Monthly Archives: July 2007
Update 2: The Jooj-Bear could use some positive juju right now
Update 2: He's coming home today. w00t!
They think he might have a Lepto infection, but they won't know for about a week. That's much better than what they initially thought: ingestion of rat poison, or possibly a bowel obstruction.
This little visit to the ER was a little costly, but hey, you know? He's family, so he's worth it.
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Update: I just got back from visiting him, and he's doing MUCH better. It's a complete 180 from yesterday, when he looked like he was on his death bed. When he walked into the examination room yesterday, he faintly wagged his tail before collapsing onto the blanket on the floor. Today, when I grabbed the leash, he was being a total jackass, so I know he's feeling better.
Thanks for the positive thoughts, everyone!
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The Home-dog is in the hospital right now, and things aren't looking very good. Last night he started vomiting and had diarrhea. He tried to drink some water, but he threw that right back up, too. He's very weak. We went to see him today, and it was all he could do to even wag his tail a little bit.
The vets are running tests and doing all they can, but they still haven't pinpointed what's wrong. He's lonely, and probably in a fair bit of pain, so, dear Internet, if you can spare a few good vibes and send them his way, I'd grately appreciate it.
Hope for the best!
Daily Links: 7/13/2007
Overweight kids are teased
Yet another news story from the Department of Derrrrrrr, this one reporting that overweight kids face widespread stigma:
Overweight children are stigmatized by their peers as early as age 3 and even face bias from their parents and teachers, giving them a quality of life comparable to people with cancer, a new analysis concludes.
Youngsters who report teasing, rejection, bullying and other types of abuse because of their weight are two to three times more likely to report suicidal thoughts as well as to suffer from other health issues such as high blood pressure and eating disorders, researchers said.
I was never the fat kid (though I did have a chunky phase throughout most of my twenties), but I do remember teasing one of my overweight classmates. I have neither excuse nor rationale for what I did. I acted without thinking about how it would make him feel, and I'm sure it was terrible for him. Chris, on the off chance that you're reading this, I'm sorry.
So, MSNBC, you did a good job. You wrote an article that made me realize what a jackass I had been toward my fat(ter) contemporaries when I was a child. I vowed that I would never again make fun of the overweight, for it could have dire consequences on their quality of life. You made me a better man.
Then I kept reading the article:
Lynn McAfee, 58, of Stowe, Pa., said that as an overweight child she faced troubles on all fronts. [...] Other children would try to run her down on bikes to see if she would bounce.
COME ON!!! How am I not supposed to laugh at that?!? AAAUUUGHHHH!!!
Nice going, MSNBC. You snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. I was a reformed man, and now all I want to do is throw pennies at a fat kid to see if they'll bounce off.
Daily Links: 7/12/2007
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All-time worldwide box office earnings
I still don't get Titanic. Can someone explain to me why that's #1?
Daily Links: 7/11/2007
400 alarm fire in Antelope!
So there I was, kicking back on the couch, sipping on a wine cooler single-malt Scotch, and reading a book, when Homer runs to the back door and starts going apeshit. Now, if you know dogs at all, you know that apeshitty behavior, though random, is not an uncommon occurrence.
So I ignored him.
Five minutes later, though, there was a vigorous, insistent knock at my front door.
I looked at my clock. 9:35 pm. WTF? Kelly was at a volleyball game, and no one was coming over, so who the hell could it be?
I peeked out the window and saw an 18-year-old kid. He looked harmless enough, so I opened the door:
Me: 'sup?
Kid: Nothin'
Me: You gellin'?
Kid: STFU
Me: True.
Kid: There's a fire behind your house.
Me: Tight shit, yo.
And then I punched him in the neck.
So I raced to the backyard fence, and, sure enough, there was a fire blazing behind my house. Beyond our fence sits a big, undeveloped grassy field. The grass is dry — very dry — so I wasn't completely shocked that it was ablaze, it being the peak of fire season and what not.
I grabbed my ladder, unspooled the garden house, and donned my pithhelmut to attack the blaze. It wasn't until after I'd gotten everything all set up that it dawned on me: my firefighting would be much more effective if I opened up the back gate and took the hose out into the field, rather than spraying wildly from a ladder in my back yard.
So I ran back into the garage to get the gate key. Just as I finished opening the gate, a Sac Metro fireman came through my front gate to save the day.
