The day Thanksgiving was saved

About a week ago, I realized I wasn't going to be able to spend Thanksgiving with anyone... not my family nor Beth's. I was off today, but I go on-call tonight at midnight and needed to return to St. Louis. I knew that a month ago. There was a 4pm flight from Las Vegas to St. Louis I could take, and so Beth and I planned to have dinner with her family around 1pm to accommodate my schedule. I found out about a week ago the 4pm flight from Las Vegas to St. Louis tonight was canceled because it was Thanksgiving. I soon found out the latest I could leave Las Vegas today and make it to St. Louis was 12:30pm. I resigned to the idea I was not going to have any Thanksgiving dinner.

To my surprise, two of my roommates in St. Louis knew this and brought there leftovers from their dinners yesterday so that we could all enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner together, tonight. And it was complete: turkey, stuffing, yams, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. Every bit of it was delicious! Thank you Edie and Sandy!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We're not in Kansas...

But you wouldn't know it. There were strong thunderstorms in St. Louis Monday night, and I was headed there from Boston. We were delayed in Boston about 45 minutes because of the weather, and the captain told the crew, "We might make it, we might not." It was unclear how bad the storm would be by the time we arrived, and there was a possibility that we would have to divert to another city. We made it in ok, despite being pelted by hail and heavy rain on approach. We even made up most of the 45 minute delay in the air.

Its after we landed that it got scary... On my way to the crashpad, loud tornado warning sirens started blaring... one right by the car as we drove to the crashpad, another in the parking lot of the crash pad. The rain really picked up... it was coming down hard, fast and heavy. I ran to the apartment, getting drenched on the way and made a beeline for the bathroom... taking my place in the bathtub. Although the warning lasted 30 minutes, it was SCARY! When Beth and I were in Minneapolis this summer, there were tornado warnings there, but in the surrounding areas, not right where we were. This time, the sirens were going off not only in our area, but right by the apartment. It freaked me out. Fortunately, there was no tornado, but still, it was scary. I could do without that again.

School district probes mass sick-out at Whittell...

"Douglas County school officials have launched an investigation into the one-day absence of 11 of 16 teachers at Whittell High School."

Click here fore more info.

Interesting...

Judge Moore no more

MONTGOMERY, Ala., Nov. 13 — Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, whose refusal to obey a federal order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from a state building fueled a national debate over the place of God in public life, was stripped of his office Thursday. Roy Moore showed little reaction as the state judicial ethics court unanimously ruled that he had placed himself ‘above the law.’

I've been hopeful this would be the outcome. When you've been placed in a position to determine what is right and wrong, and you look to God to make those decisions for you, it's time to be ousted. Our judicial system was not set up so that some religious radical could punish others for what he sees as wrong. A victory for all.

WTF?

I need to start a WTF? section... a place to put all those things you see and hear about that are just plain weird. I have two submissions for tonight's column:

Ted. One word, that's it. Surely, if you live in or near Denver, you'd know what I am talking about. It's been big news, this "Ted" thing for the past week and a half. No one has claimed responsibility so far, but many believe it is tied to UniTed Airlines. They are expecting to announce plans of their new low cost carrier division soon, rumored to be named Ted. Go here for more info on Ted.

Have you heard of Spike TV? It's a new channel advertised as "just for men". I guess women have their Lifetime, so it was time me had their own channel. Well, as you can imagine, some of the programming is mindless, but nonetheless funny. I watch a show tonight called MXC or MXE or something like that. It was two men voicing over a Japanese show where men and women are doing really stupid stunts. But where someone else has pain, others have gain. It's funny as hell! Example: there was a narrow passage up a hill these women had to run up while foam boulders were being thrown at them. It actually looked like it'd be a lot of fun... but one wonders why others would subject themselves to such cruelty.

Sometimes reality can be canned...

I watched tonight the rerun of Tuesday's "8 Simple Rules to Dating My Teenage Daughter," ABCs sitcom which starred John Ritter. ABC made the brave decision to keep the show on the air this season following Ritter's death last month. Tuesday's show (and tonight's re-run) was the first new show after the actor's death. Although kept as light-hearted as possible, I couldn't help but feel the pain one would go through when losing a family member. Perhaps what made it all the more sad was to know it was real. It moved me, and apparently some 21 million viewers on Tuesday. Amazing...

