Me, Interrupted by Dog

I was in the process of posting the below message when I heard one of my two dogs making a ruckus when I went to go see what was going on. Well, she was going into an epileptic seizure. Damn! It didn’t freak me out like the first time I saw her seizing; it’s like a parent with Alzheimer that’s lived with you and one day they don’t remember your name. Yeah, the first time or two it’s unsettling, but eventually it’s just something you handle and deal with. Much like allergies, asthma or ear infections in kids, we deal with it.

We found out about a year ago that Reagan was epileptic, which medically speaking means they don’t know what causes the seizures, the seizures just happen. I wasn’t going to spend thousands of dollars to simply rule out spinal meningitis or bone marrow abnormalities like the vet specialist wanted me to approve. I’d settled for a diagnosis of “epileptic” and medicated her twice a day since the second wave of seizure hit about two months after the first set – in early June.

What chaps my ass is that I just dropped $500+ bucks *just this morning* for my two dogs vaccinations, physicals, medications and Reagan’s blood work to make sure her barbiturates aren’t damaging her liver. And though the report came back with “good” liver enzyme levels, neither vet nor vet specialist can tell me what is the required level of medication to prevent seizures since they don’t really know what causes them other then some type of brain abnormality in which the brain over-fires causing the muscle contractions. The medical regimen is basically try X milligrams, if after 3 months there aren’t any seizures, reduce it by 10% for another 3 months. Continue until minor seizures appear, add the last 10% back and that’s where it should remain. If the first 3 months have seizures, increase the dosage by 1 pill morning and night and then repeat the above. At $10 for a six month supply of pills, I don’t see it as necessary to reduce the pills versus keeping the seizures away.

So, even though I was bitching again about being bored and not being able to watch TV, I know have a job of making sure my little girl stays safe, away from the pool and any sharp objects she might fall into if a seizure might hit.

[update: 12/3/04 - Reagan had 4 more seizures ranging from a 6 to 8 on the seizure scale, lasting for about 2 minutes each over the span of five hours - started 9:10 p.m. and ending 1:58 a.m. - although I did go to sleep at about 3 a.m. so there might have been more but I doubt it]

[update #2: 1/10/05 - Reagan had 4 seizures ranging from 4 to 6 on the seizure scale, lasting less then 2 minutes over the span of 1 hour. Started at 12:30 and ended around 1:30 p.m.. When I returned home from work, there were 2 more seizures of about a 3 to 4 on the siezure scale.]

[update #3: 2/28/05 - Reagan had 2 days worth of seizures. Starting with 7/8 rated seizures and slowly diminishing to 1's. Duration was about 4 minutes and roughly 2 hours between seizures. ]

[update #4: 3/12/05 - Reagan is still having facial seizures. She'll twitch and scruntch her face uncontrollably for about 10 seconds occasionally. Usually happens when she's begging for food although that's when I'm most aware of her too]

[update #5: 6/1/05 - Reagan began her seizures again by being disoriented and at 2 a.m. I found her 50 lb legs on top of my glass coffee table sniffing around. The category 2 thru 8 seizures lasted from 6/1 to 6/3 ..... her seizures are now just facial twitches.]

And now I return you to my previous whine ……………………..


Flipping through the channels looking for something to watch, I've run across several NBA games but alas, no more baseball until Spring. Hurry up Sping, basketball is not even a poor substitute for baseball. I'd even take the Mexican league games or the Cactus, Puerto Rico or South American leagues in winter ball would be better then the 11 months of basketball we're about to endure until next Septembers championship begins.

H minus 2 and Counting

Is anyone else feeling a little evil? Not sure if it's Halloween or just my normal XY chromosomes in action. Either way, the Evil One here is hoping to feel, well, Evil.

Hahahaha......................................

Fade to black,.... cue the music,..... and roll the credits....

Where's Dear Abbey When I Need Her?

I’m honestly interested in your take on the following email that I received from a good friend of mine. Please use the comments section below as to what advice you’d give.

