. I got $100 in card as well. I was happy to call my wife at 2:30pm and even happier to leave out of there at 4:30pm.

Over the past couple of days I've been doing some "Youtube research" about a keyboard workstation i've been kind of drooling over: The Roland Fantom G6. This is a sweet keyboard with loads of instrument patches. It has a slick editing feature and comes with Cubase Ai. I can't see myself learning how to play a guitar or buying a dedicated guitar emulator with a 50 Gb sound library. This makes more sense althogh its very pricey: $3044 after taxes but my colleauge who's a dedicated shopper at LM suggested I open an account. He said LM wouldn;t ecpect anyone to just come out and buy the whole thing out right. Thing is I don't have a credit rating but I have the same job for over 10 years and lived in the same place for about the same. My friend said that if come up with about 50% he'd vouch for me (not co sign or anything.) After Komplete 8, this has some possibilities.

Anne's bringing deli pizza home tonight and I'm watching the Oiler's in Ottawa playing the Sens. Plus I have all day off Sunday and that business we have to do Monday. Other then that..Anyway, that's about all for now.

It's been 5 days since

we lost Sparky and the thought of losing him breaks my heart. I can't believe I'm saying this but work right now is the best therapy.

Right now it's a bitter -17* out there but its supposed to warm up after the weekend and I'm looking forward to that. 

Anne's heading down to the Legislature to bring those pension forms in and then she's coming up to pay me a visit at lunch (4:30pm) and is bringing me some "Taco Bell." She wants to see the new office and check it out. 

What really upsets me about losing Sparky Monday is that we had him and then he's gone. The signs were there that he was just withering away and even if we did bring him home, he would have suffered even more and might have had heart failure right here. The FIP was also stressing his heart as well. Sparky's passing is a wake up call for me as it makes me realize how we can have something one minute and it can be taken away from us the next. I know Anne is really hurting and if I could make a deal with God my life for a healthy breathing Sparky, in a heartbeat. I would even make a pact with the devil if I could, I love Sparky that much. 

After work it's to my bank and home and a few short hours off and in bed by about 1am and back at it 10am to wait out in the cold. Saturday morning I'm having my breakfast at Tim's. None of this waiting in the cold for 15 minutes while somebody opens the outside door. At 10 minutes to 10am I'll leave Tim's and then walk to the office. It's still not open as James or somebody has to open the door to let outside staff in. But at least I'm having my breakfast and my insulin.

If those pension forms are ok, Anne's going to give me $400 to help pay Sparky's expenses. Another $200 more and then I get Komplete 8. I'll use FL Studio for now then Cubase 6 later in the Spring when I get that.

For good reason Anne doesn't want another cat and I don't either. At least not now maybe when we're down to just 2 of them. I'd like to adapt the cats if say there are 2-5 in a cage and I can pick one out and Anne the other. One I'd like to name Jazz and the other Skippy. Nothing can replace any of our cats, it doesn't work that way.

Why in 1974, living in my little New Westminster studio apartment, I never had a cat? Assuming I could have kept him for 18 years he would have been with me up until about 1992 and I would have got Pledges a year later. Anyway, that's all for now.

Since Monday night

its been really depressing around here what with losing Sparky Monday.

This year so far hasn't been very good to me/us. For me, it starts off with moving into this new office and I'm having trouble getting used to it. Then I go on holidays and I get this bronchial thing or whatever it is. When I come back from "vacation"I get a large amount of vacation pay and a voice in the back of my mind was telling me to hang onto as much of it as I could. Then my laptop breaks down (my fault) Then Anne loses some of her hours and then Sparky gets ill and dies on us. What has God got in store for me next? I believe it's going to get wore before it gets better.

I've got a full day of work today and I'm not feeling all that great with the death of Sparky still on my mind haunting me. the "good news" is I've got only 3 days and I'm off for Sunday and Monday.

This week I'm calling AW too see if we can get some income support and or some health benefits for me. My wife wants to find another job as well so maybe we can utilize their resources for us. I'm going to set us up an appointment for Monday.

Yesterday we had the inspectors here checking things over. They want to come in and fix up the taps and things.

If you have just joined this program in progress you might have seen some new window dressing. I added a photo of me in the description and added a couple of photos of my dearly departed: Pledges and Sparky, I love them so much.

I'd like to fix up the blog description and fill up a lot of the blue empty space there and add some photos underneath that. I'll ask the forums for some help soon. Right now, I'm still not over Sparky.

Hey, hey, I've got my 2nd follower to this blog. Welcome aboard. There's no words of wisdom to this site or anything but welcome just the same. I hope you find it entertaining. Anyway, that's all for now.

I feel a bit better

better about Sparky. I think what gave him this Corona virus (FIP) was Boots, he's a carrier.

Slowly Anne and I are phasing back into our old routines but Sparky will never be forgotten. it's going to be a long time before we get another cat. But if Boots is the carrier as I suspect he is, next to go could be Silky or Sporty and that could happen at anytime. As soon as I hear one of them gasping for breath, it's going to be time to put that one down, right away.

Actually I went into work this morning for the afternoon shift and I got Anne's pension release forms completed. My boss said if I wanted to take the day off, that's ok and I took him up on that. I had a chat with Noreen. She's the woman that Anne and got Sparky & Sporty from in May 0f 2005. So I had a talk with her and she says she's still got 3 of the original 6 in that litter. I told her about Sparky on Monday and about this Corona FIP virus and she said all her cats are healthy and obviously the same age as Sparky was. So this leads me to believe that Boot's is the carrier and infected Sparky because Boots was the stray. FIP is incurable to cats. It's fatal as it was to Sparky.

Anyway, I caught the train home at about 12:30pm. It was brisk and clear outside under sunny skies this morning and coming home. I sat on the right side on my of the train coming home this afternoon and passing the back end of Costco, I could see the Pet Smart loading zone but Anne tells me that the vet hospital doesn;t have a loading zone so Sparky's remains would have been taken out the front way. Every time that I'll go near that building on a bus or a walk home from Wendy's, I'll always think of Sparky.

Anne and I were talking though that if we ever did get another cat we'd adapt one from Pet Smart. Give someone else a home. But so long as Boots is here and has the FIP he's going to infect every cat that comes in here.

Ok, onto other things. I still haven't got the programs Keith was going to install for me from last weekend. I want to star making some music but I can't even install my FL Studio. little alone Komplete 8 when I get a chance to get it. If I do.

Tomorrow I have a full day ahead of me, a full 8 hours and next week a short check but also I have no further Lodge stuff to do this month as well, so that is good news. Anyway, that's about all for now.

And lastely here are the 2 brothers together

now only death separates them from life. The thing with Sparky was he never developed properly. He always had a tiny head and a large body but his passing is going to leave a huge void around here and it's going to be hard to fill, if ever

 

 and that's going to be the hardest part. Anne and I don't have kids and these guys are our kids. I just wish we didn't have to separate Boot's from Sporty & Silky. Anne doesn't want another cat and to be honest it's too soon to even think about it. Anyway, that's about all for now

And this image of Sparky

taken 9:51pm Saturday July 19th 2008. He would have been 2 years old here.

I managed to snag this one of Pledges from my Picasa

library of photos. It was taken Monday April 4th 2008. He would have been 17 years old here and at this time he was perfectly healthy.