But we were too late anyway - Theo died in my arms on the way to the vet. This photo was taken earlier Sunday in the backyard. I shall miss my little bundle of joy greatly.

Had a phone call from Mum - her brother Allen has died.

In fact, she was phoned by Allen's doctor who was passing on their condolences and was shocked that the police hadn't contacted mum as yet. It seems that Allen hadn't been seen for almost a week, and when the police checked they found his body. It may have to have an autopsy to determine what he died of, though the fact that he has type 2 diabetes would have affected things. He had several cats and they are running wild now. Mum phoned uncle Steven to tell him about the death. Today was Steven's birthday - some news to get! Mum and Allen's sister - aunty Glennis - died in 2007.

The odd thing is that this mirrors what happened to uncle Brian who was dad's brother. In each case they were allowed under the will of their parents to stay in the house as long as they wanted to. The only difference was that Brian paid some of the rates, whereas Allen didn't (and this was a point of contention). Looks like they both died alone, to be discovered about a week later. At one point there were plans to sell the house as the it was behind the royal show grounds  and they were interested in expanding, but that fell through.

I have fond memories of Allen. when my family would go on visits I would talk to him a lot and we'd listen to his collection of stage musical LPs. As I got older I suspected that he was gay, but if he was, it was a "Peter Allen sort of gay", if that means anything to you (and in fact uncle Allen looked and sounded a bit like him as well).  Didn't matter to me either way though when my sister-in-law asked directly about this recently he was offended. I hadn't seen Allen in years since the start of my transition, though when I visited my family in 2008 he had lunch with mum and me. Wish I could post a photo but I don't have any of him, and we didn't want me to take any on that occasion.

Will miss him.

I tried There just after discovering Second Life and for a while it was a contender for the main virtual world that I'd be interacting with. But there were a number of problems back then. There didn't seem to have much in the way of freebies with which to play with, to see if it was worth developing. Also, because I'd tried SL first, There's interface seemed utterly alien to me. The biggest fun I had in There back than was riding my hoverboard about (and it was fun!).

Elsie_Broek and her hoverboard

Anyway, I heard it was closing and decided to take another look - much the same strange "Island Paradise" thing but also much more developed. And I actually had a lot of fun exploring and riding my hover board (again).In a way, I'm sad to see this go, even with all the quirks it had. Whatever There was in general, in many ways it was original, and that should not discarded casually.

John Hughes died on the 6th. I was initially aware of Hughes as a writer for National Lampoon Magazine and was delighted to watch his films. The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and National Lampoon's Vacation are classics and you can see the National Lampoon influence in all of them.

From CBC News:

Andy Hallett, who portrayed a charming, karaoke-singing demon on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off show Angel, has died at the age of 33.

Hallett was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles on Sunday after suffering breathing problems. He died there, following a five-year battle with congestive heart disease, his agent, Pat Brady, said Tuesday.

Born in Osterville, Mass., Hallett moved to Los Angeles at the age of 23. He worked as a messenger at a talent agency and eventually scored a job as an assistant to the wife of Buffy and Angel creator Joss Whedon.

After seeing Hallett perform karaoke, Whedon asked the lanky young man to audition for a new character on Angel, which starred David Boreanaz as the titular brooding vampire with a soul.

Described by his father as "a very gregarious, happy young man," Hallett became a fan favourite on the show as Lorne, the red-horned, green-skinned, lounge lizard-inspired owner of a demon karaoke bar.

Lorne, who could deduce elements of the future for those he heard sing, soon joined Angel 's group of do-gooders. The show ended in 2004.

According to Brady, Hallett was diagnosed with his heart condition as the show came to an end and had been in and out of hospital over the past five years.

The actor is survived by his parents, Dave and Lori Hallett.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry died on December 18, 2008 at her home in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California as a result of complications from leukaemia. She was 76.

As other Trek fans will know, she was first seen (in the pilot) on Star Trek in the role of "Number One", though was was more widely known in the role of Christine Chapel. Later in her career she appeared as Ambassador Troi in Deep Space Nine and later in a guest role on Babylon 5. She also provided the regular voice of the on-board computers of Federation star ships for Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and most of the Star Trek movies (including the yet to be released film). That being so, she was the actor most heard via Star Trek.

Majel Barrett married Gene Roddenberry in 1969 and after his death she was Executive Producer of Earth: Final Conflict (in which she also played the character Dr. Julianne Belman), and Andromeda - both based on his original ideas.

I don't know about you, but that's taken the shine off my day.

Yep, he's dead.