Tuesday, July 31, 2007

lunch time

A Quick Update

We had a hugely busy weekend.  On Friday, we took Eli and Spiderman to the veterinary ophthalmologist for a checkup (for Eli) and an exam for Spidey.  Eli is doing fine, and Spidey’s story is on Leigh-Ann’s blog.  He’s going to have laser surgery as soon as the Wee Paws donations can cover it.  Then, hopefully, he & Greg will go to their new adoptive parents.

On Saturday, my brother flew in from Sacramento…and boy were his arms tired.  Heh.  He did Bio Cranial on us twice, separated by my nephew’s baseball game (for him and my parents) and walking through Whole Foods, Barnes & Noble, and Relax the Back for us.  Then, on Sunday, we went over to my parents’ house for more Bio Cranial procedures, this time separated by brunch at the Suncoast.  We haven’t been miraculously cured…yet.  From how we feel, we’re detoxing all the icky stuff out of our bodies, so we’ll wait to update for a little while.  We both definitely feel better in the neck area - much looser.  I’ve been waking up in less pain than normal, I think.  Although, I’ve had a nasty sinus headache that’s been hanging around since thunderstorms rolled in last week.  It comes and goes, but I can mostly control it with Sudafed, although this morning I needed two Excedrin to help knock it out.

We’re still off the artificial sweeteners.  The Stevia sample bottles came and we realized that the flavors aren’t strong enough to add to plain water.  It tastes like really sweet water w/ the tiniest amount of flavor.  So, it’ll be better to use the Stevia flavors in other drinks.  The plain Stevia has been good in our drinks instead of sugar.  Also, we’ve tried some herbal teas from Adagio that we’ve made into iced tea.  The Fruit Tea Medley is a hit.

Okay, back to work.  More updating within the next couple of days.  Oh, and Leigh-Ann just finished Harry Potter, so now it’s my turn to have the book all to myself.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

late morning

Love Is…

A crunchy peanut butter & boysenberry jam sandwich, on Hawaiian bread.  There’s very little that pleases me more than this delectable sandwich.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

early afternoon

Operation Trust Stephen King w/ Your Reading Future

I was reading a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, the one where Stephen King praises a new author’s book and laments its ending, and talks about saying goodbye to characters you love.  He was also talking about saying goodbye to Harry Potter, a series of books that will probably never be surpassed in a pop culture event way.  The midnight releases, the parties, the adults devouring supposed children’s books, even though we all know they weren’t written for children.  However, it’s good to know that there will always be books worth waiting for, even if it’ll never be another Harry Potter book.  Stephen King raves about Lauren Groff‘s first novel, The Monsters of Templeton.  I’m sure Stephen will forgive me if I quote liberally from his column.  At least I hope so.  “I’m having a day of mixed feelings: happy because I’m reading the manuscript of a novel that’s full of magic, mystery, and monsters; sad because it will be finished tomorrow and on my shelf, with all its secrets told and its surviving characters set free to live their own lives (if characters have lives beyond the end of a novel — I’ve always felt they do). It’s called The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff, and it will be published early next year.  Admit it, he has you hooked already, huh?  And he continues on, “The sense of sadness I feel at the approaching end of The Monsters of Templeton  isn’t just because the story’s going to be over; when you read a good one — and this is a very good one — those feelings are deepened by the realization that you probably won’t tie into anything that much fun again for a long time.”

 

 

pre-order for a February 5, 2008 release date

Dear blogging friends, the author that Stephen King so loves, is not the #1 search result for her own name.  I want to try a quick-fix of that situation.  Let’s show her web person that it can be done…and it can even be done the hard way, by not touching the website itself.  If you could do me a favor, in one of your next blog entries, say a couple o’ words about The Monsters of Templeton author, Lauren Groff, and then hyperlink her name to http://www.laurengroff.com - I’d much appreciate it.

