Old House Fanatic

Despite the fact that I live in a house that's less then five years old (even if it does look like an old farmhouse), I still have a deep and abiding love for Real Old Houses. I get choked up driving past our old house, which I loved despite having 120 years of gunge, broken plaster, odd wiring, and mysterious construction issues. I loved fixing up an old house (well, loved it most of the time!).

I ran across another person who obviously loves old houses -- and her experience in renovating a turn of the century bungalow in Chicago entirely engrossed me for almost five hours. Read through the archives of her blog on doing Bungalow Archaeology -- digging out a hundred years of accumulated "collections" from a previous owner who hoarded everything -- from six WW1 army tents (in original backbacks) to enomrous collections of depression era glass to spare Victrola motors and boxes of rocks.

She has been documenting the finds since 2003. It's fascinating and fun and sad and oh-so-familiar to anyone who has ever looked at an old house and thought, "I can fix that!"

Check out House In Progress. Read from the beginning in the archives. It's worth it.

Off travelling

I'm a bit missing this week -- travelling to Salt Lake City to work with a new client for a week.
First off, I'm not flying anywhere near the weekend of thanksgiving again. What a madhouse!ACtually, it wasn't too bad, just really hectic and far too early to deal with families and huge luggage and all heading back home from grandmas house.

Salt Lake City is a lovely place, and it has to be populated by the nicest people I've ever met. I mean, freakishly nice. Too nice. Every single time I've approached a door, someone has held it open for me, even backtracking a bit to make sure they could do it. They hold elevator doors. People came to my rescue when my shoe heel got stuck in the transit rail line while crossing the street. Pregnant women and elderly people got all the seats on the train. No one is grumpy. It's kind of stepford-like.

I'm staying only a block away from Temple Square, which has tons of sights and restaurants, so I may have to foray out into the raging blizzard (really!) and eat somewhere funky today. I have to walk to my hotel (no car this trip), but I can do most of it inside through the office complex and attached mall. Pretty cool.

Leftover Mania

The post-thanksgiving Turkey Feast was a great success! Nineteen pound turkey, about ten pounds of potatoes, and an enormous batch of stuffing. Everything was done on time, everyone had a great time, and we have enough leftovers for the Adorable Husband to eat during the week I'm gone.

The Linnemeyers joined us again -- this time with Rainer's girlfriend in tow (we were beginning to think that she didn't really exist) and a friend of Annika's as well. My friend Mark came along, and we lounged about eating dinner and pie for the afternoon. Much fun!

The Adorable Husband got beeped back to work just as we started the final prep for dinner, so I got everything in order and set the table on my own, but we managed.

Everyone laughed at my Turkey Feast Plan -- a visio timeline to get everything done on time and prepped for dinner. They laughed, but IT WORKED! Hah. No, I'm not going to post it here, it really is embarassing. I'm such a geek.

Turkey!

We spend a lovely afternoon yesterday having turkey and the trimmings with our neighbors -- very nice, lots of good food and wine. And pie, don't forget pie.

The Adorable Husband is on call the whole weekend (pretty much from Wednesday to Monday. He got called in Thursday morning, but was back in plenty of time to join the festivities. Of course, Friday was not so calm -- two cases in the morning, and then he got called in at 9pm...and just as he got back home, beeped again and didn't get home until 2am.

He still managed to make three pies and bake Cardamom bread, so things aren't too bad!

We're doing the entire Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Fest on Saturday -- inviting friends and neighbors to finish off the 19lb turkey and Major Stuffing (I only know how to make one size. It's fun.

The beastie is doing fine and back on normal food. Well, mostly normal food. He's discovered that if he stares mournfully at me long enough, I succumb and cook him chicken and rice. I am so well trained.

The Barfing has Arrived

Ugh. The beastie was fine Tuesday night, but spent the whole day today lumping around looking very, very nauseated. He refused absolutely everything, even water, and you could tell he was feeling awful.

I called the vet who gave the chemo and he prescribed Reglan, an anti-emetic med, to handle the nausea. I had asked to get a prescription when we left the office after chemo, but they balked for some reason. I should have insisted, and would have had it on hand to give tot he poor beast when he started drooling and horking. I picked it up at lunchtime, and by dinner he was acting a bit more interested in food.

So I gave him about half a bowl of chicken noodle soup, just to get some fluid into him. Big mistake. He followed it with about half a gallon of water (he must have been very thirsty) and then plopped down in living room.

Half an hour later? Barf-o-rama. No warning, either. Just three enormous spots on the carpet and a very, very unhappy dog. The Adorable Husband hauled out the carpet spot cleaner and we did the best we could, but we're going to have to rent a steam cleaner or have the carpet people back to clean the living room carpet. Ugh.

It might have been the antibiotics, according to the vet. (He's on antibiotics proactively because chemo will lower his white blood count) That can really cause stomach problems, so we're suspending that until he feels better. Poor beast.

Toxic Avenger

Rukh had his first chemo appointment today, and so far is doing pretty well. He seems a bit off, but we stopped for his standard post-vet-visit Arby's Roast Beef and seemed pretty happy about it. They told us to expect the barfiness tonight or tomorrow, if he gets sick at all. Hopefully not!

We opted for Carboplatin, five sessions three weeks apart (probably). Of the three major drugs they use, it has the fewest side effects (the others can cause cardiac damage, or kidney damage, or neurological issues)...of course, it happens to be the most expensive, too. Of course. Well, I'm willing to trade a little pain in the wallet to make sure that he feels better and has fewer side effects.

He was the belle of the ball at the vet's office, though -- they cooed over him, and petted him; he got his chemo while laying on the rug with his head in the tech's lap. He's taken the "I'm cute" act on the road, and it's a hit.

Intechsicated

I really, really need one of these. Oooooh!

We saw one at the local Borders, and at first thought it was a mockup -- the screen is white, the words are crisp, it is this close to being a paper page, but it's digital and holds about 80 books.

This might actually be more sexy than the iPod.

Woah.

For Women Only

The adorable husband gets tons of funny stuff forwarded to him in email, and he passed along this one to me, since he thought I'd appreciate it.

I do. Oh, yes. Make sure to check out all the side effects.

Venti Grande Supremo...what?

I don't drink coffee, and I certainly don't drink the foofy coffee things that people drink at Starbucks. I have to admit a slight sense of giggling hysteria over the jargon thatStarbucks coffee people (oh, wait, the proper term is barrista) force you to use -- and will apparently correct you if you misstate your order. Vente. Grande. Skinny. Half-caf. Legs. Huh? This is just coffee-code. Why can't it be a large coffee? No, you must order a Grande, and will often be snootily corrected if you attempt to buck the system.

But I discovered that Starbucks produced a brochure on "how to order" a few months ago. There's a decoder ring for how you ought to get your enormous coffee (equal to 4-6 regular coffee cups, depending on what you get) properly. One guide has the following

1. The cup (here, to go, your own)
2. Number of shots of expresso (single, double [doppio], triple, quad)
3. Ristretto, Decaf or half-caf (regular is default)
4. Size (short 8oz, tall 12oz, grande 16oz, venti 20oz)
5. Syrup
6. Type of milk (whole, skinny, half-n-half, organic, soy
7. Modifiers (wet, dry, no foam, whip, no whip)
8. Type of drink (americano, latte, cappuchino, mocha)

It's still pretty funny, even I can decipher what they are saying. The Adorable Husband loves to go in and order 'large coffee' -- and is often squinted at curiously, and asked, "d'you mean a venti drip?". Hah!

Beastie Update

A friend of mine stopped by today to see Rukh and to pick me up to go house-hunting with him. I opened the front door as he stepped up the curb into the sidewalk and Rukh got one look at him and bounded out the front door, down the three stairs, down the other two concrete stairs inthe walkway and just about bowled Friend over.

I just about had a heart-attack. I'm still paranoid when the beastie goes down the two small steps into the yard in back (and even more paranoid when he goes back up the stairs) and here he goes flinging himself off the porch with reckless abandon. Yikes!

But, it's another day in the ongoing improvement. Rukh is doing amazingly well, and is starting to get back to his normal self, honestly. He looks better, acts perkier, and seems to be pretty happy. He's still a bit wobbly on three legs, and gets tired really easily, but I figure in another week or so, he's going to be almost back ot normal (or as close as he's going to get minus a leg, I guess). Of course, we're starting chemo this week, but they say that dogs do really well, so here's hoping it goes well.

Veteran's Day

To all the men and woman who have served this country -- thank you.

Twisted Gifts

If you want slightly twisted, rather odd, and definitely fun presents -- check out PerpetualKid.com.

I really want one of these Voodoo Knife racks, it just makes me giggle every time I look at it. Yes, it's sick. But funny. Very funny.

Maybe if I paired it with the Voodoo Toothpick holder....

I don't need no steenkin leash!

