Lost in the Fogg

Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-2008

2008-03-19T12:45:00.002-05:00

Read The Star and The Nine Billion Names of God, if you haven't before (or in a while).

He will be missed.

Reposted for Truth (or at least Truthiness)

2007-12-10T08:16:00.000-05:00

From here:

"Made lots of money" is not the same thing as "was good."

"I liked it more than X" is not the same thing as "it was better than X."

"They" don't owe "the fans" anything.

"The fans" did not save it.

"The people who only like it now that it's popular" are not inferior to "the longterm fans."

"Enjoyable" is not the same as "good."

The creators are not beholden to your "personal canon" or fan-fiction.

"They" are not out to personally ruin your enjoyment.

Someone who likes it for a different reason than you do is not wrong.

Someone who doesn't like it is not wrong.

Completely Disgusting

2007-12-05T08:19:00.000-05:00

Check out the video at the link: http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=5361 (if you can stomach it, that is - I could only watch about 30 seconds at a time without wanting to retch)

Yes, that's a church group singing about how God hates the world (and all its people). It's apparently too late for us to do anything about it, too - not sure what good it does us to know that we're all damned, then... maybe it's just a superiority thing. Oh, and we eat our kids, too, apparently.

As Warren mentions, the last 30 seconds or so is just horrible - it's a little child (who is barely old enough to pronounce the words, it seems) singing along.

This uplifting message of hope is brought to you by the same folks who brought you godhatesfags.com.

Now Reading (Dec '07)

2007-12-03T12:09:00.000-05:00

Whew. Went crazy on checking books out with the inter-library loan feature - I had 60 books on request at one point in the last month, mostly graphic novels.

Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko - reading this one now. It's a Russian fantasy/horror book (one in a four book series) that was made into a successful movie. Apparently the movie was the first big-budget fantasy film in Russia. Book is pretty good so far.
Read the 30 Days of Night series as outlined in my last "Now Reading" post. Decent stuff, I hope the later ones get made. Also finished Promethea.
New Star Wars: Republic Commando book is out - True Colors. Enjoyed it, goes a lot more in-depth on the Clone Wars than other books (or the films) did.
Annihilation from Marvel - the first two trades. I dig me some cosmic-level sci-fi comics stories. The first trade (with the prologue, Nova mini-series and Drax mini-series) was really enjoyable, the second (with the Surfer, Super-Skrull and Ronan mini-series) was more uneven. Looking forward to the third.
Mystery in Space - did I mention love me some cosmic sci-fi comic stories? This was pretty good as well. Looking forward to the conclusion of this one.
Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes: Dominator War - nice wrap-up of the Mark Waid/Barry Kitson collaboration. I doubt I'll keep buying these now that those two are gone, but it was still decent.
Iron Man: Hypervelocity - really wanted to like this one more, and there were some really neat uses of the Iron Man armor in it, but overall I was disappointed.
Planet Hulk - enjoyed this one a lot. I hope the follow-up (World War Hulk) is as good.
Got the second Checkmate trade collection (Pawn Breaks), but I'm still waiting on the first one. Still, really enjoyed it - read a lot like Queen & Country but with superheroes.
In Brief: Let's see, also read: Infinite Crisis (not bad but overhyped), the Infinite Crisis Companion (meh), Teen Titans: Titans Around the World (okay), House of M (better than I expected), Civil War (meh), a bunch of JSA books (Savage Times, Black Reign, Black Vengeance, Lost, Mixed Signals), a bunch of JLA books (New Maps of Hell, Trial by Fire, Golden Perfect, Pain of the Gods), Wonder Woman: Hiketeia, Batman: Death and the Maidens, Trinity, a bunch of Spider-man (The Other, Venomous and The Last Stand), Wolverine: Enemy of the State (all of Millar's start to read the same after a while), Astonishing X-men: Torn (decent but doesn't actually end), and some X-men (First Foursaken, End of Greys and Essential v. 2). Did I miss any? Oh yeah, still have DC: The New Frontier (both volumes), a bunch of Flash trades (Rogues, Crossfire, Ignition and Rogue War) and a bunch of Wonder Woman trades (Land of the Dead, Mission's End, Bitter Rivals and Down to Earth) to get through.
And then there's the stuff that's still coming. ;)

I've had a lot to read, it feels like.

UPDATE: Forgot one - Stephen King's Gunslinger Born - nice little re-telling of the events of Wizard and Glass. I hope the sequels travel some new territory, though.

Wish I'd thought of this one

2007-11-21T07:49:00.000-05:00

http://www.overheardintheoffice.com/archives/005625.html

Happy Wha-huh?

2007-11-05T10:13:00.000-05:00

Saturday we went out to celebrate my 32nd birthday. Red Robin was the first stop (I love that place) and then we went bowling at the Brunswick Lanes in Columbia.

At one point I'm up for my first roll of a frame and I hear over the loudspeaker: "Attention guests, we'd like to announce a special event tonight..."

Great. I line up my shot.

"Michael Fogg is celebrating..."

Yeah yeah. I start to throw the ball.

"... his 40th birthday with us this evening!"

WHAT? Ball goes awry, I hit something like 3 pins. My wife is laughing fit to split.

Now Reading (October '07)

2007-10-24T10:34:00.000-05:00

Read my way through the four books in Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile (as well as the vinculum book, Intervention), and now working on her Galactic Milieu series (I'm on Jack the Bodiless now). Good stuff.
Terry Pratchett has a new book out! Oooh, and it starts Moist Von Lipvig, from Going Postal - pity it wasn't as good as that one (although I'm biased, as Going Postal was one of my favorites of his recent releases). Still worth reading.
Read the new Death Star novel - meh. I expected more, somehow.
Found volumes 1-4 of Promethea at the library - now I just need the last one! Great story, although the lengthy quest in the middle feels more like a digression by the author than anything else.
Waiting to re-read 30 Days of Night and read the sequels (as soon as the books show up at the library). We saw the movie last weekend - I don't see many horror films these days, and this one was pretty good.

Looking forward to seeing I Am Legend in December - I may need to re-read the book beforehand.

Now Reading (September '07)

2007-09-18T13:49:00.000-05:00

Missed July, August and much of September - honestly, it was yesterday's Robert Jordan post that reminded me.

Finished the Vorkosigan Saga back in July.
Read a few of the Xeelee Sequence books by Stephen Baxter - Vacuum Diagrams and Timelike Infinity. Can't find Raft, Flux or Ring, sadly.
Re-read a LOT of graphic novels over the summer: Astro City, Grant Morrison's JLA and New X-Men, Warren Ellis's run on The Authority, Fables, Preacher, Rising Stars, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting.
Trying to make my way through Ken McLeod's Fall Revolution and Engines of Light books, and I'm discovering that his style just doesn't work for me.
Read Coyote and Coyote Rising by Allen Steele; waiting for Coyote Frontier and The Tranquility Alternative. Not what I was expecting, but good. Quite good.
Found a copy of Empire by Orson Scott Card at Half Price Books and re-read it; good stuff.
Just started Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile series - not far enough in to have an opinion.
I know I'm forgetting some, but if I can't remember them they probably weren't worth noting.

Not a good day

2007-09-17T07:12:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite authors, Robert Jordan, passed away yesterday. I found out today. It's not a good day.

2007-08-15T20:50:00.001-05:00

2007-08-15T20:44:00.001-05:00

2007-08-15T20:40:00.001-05:00

2007-08-15T20:35:00.001-05:00

2007-08-15T20:27:00.001-05:00

2007-08-15T20:17:00.000-05:00

The aftermath of our big flood - you can see that the downstairs has very little furniture! The cat climbed up on me while the water was still in the house (12/31/06 photo) and didn't want to get down!

Her Nibs at Christmas

2007-08-15T20:12:00.001-05:00

It has been a while since I've posted photos, huh? This is Savannah with a toy she got for Christmas. She unwrapped this thing herself, which we found pretty impressive.

Her Nibs

2007-08-15T19:56:00.000-05:00

I've been promising pictures, have I not?

Make Your Own Green Lantern Ring

2007-07-23T10:42:00.003-05:00

I want one!

