Gabriela “Gabby” King (4/2/1996 – 6/1/2015)

Gabby was the nicest cat I’ve ever known. My sister Amy found her when we were living in the church farmhouse in Greensburg, Pa. She was meowing from the bushes near the house. Someone had dropped her off as so many people had done to cats in the past on the country road where we lived. But Gabby was different. She was smart enough to make a lot of noise meowing. Everyone would wonder, “Where is that cat meowing?”. My sister found her in the nearby bushes.

I returned from work to see my brother and sister on the back porch. I saw a small long haired black and white kitten laying on the porch. She was on her back, with her front paws pawing toward the sky back and forth. She was very cute. Everyone wanted to keep her, the only issue was the other cat we had (“McEnroe”) did not like Gabby. It was impossible to turn her down. This kitten was unnamed, but we followed our tradition with naming cats after tennis players. So we called her “Gabriela Sabatini”, or “Gabby” for short.

I remember how playful Gabby was. We tied a stuffed mouse with a three foot string to the end of a yardstick. Gabby would spend hours jumping after the mouse. We noticed if you flipped the mouse while she was in the air she would actually do a full 180 degree turn in the air chasing the mouse.

Gabby survived several moves, which to a cat, are somewhat traumatic. The biggest move was a three day trip from Pennsylvania to Houston. At first she didn’t like riding in the car, but she did get used to it to a certain extent. She would try to hide in the hotel rooms so she didn’t have to go back in the car but eventually she did make it to her new home and adjusted quickly as usual.

We enjoyed giving her treats. Her favorite nighttime activity was laying in my mother’s bed while she watched TV. She loved attention. She would always purr loudly.

When she neared the end of her 18 year life she had some trouble with her health. As most cats do she hated pills. We took her to the vet a few times. We extended her life six months, and enjoyed every last minute with her. When it was her time, we knew it, and it seemed like the perfect chance to let her go. If there is a kitty heaven, I’m sure she’s in it.

I’ve met a lot of cats in my lifetime. Gabby is by far the most adorable and friendliest I have ever seen. My family and I will always hold a special place in our hearts for her.

Usually I have some strange dreams but last night’s was particularly unique. I dreamed my family adopted a cheetah as a pet and we fed it some Gourmet cat food that belonged to my sister-in-law’s now deceased cat. So everything appeared to be going well with the cheetah, except for one thing: we forgot to feed it after the initial bowl of gourmet cat food. A week or so later I was looking around the laundry room where the cat food was and noticed it was barely touched. I was wondering what the cheetah was eating and then it dawned on me that it didn’t like the gourmet cat food and it hadn’t eaten in a week. I panicked, knowing that a hungry cheetah could be dangerous around the house and ran for the other cat food that we feed our current cat with. I quickly dumped three cans in the cheetah’s bowl and fortunately it liked this food. I felt a brush of relief knowing that I had quelled the hunger of this potentially dangerous wild cat.

I like the Mac. I like Safari, iPhones, iPods, and MacBooks. I like the aesthetics and the user experience. I fondly remember my Apple iic, and I’m convinced that Apple builds a superior product. But one question: Why is Apple competing in a market dominated by Microsoft and PC’s? They’re just making live difficult for all of us computer users. Will they ever dominate the market like Microsoft? probably not. Is Apple making any money? probably not. I just got a MacBook and I like it, but I have no idea how convert and manipulate files to PC nor do I want to do that. It’s like VHS and BETA. But everyone is buying both systems instead of choosing one. It’s like Bluray and HD DVD. But Toshiba didn’t back down and make life easier on us. Apple, I have one thing to say: Good job, bravo, but the game is over, go home…

This is just a plea asking that you not get gmail. I have had it up to neck with gmail and finally I’m switching over to yahoo. What’s wrong with it? First, the site is not intuitive, it groups your emails in a way that you can’t understand. Why can’t they just open a new tab for each email like yahoo? Second, the firebug fix. My computer at work is slowed by gmail, and I don’t really want to go into my firebug settings every time I get a new computer. What is firebug? Well you don’t need it if you’re not a web developer, but I am a web developer. If google doesn’t care if their workforce and colleagues are happy with gmail, why would they care about anybody else? Finally, it doesn’t even look nice. Why does it take so many google geniuses (might I add the Google blew me off when I was looking for a job) to make this basic looking site that looks like a 1995 HTML newsgroup?

I’m taking my first mini vacation since moving down to Texas a little bit over a year ago. We decided to go to College Station to check and see what the campus is like. I like it, it’s bigger than I expected, and newer. It’s still difficult to say that if I were in Katy when I graduated high school whether or not I would go to Texas A&M or Texas. To me the situation is comparable to UVA and Virginia Tech. In any case it’s nice getting back to the college life. Today, a campus tour and the George Bush library. Then on to Brenham to look at roses.

I’m taking a short vacation in Orlando, it is both business and pleasure. I get to meet some of my co-workers for the first time since I have been working remotely from Pittsburgh for my brother and his company SCM Solutions. I will also be visiting Disney World (again) for 3 days. I really enjoyed the flight. Hopefully I’ll have a good time too.