Well, two days off the narcotic painkillers and Rukh is almost acting like his old self. He is perky, alert, wagging, and just seems so much happier. He's still pretty quiet around the house, only getting up a few times to shift around or go outside, but he's having a much easier time of it and is moving around the yard so much better. He's still on the Rimadyl (anti-inflammatory), but he seems pain-free from the amputation.

We dumped the leash on our forays outside, since it just seemed to piss him off to be tethered and watched while he did his business. He's shy, apparently, and doesn't want anyone standing there whistling idly while he takes a dump. He hides around the corner of the house now so we can't see him, and seems much happier. I haven't had any repeats of the 'lay down at the end of yard' episodes, so I'm sticking with it. I do worry that someone will walk along the back fence and he'll try to chase them like he's used to, so one of us is outside with him all the time.

We did drag him to our vet this evening, mostly to assuage my worries that his "good" leg is still good and that he is doing ok. Lisa was so pleased to see him, and said he looks just great. The specific gravity of his urine is still too low (which probably means that he is simply drinking too much water because of the drugs or anxiety) but she wants to wait a few weeks to see if it resolves on its own now that he's off most of the meds. His hock is fine, although he needs time to build up strength, and he was a fine example of cute-and-playful dog at the appointment.

The vet office sent us a Doggy Gift Basket today with biscuits, a ball, and a stuffie toy for Rukh. That was really sweet. We love our vet.

While I'm still paranoid and using the sling each time Rukh gets to stairs, he's really doing well and I might actually be more of a hindrance than a help. I'm just so nervous that he'll slip or fall, but he seems to be balancing so much better now, and he's fast. Speed is the friend of a tri-ped dog, I've been reading -- think about using crutches: hopping slowly is actually harder than getting a good rhythm and swinging along. Same thing with the beast. When he runs, most of his weight is on his front legs and he just has to push off with the back leg (and he's way more stable). Scares the snot out of me, but I assume that he'll be back to running in the yard in a few weeks. At the moment he looks like an oversized rabbit.

Uulaq is having a hard time, though. She really, really wants to PLAY and so far has been rebuffed (either by us or by Rukh himself). It's just about killing her. She is so confused when we don't allow her to pounce on him, and she doesn't understand when he just ignores her. I hope that in the next week or so he feels good enough to at least engage her a little. In the meantime, we've set up a playdate with our neighbor's dog (a 7mo-old Golden) to see if that takes the edge off a little. Otherwise, she's going to be extra-neurotic until things settle back to normal.

And, of course, she's convinced that we just take Rukh in the car so we can stop at some tasty-food place and not give her any. We always stop at Arby's or McDonalds with the beasts when we go to the vet, so each trip out, Rukh comes home smelling like roast beef or cheeseburger. She's getting extra attention to make up for that one!

Chemo should start next week. We haven't heard back with a 100% confirmation of the type of cancer, which will affect which type of chemo we do. I've been reading a bit about chemo for dogs with osteosarcoma and there are quite a few options, ranging from least toxic to more toxic and least expensive to how much? One of the primary drugs can cause serious heart problems, another is kidney-toxic, while the least toxic of the group is the most expensive (> 1K per dose). Ouch. Different combinations of things are used depending on the specfics of the cancer and size of the dog. Dogs do, however, tolerate chemo pretty well -- most don't get sick or nauseous, and at most are a bit "off" for a day or so. They see to sail through it. Chemo is critical in cases of bone cancer since it always metastasizes to the lungs, whether you see it in the initial xrays or not. So, the chemo proactively attacks any cancer cells in the lungs and hopefully keeps them from growing. With chemo, there's a very good chance that he'll make it a year or more. Rukh is otherwise healthy, although he is nine, so we are very hopeful. As long as he's happy and seems to be pain-free, well do what we can.

We did have a rather macabre laugh about things though -- Akitas, being a giant breed, don't have long lifespans; we have gotten used to the idea that we will lose them somewhere around 10years old. When I got so upset about possibly losing Rukh (who, out of all of our dogs has been my favorite) early, we suddenly thought that it would just be fitting irony if Uulaq (who out of all of our dogs has been my least favorite, despite being a sweetheart) would live to 17 or so. It's not really funny, but in the stressed-out situation around here, we did get a laugh out of it.

So, news from Chez Phouka is pretty dang good this week. So far, so good, knock-on-wood, etc.

Bouncy Flouncy

First off -- good news on the change in leadership in Congress.

Second, Rukh is doing really well today. We finally backed off on his meds, since he appears to be mostly pain free (despite the slight sprain in his hock, which we've been icing and he seems to be dealing with ok) and the tramadol makes him a bit woofly.

Oy. He was bouncing around the the house this morning like Tigger. Charged outside this morning to pee, back inside. Up again asking to go ou. Getting up to drink on his own without any encouragement. Apparently, he was feeling more woozy than we thought on the meds and even if he's a bit more uncomfortable, he's definitely perkier. We might have to put him back on meds just to keep him quiet!

Ice and Treats

Rukh is actually doing really well today -- he's getting up and moving around on his own, not just when we make him get up . But, he's obviously strained his hock, which is swollen and sore. I think he hyperextended it, hopefully not to seriously. He seems to be able to get around, but it's very weak and not too stable. But -- he's been out three times today and seems to be able to squat ok. We aren't following him around with the sling anymore, it seemed to freak him out. He does have to wait at stairs so we can help, and he's picked up on that really quickly. He just stops and then hops up the stairs once we've got the sling under his belly.

I called Lisa, our vet, and she said to ice it and if it doesn't start to improve tomorrow we should bring him in. The other problem -- dribbling pee on the floor -- is not a UTI, and may just be related to the fact that he's been drinking a LOT post-operatively (either a sore throat, or the narcs give him a dry mouth) and since he doesn't want to get up much, he waits until he really has to go. It's been better today.

Functional Art

This might be one of the strangest things I've found in a while -- sculptural urinals. Urinals are usually plain-jane, functional fixtures. I never thought they'd be seen as an expression of artistic vision.

Clark Sorensen, in San Francisco, makes absolutely stunning floral urinals. They are lovely, fully-functional, but would probably be a pain to clean.

Glad I Bought a SpotBot

Rukh is doing pretty well, actually -- he's much happier now that the Adorable Husband is home, but he's still really leery about going outside (probably because I traumatized him). He doesn't want to get up and hop into the yard, although he certainly does well enough once he's out there. He's annoyed that we have him on a leash.

But, he's apparently having some sort of urinary tract problem -- either he has a UTI or something else is off, since he's dribbling/leaking when he is laying down. This has necessitated spot cleaning the carpet a few times a day, when he managed to lay down off of the quilt or pad we've put down. It's not a lot -- but it's strange for him, and he seems quite upset about it. He's not having problems peeing outside, so we're going to drop off a sample at our vet to make sure he doesn't have an infection or something else. Hopefully, this is a temporary problem!

Spasmodic Dysphonia

Weird. Apparently Scott Adams (creator of the Dilbert comic) lost his voice about 18 months ago as a result of a very strange and exotic disease called Spasmodic Dysphonia-- where the part of the brain that controls speech just fritzes out. People with SD can't speak normally, but can often sing or chant or (in weirder cases) talk if they pinch their noses or speak in a falsetto or other "fake" voice.

This is usually permament, but Scott apparently has recovered his voice (at least partially) in the last week or so; he's one of the few who has ever recovered from this.

You can read his experience here, in his blog.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to the fabulous nieces -- ONE YEAR OLD TODAY!

You can see the details here -- at Slippery Tiger.

Yeah! Wow! Omigod we feel old now!

Walking! We're Walking!

Update on Rukh, since I've been entirely offline since Friday. It's been a wee bit hectic.

He's doing really well in terms of getting around, adjusting to the tripod stance, and is getting up on his own a few times a day to either find a new spot to lay in or go outside.I don't think he's in much pain at all -- the Rimdayl seems to cope with most of the discomfort and the tramadol just seems to make him woozy without offering any actual relief. Cutting back actually made him a bit perkier, and I can't see any obvious signs of pain. Amazing. He just needs to adjust to the new balance paradigm and you'd hardly know he'd had surgery just four days ago.

The incision (while horrifyingly large) is clean and the bruising is even clearing up. They shaved most of his butt (except his tail-- so his whole back end is nekkid) and about half-way up his belly, so he gets cold easily. He's getting a lot of bruising along his belly and sheath (where most of the swelling has settled, poor guy) but he's otherwise doing well. The Adorable Husband commented that it'd good that he's neutered, or his testicles would have swollen up to the size of oranges. Oy,

Definitely improved over Friday. If he continues on this path, he'll be romping in the yard by tuesday.