(Kitty photos are coming - I promise! No, she won't have a GL ring)

Reunion update

2007-06-29T07:32:00.000-05:00

So far, the ins:

Scott
Mark
Sandy/Alexander
Jeff
Gary
John
Max

Better turnout than I would've expected. It's all still conjecture until we actually pick a date (dates?) and start making plans, but I'll be optimistic for now.

We need to get the erewhon list rolling again, if we're going to do this. If you're reading this - go join if you're not already there. Email if you can't find it. There's LOTS of bouncing accounts there.

Now Reading (Late June '07)

2007-06-28T14:07:00.000-05:00

Where I share with my dear readers (all four of you) what I've read since the last time.

Now on my way through the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold, a few of which I've read before. Currently reading Memory (and I started with The Warrior's Apprentice, which I suppose means I cheated).
Read Galactic North by Alistair Reynolds. His Revelation Space books are always entertaining, although it's extremely difficult for me to pick one up and remember character names from previous books, for some reason. Very much what I'd describe as Hard Gothic science fiction.
I can see the influence that Superfolks has had on comic books just from the little I've read, but I'm finding it extremely difficult to pick up and read more than a chapter at a time. Odd, since it's written in a simplistic style that would seem to lend itself to quick reading, but it's having the opposite effect on me. Can't get into it at all.

That's it - not much reading this month, I've been busier than usual (or so it feels, anyway). Or I'm forgetting something. Or both.

Columbus Aberrant Gaming Reunion

2007-06-27T12:55:00.000-05:00

(The title should get some interesting hits...)

Gary, John, Jeff, Mark - I know you read this sometimes. Would you be interested? Post if you are, or email me.

Robot Chicken: Star Wars

2007-06-21T09:36:00.001-05:00

What do you mean, you didn't see it? Go now! Watch!

I can't make this stuff up

2007-06-11T08:39:00.000-05:00

So the air conditioning people missed two appointments to fix the A/C - kind of annoying, after our flooring woes, but we'd used these people before so they get a little more slack.

They were out last Thursday to put in a new A/C unit. Did all the work, gave us a break on the price because of the problems we'd had (work was supposed to have been done on May 18, originally).

Saturday night Heather notices that the floor is wet by the cat's food. We look around for a bit, thinking maybe the cat had just had an accident, and then Heather discovers the floor is wet by the utility closet as well. She digs everything out of the closet and finds a pipe leaking.

Turns out they hadn't bothered to connect the condensation line into the drain - just left the original pipe in and hooked it back in, except that it was now two inches too long and didn't hit the drain. Our air conditioner, which had been working overtime, had been dumping water onto the floor of the utility closet at a rate of "about two cups per hour"*. Not enough for us to notice a gush of water, but enough to have soaked through the wall and into the carpeting on the other side.

So we may have another water claim due to flooding, not less than six months after the first one. Joy.

The technician's response was "oh yeah, that's an easy fix - do you have a saw?" I don't think he was getting that I was pissed because they should've caught it in the first place and now I might have water damage. AGAIN.

*also from the tech. Didn't seem to bother him that it had been doing this for two days, though.

The joy of 2007 continues...

2007-06-04T12:54:00.000-05:00

I guess the furnace failing this winter should've warned us - we need a new air conditioner now too. *sigh*

Now reading (May '07)

2007-05-18T11:12:00.000-05:00

Still reading my way through David Weber's Honorverse. Last time I was on Field of Dishonor (fourth in the series), since then I've read the next seven books in the main series (Flag in Exile, Honor Among Enemies, In Enemy Hands, Echoes of Honor, Ashes of Victory, War of Honor and At All Costs), the Shadow of Saganami spin-off/tie-in, and the anthology Changer of Worlds. Currently reading the anthology Worlds of Honor, and The Service of the Sword is waiting for me at the library. Only one more anthology and then I've run out of books (haven't decided if I'm going to read the spin-off Crown of Slaves yet).
What, that's not enough? Okay, also read the fantastic first volume of All-Star Superman, the decent Green Lantern: Rebirth and the disappointing (and unwieldy titled) Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes: Adult Education.
ASS (heh) was just great, even despite the Frank Quitely art. Grant Morrison writes Superman with a brilliant Silver Age sensibility with the intelligence of more modern tales.
GL:R I probably would've reviewed more strongly but for two things: I'd skimmed it in the store so it held few surprises, and the main antagonist is a yellow fear demon from before the dawn of time who is named for the apparent motion of an object due to the motion of an observer, and that's kind of silly.
SatLoSH:AE (see? it's even unwieldy like that) was in the middle of a story-arc, and it felt that way. I think most of my disappointment with the book was knowing that the artist, Barry Kitson, is moving to Marvel (another comics publisher for those who aren't comic book people) and the writer is leaving the title because of that, so many of these plotPublish Post threads won't be resolved.

What're you reading?

Hopes up

2007-05-18T08:36:00.000-05:00

I'm ridiculously excited for the new Transformers movie (link is to the new trailer).

I hope it doesn't suck.

I thought it was worse

2007-04-12T13:15:00.001-05:00

Your Mind is 55% Cluttered

Your mind is starting to get cluttered, and as a result, it's a little harder for you to keep focused.
Try to let go of your pettiest worries and concerns. The worrying is worse than the actual problems!

How Cluttered is Your Mind?

All shall pass

2007-04-10T07:45:00.000-05:00

Fascinating story in the Washington Post today about a world-class musician who played outside L'Enfant Plaza - and almost no one stopped to listen.

Pearls Before Breakfast

(Found via Colleen Doran's blog)

Now reading (April '07)

2007-04-09T09:19:00.000-05:00

Since I don't use this for much else now that the cat is okay (reminds me, must post more photos of Her Nibs), I thought I'd update with my reading list for the last month or so:

The Space Opera Renaissance - by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (who also edited the wonderful The Ascent of Wonder, another fantastic anthology). Space Opera, when done well, is probably my favorite genre in science fiction, moreso even than hard sf. This one includes several of my favorite authors, as well, including Dan Simmons, Peter Hamilton and Iain M. Banks. I found a number of authors I haven't tried yet, as well.
"Honorverse" - been reading my way through David Weber's Honor Harrington books after reading one of his short stories in the above collection. So far I'm through Field of Dishonor while I wait for the library to get me the next book in the series. I think The Honor of the Queen is my favorite so far, though.
The Complete Hammer's Slammers, volume 1 - not as good as I'd hoped. I had to slog through a few of the stories here, although a few were decent. Library doesn't have volume two, and I didn't like it enough to buy.
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest - I liked the HBO series a lot, so I figured I'd read the source material and see how much of it they got right. Turns out the things I thought were probably exaggerations may have been toned down for the TV series. Wow.
Accelerando - I've only read a few books that really deal with the concept of the technological singularity head-on (Yay, Vernor Vinge!) and this one has done a pretty good job with it so far. I'm starting the seventh of nine short stories that make up the narrative, and so far I like it a lot better than Singularity Sky, which is the only other thing I've read by Stross.
Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons. Re-read both while I was waiting on other books from the library.

Yeah, that was in the last month. I'll try to keep this updated as I read, but no guarantees...

My favorite April Fool's post from this year

2007-04-02T13:43:00.000-05:00

Comes courtesy of Ironic Sans: the discovery of a new species of falcon (trust me, it's short and worth reading).

Still going...

2007-03-28T11:49:00.000-05:00

Still no baseboards. Owner of the flooring company won't return calls to the company or to his cell phone. Better Business Bureau complaint has been made, and he hasn't responded to that either.

Oh, and the carpeting is starting to pull up in one place and two of the transition pieces have cracked. No response to inquiries there, either.

Continuing fun adventures of the floor that wouldn't get finished...

2007-02-26T11:09:00.000-05:00

Before I begin - the cat's fine, for those of you who just come here to find out about her. ;)

Tuesday I get a call from the owner of the flooring company, after I threatened them with the Better Business Bureau. Seems that there was a death in the family, which is why he didn't return my calls for five days. Okay, fair enough, but even telling the girl who takes calls for your company that tidbit might've helped. He explains that the guys who left on the 9th without doing our floors had "a situation" to deal with at home, which is why they lied to me about why they couldn't finish the work that day. And the owner told them that "communication was important" and "he had to be honest with people", sentiments that I wish he had taken to heart. So he swears all over that the work will be done by close of business Saturday, but can't give me an appointment yet.

