Thank you, God!

I heard back from the doc about my blood test. It's negative for cancer, so THANK GOD for answered prayers!

In other words, the only thing I have facing me now is the surgery to remove the unwanted-content of a sizeable fibroid, nothing more. Surgery, recovery, DONE. Thanks be to God.

I want THIS job.

OK, I found the job I want to apply for. This one, right here. I want to spend my day tickling capybaras, the Labrador-retriever-sized members of the rodent family, until they roll over for tum rubs. I'd be great at it. Really. Just ask my cats and my dog.

Heck!

Dangit. That ebay auction I mentioned yesterday was cancelled. So much for that.

I guess I'll have to keep watching ebay until a similar item comes up at a reasonable price. There's another one available right now, just like the one whose auction was just cancelled, but it's got a "Buy It Now" price that's way too high to suit my budget. I'll just keep waiting.

Little goals

Well, I've achieved the goal I set for myself as of a few posts ago. I tracked down all ten Flintstones episodes with The Great Gazoo in them online, and watched them all. WHAT in heck did we do before we had the Internet? Sit and stew and think about old TV shows that crossed our mind without having access to them, that's what. Heck, even the list of relevant episodes was something I had to look up online. No Internet would mean no knowing which episodes I'd want to view, never mind no viewing of the shows. I heart technology.

I even found a little Gazoo beanbag on ebay. I'd better win him. He looks like he needs a home with a fan. ;-) And did I mention that I wonder how we got along before the Internet became a resource?

Waiting

This is just a quick post to shout out for a few prayers and good thoughts to head my way. I took a blood test yesterday that I absolutely NEED to pass with a negative result. A positive result would be a very seriously bad diagnosis. So do send thoughts and prayers.

So frustrating. I thought I had a nice easy diagnosis (even if the treatment process wasn't going to be as easy as I'd originally hoped). But noooo, yesterday's specialist is not convinced that the more dire possibilities are completely ruled out by the tests that have been done already. So now my brain is back in limbo, wondering if in fact we have something seriously bad going on.

I hate this. I really want my health back, sooner rather than later. And I don't want diagnoses that turn out worse than anything I've already heard and acclimated to needing treatment for. I think those are perfectly fair requests.

Let's go, Phillies!

Let's go, Phillies!

Still lovin' that Internet :-)

So of course, having looked up the *first* episode where the Great Gazoo appeared on the Flintstones, I've also found, and am in the process of watching, the other nine.

Hey, understand, when I saw these episodes (in reruns on the old Channel 48), I was probably young enough to fall into the "unlike most adults, young children and animals can see Gazoo" category. Older fans of the Flintstones might have had issues with his arrival in the show's final season, but I was in kindergarten and I absolutely loved that character. Little bitty guy, flies, does magic, is my favorite color, kids can see him -- what's not to love? :-) Only later did I come to appreciate the fact that he's a misfit both on his own planet and on Earth... which generates the same sort of empathy in me that the Misfit Toys in Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer always have. (Yes, DO take note of the verb tenses in the previous sentence. They're not an accident.)

So I found a Japanese website that's got Flintstones episodes on it, I found a list of Gazoo's episodes on IMDB.com, and in my scattered instances of downtime, I'm watching them one by one.

IMDB rocks, by the way. I had no idea that Harvey Korman was Gazoo's voice, nor that Mel Blanc was the voice of Dino. Ah, the things we miss when we start watching a show when we're too young to pay any attention to the credits.

Anyway, off I go. The first of this week's two doctor's appointments awaits.

Why I Love the Internet, Part 89546

On Saturday night/Sunday morning, I dreamed that I looked up the Flintstones episode where Fred and Barney meet The Great Gazoo. Of course, the dream version shared precious few details in common with the real thing, but a mainstay of the dream was the fact that I looked up the episode online and viewed it.

On waking, I remembered that I'd really liked the Gazoo character when I was small, and it occurred to me to wonder if the episode actually IS viewable online somewhere. If my post has piqued your curiosity, all I can say is, CLICK HERE and wonder no more! :-)

So THAT pretty much made my whole day. Now there's one other episode I'm curious about, so let's see if we can track that one down, also.

Meet The Flyers taping

Meet The Flyers taping

More Young'uns, on the other rink

More Young'uns, on the other rink

Young'uns

Young'uns

Listen to the coach! :-)

Listen to the coach! :-)

Where else would I be?

Where else would I be?

Drat.

