Bad news bearer

I had my check-up this morning with the doc about my ankle. As it turns out, there is no change from one month ago. He had speculated this would occur, and I had resigned myself to that idea already. Apparently the taler dome has very little blood supply which makes healing harder and it takes longer. So, I get to wear the boot one more month, at least, and be out from work for another month. Ugh! This is so frustrating. I have seriously given some thought to finding a temp job that will allow me to sit, just to keep me busy. I can hardly stand it anymore.

The good news today is this: I have gotten in contact with an air conditioner repair facility and they'll be here by noon today to take a look at the broken unit. Hopefully, it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. I'm already down one leg.

Update: The AC is fixed, however, it did cost me one arm... maybe both. I haven't assesed the damage yet. All in all, it was 980 bucks for about 30 minutes worth of work! Holy shit!

I'm melting, melting!

Last night we had the fortune of losing our air conditioning in our house. I was playing cards with Amber, Brad and Kanako when I realized it was getting hot. I checked the thermostat and it said the temp was 85 in the house. I turned the temp down but no A/C. It sounds like the motor on the unit is seized or something... not good. I called the A/C company that services it and they can't get here until Friday! Ugh, the high today is supposed to be 105! My poor kitties... I've put the humidifier downstairs and have it on full blast, hoping the added moisture in the room will help cool it off. We'll see. You can bet I won't be here a whole lot today.

Meantime, I have a doc appointment this morning for my fractured ankle. This will be the first check-up since I was diagnosed and got the boot. I am anxious to find out where I stand.

Spamalot comes to Vegas

Monty Python's Spamalot is coming to Las Vegas. Strange as it may sound, the 90-minute abridged version is already packing in audiences on Broadway and has picked up three Tony's this year, including Best Musical. The deal puts Spamalot on the Strip at Wynn Las Vegas for a potential 10-year run. Wynn will build a new theatre, called the Grail Theatre, for the show complete with the "Spamalot experience." The show will open in 2007.

Oh, Canada

Congratulations to Canada for getting it right! Today same sex marriage became legal nationwide.

With the pending termination of Roe v. Wade when John Roberts becomes Justice John Roberts, Vancouver will look all the more appealing. I think I'll start looking into housing there.

Radical Activist

I wrote a letter to Senator John Ensign (R-NV) regarding a bill he introduced to the Senate yesterday called the "American Right To Fly Act." Which of course, in politician speak, means, "I have special interests but I'm going to make this sound patriotic so everyone jumps on board." Without going into detail about the bill, or it's ramifications, I am strongly against this bill because it will negatively impact my employer.

I wrote this letter to Senator Ensign expressing my disagreement with his politics, and further scorn over why a Senator from Nevada is introducing legislation that effects an airport in Texas. I wrote the letter yesterday and printed it out so my parents could read it while we had dinner at the JT. In the end, I left the letter there. I went back to retrieve the letter only to find eight people at two tables had read the letter and were now in debate over the issue. I was embarrassed at first, but they were all interested and wanted to know more. I gave them the skinny on the situation, and decided to leave before the real politics of the matter came out.

I am thankful there was nothing radical in the letter, as I have written some pretty scornful and highly political letters in the past. This was one of the more mundane, which is just fine with me. I am pretty sure when I left those people weren't thinking I was a nutter.

Baby watch

Brian and Rene are expecting their first child Friday, July 22. Apparently they had another check-up with the doc yesterday and everything seems great. Hooray! Brian is getting pretty excited about it, I imagine Rene is, too. Today is her last day at work. Brian warned mom this morning that she better be on baby watch, ready to leave at a moments notice. Mom assured him she's ready.

Late last week Brian gave us the statistics on due dates: 15% of first borns are born before the due date, 5% of first borns are born on the due date and 80% of first borns are born after the due date. Statistically, we have a week to go, but technically, it could be any time. The idea of being an uncle sounds fine -- I am an uncle-of-sorts now for children of our friends. This time, however, it holds the title officially. It all sounds fine, until Beth refers to baby as my niece. Niece is what sounds weird. But I'll get over it.

Ah, the reunion

I found myself having second thoughts as I hobbled across the parking lot and into the Casino Fandango where the cocktail party was held. I vocalized my concern, and Jenn said she, too, was having second thoughts. It was as awkward as ever walking into the private room for the event -- seeing faces I haven't seen in a long time and even people I don't remember at all. I found a few familiar people, ones that I felt comfortable getting off to a start with.

It was hard not to ask the same, boring questions, but as the night wore on, it only became difficult to talk with the ones that I really had nothing in common with. The others, well, I actually had several lengthy conversations and I realized this reunion thing wasn't so bad after all. It was weird, awkward and uncomfortable for the most part, but enjoyable too. Sounds like masachism, I know. For a few minutes I wished I were going to the main event, but with Beth being in DC, I don't think I would have enjoyed that nearly as much.

After things wrapped up at the Casino Fandango, part of the group moved to the JT in town. Some were saying that was where the event should have been held, and I agree. But we made it there anyway, had more good conversations and caught up with people I literally went to school with from K-12. That's the strange thing about these small towns, not too many people go to school together from start to finish. I theorized with one such person that there were probably 50+ people in our graduating class that fit that description.

In the end, the cocktail party was just enough. I enjoyed catching up with old friends and learning about others who didn't attend.

Bad or not...

I gave in and asked for an electric shopping cart at Wally World this morning. Mom needed to buy a bunch of stuff for the TRT race this weekend, and I decided to go along strictly with the idea of driving around the store. I did, it was fun, and I plan on doing it again. Devilish.

The joys of flying... with a fractured ankle

Having had my wings clipped due to an injured landing gear, heading off to the airport feels fresh and new again. I flew to New York last week for a meeting -- that was my first attempt at navigating the airport with "The Boot".

