My little friends have worn out their welcome

I have been dealing with an upset stomach (general indigestion) for many months. It really only bothers me when I eat something, so food has been an enemy, and the condition has been constant with no relief. For months. I've been trying to tough it out, hoping maybe it will go away on its own. Also tried eliminating dairy, gluten, alcohol, spicy foods, etc. from my diet with no help and all OTC meds and herbs have done zilch.

I hated the idea of going to the doctor with it, because... well... going to a gastroenterologist is something I try to avoid for various reasons, not to mention the $$$$$. OK, so not too smart on my part so I broke and saw the doctor.

She had my blood tested for Helicobactor Pylori, and I'm not sure why the blood test was necessary since the next day she put a scope in my stomach to look for it, and found it, yes. It's a bacterial infection that causes all sorts of problems, they work themselves into the stomach lining and become happy campers. If untreated they can bring about ulcers or even cancer.

Today I had another test that may or may not be related to the little buggers, but I still had to do it. No needles and tubes with this one, I was expecting it to be something like a barium swallow, egg was mentioned, so I was imagining some gawdawful nasty drink. Instead, the tech takes me to the waiting area and says he's going to cook me a sandwich. It's going to be radioactive egg-beaters (scrambled) on toast... asks if I want grape or strawberry jelly. There are salt and pepper shakers there if I want them. I also have to drink a half cup of water, must finish the whole thing in 10 minutes, and must wear rubber gloves while eating so I don't crap up the machinery with greasy fingers. Then they track the nukes as they go through over a couple of hours.

I tell the guy that I usually don't eat eggs as an entree and avoid them if possible, and he says, "Well you don't normally eat barium either", so I figure he has a point.

A woman patient passed through the waiting area and was very puzzled, remarks "Salt? Pepper?" I hold up my hands with the rubber gloves already on. She shakes her head with an "I'm outta here" look. So after a couple of tedious and annoying mornings I am being treated with antibiotics for these damned little buggers that have been messing me up for a long time.

I was looking for more info on these things on the net (that must drive the doctors crazy but I still think it's a good idea), and found this really bizarre and unique shop called "Giant Microbes". It's a collection of plushie stuffed microbe toys, representing such things as athlete's foot, mad cow disease, halitosis, ebola, syphilis... long list. You can even get a plushie "scum". All this just in time for the holiday gift-giving season and they would be excellent gag gifts anytime! Pictured is my very own microbe H. Pylori, which is being sold there under the name "Ulcer".

Friday Cat - Undivided Attention

Henry probably thinks that you are not through petting him. That will get you this look, and usually a few hand nibbles -- nothing that hurts though, he'd never hurt you.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that you will never be through petting him. You can use a brush if you like.


Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at This blog is full of crap - Cats - Catblogging

The "fun" goes out of being fundamentalist

Santorum making his concession speech. Found this on PinkDome and they are asking for captions.

Tags: Republicans - Santorum -

My letter to the new Congress

tag: politics -

I'll love you forever, it is written

This woman has gotten Anderson Cooper tattooed onto her leg. That's not even very weird when you consider that she has Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa on the other one.

Got any tattoos? I have never really wanted to get a tattoo myself. For one thing, I don't like pain. For another, I know, deep down, how fickle I am... and how I can't think of anything that should be permanently written on me. I guess "MOM" is a pretty safe bet for most people.

I have often thought about how people would feel about their tattoos many years later -- like when the guy who gets the swastika inked on his head ends up in a nursing home, depending on all sorts of people to help him just get through the day in one piece. Then there's the love affair that ends badly, like Johnny Depp's "Winona Forever" that he had changed to "Wino Forever".

Skulls, dragons, flames, wizards, snakes, butterflies, panthers... those don't ever go out of style.

Star Wars inking found on Neatorama. More really "interesting" and hilarious ones, some NSFW, here.

Tag: Tattoos -

Smile on a Stick

I brought my Smile on a Stick to work with me today. Sometimes you just need a little help. One little thing to smile about is that Lloyd Doggett, the Representative now covering our area, is not in trouble. He is popular and expected to win. He actually repesents my views. I am not used to having that. Yay Lloyd!

Other than that I am just generally grumpy. A bit overworked and overly humbuggy and depressed over the upcoming holiday season. Get your own Smile on a Stick here (you may have to call an 800 number to locate a store). They come in a variety of styles, including multi-cultural and some holiday versions.

All aboard for hell with a non-stop ticket

Governor Goodhair declares that the Bible has no errors and all non-christians are going to hell. Well, par for the course for him. It's what we would expect him to say. [sigh] Can we get this damned election over with so I don't have to hear his ads anymore?

- Perry - Texas -

Communication will not be discussed!

