Welcome to Lynxie's page! I was owned by him on 4/18/2002 when his mother (a local stray) was hit by a car, leaving him helpless. After a quick checkup at the vet, he was found to be okay, except for a minor eye infection that should clear up soon.
After the thumbnails on this page there is a log I'm keeping of the Lynxie's progress. Check back often for new pictures and tidbits!
I also put up this page in case you want to see some of the better pictures of Lynxie over time.
WARNING: THIS WEB PAGE CONTAINS DEPICTIONS OF EXTREME CUTENESS. THOSE WHO ARE SENSITIVE TO CUTENESS AND/OR MIGHT BE OFFENDED, PLEASE LEAVE NOW.
These pictures are freely distributable. You can do whatever you want with them, including make lots of money and become really, really rich. You can post them up all over your walls, hand them out as flyers in the street, use them for tissue paper, I don't really care. They're just photos, afterall, and no matter what you do with your copy, mine is unaffected. Copyrights are just silly. }:) (Though if you become filthy rich with these pictures, I'd appreciate a little of the money. Up to you, though.)
Please note that this page has a *LOT* of thumbnails. I'm willing to take suggestions for software I can use to organize this better. It has to support thumbnail, websized, and fullsized images and generate static pages. (IE, not depend on php or cgi scripts)
(Short comments only please, if you want to send a long note please E-mail. If you just want to view current comments, just don't type anything and click the button.)
NOTE: Newest pictures are now first. Having to scroll down to see the newest is annoying.
The kitten is doing well. I learned that a simple ball of paper makes a great cat toy. He wore himself out playing with it and is now sleeping soundly...
I'm thinking of naming him Fritti. Fritti is the "heart name" of the main character in _Tailchaser's Song_. It's easy to say and doesn't sound too silly.... Or does it?
Yes, in k5-009 he's sleeping in a rather iffy place. Just the reason I won't let him roam this room unattended. If he were to nibble one one of those cables for too long.... d'oh. {:( Some cat-proofing is in order...
I took the kitten to see my friend's cats Sam and Max today. First I set the cat carrier down and let Sam and Max come up to it and investigate the kitten inside through the closed door. They watched each other for a bit, then the kitten came forward and started smelling. Sam got a little pissed and growled slightly, so we removed him from the room. The funniest moment was when the kitten hissed very softly at Max and he ran away. A big full grown kitty like Max, afraid of a kitten that fits in the palm of one's hand! Hilarious.
In any case, we didn't allow the kitten to meet Sam and Max directly, as they seemed uneasy and we feared that they might hurt him. If this happened, the kitten would probably never trust other cats again, so we left it at that. Perhaps with additional through-the-cat-carrier-door meetings, they'll eventually become friends...
Kitty fell asleep in my lap whilest I played Threewave tonight. He didn't wake up even with all the rockets flying. Yay!
04/21/2002
Until I got this kitten, I only ever met my friends' cats. Not until now do I really realize how much cats sleep, though. The kitten goes through a short (30-40 minute) heavy play period, then sleeps for 3-4 hours. Of course, this results in lots of great photo opportunities, like some great ones in the k7 series...
In fact, if kittens have an algorithm in their brain, this is likely what it is:
while (1) { sleep(); beCute(); eat(); useLitterbox(); }
Tonight the kitten decided to play for about two hours straight! He was going nuts, chasing everything in sight, practicing his jumping off the bed skills, and so on. I wonder what they're putting in that kittenfood, and if it's a registered volatile chemical. };)
04/22/2002
More name ideas: Cisco, Packet, and Nibble. Nibble is fitting because he tends to do that a lot, and is also a (somewhat deprecated) computer term. Cisco and Packet are fitting because I'm a geek. };)
More insanity. The kitten keeps insisting on wandering behind the UPS's (where 120V 60Hz AC Single Phase likes to hang out. Evil evil evil.) and I need to find a way to keep him out of there. The area is not easy to enclose, so every time he wanders in there I have to either coax him out or get him. Aiirgh!
Kitten was affectionate and purring right before I went to sleep. He actually let me pet his tummy! Awww...
04/23/2002
Okay, I've decided to not name the kitten after something geeky. I mean, sure, it would be adorable to call him CAT5 or something, but since geeky names are so overused (given that most geeks own cats rather than dogs), it would be sorely unoriginal to use one. Maybe I'll call him Nutsy because he sure seems to act like one a lot. };)
Once again, kitten was incredibly hyper. I zip-tied up all the wires behind my computer system UPS's so that there is a clear path to squirt-gun the kitten if he decides to try to go back there. I only had to squirt him three times within the first 20 minutes; after that he stopped going back there. HE CAN BE TAUGHT! }:)
Kitten fell asleep on my bed. He's so adorable when asleep; I think that if there were a competition for getting the best sleep, he'd be our champion.
Sorry about a lack of new pics, but during the week I don't have much time to be pulling out the camera and snapping away.
04/24/2002
Woke up and went to see kitten. He started purring immediately, and was really hyper. Started running around like a maniac. Pondered starting research into converting cat food to electricity. The energy density must be staggering.
04/25/2002
Insanity when I got home! He ran all over the place. Eventually settled down and fell asleep.. so I clipped his claws. He had no problems with it! Major milestone tackled.
04/26/2002
Found out that gift-wrap ribbon makes an excellent cat toy. He played with it for about 15 minutes, versus an average of 1-2 minutes for most cat toys.
