What Does Not Destroy Me...

Yesterday as I got close to the Times Square subway station, I pulled out my MetroCard and on the back of it I noticed the following quote:

Train of Thought: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger. (Friedrich
Nietzsche 1844-1900).

Now, I have heard this quote a billion times before, but seeing it on the back of a Metro*Card (or as I like to call it, my train ticket to Hell) reeked of pure irony. My daily commute to and from the office on the subway is filled with enough things that's probably making me stronger. Or at the very least, a more tougher, jaded commuter. I present you a list of said things in bullet format:

· Every day, at this one station where I transfer to another train, hoards of people REFUSE to step aside and let the passengers off the train. Instead, these hoards of people try to squeeze their way onto the train before letting anyone out. A huge pet peeve of mine and a subway rider no-no. You basically have to sharpen your elbows if you want to make it out alive. What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

· If you time it just right, you can be the only person trying to make your way down the stairs while throngs of people are stampeding up the stairs. What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

· Things are always frenetic in and around subway stations - especially high traffic stations. Stations are filled with people whizzing by; tourists scratching their heads; and people beating on drums; playing pan flutes and break dancing all for some loose change or a dollar if they’re lucky. It's always noisy no matter what time of day. What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

· Subway doors are unforgiving. They will close on you whether or not you, your limbs, or your personal property are on the other side of the doors. The Husband and I have been separated many times because he is able to jam himself inside while the doors snap shut in my face. The rule is, if one makes it on without the other, they get to feed Manny his Fancy Feast. What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

· The 7 train is notorious for too small seats. Unless you’re built like a pipe cleaner, if you want a seat, you’ll have to wedge yourself in between two people. One of which is probably a guy who has to sit with his legs wide open. What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

OK, that’s enough for now, I don’t want to scare my out-of-state readers from ever coming to the Big Apple or deter anyone from using our transit system. The MTA is already in a budget crisis, so we need all the dollars we can get. I just love how poetic my Metro*Card is this month.


I can’t wait to see what other quotes land on my $89 a month unlimited Metro*Card. . .

New Twitter Name...

I interrupt this blog for a brief public service annoucement...

My new twitter name has changed from ginabeana to cassalvarez. Follow Me. Please. It's lonely over at my new account. : )

We will now continue with manohmanny already in progress.

Reinvention

So I’ve been doing some thinking about this little blog of mine. I miss blogging, but I feel like all the Manny stories I have is a repeat of something I have already posted. So, time for a lil reinvention. Nothing drastic. In addition to writing about Manny, I think I will include more posts about me and my daily adventures. I live in the boroughs of NYC. I see crazy happenings all the time – I should be able to find something in my day to write about. Let’s call it a switch from a blog about my cat to a “life blog” as Kim would call it. Speaking of Kim, she’s having a Homemade Holiday Sweets Giveaway over at her blog. Even though it will lessen my chances of winning, I encourage you to enter. I’ve been on the receiving end of her homemade goodies and they are seriously. good.

See? Goood Stuff.

And not to exclude Manny, I caught Manny picking out my Christmas gift the other day.

Uh huh. The boy's got good taste.

Dear Manny,

Dear Manny,

I heart you Manny, I really do. You are a big mush when you want to be and your grooming habits are impeccable. You are a connoisseur of kicking back and you come when you’re called – how could a person not love that?! I love how you show me your belly when I get home from work. It's OK that you showing me your belly leads to rabbit kicks to my arms. I don’t mind your mood swings or the occasional hair balls you leave on the floor for my bare feet to find (OK, maybe I mind a little). I don’t even mind your cries for food every time I walk in the kitchen. But I have something to tell you, sweet Manny. I need to get this off of my chest:



I have a crush! It’s true – I can’t help it! I didn't want it to happen. I don't even know when it happened. It wasn't planned. Although miles and miles separate my crush and me (how far is it from NYC to Chicago?) – I still can’t help oohing and awing over him. I can’t help staring at his pictures or giggling at his you tube videos. Siiiigh.

He’s just so different from you. He’s dark; he loves going for walks; doesn’t mind a little vacuuming; and takes lounging to a whole new level. A seriously whole new level. I’m not saying he’s better than you, just different. His name? Data. Yes, he’s a cat.

Alas, he belongs to Kim, but I can’t help loving him, too. Click on the links, you'll see what I mean.





don't worry -you'll always be my Mannicotti Biscotti.



Love,

Me.




This blog inspired by Kim's blog post entitled, How to Make Your Cat Jealous.

Owned

But we already knew that.

Manny pulls out the high-pitched cry talked about in the below article when he hears anything remotely similar to a can opener or when he's ready for us to go to bed. Feel free to discuss your thoughts on article. Does your cat own you?


