Scarlett Letters

Just ask the internet:

REI: Kitten Gear
When it's time to go on an adventure, REI has all the equipment the active, healthy kitten needs to embark on her latest expedition. Complete with bandana and machete. (Zeke has already put in a request.)

NPR: Scratch That: One Cat's Struggle With Internet Stardom
Life in the spotlight is never easy. NPR profiles the trials and tribulations of being a celebrity cat and the best ways to survive and thrive.

Google: QWERTY Cats
Google understands its audience so well. The need for a virtual keyboard for cats has been an ongoing one. Why, Sophie can't wait to get her paws on this. One thing's for sure: I'll need to hide the credit cards and blacklist PetSmart so she can't go shopping while I'm at work!

LinkedIn: Cats You May Know
For the well-networked cat--or the cat who needs a more robust network--LinkedIn provides just the tool for the job.

So I was in Portland this weekend, as many of you know. I was there for a National Geographic photography seminar. Excellent day, excellent weekend, really.

But what most of you don't know is that it's the start of a much larger process. And it's not something I've really talked about because it's such a big project that it could have fallen through at any point. But enough elements are in place now that I can finally share what's going on.

I came back from Africa, and it was really a big deal, that whole trip. Many of you have seen the pictures. It really changed my life. I've been talking, quietly, with Earthwatch, and now I can announce the plans.

Over the next two months, I'm going to be packing things up here in Seattle, putting most of it into storage, renting my condo and heading back to Africa, probably for an extended period of time. I'll be there covering Earthwatch's African operations for their newsletter and Web site, writing articles, taking pictures (hence the seminar), and getting to participate in a number of their expeditions. They've been looking for someone for a while now who has experience something like mine--Web work, editing, writing, photography--but because they're a nonprofit, their budget isn't huge. I really had to think hard about this because the pay is practically entry-level . . . but in the end, I decided the experience is going to be pretty damn amazing and I just can't pass it up.

My brother will be taking care of Spanky and Merlin while I'm on the road. I hate to abandon them this late in their lives, especially leaving them with someone who has a big dog and some pretty serious cat allergies. But the Big Cats are calling, and elephants and giraffes and baboons and wildebeest. . . .

So . . . at the end of my current Microsoft contract (that's end of July), I'm outta here, kids.

( A few more details beneath the cut... )