Aaargh! Cat!

Since Roo couldn't eat with the cone on, I took it off and kept an eye on her for a while, discouraging her from any attempts to remove the splint on her tail (with a spray bottle). She chased her own tail a la canine for a while, but eventually she seemed to calm down and resign herself to the splint. So I did exactly what I shouldn't have done: I assumed she would be fine and turned my back for five minutes. Of course, she got the splint off, and because I'd given her painkiller medicine from the vet, she's happily twitching around her tail in ways that are likely to aggravate her injury. Arrrgh.

I tried several times to get the splint back on, but it's really a two-person job. This morning I called the vet's office and they said yes, it needed to go back on, and if I wasn't there to supervise her she would need the cone. This means I will have to board her while I am away instead of leaving her at home and having someone check on her as I planned to do. The vet's office will take her, if I bring her in tomorrow, but I don't know how much it will cost.

One of my co-workers is willing to help me get the splint back on Roo: she'll hold the little devil while I put everything back on her tail. The vet said I can reapply the splint as long as I put the braces (which are wooden tongue depressors) on the top and bottom of her tail and tape it near the base of the tail, although they may want to check my work when I bring her to the office tomorrow.

In happier news, I successfully baked a batch of cookies for my office (it was during the preparation of these that Roo got her splint off), and I beat the 13th Colossus (this was before Roo got her splint off), which is currently my favorite.

Safe GPS

I can't believe all these drivers who blindly follow their GPS devices and get into accidents. Apparently this is a real problem in Germany and Britain, where people tend to follow the instructions of their GPS (or satnav) device without using their own eyes or a lick of common sense, and end up crashing into piles of debris from construction sites, public toilets, etc.

The thing about these devices is that, while they can get frequently updated real-time data on your position (assuming there are enough satellites around), they can't do that with map data. The map data in your GPS comes from a disc or a download, not the satellites, and you have to obtain (often for a considerable fee) new maps to keep your device up-to-date. Your device probably doesn't know there's construction on the road you're taking, because that little detail isn't in its map data.

My dad has one of these GPS devices, which we found very useful on our recent trip to Florida - but it thought that the assisted living community where my grandparents lived was actually a swamp, because its data was a few years out of date. Until GPS devices can find new map data as easily as they can find your position on said map, I'd advise you to plan your trip in advance with an old-fashioned printed map. And, always, use your own senses, especially your common one.