10/19/2011

Welcome To The Wonderful World Of Concussion

I said hello to The Wonderful World Of Concussion yesterday afternoon, spending an evening in the ER.

When I slipped on the wet floor ("Incontinent Dog" will be the name of my next rock band*), I at first thought I'd only landed on my butt, which hurt a lot. But my head felt like it should be puffy and swollen on the left side, only it wasn't; but it felt like it was. And the lights seemed bright, a lot brighter than normal. And my thinking was foggy and slow.

All that (wrong signals from the nervous system, overly bright lights, half-speed thinking) made me think (slowly) that I might have hit my head in the fall too. But I didn't remember hitting my head, which was yet another reason to worry.

So I had one of our housemates drive me over to the Mayo Hospital ER. (We have another hospital and ER less than a mile from our house, but my primary doctor is with Mayo, plus Mayo's ER has a lot less traffic and can usually get you in and out in a few hours, whereas the closer hospital usually has a minimum wait time of about eight hours. The ten-mile difference is worth it.)

While waiting for examination and a cat scan, it was interesting to see how my mind was working. Idle thoughts, "daydreaming", were much more like actual night dreams, going off in odd little unexpected directions. The name "Esme Savage" popped into my mind at one point, for absolutely unknown reasons; it'd be a good character name for a story, though, so I might use it someday.

Cat scan came out okay, so I got diagnosed with a mild concussion and basically told to take it easy for a few days. Called off from work, slept quite a bit last night. Doing better today.

*(I'm growing increasingly frustrated by our dog's bladder problems, which have been going on for months and have had only temporary abatements with antibiotics and other medications. The latest round of antibiotics seemed to be helping again, but in the last few days... twice more just today. I'm about ready to scream. At the veterinarian, not the dog.)

10/16/2011

Occupy Phoenix, 10/15/2011


I wasn't able to make it to the Occupy Phoenix event yesterday, but Flickr member Ronald Morrison posted a large photo-set at Flickr.  With permission, some of his photos below:



 
 
Full set of Morrison's Occupy Phoenix photos here.  Looks like it was a pretty peaceful event.  Well, yeah, but then there were these jerks:

These are some of the "Border Guards" group who showed up, ostensibly to "protect everyone".  Yeah, right.  You not only show up with semi-automatic weapons at a protest that specifically emphasizes non-violence, you bring your friggin' pit bull with you?  Give me a break.

What these guys show up for isn't protection or protest.  They show up for intimidation.  They show up because it's fun to make people nervous, it's fun to make people afraid. They show up to display their manly macho manliness.  They show up because it makes their little tiny dicks hard. 

Those aren't military uniforms they're wearing.  Those are fetish costumes.  They couldn't be more obvious if they were wearing ballgags, leather harnesses, and butt plugs.

Go back to to the border, so-called Border Guards.  You're over a hundred miles off-course.  But then, that's pretty much a description of your entire life, isn't it?

UPDATE:  After posting the above, I found an updated timeline for Occupy Phoenix at Downtown Devil .  Apparently police moved in late last night and arrested about 40 protesters who were refusing to leave Hance Park.  One person pepper-sprayed, but overall still seems to have been mostly non-violent.

Recent Cell-Phone Photos

Sethra, in bean-bag mode:




Mineral deposits on the side of a commercial A/C unit.  ("Hard water?  We gotcher hard water right here!"):



posted from Bloggeroid

More for Halloween: Benefactor Cellars


Seen in the wine aisle at the local Trader Joe's:

















And more, for those who want to get boozed up at Halloween.  For beer enthusiasts, Reaper Ale puts out an entire line of rigorously brewed beers:











And in the hard liquor line, there's always this good old standby:



10/07/2011

Halloween Should Be Scary, Dammit!



I've always felt that Halloween should be a scary holiday.  Apparently there are those who think "gross" is close enough:


I say no.

(Googling, I find that the Flix Candy company has actually been offering the "Box of Boogers" as a Halloween offering for several years.  At least they've changed the packaging to remove the word "Fresh!")