Well, crud....

So far, it doesn't sound like I've got great options on controlling the cats. I really can't put a second door where I need this blockade. They are both used to going out doors and sometimes run for it (Babe especially). So far we've managed to not let them out at my parents' house, but we've started dodging through the back porch, which they don't think of as leading "out". When we bring them over here, they'll be shut in one room (probably the master bedroom). But once we release them to the rest of the house, we'll need something between them and the front door so that anyone coming in has a minute to deal with the door before they have to deal with the cats, and anyone going out has the reverse.

Basta can't jump very high (bed height, chair height is just doable), so a tall one would probably solve her. I don't think Babe can either, but she might be able to and just be a general klutz - and I hate to think about her hurting herself, trying.

Actual construction to modify the entryway would, obviously, take far too long. It's also not real feasible in the space there...and oh, I hate to think of the howls if we modified the exterior part!

I suppose we could consistently enter through the garage - if we made sure the door was closed, the worst they could do was get out there - but that will make it hard on visitors, deliverymen, etc., especially as the garage is a trashed mess. Plus, since the garage is a trashed mess, tracking the cats down out there would be hard.

Argh!

More memories.

( Scattered memories of my parents. )

A few things....

These were in my "to comment on" list when, well, I stopped caring about commenting on them for a while.

First, a town in Italy with a really bad issue with Seasonal Affective Disorder (and a solution, of sorts): http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061218/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_italy_mirror

A note from a senior engineer to others about solving a case where an older version of the Visual Studio locks up:
Visual Studio 6.0 creates two files with extension “opt” and “ncb”.  These files keep track of dependencies, what windows were open the last time Visual Studio was open, where breakpoints were set, and so on.  From what I’ve seen, these files continue to grow until Visual Studio has problems.  Murphy’s Law dictates that the problem will occur after spending an hour or two editing seven or eight modules, whereupon Visual Studio hangs without writing out your changes.  If you delete all the “opt” and “ncb” files, the Visual Studio will simply create new ones.

A quote from an IM session:

This poor window is going to be validating itself very obsessively, though.

Like a bad self-help session for code.