Thursday comes and we've still not been given any kind of service appointment, so Heather calls again. Turns out they had us down for Saturday morning (silly us) from 8-10.

Saturday morning comes and at 10:15 or so, someone shows up at the door. We finally get the transition pieces for carpet to flooring (although the one in the "foyer" area is black, not brown, and we now have white quarter-round pieces on our natural wood moulding - but we're gonna paint that anyway) and the kitchen floor got cleaned up.

Still no baseboards. Owner offers up the explanation that the baseboards were a different contract than the floor (true), we haven't been charged for those yet (also true), and now everything that was contracted for is done (not really, since we did contract for the damn baseboards).

Sigh.

The Fun Continues

2007-02-20T14:11:00.000-05:00

Furnace was supposed to be delivered & installed on Tuesday February 6. Truck carrying the furnace broke down and they let us know they had to delay it by a day.

Carpet & floors were supposed to be done on the 8th, with a service appointment sometime between 8 and 10 am. When no one had arrived by 10:30, my wife called the flooring company to be told that the carpet they ordered was defective, and they had to get us the right stuff. We want the right carpet but a call would've been nice, as Heather had to rearrange her schedule to be able to meet them. Rescheduled for the 9th, between 8-9 (she had a meeting that day that she had to leave for around 9:30).

9:30 arrival time for the floorers on the 9th. Carpeting is installed but when I arrive at home that afternoon I'm told that the baseboards that came in were the wrong ones. No problem, someone will be out the next week, they'll call us early in the week to schedule. Not a big deal. Then when they're leaving and the kitchen & bathroom floors aren't done I'm told that the guys who are out "aren't comfortable doing the floors" as they're "not good at those types of flooring". Okay - why am I just hearing about this now?

But wait, it gets better.

No call by Tuesday the 13th to schedule, so Heather calls them. We're told it'll probably be Thursday and "someone will call to confirm by 3pm on Wednesday". Wednesday night comes, no call confirming. Thursday, no flooring people. Heather calls Thursday to find out what's going on. They call back on Thursday night and I get the phone. Turns out it was a miscommunication or something. I ask to have the owner call me, as I'd like to get some things straightened out. He calls while I'm at work and apologizes all over the place to Heather. He swears that the work will be 100% done by Friday.

But wait - there's more.

Friday comes, and the same two guys who couldn't do the work on the 9th, one week earlier, come back and do the floors in the kitchen and the bathroom. They left glue all over the kitchen floor where they were working and a gap betwen the baseboards and the laminate in the bathroom - I can see why they weren't comfortable doing the work previously, as it's kind of a mess now. Still no baseboards. No transition pieces between the carpet and kitchen either (dunno what they're called in flooring language). No indication of when we'll see those, either.

I call the flooring company and ask for the owner, and thus begins a several day process of "I've asked him to call you" excuses. The lady was very nice and seemed very concerned, but I've still received nothing and it's now Tuesday. He was going to call me on Friday, he was going to call me on Saturday, he was he was he was. Zip. Nada. Nothing.

Ugh. Did I mention that the insurance company has given us a total amount, but no idea when to expect the check? This is getting expensive.

If it ain't one thing...

2007-02-05T17:15:00.000-05:00

Saturday we painted, because what better time to paint than when you don't care if you ruin the carpeting?

We did some spackling around vents, so we had to turn off the heater so that it wasn't blowing at us the whole time. I had to remove a light fixture from the ceiling, so I turned off a circuit breaker so I didn't get fried. We also opened the doors to make sure we had some airflow with the paint fumes, thinking we didn't want to get high or kill the birds. Somewhere in all of that, the heater stopped working. Permanently.

so the weather stations are talking about unseasonably low temperatures for this time of year, and our heat isn't working. The 24-hour emergency help lines are useless, as each and every one of them told us "we can't come out unless we've done service for you before". Well, thanks for nothing.

Cost to replace the heater - $2700. Woo!

I'll have a full update on the flood soon, but I figured people might be amused by my ongoing misfortune. :)

Cats are EEEEEVIL

2007-01-31T11:01:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Danielle for this little gem:

Apparently cats are the DEBIL!

I laughed and laughed. Heather just got mad. I can't even refute his arguments as the logic is so twisted and wrong. :)

Happy New Year?

2007-01-02T10:32:00.000-05:00

Not so much, in our case.

Went out on December 31st to do some shopping at the nearby Arundel Mills shopping center. Spent about 4 hours shopping there and returned home around 4 pm - came home to find the doorsill was wet. Uh oh. Not a good sign.

I opened the door and found about an inch to an inch and a half of water in the "foyer" (it's really just a 4'x4' stone thing, not sure what they call them) and saw that the kitchen was full as well. Ran into the kitchen while yelling to Heather that we had a problem. Something under the sink was just gushing water at a fierce rate. We couldn't immediately see a valve, so we turned the water flow to the house off.

After a few moments of discussion, I went to my Bed Bath & Beyond to borrow a Wet Vac and Heather called the insurance company and found a water extraction service online. By the time I'd returned, though, most of the standing water (from the kitchen and our "foyer") had been absorbed by the carpet.

The water guys said they'd be on their way, but they had another job in front of us. Meanwhile, could we do what we could to get everything off the affected floor? We live in a two-level townhouse, and the lower level was flooded. So we had to move most of the contents of the first floor into the second floor, a process that took hours and that was still ongoing when the water guys arrived at quarter to midnight. Yup, fifteen minutes before the ball dropped. We couldn't fit some things upstairs, like the dining room table that came from Heather's grandmother's house (and that might be an antique).

The water guys set to work ripping up carpeting to get at the padding underneath, which was a total loss. They "floated" the carpet, a process which involves a number of industrial strength fans blowing underneath it to dry it out. We also have a dehumidifier and the biggest HEPA filter I've ever seen, to deal with allergies (I had an attack around 1:30 am due to all of the stuff in the air). The fans and such have to stay in the house for 3-5 days while they attempt to salvage the carpet. The floor of our bathroom and kitchen is a total loss and will have to be replaced.

The water guys ended up leaving around 2 am, and Heather and I settled in to bed around 3. Our upstairs is packed full of everything we could fit - meaning the guest room is packed full and our bedroom, the birds' room, the hallway and steps are stuffed to the point of making it difficult to walk. and the downstairs is essentially uninhabitable. Every surface in the kitchen has boxes or books or something on it, and we can't use the oven. The microwave and refrigerator are accessible, at least.

Savannah was actually downstairs when I first saw her, sitting on the floor in one of the few dry areas, looking at the encroaching waters with what can only be described as disgust on her face. She walked through it at times, shaking her paws after every step, but she later decided that it would be better to be up high and started using furniture. Still later she decided that even the furniture wasn't high enough and climbed up on Heather and I for a brief while, before we exiled her to the upstairs. She's going stir crazy (along with the rest of us) because we won't let her out of the master bedroom.

We're waiting to hear from our insurance company now (they weren't open on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day to process our claim), but we're really hoping they'll cover this. We didn't lose anything irreplacable, and in fact, didn't lose much at all. Most of the furniture seemed okay, and there wasn't much on the floor that wasn't proected by boxes or something else. It's mostly just the floor itself - carpeting, tiles, etc. - that suffered.

Chairs

2006-10-23T09:47:00.000-05:00

Unjust rumors have circulated of late, and I'm here to put them straight...