We had a bad episode last night -- I got cocky in letting him head outside without the sling under his belly so I could support him down the two shallow stairs to the yard -- and Uulaq bumped him off balance on their way down the stairs and he fell on his right hip (the amputation incision)...and then just stopped. He refused to move, and lay incision-side down on the concrete stoop (and it was COLD) and refused to even try when I called him to come inside. I tried tempting him with food, tried just about everything...no go.

In retrospect, I should have called the neighbor to come over, Rukh probably would have stood up on his own..but I hit the wall. Collased in a pathetic heap, crying hysterically, throwing up, and ended up dragging the beast up the two stairs. Every attempt to pick up him and get his front legs set was met with limp submission (and increased mass to at least 900 pouunds, I swear), I just picked up his front end with the sling behind his elbows and hauled him bodily to the deck,rear leg be damned. Uulaq kept trying to engage him in play and I yelled at her..

I don't think I hurt him (any more than the crash onto the concrete did), but I felt awful. Just awful. I scared him, and scared Uulaq, and that was terrible. A tiny part of the incision reopened, but he otherwise, seemed unhurt.

However, dogs have a much bigger heart that we have, and by this morning he had either entirely forgotten about the incident, or decided to forgive me. Going outside this morning was uneventful, and he seemed to be ok -- even perky.

I called the the Adorable Husband this morning and he checked out of hte hotel and headed home, skipping his last three classes so he could be here. Rukh seems SO much better with DH home. His attitude improved immediately (and he headed out to the yard to poop about five days' worth in fifteen minutes) and he seems happy that the Husband is home. I think that Rukh believe that he'd had abandoned us, or something. He's definitely more upbeat now that he's home....and the Adorable Husband can simply pick him up and carry him inside when he gets too tired or sore to continue (the benefits of a large, muscular husband, eh?)

So -- much improved over Thursday (despite my nervous breakdown) and we're hoping that his improvement continues as his strength increases. All in all -- much better. I feel horrible that I scared him, but he's ok. I also went up to nap as soon as the husband got home...and apparently fell into a stupor for about five hours while he managed things. Even throwing lemon peels down the garbage disposaln in the next room didn't wake me!

All-in-all? I'm glad we did this. He's adapting well, and has less pain and seems to be so much happier. Chemo starts next week, and with that we hope to have another year with the beastie!

First Tri-ped Day

We had a pretty quiet night last night -- although Rukh whined in the car because he couldn't get comfortable. It's the FIRST TIME I've ever heard him whine; DH got so concerned he pulled over on the freeway to check that nothing was poking him or pulling his stitches. He was just woozy from the drugs and very tired.

Once we manhandled him inside (and manhandle is the word -- he was DONE with walking by that time) he racked out in the living room and slept. I couldn't get him up to pee around midnight -- he seemed like he was interested in going out, but wasn't going to budge.

This morning, he was wagging and got up himself to get to the door. I still had the towel tucked up under his belly to support him, since his "good" leg is really, really weak right now and he tires so easily. He rabbitted off into the yard like he had a purpose, and I let him get too far....about a quarter of the way back, he STOPPED. I spend over an hour trying to get him back in the house (including pushing him onto a sheet and dragging him across the grass) and eventually just had to hoist him up as best I can and pull him into the house (it's only about 20 degrees outside, and I didn't want him to sit outside in the cold without his fur!). I don't think I hurt him, but it can't have been comfortable.

Once inside, he just sprawled in the hallway for awhile, but a few minutes ago got up under his own power and made it ot he living room.

It's my responsibility to know that he's got no stamina and prevent him from doing things like he did this morning -- now I know. Yikes.

Oh -- his incision is about 12" long, 40 staples. Other than being really, really red (and I'm sure he'll be a lovely shade of green and yellow as the bruise forms, since he's pink under all his fur, he looks great. I saw a huge improvement even from last night in how it looks. And, I wasn't really grossed out, like I thought I was going to be. I don't really even notice the lack of his leg -- just the massive bruise. Poor guy. He doesn't like the cold packs (as instructed by the vet) but they do seem to help!

I'm very tired, though. I hope that he gains enough strength to manage a bit easier soon. We'll be up a creek if I throw my back out trying to haul around a hundred pound beast. And those blow-up camp mattresses? Not so comfortable. If I have to sleep on the living room floor again, I'm having my neighbor go out and pick me up an Aerobed or a futon. LOL.

Good news

CSU called this morning, and Rukh is doing really well! He has been up already, and when they got him outside, he tried to run. I'm not sure if he was actually trying to be energetic, or trying to escape (the hydromethone makes them really, really disphoric, so he might just be confused) but that's very encouraging. He's eating and drinking and they have already turned off the IV drugs and put him back on Rimadyl and Tramadol (which he was on before). That should control his pain.

Yeeha! He should be able to come home today!

Update II - 8pm

CSU just called, Rukh came through surgery very well -- he's groggy but comfortable.

They did the amputation all the way up to the hip socket, removing the entire femur and all the musculature associated with the leg. I assume that is because it's easier for them to balance without any structure on that side, and to remove as much weight from his rear as possible.

Here's hoping that he can get up and move around tomorrow, so he can come home!

Surgery Day

We brought Rukh up to CSU this morning to check him in for surgery. Yesterday was a bad, bad day -- he was barely able to stand up and his hock and foot had swollen up terribly. Even his toes were poofy. We upped his pain meds, and the two Tramadol every four hours that was making him so groggy he couldn't walk just a week ago, now took just enough of the edge off that he could sleep and was able to get up and around.

This morning, he was actually a bit perky -- went outside and walked around a bit, and seemed pretty happy in the car. The student who is handling our case is very sweet, and she spent a lot of time just talking to Rukh and petting him, so when we handed over the leash he was quite happy to go off with her.

Surgery should be around 1pm, and they'll keep him on intravenous pain killers and fluids for twenty-four hours after that. When he can stand up on his own, and when he pees as least once, we can take him home. Probably tomorrow afternoon, late.

I really, really hope that this is better for him.

Resolution

Back from CSU today (Colorado State University vet practice -- the Mayo Clinic for dogs, really) with Rukh. Our vet had referred us initially to a vet specialty practice, who immediately sent us on to CSU because there were opportunities for clinical studies that Rukh might qualify for, and which might offer a better prognosis than standard treatment.

The vets at CSU confirmed the diagnosis of osteosarcoma, even without a bone biopsy; his signs and xrays are perfect examples of osteosarcoma in the tibia. The joint is really swollen now, and he's gotten progressively worse over the last week, despite a few good days where he was walking around a bit. He's basically three-legging it most of the time now, when he works up the gumption to stand up and go somewhere.

They did another set of chest xrays (clear! No signs of metastasis in this set) and went through our options.

• pain treatment only (nsaids/narcotics) -- 1-2 months
• radiation -- palliative (2 sessions) -- 1-3 months
• radiation -- treatment/palliative (20 sessions/30 days) -- 4-6 months
• amputation -- 10% 1 year/0% 2 years
• amputation with chemo -- 50% 1 year/ 30% 2 years

Most dogs are euthanized because of pain, and the only real way to alleviate the pain is amputation. Which, as the vet(s) explained to us today, is almost instantly less painful than the condition Rukh is in right now. Even the day of surgery, the reduction in pain from bone-pain to incision-pain is so dramatic that they are up and around immediately. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that, but after talking to a few of the people there with dogs, it seems to be true.

So -- we are going forward with amputation of his rear leg, scheduled for Wednesday. We were not sure about it, but dogs really do seem to do well and barely even notice that they only have one rear leg (once they figure out how to balance). I'm still not sure how we'll deal with it, but all the data we have says that Rukh will be better. We'll start chemo about two weeks after surgery.

There were a couple of clinical trials at the university, but those that we felt comfortable with all had a delay before amputation (which was required by all) that was unnacceptable. We can't wait for 2-3 weeks before we do surgery, to see if drug A or drug B are useful. I'm not willing to bet on "should provide alleviation of pain" for the beastie.

Of course, with surgery on Wed, we can bring him home on Thursday, just in time for the Adorable Husband to go to a weekend-long seminar. He's been signed up for months now, and can't really miss it. He'll only be a few hours away, so he can come home if there's an emergency but otherwise, I'm on my own for the weekend. I'm not looking forward to that -- I can deal with wound care, I can, but I get awfully squicked out by the incision itself. Hopefully, the beastie will sleep most of the time and I can manage to get him outside by myself. They recommend a sling or towel to support him for a while. Yikes.

Good News and Bad

I talked to my sister last night, and she is getting married! She has known her fiance for about two years, although they have been dating only for a few months. I have never met him, but he sounds like a good guy, and the Adorable Husband and I are looking forward to meeting him. She's very excited, very happy, and I am excited for her.

However, for reasons that I will not explain here, I have never been more disappointed in my father than I am right now. Sigh.

Quick Update

I'm teaching class in Chicago this week, so just a quick update.

