These are not your usual descriptions of a cat. But for one, they are...taken directly from this article: Oscar the Cat predicts patients' deaths. Here's the rundown if you don't feel like reading the article.

 

A cat that lives in a nursing home seems to know when people are going to die. He goes into their room and curls up beside them. A few hours later, that person passes away. While it does provide an advanced warning to inform the patient's family, I find it potentially depressing. If the person is at all aware of their surroundings (which they generally are not), it would be like have a little purring grim reaper next to you, waiting patiently for your peaceful demise.

 

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In other news, Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s is out, and it's great. A friend of mine was able to pick up a copy at Best Buy for $20 (they were running a sale + he had some coupons)...it doesn't have quite as many tracks as the other games, but the ones they have are great and loads of fun to play. If you're not sure about whether you want to buy or it or not, I'd say go for it...especially if you can get some kind of deal on it.

Updates can be a bittersweet taste for many. It may be a big shake-up and some things might get tossed around, but in the end, they're usually for the better. We sigh and shake our heads...clean up whatever needs fixing and go along our way. Such a routine makes it easy to overlook the positive side of updates...there may be something good or helpful in them.

I noticed my lists were a little different, and I chocked it up to the update and some edit to the coding that may've reset how the lists are ordered. But I didn't really check on it until I was in the middle of griping about the lack of control we have over our lists on Live Spaces. I spoke my peace in the comment on another blog and then paused for a moment to check and make sure I wasn't going to sound like a total moron. I was. Thank goodness I checked, no?  

 

So we have much better control over our lists, now.

 

What better way to inspire people to carry out everyday tasks than Chore Wars.

Who does the most work in the house or office?

Now you can track all the various bits of work done by gaining experience points for each chore you do. It isn't the most elaborate scheme ever, but the simplicity allows the real focus to take the stage: doing chores.

 

What you do is create a character, add the different chores done around your house or office and invite everyone in your house/office to join. When someone does something (like Take out the trash, or Vacuum, Pay the Bills, etc), they claim the chore and get whatever XP for that chore. The more creative you are in setting it all up, the better.

I know, it's silly...but if you've got any bit of competitive spirit in you, I think you'll find that there's some kind appeal to it. Also, provided there's more than just you doing it.

 

That's my version of what a single unit of fanfare is. It's been a while since I last updated. There's an unnecessary sentence. Either you already are aware of the fact of my lack of Don't Panic activity or you honestly could care less one way or another...or perhaps somewhere in between. Anyways, here's some of the latest, hence the fanfare.

 

 

Last Friday we pulled off another successful Guitar Hero in the Park deal. This time the only worry I had was about being told to bugger off by the police for disturbing the peace or having a car where it shouldn't be or something...but that was all done and gone the moment I saw two boys in blue, mounted on bicycles, stop to watch my friends play Freebird. After the song they were on their merry way with no problems or complaints whatsoever. Maybe next time they'll play a song with us. Who knows...but, as long as we don't play into the wee hours of the morning, I don't imagine we'll have to worry about any hassle from the Ft. Myers Police.

 

Each time we do it, it seems to get better and better. We had some awesome flyers made this time (thanks, Chuck), which we passed out and posted around downtown. Here's the flyer, click on it for a larger image:

 

It was a little short notice, so next time we're going to distribute the flyers a few days earlier. I'm also setting up some web presence for any in the area who want to get the latest on what's going on with Guitar Hero in the Park (which is what we're calling it for now). There's not much there now, but we'll keep that posted with the latest news.

 

So far, on the subject of notoriety/popularity, our thing is still only making waves with the local homeless and/or crazy community. This time, a 41 year old lady (I know this because she told me about 13 times) joined our group. As is the custom of the local weirdos, she felt the need to explain every detail about herself, including why she was there and all about her various talents.

 

Fortunately for us, she wanted to smoke...none of us do...so I kindly asked her to give some distance if she was going to smoke. She complied, and found her way over to the swing set (a few hundred feet away), where she had her smoke. If I saw correctly, she also had a lovely conversation with the empty swing next to her. After that she vanished into the nearby downtown area of Fort Myers, much to the delight of those of us who enjoy personal space.

 

Besides that, everything went super smoothly and we can't wait until the next Guitar Hero in the Park. And that's pretty much it for now...other than the thought that dashes to and fro within my mind every now and then about the word "finances". Is it pronounced FYnances or fiNANces?