In Cat News

I visit the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee every day, but you have to check out this series of photographs. Scroll down to the end! The man in the pictures is the father of the blogger.

Next, if you live in New York, a cat film festival this Friday at Anthology Film Archives: CHAT D’OEUVRES.

And finally, Finney and his belly.

Finney's Belly

Swimming Pays Off

I think I might have mentioned that I started exercising every day this spring, instead of three or four times a week. It was part of that five things to do every day happiness thing I wrote about. I very quickly got bored with my usual routines and looked for something more fun to do. That turned out to be swimming. I’ve been swimming three times a week for an hour at a time since May (actually less in the summer because they only gave us 45 minutes at a time then).

I still exercise every day, but swimming is my favorite.

I was doing it for health and happiness reasons, but I’ve since lost ten pounds and my bathing suit is now so big I have to safety pin it to keep it from falling off. Not that I was huge or anything, but I love how I look now. Swimmer’s body! I treated myself to this new suit pictured here, which I ordered online from J.C. Penny’s. Isn’t it cute? I hope it fits!

Not to be all Occupy Wall Street all the time, but …

Oh my god. Watch this low low low moment.

I’m also feeling sad for another reason. A few years back I researched audio forensics for a piece for NPR that was ultimately killed (weirdly, it turned out to be a tricky subject for a radio piece). I decided to go through my notes and post some of the material on my unsolved murder blog. But when I emailed one of my principal subjects for an update I learned that he died in 2009, just a few months after the last time I emailed with him. His name was Richard Sanders and he worked for the National Center for Audio and Video Forensics in Colorado. There are tributes to him here and here [the tribute I linked to is gone now]. I’ll be posting about this on my other blog too, but probably not about how sad I feel. He was such a nice, helpful guy. He always made time for me, sent me audio snippets whenever I needed them.

Well. I have to get up and out to run a ton of errands. I’ll be passing through Union Square, where there is always something going on. This was a pilates class, I believe. Life goes on. Sigh.

Exercise class at Union Square

Revenge

It’s the one new show that seems to be getting some buzz. It’s also the most talked about new show on Echo. It even has it’s own separate item, a sure sign of popularity (otherwise it would be talked about in a catch-all item like “New Shows” or something). I’ve only watched the first episode so far myself, but I’m in.

This is a shot of the lending library at the Occupy Wall Street protest. Okay, I looked to see if any of my books were there, I admit it. They weren’t. I could donate some, I suppose!

Lending Library at Occupy Wall Street

Really Really Big Bubbles

As I was leaving Washington Square Park, after spending some time listening to the Occupy Wall Street protesters, I came across a man making really big bubbles.

Making Bubbles in Washington Square Park

What is it about bubbles? They make me happy. I heard on the news that the Occupy Wall Street protestors are going to be back at Washington Square Park today, but today is supposed to be my day off. I was going to read Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford. I’m addicted to everything Mitford, and I’m kinda amazed I haven’t read this yet.

Making Bubbles in Washington Square Park