The Adorable husband took Rukh to the oncologist in Ft. Collins yesterday, and spent quite a bit of time talking through the options. The upside? He strongly recommended that we talk to CSU and the vet practice there, as they have a number of ongoing clinical trials that look very promising. Rukh would get state-of-the-art care, which hopefully have a better track record than the 'standard' treatment for cancer, and he would probably get that care for free. We have a higher commitment for tests and such, but we'll manage.

My only concern is that a) he is not in a trial that would risk him getting the 'no treatment/control group' option and that b) we always have the option to withdraw and end it when he is suffering. I don't think that either of these options is going to be a problem, but we're going in to talk to the docs on Monday to see if we qualify for any of the studies and if they actually do offer a better option.

Most still include amputation -- we're not sure that he'll be able to get around afterwards, but we've been assured by both our vet and the oncologist that it is the only surefire way to control pain, and that dogs are amazingly adaptable. I might not be so adaptable, but if it's the best option, we'll go for it. I just don't want him to go through surgery to amputate and then have weeks of recovery if the final prognosis is only a few months anyways. That seems unfair. But -- some of the trials are reporting early results of 1-2 years in remission. We don't know if any are appropriate, but we can hope. Our primary concern is that we control any pain. If we can do that and he's comfortable and happy enough laying on the couch watching TV with us, we'll do it.

More as I get more info. You can see the synopses of the trials at the Colorado State University site.

Vegemite

Apparently, the US is cracking down on the import of Vegemite (that yeasty-veggie spread that is so populate in Australia -- a relative of Marmite from England). It contains folate, which some obscure law in the US allows only bakers to use.

No worries about Nutella though.

Reconstructing HIstory

During an interview today on ABC’s This Week, President Bush tried to distance himself from what has been his core strategy in Iraq for the last three years. George Stephanopoulos asked about James Baker’s plan to develop a strategy for Iraq that is “between ’stay the course’ and ‘cut and run.’”

Bush responded, ‘We’ve never been stay the course, George!’ Watch it here

And then, please, recall that Bush has OFTEN argued that we are going to "stay the course". Does he think we're stupid? That we'll forget what he says? Do these people not understand that nowadays that there are machines that can record your voice and replay what you actually said?

BUSH: We will stay the course. [8/30/06]

BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]

BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03]

BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course. [4/13/04]

BUSH: And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. And that’s why when we say something in Iraq, we’re going to do it. [4/16/04]

BUSH: And so we’ve got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course. [4/5/04]

Bad news today. The swelling on Rukh's ankle, which everyone (including the vet(s)) thought was a bad sprain is not a bad sprain. Or a break. It's the result of osteo-sarcoma -- bone cancer -- in his tibia just above the hock.

They did a series of x-rays today that definitely show a mass or shadowing in the bone with a characteristic starburst shape, which makes them both about 95% sure it's bone cancer. Our vet also took a set of chest xrays, which show that it has probably metastatized into his lungs, as this kind of cancer normally does. It's very fast growing, and extremely painful.

We're seeing a veterinary oncologist on Monday (well, the Adorable Husband is, since I am travelling for work and can't reschedule on such short notice) to see what the options are, what sorts of pain management we need to deal with...basically what's what.

My internet searches have been depressing. Primary treatment is for pain, since bone cancer is not really curable and only in a few cases will go into remission. Usually, amputation of the limb is the suggested course, followed by chemo and radiation. Even with chemo, it's 4-6 months for most dogs; and that's if it hasn't yet travelled to his lungs. I feel absolutely awful that he's been in pain for obviously a long time -- he just never let us know, never showed any signs of it ; only when he had a tendon injury/sprain did he really start acting like things hurt. We've been attributing his stiffness and kind of general malaise to arthritis and old age. He's 9 this month, pretty geriatric for a giant breed. We only put him on Rymadil in the last two months.

Poor beast. I just don't know what we're going to do. I'm glad that we have the resources to do whatever we decide, and hopefully the wisdom to know when it's too much, and too long.

We really need to raise poodles, or chihuahuas or some other little yappy beasts that live until they're 27. Not these big dogs that are with us for such a short time. But we won't, I know.

Damn. Just....damn.

{hur-my'-uh-nee}

I don't read a ton of Greek literature, but occassionally I do and I have to admit that the names throw me for a loop sometimes. I found a lovely site -- Encyclopedia Mythica -- which is not only a great source for the mythic stories, but has a handy pronunciation guide. It covers most of the Greek and Roman myths, some Celtic names, and some Native American stories, as well. Not comprehensive, but a good reference for the most common stuff.

I have to admit that even though I knew that Hermione was pronounced {hur-my'-uh-nee}, every time I read it in Harry Potter, I heard her-mee-ohne in my head. And, if you pick up the new YA series 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' by Rick Riordan (The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters) it's handy to know how to pronounce the Greek names

The Perks of Power

Two interesting bits from ThinkProgress today.

President Bush recess-appointed former coal industry executive Richard Stickler to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The Senate had twice refused to confirm him “because of his troubling mine safety record — the mines he managed from 1989 to 1996 incurred injury rates double the national average.”

“Moving quickly to implement” the new Military Commissions Act, the Bush administration “has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed by inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.”

The American Red Cross came out today and said that the new law Bush rammed through congress to eliminate the due process of law for enemy combatants (which only Bush and his cohort can actually identify, at will, apparently) basically makes war crimes legal. Isn't that nice?

Tuskless Elephants

I love Discovery Channel.

Apparently, poaching of African Elephants has forced the selection of elephants with no tusks -- accellerating the process of natural selection in evolution by thousand and thousands of years. There have always been elephants with small or non-existant tusks, but the rate is nearly 30% in some larger populations. Wikipedia sums it up nicely:

African ivory hunters, by killing only tusked elephants, have given a much larger chance of mating to elephants with small tusks or no tusks at all. The propagation of the absent-tusk gene has resulted in the birth of large numbers of tuskless elephants, now approaching 30% in some populations (compare with a rate of about 1% in 1930). Tusklessness, once a very rare genetic abnormality, has become a widespread hereditary trait.

No Wonder we're Fat

Give it another few months. Eventually schoolkids will not be able to go outside at all, and will spend "recess" sitting at their desks with their hands folded.

A bit of hyperbole, of course, but schools in Attelboro, MA, Cheyenne, WY, and Spokan, WA have banned the outdoor game "tag" -- you know, one person is it, they chase the others around and when you are touched, you become It and chase the others. Everyone has played this game. It's a staple of every schoolyard the world over.

The school in Attleboro has banned tag, touch football, and any "chase games" apparently because they're afraid the kids will get hurt and parents will sue. Playing tag is, I believe, part of being a kid, and banning it smacks of micromanaging kids' lives and living in fear of our (admittedly overly-)litigious society. Some parents are pleased, and say their kids feel "safer" because they can no longer play at recess, others think the whole idea is silly, and sad.

Well, just what are the kids supposed to DO? Stand around in closely supervised groups and stare at each other? Play entirely alone, since no "contact" is allowed? This is getting a bit ridiculous.

Hopefully there is more to the story; perhaps there are plenty of supervised games at recess -- but I doubt it. Recess has always been a free-for-all, and I doubt that schools have the resources and personnel to monitor every single activity that occurs outside.

As Seen on TV

I'm working from home today, which means that the television is on in the background and I have to laugh a bit at the bizarre products that they hawk on TV. Daytime television seems to be worse than late-night (although there are a lot fewer semi-naked women in the ads)

So, up comes an ad for Quiktop -- a plastic topper/sealer and spout for cans of soda. You pop this thing on the top of your can and it "hermetically" seals, and gives you a nice rounded spout and lid so you can save your can of soda for "days".

Who in the hell is concerned about saving a half a can of Diet Coke? Who doesn't finish the whole can at once? I mean, the television ad suggests that you can store the cans for several days and never waste a can of soda again. Huh? This is a big enough problem that you want to spend twenty bucks or so on these things? Is the risk of cut fingers or cut lips (also mentioned in the ad) from the metaal edge of the can really that much of a problem?

The only reasonable thing I could see if giving it to a kid -- less likely to spill, I guess, but kids shouldn't really be drinking lots of soda anyways.

I just had to laugh. Of course, if I believed the television ads, there are a lot of people out there who are incapable of draining pasta, turning pancakes, and that sort of thing.

Gumby Beast

Well, one of the beasties has managed to badly sprain his (ankle? hock?) and it swelled up like a grapefruit. We took him to be groomed on Saturday and we think that he slipped while on the grooming table, or while he scrambled up the ramp to get into the tub.

He's pretty arthritic nowadays (he's already on Rimadyl just to keep him up and moving) and we told them he coudln't jump and probably was going to have a hard time. We're not sure what happened -- it could even have been when he jumped into the car to go in the first place -- but we've been to the vet and they now have him on some lovely morphine-based pain killers. All we know is that it must have hurt terribly, since he was actually whining. It's so hard to tell with these big northern breeds if they are in any pain...they simply ignore it and do whatever it is you ask them to do, regardless of how much it hurts. We were worried that he'd broken something (and indeed, will have him in for xrays this weekend because the swelling is not really going down). The vet says it's a bad sprain and he'll need 4-6 weeks of rest.