Well, I heard back from the doc who reviewed my MRI. Unfortunately, the less-invasive procedure that I'd hoped to undergo, which has a two-week recovery time, is not an option for me after all. Instead, I'm looking at a surgery and an 8-week recovery period.

Phooey. That's quite a disappointment, needless to say. But what can I do besides allow myself a little bit of grumblng, and then move forward and deal with it?

And yeah, I'm going to grumble a bit. But not TOO much... there are a lot of people who will get far worse news from their doctors than this, and I'm sure they'd all gladly trade places with me this morning. So I haven't lost my sense of perspective. We do have the right to spend at least a little time acknowledging our disappointment with a bit of griping. But I won't wallow in those feelings, as they're counter-productive, and I'm not going to take it out on Mark and the pets. We don't have the right to make the rest of the world miserable along with us.

Still... DRAT. :-( Why does Mother Nature have to be so darn uncooperative sometimes?

Seen on my dog walk. I miss the Spectrum. And the Phantoms.

Seen on my dog walk. I still miss the Spectrum. And the Phantoms.

Bikes are VEHICLES

Dear [Civic Association I belong to],

There is a wonderful walking path on X Street between Y and Z Streets. I, like many residents, walk my dog there frequently. (And I, like MOST but sadly, not ALL dog walkers, pick up after my pet. The lazy few who think it's OK to leave cleanup duties to the Caca Fairy are the rant fodder for another day.)

My dog loves the walking path. Sometimes, she can't decide which side she wants to walk on, left or right, so she runs back and forth between the two as we walk.

And therein lies the problem. Because along with the people who walk, jog, and take their pets on the WALKING path, we are competing with BICYCLES. More than once, I have been nearly run down from behind as I follow my dog from left to right and back again. I do my best to stay behind the dog at all times, specifically *because* of the bikes that could come speeding up from behind at any moment. My dog weighs only 6 pounds, so I'd rather a bike hit me than hurt (or worse) my dog. But better still would be if we were free from the concern of being struck by a bike while utilizing the walking path.

Bicycles are vehicles that belong IN THE STREET. I should not have to be taking preventative measures to protect my dog from them while we are walking ON THE SIDEWALK. I finally had my "this is the last straw" moment last night after one too many near-misses, so I am writing to you.

Along with the existing signage urging people to pick up after their pets, we need signage instructing bicyclists to ride in the street, not on the sidewalk. And then, even better, I would love to see the police enforce both rules. With the number of infractions I regularly witness, we could collect enough fines to wipe out the city budget deficit.

I am not anti-bicycle. But I am anti-dodging-vehicles-on-sidewalks. Something can, and must, be done.

[Gabey8]

Alphabet Soup

The MD who, I hope, will confirm my candidacy for a UFE procedure needed the CD with my MRI images. I brought my copy of the CD to his office, only to find that they'd called the MRI place and had their own copy of the CD sent to them.

Is that enough sets of initials for you? E-I-E-I-O.

There's a sporting goods store across the street from the doc's office, so I went to kill some time in there. Which is how I discovered that HOORAY, quad skates are back in vogue! I liked a pair that had a white shoe, white wheels, and a white "stopper" on the front. Until, that is, I noticed that the skates with exactly the same shoe, but pink wheels and stopper cost $20 less. So my new pink-wheeled skates and I will be finding ways to reach that 30-minute daily exercise, to allow for some variety between walking the treadmill and walking the dog.

And those minutes of exercise, plus the calorie limit, are working. Since July 1, I have now lost 16 lbs. I have more work to do, certainly, but I'm glad to have made measurable progress.

We'll see what impact it's had on my bloodwork numbers, as my fasting bloodwork was this morning. Thank goodness THAT'S over with. That test, with its accompanying urinalysis sample, is a pain. File it under "necessary evil".

Nine Years Ago Today

On the 5th anniversary of 9/11/01, I posted the story of where I was when I heard the news, and what the day was like for me and the people around me. I took it from the content of older posts on a message board, posts that were written right on the day itself, so I know that they're not memories that were colored or changed by the passage of time.

Here is the post. It's LONG. But on this date every year, I feel like it's something I need to say. It's my way of ensuring that we Never Forget.

Another found cell phone

A few years ago, Mark and I both found cell phones on the ground, within a few days of each other. In that instance, the phone Mark found was easily returned to its owner, who lived not far from here. I turned the phone I found in to the security guard, at the hotel which was mere feet away from where I found it.