Matrix Revolutions. Ok, if you haven't seen it, skip this paragraph, because I am going to talk about it. I've seen it twice now since hitting the big screen on Wednesday, and am not at all happy with the ending. Did Neo die? I figure he did since the Oracle said Smith was his opposite, his negative. It would stand to reason if one dies, so would the other. I would rather the writers formulated that more clearly. I thought the imagery of the fighting in the docks was amazing, and I also think those APUs are awesome! I'd love to have one! Overall, I enjoyed the movie.

In other movie news, I also saw Meg Ryan's new flick "In the Cut." Although intriguing, the movie was horrible! Meg shows off her boobies several times, but you don't see her full frontal as I had been promised. I want my money back!

I can't say I am really feeling better, but since I didn't feel terrible to begin with, I guess that shouldn't be a surprise. I am still experiencing slight chest pain and difficulty breathing, but I am also still taking the antibiotic I had been prescribed at the hospital. I have a follow-up appointment on Wednesday, so hopefully I'll find out more then. Could be a touch of asthma, as my doctor briefly mentioned at the hospital. I am sure it all has something to do with my allergies... and perhaps two little kitties.

Speaking of the furry devils, last night Noah decided to pee on my leg when I went to bed... bastard! Today, Joey decided to pee on the living room floor right in front of me... bastard, too! Soon these pissing cats of mine will either be wearing diapers or hooked up to a catheter so I suggest they figure it out soon!

I was able to make a doctor appointment for Monday afternoon for the problem I mentioned in my previous post. Four hours later I was admitted to Valley Hospital for testing. Although chest pains and difficulty breathing are common complaints from patients, they are taken seriously by doctors. They could be a sign of very serious heart disease, and the sooner they can determine the cause of the problem, the better chance the patient has to live. Take that and throw in the fact you have diabetes, and what do you get? A fast pass to the hospital.

In all, I was at the hospital for about 19 hours, undergoing blood tests, chest x-rays, stress tests, EKGs and echo-cardio grams. Fortunately, all came back good indicating no type of heart disease, but they did find a problem. They found bacteria in my blood and elevated white blood cell counts, both of which indicated an infection. From my paperwork today it said I have bronchitis and bronchial pneumonia. I don't know if those are the same thing or not, but it sure sounds nasty. Fortunately, I only have minor chest pain, it equals to an annoyance more than pain itself. I am on some pretty heavy duty antibiotics and will be off work for another week.

This was my first time ever being hospitalized, and hopefully that last. However, the staff at Valley hospital was very nice. I've heard nightmare stories about nurses and how they treat patients, but I truly have nothing bad to say about anyone. They were all courteous and caring, and took the time to know a little about you. They made for good company on what otherwise would have been a really long night. Most of the tests were done throughout the night Monday and into Tuesday morning. I'd get to sleep for about and hour or so, and someone else would come in to do something else. It all seemed like a very well oiled machine.

Some interesting points I've taken away with me from the experience:
1) riding up or down in an elevator while sitting in a wheelchair is really wierd
2) hospital food is not as bad as I've heard
3) those little hospital gowns they give you to wear are extremely complicated to put on
4) don't expect to come out of the hospital with all the hair on your body you arrived with
5) don't expect that missing hair to be taken stylishly

Mother calls it a semi... I think I'm being held down.

For the last week I've had shortness of breath and the inability to take deep breaths. It seems as though the problem is becoming more consistent. When it first started, it lasted about an hour. Now it's lasting several hours. I feel like every breath I take is an effort and my chest is starting to hurt because I am breething so deeply. My mom and Dale both agree it may be worth a visit to the ER or Quick Care, but those places are a pain in my ass. I already have enough pain, I don't want anymore. I'd like to wait and go to my doctor on Monday. However, if it gets any worse, I'll go today or tomorrow.

My thoughts are it could be allergy related. I could have seasonal asthma, I could have bronchitis, I could have pneumonia. It could be any number of things. It also could be I am breathing fine and suffering from a panic attack. That's definitely something worth looking into. I fear I may suffer from anxiety, especially with the way I fear school. I have some serious talking to do with the doc.

I went to the Podiatrist on Friday to check out a reocurring pain in my left foot. He thinks it's a joint being stressed by my foot always being flat... it has no arch. He reommends wearing my orthodics more often, but those hurt me more than the original problem itself. I suppose I am simply falling apart. Is that what happens when you start nearing 30?