First, the background: Greek and I served in the Marine Corps together from 93’ thru 97’ when I got out. He continued thru to 2000 when he too got out. Greek then joined the State Department as a diplomatic security guard – basically, he’s one of the guys traveling around with Colin Powell holding the Uzi sub-machine gun and dark glasses. He used to be active in the reserves, although not in the infantry but rather a civil affairs unit until he moved overseas with his new bride to live & work out of Greece for two years.

Here’s the snippet from his email:
My old reserve CO is coming out of retirement and standing up the 4th combat eng. bn to become a civil affairs unit. He asked a couple of us if we'd like to go with. What do you think?

Would you go to Iraq if asked? Talk amongst yourselves and post your comments below.

I’m leaning towards the “hell yeah!” response. He is a phenomenal Marine who I’d entrust to lead my son into harms way. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity – although some might argue that driving your car off a cliff is also a once in a lifetime opportunity. When you combine his knowledge of infantry, his new found personal security knowledge and his ability to smooth talk anyone – I’m thinking he’s just that much better then a rather green junior lieutenant out of the basic school or a couple of years in the fleet.

Thanks and thank you to the men & women who put themselves in harms way for me and my families protection,
Semper Fi

AC/DC on 10/31

The costume would be funny but the irony would probably be too much. How hard would it be to make a little kids suit that resembles an Iron that would attach to that cord? 

Hurry Up & Finish

For the love of all that is holy and good, would this Presidential election get over with already? If you don’t know who you’re voting for yet, my educated guess is that you won’t know on November 2nd and it’s because of you lazy-assed procrastinators that the rest of the population must endure advertisement bombardments, political news coverage and a 24/7 news cycle explaining that this is the most important election we’ve ever faced in our history.

I would like to wake up in the morning and see the baseball highlights, a brief recap of how Iraq is dealing with chaos and a fifty-fifty shot at an accurate weather report. But instead, I get frantic political operatives screaming at each other about who’s a liar, who’s ultra-_(right or left)_ wing, who can and can’t be trusted …if the belief is that over-the-top discourse actually works that well, then I must be in the minority.

Lately I’ve been watching Cartoon Network with my son for the purposes of escaping the talking heads on the news channels. If we have a repeat of the 2000 election cycle and no winner is announced Tuesday evening, I’ll have to bone up on my Food TV listing to intermingle Cartoon Network shows.

Need Help With A Picture:
If you happen to have a copy of the picture of the woman peeing at the urinal next to a rather surprised looking guy, could you forward that on to me or put the link to it in the comments section? Thanks. I'd like to add it someday.

Author, Author

It was a dark and stormy night. Call me Ishmael. Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.

Crap! All the good opening lines have been taken. Oh sure, I could come up with one myself for all of history to remember, but the pressure is just too intense. I much prefer to lead a more relaxed life and not burden myself with the thought of grandeur.

So, hence forth, this blog shall be mostly if not almost entirely reserved for my inability to write prose and compositions which hopefully someday I will turn them into a novel. Now, mind you, I am not an author — the novice reader can ascertain that fact up to this point. But with work, dedication and the chance at a big-fat book deal….who knows?

It’s taken me a grand total of seven minutes to type this into a Word document while I sit through a meeting that I was not intending to attend nor can I activley participate in, but I can type. That will be my modus operandi from here on out. Having the primary child care duties also on my shoulders, time is limited and precious so these will be short quips, idea trains and sometimes disjointed themes running through my head. However, this blog will capture them for posterity purposes when I’m rich and famous, sipping cocktails on my Lanikai beach front property.

Doesn’t everyone hear Dave the Barbarian in their head?

WWW = What Winners Want

This web thingy is a wonderful place to visit. It’s filled with neat little bistros and sidewalk café’s where you can sit down and enjoy a fresh latte while you watch the netizens pass by, gentle fragrant breezes blowing through the treetops and the muted sounds of kids out playing on their new AOL equipment permeate throughout the Internet. The soft chirping of birds in the midi-background combined with a large google imaged backdrop make the perfect setting for learning knowledge in cyberspace on my desktop.