Well, after a few years' hiatus, we're at it again. I found a cell phone this morning while I was walking the dog. The phone I found today might be a tad more challenging to return to its owner. Its battery was nearly dead when I found it, and I haven't got a Motorola charger. I did manage to get calls out to a couple of people on the contacts list, from my own phone, before the battery died completely. However, I either got voice mail, or in one case a person who had no idea could have lost the phone from the description I gave them.

I couldn't use the phone to actually dial my own number, because I got "restricted service" errors. My guess is that it's a non-local person, a contractor from the look of the phone (white paint on it), who is in Philly for a work-related or personal reason.

I sure am glad I used my phone to call those individuals on the contacts list, however. Now that the found phone won't even stay on for more than a few moments, due to its weak battery, the only access to its contacts list that I have is the record of outgoing calls on my cell phone.

The only thing I can do is hope that someone has a clue whose phone this is. There's not a Boost Mobile facility anywhere near my neighborhood, so I can't easily hop on over to there and say, "This phone belongs to one of your customers. Please track down its owner and send it back to him/her."

Stay tuned.

Focus On The Big Picture

Tonight, I was walking my dog along a pathway that a lot of people in my neighborhood use. She happened on the scent of another dog that had recently passed. She loves other dogs, so she stopped to sniff along the path and the grass, as if she wanted to track down the other dog and meet it.

She sniffed avidly for several seconds, making her way slowly along the path as she tried to get every last detail of that scent trail. Meanwhile, I turned my gaze farther along the path and saw... the actual DOG that had left the scent trail, walking along with two ladies and a small child.

"Mini! Let's go! I see the other doggie!" I tried to get her attention and urge her to start walking again. But she was reluctant to leave that fresh scent trail. She just KNEW that dog had to be close by. She did, unwillingly, come along with me, though we stopped several times along the way so she could sniff more of the other dog's scent.

Finally, we did actually meet up with the other doggie, and they got to greet each other. But we'd have caught up with him sooner if we hadn't stopped repeatedly to examine the scent he left on the ground.

The lesson here is, sometimes when we focus ONLY on the details, we miss something *really* important, something that's visible when we pay attention to the Big Picture. So while paying attention to individual details, don't forget to step back now and then to examine the whole situation. Sometimes the whole really is more than the sum of its parts.

Overwhelming response

There was an "overwhelming response", according to the doggy day care center, for the job that I applied for. So much so that they can't respond individually to applicants.

It's a reflection of the economy that the main function of said job is cleaning up canine intestinal output. The other half of the title is "assistant dog handler", so which I interpret as helping to enrich the pets' stay at said day care via play and interaction, but STILL. An overwhelming response of people applying to pick up dog doo... it boggles the mind

I'm hoping they decide that my pet experience and proximity to said job (same ZIP code, even), plus what my references have to say, will put me on the fast track. Heck, let me interact with the dogs; that ought to seal the deal.

What the hey. I pick up dog output daily, for free. I might as well do it and get paid for my time. I wonder if they'd let me bring Mini in to help interact with the critters? That'd be fun for her AND them.

Soon to be "Wells Fargo Center"

Soon to be the "Wells Fargo Center"

Ladies in traditional Indian clothes took pics of traditional Amish buggy

Cultural crossroads: Ladies in traditional Indian clothes took pics of a traditional Amish buggy.

FOOOOD!

FOOOOD! Lunching in Lancaster County.

MRIs and Karma

I had a visit from Karma this afternoon. It was my own fault. See, last night, I saw a link on YouTube that showed a guy who danced his way into traffic and got hit by an ice cream truck.

Naughty me. I laughed. See Gabey. See Gabey go to Purgatory. But it looked like something straight out of a slapstick movie. I couldn't help it.

Fast-forward to this afternoon. I had an MRI done of my abdomen today. That should have taken 30 minutes, but in this case it took extra time. The fibroid is the size of Rhode freaking Island, and it took extra time to image it all.

As you'll know if you've had an MRI, it's important to remain completely still during the imaging process. Thou Shalt Not Move while the machine is running. As you'll also know if you've had the procedure done, your mild will wander during the enforced downtime.

Well, didn't my mind wander right back to the video clip I saw last night? I nearly freaking hurt myself while trying to suppress the ensuing giggle fit so my abdomen wouldn't move. See, that's what I get. Serves me right for laughing at the guy.

So the moral of the story is, people getting hit by ice cream trucks are not funny. No matter how funny they are, they're not funny, and if you laugh at them you'll have your dose of Karma before long. Learn from my experience. ;-)