Friday, June 17, 2005
Dixie and Fudge
OK, this is a picture of Dixie - a tall and beautiful Catahoula mix that my friends adopted from me. She is playing with Fudge, a sweet and gentle Am Staf that went to a wonderful family that takes him everywhere with them. Julie got me set up on Flickr and I am just getting my feet wet.
Friday, June 03, 2005
weird experiences post surgery
(I actually wrote this on 6/3 but hadn't posted it, so there are more updates to follow)
I've been away awhile. Not sick, just not writing. Today I felt like sharing a few thoughts on the weird feeling resulting from my recent surgery to hopefully cure my sleep apnea. It's been one week. They did a septoplasty - where they straighten out the septum that runs up the middle of your nose dividing nostrils into left and right. Evidently those can be pretty windy instead of straight. While they were in there they did a turbinate trim - these are the boney wall like structures that make up your various sinus areas. Evidently the walls can be too thick and they go sheer them away a bit. They moved into my throat where they did a tonsilectomy - didn't lose them as a kid. And they did a UPPP which is a really long word for taking out part of the soft pallet at the back of the roof of your mouth and removing your uvula (punching bag). Then they did a radio frequency reduction to the base of the tongue. Lots of work. All went well. I really expected my throat to be the worst of the experience. Not even close. True, it looks weird to look into my throat and see no punching bag in sight. And it feels weird to feel all of those little stitches back there tickling the back of my tongue like some tiny, bristly little kitten sitting there. But my sinuses have been the thing that has been tweaking me this past week.
First, they were packed for the first night. I had a sling under my nose to catch any runoff blood. Nice. Worked well though I must say. Even with the morphine - which didn't really seem that impressive - and the liquid vicodine - which really does work - I was up most of the night with a painful nose. And I could feel the packing, which felt wrong. The next morning the good doctor said to come by so he could remove the packing. My partner went with me. She watched as he pulled a plug from my nose - I closed my eyes and dealt with the feeling. Hmm. Not bad. Air. She says oh that wasn't very long at all. Not bad. Nice Doctor turns back around and says Ok time to take out the packing. Uh..oh. I did not watch. It felt like someone removed a t-shirt through my nose. She said, oh that was kind of long. yuck. Then he took a tiny little tool and vacuumed out my sinuses. Oh, this was a bad sound and a worse feeling. It didn't hurt. It's important to know that it didn't hurt. It was just, disturbing, unsettling. Go on home, don't blow for 4 days. You betcha!
OK, so I can see I have furry little stitches at the back of my throat. And they aren't going to let me forget about them. But my nose has stitches too. It has stitches inside the left nostril - the side ALL the knots fall on. Evidently every stitch in my nose tied off in the left nostril. So I carried tissue around to dab at my nose gently while it healed. It was doing pretty well though.
I've been away awhile. Not sick, just not writing. Today I felt like sharing a few thoughts on the weird feeling resulting from my recent surgery to hopefully cure my sleep apnea. It's been one week. They did a septoplasty - where they straighten out the septum that runs up the middle of your nose dividing nostrils into left and right. Evidently those can be pretty windy instead of straight. While they were in there they did a turbinate trim - these are the boney wall like structures that make up your various sinus areas. Evidently the walls can be too thick and they go sheer them away a bit. They moved into my throat where they did a tonsilectomy - didn't lose them as a kid. And they did a UPPP which is a really long word for taking out part of the soft pallet at the back of the roof of your mouth and removing your uvula (punching bag). Then they did a radio frequency reduction to the base of the tongue. Lots of work. All went well. I really expected my throat to be the worst of the experience. Not even close. True, it looks weird to look into my throat and see no punching bag in sight. And it feels weird to feel all of those little stitches back there tickling the back of my tongue like some tiny, bristly little kitten sitting there. But my sinuses have been the thing that has been tweaking me this past week.
First, they were packed for the first night. I had a sling under my nose to catch any runoff blood. Nice. Worked well though I must say. Even with the morphine - which didn't really seem that impressive - and the liquid vicodine - which really does work - I was up most of the night with a painful nose. And I could feel the packing, which felt wrong. The next morning the good doctor said to come by so he could remove the packing. My partner went with me. She watched as he pulled a plug from my nose - I closed my eyes and dealt with the feeling. Hmm. Not bad. Air. She says oh that wasn't very long at all. Not bad. Nice Doctor turns back around and says Ok time to take out the packing. Uh..oh. I did not watch. It felt like someone removed a t-shirt through my nose. She said, oh that was kind of long. yuck. Then he took a tiny little tool and vacuumed out my sinuses. Oh, this was a bad sound and a worse feeling. It didn't hurt. It's important to know that it didn't hurt. It was just, disturbing, unsettling. Go on home, don't blow for 4 days. You betcha!
OK, so I can see I have furry little stitches at the back of my throat. And they aren't going to let me forget about them. But my nose has stitches too. It has stitches inside the left nostril - the side ALL the knots fall on. Evidently every stitch in my nose tied off in the left nostril. So I carried tissue around to dab at my nose gently while it healed. It was doing pretty well though.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Genetically engineered foods
OK, I was visiting the Whole Foods website and read their stand on genetically engineered foods. You can read it here: wholefoodsmarket
I felt like I had to respond because things are getting out of hand, so this is what I sent them.
I felt like I had to respond because things are getting out of hand, so this is what I sent them.
I LOVE your stores and your products. I have to feed not only myself but a number of different animals that are even more sensitive to pesticides, etc. than we are. However, I have one concern about your statement on genetically engineered foods. I think that you are in a position to education people with true scientific information rather than jumping on the mass media band wagon and lumping all "genetically engineered foods" in to one scarey basket.