He's pretty pathetic, though. And stoned.

He's groggy enough that I can prop him up and then watch while he sloooooowly tips over and sprawls on the floor. Heh. I shouldn't laugh, really. I shouldn't.

Banque or Banc or Bank

Maybe it's an error, maybe it's a political statement, but the bank in Kazhakstan has printed out banknotes with the word 'bank' mispelled on them. Instead of the proper form of the letter K used by the Kazakhs (the Cyrillic form), it uses an alternate form that many feel denigrates the Kazahks and is a slur (as well as being pronounced slightly differently). Language has been an important expression of nationalism among the Kazakhs, since they broke from the Soviet state sin 1991, so using the "wrong" langauge may be an accident of translation, or it may be something more.

The parliament wants to prevent the notes from being put into circulation, but the bank has decided to release them and then slowly replace the notes with a corrected version in the coming months.

Promises Unkept

A key proposal for the Republicans "Contract with America" was an amendment to impose term limits on congress. When the amendment was proposed, seven members of the class of '94 pledged to limit themselves to twelve years in congress. In 2000, four more promised to leave after six years.

A promise is apparently not that important (at least not when it comes to retaining power). Of the ten members due to retire, not one is stepping down . Each is reneging on their campaign pledge and running again in 2006. According to the sourcewatch, The pledge-breakers are:

Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.)
Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.)
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.)
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas)
Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.)
Rep. Timothy V. Johnson (R-Ill.)
Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.)
Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.)
Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.)

MyDD actually lists thirty who have gone back on campaign pledges or promises to self-impose term limits -- because every single one of the non-incumbent Republican congressional candidates signed the Contract -- which includes the Citizen Legislature Act, meant to limit every member of the congress to 12 years. They may not have explicitly promised in their campaign to limit themselves to 12 years, but they certainly signed on to the document when they thought it was going to help them.

The 10th plank of the Contract with America, which was signed by every single non-incumbent Republican Congressional candidate, is the Citizen Legislature Act. This was a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would have limited every member of the U.S. Congress (both houses) to twelve consecutive years of service

30 current House members are Republicans first elected in 1994. Only 5 of them are on CQ Politics's list of 8. That leaves 25 more who signed the Contract, which would have stopped them from seeking re-election. At last count, every single one of them was running

Perhaps they simply thought it was so long ago we'd all forget?

Having a COW

Among the Vote 2006 editorials, recommendations for state office, and the rest of the political notes that made up the issue of the Boulder Weekly this week, was a bit by Jim Hightower on the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq. Now I haven't heard much about this since Bush was touting it two years ago -- basically it's been proven to be such an embarassment that it only gets trotted out when they haven't got anything else to talk about.

There are 192 nations in the world. 48 joined the COW. (including leetle teeny places like Estonia and the Solomon Islands).

Of that 48, thirty-nine sent troops. Of the 39 who sent troops, 32 of them sent less than a thousand people (many sent only non-combat troops). Of the 39 who sent troops, 17 have already withdrawn, and another 7 are planning to in the next year.

Not really much of a coalition, and many of them only came because they were paid to.

It's received little publicity, but the Pentagon runs a special Coalition Solidarity Fund that slips payments to many COW members, essentially buying their involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Acccording to the article, in 2005, for example, we paid 57 million dollars to Poland for their involvement -- and in addition, built their camp and paid for their transportation.

From Wikipedia:

More than 100,000 troops - US
More than 1,000 troops - Australia, UK (7500), Korea (2300)
100-1000 troops - Poland, Romania, Georgia, Denmark, El Salvador, Azerbajan, Mongolia, Albania, Latvia, Slovakia
< 100 troops - Czeck Republic, Lithuania, Armenia, Boznia, Stonia, Macedonia, Kazahkstan, Moldova

Withdrawn in 2006 - Italy, Canada, Japan
Withdrawn in 2005 - Portugal, Netherlands, Ukraine, Bulgaria
Withdrawn in 2004 - Nicaragua, Spain, Hunduras, Dominacan Republic, Norway, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Hungary, New Zealand, tonga, iceland

Only Italy had more than 1000 troops involved.

Not so Anonymous

I just had the oddest phone call -- someone from a marketing firm ran across my website, apparently tracked down my phone number and called me regarding advertising opportunities on phouka.com.

I get a few of these offers in email each month, and just ignore them. It's a personal site, and I really don't muck about with ads or anything. I get decent enough traffic (due to the travelogues, I think), but certainly not enough to actually be worth an ad or two.

I'm just a bit weirded out that he had my phone number. My real name is not on the site at all, although I suppose he could probably have found it by using whois. Nope, just checked. No name. Somewhere, though, my name is associated with either the IP or the site. Odd.

I don't worry much about anonymity on the web, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I post with my real name on a number of forums, and with my alias Phouka on many more. It was just startling to get a phone call regarding my site.

Wierd.

Great Album

If you've never listened to Scissor Sisters, you're missing out on a couple of really fun albums. They just released their second album - Ta Dah --which is a 70-s disco romp of the best sort. The Week just reviewed the album -- which they say is

a blinding disco-ball beacon of hope for those who find the Pussycat Dolls a blight on the musical landscape ... The tracks are an enthusiastic mishmash of Elton John (who plays piano on two songs), ABBA, and the Bee Gees, each “as catchy as chlamydia.”

Yeah, it sounds odd, but the album really is fun.

It can be a bit raunchy -- not overly so, akthough they'd definitely be bleeped on the radio. But if you like early Elton John, the whole album has the same whimsical feel to it. I definitely recommend it (and their earlier eponymous album, Scissor Sisters.)

No Navigation System for the Husband!

This! This is why the Adorable Husband can never had one of those dash-mounted map navigation thingies in his car"

BERLIN (Reuters) - An 80-year-old German motorist obediently following his navigation system ignored a motorway "closed for construction" sign and crashed his Mercedes into a pile of sand further down the road, police said Monday.

"The driver was following the orders from his navigation system and even though there was a sufficient number of warnings and barricades.

Luckly, the driver was unhurt. But knowing that the Husband's eyeballs are magnetized and inexorably drawn to any glowing, tv-like screen, it's a recipe for disaster!

Indoor Skydiving

We had our quarterly TUSC outing this Saturday an went Indoor Skydiving -- they call it 'bodyflight' and do it in an enormous vertical wind tunnel. The Adorable Husband had an absolute blast, and got to fly twice for two minutes each time. If you remember, he's been jumping out of actual airplanes lately, and says that you only get about 45 second of free-fall before you have to pull the ripcord -- having two whole minutes or more to just "fly" is terrific! They can vary the airflow from about 80 mph (for little kids) to almost 160 mph for the pros.

About 50 people from TUSC went, even little kids (who are surprisingly good at this, being overly bendy and fearless) . I definitely think that more minutes in the tower are going to be on the Adorable Husband's Xmas list!

Irony and Hypocrisy

Talk about timing. A father/daughter pair in TX are demanding that Fahrenheit 451 be banned from schools because it has 'lots of bad language' and 'takes god's name in vain'. I had to struggle pretty hard to think of what they're fixated on. There's some 'hells' and 'damns' in the book as well as some vulgar, but rather commonplace language. Nothing terribly shocking to most people.

The fact that Bradbury's book is actually a condemnation of censorship and book banning makes the whole story rather sad, doesn't it?

Recommending Books

My post last week on commending readers and authors of challenged and banned books garnered exactly one comment. However, the commenter did rightly question my blanket statement of recommending books because they are banned. That's not quite the issue.

No, upsetting someone is not a good reason to recommend a book. However, I have read most of the books on the banned/challenged book list over the years and found them to be worthwhile and meaningful. Thought-provoking. Challenging. Inspiring. Many people do. I would hazard to say that most people do.

I find the reasons that these books have been challenged to be specious and narrow-minded. I find the idea that those who dislike a book or find part of it offensive should be able to prevent others from reading it, to be extremely distateful. It's one thing to want to censor your own reading list, quite another to decide that your morality must somehow be applied to everyone.

So, I commend those who continue to write books that challenge readers, and I commend readers who continue to read books in face of such censorship. Read -- disagree or agree, it makes no difference. Let your kids read it, or don't -- that is your business. But exposure to ideas that are different and perhaps uncomfortable is important.

There are books that are rightly shunned -- but censoring them, even if we disagree with them -- is dangerous. Would I recommend a book on the wonders of slavery? Probably not. Not every book has intrinsic value. But I will not join in any argument trying to remove it from the shelves, either. Those books that aren't valued for their content or message or voice aren't going to be around long enough to have much of an impact.

