I felt terrible today having to scoop Thomas out of his basket this morning, but he had a vet appointment so it was necessary. He has a clean bill of health in his follow up visit. Alexander, meanwhile, was comfortably tucked in this morning.

Homemade curry is even better the second day. This is chicken, chickpea, and potato curry with rice and garlic naan. I’m so happy with how this turned out.

Hopefully the last picture of Thomas as a fashionista for a while. We ended up ordering the donut in a smaller size after the first one was still a bit too big. He did not approve of the smaller version either, but we took it off for dinner last night and he’s been very good about not overgrooming.

Update 2: The sunflower cone was giving Thomas a bit of difficulty moving around so we ordered something that would hopefully give him a bit more mobility. Looking at his expression it doesn’t seem like he feels better being the world’s grumpiest donut but he is navigating the house better.

Update: Thomas still LOOKS like the world’s angriest sunflower but he accepted skritches and crawled into my lap to cuddle immediately after this picture was taken.

After an unexpected trip to the veterinary urgent care Thomas is currently the world’s angriest sunflower. He had a ruptured anal gland and the other one was impacted. Two weeks of antibiotics and a recheck planned.

The view when Thomas comes up to cuddle. He is very insistent.

There’s a certain peace when bad weather that’s been forecast finally arrives, like the natural order of things has somehow been restored. I can hear the ice pattering down on the roof and the windows and it’s almost a comforting sound.

In brighter news, we got a new cat tree that Alexander is a big fan of and getting back into our normal routine had some playtime this morning before I went for a run. Alexander and Thomas even used the tree together… although there was some bapping a second after the last picture was taken.

Update on the Hertz banditry: received an email today stating that they would be refunding the gas charge plus an additional five dollars because in addition to charging more than three times the current price per gallon for gas they also charged sales tax on top of that. Literal highway robbery.

I’ve been replaying Hades since the first time I played my wife didn’t get a chance to watch and I’ve unlocked everything except Sisyphus. I realized today that I missed a step so I’ve been doing the same thing repeatedly and making no progress which is actually pretty funny if you think about it.

I swear those bandits at Hertz use gas pumps without pressure sensors to fill up their cars and charge you for fuel. I filled up less than a mile from the airport until the pump wouldn’t run anymore and they’re still trying to charge me for 2 gallons of gas.

Before the current insanity we went to the Witte Museum yesterday. It’s small, but has a few really awesome fossils and an exhibit about the various biomes of Texas. The special exhibit about the ocean depths was also fun to see, and some great historical exhibits.

The Buckhorn Saloon and Texas Ranger Museum feels like a monument to taxidermy, with a collection of frankly bizarre artifacts and a bolted on old west and law enforcement section. Not the worst way to spend an afternoon, and a pretty solid burger.

Truly, the comfiest of little men. It’s a bittersweet joy to see him curling up in the basket since Freddie used to curl up in there, but someone should enjoy it.

It’s a wonderful feeling to have a cat you adopted jump on the bed to cuddle against your chest. Thomas is relaxing into a very happy boy and I’m so glad we brought him home. He’s very good about playing with toys like this and not trying to eat them, in case anybody is concerned.

For Christmas Eve we visited the Natural Bridge Cavern again. 17 years after our first visit a lot has changed around the entrance, but the caves themselves are as timeless and awe-inspiring as ever. If you have any sense of wonder, you can’t help but be amazed at the sight.

Watching the Sky1 adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s “Hogfather” and I’m just left thinking that if I had a nickel for every time I’ve watched a program about a supernatural figure replacing Santa I’d have 15 cents, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened thrice.

Playing the Dragon Quest I remake and they give you a bonus item if you have a save from the DQ III remake. Said item is a dog suit that has higher defense than anything you can buy in the first couple towns, so my character is running around like some kind of murderhobo furry. 10/10, no notes.

Today’s pedicure read is Reaper Man since someone mentioned Bill Door. I thought about Hogfather, but we’ll probably watch that later this week. Bonus pics of Thomas grabbing my hand and pulling it in to lick it, and helping himself to some sink water.

Thomas does chest cuddles, sometimes spontaneously and sometimes when I don’t get up for my alarm. He’s too restless to do it for long, but it’s incredibly sweet. I love his boxy little muzzle. Don’t be fooled by the cats, they’re back because he was forcing his head into my hand a moment ago.

Every day I drive by a sign claiming that a local ER has an average wait time of under 4 minutes and today my brain came up with “Average wait time is not 4 minutes, Spiders Georg who was seen in 2 seconds because he was covered in spiders was a statistical outlier and should not have been counted.”

Alexander and Artemis are our Black Friday cats, coming to us on separate Black Fridays two years apart. Alexander came up to our back door in pursuit of the smell of split pea ham soup, while we found Artemis abandoned outside of a Marine barracks on a walk. After 8 years they’ve become friends.

