Monday, December 1st, 2008
|
|
10:32 am - I hadn't heard this
|
Berkeley Breathed ended "Opus" at the beginning of November. Although I hadn't seen much of that strip, I have been a big fan of Breathed's work ever since the first time I saw "Bloom County," which was probably around 1982 or 1983. I'm sorry to see him go. For the edification (or something) of the reader, here is Opus' first appearance in "Bloom County," I believe in 1981.
I will never be able to explain why, but "Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts" strikes me as one of the funniest things I have ever read.
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
|
|
10:12 am - It's December 1
|
I just wanted to take this opportunity, now that is is officially December, to give you my annual reminder.
I HATE CHRISTMAS MUSIC
That is all.
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
|
Thursday, November 27th, 2008
|
|
7:04 pm - Happy Thanksgiving
|
Not much of a holiday for me, I'm afraid. The wife and kids went to her parents' house about 3 hours south of here for Thanksgiving dinner, but I got to stay home because I had to work. But I did go over to my mom's and have dinner with her.
This weekend is my high school 20th reunion. I will not be in attendance. My reasoning is twofold: First, I think $25 a head is way too expensive for dinner at a bar in the Flats that isn't Great Lakes. Second, for the most part, I kept in touch with the people I went to high school with that I have any interest in seeing.
Of course, another point that probably goes without saying is that I was the quiet, dorky kid that didn't really fit in with anybody when I was in high school, so that probably factors into my decision a bit as well.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed your turkey or Thanksgiving equivalent.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
|
|
4:20 pm - well, it makes ME laugh.
|
|
|
|
1:47 pm - This is beyond ridiculous
|
I can't remember ever getting 3 snowstorms with more than 4 inches of snow before Thanksgiving. I used "4 inches" as the benchmark because as I speak, that's about how much snow I have to go outside and brush off my car so I can run to the store.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON EST
WEDNESDAY.
LIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AS LOW PRESSURE
MOVES THROUGH SOUTHERN ONTARIO. AS COLDER AIR SPILLS ACROSS LAKE
ERIE LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT SOME LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL
DEVELOP.
ONE TO THREE INCHES OF SNOW WILL LIKELY FALL TODAY WITH ANOTHER
ONE TO THREE INCHES POSSIBLE TONIGHT. THE SNOW SHOWERS WILL TAPER
OFF WEDNESDAY MORNING WITH TOTAL SNOWFALL OF 2 TO LOCALLY 6 INCHES.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
Friday, November 21st, 2008
|
|
3:01 pm - More inspiration
|
|
|
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
|
|
4:25 pm - Oh this winter is going to be fun
|
There is very little of interest going on in my life right now, so until the muse strikes me, so to speak, I suppose I'll be Jim the Cleveland Weather Forecaster.
# Tonight: Snow flurries early. Cloudy with a few snow showers possible late at night. Low 29F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 30%.
# Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy with snow flurries and snow showers, especially in the afternoon. Temps nearly steady in the mid 30s. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 70%. 1 to 2 inches of wet snow expected.
# Tomorrow night: Windy with occasional snow showers. Low 26F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow 60%. 1 to 2 inches of snow expected.
current music: Henry Cow - Nirvana Reprise
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
|
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
|
|
12:51 pm - oh fucking yay
|
...LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM THIS
AFTERNOON TO 4 PM EST TUESDAY...
A LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM THIS
AFTERNOON TO 4 PM EST TUESDAY.
LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL INCREASE IN INTENSITY THIS AFTERNOON. THE
SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES BY TONIGHT...WITH 6 TO 10 INCHES OF
SNOW POSSIBLE BY MONDAY MORNING. LOCATIONS ACROSS INLAND NORTHWEST
PENNSYLVANIA AS WELL AS THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF GEAUGA COUNTY COULD
SEE LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS...POSSIBLY MORE THAN A FOOT OF SNOW BY
DAYBREAK MONDAY.
LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL CONTINUE MONDAY AND TUESDAY WITH ADDITIONAL
MODERATE TO HEAVY ACCUMULATIONS LIKELY.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
|
|
4:48 pm - Want a gallbladder?
|
Don't ask me why I feel obliged to post this narrative of gallbladder removal surgery.