I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that Sac Metro, Roseville FD, CDF, and whoever else was involved did their jobs supremely. They got on the scene and had the fire out quickly. There were at least two trucks in front of my house, and at least 8-10 on the road behind my house. They were there in full force, and they got the job done. Kudos.
I wish I had some live action shots or video to show you, but I was too busy first hauling my fire gear out to the front lines, and then, after the FD took over, entertaining the neighborhood teenagers who had come through our yard and congregated around my back gate. I didn't smite them only because one of them knocked on my door and let me know that my wooden fence was in mortal danger.
And where was Troy throughout this whole ordeal? Sleeping. Dead to the world. A sonic boom 10 feet over his head couldn't have woken him.
Daily Links: 7/10/2007
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You're doing it wrong (keep refreshing the page for more pics)
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I'll leave you with this one
Fort Bragg / Mendocino: 7/8/2007
Warning: inane content ahead. It is a journal of what we did while on vacation. It is not particularly well-written, and should you decide to read it, you will likely experience an overwhelming sense of boredom similar to watching someone else’s home videos. Proceed with caution.
Time to go home. After packing up, we headed off to breakfast at the Home Style Café. Man, are those good eats. I had Linguica, eggs, potatoes, and biscuits. Oh man, it’s good stuff. For you Woodlanders out there, I’d say it’s as good as, if not better than, breakfast at the Ranch Kitchen.
After breakfast and a quick Starbucks break, we headed north out of Fort Bragg to see the redwoods. There is some beautiful coast line up there, and the redwoods are spectacular.
We paid the $5 to drive through the “Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree,” one of the most underwhelming experiences of my life. We drove out the other side, looked at each other and said, “yay.” Yes. A lowercase yay.
We made it all the way up to Garberville before turning around and heading for home. Benbow looks like a nice area, but it’s a bit remote. Hopefully someday we’ll get back up there again. It’s pretty nice country.
T-man was great throughout the whole trip. He spent a lot of time in his car seat, but he didn’t complain a bit. He was a little fussy at night, but we think that it was because he was out of his element. Hopefully things will return to normal this week.
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If you’ve made it this far, I commend you. Also, you are a masochist, but, hey, if it was worth it, who am I to judge?
Fort Bragg / Mendocino: 7/7/2007
Warning: inane content ahead. It is a journal of what we did while on vacation. It is not particularly well-written, and should you decide to read it, you will likely experience an overwhelming sense of boredom similar to watching someone else’s home videos. Proceed with caution.
Yet another Starbucks run. Today we didn’t have much on the agenda, so after a big breakfast, we just kind of lazed around the house all morning.
Earlier in the week, I had found out about the “World’s Largest Salmon BBQ”, to be held today at Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg. So, we went. And, it was awesome.
http://www.salmonrestoration.com/bbqmain.html
Turns out it’s a fundraiser for some salmon restoration organization. Lots of people showed up. There were easily a couple hundred while we were there, and I imagine several thousand make their way through over the course of the day. They had a live band, great weather, and, of course, great food.
Each ticket bought you a plate with a huge salmon steak, an ear of corn, two thickly-coated pieces of garlic bread, and a tasty green salad. The outdoors, community atmosphere and the great food made it an extremely enjoyable experience for our whole family – even Troy. If you’re ever in this neck of the woods around the 4th of July, I highly recommend stopping by the annual salmon BBQ.
Next up was the wedding at the Mendocino Woodland’s camp. Deidre’s husband-to-be was apparently a camp counselor here for 17 years, so this place had special meaning to them. It is the most remote setting for a wedding that I have ever attended, but it was beautiful. The only sketchy part was the ¼ mile trek from the parking lot to the ceremony site, but in the end, we all survived.
Probably the highlight of my evening was having the four cousins (me, Darci, Cinnamon, and Deidre) together again. I have no clue the last time that happened. It was great to catch up with the side of the family that we rarely get to see.
Also cool: my Uncle Steve received a Nikon D80 for xmas, just like me.
We had to leave the reception fairly early because they had no lights and open flames weren’t allowed, and Troy was getting fussy. We headed into Fort Bragg to get some dessert snacks since we missed out on the wedding cake. On the way back to the house from Safeway, we got stuck in traffic from people leaving the beach fireworks show. Let me just tell you that the Fort Bragg Police Department is a bunch of Super Troopers. Someone from the NYPD needs to do a work exchange program and show them how to direct traffic. The FBPD, bless their law-enforcing hearts, are borderline retarded in this aspect of their jobs.
Anywho, we all crashed pretty much as soon as we got home.