Two chairs were broken in a recent meeting at the PTO, within about ten minutes of each other. The first saw the back support breaking, causing the back to flop around and provide no support whatsoever. The second saw the back completely separate from the rest of the chair, and I wound up flat on my back.
Broke two different chairs at the front desk of Lincoln Tower at OSU - broke a caster off of one and an arm off of the other.
Broke a chair in the Drake Union theater - one of the hinged theater seats broke completely free from both sides and dropped me straight on my butt during a free showing of Mission Impossible.
Broke a chair/desk (one of those integrated things) during an astronomy lecture - there were only six students in the class, so when the front legs collapsed and I fell forward, everyone noticed. Which was good, since I needed help getting out of the wreckage of the chair.
Broke a desk chair at home when I was in high school. Just had the legs splinter due to my leaning back in it.
Broke my first office chair at college. Don't even remember how.
Had an office chair break completely off of the stand that connected it to the casters - that one was kind of cool looking.
Had another office chair break, but this one had that stand/pole break free from the support and come straight up through the middle of the seat. While I was sitting in it. I've never wanted to be touched like that...
Broke one of those molded plastic one piece chairs at the apartment on Northwood (in Columbus) when the right side legs sheared away from the rest of the chair.

That's only eleven chairs! The malicious rumor that I've broken dozens is nothing more than a unfounded lie...

I guess we're not...

2006-10-02T17:23:00.000-05:00

From Overheard in the Office:

Marx Predicted This
Little girl, to employee making a purchase: You can't shop here! You're supposed to work! You're not people!

801 North Congress Avenue
Boynton Beach, Florida

via Overheard in the Office, Sep 28, 2006

Whiskey

2006-09-27T10:17:00.000-05:00

Whiskey (née Whiskas, named by her original owners for the cat food) was a budgie we'd adopted from friends of Heather's, who could no longer keep her due to a move. She was friendly and liked to sit with me at first. When we moved her into a cage with Grover, one of our other budgies, she bonded strongly to Grover and became a bit less friendly with us. She was a cute little white and blue bird.

She died yesterday due to complications from surgery after becoming eggbound.

I Have To Go Smash My Brains Now

2006-09-22T10:38:00.000-05:00

Listening to Jack.fm (a Vancouver station I always listen to at work because they play just about everything) and "MmmBop" by Hanson comes on. I found myself bopping along and singing.

I must be put out of my misery now.

Lea Hernandez's house burns

2006-09-06T12:27:00.000-05:00

from a post at Newsarama by Gail Simone:

Early this morning, the Texas home of award-winning writer/artist Lea Hernandez, my friend and co-creator of the graphic novel Killer Princesses, caught fire and burned. Half her house is now gone, and the rest is smoke-damaged. In addition, she lost at least six of her family’s beloved pets, two dogs and four cats. If you knew Lea, you’d know how devastating that is.

Lea is a talent artist and lover of small furry animals - for those of you who helped out when Savannah needed it, please consider sending some money their way. The family needs a place to stay and clothes and shoes and the like.

More info can be found at Lea's blog or at the Newsarama post, above. Her PayPal email is divalea@gmail.com if you want to send directly. I plan to.

Frivoulous lawsuit? NAAAAAH

2006-08-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

Bacardi sued over flaming rum

A quick recap:

Danielle Alleyne, of Miami, was injured after she was doused with the flaming rum at a Miami night club in August 2002, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court.

A bartender, who was not identified in the lawsuit, was pouring shots when a customer lit a menu on fire and placed it in the stream of alcohol. A bottle of Bacardi 151 that was being used to pour the shots turned into a flame thrower and sent flaming rum all over Alleyne, the lawsuit said.

It's alcohol, idiots. Alcohol burns.
In a move typical of lawsuits in this country, the complainants aren't suing the other customer (who lit the fire int he first place) or the bartender (who was pouring the rum). No, those people don't have deep enough pockets. We need to sue Bacardi for making their rum flammable.

The lawsuit alleges that Bacardi 151 proof rum “emits a high volume of combustible and explosive vapor” which makes it “unreasonably dangerous” and defective.

From Wikipedia:

In general usage, alcohol (from Arabic al-kuḥūl: الكحول) refers almost always to ethanol, also known as grain alcohol, a colorless, volatile liquid with a strong smell formed by the fermentation of sugars. It also often refers to any beverage that contains ethanol (see alcoholic beverage).

Make sure you follow the link to ethanol, where you'll see that it's

a flammable, tasteless, colorless, mildly toxic chemical compound with a distinctive odor, one of the alcohols that is most often found in alcoholic beverages.

Volatile, in chemical terms, means something that evaporates at normal temperatures and pressures.

So, by definition, alcohol is flammable and evaporates at normal temperatures and pressures - but it emits a high volume of combustible and explosive vapor which makes it unreasonably dangerous and defective.

Ugh. Bacardi is basically being sued for making alcohol. That's clever.

Retail: Why Do They Ask?

2006-07-31T07:39:00.000-05:00

Questions I hear at least once a week:

"Do you work here?" Asked of someone wearing an apron and a name tag.
"Do you know what I'm looking for?" Not yet...
"Can I ask you a question?" Obviously you can, since you just did.
"Can you help me?" Depends - I can't if you need someone to wipe for you.
"I'm looking for something..." We have it! Or did you want something specific?

Info post, comic dork style

2006-07-26T08:22:00.000-05:00

1.Your Name: Mike Fogg.

2. Age: 30.

3. Favorite Comic book? The first 12 issues of The Authority.

4. Favorite Movie: Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back

5. Favorite Song: U2 "Where the Streets Have No Name"

6. Favorite Band: U2

7. Worst Superhero costume?: Of the well known people, Martian Manhunter. More obscure characters, probably someone like Tyroc. There's plenty of bad ones to pick from, though.

8. What is the first comic you ever read? G.I. Joe #5

9. Favorite Writer? right now: Warren Ellis, in comics.

10. Favorite Penciler? Bryan Hitch.

11. Skankiest superheroine? Oracle. She's a such a slut in that wheelchair.

12. Favorite Superhero? Jenny Sparks. Except she's not.

13. Favorite Supervillian? Mark Millar. He's Scottish.

15. Marvel or DC? DC, no question.

16. Which Comic Book Movie do you want to see most in the future?: JLA! So much potential. Of the announced ones, probably Iron Man.

17. How many years have you been collecting? 18, I think.

18. Do you have a complete run of any series (if yes list the series)? Only in trades.

19. Which cancelled series do you wish would come back? What If ... ?

20. Favorite superhero costume? Dr. Manhattan's.

21. If you could have any superpower which one would you want and why? Flight, because it'd just be cool. The ability to survive in space would be nice as well, because then I could fly into space.

22. Favorite Comic Book Movie so far? X-Men.

23. Best Mini Series Ever? Watchmen.

24. If you could only have 1 comic book issue which one would you choose? The next one.

25. Favorite Cover artist? Adam Hughes.

26. Favorite Movie Genre? Science fiction.

27. Top 3 favorite websites? Newsarama, Chris's Invincible Super-Blog, Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin

Burned again

2006-07-12T07:18:00.000-05:00

Spent three hours at the Fort Totten Metro stop last night waiting for Heather to get there, thanks to the geniuses at AMTRAK.

Heather's train was supposed to leave Rhode Island yesterday around 12:30, where she was visiting her cousin Becky. Becky wrote at about 1 to say that she'd left Heather on a train that was having engine problems. Checking the website at a bit after 1:30 showed that the train was dealing with an hour's delay - in other words, it hadn't left yet.

A few hours later and the website shows that "due to service interruption, you must call to find out the schedule". I call around 4. They tell me that the train is under a 1:40 delay but they usually make up delays of under two hours (?) and I should still be at the station on time to pick up my train. Uh-huh. How do you make up a 100 minute delay?

Second call nets me the information that the engine problems led to that specific train being taken out of service, and that all of the passengers were put on another train, which is only 2 minutes behind. Huh? Not sure which to believe, I leave to make sure I'm on time just in case Heather is...

Feh. THREE HOURS at the hot, humid Metro station. To add insult to injury, I worked late yesterday and came straight from work, which means I ended up hungry and thirsty at the station as well...

Ugh. Don't use Amtrak.

Another cat in need!

2006-07-05T09:48:00.000-05:00

Not ours this time, though.

Debra posted that another blogger had an experience similar to ours, finding a stray cat in need of medical care after having been hit by a car. Check out the story at DroppedIn! Looks like she's doing better after five days and they've got some of the money they need, but a little bit more always helps...

2006-07-05T09:46:00.000-05:00

New Savannah video

Savannah playing with my wife's exercise mat. For some reason, she went nuts on this thing.

