Random thoughts

New tagline:

"Anything that doesn't take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing."

-- Cormac McArthy


That's not depressing. It's stimulating.

Stolen from Gaaneden:

It's a game of "What if". What if you were on death row and about to be executed. You have just been asked what you will have for your last meal. What do you decide to have?


On arrival: Vintner's choice for champagne. Continue to experiment!

Appetizer: Chilled Shrimp Cocktail.

Small Soup: Potato soup with cheese & chives.

Rest break for taste buds: Change drink to water with hint of lime.

Main course: New York Strip steak, medium rare bordering on rare.

Side: Grilled vegetables - nothing white.

Rest break: Barman's choice for a Scotch.

Dessert: Key Lime pie.

Post-Dinner: Scotch - Single Malt Glenfiddich 40-year-old (the '68.)


--The girls are welcome. All boyfriends and husbands can wait in the car.--

Okay. In the wake of the little-noticed decision of the Obama administration to increase the tariff on Chinese-made tires by 35% (to a total of 39%), I'm telling anyone who needs tires to get them now. Prices on low end tires will go up 20-30%; for mid-range tires 10-20%.

The tariff will cause tire manufacturers to respond by shifting production to other low-cost countries. NOT the U.S; this was never an option, which makes the move a total mystery. Hey, let's annoy the country that buys up most of the ever-increasing debt produced by out government!

Of course, that means there will be a lag in production. We will begin to see a shortage within 30 days, which will take between four to twelve months to be caught up. Lag = low availability. Scarcity = increased cost. Basic economics. So a set of four inexpensive tires at $500 a set will now cost approximately $600.

So...buy now.

Have been attempting to post primarily upbeast entries here. Sill struggling with  that.

On Vacation this week for Mom's retirement ceremony. Missing out on the 100degree weather (Yay!), but also the performance. The will surely be a high show for the Angels, always spectacular. As Navy brat usually saw one, sometimes two a year while I was growing up.Still thrilling.

Will be back Monday Aug. 3 at 2356, four minutes until august 4th. Anyone interested in making this very ill-timed trip to retrieve me? Gas money, dinner, thanks, and - if conditions are right - excellent sex are available as payment. Okay, possibly very good sex.

Passed on from gaaneden.

List 15 science fiction and fantasy authors who will stay with you always. Don't think too hard about this, just do it. This is my list, in no particular order, of SF & F authors who've written things that have thrilled me, made me think, taken me to other worlds:

1. Robert Heinlein
2. Larry Niven
3. Jerry Pournelle
4. Lois McMaster Bujold
5. Issac Asimov
6. David Drake
7. Arthur C. Clarke
8. Steven Brust
9. Rod Serling
10. Frank Herbert
11. Ray Bradbury
12. Spider Robinson
13. H. Beam Piper
14. Neil Gaiman
15. Poul Anderson

Your result for Which Woman of the X-Men is Right For You? Test...

Kitty Pryde aka Shadowcat!

Take Which Woman of the X-Men is Right For You? Test at HelloQuizzy

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Seriously, I just want to hang out with the little dragon (name's Lockheed, btw.)

Presented for those girls I know that are technically oriented. I love XKCD...

Clearer version here.

From io9: A Fan-constructed trailer for a Green Lantern Movie. With Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan.

How to con a female friend into sleeping with you. Assuming you can keep a straight face, and she's that gullible.

People will try this; I hope they film the results. They can start a brand new youtube category.

Edited for nausea.

Personal note: I have to stop writing entries when I'm in moods like this.

I would be writing a review in here, but earlier I wrote a long email to a friend advising him about cars. I am in considerable shoulder pain despite an very heavy (Ron not walking very well just now) load of painkillers. Therefore I can't write the long, involved and detailed rant that the subject deserves.

The subject is the newly released Wolverine movie.