Check out k10-001. No, his eye hasn't mutated. That's actually the tapidum lucidum, a reflective layer in the back of all cat eyes. Oddly enough, one of his eyes happened to be perfectly aligned to reflect the flash back, the other wasn't. Damn that picture is bizarre. I was going to delete it, but how often does weirdness like this happen? }:)
04/29/2002
Past the deadline and still haven't thought of a name. Aiiigh. Kitten is growing noticeably even during the short timetable I've had him. He's becoming a bit more affectionate too, having gotten used to me and his surroundings. Not that he's any less insane, though. Interesting impromptu cat toys: cardboard tube, plastic bag, my head, pencils, bottle caps, and (much to my dismay) my camera.
05/01/2002
I just discovered an amazing new cat toy. It is a breakthrough in feline amusement: A small piece of torn paper about an inch long. He's been chasing the damn thing around for a while now. Hehe!
k11-004.jpg -- I'd like to call this picture "Dances with Kittens". It's just so perfect!
05/02/2002
I dug up my laser pointer. He chased it all over the place at speeds that would make the average champ car jealous. It wears him out quickly, though; only a few minutes of laser dot chasing and he starts lying on his side and just batting at it when it comes nearby, ignoring it otherwise. Then he sleeps for a few hours. Hehe.
05/03/2002
Well, I've officially named him. He is now called "Lynxie". I figured it's a good name because:
A) He has fuzzy dark lynxtips on his ears, just like real lynx; B) His grey color scheme is somewhat lynx-like; C) Lynx are my favorite wildcats.
I hope I don't regret this decision later; Lynxie will be with me for a long time. Check out the latest pictures and feel free to melt.
05/07/2002
Lynxie discovered the cardboard box. Love at first sight. Check out the latter k13 series. Awww...
05/09/2002
I'm getting tired of the kitten biting my hands when I'm playing with him. It's getting extremely irritating, so I came up with an interesting idea. I put a small drop of liquid soap on my hand and then smear it all over until it's invisible, without rinsing it off.
Of course, this means my hands now taste TERRIBLE! The kitty tried to bite, but then made this disgusted look and licked his mouth clean, and didn't bite me any more during that play session. Yay! He also spent a good deal of time smelling my hands. I guess the soap smell must be interesting to him.
Hopefully I can do this for a few more days, then stop using the soap and he will be done biting for good. One can hope.
05/11/2002
Check out the kitten's eyes in some of the k15 series. It's very bizarre; they're changing color from the outside in. I think he's going to have yellow eyes.
I was hoping for blue or green. Ahh well. }:)
Wow, today has been a productive day for kitty pictures. I put a paper bag on the bed and he ran into it and has been in there for about 40 minutes now. He fell asleep and I took a picture. Awesome.
You can really see hiw eyes changing color if you look at the k15 -> k16 series. It's happening by the day. Wowsers.
05/13/2002
I've decided to abolish all plastic bags, because even though the kitty loves to play with them, I can't keep him supervised all the time when he's around them, and I don't want him to suffocate. Hopefully he wont' be upset at their absence. They will be replaced with paper bags, as seen in k16-017.jpg.
I gave the kitty a little tiger plush to play with, as can be seen in k16-021. He loves it, and takes out all his wrestling/biting agression on it. Luckily that plush was cheap so it's no big loss. }:)
05/16/2002
As you can see in the k17 series, kitty has taken a liking to jumping up on my linux box's monitor and biting and licking the beanie babies that are on it. I got him licking his nose, too. What great pictures....
05/19/2002
Wow, after posting this URL to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes my hitcount has quadrupled. I spent lots of time with the kitty this weekend, playing and making sure he didn't get into trouble. One of the more amusing moments was when he wanted me to stop playing Quake 3 Arena so I could pay attention to him. He jumped up on my mousepad and stuck his tongue out at my pathetic score. (k19-006.jpg)
Quake 3 Arena: $50
ISDN Line: $70/mo.
Kitty litter: $3.99 a carton
Cat food: $0.50 a serving
That feeling you get when you're about to frag someone and suddenly something fuzzy rests on your hand, making you miss and die: Priceless.
There's lots of things in life that money can buy. For the rest, there's kittens. }:)
05/24/2002
I haven't been writing much in the log lately due to busy-ness. But I've been busy with the camera!
I got the kitty a toy which is a mouse at the end of a string attached to a pole. This a very versatile toy because when he tires of the mouse, you can tie other objects to the string, like different mice, balls of aluminum, and kooshballs. He loves all of them.
In the k20 series you can see how he gets under my chair. This is annoying! I gotta ALWAYS look down before rolling for that reason. Ugh.
He needs a bigger kitty bed and a serious cat-condo thing. Gotta make a PetsMart run this weekend for sure!
05/27/2002
All cats have a special built in sense designed to detect when you have to go to the bathroom. When you do, your cat will hop in your lap, be all sweet and purry, and go to sleep. If you put him down, go, and come back, he will want nothing to do with your lap until you have to go again.
This behavior has puzzled scientists for ages, but experts believe that it is related to the "Must be on opposite side of door" and "Only pay attention to human when he is trying to get important work done" behavior patterns.
06/02/2002
Got a new camera today! That explains the excess of pictures. }:)
The camera rocks. 3.1 megapixels and it handles my 64MB CF card great! No more borrowing the DC280 from work.
Also note the new numbering system, along with Lynxie's discovery of toilet paper.
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