Where am I?

I'm now accepting re-nominations for a new cat. I won't have her until the end of next week, but she's already a movie-star on this interweb thingy. I didn't have anything to do with that video, or these pictures - they're both from the shelter. But I did spend some time with her in that same room.



She seems reasonably intelligent. I predict that she will be a mighty huntress.

However, her name is too short. I believe that cats should have names of around five syllables: this gives plenty of scope for short nicknames, while allowing for an easy change of nicknames as the cat's personality matures. For example, Kilimanjaro was known as Jar, Jaro, Killer, and Kilo (and probably less flattering things).

I'm toying with Carolynnetta. It has plenty of syllables, and also contains her shelter-name. Or I could name her after a song, but I'd need to stretch that out a bit.

Suggestions?

It's a rare week when I don't discover some new corner of the language that I didn't know about before. Did you know about per-variable typing?

let $a as xs:integer := 1
return $a + 2

=> 3

Sounds useless, doesn't it? But just like function-parameter typing, it could prevent errors. Think about this:

let $a as element(ArticleTitle) :=
  doc($ID)/MedlineCitation/Article/ArticleTitle
return $a

Now we have a guarantee that there will be exactly one ArticleTitle. Anything else will cause an error:

XDMP-AS: let $a as element(ArticleTitle) :=
  doc($ID)/child::MedlineCitation/child::Article/child::ArticleTitle
  return $a -- Invalid coercion: () as element(ArticleTitle)

Nice, isn't it?

Culture shock! I taught a developer class in NYC this week, near Wall St. This was my first trip since coming back from Thailand. Let's see... prices are about 100x higher, and I missed the upgrade on both legs. That's it - I'm goin' back to Thailand.

Oh wait - wasn't it 95-F and 100% humidity, there?

Anyway, I stayed around the Fulton Fish Market area. Too bad the market closed down about a year ago - but it still made a nice change from mid-town.

I caught the last storm of the season, and went cross-country skiing.

Kilimanjaro died this morning at about 10:30. When I woke up she was vomiting up water, and then fresh blood. She couldn't stand up. I took her to the emergency clinic, where they diagnosed an intestinal tumor. Her appetite had been poor, and she'd lost about 30-50% of her former weight. On Tuesday, another vet had noticed the lump in her abdomen, but didn't see anything on the x-ray.

She seemed to recover interest in food whenever I had tuna sashimi to offer. She was always strong, and I had hoped it was something minor.

But it was serious. This morning at home, and In the emergency room, she was clearly in pain. It was time to say goodbye.

I seem to be saying goodbye a lot, lately.



What would I have done if I'd known it was cancer, on Tuesday? Or a month ago? Cancer treatment for a 14-year-old cat? Would I have been strong enough to give her up while she still seemed to be healthy and happy? I wish I could have spared her the last hour or two. But I didn't know, and I couldn't.

ButI could edit this all night, without getting it right. So I'll stop.