and all the roads we have to walk are winding...

yeah, i know... giant news. again.
and again, i'm leaving it alone 'cause i have nothing new to add.

moving on... my project. visual basic... i have to learn visual basic...

yeah, i know i can use a visual basic form to drive code in other languages... or even invoke another executable altogether, so i'm not really limited to one language for the project...

but i'm looking at the automation interface, and... not only is there *way* more documentation for it in vb... doing things in other languages are just ass-backwards. the automation was designed pretty much for vb. but i guess that's what i should expect--microsoft makes automation for a microsoft product to support development in a microsoft language. based on a microsoft... technology? they call ole a technology...

***

shortly after my last blog (the night of, i believe), matt was in atlanta, and i'd gone home to the apartment to let chi-chi out for a bit and to feed the fish and stuff...

pleco's back was rotting. there was fuzzy stuff from it all over the place... i really needed to vacuum the stuff out of the tank. so i did, figuring that i could keep chi-chi out of the bucket because she usually investigates things before she jumps on them. well, she came up to the bucket and sniffed the hose running out of it... and before i could say "no," she was already out of the bucket (yes, it happened that fast... it was the same movement that happened when she tried to jump on the trash can in the bathroom and didn't realize it was... well, hollow). she'd jumped out so quickly that only the bottom half of her got wet (out before the water sloshed back). i had to catch her and blow her fur dry... but i used the cold setting on the hair dryer (for fear that i'd overheat her).

friday night, i noticed that chi-chi had what looked like sand crusted onto her nose, except it wasn't changing color when we rubbed it with a wet towel. it looked like it might have been growing out her nose, so i didn't want to pull at it too hard... but i was thinking that she'd caught some bateria or fungus from the rotting-pleco water. she'd been scratching at her nose thursday night (we noticed it right after she sniffed matt's foot... we thought she thought it smelled funny), and she'd sneezed every once in a while (which i thought was from bath dust)... and she was sleepy. very sleepy. but friday... that was scary.

so saturday morning, matt woke up at 4:30 to make sure she was still alright (as alright as she was before we went to sleep), and then we both got up at 8:30 to go to the vet.

turns out that it was an upper respiratory infection (respiratory infections can kill chinchillas quickly--especially lower respiratory infections. but upper respiratory infections can cause huge problems alone, since chinchillas don't really breathe through their mouths), so she's on medication for a bit (which she hates us for), but she's *much* better now. if only i weren't an idiot.

she's still not pooping properly (which might be from the baytril putting her off her food, or an intestinal blockage... i'm worried about the latter), but i guess she's not eating very much to poop. i wonder how much weight she's lost...

***

went to see batman begins with ulyssees saturday, after we got chi-chi back from the vet (which is an entire story in itself... now that i think about it, i'll go into that later). joe was supposed to see it with us, but he ran late, so i told him that we'd meet him inside the theatre... he couldn't find us, so he called my phone and left a message that he didn't know where we were, so he was headed home. so much for taking joe to fudd's.

***

the vet visit...

chinchillas are half fur by volume. it was hot outside. heatstroke waiting to happen.

matt went outside to chill the car while i prepared a pee-dish, water, an ice pack, and put chi-chi in the carrier. matt and i had to wear jackets/sweatshirts in the car.

we had to go to eastern exotics off of 50 (stahl was booked until tuesday, and they suggested them), which is on legato rd. we turn onto legato rd, and it comes to a t intersection. with legato rd.

it was a good thing we could see the centre from the intersection... strangest intersection i've been to.