Take for example the fact that any question you can think up can be answered for you without the expense, interoffice ridicule and hassle of traveling to your local psychic palm reader. The Virtual Ouiji board solves your problem, and this one’s probably a problem you didn’t even realize you had. For example, I asked: How many protons does a Helium atom contain? Ouija answered 6. Which if you want to be VERY technical isn’t the right answer; the right answer is 2. But 6 is divisible by 2, both are even numbers and mathematical chemistry and lowland Germanic languages aren’t the spirit worlds strong suits, so I’ll give them a pass on this one. Also, I think about how the atomic weight of helium might become 6 soon, what with the entire nation growing fatter and global warming changing the very essence of our existing – apparently starting at the molecular level in helium first. Yup! The net is a great place.

And finding out nothing but the truth, this network of interconnected computers that’s almost self-sustaining (a.k.a. cyborg) is a wonderful invention. For example, 39 clicks gets you the truth that Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) in the movie Titanic said he went ice fishing in a lake in Wisconsin. Everyone in my movie theatre knew that the named lake was a man-made lake and finished and filled after the Titanic sank. The name of the lake is Lake Wissota, and it wasn't created till 1917 when the dam in Chippewa Falls was built, a good 5 years after the sinking of the Titanic.

Oh yeah, there are also two site out there with porn that apparently attract a few visitors. Sorry, I couldn't find either of those two links.

Bring It On - Part II

Wow was I wrong on the 11th of October when I predicted the Astros and the Yankees in the World Series. Hell, I even went so far as to predict the winner of the two losers. Even though both series went 7 games and were awesome baseball, I couldn’t have been more wrong if I tried.

I missed game one of the series until the 9th inning. This series has been full of excitement and I assume the rest of the series will be the same.

Good Job Astros! Hopefully Beltran and Clemens each return next year.



Man, everything is cool today.

Lil' Sister!

To my dear sister, if you read this, realize I feel terrible. It was your Birthday yesterday and when I called you weren’t in. However, when you called this morning from your undisclosed location, I completely forgot to mention Happy Birthday to you.

Hopefully that Anne Taylor gift certificate will heal the wound or at least cover it up with something nice you’d like. Aloha to you if I miss that too!

UTILIKILTS - The Man Dress

My own "Little Black Dress" for all occasions. Why should women be the only ones with that perfectly fitting little number that brings about turned heads, dropped jaws and all the confidence in the world.

Would this not be the greatest piece of riding gear for a Harley in the Texas heat? Although $700 for a men's skirt seems just a little steep. But a Utilitikilt is awesome!

Now, for every day use, this tan number is a perfect little conversation starter for me. And the best part is that if it doesn't start a conversation, I know people won't want to talk to me at all. A classic Win-Win situation.

Apparently they work a little too well. Plus "they work" is a pretty good commerical.

Holy Shit!

Foul language leads to impotence: New study suggests

According to the Center of ecological safety and survival Gennady Cheurin, they've examined the essence of the foul language and managed to prove its pernicious impact on human organism scientifically.

Holy Crap, grow you little f*ck! The mind is willing but the flesh is weak.

Anonymous Comments Now Turned On

...feel free to add what you want if you have 5 seconds to tell me what you think.

A Good Book

"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life"....Mark Twain

There are numerous stories and plenty of tales I have rumbling around inside my head. Yes, reading is enjoyable, but putting pen to paper or fingers to typewriter and creating my own narratives is what I think I'd enjoy more. I've toyed around with the writing for more then my enjoyment and relaxation but never too seriously. Though it's therapeutic, I need to find something to do other then sit around, feeling sorry for myself. Who knows maybe it's a good form of a 2nd income, but first I have to come up with an idea for a complete novel, not short novellas. Maybe both. Maybe it's as simple as tying together several short stories with a common thread. Or maybe it's finding the inner strength I see in my friends and harnessing that energy for good and not evil. Maybe?

Indecision may or may not be my main problem.

"There are some books that refuse to be written. They stand their ground year after year and will not be persuaded. It isn't because the book is not there and worth being written -- it is only because the right form of the story does not present itself. There is only one right form for a story and if you fail to find that form the story will not tell itself."....Mark Twain

Bring It On!

