Brain Waves

It's official now. Summer '05 is "The Summer of The Brain."

At least for my little group of friends, loved ones, and casual aquaintances. We all know bits and pieces of QVC's story. And let me say again that I'm glad that the situation appears to be stabilized. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I hope the headaches are gone by now.

But like the old saying goes, "One swallow doesn't make a summer." Nor does one brain case. So here's the rest of the story.

Elizabeth has had an interesting little congenital condition for her whole life. No one really knew she had it until she got an MRI at 17. Basically all they told her at that point was, "If you get pregnant, you shouldn't have an epidural or any other type of spinal tap. That could cause problems with your cerebrospinal fluid and kill you."

She's continued to have brief, severe headaches from time to time, and they are often accompanied by a loss of vision. (We're talking 10-15 seconds of astonishing pain and blindness.) What's happening is that a portion of her cerebellum is enlarged, and restricts the flow of CSF. That flow serves to even out pressure differentials between the brain and spinal cord, and so when that flow is restricted or stopped, the pressure in her skull spikes hard.

Anyway, that is what she wanted to talk about with her new physician, who sent her in to get an MRI. A neurosurgeon examined that MRI, talked to her about her symptoms and told her that it would be best to operate sooner rather than later. The operation will involve enlarging the foramen magnum to allow more room for fluid flow. They'll carve out some of the bone, and graft in a piece of artificial dura to allow the brain some extra room. Oddly enough, within a few weeks the enlarged portion of her cerebellum should shrink back to a nearer-normal size and her symptoms should disappear almost immediately.

The good news is that this is a fairly routine operation, as brain surgery goes, and they won't be touching any actual brain matter. It's just a skull surgery. So there's little chance of any major complications from that.

However. . . there was something else that they noticed on the MRI. There appears to be something on Elizabeth's pituitary gland. We don't know yet if it is a cyst (treatable with medication) or a benign growth, or a cancerous tumor. She's having blood work done, and is scheduled for a high-resolution MRI focusing on the pituitary on Friday. So we'll know more perhaps as early as next weekend.

Obviously, we're praying it's not cancer. But it could very well be miraculous that she got an MRI to follow up on a known condition that also happened to catch brain cancer at an early and treatable stage. We just don't know. We're having to talk about things like writing a will, cremation vs. burial (cremation all the way), and how long do we keep someone on life support should they fall into a coma. So that's a real challenge, emotionally speaking. We just don't anticipate this sort of thing when we're in our twenties and thirties.

I'm sharing this stuff with you guys because we've known each other a long time. I'm not sharing it with many outside my family, and Elizabeth is fairly private and would prefer not to broadcast her troubles. So please respect that. If you guys are praying much these days, I'd appreciate it if you'd remember Elizabeth and pray for healing.

On a completely unrelated note, Bush and Rumsfeld could be charged with war crimes.

Regurgitation Station

"The monkey is deployed. The monkey is useless!" -- Giblets (Fafblog)

Exciting bonus quote!

"Fiat Crustulum: Let there be pie." -- Fafnir (Fafblog)

I am once again linking you to Fafblog, because the most recent posts make me laugh every time I read them.

Thought for the day

Why do people say they "put their pants on one leg at a time" when they're trying to explain that they really are normal people like you or I? Do really famous/rich/uber individuals have a special technique we don't know about? Do they have servants do it for them, but by god both feet at the same time? Do they jump hong kong action flick style across the room into a pair hung in the doorway? Do they have futurama-style cans of paint that create pants as you spray? Can they generate pants with their sheer force of will? Do they breed super-intelligent pants that crawl up their legs while they stand reading the financial section? It does not compute.

Upon further reflection, I know this saying is just to say that, yes, yes, no matter how rich you get, simple tasks remain the same. Which is to say a rich man's bathroom smells just as bad as a poor man's on burrito tuesday. I just always seem to take that phrase to mean that there's some level of rich/famous/uber that they haven't quite achieved yet, and it is only for the moment that they share some things with the poor. "I put my pants on like you guys now, but just wait until I get another 100 million! You don't even WEAR pants at that level! Another 500 million and my shit will turn into rose petals!"

No, you will never recover the minute it took to read this post.

Link update

I have been remiss in not linking to This Modern World sooner. I saw the comic on alternative newspapers which led me to his blog, which led me into the wide world of political blogs that constitute much of my reading material these days. I still read the comic every monday. Anyway, he is recommended and has now been added to the link list. Be careful though, as he is a gateway blog.

Strange Days

I've been kind of having an off week. I have too many errands to do because I party like the undead do. For instance, I got to work at 3:30 pm today. Did I get in trouble? no. But I had to stay extremely late. It is a vicious cycle. But going to work so late means my errands for the day are screwed and everything piles up. Which is only to say my posting is sporadic this week. I will quickly catch you up on what's going on with me.

I have become enamored of watching television digitally. I finished watching season 2 of Dead Like Me two weeks ago. Now I'm catching up on Lost so I can watch the two final episodes this week. I'm pretty interested in Lost. I really hope the writers have enough talent to make the payoff interesting though. I think they might, the stories have been pretty strong so far. Fingers are crossed, that's all I'm saying. My next object of interest is the second season of Jeremiah.