But I also don't see any of those on the list. What I do see on the list are classics of american literature, and books that address sex, free-thinking, and difficult topics. Books that have been long accepted as important works in their own right. Look at the list: these are not fringe-published screeds. Some of the classics in literature have been on this list at one time or another.

At an actual client!

Yes, finally, I have been evicted from my comfortable, nearby home office and forced to trek out into the world and actually work at a client site.

I'm feeling quite put-upon, I'll tell you. Had to drive AN HOUR yesterday, because I mistimed traffic. It's really not that far, but leaving my house at 7:30 is not an option. In the last few years, traffic has increased so much on I25 south that it's impossible to get through the "North Valley" without sitting in stop-and-go traffic for half an hour or so.

The solution? Go to work at 6am. I might suggest that this is not going to happen. At least not in MY lifetime. Seven maybe, but heading out the door before that is not something that I think I'm capable of. The gentleman I'm working with comes in at 6am and works 4-tens. I can do the same (or, he says, work whatever schedule fits). He laughed when I told him that 6am isn't likely to happen unless ther eis some change in the laws of physics and I can transport here instantly so I can sleep until 5:55. Ah, well.

Banned Books week

This last week was Banned Book Week, a celebration of the books that have been suppressed, criticized, banned, burned, and maligned. Throughout this century, books such as 'Catcher in the Rye', 'Huck Finn' and other classic have been questioned, threatened, and often pulled from library and school book shelves by closed-minded people unable to appreciate differing opinions.
"Challenging" books involves a group or individual attempting to remove or restrict materials (banning is actually removing the books). Challenges are not just a complaint -- they are an attempt to remove material from curriculums and public venues and restrict access to the materials by others. WHile they're rarely burning books in the street anymore, challenges attempt to perform the same actions.

Seventy-one percent of the challenges were to material in schools or school libraries. Another twenty-four percent were to material in public libraries (down two percent since 1999). [from the American Library Assoc.]

The 10 most challenged books in 2005 are an eclectic list:

• “It's Perfectly Normal” for homosexuality, nudity, sex education, religious viewpoint, abortion and being unsuited to age group;
• “Forever” by Judy Blume for sexual content and offensive language;
• “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;
• “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;
• “Whale Talk” by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language;
• “Detour for Emmy” by Marilyn Reynolds for sexual content;
• “What My Mother Doesn't Know” by Sonya Sones for sexual content and being unsuited to age group;
• Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence;
• “Crazy Lady!” by Jane Leslie Conly for offensive language; and
• “It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families” by Robie H. Harris for sex education and sexual content.

Most frequently challenged authors in 2005:

• Judy Blume, author of Blubber, Forever, and Deenie
• Robert Cormier, author of The Chocolate War and We All Fall Down
• Chris Crutcher, author of Whale Talk and The Sledding Hill
• Robie Harris, author of It's Perfectly Normal and It's So Amazing!
• Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, author of the Alice series
• Toni Morrison, author of The Bluest Eye, Beloved and Song of Solomon
• J. D. Sallinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye
• Lois Lowry, author of The Giver
• Marilyn Reynolds, author of Detour for Emmy
• Sonya Sones, author of What My Mother Doesn’t Know

J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, was the most challenged author between 2000 and 2005. Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck, Judy Blume have all been on the list for many years.
If you are an author with a book on this list, I commend you. You are in good company. If you are a reader, consider finding and reading these books to make your own decisions.

These Boots are Made For Walkin'

Octopusses apparently are starting to walk upright. Well, not exactly upright, but they are walking on two of their appendages and using the rest as camouflage. They're bundling themselves up and heading off down the road. They seem to be quite good at it.

Octopuses normally travel along the ocean floor using all or many of their eight arms in a sort of crawl. Their muscles are supported by fluid and not bone. Using underwater video, the scientists analyzed the strides of Octopus marginatus and Octopus aculeatus. For both species, each walking arm stayed in contact with the sandy ocean floor for more than half of the stride, qualifying the pitter patter of two octopus arms as official walking.

If you've got IE or Firefox, you can see the video here. It's really...odd. But then again, octopusses are actualy quite smart, can solve puzzles, and are capable of some astounding feats of agility. [from May2005, found after 'random google page']

Interesting Day

Well, the Adorable Husband has been in (and back out) of the hospital today -- and been zapped twice to get his heart rate back into order.

He went out walking on Friday at lunchtime and by the time he was heading home, still felt "odd". When he tried to check his pulse, it was very, very irregular (think synocopated) and he still felt as if he'd just finished a bout of exercise -- kind of short-of-breath, kind of wobbly. He headed back into work and ran an EKG on himself (benefit of working in the cath lab) and promptly walked upstairs to the cardiologists office.

He was having a bout of Atrial Fibrillation -- basically the atria (upper chambers of the heart) stop beating properly and just sort of quiver instead of staying in synch with the rest of the heartbeat, so it doesn't pump effectively. His pulse ran up to about 120-140 and hung out there, beating irregularly. More info here at medicinenet and another from a patient's FAQ.

Anyway, they sent him HOME! With a beta-blocker to see if it would resolve over night on its own. I spent the whole night waking up every hour or so and checking that he was ok. Well, he didn't "convert" on his own overnight, so we headed into the hospital this morning for cardioversion. Anesthesist showed up, doped him into a stupor, and they connected pads to his chest and back and -- ZAP. Just like what you see on television with the paddles, but with a bit more control. I didn't watch (everyone unanimously decided that it was not something a non-medical person should see their spouse go through) but got the play-by-play afterwards.

Mark's co-workers were half-jokingly drawing straws to decide who got to "push the button" -- in the end, Dean did it -- twice. The first zap didn't get his rhythm back in line, the second did. His heart never stopped or anything -- the electric impulses just got screwed up and needed to be shocked back into the right rhythm. Apparently, this is not uncommon. He had an echocardiogram afterwards to ensure that there was nothing wrong with his heart and that no clots had formed while he was fibrillating (the risk was very low). Sent off with a clean bill of health.

He recovered pretty quickly and other than being loopy as hell, is fine. Came home and napped, and is back ot his old self again today. I was way more freaked out than he was, of course -- the Central Tenet of the Universe that Revolves Around Me is that nothing is allowed to happen to the Adorable Husband. This was a bit scary, if not directly life-threatening. They're going to keep an eye on him for a while to see if it happens again, otherwise, they'll probably write it off as a fluke.

Compromise?

More likely to win passage by the end of the week is Bush's other legislative priority: a bill agreed upon by the White House, the House and Senate governing how terror suspects are to be detained and questioned.

Well, no, not really. The bill was not "agreed upon by the White House, the House and Senate" . That is a gross distortion.

It was agreed on by the White House and the Republican members of the relevant House and Senate committees.

Some 'compromise', eh?

That's what I meant to say...

It should be no surprise to anyone that I'm an atheist, and left any sort of religious belief behind nearly 30 years ago. For the most part, while I'm keenly interested in why other people have religious beliefs, it's not something I have anything in common with.

One of the hardest things about being non-religious is that I'm often questioned as to why I don't believe this or that, or accused of some sort of dire and evil agenda, or faced with a demand as to why I "hate religion". I've never been very good at being able to articulate that without coming across as attacking the person who asked, or expressing my very deep frustration with religion in a way that effectively squelches reasonable discussion. (In some ways, I don't believe it is possible for a person of faith and a nonbeliever to have a reasonable discussion about religion - in most cases, reason has little to do with religious belief, 'faith' being the basis for that belief. That is not an indictment of either believer or non-believer, just recognizing that there is little common ground there.)

Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith, an interesting discussion of the concept of 'religious tolerance' and why tolerance of other religions is one of the primary fuels for terrorism (you can find it here -- it's a bit of a dry read, really, but interesting nonetheless) has written a short, pithy commentary on religion in modern life - Letter to a Christian Nation -- which manages to express my views on religion, morality, belief, and the power of reason so much more clearly than I have ever been able to do to it.

Undoubtedly, the book will offend or bother some people; indeed, some analogies that Harris uses are provacative, but this short book is really a must-read. His premise that blind faith in religion is unreasonable, unncessary, faulty, and dangerous is presented clearly and supported with well-reasoned arguments. Those who dismiss this book may fall into the very group he addresses: people who are so mired in dogma and blind faith that any contrary idea is seen as an attack.

Atheism is not a single set of ideas, of course (and is constantly mischaracterized by others), but when we try to explain why we do not believe, why we reject the tenets of religion, these are the reasons for most of us. Whether you agree or not, I think that the book is worth the hour or so it takes to read. Will is change anyone's mind? Probably not. But it will (hopefully) make everyone think.

My Condolences

The 2008 GOP Convention is in the Twin Cities.

And it's going to coincide with the Minnesota State Fair.