I'm in the video as well, grinning like a fool at her antics.

Just thinkin'...

2006-06-28T13:26:00.000-05:00

Did I ever mention that the vet's wife called Savannah "pancake-face" or "pancake kitty" when Heather first brought her in? (Not in a bad way, just to be descriptive)

Not sure why I thought of that, or needed to share...

Clean Bill of Health

2006-06-27T12:54:00.000-05:00

Savannah went for her post-surgery checkup today, and it's official: she should need no more surgery and no more follow-up appointments.

NO MORE ACCIDENT-RELATED PROBLEMS!
WOO-HOO!

Savannah goes to the Dentist

2006-06-14T09:17:00.000-05:00

Took her to the specialist yesterday, who did a number of (very expensive!) procedures on her, including the removal of seven teeth. Hopefully this will be it for her as far as surgeries go, although we won't find out until she goes in for her re-exam in two weeks. We've thought she was done before, so I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but...

She came home last night hopped up on pain medication and/or the lingering after-effects of the anesthetic. It was recommended that we keep her in a small room where she couldn't get up on anything that she could fall off of, so we put her in the bathroom. She wobbled around, bumping into things, looking for all the world like someone who's had about eight drinks too many but who insists on walking all around the bar - funny at first but really sad and pathetic the more you watched. Took forever to get her relaxed enough to get to sleep - mostly Heather's doing, as I had come home from work and had to be up this morning to go in to the other job - but when I got up this morning she was sleeping peacefully.

Thanks again to everyone for their thoughts and emails and donations. We'd never have been able to do this on our own - the vet's bills alone have been over $4K in the eight months since we've had her. You all really don't know how much we appreciate everything from a quick "hope she's doing okay" message to the big donations that some people have made. There's no way she'd be doing as well as she is without all of you.

2006-06-12T06:51:00.000-05:00

Savannah in the tub

Ha! Finally figured out how to post video. My favorite video of the kitty. Watch her play in the tub, come up for a smack at the camera, and then fall in the tub at the end.

Why I don't vote, part 2

2006-06-05T11:01:00.000-05:00

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen/1

Some interesting stuff in there.

Friends of kitty

2006-05-31T06:31:00.000-05:00

A good friend of mine, Allison Sohn, goes in for surgery tomorrow. (Allison set up and ran one of the art auctions last year to benefit Savannah and aid in her recovery)

Best wishes, Allison!

I heard stuff like this ALL THE TIME

2006-05-30T07:10:00.000-05:00

http://www.overheardintheoffice.com/archives/002164.html

Last Surgery - Or Not

2006-05-30T06:27:00.000-05:00

Savannah goes in for her last accident-related surgery today. At least, we're hoping she does - she threw up last night so they may not put her under if she's sick. Updates as I have them.

UPDATE (1:42 pm): Dr. Bob now says he is out of his depth, and we have to take her to a specialist. Her jaw alignment is still off and the bottom base fracture still hasn't healed. So the wire hasn't come out yet, and Heather picks her up tonight.

2006-05-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

Want to continue to be able to view the sites you want? Don't want the telecommunications companies to determine which sites load fastest based on who pays them the most?

Questions? See the Save The Internet FAQ.

From the site:

The nation's largest telephone and cable companies — including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner — want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.

They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video — while slowing down or blocking their competitors.

These companies have a new vision for the Internet. Instead of an even playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services — or those from big corporations that can afford the steep tolls — and leave the rest of us on a winding dirt road.

Been Here Before

2006-05-04T10:22:00.000-05:00

Lucasfilm has announced that they are releasing DVDs of the theatrical versions of the original movies - yes, that's right, no Special Editions, no Greedo shoots first, no horrible music video at the beginning of ROTJ, etc.

On the surface, this sounds like a great thing. I can finally get a nice DVD version of the movies I grew up with.

But how many times is Lucas going to charge us for essentially the same movies? Lucasfilm swore up and down that we'd never get DVD releases of the originals, that the Special Edition versions were what Lucas considered to be the definitive versions.

He's milking us (use your favorite verb here), and we're taking it. They've probably meant to do this all along. We got how many different versions of the movies on VHS, back in the day? First the regular version, then the widescreen, then the digitally remastered widescreen, then the Special Edition versions of same.

I'm reminded of the scene in Liar Liar where Jim Carrey's character points out the big scratch that was put on his car by the guys who towed it.

Fletcher: You scratched my car!
Motorpool Guy: Where?
Fletcher: [indicating with his hands] Right there!
Motorpool Guy: OH... That was already there.
Fletcher: You - -LIAR! You know what I am going to do about this?
Motorpool Guy: what?
Fletcher: Nothing! Because if I take it to small claims court, it will just drain 8 hours out of my life and you probably won't show up and even if I got the judgment you'd just stiff me anyway; so what I am going to do is piss and moan like an impotent jerk, and then bend over and take it up the tailpipe!
Motorpool Guy: [tossing the keys to Fletcher] You've been here before haven't ya?

We've been here before, haven't we?

Look Into My Eyes

2006-04-21T21:10:00.000-05:00

Decrepitude

2006-04-20T07:12:00.000-05:00

So I was at BBB the other day and I walked up behind one of younger employees in the break room. The person they were talking to (also youngish) said "don't turn around." I, of course, burst into "oh oh ooooohhh... der kommissar's in town oh oh ohh...!" because that's the kind of guy I am.

Blank looks.

Did I mention that these two were both in their late teens-early twenties?

It gets worse.

I then explain that it was a bit from a song called "Der Kommissar". Hadn't they ever heard of it? Came out in the early eighties? (1979, I just found out) The 21-year-old chirps at me, "Oh yeah, I listen to oldies!"

Oldies.

sigh

In some ways, Scarier

2006-04-12T06:54:00.000-05:00

Christians are suing for the right not to tolerate others.

I'm sure there's a side of this we're not getting, but I'm finding it hard to not be utterly disgusted by this.

With her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies that require college clubs to open their membership to all.
The Rev. Rick Scarborough, a leading evangelical, frames the movement as the civil rights struggle of the 21st century. "Christians," he said, "are going to have to take a stand for the right to be Christian."

Basically they're saying that their right to religious freedom means they have the right to
treat others like crap. Wow. I'm all for the right to free speech, until it turns into harassment. I'm pretty sure that what this 'Christian' wants is the latter, not the former.

Go read the article. So many things in there that disturb me. Feel free to discuss in the comments section, whether you agree with me or not.

Scary

2006-04-12T06:50:00.000-05:00

My mom called me at 10:30 on Monday night, waking me up (hey, I go to sleep early - I get up at 5 AM) to let me know that my dad was in the hospital. Apparently when Mom came home from a doctor's appointment that morning she found my dad in the kitchen with a receipt, confused about what it was and what he was doing there.

Long story short, while we were afraid he'd had a stroke, what he had was "temporal global amnesia" - which can be the warning sign of a stroke. So he's on medication now to prevent a possible stroke in the future, but all is well. Or at least, that's what the doctors say.

Cat Photo Dump

2006-04-07T20:31:00.000-05:00

Y'know, once I got these images to line up nicely. Once.

01:02:03 04/05/06

2006-04-05T10:03:00.000-05:00

It amazes me how much attention this is getting. At least three of the Yahoo groups I'm on have posted this, and Fox News last night had a story on the "unique" and "special" event that was going to happen twice today that we'll never see again in our lifetimes (some were saying it would never happen again). My issues with this:

Lots of people use different ways to record the time (for instance, the date/month/year standard used by many Europeans and some militaries). So May 4 will see some people 'celebrating' this, and some already have on February 3 of 2001.
It's going to happen twice in every time zone.
It's totally arbitrary and has no real significance!

Cat Yawn

2006-03-30T13:05:00.000-05:00

One of my wife's favorite pictures of the cat.