Please remember that even hybridization is a form of genetic engineering. That Ice Berg lettuce did not occur in nature. And that many crops we enjoy today would have been wiped out at some point in history if farmers and botonists had not figured out how to share the hardiness or resistance of one plant with that of another.
I think there are absolutley risks with some genetic engineering and as always we need to be watchful about how far things go, but I encourage you to temper your position on the subject with some common sense and expanded understanding of the broader subject of possible benefits as well as risks.
I feel that your position right now just encourages ignorance in favor of a great marketing angle. I would hate to have Whole Foods become just another manipulator of public hysteria.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
why do babies count in carpool lanes?
I'm sure someone will be annoyed at me, well would be if anyone outside of my 3 friends read my blog, but why exactly is it okay to use the carpool lane if you have a kid in your car? I thought the whole reason we got carpool lanes was to reduce the number of cars on the road. So am I to understand that if mom wasn't driving little 2 yr old Johnny around with her to the store etc, he'd be out in his own car adding to the pollution? I fail to see how anyone under the legal driving age should qualify for carpool privileges. Seriously, even if you are hauling other peoples kids around with your own, their parents are still on the road in their own car going somewhere else. Having kids in cars does nothing to reduce the number of cars on the road and I do not think it should be a free pass to use the carpool lane. If they get to, then my dogs should qualify. They are unable to transport themsleves around but are still taking up a seat in my car, breathing air unlike the carpool dummies. Just my opinion but I'm sticking with it.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
character studies
OK, this one brings us up to date. We had to pick from a few options. I chose the one where one character was silent but described and the other had dialogue. Here it is:
Mae was a short, round woman, 4’11” tops and 180lbs, that brought to mind images of a cartoon banty hen; all round, wearing an apron and clucking perpetually about everything and nothing while running in endless circles. In sharp contrast James was tall, 5’11”, slightly built and soft spoken. He went through life with Mae trying not to make a ripple in the fabric of their marriage. Mae did not like ripples, and James would never hear the end of it if one arose.
James sat quietly, reading the papers as he did every Sunday, trying to stay out of the way and pretty much out of sight. It never really worked, but he was persistent. Mae flew in the house from the garage, clacking away before she was even through the door “… is the box that has all of the papers about the appliances that I gave you to put away in a safe place so I could find them easily if I had a question about something because you know you aren’t the one that reads directions I am and if I can’t find the box with all of the booklets I am not going to be able to fix anything that has to work in the house to keep us warm and fed and bathed because…” and she was back through another door and fading from earshot before he could even put the paper down to look at her, let alone answer her. He just shook his head from behind his paper and turned the page.
“…if they don’t start thinking about how it affects other people they are never going to make it in that complex because other people aren’t going to put up with it you know they don’t have to because they aren’t family and family is the only one that has to accept what you are anyway so I told them they better start learning how to act like civilized human being cause it isn’t like I didn’t raise them with manners but it’s also not my fault…” James could hear her coming back around from the other end of the house, her volume increasing with proximity.
He shifted in his seat and readied himself for the arrival. “….did you figure out where you think you put that box so I can look through those books I asked you about because I want to get that taken care of this morning to put my mind at ease about it all…” he lowered his paper and got as far as opening his mouth,“…never mind by the time you spit it out I will have found it myself and read them all since I am at least up and looking at this hour who is sitting around still reading the paper anyway…” and she was again through the door to the garage.
James put down the Chronicle, picked up the Times, and smiled to himself through a sip of black coffee. Far be it for him to cause any ripples in the fabric of their marriage.
Mae was a short, round woman, 4’11” tops and 180lbs, that brought to mind images of a cartoon banty hen; all round, wearing an apron and clucking perpetually about everything and nothing while running in endless circles. In sharp contrast James was tall, 5’11”, slightly built and soft spoken. He went through life with Mae trying not to make a ripple in the fabric of their marriage. Mae did not like ripples, and James would never hear the end of it if one arose.
James sat quietly, reading the papers as he did every Sunday, trying to stay out of the way and pretty much out of sight. It never really worked, but he was persistent. Mae flew in the house from the garage, clacking away before she was even through the door “… is the box that has all of the papers about the appliances that I gave you to put away in a safe place so I could find them easily if I had a question about something because you know you aren’t the one that reads directions I am and if I can’t find the box with all of the booklets I am not going to be able to fix anything that has to work in the house to keep us warm and fed and bathed because…” and she was back through another door and fading from earshot before he could even put the paper down to look at her, let alone answer her. He just shook his head from behind his paper and turned the page.
“…if they don’t start thinking about how it affects other people they are never going to make it in that complex because other people aren’t going to put up with it you know they don’t have to because they aren’t family and family is the only one that has to accept what you are anyway so I told them they better start learning how to act like civilized human being cause it isn’t like I didn’t raise them with manners but it’s also not my fault…” James could hear her coming back around from the other end of the house, her volume increasing with proximity.
He shifted in his seat and readied himself for the arrival. “….did you figure out where you think you put that box so I can look through those books I asked you about because I want to get that taken care of this morning to put my mind at ease about it all…” he lowered his paper and got as far as opening his mouth,“…never mind by the time you spit it out I will have found it myself and read them all since I am at least up and looking at this hour who is sitting around still reading the paper anyway…” and she was again through the door to the garage.
James put down the Chronicle, picked up the Times, and smiled to himself through a sip of black coffee. Far be it for him to cause any ripples in the fabric of their marriage.
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