I hate political ads, so my condolences to all my family in the midwest, who will be subject to the full force of the political machine aimed at 'states in play'.

It's Super-Prude

Apparently a teacher in Frisco, TX has been suspended and reprimanded because a parent complained that their child was exposed to -- gasp!-- nude art while on a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art in April.

Oh, what shall we do? We must protect the children at all costs from seeing nude art, omigod. Can't have that.

McGee has said her troubles started after taking 89 students on a school field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art in April.

The principal at Fisher elementary, Nancy Lawson, later admonished McGee about the trip, telling her a parent complained about a student seeing nude art, said Dunn, a Dallas labor lawyer.

School officials didn't reveal which parent made the complaint.

McGee also said it was the principal who urged her to take the students to the museum, Dunn said.

I want to know which parents. I really do. What adult found the thought of nude art for fifth-graders so horrible, so unimaginable, that they complained to the school. That's almost laughable, if it wasn't so pitiful. These are people who see any possible exposure of the human body as bad and dirty and wrong. And if they had a reason for finding it so bad (for example a muslim rule against female nudity or something - which I imagine the paper would have mentioned) then they should have investigated the museum before allowing their kid to go on the field trip. What adult doesn't know that art sometimes involves people without their clothes on?

And these are TEN-YEAR-OLDs. What could possibly be on display at an art museum that would be so awful that you complained that your ten-year-old child was "exposed" to it? As far as I can tell from the Dallas Museum website, it's run-of-the-mill artistic nudes. There's no six-foot penis sculpture in the lobby, no life-sized full-color models of genitalia or wild orgy scenes. No Mapplethorpes. Just bare breasts on a statue here and there, or a male nude figure with small penis in repose. The stuff that graces every single art musuem in the country.

That's taking prudery to a level I can't quite imagine. And the school board voted not to renew this teachers contract -- she's been teaching 28 years. Welcome to the new puritanism.

Are things better now?

A summary here.

Lycra-Clad Road Warriors

Apparently, wearing a helmet while cycling is actually more dangerous than not wearing one -- cars see a helmet, assume you're a "road warrior" and pass close enough to shave a few years off your life.

Using data from 2500 encounters with cars while cycling in England, Dr. Walker has determined that drivers cut it awfully close in some cases. Based on whether you are a woman or a man, and whether you are wearing a helmet or not, drivers either give you a wide berth, or cut in close -- an average of 3 1/2" from a helmeted male rider!

Now, Dr. Walker doesn't really suggest that cyclists should not wear helmets, but he does point out that wearing one actually increases your changes of getting hit by a car, in which case a helmet is of limited use anyways.

I do wonder if the same results would be found here in the US, where we have wider roads and in many places have wide shoulders to ride on. The UK seems to have much narrower roads with less room for cyclists in general.

Geneva CYA

Read the draft of the bill here. Lovely little addition here, don't you think?

SEC. 7. TREATY OBLIGATIONS NOT ESTABLISHING GROUNDS FOR CERTAIN CLAIMS.

(a) IN GENERAL. No person may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto in any habeas or civil action or proceeding to which the United States, or a current or former officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent of the United States, is a party as a source of rights, in any court of the United States or its States or territories.

All the while claiming that this doesn't abrogate responsibilities to the Geneva Convention by the US. This is nothing but CYA for past behavior, and should be villified as such. We're supposed to be the good guys?

Norwegian Farmhouse Architecture

I'm working my way through guidebooks from Rough Guide for Norway and Sweden (and Scandinavia, apparently they have glumped them together for at least one book) and I'm discovering some very interesting bits of trivia.

Many tourist sites recreate the "Norwegian Farmhouse" experience, by either building from scratch, or moving to the location, the various farm buildings and houses from a rural farm. And, or course, many farms exist in the rural areas of Norway. One of the common characteristics of these farms is that they are made up of many smaller buildings -- a main house, a storehouse or two, a small barn, a hay barn, hen coop, a horse stall, a shed for farm implements, another store house, perhaps a boat house or smoking shed. The cluster of small buildings is apparently a quintissential Norwegian farmyard trait.

Why so many buildings? Well, traditional architecture is cog-jointed logs (like Lincoln Logs, really) that are notched and joined at the corners, making square or rectangular buildings. Of course, they were limited in size to the length of the logs being used -- one log per side, of whatever length they could garner useable wood. Buildings were not large -- and it was obviously much easier to build many smaller buildings than manage the joins in a larger building.

Which is the reason (in a convoluted way) that Norway has the interesting and unqiue Stave Churches -- 29 remain in Norway. In order to make buildings larger than a single span of a log, timbers are placed vertically into the ground (entirely different than the log-bonding that Norwegian farmers used to make outbuildings) with upright beams at the corners (the staves) The walls are upright planks set into sills on the top and bottom, much like panels in a door. The sills are joined pieces of wood that can be much longer than a single piece of timber, and can be built into any shape that can be defined by corner staves.

Of course, Stave Churches have many other unique characteristics, including fantastical carvings, paintings, and other decorations, but they arrived in Norwegian Architectuure because of a limitation in the traditional building style used by local farmers. Logs were too short to build an impressive church, so they had to improvise.

More on Norwegian Architecture here.

Maybe the Cutest Puppy. Ever.

OK, I ran across this poppet and now I need to quit my job, buy a puppy, and spend the whole day watching it. Seriously.

This is One. Cute. Puppy.

[picture from www.chickus.com]

Just a rosy picture, eh?

National Intelligence Estimate: "the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse."

D'oh! Let the spin begin.

Now I'm just waiting for the focus to shift from the actual problem to prosecution of the leakers and publishers of the document. I figure by tomorrow that will be the lead story -- how publishing this information supports all those terrorists. More at Fox News

Backwards Innnovation

Ok, the Wienermobile has been souped up, and Oscar Meyer is touting their new "fast franks" as the solution to after-school snacks. A hotdog, in a bun, all microwaveable! Oh, what shall they think of next?

Here's the blurb:

It’s mouthwatering to imagine -- a tasty, hot and juicy Oscar Mayer hot dog wrapped inside a soft and warm bakery-fresh bun. And now imagine only having to wait thirty-five seconds for that first delicious bite.

Oookay. Well, I always eat my hotdogs (not Oscar Meyer, but Nathans) in a bun, and I'm certainly not waiting more than 35 seconds for it. Just how do they think people are preparing hotdogs? And just what fabulous "time savings" are they actually providing by removing that oh-so-onerous task of actually putting the hotdog in the bun by ourselves. Oh, the humanity!

They go on to wax rhapsodic about the warm, bakery-fresh bun and how "Preparation is easy, and there's no cook top mess or boiling water." Huh? Prepapration was hard before? These are hotdogs, people. Not coq-au-vin.

I have to wonder exactly what century are the marketing drones living in. Do you know anyone who actually boils a hotdog nowadays? I, like everyone else, microwave my hotdog (for about 30 seconds), pop in a bun, and go. This is not rocket science.

However, by trading off the two separate steps of heating the hotdog and then the bun for a single-step process, Oscar Meyer believes that they have made this easier and are saving me time. Well, all I can imagine from microwaving a bun is a soggy, steamy bun. They claim they are "leveraging proprietary dough technology" to avoid this. I just had to laugh. I didn't realize that this was a serious enough problem to warrant scientific study and extensive research.

I'm sure it appeals to people who want things "instantly" and want to expend no effort to get things. I mean, I love to have things "easy" -- who doesn't? -- but I can't see how this actually addressed a pressing need to save us time or effort. It might actually be harder -- you have to unwrap the hermetically sealed cellophane baggies, and carefully time the steamed-bun process. Ok, maybe it doesn't involve a paper towel to wrap your hotdog in. That might be the sum of the savings right there.

Talk about filling a niche that doesn't actually exist.

Setting a Good Example

During his speech at the UN, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chaves said that US President Bush was "the devil" and proceeded to roundly criticize US, UN, and world policy.

His words -- and the half-joking reference to the podium carrying a whiff of sulphur -- have been decried as arrogant, unfitting of a leader, rude. He was out of line, Condi Rice said, and various talking heads have been discussing his obviously uncivilized behavior.

But, you know? People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Bush has used every speech in the last few years to call other world leaders evil, fascist, evildoers, whatever the buzzword of the week is. Frankly, this is a well-deserved dose of his own medicine.

"...Given the administration's propensity to call other governmental leaders evil, fascist and Hitler-esque, was Chavez's speech really such a radical departure from what has become a routine standard of political discourse between nations? ..."

That's our Bush....lowering standards all over the planet.

Yaargh!

It's INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY, mateys!

Get your pirate on!

Truth in Advertising

From the Economist: Finally! Truth in advertising. If airlines were honest, here's how it would go:

“GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing. But then hardly anybody would buy our tickets and we would go bust.

Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not remove it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the event of a landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have occurred, because in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero. This aircraft is equipped with inflatable slides that detach to form life rafts, not that it makes any difference. Please remove high-heeled shoes before using the slides. We might as well add that space helmets and anti-gravity belts should also be removed, since even to mention the use of the slides as rafts is to enter the realm of science fiction.

Please switch off all mobile phones, since they can interfere with the aircraft's navigation systems. At least, that's what you've always been told. The real reason to switch them off is because they interfere with mobile networks on the ground, but somehow that doesn't sound quite so good. On most flights a few mobile phones are left on by mistake, so if they were really dangerous we would not allow them on board at all, if you think about it. We will have to come clean about this next year, when we introduce in-flight calling across the Veritas fleet. At that point the prospect of taking a cut of the sky-high calling charges will miraculously cause our safety concerns about mobile phones to evaporate.

Read the whole article here: It's a hoot.

Religious Fanatics

Last week, the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor while expressing his opinions about Islam during a speech. A veritable storm of criticism has erupted.

"He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'"

He has since apologized, and the vatican has spent quite a lot of time trying to spin this. The Pope is saying he doesn't share this opinion, and that it was a poor choice of words. But he also has said that he doesn't believe that Islam can be "reformed". And yet he didn't intend to insult Muslims, of course.

These are not off-the-cuff remarks, the Pope knows that leaders and peoples worldwide listen to him -- whether they are Roman Catholic or not, the Pope is seen as an important world figure. His words are carefully planned, carefully written. If these are not his personal opinions, he is still the primary voice of the RC church and the views are those espoused by the church. What did he think was going ot happen when he suggested that Islam is "evil"?

And he is willfully ignoring (or denying) the fact that the Christian church has often spread it's own faith by the sword.

Do people forget the crusades? Do people think that the friars who accompanies the Spanish to the Americas converted the Indians by reasoned debates and loving hands? Do people really believe that the missionary Christians in Asia and Africa were great humanitarians rather than the foot soldiers of imperialism?

And the response of Muslim extremists to the comments? Even less reasoned and less acceptable. Burning effigies, protesting, and even threats that the west must convert or "die by the sword". Yup, that's the way to convince the world that Islam is indeed a peaceful religion.

The fanatics in charge, the tiny sliver of religious leadership that is extreme and inflexible (and yes, the players here on both sides, Christian and Muslim, are fanatics) are trying to create a world of religious polarization and intolerance. How is that going to improve things in the world?

Wine Lovely Wine

The Festival was fabulous! Perfect weather, lovely food -- a very enjoyable weekend. We started with a Winemakers dinner (lessee-- Salmon Seviche and a lovely Sauvignon Blanc, Spring Greens with a Champagne Vinaigrette and a Chardonnay, Orange Sorbet and a german-style Gewurtztraiminer, Elk filets and a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a lovely dark port with Chocolate mousse...luckily we didn't have to drive anywhere..the wine-fairy was very good.)

Nearly 7000 people mobbed the park, and tasted 200 wines from 43 wineries. It was spectacular. We met some lovely people from Utah and Colorado Springs, as well as some recent arrivals from Connecticut -- we sat and enjoyed gourmet food and tasted wine all afternoon. One winery that we had enjoyed before was not at the festival -- a call on Sunday morning revealed that they had not come because they had simpy sold out of all of their wines. They had only a few cases left, and were willing to part with a few of the bottles they'd set aside for themselves, if we made the trek out to their vineyard. Yeah! We sat and tasted their wines on the front porch for almost two hours, chatting with the owners and enjoying the perfect, blue-sky day.

We got a lovely trip through Grand Mesa -- the Aspens are just turning and the light at sunset is absolutely luminous. We had a second trip through the "scenic byway" when a rockslide blocked part of I-70. It took almost six hours to get home!

WIne Weekend

We're off to the Colorado Wine Festival this weekend (actually, leaving in about 20 minutes!) to enjoy tasting wines from 30+ Colorado wineries, eating gourmet food, and generally enjoying the festivities.

Back on Sunday to let you know how it goes!

Why I Hate Configuration

Here's a quick test for anyone interested. Do you see the difference between:

"C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\apache\apache\images\"

and

"C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\apache\apache\images/"

Yeah, that pesky forward-slash caused about three hours of problems today. The tools that I'm trying to configure require the forward slash, while the default file is created with a backslash.

Yes, I love my job! Hah!

Obligations

Chile, which has a truly appalling teenage pregnancy problem, has finally addressed the issue -- they have made birth control free for every girl over 14. EC will be publically available for all women, free of charge, and without interference.

It's about time.

You know, I even agree with the statements from Catholic church and local religious conservatives who say that we need to address the problem at it's core: teach these young people that having sex is not something they should be doing at the age of 14 (which nearly 14% do), and counseling them to wait - but I also 100% agree that dealing with the reality of the problem right now -- a runaway number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions -- is the correct first step.

The Catholic church -- which wields a tremendous amount of power in Chile -- has already come out to criticize the law for the same reasons that religious groups criticize similiar ideas here: it will "encourage" young people to have sex. I've never understood that particular argument, since it simply defies logic and the reality of people's behaviors. No, teaching them to protect themselves doesn't urge them to have sex, and it certainly doesn't give them the idea that you think it's OK. Making contraception available doesn't even affect the numbers of people having sex -- it simply means that those who do, will do so safely. I, like many of my peers, had more detailed information about sex, contraception, conception, and STDs than I probably wanted to know; my parents were very upfront about all of it. They were also up front about the responsbilities involved, and that they strongly discouraged me to start experimenting until I was much older (for my father, I think the correct age would have been 30!). I got the message.

Knowledge is power, not encouragement.

The President of Chile, Bachelet (who is a pediatrician) said this:

"The obligation of the state is to provide alternatives, and the obligation of families, of each one of us, is to communicate with our children, explain things to them, and to teach them."

Yes. This. Exactly. Now I can only wait until we manage to be as enlightened here.

OS Hell

I write software for a living. I design systems. You'd think I could do something as simple as install an OS on a new computer.

Apparently not. I hate hardware and now, I hate Operating System installs.

The new (old, really -- a refurb from Dell that I got just to tinker with) machine came with Windows XP Home. I initially wanted to have at least Win XP Pro. Simple upgrade, right?

Nope. Insert disk, wait for interminable hardware checking, Copy some files. Then it announces that it 'cannot detect a hard drive'. Wha? It was there a minute ago! And now, since it got through part of the install, it give me the blue screen of death each time I try to boot off the installation cd. Well, that's not good. I manage to get it back to booting ont he still-extant Win XP installation. Good.

Searching Google suggests that it is a driver problem for the 160 gig SATA drive. Great! THe solution is to interrupt the installation and load the drivers from a floppy disk.

Um. I don't have a floppy drive, and at this point in the installation, I can't get the machine to recognize a usb drive, either. Hm.

After quick consultation with a coworker, he recommends installing WIndows 2003 server instead. Ok. Get out disks, load. Wait. Wait. Wait. 'cannot detect hard drive'. Well, at least we know it's not a specific XP problem! Now the machine won't boot at all, and seems to think it has three separate installations in the boot menu, only one of which works at all.

I know it's an issue iwth drivers or recognition or something with the SATA drivers, but I have no idea what to doa bout it. But wait! Thsi is a BRAND NEW machine. It's still under warranty and helpdesk coverage!

At this point, I surrender. I do a live chat with Dell, spent two hours IM-ing them to help me reset the bios on the machine, change the RAID setup of the drive, and then -- much fun -- when it comes up ready to install WIndows XP Home again, the technicial cheerily informs me that 'it's recognizing the drive now -- the install should be clean. Thanks for calling Dell!"

I abort the XP Home install and boot fromt he Win Server 2003 disk and run through the install. I reformat the C:\ drive (which takes over an hour because I didn't do a "quick" drive format) and then, 7/8 of the way through, it announces it 'cannot copy file blah blah blah' -- or any of the subsequent files, either. Well, I"ll show you, you finicky piece of shit. Restart the installation, tell it to delete absolutely everything, and it finally boots.

Which is when I remember that I absolutely despite Win Server 2003. I dont' need the functioanlity of a print server or other "role", I don't want ot have to tell it why I'm shutting down, and I don't want to have to manage it. I just want a standalone machine that I can install Oracle on and make it work. I don't even know how to get the bloody thing to "share" drives. Well, fine!

Scrunch the 2003 install into a small partition, make a new one (after installing Partition Magic and making changes) and start the install of WIndows XP pro, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. It's also barfed when installing the first time. But it boots up now!

I hate mucking about with tehe buts of my machine. This is why.

Retinal Scans

I've been getting a ton of nonsensical comments and weird spam in the blog -- so I finally turned on the pattern-recongition thingy for all comments. Sorry about that. I love all the comments, and I hate making it more annoying to add them.

Next step - blood tests and retinal scans....