Futon moving

I guess there are a few things to have to accept when you have a cat for a pet.
-You will never had an uninterrupted night's sleep again
-You are not the boss of me
-cat hair will be the reason you need a plumber, a new vacuum, and an IT guy (don't ask)
-at some point, all your furniture will be ruined by your cat.

I have an anxious cat. Every time I go away for a few days, he greets me with love and affection, and then poops on the floor. Or at least, on the floor until recently. After the last few trips, he has been pooping on the futon. YUCK! I've tried the enzymatic cleaner, but at this point in order to sit on the futon I have to put down a trash bag, then a towel, to make sure I don't end up smelling like cat poop. Gross. I have a friend coming to town in a couple weeks and one of us will have to sleep on the futon. But not with it like this! Today I'm picking up a new futon mattress and a waterproof pad to put between the futon and cover. This one is a Protect-A-Bed, and is supposed to be cloth and still waterproof. And not crinkle the entire time. I have a cheap $20 mattress cover on my bed right now, but it's definitely crinkly and hot. I hope that the pricier cover will be worth it. I've read a bunch of consumer opinions, and it sounds like this might work. I don't want to spend $90 on a new twin futon if I have to replace it in 6 months.

Typewriters Obsolete?

We had a temp working in the office today to handle the stuffing and sending of our newsletter to our target list. At one point I had Ilya, cute 24-year-old guy who just graduated with an impressive degree in bio and engineering and secured a hotsy-totsy job in downtown Boston, type up two mailing labels for names that were added to the list after the mass production of letters and labels. I pointed him in the direction of the back office, where the antiquated electric typewriter sits, and gave him some labels. After a few minutes he came to my desk. He had NEVER used a typewriter! EVER! Or a word processor either I guess, since that is almost the same as an electric typewriter.
I was stunned. I love typewriters. The immediacy of it. No programs, no additional hardware required. Just slightly upgraded handwriting. No record, no editing, just raw text. Up until recently I had a word processor in my closet for when inspiration struck. The screen no longer worked, and the disks no longer saved. [read electric typewriter] When I moved from my last apartment I put it in the large free pile on my porch and watched it walk away to a good home. I miss having a typewriter, but I just don't have the space right now. Once I graduate to a 1-bedroom maybe I can bring one the typewriters from my parents attic here and pound away a masterpiece.