Ice Storm

February 1, 2008

The Germ

Fran M: Somehow the mutant GERM had gotten out of the lab. Jessica didn't think it was an accident.

Heather M: It was a nasty germ. First a cough, then a fever, and the next thing the patient would know, they were in a COMA.

Fran M: It was not an ordinary fever either, the AGUE would last several days and regular medications didn't seem to help.

Me: It was not anything she'd ever seen in any of her BIO-chem texts. She had a feeling it was going to BE one for the record books.

Fran M: She was willing to BET the inevitable outbreak would TAX public health resources to the limit.

Me: she wondered if DI, the girl who had answered the help wanted AD for a lab assistant, had anything to do with it. The girl was obviously very smart, as she had helped discover the XI baryon particle.

Fran M: A soft WHINE came from the hospital bed. Jessica was looking in on the latest victim of the mutated germ, a 12-year old girl.

Me: She was feverish and shaky, but still conscious. Unfortunately, she was as helpless as a kitten. To ADD to her humiliation, she had PEED the bed.

Fran M: Even if the lab assistant hadn't actually taken it, she was guilty of aiding and ABETting. Jessica was sure of it.

Fran M: There were SO many home remedies for fever, she had to try all of them, chewing QATS or wrapping the head in TI leaves were two of the things they tried.

Me: The girl wasn't much of a WHINER. Even when she was told she had to GO FOR blood tests at odd hours, she patiently complied.

Fran M: It was frightening to SEE the SPEED at which the disease ravaged the body.

Me: Jessica decided to try and SEEK answers from a local psychic she knew. As she gazed into her crystal ball, she said it seemed cloudy and INKY, there was no help from it.

Fran M: On the way home from the psychic, Jessica CUED up her favorite cd. It brought her spirits up, at least a DINKY bit.

Me: She also stopped at the florist, and picked up a TI plant in a JET black vase. She hoped the plant would have better chances than the girl in the hospital.

Fran M: She would put it next to the fountain that was made to look like an EA that she had in her living room and she hoped the hi FE content of her water wouldn't kill the plant. She thought it would look nice next to the photo of the GOA she had blown up and framed from her trip to Tibet also.

Me: She went into the kitchen to make some PEA soup, and almost tripped over her PUG laying in the middle of the floor.

Fran M: Jessica Tandy, NEE Smith had just gone through a divorce. She got the pug in the split. HE was a little messy, which WE assume all pugs are.

Me: After dinner, she went for a walk beside the VOE. It always helped her sort out her thoughts, NO matter how many WEE bugs liked to bite her while she walked.

Fran M: the path she took on her walk made a zig-ZAG through the park.

Me: As she left the park, she noticed a ZA parlor that was missing the AR from its sign. She went inside to let the manager know, and he rudely called her a LIAR.

Fran M: Not one to take insults well, she insisted he come outside. Sure enough the blank spot was there, looking like a HILAR mark on a tree.

Me: "HO HO HO" she laughed, and his face turned to one of WO at being proven wrong.

Fran M: When she saw that the front of the shop had a lot of WEEDS, she realized they might not be doing so well.

Me: So she got a ZANY idea....

Fran M: Add PEAS to the menu and make Wednesday nights WHINERS night with discounts on certain items.

Fran M: Okay, so it wasn't the most brilliant idea, but she was a scientist after all and not a marketing person.

Me: As she walked home, she again tried to decide who in her department would be EVIL enough to unleash the horrible germ on society.

Fran M: Was it Forrest GUMP, the weird guy in the fungus lab?

Me: Maybe it was BO WO, the strange oriental lab tech.

Fran M: You can bet your BA it was someone on the ROTA.

Me: She decided she was just going to FLAT out ask the ABO that worked on the night crew.

Fran M: She put on her best TWEEDS and got ready for work. She decided she would NOT rest until she knew who the culprit was.

Me: As she LET herself into the lab....

Fran M: She realized the germ had been released with the INIA that was in the lab last week. "AR we ever going to learn?" She lamented.

Scrabulous Buyout?

Go HERE to read the latest on the Scrabulous saga...

Go HERE to read a very informative article discussing the copyright issues.

Random pics

Go HERE to see some random pics off my camera. They range from the past 2 months to yesterday. Click "view as slideshow" for easiest viewing, and to see the picture descriptions.

Theme Scrabble: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Fran and I decided to play a "themed" game of Scrabble. Here is the transcript! It started out somewhat random, then evolved into a bit of a story line. Capital words are the words we played.


Heather M: the theme is fantasy/sci fi, justify each word if it's not apparent

Heather M: the noble night used to be a shepherd, and when his favorite EWE died, he went off to seek his fortune

Fran M: the alien bounty hunter kept a RAZOR in his boot.

