Wailin' on Palin

I cannot even begin to express how much I dislike the thought of this woman as our vice president. It's a ridiculous joke. Joe Sixpack, please say it ain't so. She is so completely unintelligent. It's terrifying, absolutely terrifying that anyone in their right mind would vote for the McCain-Palin ticket. What has this country come to? Could we possibly stoop any lower than we have in the last eight years? It's sickening. I try to understand people who think differently than I do, but on this issue i will never understand.

Oh man, doggonit, you betcha I'm gonna give a straight-up shout-out to my readers and post these here funny videos of a little lady who likes to call herself a maverick. Because without a few laughs, I would fall onto the floor in a little ball and start crying.

Steve's bitchin' camaro transplant

I haven't written much about my brother Steve here lately. I guess it is partially because he has his own space to write and I like to hear what he says in his own words! And also because if I don't write it down, maybe it won't be real. Silly denial tactic.

Steve is actually doing pretty well in his quest for good health. I think he is possibly the most positive, upbeat, forward-looking person I've ever known. He is handling everything beautifully and taking it all in stride. Although we are experiencing a lot of ups and downs in his platelet and blood counts, which can be frustrating and emotionally exhausting, he never has a bad thing to say about it.

There are lots of good pieces of news right now. A match has been identified for him. A 22-year old female in the US. She is a 9 out of 10 match, which isn't 100% perfect I guess, but I'm very optimistic that her marrow will do the trick! They want to get started on the marrow transplant (or "camaro" transplant as Steve likes to say) right away, so he will be admitted to the hospital on October 20. After about three weeks of prep chemo, tests, and rest, he will undergo the transplant procedure. I'm excited that things are moving ahead. It is much harder to wait around to hear news. He starts another monthly cycle of chemo tomorrow. Yesterday we thought he might have to spend an entire month in the hospital doing a really hard-core round of chemo, but fortunately the doctors decided today that it was not necessary because his marrow is in better shape than they thought. So that's also really good news.

Here are at least four things you can do to help!

1. Sign up to be a bone marrow donor! Because it is so rare to find a person who matches, it is really important to have a lot of people in the registry. I'm sure that the girl who is a match for my brother signed up to help someone she knows. So I hope you'll sign up with Steve in mind, knowing that you might help save someone else's life. It's karma. And it's really easy. www.marrow.org.
   
   
2. If for some reason you can't sign up to be a donor, you can donate platelets! Contact your local blood center and ask if you can donate platelets. Steve needs a platelet transfusion almost every month--when he does chemotherapy, his platelets drop really low before coming back up. Platelet donors are absolutely crucial for people who need these life-saving transfusions.
   
   
3. Support the Aplastic Anemia and Myelodysplastic International Foundation (AA&MDSIF) by buying holiday cards!
   
   
4. Or shop through GoodShop and iGive!

The root of the problem

Who knew that endodontic therapy is the same as the common term "root canal?" I certainly didn't. Until now, that is. Today I had a root canal (technically that term is incorrect but that's neither here nor there, really). The procedure itself was not all that bad. The giggly dental assistant gave me apple juice, that was probably the best part. She was the same dental assistant who, yesterday, wrote her notes on a napkin while the dentist was explaining things to me. I was embarassed for her, especially when the dentist asked her what she was doing and she waved the napkin in the air and said "I'm writing down what you're saying." Apparently she's new!

Anyway, like I said, the procedure was not all that bad. They gave me several shots and numbed me all up. Then he started drilling and the sound was so loud and high-pitched (and damnit, I had my iPod but forgot to charge it!) and suddenly I felt it, enough to make me shudder. So he gave me several more shots around the tooth until it felt basically dead, which was GREAT. The weird thing was, I could hear all this terrible drilling and scraping and saw giant needles go into my mouth, but I couldn't feel a thing. It was morbidly fascinating because I know if I hadn't been anesthetized, I would have been screaming bloody murder and probably would have passed out from the pain. So the dentist removed the stuff inside my tooth, reshaped the canals, and filled it with some temporary stuff (that is the highly technical term). In a couple weeks, he will check again to see whether there is a fracture. If it's only a small crack, he will put a crown on my tooth. But if there's a fracture, my tooth will actually have to be extracted. Yeah, did you get that? EXTRACTED. REMOVED. OBLITERATED. PULLED. UPROOTED. YANKED. But I'm trying not to think about that because I am optimistic that it won't have to happen.