BRILLIANT

2006-03-30T07:48:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen this elsewhere:
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt turns the tables on the paparazzi and boy, do they not like it. (Some harsh language, so don't watch at work)

Checkup

2006-03-24T09:10:00.000-05:00

Savannah went to see the vet yesterday for a checkup. She's doing very well: her weight is good (although she's a small cat, not quite 7 pounds), and mostly she's as good as can be expected. She has a partially detached retina in one eye, but we knew that. She's also going to require one or two more surgeries - one to remove some troublesome teeth, and one to get the very last of her wires out - but we knew about those as well.

I'll have some pics of her to post when I get home tonight, too, since that's what you all come here for. ;)

Updates

2006-03-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

I am now plague-free, after more than two weeks of illness. Heather is sick, of course.

While I had the grippe, a job opportunity came up at my place of employment. Great opportunity, with a big pay increase and a more interesting set of responsibilities. So I applied - as did roughly 60+ other people. Interviews would be held the same week, apparently there was some urgency to getting the eight available positions filled quickly.

Went to the interview, which was scheduled on casual Friday, in a suit and tie. Think that may have helped, although the interview itself was a breeze. Seven or eight questions about a bunch of internal program applications that I use all the time. I was confident before the interview; afterwards, I was even more so. Even though I was sick, I knew I could get the job.

They called me two hours later and let me know I'd gotten one of the positions. Woo! Bunch of my friends didn't get it - not woo. Sorry guys. :(

I'm in training this week and next for the new job. So far it's mostly been review for me, but they're getting everyone to the same baseline knowledge, so that's okay.

This weekend we're going to visit Becky and Jeff, for the second time since they moved last June. Becky is Heather's cousin, for those who don't know us, and they lived about 15 minutes away from us for the first few years we lived in Maryland. We were very close to the two of them, and we did just about everything together. It'll be good to see them. The cat is going along, of course, and they're looking forward to meeting her. ;) Pictures will no doubt be posted when we return.

Feeling better

2006-03-08T20:01:00.000-05:00

While I get better, a cute picture of the cat.

Plague

2006-03-07T08:11:00.000-05:00

Sick.

Very sick. Can't get rid of the sore-throat-aches-and-pains-congestion sick.

Hate the sick. No new updates for a while. Sorry.

Keep forgetting to post this

2006-02-23T07:42:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago my wife Heather went down to visit her friend in Virginia. I didn't go, partially because I was working, and partially because of the odd requirements of her friend's roommate.

The roommate has a rule that no men are allowed to sleep in the apartment overnight. For any reason. Period. So despite the fact that Heather and I are married, I'd have to get a hotel or find somewhere else to stay if I wanted to visit.

Does this strike anyone else as odd?

Columbia Legacy

2006-02-16T13:31:00.000-05:00

This post at SPACE.com details a recently-published book, Columbia: Final Voyage: The Last Flight of NASA's First Space Shuttle, which talks about the people and science involved in the last flight of the orbiter, rather than focusing on the accident itself.

The coolest bit? That experiments and recorded data survived the breakup of the shuttle, and (along with data transmitted during the mission) the research is being used by scientists today. The work those astronauts did wasn't lost.

What Crew Are You?

2006-02-16T08:53:00.000-05:00

You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don't enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.

Serenity (Firefly)

88%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

88%

Moya (Farscape)

88%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

75%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

75%

SG-1 (Stargate)

63%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

63%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

56%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

50%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

50%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

44%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

31%

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

Artoo!

2006-02-09T08:11:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah, I'm getting one. The Star Wars Potato Head stuff has been great!

Because It's Not Always All About Cats

2006-02-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

From Gene Ha, noted comic book artist:

Barry Winston was one of the crew of geeks I hung out with in high school. We played role-playing games at Lowell’s when we should have been going on dates or getting chased by cops. Barry stood out. He was big and muscular with an outgoing personality. He joined the geek world by choice. He loved comics and drawing and RPGs, and hanging out with smaller paler folks who loved the same things.

He never made it big in comics or fantasy illustration, but he definitely had talent. Through the years, he did illustrations for various gaming companies and some graphic design in the South Bend area. In late 2005, Lowell wrote out some comics scripts for Barry to draw samples from. I read the scripts, and they were good fun. I was excited to see what Barry would do with them, but I didn’t want to butt in before he started.

On New Year’s Eve, Barry did a one time gig as a bouncer in a local bar. He was friends with the owner, and not many folks were willing to work on a busy holiday. It was a rough crowd, inevitably a fight broke out. After they’d cleared the bar, they found Barry on the ground. It’s believed he’d suffered a heart attack. The staff attempted CPR, but he was dead by the time the emergency folks came.

I’ll never get to see what he could have done with those scripts. I’ll never see him again at all.

He leaves behind his beloved daughter, Brianna. She’s about 12. Fortunately, she still has her mother and grandmother (Barry’s mom in Hawaii) to care for her .

The circle of friends Barry ran with has come together to help out Brianna. Lowell’s set up an educational trust for her. To try to do my bit, I’ve set up an eBay auction to raise some funds. I’m paying all the listing fees, shipping and handling, and insurance myself. So any cash raised (minus eBay’s Final Value Fee) will go to Brianna’s trust. I won’t be taking any cut of the proceeds. The bids start at 99¢, and there is no reserve. So check it out, you might get a very nice cover shipped to you for a buck!

The auction

If you can’t buy it, I’d appreciate it if you let anyone who might be interested know.

Gene has also set things up on his site so you can PayPal him the funds directly, or send a check to:

Brianna Winston College Plan
c/o Lowell Francis
119 Marquette Avenue
South Bend, IN 46617

I've never met Gene personally, but I've had several conversations with him online and he's a really nice guy. If you've got some spare cash, I'm sure Brianna would appreciate it.

My New Favorite Web Site

2006-01-27T10:29:00.000-05:00

For today, at least:

Overheard In The Office

This one is my favorite so far.

Friday the 13th

2006-01-13T11:14:00.000-05:00

Been waiting for one to post this. From the Wikipedia article:

Over any given 400-year cycle the 13th day of the month occurs 4800 times. The distribution of 13th day of the month is as follows:
Monday ( 685 or 14.27% ),

Tuesday ( 685 or 14.27% ),

Wednesday ( 687 or 14.31% ),

Thursday ( 684 or 14.25% ),

Friday ( 688 or 14.34% ),

Saturday ( 684 or 14.25% ),

Sunday ( 687 or 14.31% ).

This means the 13th day of the month is slightly more likely to occur on a Friday.

Maybe TOO Comfortable

2006-01-13T11:08:00.000-05:00

Heather writes me from home with the following story:

oh geez, Savannah in my lap, Glory on my shoulder. Savannah just yawned so her head came up a bit and Glory tried to lean over to get her ear! May have been just to taste, but hard to tell! I don't think S even noticed.

And then, about ten minutes later:

so Glory walked down my arm while S was sleeping, reached out and did nibble her ear. Savannah didn't move much, just casually looked around like, "yes? someone petting me?" by which time G was hightailing it back up my arm. Was really funny.

Tube's Out!

2006-01-13T11:06:00.000-05:00

I'll have some pictures later, but the tube is out (has been for most of the week - I'm late in updating). Savannah is eating fine on her own and has discovered that it's fun to play now that she's free of all that stuff. Which is not to say that she didn't like playing before, but she's gotten really playful in the past few days.

"It's a Brand New Caaaar!"

2006-01-09T09:24:00.000-05:00

So, guess what I did?

Car had been diagnosed with fatal engine disease. He needed a new motor, which at $1500-$2000 was far more than Car was worth. Given that I drive 20 miles to the Metro every day to get to work (on I-95, no less) we needed something a bit more reliable.

So we started shopping. We weren't going to buy anything yet, just get a feel for what was out there that I could fit into (I'm 6'6", have I mentioned?) - I was interested in both the Nissan Xterra and the Jeep Liberty, neither of which (as it turns out) I can fit into well.

Long story short, we tried a few dealers and then went to Carmax in Laurel to try a number of different cars. Turns out this Carmax is the largest one in the nation, so we tried quite a few cars. This one was a 2005 Chevrolet Equinox that's still under manufacturer's warranty and has low mileage, and we got it at a decent price.

My first-ever new car! Even if it is used, it's the first time I've bought a car that was within five years of release.

