We're probably safe until the iVerse product is floated; until then, the unIverse still exists.
First we had to euthanise our 21-year-old 'kitten,' who had developed an aggressive bone cancer in her mandlble. She was chipper and had a good appetite up to the last, but with the advancing intrusion into her mouth she finally couldn't chew without slicing up the inside of her mouth. Treatment at her age wasn't an option; not only is anæthesia dangerous for geriatric cats, but it wouldn't really have extended her life noticeably, and what time she did have would have been miserable. So we coddled her and made much of her until it was clear the time had come, and then had a veterinarian (who specialises in home euthanasia) come in, sedate her to sleep, and then give her the pentobarb. It was a much kinder passing than the other cats.
She had been with us for most of our marriage, and we're going to have a pet-free hiatus. It's going to take me a while to get over this.
(I tweeted about this at the time, but didn't blog it. I haven't been keeping my blog very well.)
The other day I dropped my 1TiB Western Digital 'My Passport' portable USB drive, and crashed it. Maximum suckage. I was using it to store backups, but didn't have it backed up. Not sure how to proceed; maybe get another one when the financial gods smile.
On the positive side, I did write what I think is a pretty nifty little Ruby gem, which lets you store object instance variables in a memcached cluster. And I'm supposed to go to Vienna (Austria) in a few weeks to speak about the role of open source in cultural conservation.
So --- same-old, same-old, I guess.