Here is a little visual for those of you who are really into this. 1) unhealthy tooth. The nerve tissue inside is flaring up because there was a crack in my tooth that allowed bacteria to get inside. 2) Loud, ugly drilling of giant hole in my tooth. 3) Tiny tools clean out the nerve tissues. The thought of that still gives me the chills. 4) They fill it up with this rubber-type material and put a crown on it. That didn't happen to me today (they just put a temporary seal on it) but hopefully that is what the outcome will be in a couple weeks.
The best part is, I had a fancy frozen drink tonight and swished it around on my tooth and didn't feel a thing. It was great! My jaw and tooth are pretty sore right now but otherwise it's ok. Wish me luck. I hope it's just a little tiny crack. I really like this tooth and would like to keep it.

Ice cream

Speaking of ice cream (I spoke of it in my last post), Brian & I have been on an ice cream craze lately! Watch out! I literally scream for ice cream (again, see my last post).

Here's the whole story... Brian had a conversation with people at work about how amazing ice cream can be. This conversation actually began at a restaurant with his co-workers and their spouses (I was there! I'm a spouse!). And so they decided that they were all going to make their own ice cream. And I'm pretty sure this is where Brian came in. He somehow managed to turn it into a competition. Because he's competitive like that. Especially when it comes to food. And most definitely when it comes to inventing food! So everyone got an ice cream maker. Including us--it was on our wedding registry. Our friends El & Eric bought it (thanks, guys!). It has been non-stop ice cream ever since.

Tonight I tried my hand at ice cream and I hate to admit this... but... it was not as fantastic as Brian's. Okay, I said it. Out loud. I admitted it. His was better than mine. I made Gianduia chocolate-hazelnut ice cream! Sounds fancy, right? The flavor was actually pretty incredible, but the texture was dry. I need more practice. And more people to eat this ice cream. Anyone?

Cracked tooth!

What!? I have a cracked tooth--at the root! Yuck. I have to have a root canal AND a crown. Uggh. I have been popping tylenol for the past two weeks straight with constant aching. And yesterday some ice cream touched the tooth in question and I almost died. The pain was intense, very intense. My root canal is tomorrow, and then thank goodness, I will not have any more tooth pain. Yay! That's the upside! The downside is that someday, I may actually lose the tooth... it may need to be extracted. Hopefully that won't happen, and if it does, I hope it doesn't happen for many, many years. I had a root canal once in high school after a snowboarding accident. But now I'm having one just because... I'm old? and I grind my teeth at night? it's so not fair! I've never had a crown, though. I'm telling you, it's all downhill after the age of 30...

Today is doomsday, I cannot believe the Dow fell almost 800 points. That is ridiculous! Brian's theory is that it's an ideal time to invest in the stock market. Buy low and watch the value rise. Is that totally crazy? I can't decide.

More fascinating tales of my root canal to follow...

Making readers everywhere happy, one at a time

My goal is to make my readers happy. And if they're not happy, then I'm not happy. One of them expressed his/her disappointment yesterday, and I take those comments very seriously. I am here to please.

I regret to report that the mocha yesterday was…. inexistent. I was a responsible worker and did not leave my desk to go get one. But I'll make sure to tell you in excruciating detail about the next mocha that I drink! Beginning from the walk over to the coffee shop, to the first glorious scent, right down to the last drop of chocolately coffee goodness. Stay tuned, my friends, it's going to be a great story.

I did leave my desk to show off my shiny new flats, though. I think you (especially Trevor) will appreciate the picture I'm attaching so you can see exactly what I'm talking about.


Speaking of great stories, we were fortunate to have some fabulous speakers at our wedding… those would include the esteemed Mr. Mad Trevor, Ms. Sardine, and my fabulous dad. Only one of these speeches was recorded for the rest of the world to enjoy, however. Go here to check it out now.

Working

I had a 6:30am conference call this morning that lasted almost three hours. Now I'm just tired and struggling to focus on what I'm supposed to do today. Looking at all of my arbitrary deadlines or other tasks that don't really have deadlines, spanning at least 5 different projects. Which one do I start first? Should I call the woman in North Carolina about those brochures? Or sort through and archive my closed project files? Or think about how to reorganize our program content online? Or maybe I'll read that concept paper one more time to make sure we're not missing anything? No, I think I'll just go get a mocha instead. And then I'll show off my shiny new flats to my coworker. After getting up at 5:30 this morning for a call, I think I deserve at least that much. Then I'll get to work.