My Doggie Is SO Damn Cute!

Below is a picture of one stressed-out doggie. Errrrrrr....not!

The scars tell the story

My scars bear the tale of the past weeks I spent in the hospital. They have mostly healed. This picture looked so much more gnarly 7 weeks ago when the staples were still in...

Update: Friend noted I have several options on what to refer to this shape as: wishbone, peace symbol, transistor (what do you expect from a computer nerd?), and there's always what I've called it via the nurse who told me it is called the Mercedes cut for the logo of the car maker.

A BIG Thank You is due

After a conversation with my Grams, it just occurred to me that as a government employee, that my fantastic health care insurance is paying what must be a gargantuan sum of cash for my recent 11-hour marathon operation (subsequently followed by 2 more operations).

Therefore, I'd just like to say thank you to the taxpayers of my chosen state for paying a healthy percentage of my coverage.

I'm sure they'd feel terrific knowing their tax dollars have gone to invest in this old, curmudgeonly bastard.

I learned a lesson...DUR!

When your cellphone company calls you to warn you about possible overages...and you have already changed your plan because you realized that ahead of time....yeah, still go look again.

Yours truly didn't check his minutes again, after changing the original limit and bought more minutes...so I assumed this was in reference to the initial problem...yeah I got my bill...i was WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WRONG in a MAJOR WAY.

My normal bill is juuuust over $70 per and it includes a ton of stuff, but not talking minutes...cuz, I don't fucking talk to many people...I'm an introvert.

Well, being in a hospital for a while tends to have people call, and clearly, I chatted more than I even realized.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAY MORE. My bill this month jumped by more than 3x the normal...just a few greenbacks shy of $150.

Yeah, so take it from me folks...when your cellphone company is actually trying to help you out...don't be a smug asshat like me...go check things out juuuuuust in case the proverbial shit has indeed hit the fan.

This post is labeled as obit, as in my bank account is dead on arrival for a while. OUCH!!!!

I'll consider this my co-pay for my extended-stay vacation in a hospital bed, since I thankfully have wonderful health insurance. OY!

So long TK Man

"The TK Man from DC Town" (Tony Kornheiser) goes away from Monday Night Fooseball. I love the TK Man. He is a total crumudgeon as I am. He honestly, stunk at the fooseball commentary, but I am hopeful this will spur him back into radio so I can tune into his fantastic "Old Guy Radio" show again....I miss TK on radio. On radio, he is utterly brilliant.

Video of the TK Man discussing his departure from MNF.

Someone hire this man immediately for radio!!

Come back TK...please...

As Seen...

Sitting in front of a Starbucks as I pound this out of my mobile device...I see a pregnant woman enter this fine establishment.

No clue what she be a ordering...ahhh...she came out with what looks like a grande' latte...but, just like we have laws about pregnant women who smoke and/or drink...shouldn't we consider laws against pregnant women ingesting copious amount of caffeine as well?

Wonder if there have been any scientific studies on the effects of massive amounts of caffeine on a fetus.

Is ADHD, which I firmly believe is over-diagnosed by irresponsible parents who refuse to take control of their child, caused more by fast moving images on a television screen, or it a function of too much caffeine/drug exposure in-utero?

Just wondering...not saying.

My goodness I am a jackass

I was crusing the "internets." as Dubya would say, this weekend and I saw a headline on msnbc.com about some (clearly) whack-job parents who were denied their right by a court to deny their child chemotherapy.

The court in question felt these parents' religious rights/freedom only went so far...not far enough to deny their child needed medical care in this instance.

Here is where I show my jackassery...I wish the court HAD allowed these freakin', nitwitted rubes to deny their child the needed chemotherapy...and then he'd die...most likely ridding the world of yet another crazed religious nutbag.

This is quite an assumption I admit. As I have noted I came from a religious household, but as early as high school began questioning religious dogma...and am now, a stark-raving atheist wingnut who is militant to a fault.

Go figure...I admit to being a cold, ruthless jackass. Sue me.

Cereal Nazi?

This morning it occurred to me...I am a cereal Nazi.

I have always been extremely particular about my food...even as a baby (as I have been told)...so, perhaps this shouldn't have taken so long for me to realize.

With cereal, I find I like a very particular ratio of cereal to milk and in a specific shape of bowl to maximize cereal eating pleasure.

So Seinfeld had the Soup Nazi, meet the Cereal Nazi.

Surreal

Just after 3 week from discharge from the hospital, and roughly 6 after my massive 11-hour surgical procedure...when I look down at my wound/staple track...it has become a surreal thing to behold.

3 weeks in the hospital, and now 3 weeks at home...as one might expect, time does fly faster at home.

It seems like it just happened yesterday, but not really. As I look down and watch the healing continue, it amazes me as to how quickly things seemed to have changed in my life.

The marvels of modern medicine can be halting and stunning. I am a real example of that phenomenon.

A 15 year love affair with my gum

For 15+ years I have chewed one gum exclusively: Bubble Yum Sugarless Peppermint Gum.

This gum was the bomb! It is one gum that WILL hold it's flavor for over 2 hours!

I am so saddened that Hersey has decided to discontinue this product, I have just spent $165 on stocking up on this gum. How sick am I, eh?

I'm in favor of term limits...

...for surgeons .

There should be a federal law that doesn't allow anyone over the age of 60 to be the lead surgical operator in an operating room.

Since I am aware enough to know that there are those very few doctors who are over 60 and can still do a great job at their craft, I would set up a federal panel to hear appeals to this hard age cap.

However, each surgeon would have to provide all surgical records from the previous 5 years and would continue to be subject to these reviews every 5 years after until such time that it is deemed they must give up their surgical scrubs.

Odd, but true

Five weeks ago from today, I was in the ICU having just gotten out of a 11 hour surgery to repossess and replace an organ in my chest cavity.

The oddest thing is this simple thing: After 5 weeks, the one thing that really still hurts?

My god damn thumb on the left hand!

A sickening admission

As a loner, and an introvert, I have never wanted nor cared much for/about human contact in a big way. I am content to live out my life in much solitude, only stepping out to do the profession that I love: teaching.

However, perhaps it's my old age creeping up on me, perhaps it's the experiences of the past 5 weeks, perhaps its the drugs I've been taking talking...but, I can now say I would like to meet a woman to be with and eventually marry.

I suppose that in reality, this position has always been as such, but I feel now more so than ever that this is something I would indeed like. It does make me slightly ill, this admission however.

Lately, everyone in our family but me and my sister has been getting freaking married! Or should I say "re-married." One of my mother's sisters got re-hitched. Less than a year later, my mother who had been "dating" this dude for a whopping 6? (this is a generous 6) months got re-hitched.

As before, I am in no rush, and I will not compromise much to find/acquire said woman. So, I am not expecting anything to happen for the next foreseeable 30 years. But, it's that thought nagging there.

And, it's damn annoying.