7/31/2004

I *love* this cartoon!

Megas XLR is one of the best cartoons I have ever seen. It’s been a while since a cartoon has made me really laugh at loud or caught my interest like this one. All 10 monkeys are jumping on the bed for this one!

Basically, Coop (a 20-something, semi-slacker, gear head) found this giant robot in a junk yard - and set to finding a way to attach his car to the top as the head. A girl, Kiva, shows up from the future - but as Coop trashed the time travel component during his - eh - modifications, she can’t return…luckily she’s the engineer for the Megas. The main bad guy is the creep mankind in the future is fighting - but other bad guys show up…and hey, even though this is New Jersey, there are standards. What makes this show so great is that kids even as young as John’s age (3) can watch it - kids Phillip’s age (8) love it - AND there are lots of references for adults OUR age to get! I don’t want to spoil the past episodes for you, but look for references to G-Force, Ringworld, and Evil Dead just to name…welll…three of them. It’s on Cartoon Network - Saturday nights at 8 p.m. CST.

“…We dig giant robots….!” - theme music from MEGAS XLR

sparta at 10:27 pm

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Ah, well…

It has been pointed out to me that there have been errors in my posts lately. The person then secondly pointed out that - as I’ve been under stress lately - it’s understandable. Andrew’s doing better. The kids are driving me nuts - and next week is going to be a nightmare. So….

If anyone has a human replicating machine….or is willing to come up and be willing hired goon (whose pay is spending time with my adorable children)…or has a time traveling device…anyone? Anyone?

I’ve got to expand my readership…….

sparta at 11:51 am

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7/30/2004

Can I get a “do-over” for July, please?

Well, Andrew was home a whopping 4 hours when his *right* kidney got jealous and decided now was the time to get rid of the stone it had. AUGH! We knew it was there - but as it wasn’t causing any problems - no one was focusing on it. Wellllll - at 10 p.m. last night, it decided to pass it. Andrew was in MAJOR PAIN - so I got a neighborhood to come stay at the house - and I rushed him to the ER. They kept raising the level of pain med until they had to give him a medicine stronger than morphine (Delotted?), and then he was better. Pain never went to a 0, but it wasn’t a 15 any more either. They admitted him so they could keep him “better” … because there’s no pill form to send home. We’re gong to check on him this morning. Update when I can.

sparta at 8:13 am

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7/28/2004

AAAUUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

Andrew found himself in the ER — again — in California, where he has gone on business…well, where he was *supposed* to be going on business. We now know, thanks to the CALIFORNIA doctor, that Andrew has a major infection in his left kidney. It probably will spread over to the other kidney, if it hasn’t already. I am FURIOUS with the “urologist” he’s had here.

Read Andrew’s accounting of part of this fiasco…then add this: “I went to the urologist today, who informs me that he wants to leave the stent in until a week from this upcoming Monday. The stent has some interesting side effects, like making it impossible for me to stay out of the bathroom for more than an hour. I have a 5 hour flight to California on Tuesday. This is going to be lots of fun.”

When Andrew went for that appointment, he hadn’t ordered any x-rays prior to the visit NOR were any tools prepped to do the removal anyway, which means HE HAD NO INTENTIONS OF REMOVING ANYTHING THAT DAY. Grrr. So - we try to get things going by having the x-rays done ASAP and then calling back. No dice. See - that was Friday. Andrew’s doctor was the only doctor in on the following Monday, and of course, they were all booked up on Fri. & Mon. because THEY WERE **ALL** GOING ON VACATION THE REST OF THAT WEEK! And, of course, one of the doctors was unavailable the following week; the other two, including Andrew’s, were “all booked up with surgeries, meetings, and other patients.” He doesn’t have an appointment to remove it until AUGUST 10! You heard (er…read) that right - AUGUST 10. Another 2 weeks. But it goes on - Andrew was in terrible pain during the flight and had some problems after the flight too. He was toughing it out, but it got to be too much, so he ended up in the ER in California. Turns out he has a very bad kidney infection. The doctor said that if he’d waited much longer (12-24 hours), he would’ve started losing kidney function! Apparently all of his agony has been because of an infection…not so much the stent, which is “right where it’s supposed to be.” AUGH! If that @#$#!!! doctor here had said, “Hmm - you seem to be more uncomfortable than is expected, perhaps we should check for infection AND CHANGE THE ANTIBIOTIC I GAVE YOU.” I might not be so angry. But the fact that he had no idea what was causing Andrew so much agony - that he seemed unwilling to investigate it - that he didn’t order an x-ray beforehand and therefore had had no intention of removing the stent last Thursday anyway - in addition to his uncaring staff and the way his “after hours” messages are handled - all cause me to label him WORST DOCTOR EVER! I’m not even a doctor and I think I could run his business better than he is!

So in the meantime, Andrew is seeing a doctor this afternoon who will….what…I dunno. If the worry about stent removal is that the infection might travel to the other kidney - I think it’s too late for that, based on what Andrew was saying. So maybe he’ll remove the stent, give Andrew a better antibiotic and pain meds, and tell him to get home so his wife can take care of him! I’ll let you all know.

