Out of 155 portions of sponge cake, there are apparently none left. It was very well received.
Category: uncategorized
Update on my dad
Things have gotten a bit clearer now that I’ve had a chance to properly talk with my mom. Apparently, my dad had a stomach ulcer rupture.
The ulcer was caused by drug interaction side effects of some anti-inflammatories he’s been taking for his back and daily low dose aspirin he’s taking to thin his blood. He drove himself in to the local hospital on Thursday when he felt some very sharp pains, and, after being violently ill, followed by almost a day of tests, waiting and general faffing, they decided the situation was urgent enough to transfer him to a bigger hospital where he was operated on to repair the damage via keyhole surgery.
He’s now stable and alert and he’s going to stay for observations for the next week to make sure the patch they put on the ulcer holds. If that doesn’t work, they’ll need to remove part of his stomach, but the odds of that needing to be done are slim.
He’s on an IV diet right now, but that should switch to a liquid diet in a day or so, with solids being gradually reintroduced. Once everything is back to normal, they’ll do a colonoscopy to make sure there’s no other problems.
I find your lack of Lego disturbing
Katy and I were window shopping for stuff to put in this year’s Christmas display (think Santa and Yoda vs Stormtroopers and Daleks) when we came across this.
Naked sushi!
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This is when time and distance suck
Not the best way to end the week… I just got a phone call from my mom. My dad is in hospital and will undergo some sort of surgery at an unspecified time later today (Canada time, GMT-5). His guts have been giving him grief for the last couple of weeks and he’s been to the ER a couple of times to no avail. Seems this time it might be serious enough to actually get something done. My mom mentioned a perforated ulcer, but how accurate or serious that is, I have no idea and I’m stuck waiting for info.
Unlike.
Canada peeps, give some love to my mom and give me details if/when you get them. My email/FB/phone is always close to hand.
End of an era-ish
First there was Dr John, then Sam Patient, then Antony Quinn, and now Chris Taylor… Next one to go will be Phil Jones. It’s weird that I’ve been at EMBL since May 2005 and my 9 years will shortly be up (my current contract ends October 2013). Stupid rule *grumble*
Jumping through hoops
Yay, technology!
In order to make my webex online course work on my linux laptop, I need to run it through Internet Explorer running in a Windows XP virtual machine.
Yes, that is as convoluted as it sounds. The good news is that now at least I can see what the course presenter is doing, and my laptop seems happy enough to chug along.
Still, webex, get your act together! Firefox running on linux 64 bit is not an uncommon setup, considering that 3/14 course attendees are running that it!
Just my luck… *grump*
I’ve been feeling fine for weeks, and on the eve of a very important and expensive 4-day course, I catch the lurghy! I’m coughing, sniffling and my right ear is completely blocked. Yaaaaaay! Doesn’t help that Bean had a rough night and woke up crying twice last night, so I’m a bit braindead on top of everything. Today would be a day of caffeine and nicotine, if I still smoked.
Grump, I say, GRUMP!
This is what I’m aiming for
I’ve had my bi-weekly guitar lesson and I’ve done my first blues exercies tonight. Fun!! I was chatting with Paul about what I want to play and where I want to go and this is it:
Q: Why is America the best country in the world? A: It’s not.
[Debate Moderator]
I’m gonna hold you to an answer on that. What makes America the greatest country in the world?
[Will]
Well, our Constitution is a masterpiece. James Madison was a genius. The Declaration of Independence is for me the single greatest piece of American writing. … You don’t look satisfied.
[Debate Moderator]
One’s a set of laws and the other is a declaration of war. I want a human moment from you.
[Will]
It’s NOT the greatest country in the world, Professor. That’s my answer.
[Debate Moderator]
You’re saying
[Will]
Yes.
[Debate Moderator]
Let’s talk about
[Will (Speaking to Sharon]
Fine. Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paycheck, but he gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn’t cost money. It costs votes. It costs airtime. And column inches. You know why people don’t like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fuckin’ smart then how come they lose so goddamn always?
[Sharon]
Hey
[Will (to Lewis]
And with a straight face, you’re gonna sit there and tell students that America is so star-spangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom. Japan has freedom. The U.K. France. Italy. Germany. Spain. Australia. BELGIUM has freedom. (laughs) Two hundred and seven sovereign states in the world, like, a hundred and eighty of them have freedom.
[Debate Moderator]
All right
[Will]
And you, Sorority Girl, just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there’s some things you should know. One of them is there’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re seventh in literacy. Twenty-seventh in math. Twenty-second in science. Forty-ninth in life expectancy. A hundred and seventy-eighth in infant mortality. Third in median household income. Number four in labor force and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: Number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies.
Now none of this is the fault of a twenty-year-old college student, but you nonetheless are without a doubt a member of the worst, period, generation, period, ever, period. So when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I dunno what the fuck you’re talkin’ about. Yosemite?
…
Sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons. We passed laws, struck down laws, for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed. We cared about our neighbors. We put our money where our mouths were. And we never beat our chest.
We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. [pause] We reached for the stars. Acted like men.
We aspired to intelligence. We didn’t belittle it—it didn’t make us feel inferior.
We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn’t, oh, we didn’t scare so easy. Ha. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men. Men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. [pause] Enough?