Savannah No-Bolts

2006-01-05T11:03:00.000-05:00

If this cat had a Native American Indian name, it would now be Savannah No-Bolts. Check out this metal-free face!

She loves having her chin scratched. (that's my hand, by the way)

You can see that the tube is still in. It won't come out until she's eating on her own; hopefully soon!

Look ma, no bolts! Just a big raw red place that itches like crazy... the other side of her face doesn't look as bad, presumably because it doesn't itch as much. You can barely see where the lower bolt went in

She's a shoulder cat - just loves being up there. (She fits better on mine, of course)

No More Frankenkitty

2006-01-04T16:40:00.000-05:00

The bolts came out today! We haven't seen her yet but the vet reports that she seems to be doing well. More after we get her.

No Mo' Woe

2005-12-22T12:27:00.000-05:00

We're up to four visits now, but Savannah seems to be doing okay. During visit number three, Dr. Bob adjusted the tube a little bit (pulled it out some, essentially) and she hasn't thrown up since. Apparently it was too far in?

Heather had to take her in yesterday because she'd scratched at her bandage a little too hard and dislodged the tube, so they gave her a new bandage and fixed it.

On a side note, the staff of the vet hospital now seem to think that Savannah's a mean cat, becasue she HATES her carrier and is cranky now when she goes in. It's a bum rap, I tell ya!

Savannah is, however, getting more adventurous (and vocal!) every day. We tried to keep her out of the plant stand in the living room by putting down aluminum foil, which (we were told) cats don't like the feel of underneath their paws. Savannah must be the exception - she walked around on it for about five minutes and then laid down on it. That didn't work out so well.

More Tales of Kitty Woe

2005-12-19T08:56:00.000-05:00

Savannah's been to the vet's three times in the past week.

Tuesday we had to take her in because her food tube got stopped up (this time for real) so they put a new tube in; thicker so that we wouldn't have as much problem putting food into it. Fortunately she's not as lethargic (read: she's not catatonic) like she has been after her other surgeries.
Friday because she's been throwing up a few times a day since the new tube went in. Dr. Bob recommended we feed her in smaller amounts, but more often. (Great. Heather's been a work-at-home kitty mommy since Savannah came home, but this is still not fun. Can't wait 'til the tube comes out.)
Today because she's still throwing up at least once a day. We'll keep you posted on status.

It's a good thing we got all the donations that we did, all these visits are expensive! ;) Thanks again for everyone's generosity and ongoing interest in Savannah's progress!

UPDATE from Heather: "The only update I have is that she's lost weight. She's down to 5 lbs
15 ounces now (from the last 6 lbs 11 ounces)."

Heather's Year in Review

2005-12-12T11:11:00.000-05:00

Heather's version had pictures in it, but Blogger hates me and won't take them. The bit at the end was much funnier with the related pictures; I'll try to get them up.

The Year of the Fogg
Happy Holidays to you all! This is what we have been doing this year – so thank you all for another great year of memories and special times shared together! Here are some of our highlights from 2005.

January: We started the year off well with a mini-family reunion when we threw a surprise birthday party for Becky. The whole family came together for the weekend from around the country; as did Becky’s best friend from California – boy was she ever surprised! It was a great weekend visit for us all – and Heather’s first big dinner for 20! At the end of January, Mike started a new job with a company called Chugach where he now works as an Office Manager of the US Patent and Trademark Office. Mike decides to keep his part-time position in retail as a way to earn extra comic convention funds. Heather starts the year with a TA’ship with the Psychology department teaching Psych. 100, an Internship with the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, work as an Independent Consultant for Westat, and Database Manager for the Global Terrorism Project at UMD. Insanity doesn’t begin to describe it!

February: This month was a rollercoaster of high and lows. As Mike settled in to his new routine with the job in Virginia, we started off with high times in DC celebrating a friend’s birthday. But the month came to a very difficult end when Michael’s grandfather passed away on the 27th. We were all the more thankful for our family trip to the beach last summer where Poppa was able to enjoy using the pool and had his feet in the ocean.

March: Always a great month with Becky and Jeff - they host the greatest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations! Knowing they’d soon be moving out of the metro area, this year all of our adventures together were all the more poignant. This was also our first time to host Easter celebrations in our home – Heather’s parents and Aunt were able to join us along with Becky and Jeff for a creative Emeril style turkey. Yes, that is an edible turkey in the trash bag in the fridge. Ask me for the recipe – I got it from Becky! =)

April: Heather and Becky embarked on the second annual Washington, DC Cherry Blossoms in the Rain tradition. We also made a trip out to a local Wildlife Refuge full of wetlands for waterfowl and other animals – one of many items on “The List” of things to do before Becky and Jeff move in June.

May: Not only was May the big month for Star Wars, Episode III, but also brought Heather’s parents out for a Mother’s Day visit and hiking at Great Falls. Since we spent Heather’s birthday at the theater for the opening of Star Wars, later birthday celebrations brought Heather a new bike from Mike. May marks the end of Heather’s TA’ship with the Psychology department and brings her down to the three remaining jobs in DC, Rockville and College Park, MD.

June: Two new babies joined the Fogg Flock this month – Sonny and Jezzy. For those keeping track, that does bring us up to eight, and yes we do realize we have a clinical problem – NEB (never enough birds). We also took a trip to Newport, RI to see Becky and Jeff’s new house and celebrate Jeff’s birthday. START (the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism) had its launch this month at UMD with a 12 million dollar grant over three years from the Department of Homeland Security. It’s an exciting accomplishment for all of us who have worked these past 4 years on the Global Terrorism Database project at UMD. At the end of the month, Mike took a trip to NC for the Heroes Comic Convention. He’s now found a new favorite convention and hopes to go every year. Heather attempted her second comp, in criminological theory, but sadly did not pass it this time around. I blame the jobs, but studying certainly would have helped!

July: We had two good visits to Ohio in July – one to Dayton to celebrate Independence day with Heather’s family at Kings’ Island and one to Boardman to celebrate Mike’s Great Aunt Juanita’s 93rd birthday. We also went to see ‘Carmen’ in a local opera house this month as a special Easter present from Mike – a dream come true! On and interesting note, Mike also shaved his head (again!) this month – Heather is still getting recovering from the trauma.
August: The tradition continues for the fourth consecutive year with a week in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. This year, the Imhof clan including Heather’s brother’s family spent a week in the surf of NC relaxing on the beach and playing with Ryan (3) and Owen (2). We had a wonderful trip – it was so hard to come back to real life when the week ended!

September: Heather drops job number 3 this month when her year long internship with CSOSA ends. It was a good experience to work for a federal agency and to test the waters of program evaluation for offender supervision programs. Now she is thankfully down to 2. Labor Day weekend was spent at a friend’s wedding in Ohio, with a quick visit to both Boardman and Dayton. Later in the month, Mike threw his second annual Baltimore Comic Book Convention Cookout – now fondly known as Fogger-Con. We had a great turn out again this year and we believe a good time was had by all.

October: Heather drops down to one job as the project with Westat comes to an end, whew! Another month of excitement and, uh, family growth? This month we saw Stomp in Baltimore especially for Mike. Was a great show and we hope to see it again on its next pass through our area. Mike’s parents came out for a bit of home-improvement and installed new French doors to the patio for us. Was a huge project and we were so thankful for the help! The other big news of the month was when Heather found a cat in the road on the way to work on October 18. She had been hit by a car and was very badly injured. Thousands of dollars in charitable donations from around the country – and a huge thank you to everyone who heard the tale and sent in their generous donations! – and Savannah is now a part of our family, much to the birds’ chagrin. She is still recovering and will remain with a wired jaw through the new year, but the vet is very optimistic for her quality of life once her broken jaw is healed. In the meantime, tube feedings every two hours have become our new way of life.

November: Savannah came home from her three weeks in the animal hospital just in time for Mike’s 30th Birthday party! Mike had the guests come as a favorite movie or TV character and the costumes were fantastic! Our parents came out for the big do – and Mike and his Dad played the role of the “Jones Boys,” complete with the dog Indiana. Heather’s college roommate, Jen, came out from Columbus, OH as well – we couldn’t have asked for a greater gift! Thanksgiving found us in Dayton with kitty in tow (and some unhappy birds at home with a sitter) and a minor tube feeding emergency gave us a new vet in Dayton to be thankful for – we’ve discovered that vets are amazing people!