My wife is playing The Witcher 3 and her disdain for some of the side quests is so impressive. “You have to play Gwent or this guy will die.” “Then I guess he’s gonna die.” “You have to win a horse race or you’ll have to pay 200 crowns.” “I’ve got 8,800 crowns, no problem.” Absolute queen behavior.

Hit chapter 3 in the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster, which is excellent, and I’m struck by the implications of its mid-magic world. There are wizards and monsters, but all of the great miracles are in the past. When the protagonist runs into something at that level, he can’t exactly tell anyone.

Today we took advantage of the holiday to go to the San Antonio Zoo. It’s a small zoo, but well designed, with an excellent reptile house. It also has some..: unique… exhibits you won’t see in many other places.

It’s another Sunday for Pratchett and pedicures. I think I’m just in the mood for the Watch series right now but I am tempted to pull down my copy of Carpe Jugulum at some point.

Indian restaurants that only do buffet on the weekend should be required to put that at the top of their website in bright red letters. I go to Indian restaurants to order something so spicy that Shiva would weep with envy for the destruction about to be wrought on my innards, not mild buffet curry.

On a happier note, we’ve had these two for nine years and this is the first time this has EVER happened. They’ve never cuddled together. I guess being the two elders in a house with a younger cat is bringing them together.

I know it’s been said… wait a second, quick google and some math, 1.5 million people times twice every weekend… at least 2 billion times but damn is San Antonio weekend traffic awful. Every weekend TxDot closes roads and turns 35 into a parking lot so going anywhere sucks. I hate it so much.

The Council meets to discuss their dinner mysteriously being a full hour late. They do not understand Daylight Savings Time.

Went to a burger place called The Shack today and when we pulled into the parking lot there was a barbershop, weed store, planned parenthood, and a massage parlor. The burgers were great. No notes, it was the kind of place that couldn’t be put anywhere other than where it was.

When your humans are eating cake and they didn’t give YOU any!

Thomas has taken to curling up in the sink when I’m in the bathroom since he knows that will get him attention, and today I found him curled up in the basket for the first time. Truly the comfiest of little men.

Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only.

Picked up a new copy of an old classic before today’s pedicure. I was thinking about million to one chances the other day and that brought this to mind.

For no particular reason, does anybody know where Arsene Lupin III and/or Arsene Lupin IV are at the moment?

No Kings protest in the morning, attempt to recreate a Halal Guys platter in the evening. Hundreds of people showed up in a small city in Texas, and I think we came pretty close on the platter.

Crunchyroll, has somehow managed to hire UI developers who consistently make the interface worse with each iteration. The previous major update on Roku removed the “newly updated” tab. The current update removed the ability to see a notification of new episodes on what you’re currently watching.

Christopher Columbus was awful even by the standards of his time, but I am enjoying my day off by going in search of spices from the far east. Or as some people would call it, getting Thai.

Thomas’s personality is starting to come out as he settles in. He very much takes attention on his terms, but when he wants to cuddle he turns into the world’s happiest cat. On weekdays I have to pet him before I shave, and we bought a bed for him in our room. All the cats take treats together now.

Kitty cuddles over the past few days. Alexander and Thomas are not quite playing together yet, but can play near each other and tolerate sharing space. Artemis demands her own lap time, but Thomas also hopped up and demanded cuddles. He sometimes grabs your arm and pulls it in for attention.

Thomas hopped up in my lap this morning and demanded cuddles and pets. He makes the most ridiculous faces when getting pet on the face and top of the head. Alexander accepted this for a few minutes before the growls started, then left and Artemis came to sniff his tail and make a stinky face.

Thomas update: continuing to settle in. We have morning cuddles on the bed, he absolutely loves to play, and he’s a sink-drinker. Tonight he climbed into the cat tree. Introductions are proceeding, but while there’s some hissing for the most part they’re tolerating each other. I’ll take it.

Today we visited the San Antonio Museum of Art, which has a fantastic collection of art including exhibits from the Pacific, China, Japan, Korea, Rome, Greece, Egypt, Europe, Texas, and Central America. We spent almost the entire day here and didn’t see everything.

On a related note, dear San Antonio I’m concerned about your river water. It’s bright green, 17% alcohol by volume, and tastes like a margarita.

At a restaurant on the Riverwalk that is hosting an adoption event and there is a group of teenage girls out here pulling out every trick in the book to get these dogs adopted and I am 100% here for it. You go, girls.

Living with a cat who has just been released to roam the whole house is like living with a furry little cryptid. You see them out of the corner of your eye and they occasionally emerge to chirp at you, accept pets, and eat some food, but otherwise they’re a source of mysterious noises in the night.

My wife is playing Skyrim for the first time and I’m proud to say that she’s currently archmage of the college, head of the dark brotherhood and thieves guild, harbinger of the companions, about to finish Dawnguard, and still hasn’t met the graybeards. Real gamers know she’s playing the game right.

We decided to go with Thomas since he seemed to like the name. Today he went to his first vet visit with us, where he was diagnosed as a handsome boy with a stressed bladder. Hopefully we’ll get that under control in the next couple of days and he can join the others roaming the house.