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Day Twenty-Five: Cat Social Psychology!
Apr. 7th, 2020 09:49 pmToday's Virtual Science Pub was with Kristyn Vitale of Oregon State, who specializes in cats' social cognition and their relationships with humans. Her approach is very behaviorist. She has a website here, and also a lot of fun training videos and instagram stuff using the name "maueyes" too. I did not know that cats are as attuned to humans' pointing and gaze as dogs are, on average. I can't picture myself training my cats like this, but the cats did seem to be having fun.
Earlier in the day I did a bunch of estate stuff. I wrote an e-mail to explain the Wells Fargo situation to my step-brother again, I spent time on the phone with an estate management person from the hospice (a free service, which includes lots of notifying other people on our behalf, very nice - and she said that Social Security had already been informed, which will save me 2+ hours on the phone with an exceptionally obnoxious on-hold audio track). I went to find my mom's tax accountant, up a rickety flight of exterior stairs, and got her taxes filed for 2019. I also called my sister to tell her about all this.
For today's symphony watch party, I listened to Beethoven's 3rd symphony, "Eroica," which was about Napoleon, and while listening I actually did a bit of my work-work. Then we made tacos before the cat thing, and after the cat thing I made dinner for D. then did some sword-related exercises with J. Oh, also I got a plant from my employer today, a calla lily I think; it's a bereavement gift.
Earlier in the day I did a bunch of estate stuff. I wrote an e-mail to explain the Wells Fargo situation to my step-brother again, I spent time on the phone with an estate management person from the hospice (a free service, which includes lots of notifying other people on our behalf, very nice - and she said that Social Security had already been informed, which will save me 2+ hours on the phone with an exceptionally obnoxious on-hold audio track). I went to find my mom's tax accountant, up a rickety flight of exterior stairs, and got her taxes filed for 2019. I also called my sister to tell her about all this.
For today's symphony watch party, I listened to Beethoven's 3rd symphony, "Eroica," which was about Napoleon, and while listening I actually did a bit of my work-work. Then we made tacos before the cat thing, and after the cat thing I made dinner for D. then did some sword-related exercises with J. Oh, also I got a plant from my employer today, a calla lily I think; it's a bereavement gift.