Mr. Blueberry sent me this list that is supposed to be a real set of "Dilbert Quotes", in other words, extremely pointy-haired statements from real-life. I've looked around, and have seen these things everywhere and can't determine a source other than it was "a magazine contest". Even snopes was no help. Still... they are worth reading for entertainment value, and believable enough if you've ever worked for a corporation.

1. As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday, and employees will receive their cards in two weeks. (This was the winning entry, from Fred Dales at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, WA)
2. What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter. (Lykes Lines Shipping)
3. How long is this Beta guy going to keep testing our stuff? (Programming intern, Microsoft IIS development team)
4. E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business. (Accounting Mgr., Electric Boat Company)
5. This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it. (Advertising/Mktg. Mgr., UPS)
6. Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule. (R&D Supervisor, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing/3M Corp.)
7. My boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit it. The disk I gave her was write-protected. (CIO of Dell Computers)
8. Quote from the boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what 'I' say." (Mktg. executive, Citrix Corporation)
9. My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my boss, he said she died so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me." (Shipping Executive, FTD Florists)
10. We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees. (AT&T Long Lines Division)
11. We recently received a memo from senior management saying, "This is to inform you that a memo will be issued today regarding the subject mentioned above." (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
12. One day my boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!" (New Business Mgr., Hallmark Cards)
13. As director of communications, I was asked to prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In the body of the memo one of the sentences mentioned the "pedagogical approach" used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the executive committee, I was called into the HR Director's office, and was told that the executive VP wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for "perverts" (pedophiles?) working in her company. Finally he showed me her copy of the memo, with her demand that I be fired, with the word pedagogical" circled in red. The HR Manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his dictionary and made a copy of the definition to send to my boss, he told me not to worry. He would take care of it. Two days later a memo to the entire staff came out, directing us that no words which could not be found in the local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later, I resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation letter by pasting words together from the Sunday paper. (Taco Bell Corporation)
14. This gem is the closing paragraph of a nationally-circulated memo from a large communications company: "Lucent Technologies is determined to promote constant attention on current procedures of transacting business focusing emphasis on innovative ways to better, if not supercede, the expectations of quality!"
15. No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them. (R&D Supervisor, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing /3M Corp.)

As for number 9 above, I used to work for someone just like that. There was a big sales meeting in another town and one of the salesman had a wife who was going through a difficult labor/childbirth at the hospital -- so he told the boss he would have to miss the meeting. The boss told him, "She has her doctors, and you have your job. You belong at the meeting". The man went to the meeting. People who worked there were so brainwashed, beaten down and terrified of those tyrants that they allowed themselves to be put through things like that in order to keep their jobs. I've got a few stories from that place. They are unbelievable in modern times.

Living on treacle and stout

The weather was just right for the Austin Celtic Festival Saturday, a little on the cool side so that a sweater was needed morning and evening -- also it was overcast and misty -- so rare weather for us but not the Emerald Isle. I love Celtic music, and we were treated to lots of it, including the wonderful John Williams (pictured above) on the button accordion. Reason enough for going right there.

In addition to lots of accordions, pipes, and drums, there were lots of skirts and swords... and I imagine that a lot of these are actually sharp! I said "skirts" and of course I means "kilts", but don't see how calling it something else changes it fundamentally. I really think that skirts (or "kilts", if you insist) should be a regular part of a man's wardrobe if he wants them. I prefer wearing pants to skirts myself, but think everyone should have the option of wearing either one. And believe me, these things do NOT look feminine.

There was opportunity to whack a knight if you wanted, and most of the volunteers were kids. The "swords" were made out of something pliable, so hopefully the suits of armor prevented bruises.

There wasn't a lot food available for us veg-heads, so we took advantage of the bake sale. There were some very unusual choices, such as lavender bread and soda bread, but we got by on a loaf of treacle bread. I have to admit, I've never seen the word "treacle" on my food before, and never even knew what it was. I always had the impression that it was some kind of drug or poison, based on its mention in Alice in Wonderland: the Mad Tea Party:

'Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the Dormouse began in a great hurry; 'and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well--'

'What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great interest in questions of eating and drinking.

'They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or two.

'They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently remarked; 'they'd have been ill.'

'So they were,' said the Dormouse; 'VERY ill.'

Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary ways of living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she went on: `But why did they live at the bottom of a well?'

'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, `so I can't take more.'

'You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: 'it's very easy to take MORE than nothing.'

Turns out that treacle is molasses. And that last little quote from the Mad Tea Party reminds me of a joke that my Mother told me all my life, and her mother told it to her. You have to think like a hillbilly to even get it.

Youngster at table: Give me some molasses.
Kid's Mother: How can you have mo 'lasses when you ain't even et none yet?

Not really the King's English... and it helps to embellish it with a rural Oklahoma accent.

