He was quite a hit with my family and friends. My sister got three cats, and Michael Sclafani picked up a long-haired Abyssinian and a monster Maine Coon. When Brian and Scott got their respective condos they each got a pair of cats.
As for me, I had never liked leaving Namyats alone, so in 1998, I picked up a kitten and named him Blackwood. We call him Blackie. Here he is:
By the way, I know that's not a good picture. There are some better pictures with Archie below.
Later in 1998 Rupert and I moved out. We tried joint custody of Namyats, but that didn't work well. Cats like to stay put. So in October 1999 Sherry and I picked up another kitten, whom we named Archie.
A picture of Archie taken on Nov. 14, 1999
Why Archie? Well I was sick of bridge conventions; it was too much work to explain the inside joke. Also, there was not much left at the four level. (Texas?)
Archie comes from Archie Goodwin, but I also think of it as an open, friendly kind of name. It definitely matches Archie's personality. If I had to rename Blackie to match his personality it would probably be Kazcinski.
Archie and Blackie got on well right away. Blackie was a very good older brother to Archie; he was very tolerant and not at all jealous. Here are some pictures of them together:
On the scratching post, | 
In the sunshine, Blackie at left. | 
Second shot, showing | 
Fight! 12/12/99 |
In early 2001 my friend Michael Shuster moved back to the Bay Area from Reno. He had two cats that he was unable to keep. He found a home for them but needed a place for them to stay for a few months. We have a lot of space and we like cats, so we agreed.
Mike's cats were two girl cats, also black and very fluffy. They look a lot alike and we tell them apart more by personality than by features. Mike called them both Muffin. When they first were here we called them Friendly Muffin and Shy Muffin. Shy Muffin became more friendly as she got used to the house.
After a few weeks we liked them so much that we asked if we could keep them.
Pictures coming!