Battle of the Kittehs: Louis vs. Ella

Ladies and Gentlemen!  Fleming International brings you the all-out, hard-hitting, brawl of the century!  Two competitors will battle for superiority of sleeping spots, prime petting position, and complete dominance of the domestic domain!

Let's introduce our fighters:

In the red corner, weighing in at 12 lbs, and reigning Heavyweight Champion of the Apartment, Louis "I Was Here First" Cat.

In the blue corner, weighing just 5 lbs and barely qualifying for this class, Ella "Smaller and Faster" Kitten.

These two combatants were brought together originally to live peacefully in their shared apartment.  But that peace was soured when Louis balked at Ella's brash behavior in making herself comfortably at home in his space.  The two squared off and quickly agreed to a multi-bout tournament to determine, once and for all, which cat would reign supreme.

Louis Cat, born February 2009, is the Brute of Brooklyn.  His style is direct and forceful, right in line with a typical feline fighter.  His favorite tactic is to use his front paws to tap his opponent on the head, as if to toy with them, then pin them down with his body.  He'll give chase if he has to, but prefers the pounce-and-kick method to running around needlessly.

Ella Kitten, born May 2010, is the newcomer and is challenging Louis for the title for the first time. She's fast and light, and makes full use of the tight spaces around her to gain a tactical position.  Though inexperienced, she has a natural talent for flanking her opponents.  Her strategy of running and hiding may paint her as the weak one, but when the claws come out, she's a whole lot of sharp.

Who will take home the Champion belt?  Will experience and brute force overcome speed and agility?  Will the undercat uproot the reigning Champion?  The two competitors will take the ring each day until they determine how to coexist in the same space.  Daily bouts will go on until the referees call an end and split them up to rest for the next match.  Eventually, though no one knows how long, Louis and Ella will declare a victor or a truce.  This commentator is hoping for the latter, though I'm sure we're in for a heck of a show.

Images: Naddya Chavez

Apartment Drama, or, Exile to the Suburbs

At this point, I'm calling it: We will not be moving into our new apartment this weekend.

For those keeping track, we found our new home back in January and signed the contract on it the first week of February.  (For those not keeping track, here's all news I remembered to print.)  There were some early complications in the way the condo was set up with commercial space on the ground floor, but those have long since been worked out.  Back in March, we had our first walk-through, and we were glad to see that it was largely ready for us to move in, with only cosmetic things making our punch list.

In April, we waited.  Waited for bank to give us our loan approval.  When that came, we were truly excited.  Everything was falling into place, and we were set.  Now all we needed was for the bank to make some final approvals on the building itself after those earlier complications.  But all signs pointed to closing in April, or perhaps early May at worst.

Toward the end of April, we heard the building had been approved by the bank.  Our lawyer scheduled a closing date for May 11th.  We were warned that the bank might not have all their ducks in a row by then, but that there was every indication to believe it was possible.  With certainty, we were told, the process was so close to being finished that there was no way the closing would be delayed beyond May.

So it was a time for celebration.  We threw a party in early May to say farewell to our backyard garden (and celebrate a birthday).  We told our landlord that the end of May was when we'd move out of the apartment, giving us time to paint the new place.  Wheels were turning, and we came to realize that Memorial Day weekend, if not earlier, would be when we moved.

Then, suddenly, the bank withdrew its approval of the building.  They'd approved it on a false premise, we were told, they didn't understand some key elements of the way the commercial space was set up.  Huh?  At least one part of the complication came from the fact that the condo uses one address, while the commercial space uses a different address.  Paperwork got confused, the bank got confused, and pulled their approval.  Whether or not we would close in May was once again under question.

Still, we were told not to worry.  The bank would sort out its confusion and re-approve the building any day now.  Any day now.  We asked our mortgage brokers for daily updates, but the answer remained "we're just waiting for the bank's approval."  We tried to be hopeful, as the weeks wore on, but in the back of our minds we were beginning to realize we needed a back-up plan.  And fast.

Which brings us up to this week.  Just yesterday, our lawyer called me again with a tentative closing date on Thursday.  That cuts is close, but still allows us time to move to our new apartment this weekend, since we can't stay in our current apartment beyond the 31st.  Relieved, I shot an email over to the mortgage broker again asking if he thought this was a possibility as well.  He does not think so.  In fact, he's confident we will not be closing tomorrow or Friday.  But he assures us, he's working as hard as he can to get it through as soon as possible.

Time for Plan B.

Lynn's parents have offered to take us in.  They live in Stamford, CT about a forty-five minute train ride from Grand Central.  They have a guest room in their basement with it's own bathroom.  We'd have use of a car, and would be train commuters to work, along with thousands of other suburbanites.  Three and a half years ago, I retreated to Stamford to wait out the job hunt, and now it looks like we'll be returning.  While I'm not looking forward to the commute (at all), I'm grateful for their generosity.  It's won't be convenient, but it will be a way of saving money and spending time with family.  And it's certainly a more viable option than finding a Craigslist short-term lease for a married couple, living out of a hotel, or hopping from couch to couch among friends (although I am also extremely touched and grateful to all of you who offered).

Louis the cat, however, may disagree when he meets Riley the dog.

Things Happen So Fast

It certainly does seem that way, doesn't it? So much has changed in just a few short weeks. I left my old job to start at a new company. It was odd, having been there for two and a half years, to leave all the people I've come to rely on every day. But the time was right. The new job is pretty fantastic, and as I'm settling into it I'm liking it more and more.

In between the end of one era and the beginning of the next, I went to Ireland. Why Ireland? Cheapest flights I could find. My friend Andy happened to be visiting us when I made the decision, and as luck would have it he could take a week off too. So we went, with no plans, and very little knowledge of the country or geography. It was great. We found wonderful things to do, fantastic people, and lots of great beer. Maybe one of these days I'll write more about it. But I doubt it. There's just never enough time in the day.

Things happen so fast.

Lynn and I, in an attempt to curb our parents' calls for an expanded family, adopted a kitten. We're calling him Louis, after Satchmo, of course. He's an all-too-adorable little tabby cat who's fearless around people and loves to cuddle—that is, when he's not tearing something apart.

Now that the summer is stretching out ahead, we're hoping things will calm down a bit. We have no plans this weekend, and that's a welcome change.