It requires a rant. It requires the attention of someone who read comics for decades as a kid, who stopped when they became too openly mercenary (hint: 'crossovers' requiring you to buy three comics each from six different titles, many of which simply were crap.) Someone who came back when there were signs of new life and style, design and writing talent. And who left again when the mercenary nature again overwhelmed all constraints of art (hint: I consider the word 'retcon' reason to consider defenestration if spoken approvingly.)

And I've already written too much and the arm is unhappy and I need to stop.

Watch this space. In the meantime, check the cooling systems in and around your PC's, as having them overheat would make me unhappy.

For now, a list of things that weren't there that might have been. Ah, things that Might Have Been...

Mount Logan
Asia
Father
Mother
Humanity
Lone Wolf & Cub
A Captain America tie-in
Sabertooth, the force of nature
Snowbird
early meditation
a journey to humanity
how not to hold a mutant
'The Island'
Ma and Pa Kent, throwaways
Why Adamantium isn't that interesting
What frigging sense of smell?
Shooting people in the head and it's likely effects

Stay tuned for more.

And here's the results of the surgical followup visit.  The brace is off, and I can use the arm, but lifting is strictly limited for now. Start physical therapy ASAP, which is annoying. The PT group can't see me until Tuesday of next week, and my next followup is the following Monday - which is to say, 11 days from now.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but it's better that we show good progress so we can schedule the procedure for the other arm.

Yes, they found the same problem on the other arm. And yes, my medical coverage still runs out at the end of may. Makes me wish that the last 'surgeon' had taken my word on the damage and just had the MRI done.

So - here's what's behind the need for the surgery in the first place, for those who weren't told. The whole thing happened rather quickly.

The bottom of the bone that overhangs the shoulder muscle - the acromion, which is part of the scapula - had developed jagged edges on the left shoulder.

Result - every time I lifted a heavy load overhead and caused the shoulder muscle to expand, the jagged edges were slashing into the muscle. By the time I had convinced a specialist to do an MRI, the muscle had been cut almost halfway through.

The workouts and the physical therapy, however light, were deepening the cuts and making the problem worse. Irony, thy name is spelled by throwing away your 'I' and 'y.'

This explains why the shoulder pain has actually been worse than the knee pain over the last year or so.

The doctor referred me to their practice's surgeon immediately. That meeting essentially consisted of verifying my understanding of the problem and scheduling surgery for the next available opening.

The surgery was orthoscopic and was pretty much going in and using a tiny dremel tool to grind down the bone so it was smooth. They might have done some sewing of the muscle as well; I don't remember the discussion afterwards all that well. Follow up meeting tomorrow, will find out more.

Interestingly, the problem was very similar to one I had with both knees (repairs on those done back in Denver.) Jaggedness on the bottom of the kneecaps had slashed the cartilage in the knees to pieces. On the right knee there wasn't sufficient cartilage to allow it to knit back together, which is why I have continued pain on that side.

There is a procedure to fix that - remove cartilage from the knee, grow it, and open the knee up to replace it - but that's open knee surgery as painful and debilitating as the last procedure I had done. I'll pass, thanks.

Occurs to me that people might actually want to know how this is going.

Procedure seemed to go fine. Only problem is sleeping with the brace on, it's constricting and I have some serious issues with that.

The current timeframe is approx. 2 weeks in a sling followed by another six weeks of lifting "no more than a coffee cup." Then physical therapy, probably two or three months.

Sling is really starting to itch. PITA.

But hey, it beats being in too much pain to go out in cold and humid weather. Or do an upper body workout.

This should not surprise anyone who has been paying attention.





What type of Fae are you?

If someone ever writes my bio, my years in Seattle will be written about in terms of 'before surgery X' and 'after surgery Y.'

South Carolina trooper ticketed - for 131 MPH - in unmarked cruiser

Nice to know that they do get ticketed. Of course, you or I - more likely I - would be hauled off to jail for public endangerment. Still, it's something.

Did not get the job.

My tendonitis is out of control.

I've been on Norco 90% of the time for the last four days. It's not having much effect at this point. I had to pass on game tonight because I knew I couldn't concentrate - and this with me with a brand new character.

Not fun.