Litter Shark Saga Continues

I have blogged about the Litter Shark before. My tomcat was suspicious of the litter box for days. He'd sit in the bathroom next to it and watch for it - hours at a time! The box only activates 20 minutes after a cat has used it, so... yeah. Lots of watching with no results.

Eventually he decided the Little Shark was unlikely to attack while he was using the litter, and all was well. He used the box like the other cats.

After a while, the metal mechanism started to squeak when it activated, and I noticed when he heard the sound, my tomcat would hustle into the bathroom to watch it run. He'd sit right up close to the side of the box and alertly follow the track of the scoop across and back, like a really slow tennis match. It's adorable.

Well. Yesterday the squeak sounded and I saw him trot off. From where I was, I could see into the bathroom, and even though the light was off, there was enough daylight to see inside the room. But as far as my tomcat knew, he was alone and unobserved.

He watched the mechanism go across, and on its return trip--just before it retreated into its housing--HE POUNCED IT! 

Yes, he did a sudden, mouse-hunting, up-and-over dive and pounced on the scoop. 

He stayed in "caught" position for a while, but I don't know if he actually caught it. I do know that after he got back out, he came sauntering out of the bathroom, calling his territory challenge "merrrow...merrrrow" that he only does when he's feeling particularly Alpha Male and pleased with himself.

Cats - Coup by Cuteness

The more adorable photos of cats I see on ICanHasCheezeburger, the more I am convinced cats are the step above humans on the Karma scale. If humans are good and deserving, they come back as cats.

That would explain why kitties like to eat human food, sleep like humans, and somehow know the best way to disable your laptop with the fewest keystrokes.

I swear, I leave my laptop open, I come back and all sorts of things have been opened, new files created, etc. At some point, my cats are going to figure out how to order themselves things from Amazon. Or find a bored Department of Defense war computer. Cue, "Do you want to play a game?" coming from the laptop speakers while I'm in the other room, and me freaking out.

View from the Cockpit

I was going through some old photo albums and found this. The red arrow is pointing to the pilot's head. Yes, I am in an airplane cockpit, on the jumpseat behind the captain, as our commercial passenger airplane flies over the Arctic. Because waaay back in the day, a time of unbelievable innocence, they allowed kids to visit the cockpit during flights.

If Bioshock's Andrew Ryan Wrote Sleaze

Man-Hungry Female by Orrie Hitt
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Had Bioshock’s Andrew Ryan decided to write down his Ayn-Rand-ish diatribes on the wonders of unfettered capitalism, and sprinkle the narration with a few drinking binges and the ogling of girls, it would have been this book.

There is very little sex in the story—and I have no idea who is supposed to be the Man-Hungry Female of the title (she only seems to exist in the cover designer’s imagination).

Our nominal hero is a Jerk. Yes, capital J. Because he's a jerk of olympic proportions. Insensitive. Self-righteous. Chauvanistic. Egomaniac.

The plot is...thin. Hero inherits movie studio, decides to sink all his capital into making a documentary on the horrors of social welfare. The truth must be told! The screenwriter must be slept with!

Cue long boring soliloquies on how free market capitalism rocks. An odd seduction technique, but it works on the heroine. So. If political theory also gets you hot, this is the story for you.

The Kindle edition is formatted atrociously. Typos. Reversed paragraphs. I’d recommend looking for the paperback to read.

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How Do You GoodReads?

How many of you are on GoodReads? Or any of the few other sites that allow you to keep track of what you've read and share your reviews with friends?

I'm on GoodReads and I've got a question for ya:  Do you only rate books you've read recently? Or within the last, say, 10 years? Or do you not have a cut-off point, and rate even books you read as a little kid?

I ask because I rate everything - and it has been brought to my attention that some books I loved as a teenager might not stand the test of time, and some books I hated at one point I might actually enjoy today -- so my star ratings might not be an accurate snapshot of my current reading tastes.

Does that matter? I suppose it would if you were interested in GoodReads' new if you like such-n-such, you'll like that-n-this matching program. I might miss out on a book I'd like based on an opinion I formed back when I thought boys had cooties.

I have a To Be Read pile taller than my dresser, though, so getting more reading material really isn't a problem for me.

But I'm curious how other people approach this conundrum. How far back do you rate?