Heather M: it looked like a child's TOY, but was really the key to saving the realm...

Fran M: no FEWER than FIVE knights had attempted to get through the thorns that surrounded Aurora's castle.

Heather M: "hey dude, i need some TIX to the intergalactic game tomorrow!"

Fran M: "yo! you from 'ROUND here?" said the alien bounty hunter.

Heather M: YEP, PA, i am from around here, as a matter of fact.

Fran M: the LANDING on the planet surface was very rough.

Heather M: oh no! The laser beam blasted straight through his CECAL cavity! intestinal crud is leaking everywhere!

Heather M: "do re me fa so LA ti do!"

Heather M: "AL, this is no time for singing! hand me the scalpel!"

Fran M: The dragon EGG was purple and about the size of a volkswagen beetle.

Heather M: "hey BUD, you gonna BE much longer on that commode? we have dragons to fight, let's get going!"

Fran M: Al took off like he had a BUR in his pants when he saw the dragon coming.

Fran M: Then he realized he had been paid a FIVER to get a picture of it.

Heather M: al and burt were best BUDS...but if al didn't stop LISPING when they were trying to sneak up on dragons, burt knew he'd get them killed

Fran M: If you're going to fight dragons (or just take their picture) you have to HONE all your skills.

Heather M: "LA LA LA"

Heather M: dude, we're going to have to WEAN you off of those happy pills the martians gave you. maybe we can put you IN saturn's latest rehab program..."

Fran M: Dude, wouldn't it be easier to just DROW the dragon?

Fran M: Man, you need to stay away from those Renaissance fairs, who talks like that?

Heather M: AW, while i was sleeping in the HAY, the evil wizard put a HEX on me

Fran M: The KORAI all bore a striking resemblence to DI. It really freaked her out.

Heather M: the troubadour went to all the local taverns, playing his UKE and listening to the tales of the dragon

Fran M: Al gave Burt a VEE for victory. He finally got a good shot of the dragon.

Heather M: he (the troubadour) had always heard that if you put some SAL IN your water, it would help you SING better. how fortunate that he just happened to have some in the pocket of his GI.

Fran M: the troubador is also a black belt? :-)

Fran M: Unfortunately, when he opened his mouth to sing, it came out as a YODEL!

Heather M: he told his mother he would STRIVE to do his best every time he sang, so this was a big embarrassment to him

Fran M: Oh, woe is ME, what will MA think of me now?

Heather M: SO he decided to call his JO for some extra one on one voice lessons

Fran M: A MOUE replaced his smile when his JO said she was going to charge him 200 SOU for the lessons.

Heather M: since they both were feeling so out of sorts with each other, they both called their MAS to have their QIS rebalanced

Fran M: The troubador's ma said, "Your QI is totally out of whack!" "IF you had listened to me and IF you weren't seeing that, that girl, you'd be fine."

Heather M: she continued: "i felt like my heart was TORN out of my chest when you started seeing her!" (she's a touch melodramatic)

Ed (the troubador) actually thought his girlfriend was a little wild also, but he thought he could TAME her.

Heather M: TA for the game Fran!

Save Scrabulous!

Quoted from BBC News:

The threat to the hugely popular Scrabulous game has galvanised Facebook members into mounting a vigorous defence campaign.

In little more than a day more than 13,000 people have signed up to a Save Scrabulous group on Facebook.

Many have signed a petition asking Mattel and Hasbro to back down from their threat to have the game removed.

Others have bombarded the two toy makers with letters, e-mails and calls asking them to preserve the game.

The joint owners of Scrabble, Mattel and Hasbro, launched their action on Tuesday saying that the Scrabulous game was a "gross copyright and trademark infringement". The companies asked Facebook to remove Scrabulous.

Neither Facebook nor the Indian brothers who created the online word game have so far commented on the row.

On Facebook, Scrabulous regularly racks up more than 500,000 users a day and many of these have leapt to the defence of the game.

A Save Scrabulous group has been created on Facebook and in little more than a day more has more than 13,400 members.

Discussion on the group has been broadly critical of Hasbro and Mattel and many have called on the toy makers to "back off" and leave Scrabulous running. In comments many Save Scrabulous members said they would boycott Hasbro and Mattel products if the game disappeared.

Some said the decision to launch the legal action was "short-sighted" and could only damage their reputation. In one discussion thread more than 100 people said playing Scrabulous had led them to buy a copy of the board game.

"Never played Scrabble until I played 'Scrabulous'," wrote Alexandra York. "This is the best application on Facebook and has brought Scrabble to many people who have never played before whilst allowing friends and family to enjoy the game in spite of living far from each other."

