I've created a web poll (found below in "Other") asking for a comparison between the current webpage design (index.html) and a new design (index2.html). What I'd like to know is, whether you like the original or the new.

Personally, with stylesheets on, I like the new one better. However, if you surf without them, I think the original layout looks better. The content is fully accessible for both in this case, but the layout structure is completely lost.

Note to Netscape users (yes, I'm one): If you also like to surf with Javascript off, this also means you're surfing without stylesheets.

General note: So you don't have to lose your current page, I've set both the voting button on the poll and the "view results" link to open a new window via Javascript. Unfortunately this means Javascript has to be on to vote or view current poll results. Don't worry: I refuse to be anyone who would do anything nefarious with Javascript, so you can rest assured this brief moment of enabling it won't screw up stuff in your browser or on your computer, nor am I doing any cookies or changing your homepage, etc., etc., etc. ad nauseam.

Jeremy and I adopted a new kitten Tuesday night. She is the most adorable kitty! She's about 4 months old, and we haven't named her yet. She's a black and grey striped tabby, and it's already obvious she's going to be a long-haired girl. Her tail is already fluffed out, and she's getting her first long hairs down her back.

Her stripes are very narrow and close together, and go all the way down her front legs up to her paws (which are light grey), all the way down her hind legs up to her ankles (leaving her hind paws also very light grey), and cover her entire belly. She's got a white chin also, and her black ears are edged with light grey, with white fur coming out of them. I can't wait to get pictures up!

I've uploaded Squeeker's Picture Gallery to my site. Besides being linked here, it is also linked from Squeeker's Tribute Page and my Cats Page

Well it appears that CGI at the location of my guestbook is now working again. Sign away!

I have added a tribute to my furbaby Squeeker, who crossed the Bridge and became a new fur angel on October 8, 2001. It's the first item now in my "Contents" section.

CGI on the site containing my guestbook is still down (the whole site isn't down, just CGI). No ETA yet.

The site containing my guestbook is currently down. Dunno when it'll be up; if/when I notice it is & get around to it, I'll post here.

He's gone. My baby is gone.

Early Monday morning, about 4:30am, I woke up to find him breathing hard, his water all spilled. I refilled his water dish and stayed petting him. All he wanted to do was lean his chin on the dish, drinking from it every few seconds. Poor baby! After a while of him drinking (I tipped the dish for him when he seemed to need it) the water bounced back up again. I took him to the emergency vet, and the news was grim. They tested his blood, and his white blood count was almost nil, his red blood count so low and showing such anemia that he would normally have been a transfusion candidate. They put him in an oxygen tank to help him breath better and be more comfortable.

After staying a couple hours there to wait for the regular vet's office to open, I called my fiancé (about 7:45am) to let him know that Squeeker's time may be coming soon, that this may be his last. I assumed he was going to class but that he would want to know. About 15 minutes later, I called my mom and asked her if she was going to be home today, telling her that Squeeker was probably not going to make it. She said she could be. I told her I was headed to the regular vet, and she said she'd meet me there as soon as she could.

Before my mom arrived, my fiancé came in to be with me. He found me because he first went to the emergency place, and found it closed, so he knew I would be at the regular office. My mom arrived shortly after. The vet who was becoming his regular one (we'd seen a few there, but Dr. Rosen was my favorite, and will be my choice of vet when I finally get another kitty -- and it turns out he was the "cat vet" there too) saw him and told us that we could treat him aggressively, with blood transfusions and a drug called Epogen that sometimes helps, but it was very unlikely to help. He had developed full-blown leukemia from the virus, and anything we could do to treat him was just going to prolong his suffering. He looked miserable, and was breathing very quickly, panting almost, and it was clear that it would be cruel to try saving him when it would in all likelihood not help at all, and only keep him hurting longer. So after lots of crying I decided to help him across the Bridge. I held him in my arms one last time as the vet first gave him a deep sedative to make him relax and sleep, then gave him the overdose of barbiturate to end his suffering forever.

We stayed quite a while longer, stroking his fur and crying and talking about how wonderful and sweet he was. The vet told us that a couple techs would come in and make a pawprint for us to keep (something they do for all their patients after they die), and they did. They put his name at the top and his approximate birth and death years on the bottom (we weren't 100% sure how old he was but his age was estimated to be 4 1/2 to 5 years old, so we put '96 - '01 there). This we took home to bake in the oven so the clay would harden. Also, I decided to have him cremated rather than buried, and his ashes will be sealed in a redwood box. They will call me when he's ready, and I will cherish this always, as I will cherish all my fond memories of him.

I took a full roll of 36 pictures of Squeeker a couple weeks ago, and had the film developed Sunday. It's too painful yet, but since I was going to put his pictures here (I haven't decided whether I will pick and choose the cutest, or if I'll post them all) I decided I'm going to make a full out tribute to him, which I will place on my site, with a link here when it's up. He was so full of life, and the joy of life, and I want to share all the happy things I remember about him, all the cute and silly things he did that I love about him.

Bless you Squeeker, my new fur angel.

Well, when I came home two evenings ago, I was told he'd had one very small seizure. He hasn't had anymore since then, so the Valium is finally working to completely stop his seizures. However, he is so drugged and so out of it, the doctor said to try breaking the pills in half so they don't sedate him so heavily. He said often the dose of Valium needed to prevent seizures is a lot less than what will heavily sedate them.

All of his tests (FIP, thyroid, and heartworm) came back negative, which is good. We'll probably be off next to see about that expensive neurological exam, which I also learned more about. The spinal fluid test can check lots of things -- fluid pressure when they first start drawing it, various proteins, and any infectious material. Of course, the MRI and CAT scan are what you'd expect.

Well, Squeeker's now on drugs, hehe. He had two seizures yesterday afternoon, which led us to figure out he'd had three the previous night. We called the vet, and he gave us a prescription for Valium. I went out for an appointment of my own, and picked it up on the way home.

At first he got really friendly, walking around us trying to get us to pet him (we did of course), although his balance was just horrid. After a while, he sort of crashed and was happy to sleep soundly for a while.

He had two more tiny seizures last night, and he got another dose of Valium this morning (dosage is 1 pill twice a day), so we'll see how he was today.