Fun Fact: I watched the first episode of Lost while on the airplane to Boise. It's interesting to watch a show about a plane crash while your plane is going through a little turbulence. Especially when one is already a little nervous about flying. Ah, hindsight.

My lego AT-AT arrived today. Construction will soon commence. I am excited to be a part of the empire's industrial efforts. On an additional star wars note, I discovered that it is possible to get Tie Fighter to work in windows XP. I remember playing that game with a mouse on Eric's badass 486x 100mhz machine Freshman year of college. Ah, hindsight.

Fun with stuffed animals

If you love stuffed animals, then you'll love this fake commercial for blaupunkt speakers.

Spring has Sprung

skyshark
Originally uploaded by hbot3000.

It has finally decided to be spring in Reno. The cheatgrass makes purple waves on the hills. Some mysterious plant material is making me sneeze. Birds raise a crazy racket in the morning. And the voracious sky shark roams the skies in search of loud, unwary birds. We joke here that we get about two weeks of spring and fall. It is almost always true.

Fun Fact: Cheatgrass is an invasive species in the west. It is changing fire patterns. It has come to prepare the way for an advanced species from the stars. A hyper-intelligent race of petunias with a taste for human blood. Don't worry. The Hbot3000 has been programmed to defend against hyper-intelligent petunias. I will protect you. If I can drag myself out of bed.

The Dark Side of Opening Night

I got premo seats right in front of the H of the THX. Empty seats to the right and left of me and no one sat down for three rows directly in front of me. Not showering for a week sure paid off.

Unfortunately, the world's least educated fanboys were sitting behind me. They were a unigue blend of nerd and hillbilly. Dip and Shit, as I named them, first started talking about level 50 this and when I reach level 60 and get my new armor that. Then it was discussion as to who would win a deathmatch between the crew of the Enterprise (circ. James Tiberius Kirk), Zerglings, a battalian of storm troopers, Orcs from WarCraft III, a jedi and 50 assorted goombas. Of course they reasoned all the red shirts of Star Trek would die at 5 minutes and the rest would die because they left their phasers on stun. The Orcs would decimate the goombas by stepping on them etc, each proclamation being prefaced by "I know, I know..." I could tell they secretly hated each other, each believing their own joke was the cleverest retread of what ever they had just read on the internet.

An actual snippet of dialogue follows:
Dip said to Shit: "I think I know where the word fan comes from."
Shit says to Dip: "Where."
Dip said to Shit:"Well, look at the word fanatic, just drop the addict and you have fan."

This is when I said, "Hey DipShit shut your gobs, my parents dropped me off in the forest and I had to use survival techniques to find a ninja camp." This shut them up before I could tell them about the long lost scripts to the other 3 Star Wars films I had squirreled away in my parents storage unit but I couldn't remember if it was the one that burned down or not.

At least Georgie didn't let me down this time. I think ep 1 and 2 could and should be banned from future generations.

Love this music until your ears bleed

To you, my loyal readers, I present this list of divine music. These are the sounds I geek out to. These are the bands I cherish. These resulted in my most recent restraining orders. Ah the fickleness of today's rock stars. They want us to love them, but not urinate on their cars. Go figure.

Albums of Aural Pleasure:

Dogs Die in Hot Cars -- Please Describe Yourself (XTC + Oingo Boingo = DDHC)
Air -- Talkie Walkie (Beautiful and relaxing)
Garbage -- Bleed like me (The first half I quite enjoy, the last half bores me, but a good garbage fix regardless)
Louis XIV -- The Best Little Secrets are kept (over-sexed and fun to listen to)
The New Pornographers -- Mass Romantic & The Electric Version (Both albums are sublime Alternative Canadian Pop)
Jem -- Finally Woken (reminds me of the 80's. I like the new new wave trend going on)
Anna Nalick -- Wreck of the Day (Soothing my savage nature)
Neko Case -- Blacklisted (beautiful alternative country)
Crystal Method -- Legion of Boom (just your standard beat music, but quality)

This list is by no means complete. Just a quick hit of my latest obsessions.

Photonic Capture and Release

entrails
Originally uploaded by hbot3000.

I don't have much time today, but I bring you this carnage from last weekend's party. What has our society come to?

On an unrelated topic, I'm considering attending the wednesday midnight showing of Episode III, even though I already have tickets to attend the 6:45 pm showing on Thursday. But really, this is the last movie for a while that seems worth geeking out over and attending at midnight. Right? I am undecided.

A quick weekend trip

sunset flying
Originally uploaded by hbot3000.

