myPad 2

Mrrrr Friends,

I know that, with the announcement of a new iPad, you immediately thought of me. As I've blogged here before, there is little doubt that Apple was inspired by cats when they named this thing: it's svelte, black (now it is white too, so my pal Snowball is pretty excited), and easy to use with pawpads and when lacking opposable thumbs. It's almost like copyright infringement (but, legally, it is not...).

I'm honored to be one of the blogging cats that led to this great leap forward.

Nevertheless, I ask you: where is the love? Why hasn't Steve Jobs sent me an iPad? Indeed, I'm seeing myself now highlighted against a brand new white iPad 2 - blogging and FBing into the night.

It's a missed opportunity really. I'd happily endorse the iPad 2 for cats and humans. Or, I will give them kibble....I have offered. I don't know why they don't respond.

Just think how much easier it would be for the cat to play Angry Birds at night! (Thanks Ant Laura!)

I love Mac...he will always be my aluminum cat pal, but Steve, Apple people, it's time to give back.

Me and Spring? We're Back!

Mrrrrrr Friends,

I've been away. The rigors of perimeter duty, blogging, product testing, and living a furry life in a human world can be exhusting, so I went on a month-long cat retreat. Here I am in a cat bonding and digging ritual I shared with some of my aboriginal cat pals.

The trigger for my departure was the release of the iPad. I found myself feeling uncharacteristically acquisitive. Catnip toys, kibble and a good Barolo or Bordeaux is one thing...feeling the urge for an iPad...meerrrw. So I went on a prowl about, visiting friends, doing some serious motionless contemplation (what humans often mistake for sleeping) reconnecting with my essential cat: kibble digestion, digging good holes for nuggets, the study of birds and tiny mammals, tree-scaling, fish identification, cat antics like threading human legs while they're walking at night...you get the idea.

But I'm back for spring and to prep you for the coming of Diesel Day! It's true, Diesel Day is only a month away.

Are you ready?

How Do You Get Your News?

Mrrrrr Friends,

Me, I listen to my local public radio station - North Country Public Radio. I've talked here before about how much NCPR ties us all together here in the beautiful Adirondack Park. I've been listening for just a year, but enjoy hearing the voices of the folks I've come to think of as neighbors.

I like listening to the news and learning about gardening from Amy and about critters and cool natural phenomenon from Dr. Curt and Martha.  When a dog gets lost somewhere here in the North Country, the nice folks at NCPR will help the dog's person look for him by telling everyone who's listening where he got lost and what he looks like....the dog, not the person. Now I've only heard them do this for dogs...that's a bit suspicious. Do only dogs get lost? Cats never get lost, right? What about parakeets? Or hogs? There's been a lot of talk about hogs this morning on the 8 O'Clock Hour show.

They're having a pledge drive as I noted in my last blog. I nicked my person's credit card and made a donation. I didn't win the iPad drawing Monday ...though I think I get another chance later. But even without neat prizes, it's still worth it to support them so they come to my home every day and tell me what's going on.

In the name of professional journalism though, I wish they'd rethink overuse of the word "pet".

Human neighbor pals, if you're reading this blog, shoot a pledge over to NCPR on behalf of your furry friends.

I Pad?

Mrrrrr Friends.

By now you know how much I esteem the Aluminum Cat, the immortal portal. I do not begrudge the amount of time Oom spends stroking Mac, because she lets me use him too. And the new Aluminum Cat is very nice because the mouse and the letter-making thingy don't have tails. So I can use them from the floor to draft documents at night....though, as I have mentioned before, it is sometimes very hard not to play paw hockey with the mouse.

But let's face it, the big screen is HUGE. That's cool for Oom, but for my needs it could be smaller and lighter...about the size of the whole letter-making thingy. Running around between letter thingy, mouse and screen can be pretty tedious for a young author like myself.

I've been wishing for a simple all-in-one: no cumbersome lid to pry open without thumbs, an integrated touch screen made for the paw pad, seamless with the Aluminum Cat, easy to use on the floor, in a window sill, or curled up in bed, and powerful enough to hold and organize lots of photos and the musical caterwaulings of my cat pals - an ultimate feline immortal portal web tool.

So I'm thrilled to see that the nice Apple people have brought out a computer just for cats. The iPad they call it. Neat how they named it after the cat pad, don't you think? It's a brilliant strategy to bring out an immortal portal that appeals to a significant portion of the estimated 60 million cats living in the US.

I'm a bit stumped why they are marketing it to humans?

I notice my pals at North Country Public Radio were giving one away. My friend June says that if I renew my membership early, I'll have a chance at winning it. That would be cool. So I grabbed Oom's credit card (just another insult that cats can't open their own bank accounts) and signed back up. I love listening to NCPR in the morning, but the chance to win an iPad...sweet.

I'll update you if I win. I know my chances are slim, so I'll be working on other strategies to convince Oom to buy us one....like every morning when she wakes Mac up, right there on the screen will be an iPad.

Tell the folks at Apple that I'm available for endorsements.