Clark helping to give 'em hell

Gen. Wesley Clark has affiliated himself with the PAC Vote Vets, which uses the slogan "Support the Troops, Send them to Congress!". They have produced some very blunt and powerful ads that counter the right wing messages we are getting about terrorism, as well as the way certain members of Congress have chosen to support themselves rather than the troops by voting for their own pay hikes instead of for providing proper body armor and basic needs for the soldiers they are sending into the belly of the beast. Normally I don't pay much attention to any political ads, but these are compelling and powerful. View them here on the Vote Vets website.

Gen. Clark was my preferred Dem candidate for President in 2004. I would really love to see him on the ticket next time around, or at least part of the next administration. He's highly qualified, intelligent, articulate... good grief... we are not used to that anymore, are we?
Link: Wesley Clark website
Tags: Wesley Clark - Bush - vets - military
Found via Pink Dome.

First Thursday in November

First Thursday is an evening event on South Congress when there are craft vendors and musicians covering the sidewalks and the shops are open generally later. The neighborhood itself is struggling with events like these, with parking issues and whether or not this or that is permitted. It's a bit different in spirit every month, depending on the mood of the town, and this month attendance was fairly light because people think that 50 degrees is freezing.

We always see something we hadn't seen before, and one of them was this. The most beautiful art car I have ever seen! It was parked in an unlit parking lot and is only illuminated by the flash of the camera so there's no way I can do it justice. (click to enlarge, you gotta see this) Here's the view of it from the back side. It's entirely covered in mirrors, glass and beads. There a whole motorcycle on top, plus enough parts for a couple more, I suspect. There are two riders, and multiple horses in front, churning out of a frothy tangle of pipes, parts, and more horses. Extremely impressive. Horsepower!


We had a really good pizza at Home Slice, where there was miraculously no waiting (must have been the freezing temperatures outside). Looks like they have crayon amusement at the tables (we sat at the bar) as the bulletin board was full of "Draw Morrissey" artwork. Any age can participate, of course, and I really liked the one below, where 39 year old artist Robert Smith states, "You can't do Morrissey without a black crayon". So there, Home Slice.





After pizza we went over to Jo's Coffee as we usually do on 1stThu to listen to Gary Primich with Mike Keller on guitar. It's a fine blues outfit, Chicago style. Then we headed down the street. Will Sexton (Charlie's brother) had played earlier, and Reuben Ramos was now playing at Guero's in the courtyard. We moved along down the street where there was a really good band playing on the corner called Tapwater from San Diego. They were due to play at Ruta Maya later with the Resentments. Really good players, kind of a jam band with a zydeco flavor. So here comes this crotchedy older guy (older = "older than me") with this big heavy "get out of here now or I'm calling the police" line! This was right on the corner of (I think the name of the store is) Tinhorn Traders, and maybe he was the owner or something... but let me say this: I have NEVER not seen a band playing that corner on First Thursday. It's always a lively band that draws a crowd, all kinds of music, gypsy, zydeco, bluegrass, accompanying hula hoops, ribbon dancing, whatever. There are bands on the sidewalks of every block, every nook and cranny possible has street players working for tips. That is First Thursday, that is Austin... period.

So a bit of a sour note to end the evening there. I will check it out if possible, but don't see any further reason to ever buy another thing in that store.

I am personally enjoying these cooler temperatures, and it's fun seeing almost every dog wearing a sweater. (...and at First Thursday, possession of a dog is practically required.) It's nice to able to wear a sweater once in a while. Helllooo winter!! heh heh...

- Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music - Art Car -

Friday Cat - You may take my picture now.

Alex was just so cute in both of these, and they were so similar I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so I posted both of them. What a charmer, and the camera loves him.

His little crooked face is so cute. He has a fang (canine tooth) missing on top and the opposite side missing on the bottom, so he's got a Bucky Katt look with an attitude to match. (Alex is not part-Siamese, but I think part of his brain is... maybe it's the spots doing it, but in any case he's got a 'tude) Such a catmodel!

- Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at Crazy meezer, where they also have an Alex, and he is a REAL meezer unlike my Alex who is only Siamese in his dreams - Cats - Catblogging -

42

This is rather surprising, considering that generally we think of these numbers being much more extreme. A new Harris poll of over 2,000 U.S. adults says that 42% aren't completely convinced that there is a God. The number includes everyone who stated that they weren't "absolutely certain" of God's existence in varying degrees. [LINK]

The numbers of completely convinced believers has gone down significantly since the last identical Harris poll taken 3 years ago, and the article speculates that part of the difference could be explained by the fact that this one was conducted online while the previous one was done on the phone. They have (yet more) statistics that show that people are more willing to admit certain things that might be considered socially unacceptable if they are online. (I don't even need the statistical proof for that, I believe it.)

I'd like to think that more people in this country are thinking for themselves.

Unfortunately, a lot of people won't do that until Rush tells them to.

- religion - god -