I flew up to Boise this weekend to visit for my friend Gabe's graduation. It was a blast. I lost twice at heroclix and partied most of the day Saturday. Have you ever heard of a rum called Bacardi 151? did you know that the 151 stands for its proof? Don't ask me how I know that. Also, don't call me for a few days, I somehow burned my throat and can't talk very well. These are unrelated things. Anyway, congratulations to Gabe, even if he did shatter my ego. I tell you something, you haven't lived until you've seen a man attack a pinata with nunchucks and finish it off by ripping open its belly with his teeth. Also no relation to the party I may or may not have attended. Ahem. Anyway, the clouds both there and back were fantastic. I may upload a substatial portion to flickr, but not today. I am emotionally drained. (flops dramatically onto couch)

How I roll

rolling
Originally uploaded by hbot3000.

So after much perseverance, I now have a little dinosaur to ride around on. It is, in fact, everything I hoped it would be. Also with me in this picture is my pet gorilla. You know where he sits? Anywhere he wants to. Interesting note: I have learned that we have about 5 actual, real-life girls in the guild. I need a geek woman who plays online games. If you are that woman you can contact me at:

British Airways
PO Box 5619 (S506)
Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2PG

On Madness

I was just reminded of the definition of insanity that goes: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results each time." Or something like that.

I go to bed way too late. What I do most of the time is stay up until 3 or 4 or 5am (with a rare 6am) and then expect to wake up at 8am, ready to go about my day. What happens, almost without fail, is that I hit the snooze for hours, or accidentally turn off the alarm and wake up at 10am, 11am, 12pm, or 1pm (in general, substantially later than I intend to).

I am trying to figure out a connection between these two thoughts, but it's not coming to me.

Photon Capture and Release

slantclouds
Originally uploaded by hbot3000.

I'm getting tired of "quotes of the day" They are boring and I can't think of any right now. So more pictures will be coming your way. I'll try not to make all of them about the cat. But honestly, you're going to see way more of the cat than you ever wanted to so get used to the idea. Anyway, this is the view from my balcony just after sunset. Try not to get lost in it.

I'm a scientist!

I've been very, very busy the past few weeks, so not as much posting to be had. Part of what I've been working for the past week or so is the website for my group. I have made it all new and shiny. A sub-website for my group, and a fairly cool modeling project can be found here. Upgrading both sites to php and with new graphics has been fairly busy for me. Even so, the site is still needs some reorganization and the code is UGLY (shudders). Sadly and noticeably, web design is only a small part of my job and I usually have to settle for quick and dirty over thoroughly beautiful. If you're interested in what I'm up to, take a gander.

Xposé

The Limbaugh of the Left really is in bed with the House of Mouse, contrary to his claims of “censure.” Fahrenheit 9/11 padded Disney’s pockets to the tune of $40 million plus. How much of that will be spent on extending the copyright yet again?

Bonus Xposé: Asexual claims aside that hbot3000 is programmed for pleasure. Older women/couples of Savannah beware.

(Post edited by hbot3000 to fix first link and to warn that second link may not be safe to view at work, depending on where you work)

Ladies Ladies Ladies!

Catgaze
Originally uploaded by hbot3000.

I would like to welcome all the female viewers to this blog. I have extended round 2 of invitations to view these, my secret and meaningful thoughts and this is just a post to make you feel welcome. In that sense, maybe "Ladies, Ladies, Ladies!" wasn't the best title to use for this post. Especially as the inspiration was Jay from Jay and Silent Bob. Hmmm. Perhaps a little inappropriate. Rest assured, I will always strive to make this blog the exactly correct level of inappropriate. You're welcome. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of my cat (Bouncer), as he attempts to take over my mind.

Taking the red pill as a suppository

So I just finished re-watching the matrix trilogy the other day. I don't hate it like others do, but I feel like it could have been more. Exactly what I don't know, it's hard to articulate. I guess it just seems like it all went to their heads after the first one. Or maybe after the first one I thought they might be more clever than I now think they are (they being the brothers W. of course). Anyway, now that I think of them as less clever and slightly pretentious, I tend to view the movies in a different way. Now when I watch them, every time something odd happens I'm mentally channeling Mike Myers (as Goldmember) from his third Austin Powers movie. This is what goes through my head sometimes as I watch various scenes:

"Look, he's really in a computer program, as a battery for machines, isn't that veird!?"
"Look, the machines look like insects, isn't that veird!?"
"Look, the humans all have a huge dance orgy in a cave underground, isn't that veird!?"
"Look, that machine copies himself onto other people, isn't that verid!?"
"Look, Keanu Reeves is listed as an actor in the credits, isn't that veird!?"

That would be a fun DVD extra, have a Goldmember audio commentary track.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. On a side note, there's a poster in a cubicle at work that reads: "I'm glad I took the blue pill . . . and voted! " I must confess, I don't get it.

On a note in a completely different octave from the previous note and it's side note, I saw Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy this weekend. I loved it. I knew most of the jokes already, of course, but it's about as good a movie version as will ever be made of the book I think. Marvin is funnier in the book, but I'm not sure that can be helped. I read that Douglas Adams admitted that adapting the story to a movie was incredibly hard (which was why it took so long), so I think he knew the results would be mixed. Regardless, it is still highly recommended. In fact, you are commanded to go see it. So let it be written, so let it be done.