Why I Love Fandom: Reason #323

Where else would someone get excited about a comic book cover and exclaim:

OMG, naked flaming Faith! *faint*

You can see the faint inspiring comic book cover at this location. As it's a comic book cover, we're talking Safe For Work.

Doing the Tango

I've added And Tango Makes Three to my Barnes and Noble wish list. Any book that hits the "most challenged" list is a "must have" for our family library.

Here's one of the comments from the B&N reviews:

What is our world coming to? Children in preschool are not ready to tackle this subject yet. How would you all feel if we brought in a story straight from the Bible? Now let's talk tolerance. I am a teacher, a mother and a liberal, but not this liberal.

Um, aren't preschoolers tackling the subject of families on a regular basis? If preschoolers are ready for a story with a mommy and daddy, they're ready for this book. In fact, if we're ever going to see true tolerance--acceptance would be even better--for anything other than the "traditional" heterosexual model of parenting, books like this are a must.

Suntory Time

Bill Murray is one of my favorite comedic actors. Stripes, Ghostbusters, What About Bob, and Groundhog day are films I've watched over and over and over. I absolutely love Lost in Translation and I'm probably the only person on the planet who thinks Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is comedy brilliance ("We'll send him a red cap and Speedo.")

I have to say, Murray's latest escapade gave me a good chuckle.

Drunk Driving Swedish Golf Cart.

At least it wasn't a car, right?

Deluge

I have never seen so much rain. Since Thursday or Friday, we've been hit with rain every single day. I'm not talking a Colorado rainstorm that drops a quarter of an inch in fifteen minutes, but honest to goodness Midwest downpours that last for hours. Weather reports put our monthly rainfall total at 12 inches, three-quarters of that total in the last few days. Even when it's not raining, the humidity doesn't drop much below 90 percent; one step outside and it's like you just walked out of the shower.

To top it all off, the river that runs through town is at flood stage and threatening part of campus. I received an email this afternoon asking school employees to watch for an announcement regarding the possibility of sandbag work Thursday and Friday. Now that's something that doesn't appear in your Inbox every day. If we receive much rain tonight, and radar suggests there's more headed this way, I could be hip deep in river water, sand, and burlap by tomorrow afternoon.

Feast 156

Feast One Hundred & Fifty Six
August 17th, 2007

Appetizer--Describe your laundry routine. Do you have a certain day when you do it all, or do you just wash whatever you need for the next day?
Wash running clothes--shorts, shirts, socks, various ankle/knee braces--a couple times a week. For general washing, clothes are sorted into whites, darks, and blacks. Dress clothes are sorted in a similar fashion and washed separately from jeans, t-shirts, etc.

Soup--In your opinion, what age will you be when you’ll consider yourself to truly be old?
70? I don't know. I'll be forty in a few months and still don't feel anything like "old". Old is a state of mind, I suspect.

Salad--What is one of your goals? Is it short-term, long-term, or both?
Short term: clean up a couple small debts, new laptop for STK. Long term: tenure.

Main Course--Name something unbelievable you’ve seen or read lately.
In the unbelievable--"I'm amazed!" category: It's a comet! Wait, it's a star!

In the unbelievable--are you freaking kidding me?!--category: Pentagon Spends $998,798 to Ship Two Washers.

Dessert--On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how happy are you today?
5. Not enough sleep ::grumble::

Letting Go

During my high school and college years, I earned much needed money as a lifeguard, instructor, and swim team coach. One of the most stressed lessons during Water Safety Instructor training was one of the most difficult to swallow: if the rescue gets too difficult or looks too dangerous, let the victim drown. That's good advice, really. One drowning is better than two.

Tonight, I can't help but think that same icy logic applies to the Utah mining situation. My heart aches for the lost miners and their respective friends and families, but are their lives worth the loss of others?

Rescue Disaster

Realistically, the statistical probability that the lost miners are still alive is slim to none. If/when the mine authorities decide to call off the recovery operation, they will no doubt be demonized by some factions for leaving the lost miners to their fate. I'd argue, however, that their current responsibility is to the living rather than the might be living. That position brings no amount of solace to those who face the loss of a loved one, I'm sure, but when does one say "Enough. It's time to say goodbye"?