Updated section: Okay, Andrew saw the doctor in CA, who told him there is another stone (3mm) in the left, and of course, the two waiting in the wings on the right. He suggested finding another doctor to take care of things & then remove the stent. So in the meantime, he’s got an antibiotic and pain meds, he’s cleared to come home, and he’s supposed to take it easy. Hopefully we can get him in to see someone else who isn’t the Gilderoy Lockhart of urologists, but is instead the…uh…Scotty of urologists.

sparta at 6:07 pm

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7/21/2004

I thought so….

The “militants” in Iraq are finally revealing more of their plans. I wondered about their letting the driver go after the Philippines removed their -small- group out of Iraq. 1. While welcome, the Filipino group was not that large or critical and 2. It was -one- hostage. My theory is that by targeting the next largest groups (working their way up the numbers) they are hoping to create tension and unrest between the allies. We have to stop this. Sure, the Philippines was lucky - they gave in, and they got their man back…but the “militants” will get greedier and cockier and more demanding as more groups yield to the point where they will ask, a country will follow their demands, and instead of releasing the people (because they will start grabbing more hostages each time), they will just kill them, because they’ve gotten what they’ve wanted. Okay, sure, at that point, we won’t trust them anymore…but by that point, relations between the U.S. and other countries will be greatly strained, who knows what our own internal state will be, and we won’t be nearly as ready to combat what they throw at us next.

Come on, people, anyone who’s paid any attention to the world of psychology at all - who’s paid attention to world history at all - knows that the first step in throwing an enemy off is to gain their trust some how. If anything, we should tighten our grip, not loosen it.

Facts, comments, opinions?

sparta at 11:36 am

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7/19/2004

Spider-Man 2

I have one word for this movie: WOW! Okay, actually I have a few more. I went last night to see Spider-Man 2. It is a wonderful movie. I am leary of giving away all my thoughts right now, because I don’t want to spoil it for those of you who haven’t seen it yet. Alfred Molina is -perfect- as Doc Ock. My son, Phillip, made the comment, “Doc Ock looks more real in this costume than the green and yellow one he wears in the comic.” James Franco gives a great performance as Harry Osborn; here is truly a son trying to parade around in his dad’s suit. You can tell the clothes don’t fit, but Harry tries to hide the fact that his personality has always been far different from his father’s with a lot of bravado. Extended his ego that far just makes the events that follow that much harder when his ego is snapped. Rosemary Harris is again Aunt May come to life, as is J.K. Simmons as Jameson. But let’s not forget Toby McGuire, who once again portrays this character so well, you almost forget he’s *not* Peter Parker. While there is action - fantastic action, a good portion of the movie is devoted to other matters, and the mix does not detract from the story or your heart rate at all. There are some minor points on which the story diverts from the original comic series, but as Stan Lee is the executive producer…well, if he’s okay with it, what right do I have to gripe?

All around, we give it 10 bananas! Go see this in the theatre - it’s worth every penny.

sparta at 12:25 pm

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7/17/2004

A bunny production…

This URL is - er - unique. Alien in 30 seconds with bunnies. It’s not as good as some of the others (see further down on the page) because there’s so much movie there … you can’t really sum it up in 30 secs and have it make sense to anyone except those that have seen the movie. Go see it anyway - and watch the others while you’re there wasting time. :-)

sparta at 9:46 pm

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7/15/2004

For those of you who read this…

You already know why I haven’t been posting - if you haven’t heard, head to Andrew’s Blog and you’ll get the full scoop. Blargh - not much else to report. No Tae Kwon Do this week (wah) and the boys have been getting on my last steady nerve…still, we’ll get through this - and maybe the rest of summer will be better. Wish us luck.

sparta at 10:59 pm

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7/7/2004

One of the world’s most useLESS websites

Okay, go to The Official Web site for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and find any real, useful information….I DARE YOU! Okay, sure, the dummy-level answers are there…How much does a driver’s license cost? ($10)…but the really important USEFUL, in-depth questions go UNANSWERED! For instances, you are told that if you transfer a vehicle to someone else, you may have to pay a Motor Vehicle Use Tax. Fine - how is the “may have to” determined…and oh, yeah, one other little thing: HOW MUCH IS THE FRICKIN’ TAX!!?? For a website with so many words and pages, you’d think there might be some mention of something somewhere to answer this. A table, an equation, a reference…ANYTHING! But no. I’ve been there before seeking information, and I left with nothing. The lady at the bank had more information than the web site did! So, for anyone living in Illinois (I’m sorry, first of all) we must let Jesse White know that the website is useless. After all, there’s no real information there, you can never get a human to write you back, and the on-line registration is ALWAYS DOWN.

Monkey is properly griped!

sparta at 4:12 pm

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7/6/2004

We’re back.

Well, we’re back from Indiana - at least for a while. There are still a lot of things left to do with regards to AJ’s dad’s affairs. I brought back some of Jim’s pastels (those are like “crayons” as Phillip put it), and thought I might give them a try. Before I had worked mostly with pencil and pen & ink, but this might be fun. We’ll see. I am going to Tae Kwon Do this morning - Master Lee’s going to wipe the mat with me as I’ve been away for a week - so wish me luck. I have to practice the new yellow belt form.

Updates as they occur.

sparta at 10:23 am

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