It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but it was different. Today, while attempting to navigate security, I was shuffled off to the handicap line. I was thankful for the shorter wait, and surely my ankle was too, but I felt awkward. Although my ankle slows me down a bit, and doesn't allow me to stand long, it doesn't effect me much or cause too many changes to my routines. On that same note, I have joked about going to Target or Costco and ask to you use a motorized shopping cart... Just for the fun of driving one. Is that bad?

Packing one shoe

I found it odd this morning while packing for a trip to my hometown that I only needed to pack one shoe -- not one pair of shoes -- one shoe. I am still wearing a walking boot on my left leg for my fractured ankle. It was odd to only pack one shoe of the pair, but at the same time nice that I had extra space where the left shoe otherwise would have been.

I am coming home for my 10 year high school reunion, of sorts. The formal dinner/dance is Saturday, but I've opted not to attend that, as many of my friends have. It seems planning hasn't gone as planned. Of 364 in my graduating class, about 150 invites were sent out and only 40 people have RSVP'd. There is a cocktail party the night before which I will attend, and hopefully I'll see a lot of people there. That'll be enough flash back for me.

Sadly, Beth won't be with me. She's leaving Saturday morning for a teacher conference in Washington DC, where she'll also be a presenter. It's an amazing opportunity for her, and I am so excited for her, and proud of her too.

Fun-dumb-mental

Available at http://dontblamemeivoted4kerry.com/

A good line from a good movie

"Every piece of this is man's bullshit. They call this war a cloud over the land. But they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say, 'Shit, it's raining'!"

Do you know what movie this is from?

Perspective

It took American Airlines eight years to fly its first million customers, from 1928 to 1936. In June, 2005, alone, American boarded nine million passengers.

Poster mentioned on Airliners.net, posted by DLKAPA. 

Another conservative hack

There has been an interesting topic on Airliners.net involving a mysterious airplane that has been circling over Lodi, CA for the past several weeks. (For more on that, go here.) The mystery plane has sparked some debate on the forum over "The War", Bush, politics and Big Brother.

One forum member, DLKAPA, who appears to be as liberal as I am, commented about the war, Bush and so on in ways that I would of, and another forum member, who is definitely conservative wrote, in response to DLKAPA, "Believe me, I was alot like yourself when I was your age. [] The older I got and the longer I was away from the education apparatus of the US, the more I realized the liberal ideal is based on wishful thinking and emotions. Which are systematically pounded into every child who attends public school. Reality is just one option among many, according to liberals. Only when you are away from that environment for a while do you start to see the world differently. REALITY sets in at some point. You finally realize the US has alot more on the ball than you think. The liberal set seems to hate the US. Why, I can't imagine." -Mikefad, airliners.net user.

Oh, my... I don't even know where to begin. I was appalled to read it, but it reminded me of how close minded many can be, especially conservatives. The artwork picutred above was included in one of DLKAPA's replies on the forum. I like the artwork because it seems to put in picture form what conservatives think about education. They hate it. They hate it because education teaches you to think, and a thinking person does not fit the conservative mold.

Mikefad, the one who wrote the ridiculous reply called the artwork, "anti-US." I can't begin to imagine how he came up with that, but he did. He also said, "Your picture seems to be a visual manifestation of this 'ideology', if you can call it that." What I think is funny is the artwork is a perfect explanation for what Mikefad wrote, that, "The older I got and the longer I was away from the education apparatus of the US, the more I realized the liberal ideal is based on wishful thinking and emotions." The poster is based off his idea, and is a perfect representation of how conservatives hate education.

Tidbits

Happy Birthday Amber!

I didn't mention in my last post how I fractured my ankle... wait, maybe that's because I don't know how. I wish I did. I've contemplated coming up with a great story... something like I broke it when I fell off a table while dancing in Mexico. That might work. Seriously, the doc says the fracture is consistent with an auto accident injury, but I don't remember having a car accident recently. I honeslty have no explanation, no recolection of what I possibly could've done to fracture my ankle. I know, it sounds wierd. It is wierd. But none-the-less, it's fractured.

I've had the boot for a week now. I've gotten used to it easy enough, but I am beginning to notice when I take it off at night to go to bed, my leg feels weak. Everyone seems to think that is normal, but I was surprised to feel such a difference after only a week. I still have three more to go before my next check-up. Ick... at this rate, I'll probably need physical therapy when the boot goes. Ick.

In other news, we had a lovely, six+-hour long power outage the other night. Apparently the power went out around 4:30 PM and came back on around 10:45. Thankfully, I wasn't home the entire time, but Beth was. She warned me not to come home because it was hot, hot, hot in the house. At least 90 degrees... probably closer to 100 since the temp outside was a little over 100 degrees. I definitely wouldn't have been able to handle that. I don't know how Beth could. I told her she should go to our friends' house where the had power. She wasn't interested for whatever reason. Interestingly, our friends Brad and Kanako literally live a stones throw away from us. They lost power only for about an hour, but we lost it for six. Very wierd. At least the stuff in the fridge made it just fine, in fact, you never would've known the fridge was without power for six hours.

I saw "War of the Worlds" the other day. It was very interesting, especially since I never read the book. I liked the special effects, and the story was ok, so all-in-all, I enjoyed it but it certainly wasn't great. I do think it is worth seeing on the big screen just for the special effects and audio. Both made for a good movie. And who could resist talented little Dakota, anyway? Tom, I could've done without.

Also recently watch "Finding Neverland" on DVD. I loved that movie. I had really wanted to watch it in the theatre, but never made it. To help keep me entertained, I recently checked out "Evita", "Cold Mountain" and "Anchorman" from the library. I've seen the first two, but not Anchorman. Looking forward to watching all three.