Frenzied Daddy

I should be posting my list of resolutions soon – it’s still coming together Be of good cheer.

And look- it’s another short week. I love the holidays

My good (excellent) friend Dean has left Mentor Graphics and is now teaching kidlets in southern California. And his bestest bud Jon is running a fabu new bizness – he’s offering some delectable delectables for your dining delight.

Alliteration is extra, but I won’t charge you extra today.

What is this world coming to? First, it was Christian Longo- who would have thought that such a man would exist. A Jehovah Witness allegedly goes off the deep end and kills his wife and children, and then goes off to Mexico to party! And now some other father is
missing, and his family is lying in a bloody heap in the snow over in lovely Tillamook County!

For cryin’ out loud. My dad managed teach me a few things, but I don’t think he even had to teach me that “You don’t go killing your family.” Assuming this Edward Morris guy actually did it- the authorities can’t find him.

It makes me really unhappy to see it- there’s kids involved; Christian Longo (allegedly) killed his wife and small children, and Edward Morris had three kids (and his wife was pregnant) who were 4, 8 and 10.

In a way, I almost hope he did it. It would be easier to stomach than knowing there’s some random spree murderer out there who is in my town, who has killed an entire family.

Well, it’s Christmas. Let’s move along to some more happy tidings, OK?

Go See It.

Seriously, it’s a worthy successor to The Fellowship of the Ring. Which was an astounding rendition of the first two books of this epic. Yes, it’s true- each of the three “books” is made of two “books.”

Of course, the movies do not follow the books exactly. How could they? The biggest change seems to be that in terms of movie-plot making, if Frodo had confronted Shelob at the end of the movie, it would have taken some of the energy and force from the Battle of Helm’s Deep (Helm Hammerhand. Sound familiar?) where Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and two hundred and ninety seven humans stave off ten thousand orcs until Saruman’s prophecy is proven false (There will be no dawn for Man.).

But enough about that. It’s tightened my resolve to read the “trilogy” myself- looking over the plot synopses available on the ‘web show me how much I’m missing out.

There’s a christmas song that’s really bringing a tear this season; it’s (sigh) on a country station. It’s the song from a kid to Santa about how his parents are unemployed, they’ve been thrown out of their house. They’re full of hope, but the kid has been told that though he’s been good, Santa may not be able to find him this year.

If it weren’t for Mike and Paulette at Hot Off The Press, and to a lesser extent Bill at Untangled Web, that kid would be Brynnen. I can not believe how close we were to the edge.

So anyway- donate to Toys for Tots and the giving trees

The lending company-encouraged bankruptcy bill has failed in the senate. I wasn’t a big fan of this bill- with the current economy, I think the last thing a person needs is it to be harder to get out from under their debt. I mean, if for some ungodly reason, I lost my job at HOTP, I’d be considering bankruptcy; and I imagine that everyone else needs that safety net too. But the banks and lending companies want you to be working hard to pay off your debts to them.

However, who has defeated this bill? According to the oregonian, it’s been the Anti Abortion Activists, because so many of them (anti abortion activists) have had stiff fines for their (reprehensible) behaviour involving clinics and women in distress; they want to preserve that safety net for their minions.

So I’m conflicted; on one hand, happy that the bankrupcy bill has been defeated, on the other hand, depressed that it was the abortion activists who accomplished it.

Have a great weekend!

Well it’s been a few days since her surgery, and I must say… she’s going to be OK. More or less. It’s heartening to see her springing around the room, or pulling at the leash (Bad dog! No biscuit!) … and she loves hanging out here at work. An extra special thank-you to our bosses Mike, Paulette and Teresa for letting us bring her in. She loves the company, and she loves that there are other dogs to visit.

I thought her femur would be cut perpendicular to the shaft, but it was cut more parallel- just the end knob was cut off. They didn’t slice up muscles or tendons or anything. She seems to be doing very well.

I have two words for you: tip your carriers. (Paper carriers).

Why? I’ve spent the last month delivering 190 papers a day to a neighborhood with houses that range in value from 1$50 to $350 000 – and of 190 papers, I was tipped a total of $68.00. That’s um less than fifty cents a house.

Let me introduce you to what tips do for me: 1) I was anticipating $150 so I bought dinner for a friend. 2) I was ready to sign up to buy a megatokyo coffee cup (the guy who writes megatokyo has been laid off from his “real job” and is doing his art full time).

And it helps my self image to know that other people appreciate my work more than fifty stinking cents a job.

That is all

Ever have the feeling that you’re living someone else’s life? That bad things are supposed to happen to other people?

I let the dogs out to pee this morning; and shortly afterwards I heard barking like their normal playing and stuff, and then suddenly painful yelping. After I staggered into my pants, I flung open the door to see Honor (our Austrailian Shepard) crying in the back yard, walking on three legs, and yelping. I got her inside; Perrin (the mutant Border collie) was worried that she was getting attention (or maybe that he had hurt her) so I shut him in his kennel. Then I went to look at Honor; she would not let her foot touch the ground and she was whining and yelping. At one point, she bit me (snapped at me, really- just to tell me she hurt).

I sent Brookes and Brynnen to school and work and took Honor into the vet- they evaluated her hip and it was out of the socket. Later today they put her under anaesthesia and tried to put the ball back into the socket. That’s when we found … Honor has very bad Hip Dysplasia.

Basically, they called while she was still out. We had two options; well four, but either letting her live with the pain or having her put to sleep are not options. We could have them (the North Portland Animal Hospital) perform a “femoral head osteomy” or have someone else do a total hip replacement. It’s one of those major life crises you read about in the paper – when it happens to someone else. The hip replacement would be about $4000; the FHO a cool $1000. What do they do? Basically, they hack off the end of the femur; the part that goes into the socket of the hip. That’s it in a nutshell. So there’s no more bone-bone contact, there’s no more pain (well less pain), and eventually enough scar tissue (that Dr Shanks kept calling replacement tissue) forms that the leg stays together.

My dog is lame. I’m coming to grips with that; but it’s been a rough day. She’ll need walks and play time ever more now, because it helps the leg heal. And as much as she’s a very bad dog at times, it breaks our hearts that she’s in pain and needs surgery.

The FHO surgery is supposed to be best when the dog is small (Less than 50 pounds). She’s that size. She should recover pretty well, considering that we’ll need to exercise her regularly and the normal dog-ownership stuff that we’ve been slacking on. But if you’re watching her run, and her gait is off, it’s because of the dysplasia and the surgery. Keep Honor in your thoughts.