December: This year we will be spending Christmas with Mike’s parents in Boardman, then continuing on to Dayton for a visit with Heather’s side of the family. Heather is preparing to re-take the theory comp in January, but that whole studying thing is still causing a problem. Must learn to do that! We’re both looking forward to seeing Savannah (dubbed Frankenkitty) without the bolts in her face after the first of the year.

We hope 2005 has been a great year for everyone and we wish you all the best in 2006!
Happy Holidays!
With Love From,
Heather and Mike

In the year to come, may you always have someone to scratch behind your ears; may you take time each day to get a little perspective on the world, and may you never put your foot in your mouth! (unless you really, really want to)

Christmas Time Means BUSY

2005-12-09T09:18:00.000-05:00

So it's been a week and no updates. What does that mean?

The cat is fine, and you will all have to read about Other Stuff (tm). (Assuming you don't stop reading right now, of course)

Christmas rapidly approaches! You know you wanna buy me something from Amazon, don't you? ... No? Well, you can send me money because I'm such a nice guy! :D

No?

Bah.

In that case, a link to an older post. Still favorite Christmas songs. What're yours?

Cat Prognosis

2005-12-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

Didn't post an update until today because we were waiting to hear from Dr. Bob, who had another consultation on Savannah.

The right side of her jaw is healing nicely, the left side is not as good. Her jaw is a little bit dislocated on that side and it may be causing her some discomfort, and the break there is not healing as cleanly as the break on the right. She's also got some kind of cyst on the left side of her jaw, that they think may be an infected/swollen salivary gland. There's a tooth back by the gland that's in the wrong place and pointing the wrong way, too.

The cyst and tooth they should be able to remove, probably after the bolts come out. They want to leave the bolts in for another 3-4 weeks, to give the left side some more time to heal. More info as we get it. I guess we can deal with tube-feeding her for another month...

They were very happy with her progress, overall, and everyone commented on what a sweet cat she is, and that she was very active and aware - all good things.

X-ray Kitty

2005-11-30T10:35:00.000-05:00

Savannah gets x-rayed tomorrow to determine when the bolts come out - let's hope the news is good!

Thanks giving

2005-11-29T10:22:00.000-05:00

I give thanks for veterinarians around the United States, and for people who love animals in general and cats in particular.

On Thursday, we fed Savannah some ground-up turkey. Dr. Bob had told us that we could give her some as a treat as long as we ground it very fine. Heather used the blender and a lot of water, and we had the turkey blended to a thin liquid. Heather put about 5 ccs into Savannah through the syringe, and then...

Nothing.

Couldn't move the plunger at ALL. Not a millimeter in. Even when trying to force it. We tried everything we could think of - warm water to flush it through, soda (on a recommendation from a nurse and a vet), and even backing up the plunger a little bit (which Heather was veryopposed to, although I couldn't think as it would hurt her much). Nothing. Savannah, of course, was unperturbed by the whole thing, sitting calmly in Heather's lap the entire time.

We called the Laurel Animal Hospital on Friday morning after an anxious night. They recommended warm water and gentle pressure, which didn't work, and agreed we could try the soda, which didn't work. Then they told us to take her to a local vet.

We took her to the Kettering Animal Hospital (we were in Dayton, OH, visiting family - did I mention that?) were we had to explain her medical history to the staff and the vet. ("Has she been spayed?" "Um..." "How old is she?" "Um..." and so on) The vet took her away from us and returned with her a few minutes later. Turns out the tube had been kinked underneath her bandage, where we couldn't see it, and we hadn't blocked it up with the turkey, like we'd thought. They'd put on a new bandage, cleaned the area underneath for us, and repositioned the tube so it wouldn't kink again*. He also gave us a topical antibiotic for the area around where the tube goes into her neck, and made some recommendations.

Oh yeah, and he didn't charge us for the visit.

People who love animals are the coolest.

*I should note that the way the vet repositioned the tube is the same way it was positioned when Savannah came home with us, but we'd moved the tube around for ease of feeding, since it lies across the back of her head and pokes up between her ears. So we screwed that up. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-23T08:01:00.000-05:00

Heather and I (and the cat) are off to Ohio until Monday. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, all, and don't eat too much.

It Burns

2005-11-23T07:44:00.000-05:00

Slow getting in to work today due to the truck that was abaze on I-95 southbound. Not just any truck, though, but one that was carrying propane. Yipes. I'm hearing that it's burning something like 8600 gallons. Both sides of I-95, all four lanes, shut down completely. Nasty.

Pathetic the Cat

2005-11-22T09:19:00.000-05:00

This pathetic cat. She smells so bad - due to her mouth being wired open, we can essentially smell her digestion. (Belated warning, maybe you shouldn't be reading this while eating - sorry). She stinks.

In further pathetic cat news, we're pretty much certain that she's blind in her left eye. She's got no reaction to things coming at her from that side. You can all but smack her in the face (no, we didn't smack her in the face) and she doesn't flinch or even bat the eye until you contact her whiskers. AND we're pretty sure she's got a lo of hearing loss, too, as she doesn't react to most noises and often can't tell we're in a room until we enter her line of sight - which, again, is only the right side.

What a sad cat. She seems cheerful enough, though, and she'll be coming with us this weekend for holiday festivities. The vet said we could blend up a piece of turkey and feed it to her as a Thanksgiving treat. ;)

Doin' Okay

2005-11-15T17:20:00.000-05:00

Savannah is showing much improvement, as she's moving around a lot more and her eyes are open again. So we felt it was time to introduce her to the birds, as seen here.

Birds, Kitty; Kitty, Birds

2005-11-15T16:58:00.000-05:00

"What's that thing?"

"No, you can't climb up there."

A Step Back

2005-11-15T08:03:00.000-05:00

And we were doing so well...

Savannah had surgery on Friday to put her feeding tube back in. On Wednesday and Thursday she'd been animated, alert and awake (yay alliteration!) and now she's back to sleeping all of the time and looking out of it. On Saturday her neck started to swell up and at some point her tongue did the same thing. So we're back to where she was when I first met her - groggy, disoriented, not moving much. She seems to recover pretty fast, though, so hopefully the swelling will go down soon.

Not sure if the tube is in differently this time or if we're doing something differently or what, but she seems to be getting a lot more air in her stomach now when we feed her. She's always burping after we feed her now.

*sigh* Poor cat.

UPDATE: Appears the swelling is normal. No word about the burping, though. ;) She was much more active last night, so the lethargy was probably just a reaction to the surgery.

English Pet Peeves (ongoing)

2005-11-15T07:54:00.000-05:00

You don't "peek" your interest, you pique it.
It's not your want to do something, it's your wont to do it.
"Irregardless" is not a word, regardless of how much you want it to be.
"An historical" is bad English (or, according to certain style guides, archaic and affected). If there's an initial 'h' pronounced, you use a.
Speakers imply, listeners infer.
Flammable and inflammable mean the same damn thing. (Why is that?)
The singular of data is datum. 'Data' is PLURAL.
You're not phased by something (unless you're in STAR TREK), you're fazed by it. Or unfazed. Pick your poison.
As was pointed out in the comments, "I could care less" when what is meant is "I couldn't care less".
My own inability to get comma usage correct. *growls*
Apostrophe usage: You don't use them to make things plural (unless it's a lowercase letter), for crying out loud! This one really bothers me, so it's going to get extra space. I just read somewhere online: "Have you gotten your's yet?" GAH!

Sonny and Glory

2005-11-14T20:46:00.000-05:00

Glory has a thing for Sonny.

Sonny

2005-11-14T20:43:00.000-05:00

Our sun conure, Sonny.

Jezzy

2005-11-14T20:42:00.000-05:00

Jezzy, one of our conures.

Glory

2005-11-14T20:40:00.000-05:00

Our Amazon, Glory.

Scooter

2005-11-14T20:15:00.000-05:00

This is Scooter, our miniature Quaker. He likes having his picture taken. ;)