Then I managed to smash a fingernail. I don’t remember how it happened, but I hadn’t done it before, and I kind of wanted him to look at it and say “oh that’s normal.” I also needed to check on my allergy meds. So I made an appointment. When the day came to visit, I showed it to the receptionist, who was about five years older than me. Her response was kind of a condescending “Oh, honey, I think you’ll live.” I mean it was a smashed fingernail, it was growing out, right? I knew it was going to grow out but I just wanted be seen. It was my money, right? I saw him and he looked at it and said what I imagined he’d say, and our lives went on.

Then came the day a few weeks after I got my shoulder pulped at SCA fighter practice. My pauldron flipped up and the other fighter plowed full force into my shoulder. It got really purple and black; one of those big, deep tissue bruises that I’m sure you’ve had too (You can see a brief shot of this kind of bruise in “Whip It” directed by Drew Barrymore). I’d had some, usually on my butt cheeks, but as this one healed it felt kind of gritty inside the muscle. And while I knew it was going to take a while to heal, I wasn’t sure on the pattern; was this “grit” inside the muscle normal? Were they clots? Clumps of muscle? I didn’t know, so I made an appointment.

Yeah, he was impressed at the bruise but totally shocked that I let someone do that to me. His response was along the lines of “yeah it’ll take 4 to 6 weeks to heal a deep tissue bruise like that, now go away because you’re scaring me.” Not particularly helpful, and he didn’t seem to think the “grit” was important. For the record, it hurt like hell for six months and I could still feel it a year later. I still thought of him as my doctor, but for the record we were no longer within the “honeymoon.” No matter how cute his assistants were.

The real severance came when Ms B and I were pregnant with Miss B. Yeah, 13 years ago. Ms B and I went to the doctor and had an interview- the place is a Family Medicine place, and we were looking for a pediatrician. And while I don’t remember exactly he said, he was pretty condescending to my wife and to my unborn daughter. At that point, I reflected on all the other times we had talked and suddenly it was in a different light. We never went back, and found a great pediatrician at OHSU (and followed her to Evergreen Pediatric in Vancouver), then I started going to SWMC for my doctor appointments.

So there’s a reason to be polite to your customers Video not required.

Yes, even when I’ve just arrived home from work! Yes, when I’m trying to get some “down time” — yes! When I tell her to go bug someone else! I love her, and I love doing all that stuff with her, but seriously, sometimes daddy’s lap is daddy’s lap!

Anyway, she gets me to the suburbs of insanity, and then she looks up at me and tells me she’s got a secret to tell me. She wants to whisper it in my ear. Gritting my teeth, I bend forward to hear it and what does she say?

“Daddy, I love you. You’re very special to me. Don’t tell anyone else- this is a secret.”

Jeez. Make me cry why dontcha.

What is with you people? Isn’t it enough that Incomprehensible Twit Palin has a chance to be the President of the US in the next four years? Isn’t it enough that Bush has given himself the authority to delay the elections? Isn’t it enough that for the first time ever, an active army unit has been assigned to “Army North” in order to support homeland security measures? Isn’t it enough that the Republican “maverick” has voted with Bush’s policies 95 percent of the time?

This past week, thousands of copies of the anti-Muslim propaganda piece Obsession was spread throughout Ohio ( a swing state ) through newspapers and through the mail. Friday night, while 300 Muslims were in church celebrating the end of Ramadan, some (expletive deleted) sprayed a hand held canister of “chemical irritant” into the room where babies and children were playing and waiting for their parents. Someone tear gassed their daycare!

McCain’s supporters were distributing the DVDs; a group called the “Clarion” group. Well, I have a clear, bugle call to the “Clarion” group- your DVD has encouraged terrorism by Americans against Americans. I hope that McCain denounces you and that you lose any support you might have gained.

Tear gassing toddlers! I’m astounded!

Miss B, Ms B and I were laying in the big bedroom (Ms B’s and Mine), in front of the fan, reading and working. I see Miss K with the gentle leader, she takes it over to Perrin and hooks him up. He’s not choking or anything, so she must have done it right. I go back to my work, and Miss K and Perrin leave the room. I’m listening to the sounds; I’m expecting to hear her crying or him barking or some sort of disaster but I don’t hear anything. I’m also expecting Miss B and Ms B to have noticed that Miss K was up to something.

I’m working on a piece of code and need to get it out of my head before I forget about it. A lot of my work is like that; my breaks come between pieces of code. It’s very creative-process-y.

I involve myself in the code, not hearing any noise ( but I can hear the fan and the radio, I’m not totally zoned ), and tell myself that I’ll find Miss K after this function block. Before I finish, however, I hear a voice. I look up from the computer and listen more closely; I can’t decide if it’s the radio or not, and I’m about to ask the Bs if they hear it too, when SS, our neighbor, comes into the room. She had let herself in, through the open front door.

Apparently Miss K had walked Perrin out of the house and down the street (away from the busy street, deeper into the neighborhood ) and had gotten about 4 or so houses down before someone noticed her. They asked SS if she (Miss K) was hers, but it wasn’t until SS actually saw her that she realized that it was Miss K. I was astounded that Perrin hadn’t pulled her over or anything, that he was politely walking along with her. And when SS picked her up to bring her home, Miss K threw an unholy temper tantrum– as if Miss K believed that she was doing the right thing; it was like the two of them had teamed up and were going for a walk come Heck or High Water.

Sigh.

I guess I have to put locks on our gates too