***********************
Livescience.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090713/sc_livescience/catsdocontrolhumansstudyfinds

If you've ever wondered who's in control, you or your cat, a new study points to the obvious. It's your cat.

Household cats exercise this control with a certain type of urgent-sounding, high-pitched meow, according to the findings.

This meow is actually a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry. While people usually think of cat purring as a sign of happiness, some cats make this purr-cry sound when they want to be fed. The study showed that humans find these mixed calls annoying and difficult to ignore.

"The embedding of a cry within a call that we normally associate with contentment is quite a subtle means of eliciting a response," said Karen McComb of the University of Sussex. "Solicitation purring is probably more acceptable to humans than overt meowing, which is likely to get cats ejected from the bedroom."

They know us

Previous research has shown similarities between cat cries and human infant cries.
McComb suggests that the purr-cry may subtly take advantage of humans' sensitivity to cries they associate with nurturing offspring. Also, including the cry within the purr could make the sound "less harmonic and thus more difficult to habituate to," she said.

McComb got the idea for the study from her experience with her own cat, who would consistently wake her up in the mornings with a very insistent purr. After speaking with other cat owners, she learned that some of their cats also made the same type of call. As a scientist who studies vocal communication in mammals, she decided to investigate the manipulative meow.

Tough to test

Setting up the experiments wasn't easy. While the felines used purr-cries around their familiar owners, they were not eager to make the same cries in front of strangers. So McComb and her team trained cat owners to record their pets' cries - capturing the sounds made by cats when they were seeking food and when they were not. In all, the team collected recordings from 10 different cats.

The researchers then played the cries back for 50 human participants, not all of whom owned cats. They found that humans, even if they had never had a cat themselves, judged the purrs recorded while cats were actively seeking food - the purrs with an embedded, high-pitched cry - as more urgent and less pleasant than those made in other contexts.

When the team re-synthesised the recorded purrs to remove the embedded cry, leaving all else unchanged, the human subjects' urgency ratings for those calls decreased significantly.
McComb said she thinks this cry occurs at a low level in cats' normal purring, "but we think that cats learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans." In fact, not all cats use this form of purring at all, she said, noting that it seems to most often develop in cats that have a one-on-one relationship with their owners rather than those living in large households, where their purrs might be overlooked.

The results were published in the July 14 issue of the journal Current Biology.

Pictures

As promised.

Oh and just for kicks - here is a picture of my Orchid.

It's dead now. Well, I'm not sure if it's totally dead. The flowers fell off but the leaves are nice and green.

Hola!

Hi Everyone! So sorry for the long time no write. I know some of you have been worried about Manny because of the lack ‘o blogs, but he is doing great. Life got difficult there for awhile and I needed a little blogging break. We are all fine and happy, but I had to focus on life and give it it’s fair share of attention.

Manny is doing really well. He has adjusted to his new home beautifully. The stairs are his new playground – he likes to race me up and down, and beats me every time. It’s getting really competitive, I must admit. He fights dirty. Manny likes to cut in front of me; and I know some day I will get to the bottom of the stairs before he does, but I think it’s going to contain a nasty spill (me) and I’ll most likely not land on all four feet.

Manny’s getting more vocal. I like to greet him in a high pitch (no idea why) voice when I come home from work, and he likes to match it. He’s probably telling me to take it down a couple of notches, but I like to pretend he’s actually answering me, when I squeak out “and how was YOUR day!”.

The other day The Husband managed to brush enough fur off of Manny to make another cat. I have no idea where Manny is storing all this fur. He enjoys depositing some of it when he finds a discarded shirt on the floor. It’s my fault, I still haven’t learned to pick up my clothes off the floor on a regular basis. It’s been a problem since childhood, right Mom. So instead of my Mom telling me to pick the clothes off my floor, now I find Manny laying all over my sweat shirt or gym clothes. As a reward for being lazy, I get a shirt (probably a black shirt) with orange fur all over it. YAY! So, I’m taking matters into my own hands. No, I did not become neat. I got the BISSELL PET HAIR ERASER. Or as The Husband likes to call it, THE PET ERASER. He thinks it’s funny.

He’s been the target of my camera lately. I love interrupting his nap time(s) with my camera. He hates the camera and flinches whenever I pull it out. I’ll post some of them soon. Yeah, I know I’ve said that before, but I will! Promise.

WANTED: GUEST BLOGGERS…

I’m thinking that it would be great to hear from some of my readers. If anyone is interesting in being a “guest blogger” and posting a story or two about your beloved cat, let me know! Perhaps it will clear some of this blogger’s block I’ve been having. Email me at mannyed924@hotmail.com if you would like to share a story on Man Oh Manny!