Best of Intentions

Despite my desire to do some serious blogging during the recent Colorado getaway--we arrived back at the Fortress of Little to No Solitude around 6 PM--I obviously wasn't up to the task. What started as a "last hurrah" before the start of school mutated into something much less celebratory. Rather than spending time strolling through the Denver Botanic Gardens or the newly expanded/remodeled art museum, our time consisted of hospital visits and convalescence.

Just before leaving for our trip, we learned that STK's grandmother had encountered some health difficulties requiring a hospital stay. Somewhere on the plains of Nebraska the cell phone rang and we received awful news: pancreatic cancer. She's lived a good long life but it's still difficult to see a loved one facing a terminal illness. While in Denver, STK visited her grandmother daily. The final farewell from the hospital proved particularly difficult as we realize we may not see Grandma J when we return for the holidays.

As we said our goodbyes Tuesday afternoon, our trip took another wrong turn at Albuquerque. Early Tuesday morning, I awoke at the horrifying hour of 6 AM to go for a 10 mile run (I've been training for a half marathon at the end of the month). At about 2.5 miles I noticed I wasn't running particularly well. I typically don't run all that well in the mornings so I'm used to a few extra aches and pains for the first fifteen minutes or so. No matter how hard I tried to push my lethargy aside, I couldn't do it. I hit the five mile mark and quit. This is extremely unusual behavior for me; when I set out to run, I typically set a target: five miles, forty-five minutes, etc. Sprained ankle, heat, stomach cramps--nothing stops me from completing a run. A week ago Tuesday I packed it in, walked home, and felt off the entire morning. I ate breakfast and my bagel just sat in my stomach. And sat. And sat. My condition worsened at the hospital. I finally pulled STK aside and said, "I hate to do this, but I don't feel so great."

We hopped in the car and started the hour drive to my parents. And that's when the bug hit in full force. By the time we reached my parents, I collapsed in the spare bedroom and shivered uncontrollably. With the assistance of copious amounts of ibuprofen, I managed to keep my temperature at 102.5. Tuesday was shot, Wednesday was a day of sleep and the intermittent foray out into the world to try and spend time with my family. While I didn't have vertigo and wasn't sick to my stomach, I couldn't eat anything. Food sat in my stomach like an indigestible croquet ball. I swear I could feel the damn thing just sitting there. Anything more exotic than toast or Malt O Meal resulted in stomach cramps and other effects that I'd rather not reveal on a public blog. Let's just say that at one point we had several scented candles burning in the spare bedroom. By Friday, when the rest of the family arrived (Aunt J, Uncle G, Cousin K, Cousin-in-Law T), I was finally well enough to interact with the living. I didn't feel terrific--far from the top of my game, in fact--but I could hang out.

Friday and Saturday were spent catching up, laughing, and reminiscing, the usual family stuff. Given the cramped quarters of my parents' spacious abode (eight people living under the same rough), a good time was had by all. I think.

Despite the detours and speed bumps, the trip was worth the effort and there were many most excellent moments. A leisurely dinner with all of our Denver alternafriends was definitely one of the hight lights, as was our last minute descent into the Denver goth scene for a couple hours of dancing. While at my parents, I managed to spend a couple hours with J, a friend from high school. No matter how much time slips by, that friendship will always be one of those that survives. If you're reading, J, thanks for the Hendrix! Excellent stuff for the journey home. I even hugged my father as we said goodbye (we never hug) . . . and he returned the hug. That moment has been 20+ years in the making. We might not see eye to eye on a great many things, but seem to be able to enjoy each other's company as more time goes by. As much as I hate to admit it, that's probably a result of my maturity more than anything else.

And that brings us to the point where I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. And that isn't going to happen. As STK commences the 2007-2008 school year tomorrow (teacher in-service and what not through the end of the week), I'm back on primary care patrol with TLO. My mornings will once again be filled with talk of "bulldozers," "ghosts," and "milk!" and filled with images of Handy Manny, Elmo, and Caillou.

What the heck happened to my summer?

Mmmmm.

Kaladi Bros Coffee. Einstein Bros fruit & nut power bagel. Heaven.