The patient was brought to the operating room, placed in the supine position. Bilateral foot pumps were placed for DVT prophylaxis. IV antibiotics were given prior to incision. General anesthesia was administered. The entire abdomen was widely prepped and draped in usual aseptic manner. A 5-mm supraumbilical port incision was made for the camera port. Marcaine 0.5% was injected prior to each trocar incision. A Veress needle was introduced and after obtaining appropriate intra-abdominal pressure readings, successful insufflation of carbon dioxide gas was accomplished. A 5-mm disposable trocar was placed without incident. Visual inspection of the anterior abdomen revealed no other gross abnormalities. Under direct vision, a 10-mm epigastric port as well as two 5-mm right lateral ports were placed. The gallbladder was noted to be acutely inflamed, quite distended, and tense, consistent with acute/chronic cholecystitis. This required decompression with a laparoscopic needle. Hydrops of the gallbladder was noted with aspiration of copious amounts of clear fluid. This allowed the gallbladder wall to be more pliable. Dome of the gallbladder was grasped and retracted cephalad. Acute inflammatory adhesions along the undersurface of the gallbladder were sharply taken down along with judicious use of electrocautery. Multiple impacted stones at the neck of the gallbladder were noted. The peritoneum overlying the infundibular gallbladder was sharply incised using pinpoint cautery. All the fibrofatty tissue attaching the infundibulum of the gallbladder to the base of the liver was then carefully and bluntly dissected free. In doing so, only 2 structures were noted to enter the gallbladder, one of which was a small nondilated cystic duct and the other a tiny cystic artery. Once this anatomy was clearly defined, a single clip was placed in the gallbladder-cystic duct junction. A tiny ductotomy was made on the cystic duct itself. Subsequent cholangiogram was performed using a 4-French Edwards cholangiocatheter catheter. Two static images were obtained using dilute Conray solution. The contrast was noted to traverse through the cystic duct, through the common bile duct, and into the duodenum. The intrahepatic biliary radicals were clearly identified and visualized. There was no biliary ductal dilation and no evidence of retained common bile duct stone. The very distal aspect of the common bile duct was obscured by the laparoscope; however, once again, clear flow of contrast into the duodenum was noted. At this point, the cholangiocatheter catheter was removed. The cystic duct was carefully and doubly clipped just distal to the ductotomy site and divided. The tiny cystic artery was clipped proximally and distally and divided as well. The gallbladder was subsequently detached from the liver bed using right angle hook cautery and dissection. The detached gallbladder was placed within the lumen of an Endo-Catch device and brought out through the epigastric port site without incident. Excellent hemostasis of the liver bed was obtained using pinpoint electrocautery. The cystic duct stump clips appeared quite secure. Thorough irrigation and suctioning was performed. Final inspection showed more than adequate hemostasis. At this point, the operation was concluded. All of the ports were removed, thereby releasing the pneumoperitoneum. The skin incisions closed using 5-0 Monocryl subcuticular suture. Steri-Strips and Band-Aid dressings were applied. The patient tolerated the procedure well.
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
|
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
|
|
9:17 am - Busted
|
Nice try, asshat
As I walked into the room, the patient pulled his hat down over his eyes. On close examination, I realized I had seen this patient one week ago. I checked the records and asked the patient and he said he had never been here before and there was no record of him having been here before. I asked the patient to produce an ID and he said he did not have his license with him. I asked him how he got there and he said he drove. The patient states he had a credit card in his truck that he would go get to identify him. He walked out to his truck, got in the truck, and drove away.
Diagnosis
Drug-seeking behavior.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
Monday, November 10th, 2008
|
|
11:15 am - got this in my Myspace bulletins this morning
|
If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears, with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.
... Uphill... barefoot...BOTH ways.
Yadda, yadda, yadda.
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.
You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia!
And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet.
If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!
And you could bet someone had beat you to the book you needed!!!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen!
...Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!
There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ usually talked over the beginning and messed it all up!
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!
And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your Bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'.
Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your Imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!
And you could never win.
The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your butt and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning.
Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!
And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!
That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled.
You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!
Regards,
The over 30 Crowd
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
|
Saturday, November 8th, 2008
|
|
2:41 pm - more primal inspiration
|
|
|
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
|
|
6:58 am - Without getting into a big political harangue
|
I just wanted to say I am very glad that Obama won. And it wasn't even close.
In my district, Dennis Kucinich easily won re-election.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
|
|
10:04 am - yeah they were slightly wrong
|
The extent of the snow that we got here was just a dusting on top of my car. Sounds like upstate New York got the worst of it.
current mood:  relieved
current music: 30footFALL - I Melt With You
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
|
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
|
|
6:53 am - Oh Jesus Christ
|
# Today: Cloudy with rain and snow showers. Windy. High near 40F. Winds NW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of precip 60%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
# Tonight: Rain and snow this evening, becoming snow overnight. Windy. Low 32F. Winds WNW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of precip 80%. A slushy accumulation of 1 to 3 inches. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
# Tomorrow: Periods of rain and snow in the morning. A few rain showers in the afternoon - otherwise, mostly cloudy and windy. High 44F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of precip 50%. 1 to 2 inches of wet snow expected.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
Monday, October 27th, 2008
|
|
11:43 am - Fecking weather, part 2
|
|
They called it. My mom, who lives about 15 minutes away from me, just called me to tell me it is snowing at her house.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
|
|
1:01 pm - Feckin' weather
|
It's that time of the year again. Blech.
Tomorrow: Windy with rain and snow showers. Colder. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds WSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of precip 50%.
current mood:  blah
current music: Jean Michel Jarre - Magnetic Fields II
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
|
|
8:32 am - Interesting
|
Another of my all time favorite songs is "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty. That sax hook gets me just as much now as it did when the song was popular 30 years ago.
Anyway, I just read on Wikipedia this morning that Gerry checked himself out of the hospital on August 1 against medical advice and disappeared. He hasn't been heard from since.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
|
7:23 am - Oh nice
|
This is actually about 3 miles away from where I used to live.
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Police at Western Carolina University and wildlife officials were investigating the discovery early Monday of a dead bear cub draped with a pair of Barack Obama campaign signs.
Leila Tvedt, associate vice chancellor for public relations, said Monday night that maintenance workers found the 75-pound bear cub shot to death in front of the school's administration building at the entrance to campus. The Obama yard signs were stapled together and placed over the bear's head, Tvedt said.
The bear had been shot in the head, Tvedt said.
"Western Carolina University deplores the inappropriate behavior that has led to this troubling incident," Tvedt said. "We cannot speculate on the motives of the people involved nor who those people might be. Campus police are cooperating fully with authorities to investigate this matter."
University police called in state Wildlife Resources officials to remove the body and help in the investigation.
Bear season is under way in western North Carolina.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
Saturday, October 18th, 2008
|
|
10:34 am - LOL
|
|
|