The Yankees have paid their way into the playoffs and the number of zeros that their payroll has will provide them a ticket into the World Series. It's what happens in non-competitive sports when large markets get to spend what they want and/or need to rule their league.

And in the other corner is the upstart Houston Astro ball club who've been miserly with their payroll and have benefitted by hard work, tenacity and old-fashioned baseball skill. The Astros are like the Notre Dame's Rudy of the baseball world. How anyone could not cheer -- NO! Enthusiastically Cheer -- for the Astros on their way to the Baseball World Series Championship is beyond me.

So, for your Cardinal fans, better luck next year. And you Boston fanatics....well, there'll always be next year to hate the Yankees for everything you aren't.

My Prediction:
Astros 4 games
Yankees 2 games

Keep Hope Alive!

Anticipation = apprehension, awaiting, contemplation, expectancy, foresight, foretaste, high hopes, hope, impatience, joy, outlook, preconception, premonition, preoccupation, prescience, presentiment, promise, prospect, trust.

Once you know that Santa is a parent or relative, the joy of waiting for Christmas Eve is supposedly lost. It’s the heightened sense of anticipation that adds to the excitement of the season. Know the secret, ruin the fun.

Good news! The genie actually fits back into the bottle! Oh, you never forget the past gifts you got – the cool Transformer, the skateboard, the record player …. but the anticipation returns every year as the winter solstice season approaches. There are some realities at play, but the human mind can convince itself of many things and can talk itself out of even more.

This year I’m hoping for a riding lawn mower (gently used) and an extension ladder (used too). Yeah, I know they're long shots in getting and I’d have to travel to pick-up my own gifts prior to the season. But my folks are moving and don’t need either, me dreaming up gift ideas is difficult at best when my mom asks for gift ideas and this seems to be a match. //hint, hint\\
Yeah, this year I look forward to Christmas with the same anticipation as when I was 6, in Geneva, Switzerland hoping above all else that I would get a Transformer. I’ll continue to hope.

Email Smile

"It's not having what you want. It's wanting what you've got" -Cheryl Crow

Words to live by! A, it’s catchy. B, it’s true. And C, it comes at the end of emails I cherish. I won’t go all girlie on you, but the inner me craves the positive in everything. Yes, I know, many folks think that’s way too sappy sweet but I think the general human spirit leans toward the negative as we age. I am going to take active steps to fix the slide to the negative side for me.

Another signature line I receive occasionally reads, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”. However, this one is over the top in positiveness because if I dream I can jump to the moon, it’s not going to happen, no matter how bold or genius I appear. Now, the magic part could assist in my leap but it’d be magic Sigfrey & Roy or Penn & Teller couldn’t even come close to matching. A career change would definitely have to be in order.

Apparently my ADD medication is wearing off as I’ve left the two thoughts of getting what I want and wanting what I have and started to talk about magic of all things. Well, I’m getting closer to that end of having & wanting but my slow, plodding and conservative ways is hampering my progress. It’s an internal issue but I’m slowly coming to grips with it. Hopefully my Ritalin isn’t interacting with my Prozac. I wonder if they make a pill to give me the H in hyperactivity to speed things up.

Vacationing in Nebraska

October 1st, 2004 – a day that shall live in infamy! More like an evening that will live in infamy. Back to the homeland after a dozen years in absence and I was able to finally see the Father-land. When referring to friends and colleagues, I refer to it as the ‘Harvard of the Midwest’ for it’s academic and football prowess in the great land mass between New York and Los Angeles.

It was a trip that I shall remember for years to come, if not an entire lifetime. Reliving the days-gone-by was beyond my reach for the four day trip. No, I was in the here and now for the weekend.

There were many changes. No more flag football fields across from Able Hall, a new parking garage on 14th street near campus and Kyle Field across the railroad tracks near the Haymarket area. New never looked so good. And the familiar sights slipped into my vision like it was just yesterday that I had last seem them.

Go Big Red!