I got distracted and forgot about making a list of goals for this year. D'oh!

Do a century ride on my unicycle (or bicycle- either one)

Construct a language (I've been meaning to do more work on it)

Build a metropolis (Simcity)

Become more politically active? Eh, I'm not sure on this one...

Hide more caches

Learn some unicycle tricks

Buy another [smaller] unicycle (to make it easier to learn new tricks, and to make it easier for mountain unicycling)

Clean up the junk I have laying around my apartment

Cook more often (egads, I'm so lazy)

Last post of 2009. I think I'll spend tonight very similar to what I did last year: cheesy movie marathon. Killer Tomatoes, Airplane!, Top Secret!, and maybe a few episodes of Freakazoid! or the Tick. I'll be doing this while enjoying some six-cheese pizza. To drink, I have berry weiss (berry-flavored beer), everything to make white russians, and very probably some hot cocoa.

I guess I'll do a highlight of the best things of the year:

- I adopted (and befriended) many rats throughout the year (five to date, although two have passed on)
- I learned to unicycle, and have gotten pretty decent on my 36"
- I even made the paper because of my big wheel
- I completed the Twelve Labors of Hercules cache series, which include caches placed on many of the mountain peaks in the area (many not on trail and extremely difficult to get to). The last of the series I found (both this year) were on Florida Peak's Unnamed Counterpart (technically, Florida Peak is a few feet lower but was named first... then it was discovered its twin is actually higher) and The Organ Needle (the highest peak in the Organ Mountains)
- I started living a car-free life
- I lost my GPS unit while hiking. Wait, this isn't a good thing. D'oh! It might still be out there, actually.

Hopefully tomorrow, I'll remember to write a counterpart to this post with stuff I hope to accomplish for the new year... so I can promptly forget any expectations I have for it.

Whiskers passed away this morning. He had been sick for the past month with respiratory problems; he was wheezing like the other rat I adopted him with (Wheezer) did. This week I could tell it was close for him. There were moments where he was almost heaving for air (not the best description- he just couldn't breathe well and would take long, deep breaths). As a result of this, I let him out of the cage a lot more. He was still able to get around, but only wanted to lay down on my lap. If I put him on the ground, he'd walk around until he saw me again. Then he's signal to me he wanted my attention by standing on my feet, or standing up and reaching for my leg. We spent the last few days watching hours of Farscape while on the couch. He seemed to enjoy this a lot. He mostly just slept on me (got somewhat annoyed when I had to move). He'd brux (teeth chattering) and boggle (his eyes would pop out) every once in a while, so I know he was happy. I'm going to miss him. He was one of the two rats I originally adopted from the humane society earlier this year (his brother, Wheezer, only was with me two months before dying from his respiratory problems). Besides Wheezer, he's the only rat I've had who will actually stay place to cuddle with me. Everyone else is just too energetic and wants to keep moving. He was a great tv companion. I just hope this past week of Farscape has been as enjoyable and peaceful for him as it was for me. It was very relaxing just laying on the couch with a rat sleeping on me as I watched tv. Thanks for all the memories.

I didn't want to a yotz and pass up a farhbot deal last week at Best Buy: $70 (plus tax) for the complete series of Farscape on DVD. The third incarnation of DVD sets was just released. The last edition (The Starburst Edition) became hard to find shortly after production due to the company going under. I'm extremely happy it's being released again (and is once again, affordable- compared to what the Starburst Edition DVDs went for on eBay after they stopped being produced).

I'm generally satisified with this set. The artwork is very simple and stylized. It's not as cool as the Starburst Edition stuff (which was extremely shiny, and had a design that came together if you had all of the sets in a season). It's not ugly, though. The only thing I would have liked was a little pamphlet/guide with an episode list (and description). At least each DVD has the episodes printed on it.

I was very happy to find out they actually planned it out quite well, too. Today I was watching a disc for season two. This disc only had two episodes on it (instead of the expected four). I couldn't figure out why, until I saw the next three episodes made a trilogy. Awesome. Now when I watch that three-part storyline, I won't have to change discs.

I was also extremely happy to find that the Best Buy version I bought included the Peacekeeper Wars. The standard version doesn't- it's a Best Buy exclusive. I already had the mini-series on DVD, but it's just nice knowing I have it again in a complete set.

Yesterday, I spent a lot time on the couch watching Farscape, with Whiskers on my lap (or shoulder). He slept through most of it. It was very peaceful. I'm trying to spend as much time with him as I can, since I don't think he has much time left in his life. I think he enjoyed it, though.

I successfully completed a 30-mile uni ride yesterday. An added highlight of the ride was also finding three caches- all of which I had looked for in the past, but failed to find (oddly, I found them all easily yesterday). Other highlights include having a vehicle slow down so the passenger (a teenage kid) could take a picture of me, a few bicyclist groups waved at me as I rode along, taking a picture with my unicycle by a "Share the Road" sign (with bike iconography), and oddly running into another geocacher (not at a cache- he recognized me as he was driving along the road).

This does motivate me and give me a bit of hope about doing the century ride in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future. I'm still planning it with an indefinite timeline, but it at least seems a bit more feasible. I can at least start thinking about different routes. I had jokingly suggested with my mom today the idea about unicycling on a track. I actually did give that some thought, as well as using the city's multi-use (bike) path.

Running track: Pros- confined space, so I can easily encourage supporters to cheer me on or provide assistance (not to mention I wouldn't need to carry stuff around), safer (no traffic, stop signs/lights, and cycling at dark wouldn't be a problem), and it can be measured easily. Cons - very repetitive (100 miles on a unicycle might take as much as 16 hours with breaks- going around in a circle for that long would be insane), and I could lose track of how many times I've gone through (so, measuring how far I've gone becomes difficult- compared to traveling on a road where I can use Google Earth to find the distance between starting and stopping).

Multi-use path: Less repetitive, but I'd still be covering the same area ~20-25 times. It's also hilly, and I'd have to deal with two traffic lights (otherwise, no other traffic problems).

More than likely, I'll come up with a route on the highway. I'd prefer doing a non-loop route (going to place x and back) so I can avoid backtrack. I think it also sounds more impressive to say I went to "100x" (a place 100 miles away) rather than "50x and back" (50 miles away, but riding back to where I started). It's the same distance, sure, but the perspective seems different and more grand in some way. Plus, I wouldn't have to deal with, "Oh, I saw that on the way up" from going back over the same area I already rode through. It might also add in a bit of extra encouragement in keeping up the cycling for so long- I'm not sure which would be more encouraging, to have an ultimate destination so far away... or to get back home.

Aside from thinking about possible routes, I still have quite a few more rides I want to go on. This will probably include a few more 30-ish mile rides, and a 60-70 mile ride (maybe two). If I can do the latter, I figure I'll probably be able to do the full 100 with good ol' fashioned motivation and determination. *gulp* Maybe. Maybe I'm also insane.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) starts today. As I was searching for the novel I started writing in 2005, I came across other attempts (2007 and 2008). Neither was longer than about two pages. I'm just horrible starting. I'm going to push myself this year to do this. I'm motivated-ish right now, but I also don't really have anything in particular to write about. I'm going to start thinking about topics to write as I play a game of Civ. Correction: That will be this morning. After having a delicious salmon at my parents' house, my afternoon will be dedicated to writing. From a post I wrote years ago, I figured that in order to get the 175-page novel (or 50,000 words) written, I'd have to write an average of 5.8 pages (or 1666.7 words) a day.

My goal today is to pick out a basic storyline and write 8 pages. I've been looking at older attempts to get some ideas. Sadly, I couldn't find my first (2005) attempt. All I know about it is that it took place in the future, skipped time frequently, and likely didn't make any sense. Another one of my attempts starts out by talking about yogurt. At the very least, if I can't think of a good strong storyline that would work in novel form, I can always do a Douglas Adams thing by conjoining several seemingly unrelated stories (this is especially true of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, which is concerned with the "fundamental interconnectedness of all things"). The good news about that method is that even I would be surprised at how it ends (which, if the story falls apart, I could also sort to something found in Mel Brooks movie).

I'm going to attempt another NaNoWriMo this year. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo- I think I just sprained my shifting pinky) is held every Novemeber. The goal is to write a novel in a month. It's not supposed to be good (I'm sure this is quite rare that one is good); It's just supposed to be finished. The whole point is that anyone can write a novel, even with a chaotic life. It just takes planning (writing daily) and determination (keep writing no matter what- even if the whole novel is worse than 1950's science-fiction). Oh, and don't edit. You can edit once the novel's done, of course. You can't do any editing while the novel's in progress (hence, 50,000 words can't be wrong... or at least they have to be "right" enough to get through to the end while making some kind of sense [Actually, nevermind. No one ever said a novel has to make sense]).

I know I attempted this in 05, since I found a "NaNoWriMo 05 Participant" image someplace recently. I think I had started, but gave up after a few days because I either didn't like the story so far or just ran out of ideas. Hopefully this year will turn out better- I'll just keep writing, even if I've lost any sort of originality, plot, or sanity. This can only end well, right? I suppose as long as I don't go off fighting windmills, I can call this whole thing a success if I come up with a novel.

Finally, it gets cold here. Today was mostly a windy, cold day. I went to look for a cache (riding on my unicycle)- not too bad. A bit chilly, sometimes windy. I ended up not finding it. Tonight, it started raining lightly (drizzling). I see some of my friends' statuses on Facebook mention snow. I decided to take another unicycle ride, through the rain. It was, in fact, snowing in some places... or at least sleeting. Nothing was sticking to the ground, but there were snowflakes in the air landing on my hoody.

It was a fun night. I went on a ~5 mile ride. I learned I could ride my unicycle pretty well with my hands in my hoody pocket. I only had to take my hands out every once in a while if I had to turn, or to get on my unicycle. That's a nice thing to know, although I should probably just remember to find my gloves for my next ride in the cold. I also learned how freaky it is unicycling through a tunnel at night, only to see your shadow on the wall change as cars drive through. It went from being big and in front of me, to shrinking by my side (and eventually disappearing behind me) in a matter of seconds. Freaky thing in the dark. At least the whole night made it very encouraging to make some hot cocoa when I got home and in some dry clothes. It'd be nice if the snow actually stuck. That would be extremely fun to unicycle in, or else I'm just insane.

While reading Reddit, someone replied to a comment with a link to http://www.d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/, a site whose purpose is limited only to inform of the correct spelling of definitely. I understand that "good grammar" is important for communication (although it's important to keep in mind there are many varieties/dialects of English, and essentially, anyway that people can communicate effectively with one another could be considered good grammar). The key to communication is knowing your audience. That's usually more easily done with verbal communication.

Written language, however, is very different. It's not natural to write. Writing is a tool to convey and represent language. Language itself, is something that is spoken, signed, and gestured. Writing, in that sense, is very limiting. I will admit that is why it's important to use punctuation as best you can (to indicate pauses and imitate how a sentence would be read outloud). Spelling isn't all that relevant. It's important only because it helps identify the word you want to use. As long as the word is understood, that should be good enough. Definitely. Definately. Same word, really. One is spelled "incorrectly," yes, but they both do just as good of a job representing that particular (verbal) word because most people would understand.

The next time you're online and you see someone who spells badly, ignore it. It doesn't mean that person is stupid. Writing just isn't natural or instinctive- we're taught language by hearing it and verbalizing it (along with all the signs and gestures that go along with it- including sign language). Writing is just a tool to help language be used in different manners.

If only I had the coordinates, I could go back and find it again using GPS.

Friday, I was hiking in attempt to get to a cache high up in the mountains. When my nose became a fountain, and I realized how slow I was progressing towards my goal, I decided to turn back. I checked my GPS unit to see how far away from another cache I was that would point my way out. After some hiking, I went to check again. Oh, except it wasn't there. It wasn't in my backpack or in any pockets. I lost my GPS unit.

( Photos )

The place: Triviz. The time: Last Saturday. The crime: Riding my unicycle on the sidewalk.

I was trying to round up everyone for the trash pick-up last week, and was told a few people were on Triviz. I promptly went over and rode my unicycle trying to find people (on the sidewalk, since the trash pick-up was on that side of the street). An old man flagged me down. Thinking he was another one in the group, I got off my unicycle to talk to him. Instead, he asked me what something was as he pointed to the street. "It's a bike lane," I replied. "Then why aren't you in it?" He then complained how he couldn't walk someplaces because of dogs, and he had almost gotten hit by bicyclists on the sidewalk. Of course, this wasn't necessarily relevant because I was on my unicycle (he did finally bring that point up, that he didn't know whether it'd be a vehicle or not). As he walked off, he said he could report me ("I'll let you go this time").

I almost wish he did try to report that. "Hi, officer. I'd like to report a bicyclist unicyclist riding on the sidewalk." I'm sure that would make that cop's day.
( Cycling and the Law )

A friend commented I hadn't updated my journal (or notes, if you're reading this from Facebook) recently, so here's one full of random short things that I don't really want to do a full post about.

- Cities XL ships out this week. I was able to beta test the game, but only played it a few times. It has some good graphics on it, but there are some things limited in the single player mode. I'm debating if it's worth getting.

- At the end of October is an organized century ride here, $40 to participate. I'd get a shirt and lunch... plus, if something goes wrong, a ride back (or if I don't finish by a certain time, I'll be picked up). They also have a shorter 70-mile bike ride. I'm planning on doing a 40-50 mile ride this week to see how it goes before I register.

- Today I spent the morning picking up trash in the rain. It was fun- but eventually the downpour got the best of everyone and we had to call it quits a bit early. We were out there for about two hours (in the rain maybe an hour)... so the area is slightly less trashy.

- I had been planning a 30-mile unicycle ride tomorrow, but looks like (due to rain) I'll have to use that time plotting the capture of Kaupang. It turns out that I need to get the Statue of Liberty in order to enact a Fundamentalist government (I love saying that simply because of what that means for "liberty"). Once I can switch governments, I can massively expand my military to make future conquests easier. I also won't have to deal with the frelling Senate (they keep forcing Cease-fires... just because my people don't like going to war- boohoo!).

- I'm excited it's almost hot chocolate season again. After being out in the rain for an hour and being quite cold, it was delicious (the peppermint schnapps also helped). This also means I can wear my beanies (or toques, if you prefer) again. They feel very nice, especially after buzzing my head (which reminds me...).

- Stargate: Universe premiered yesterday. I watched it on Hulu today. It was... it's certainly not all that spectacular. I didn't absolutely hate it, though. Not absolutely. It'll really just depend on their explorations and who the enemy turns out to be.

I just read that today is Celebrate Bisexuality Day. I don't get why these bisexual freaks need a day. there's already gay pride- aren't bi people just like those gays? No, I suppose not. Bi's are promiscuous folk who must sleep with everyone around. Why not? They're attracted to everyone. It's not like they can settle down into a monogamous relationship. There's no such thing as "bi" marriage. It's either gay marriage or straight marriage. No bi stuff. Plus, a lot of times people aren't actually bi. They just go around saying it because it's cool... or because they're afraid to say they're gay. It's just some cover. Pffft. Bisexuality must not exist. Can't they just choose a side? I guess the only good thing is that a lot of bi guys are really on the down-low and can pass off as straight.

*cough* Bisexuality is indeed a very real orientation that really doesn't different from heterosexuality or homosexuality, except that you have the potential to be attracted to both genders. This can be expanded for pansexuals/omnisexuals (I generally view them as mostly interchangeable with bisexual- but I'm sure that's not the preferred train of thought). Bi-pride is an important distinguishment from gay pride in many ways, which you can get an idea of from reading the above. Many people, both gay and straight, do not have a favorable opinion of bisexuals.

The above statements are all things I've heard said about bisexuals. There are promiscuous bisexuals, but they are no more abundant than promiscuous straights or gays. Some people might say they are bisexual when they're confused, thinking it's easier or are just afraid. That doesn't mean ALL bisexual people are like that, though. For many, bisexuality is very real. They can and do have romantic feelings for both sexes. It might not be an equal attraction- someone might have a strong preference for one gender over the other. That doesn't change what is felt.

Does this mean that bisexuals choose their orientation? Not at all. Bisexuals, like anyone else, choose who they date. This could be either male or female. Note that I say male OR female, not AND. Simply because someone can have feelings for both genders doesn't mean they'll date someone of each sex at the same time. It does happen, but probably along the same amount that a straight person will date two people if they're attracted to multiple people at once (or their first partner doesn't satisfy them sexually). That is not the norm. All it means is that after a bisexual person is done dating someone, their next partner might be of a different gender than the previous relationship.

Bisexual people are different- not so much different than straights or gays, but just different from one another. I can't say that no bisexual person would date both a man and a woman at the same time (it happens), or that someone claims "bi" to be popular or because it's somehow easier to admit (fear from saying they're gay). That happens, too. Most bi people aren't any different from straights or gays. Please try to understand this and don't assume something just because you hear someone is bi.

I've decided I want to do a century ride. On my unicycle.

Yes, I realize that's 100 miles in one day and quite possibly certifiably crazy. Even more crazy, some unicyclists have the goal of doing a 100-10-1 challenge: 100 miles, 10 hours, 1 wheel. I'm not going to try for that. I want to leave room for plenty of breaks, take my time, and slightly painfully and sorely enjoy the 100 miles.

On my bike, the most I've ridden in a day is 50 miles. That would sound a lot more encouraging if it had been one single trip. It was split between a 20-mile ride in the morning, and a 30-mile ride in the evening. On my unicycle, the most I've ridden in a day is ~13 miles or so (some of which I actually ended up walking because it was partly on a mountain --cycling trail).

I do have some work to do. I'm going to start by doing a 30-mile ride on my unicycle. Also in my "to do" list prior to doing a century will be to ride up to the top of a mountain pass (probably on my bike, eventually on my unicycle- once I get the brakes installed and know how to use them so I don't fall off as I'm trying to slow down). That'd be roughly a 40-mile roundtrip ride (much easier on my bike than my unicycle, at least coming down from the pass since I can coast on my bike). I figure if I do a couple of other 30-40 mile trips on both unicycle and bike, that'll get me nicely into shape. Slowly, I'll do longer trips (already have a nice 60-mile route planned, although that's partly off paved road, so I'm not sure).

If I seem to be able to handle those rides okay, I'll probably go ahead and try a century ride on my bike. After that, and some recovery, I'll do it on my unicycle. It'd be a bit more challenging on my unicycle, mostly because of the extra time needed. It could take from around 10 hours (not likely) to 16 hours, depending on how long I take at breaks and what not. As a result, I'll have to figure out a nice lighting system for my unicycle.

This really is meant as a "long term" goal that I'm not setting any specific date to attempt it. I'll have to do lots of research and preparation for it, in addition to some distance training. It might even be nice to talk some local bicyclists into doing this with me, at least the bike century. I figure I'll do it when "I'm ready," if ever- it's mostly just something to give a goal to work for as I'm riding around.

Even though I realize that not all hobbies can be combined successfully (2, 3, 4, 5), I had an idea for an interesting cache puzzle. In geocaching, many caches aren't hidden at the stated coordinates. Instead, you have to solve a puzzle to get to them. Sometimes the puzzle can be as easy as looking at a few historical signs and answering questions to get the coordinates. Others, you have to solve very complicated codes.

For this puzzle idea, I was thinking about using my new language. I could simply use the numbers of the language, which would likely be pretty easy (just translating individual words isn't difficult). I'd like to have people potentially learn things about the language. That would force me to have a puzzle that had to be translated. Once you translated everything, you'd have to solve the puzzle (not sure what it'd be yet- probably something that might throw a person off if they didn't understand the propr context... for example, putting in some kind of idiom). After solving the puzzle, you'd get the coordinates and head out. For this cache, since I'd not only be putting in a lot of work in developing it, and the cacher would be doing lots of work in solving it, I'd defintely be placing this in a tremendously cool spot. Basically, I'm going for something that will make it worth all that work. It'd be a long time in the making, but it's just one of my many ideas for creating a puzzle.

When planning out my language, I don't think I can help but invent "more" than the actual language itself. In some way, I invent a "culture" surrounding said language- even a way of thinking about life. In English, when we mention love, we often associate this feeling with a certain body part (the heart). For my language, I was contemplating what body part I could associate with certain feeling, as well: The pinky finger should be association with rage. I don't know why. I figure that will make for a very nice place to start writing a mythology in the future (perhaps there's a story where a god comes down, and takes eir revenge out on a villager by cutting off the pinky finger). I also am thinking that that "thought" should be associated with the heart. I'll be playing around with that idea, and certainly not every emotion will have a body part associated with it (although I was thinking that sexuality should be represented also by the pinky finger... but that'd mix together sex and rage... hmm... I don't want to advocate that this culture is into rough sex as a normal thing... not that there's anything wrong with that if it's consentual).

I still have yet to work out other aspects that would influence the perception of the world through language, such as adding in different classes or classifiers (I'd probably choose soemthing other than masculine/feminine/neutral found in many Indo-European languages, and go more with animate/human/plant/object/etc.).

I think now it's time to find more food. I went on a 10+ mile unicycle ride from my apartment to my parents, who live completely outside the city on the opposite side of town. No honking, but I do see thumbs up are still very popular.

I walk into the classroom, with some equations on the board. No, they aren't equations. They're words. It's some kind of little quiz. I write down the words, but then cross them all off and write "What the hell?" next to all of them in big letters. The teacher tries to explain, but I don't understand. When I woke up from that dream, I interpreted the teacher's efforts to trying to convert language into math. Language isn't math. Math might be a kind of language (used broadly), but the converse would end up with a lot of numbers that are incomprehensible to either.

It did get me thinking this morning, however. I won't be designing a language based off of math or try to mathematically design words (morphemes). Instead, I got thinking about a enw aspect of my language: emotion. In my last attempt at a language, I didn't really get into emotion yet. Now I'm wondering how to describe and represent emotion in my language. Where do all the emotional words come from? Should I take the list of moods available from Livejournal and translate them? That'd be one way of creating emotion words... if I wanted to copy how English uses emotion. I certainly don't want to do that (not that there's anything wrong with the emotional use and expression... bah). One of the main reasons for conlanging (constructing languages), for me, is to explore new ideas and to see the world differently through to use of interpreting it differently. English certainly has one way to describe certain emotions, but surely there have to be others. It seems like in English, there are a few "basics"- words that are vague, but can often encompass a whole range of emotions (happy and sad), but there are also slightly more specific words (nostalgic, terrified). So what other ways would you go about describing feelings you have (I don't mean music, paintings, and other art), since there are likely other ways to interpret our own emotions? Hmm... Oh, I have no answer yet. It's just something I'm beginning to contemplate and had to ramble on a bit about so hopefully I can get back to sleep.

"What happens when you repress something?" "It goes away?"


That's what I'm hoping. This will be a random update to completely not think about what I'm actually thinking about right now, as that would involve emotions and stuff. Also, I'm not going to write the next line of the above quote. Nope. Things go away when you repress them. Yeap. Totally. With that... random musings of my mind as I try not to think of unpleasant stuff:

I invented a new word today: Ratscals. I don't think any of the li'l ones were actually doing anything rascally at the moment, but as I was talking cute to them, it slipped out. The last things I've had to to try and stop them from eating and/or running away with included a pear and a coupon.

Earlier this week, I set a new record on my bike for total distance riding in a single day: 50 miles. This was actually two seperate rides (20 and 30 miles), with a three-hour break for lunch and to avoid the heat. This was also completely done for one single geocache. The caches were actually very easy to find, and would have been required no more than going about 150 feet from the road if you were driving. The stages of the multi-cache were just very very spread out.

A few weeks ago, I was in Denver visiting my brother. I got to do some uni-caching there (caching while on my unicycle). That worked out pretty well. I couldn't take my bike up due to lack of room, but my unicycle fit in the truck just fine. It sure beat walking around from my brother's place to City Park.

A few weeks prior to that, I hiked up to Organ Needle (the highest point in the mountains by my city, and the county). It was a long hike, particularly since I was with my dad. He managed to make it almost to the top, but didn't try going up the final crux. That last bit was a bit nerve-racking, as it was my first time doing more serious "mountain climbing" as opposed to just scrambling, although I didn't use any rope or equipment to get up. It was just a bit more vertical and exposed than what I usually do on my hikes.

I can't think of anything else too exciting that's happened in the past few weeks, at least this temporarily distracted my thoughts. I guess I'll just have to play some Civ. Bwahaha.


P.S.: "It comes back all crazy and pissed off."

In a few days, I'm going to be visiting my brother in Denver. He just bought a house there, so there's a small family reunion. It might turn into a "help him unpack" trip instead of doing anything fun. Despite that, I've been planning which geocaches I'm going to get with hopes that I'll actually get to go caching. I'm also going to try and take my unicycle (the big one), if I can find room in the truck. Besides caching and unicycling, I'm not sure of any other attractions/destinations to aim for. Hopefully a few of the caches will lead me to some cool areas. I managed to see quite a bit just caching my way around San Francisco last year.

Whiskers and Bruxy are now sharing a cage. This morning, I sadly realized my "quarantine" wasn't really effective (being only one room apart- if there was an airborne contagion, it would have been spread when the door opened, or when I was walking around between the two rooms). With that, I decided just to go ahead and introduce them. There was some squeaking when it looked like Whiskers bit Bruxy (not a dangerous bite- it was probably more of a "hard grooming" than anything). There was no blood, just a bit of squeaking. I didn't stop them, since they have to work out the pecking order themselves. I would only intervene if I saw blood.

They've been in the cage together a few hours. Tonight, I let them run around the apartment together. Whiskers seems quite a bit happier. He's even running around more. He would sometimes run around with me, but usually he just calmly explored, with a slight "jog" now once in a while. With Bruxy, however, they would chase each other around and play-fight (or still trying to work out the dominance thing). I even heard Whiskers brux a few times.

I do realize that Bruxy is more energetic than Whiskers. I still somewhat think I should have gotten another of Bruxy's littermates from the store, so he'd have someone his own age/size to play with (in addition to Whiskers). At least they are getting along, so I'm not too worried. Having three rats out at a time would be a bit crazy, though- just letting two run around at once keeps me busy watching over them.