"Great minds think alot!"
Syd Carter

Another reason this has been an odd Christmas, is that our family didn't plan the large gathering we have done for years.  Sister Sue is all the way over on the East Coast, Chris is primarily up in Oregon, and all my nieces and nephews are old enough to be having their own Christmases now.  This is not to say that we won't be getting together.  Brother Geoff and I planned on dining in a restaurant.  His girlfriend Julie and her daughter will be joining us as well as his son Sean.  An invitation went out to the family group and there will be more joining us. So it would seem that Christmas is coming along just fine regardless of all of the confusion.  I brought this up to express what Christmas actually seems to do every year.  It's magical, you know.  It's something that no matter how secluded, Scrooge-like, or frantic we make this holiday out to be; it somehow all comes down to our loved ones.  Our mates.  Our brothers and sisters.  Our children.  And when we look real close, our neighbors and even strangers. Its relationships.

I noticed some Christmas lights earlier this evening and thought, "Why is it that these lights make one feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but only in December?  If we see Christmas lights blinking on a warm August night, we make jokes about the sanity of that home's occupants.  It's the same lights.  Why not the same emotions?

But enough of all that.  The video here has been a staple in my Christmas celebration since Mr. Magoo first brought us the GE light bulb and Santa got around on a Norelco shaver (that's right - that is a link to the old commercial).  Perhaps indicative of my childhood memories of how conversation  went on in our home (loud), this is a favorite that can do nothing but bring smiles and joy to the viewer.

Merry Christmas everyone.

December 23rd, 2007

Bless You
Barney Frank

Yeah, its been a very long time since I've written anything here. Even considered closing it all down as my health and attention are so often not up to the task of updating this site.

I often check into C-SPAN to see what's going on in the name of politics. I have my favorite Congressmen/women that I pause what I'm doing and give my full attention to. I always watch Senator Byrd speak if for nothing else than to count the minutes before he pulls out his copy of the Constitution he keeps next to his heart.. Today the attention goes to another of my favorites - Representative Barney Frank. When you want to see politics get real and personal, take a listen to him sometime.

Here is an emotional and inspirational bit of Barney that reminds me what is good about our government. The audio isn't in sync, but the audio is what makes this so great (which is always true with Barney). I should also give a mention to the website I use to get most of my news from. Crooks and Liars lets me see much of the cable news channels highlights that I can't see with my limited cable hookup (I chose broadband rather than "expanded basic").

November 8, 2007

A Mime Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

Back in the 70s, television went through some interesting changes. In the early years we were still being fed The Partridge family on one side, and All In The Family on the other.  Somewhere in the middle the networks offered up the tried-and-true variety show.  The Smothers Brothers were deemed too controversial for the primetime audience and were replaced by Sonny and Cher.  When that show took off, the other networks rushed to try and find their own family friendly comedy hour since the motto is "if one show is successful let's slam a hundred more in their faces!"  ABC served up the Captain and Tennille (Really. I'm not kidding.) while CBS hoped for more magic with two San Francisco street mimes known as Shields and Yarnell. Okay, I'll wait while you click on the above links and reminisce about time's past...

This all leads up to the actual reason for this post (as well is that I haven't posted in nearly 2 months).  Okay so it really doesn't lead us to the reason for this post.  This part is actually the sidebar to the reason for this post.  Which I guess is the same thing as I said in the first paragraph about this post.  So I guess I'm just going postal here.  This is what happens when I don't post for two months.  :-)

After a visit to Capitola, my brother Geoff returned with a gift for me.  Cool! since his birthday was coming up while mine had passed long ago. So I unwrapped it, which translates to me asking Geoff to unwrap it for me as my hands weren't doing too well that day.  The picture to the left is obviously the present.  Another interesting  sidebar here, I only have two crosses displayed in my home and they both have come from Geoff.  hmmmm... as you can see it's pretty cool looking.

So short time later I look at the card that comes with the cross to see who the artist is.  The artist was none other than Robert Shields.  That's right. It's the Shields part of Shields and Yarnell. Seems he is still around and doing a variety of things such as creating works of art within a wide range of mediums.  Now you have to admit, that's pretty cool.  Which brings us to the end of this post and the dry spell that has lasted a total of sixty something days or so.  A lot is going on during the two months some of which is viewable on the scrapbook page.  The other stuff I will either get around to eventually ordered it is lost to memory (which is more likely).

P.S.  this is the first post I've dictated to the computer rather than typed.  It came out okay I think.  And now I'll edit it.  :-)

June 4, 2007

     And it happened, one night when the moon was at its brightest, that a wild dog attacked me as I was walking home. My quick reaction saved me from being torn apart from the beast, but it did manage a nasty scratch to my face. He was frightened off by the sound of gunfire and I was taken home by the band of hunters who were out to kill the animal that had already taken six of the villagers.
     As the men were leaving my home, I could hear them talking to each other about what to do with me when the moon turned full next month.  I changed into my bedclothes and after extinguishing the lantern fell into a deep sleep. It was then that the dreams began.
     In the dream, I felt like a feral animal with a thirst  for game. There was  an old woman reading from a book,

"Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright."

RSD is a very fickle disease on one's body. It likes to lurk in the background like a distant rumbling then suddenly charge to the surface in one or more of the affected areas of the body. The disease can be localized to a specific spot or blast its victim by flaring up in multiple areas on the body. It can reside in one small area indefinitely, or spread to other areas when tempted with in injury to another part of the body.

I've been living and adapting to disabling effects of RSD for over 10 years now. And during all that time there has been one thing that has scared me the most. While the disease has gone from knee to arm to arm to knee, I've been lucky to avoid any flare-ups to my face. I would read horror stories from other sufferers who were attacked in the face by this monster. I avoided the dentist for years due to the fear of that a trauma would turn the nerve endings on and fate would allow RSD to add more territory to its assault on my body. I broke down and visited the dentist 2 years ago and thanked the Lord that my face had been remained unaffected by the disease. I even survived having a tooth pulled from my head with no ill effects.

Yes. I've been lucky. That is until the 9th of March, 2007. And it wasn't some big thing like a dentist visit, a fall, or some other grand event to warrant such reaction! Nope! It was a small cut no more than a quarter of an inch to my cheek. I nicked myself while shaving. Something I've done numerous times over the years. But this time things would be different. This time, the scratch brought forth the beast. And like our lycanthrope friend above, my life would once again "never be the same".

By noon, the left side of  my face felt the fire and my fear began to rise. By two, there was no denying what was happening and the fear grew to and pot full of emotions from anger to tears to panic. By dinner time I could no longer zero in on the scratch as my point of reference was not one, but two places on my face. One was just under my left eye and the other at my jaw near my chin. I finish the night hoping and praying simply to get through it worrying what tomorrow may bring.

Saturday found me in a odd position. The good news was that the fire was gone (for the moment). The bad was the realization that my face was now infected with the beast. The pain and burning had minimized to the dull pain I've come to call "normal" which is to say that it was tolerable. It felt (and feels) strange; like when you visit the dentist and come away with a face full of Novocain. My left side feels likes it's "drooping". I find myself becoming self-conscious at times when I speak since I can't tell if that side of my mouth is moving correctly (if at all). Images of Jim Ross come to mind for you fans of WWF. All of this isn't visible (I stood in front of the mirror to be sure), but it sure feels that way.

All this right on the heels of my "Health Update". Not too optimistic a way to kick off the new year. But what the hell; it can only go up from here!  J

March 11, 2007