Here’s Stephen King’s review of the novel too. “Lauren Groff’s debut novel, The Monsters of Templeton, is everything a reader might have expected from this gifted writer, and more. Willie is a funny, sexy, plucky, heroine; her Mom—a once-upon-a-time hippie who’s gone Baptist but not square—is a hoot; her family history is a funhouse through which Willie must wander in order to find her father. Best of all is Templeton, a town that will remind readers of Ray Bradbury at his most magical. There are monsters, murders, bastards, and ne’er-do-wells almost without number. I was sorry to see this rich and wonderful novel come to an end, and there is no higher success than that.”—Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly

I don’t think I’m going to win any awards for style with this blog entry, but we’re going for complete function today.  Plus, it’s 6am and I’ve had a long long day, and I need to get some sleep.  Maybe I’ll come back and pretty this baby up.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

early afternoon

Idiot of the Day - John Edwards, Another Wishy-Washy Candidate

“But I personally have been on a journey on this issue. I feel enormous conflict about it. As I think a lot of people know, Elizabeth spoke—my wife Elizabeth spoke out a few weeks ago, and she actually supports gay marriage. I do not. But this is a very, very difficult issue for me. And I recognize and have enormous respect for people who have a different view of it.”—John Edwards about gay marriage

What’s so “very very difficult” about an issue that doesn’t affect you one iota?  Seriously.  Why is anyone even allowed to have “enormous conflict” over my right to marry my partner of almost ten years?  His answers feel very, I don’t know, cowardly.  He’s afraid to lose the religious vote, so instead he’s willing to sound like an idiot?  What straight person needs a “journey” to be in favor of gay marriage?  Either you believe we should be afforded the same rights as straight couples, or you don’t.  It’s that simple.  This conflicted crap is annoying.  Hey John, why don’t you just sit down and let Elizabeth run?  She has the guts to express her opinions, even if religious bigots don’t agree with her.  She takes on Ann Coulter, she takes on cancer, she seems to understand that her religious views shouldn’t have anything to do with other people’s lives.  If a man is so conflicted over marriage, how on earth will he ever be able to manage the really difficult subjects like war, poverty, health, and repairing our very Bush-damaged reputation in the world?  I have no faith that John Edwards is capable of acting like a grownup and being president.  Sure, Bush is more immature, but look around and see how much money he’s wasted, how much good will, how many lives.  I’m tired of wishy-washy Democrats who have no courage of their convictions, no ability to take a stand.  I’d even have more respect for him if he flat out said, that as a religious nut, he’ll never be in favor of gay marriage.  That he didn’t even have to think about it, that he’s just against it.  At least that doesn’t make it sound like he sits around with an unlit pipe in his mouth, contemplating the ins and outs of gay marriage, and the philosophy behind it.  So John, step aside and let the strong presidential candidate in your family run.  Elizabeth Edwards for President.  Actually, I’d like it to be a Gore/Edwards ticket.  Elizabeth Edwards.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

lunch time

Twelve Hours Of Sleep

Twelve hours of sleep, plus many hours of work, doesn’t leave many hours to do anything else.  For some reason (er, we’re sick?), Leigh-Ann and I keep sleeping for 10 - 12 hours a day.  Ordinarily, it might worry us because of things like carbon monoxide poisoning, but all the pets are fine.  The birds would be affected first, and they’re doing just dandy, so no, it’s just us.  However, we’ve both the right dosage of our meds that we believe is best, so that’s a relief.  Now, we just have to convince the doctor on Wednesday.  Plus, my brother is coming to Vegas at the end of next week, and we’ll both get some bio cranial treatments.  Maybe we can be miracle patients that are cured after two treatments, and then we won’t need any more meds, and we can sleep eight hours a day and feel refreshed and ready to greet the world when we wake up.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed.  All else fails, we get a visit with my out-of-state brother, thanks to the generosity of my parents.  Thanks, Mom & Dad, for the mini family reunion.