kitty-based ergonomic problems

I'm having a problem with my work-at-home ergonomics. It's getting worse since the IT guys installed a superhot server for me to use from anywhere (so long as I do two hops of ssh tunnels for four ports) so I can do more real work from home, faster. The problem is the kitty. Darling has an oral fixation. She insists on licking my thumb or finger constantly, for hours at a time, whenever I'm around. When I'm getting ready for bed, I have to leave a hand outside the covers or else she'll paw at my face until I give her a bit of finger to nibble on. Which is okay, because I'm sleeping. The problem is programming. My hands are an easy target, so Darling sits on my left wrist and nurses on my right thumb. Sometimes she doesn't do the oral-fixation thing, she just sits across both of my wrists. Darling weighs 16 pounds. If I push her away she nudges around until she can sit down in the same place again. This is an ergonomic problem. I'm pretty sure a sixteen pound weight on my wrists while typing is not ideal. Also it makes it hard to reach for the keypad and the mouse. On the other hand, she keeps my wrists warm.
I'm going to try putting catnip on the easy chair.

I love my manager

I asked Sarah for a "management interlude" this morning, to help me set priorities for today. We got on the phone and the first thing she said was, "You don't have to work today, you know." That is so non-Web1.0 I love it. Because, of course, I want to work today. I told her, "Well, maybe I'll take more naps than usual, or work more in pajamas than usual." We agreed that was a good idea. Sarah has also said, she works the first eight hours a day on what's most important to Laszlo, then after that, on what she wants to do. This is perhaps the 50-hours-a-week version of the 20% project. I could do with a few fewer projects though. Side projects reproduce like bunnies who mate with other people's ideas. Current side projects:

• secret cool thing to improve laszlomail usability


• book chapter on visual effects for laszlo


• laszlo viewer for delicious library


• learn cocoa programming

perfect sunday morning: coffee

This has been a perfect sunday morning. My co-worker Bruce and his wife Kira gave me a french press they hadn't been using, and I bought a quarter-pound of Mocha Java yesterday, and half-and-half, and sugar... and I woke up and made myself a perfect cup of coffee at home, for the first time ever. The french press actually let a bunch of the grounds through the screen, so I filtered it again through a paper towel. Who needs coffee filters when we've got Bounty?
But it gets better: I took my mug of coffee and got back into bed. Can you beat that? Is that beatable? Oh. Yeah... if I had a sweetie waiting for me in bed to drink coffee and cuddle and help with the crossword puzzle.
Thus my work towards rebuilding my social life! In the last week I've gotten together with friends three separate times! Four, even, two days with one person. Amazing, absolutely amazing. And now I'm going in to work for social-thing number five, helping a co-worker get started with programming while I put my book chapter together.
Good lord, it's a good day.
If you were wondering, my dreams were of the epic-fantasy variety, strongy influenced by A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin.