(When we went out to the car this morning, I looked at the ground and Saw Something, which meant I was able to give him the first four-leaf clover of the season on his birthday. I'm very pleased about that.)

That's wonderful. Happy birthday, Pete!

Much MiracleMove~ma. I know you've been considering this for a long time, and the timing does seem pretty right.

Good call on not cutting the vaca, javachik! I hope that you are able to arrange to come home to a good job.

Tough break on the cat, Sean. I have no advice, every way I have tried has ended up just me pitting my will to force the, to take the pill against their determination not to. Fortunately, I am extremely stubborn and my cats are mostly healthy.

It's a real shame that as my "customer contact" lists get longer, my "big piles of money" plan is not getting any clearer. This is how pyramid schemes get started, isn't it?

A friend of mine once had to give her (14-pound, spoiled) cat pills every morning. The cat was determined not to take them. She'd eat around the pills, or take them with the food and then spit them out (nothing like finding a half-dissolved kitty pill in the kitchen ... or the bedroom). One morning she got the pill down the cat ... she THOUGHT she got the pill down the cat ... until the cat jumped on her shoulder and spat the pill down into her shirt pocket.

Attn: Hec and JZ!!! My mom brought me season one of Slings & Arrows as a recovery gift, and we watched the whole thing last night. SO much fun! Wonderful performances all round and great, witty scripts and Paul Gross is yumalicious.

It is the genius, yes? Do you need S2? I can hook you up.

Selfishly, I am unhappy about the Miracleborns going Michiganward. This will certainly cut down on the likelihood of their company, which is a pure negative for me. Going back to family is good, I agree. Going back to Michigan? I'm of the opinion that the cool people come from Michigan. It's not so much with the going back there.

Of my two cats, one was a short stout energetic little ball of slutty love and affection -- except when getting pilled or having her nails trimmed; for the latter, I had to actually sit on her over the course of three or four days, doing one or two nails at a go, and as for the former, I gave her exactly two pills ever and then gave up because I kind of liked having digits instead of ragged stumps at the ends of my hands.

The other cat was the biggest sub on the planet, and all I had to do was pick him up and squeeze his jaw, and his mouth would flop open and he'd go all ragdoll on me, with a look in his eyes that clearly said, "Mistress's wish is my command. Whatever Mistress tells me to swallow, be it a pill, a piano, or the contents of Mistress's poison ring, I seek only to submit and obey."

I miss him.

The other cat was the biggest sub on the planet, and all I had to do was pick him up and squeeze his jaw, and his mouth would flop open and he'd go all ragdoll on me, with a look in his eyes that clearly said, "Mistress's wish is my command. Whatever Mistress tells me to swallow, be it a pill, a piano, or the contents of Mistress's poison ring, I seek only to submit and obey."

I miss him.

Thanks for making me laugh, JZ. I needed that bad just now.

I had to actually sit on her over the course of three or four days, doing one or two nails at a go

See I was going to suggest "Sit on it" but didn't want to come across as mean to animals or something. But, yes, with the nail trimming or pill giving I sit on my cats (mostly pretty docile, dumb but huge guys). And, if it's pills, I pry open jaws, jam the pills down and clamp mouth until pills are swallowed. Sounds brutal but it's not too bad really and it's generally efficient. They don't seem to mind too much.

And, if it's pills, I pry open jaws, jam the pills down and clamp mouth until pills are swallowed. Sounds brutal but it's not too bad really and it's generally efficient.

Tha's how I would give Dread Beastie his pills. I'd usually tilt his head back until his nose was pointing at the ceiling, which made dropping the pill straight down his throat much easier. He wasn't thrilled about the process, but eventually got used to it. Of course, that took a couple of times where I hissed back at him and reminded him exactly who the alpha cat in the house was ...

You know, I just got my tax refund, and I was already planning on using it to knock down my student loan, but...I sort of just want to pay off my loan entirely. I have the money. But it's scary! Thousands of dollars, just bazoom. But I got a great performance review, so I'll be getting some sort of raise and bonus and whatnot, so it seems like a good way to mark the occasion.

And that's really only half of that last semester of grad school. My dad paid for the other half, and all of college, and he's not the sort of person you pay back.

I'd usually tilt his head back until his nose was pointing at the ceiling, which made dropping the pill straight down his throat much easier.

This. Plus, with the kitteh's nose pointing skyward, give a stout blow into the nose. This results in a naturally irresistible urge to swallow. A few gentle strokes to the throat and Bob's your pilled cat.

The treat afterward is a great idea too. Makes the process seem worthwhile to the non-grudge carrying feline.

The blowing technique works on dogs who won't let go of something too. A quick puff of air into an ear and their jaws naturally unclench. It's miraculous!

You might want to talk to an accountant about the tax implications, P-C. If you can keep getting the student loand interest deduction it might be worthwhile to keep the loan for a while. But I'm not sure how that really breaks down. Or, of course, how the financial considerations balance against your satisfaction of having school all paid for and out of the way.