Those of you who check thingo every day (I love empty set humour) will have noticed that I have set a new all-time record for derelict blogging. More than two weeks have gone by since me previous post.

It's not that nothing has been going on. Sure, there's stuff I could happily write about, like the fact that as big corporations and the stock market lead the US economy into the toilet (or, as my father would say, it gets so bad that it needs a stepladder to get up to the toilet), George W. Bush proclaims that the economy is "fundamentally strong". As if he's willing the economy back into health by fiat. This is like saying that the air over Houston is "fundamentally clean", or that executives at big corporations are "fundamentally altruistic". It's amazing that when doctors looked up Bush's ass two weeks ago, they didn't find his head (sorry, I couldn't resist).

Sure, I could write about that. But the truth is, I don't have the time. In fact, I don't expect to be saying much here at thingo for a little while (at least a month). I'm nearing the end of my PhD, and I'm trying to put the sucker to bed. Until I'm finished writing and my defense is prepared, I have little time for anything else. I wanted to make sure you were aware of the situation, and to thank you in advance for your forbearance. I'll try to post a brief note here and there so you know where I stand.

As an aside, I want to say that I think that all the writing I've done here at thingo (about forty thousand words by my count, which is actually a more than an average dissertation) has helped keep my writing muscles limber in general. It's still an agonizing process, where a single paragraph might involve hours of minute decisions and cross references, but I don't immediately run from the room and watch movies on the couch all day. And speaking of writing my dissertation, if you'll excuse me....

[update: 15 July at 13:54]: Yes, I did mean to write "since me previous post" in the first paragraph. Arr, Matey!

You know how they say that over time, pets and their owners begin to resemble each other? I believe it must be true, at least to some extent. Certainly, recent events have served to highlight the possibility of this convergence of human and feline, if not in appearance, then at least with respect to dental health.

When Ginseng went in for a routine check-up and round of vaccinations last week, the veterinarian declared that her gums were inflamed and one of her larger teeth needed to come out. It turns out that like her master, Ginseng has rather fragile teeth, teeth that turn against you at the slightest provocation. Anyway, I brought her in to the vet again on Friday. They called in the afternoon to tell me that they had in fact found a second tooth that also needed to come out. After the two extractions, she stayed the night at the clinic and came home yesterday in fairly good spirits.

As far as I know, Ginseng has not signed up for any health plans. And though I haven't checked, I doubt she qualifies as a dependent under my insurance. As a result, I had to fork over hundreds of dollars to cover the procedure. Mind you, I did so happily -- anything for the happiness of my little cuddlekins. I just hope the rest of her teeth stay healthy. Or at least that if they have to go bad, that they all do so at once so that she need only make one trip to the vet.