Jeff Wismer from Toronto wrote: "I completely agree however that their trademark has been hijacked and it's within their right to take action. They just have to make sure that action isn't shooting themselves in the foot."

Contact details for executives, customer service and complaint departments at the toy makers have been posted to discussion groups on Save Scrabulous.

Many members of the group posted information about the responses they were getting that the companies are being bombarded by concerned fans of the game.

The group now has over 43,000 members as of Sunday evening.

Daniel's Birth Story

I wrote this when Daniel was 10 months old, and put it on a message board site I frequent. I decided I should move it over here, in case that board ever crashes, so I don't lose the story! Be warned, I wrote up everything about his birth, so don't read unless you're interested in the full details. This is more for my personal record keeping than anything!

Daniel Morgan was born at 9:25 pm July 21st, 2004 one day before his due date. He weighed 6lb 7oz and was 19 and 1/2 inches long. His APGARS were 8 and 9!

Let's see, the previous Wednesday I had my ob appt. and I was 1cm, 50%. (Ob only told me this later when I asked.) The next Monday I started having contractions. They were very far apart, and very irregular. I walked, waited, and was confused for the most part. I knew they weren't anywhere near regular enough to be more than BH, but then again I had not had any BH previously and these were 24 hours a day. They continued Tuesday and Wednesday.

I had an ob appt. that Wednesday at noon. Dr. Miller told me (later) that I was 2-3 cm dilated and 90% effaced. The problem was that for a couple weeks now Daniel wasn't cooperating on the NST's. He would kick all over EXCEPT when we were doing the NST! At one point I had to go into the hospital on a Saturday for one just to be sure all was well. It was. Anyway, they checked my BP which was high for me and had been for a while, did an NST, and then did an u/s. The NST was fine, he was reactive and had good kicks. My BP was fine that day too. The u/s showed him head down, spine to the left, and my amniotic fluid was a 2. She said normal was about 18 and I was dangerously low. She wanted to induce me. Right then.

(Pause for explanation: I was terrified of being induced. We had been taking Bradley classes, wanted to go totally natural for many reasons. Partly for the baby, and partly because I couldn't stand the thought of having a needle put in my back! I've never been in the hospital other than the ER twice, once for an ear infection and once for stitches to the top of my head (a loooong story!) So I wanted my birthing experience to be as non-medical as possible. I was so scared that if I was induced it would lead to all sorts of complications and I would either have to have an epidural or c-section.)

So I called Doug at work from her office, and he met me at the house. We live 20 minutes away from the office and then it takes 20 minutes to get to the hospital. Oh wait, I just remembered something! My mom was at the ob appt with me that day! I was glad, because she drove me home...I wasn't in shape to drive, too preoccupied. She dropped me off at home and went to her house 5 minutes away to tell Mary and get ready to meet us at the hospital. Meanwhile, I packed the car and called Beth, my Bradley coach, for encouragement. I had a sandwich and looked up any info I could find on low amniotic fluid, which wasn't much. Doug finally got home, and we headed to the hospital.

3:30 We arrived at the hospital and checked in. I had my vitals done, bloodwork done, and the hated belly moniter put on. I didn't want a moniter in my birth plan because I wanted to be free to move, but with pitocin I had to have it.

4:42They had to try for my pitocin IV 3 times! Actually, that was probably the worst part of the whole experience. The guy doing it was a friend of Doug's from the armory. I was nervous, and the first time he tried it in my hand I jerked my hand back. Jen (my nurse) tried next and didn't get it. Finally they called in another nurse, and she ended up putting it in my wrist as my veins in my hand were shot. I ended up bleeding all down my hand and on the floor. Good thing I wasn't watching it!

4:50 Dr. Miller (ob) broke what little water I had and headed out. I sat on the birthing ball with Doug in a rocker behind me pressing our rice sock on my back for counter pressure. I leaned my head on the tray that you eat from when in bed. We put it to a good height and braced it against the bed. The nurse came in every now and then to up the pitocin drip. I remember talking with Doug a little in the beginning but that was it. The contractions were painful, especially in my back, for the count of 5 exhales, then they would ease off. I found that if I kept my breathing controlled and relaxed and could make it through the 5 exhales, then the worst was over and it would ease off after that. That was my saving grace the whole time, that count of 5. At one point I was there on the ball, my gown open all the way down the back, when Doug's armory friend, the IV guy, came in to see how things were going. Oops, he got an eyeful. Served him right! Later I got so hot and sweaty on the ball that I stripped my gown half off...good thing he didn't come in then. Of course at another point I got cold and wanted a blanket.

The contrax got stronger, and the nurse suggested a beanbag on the bed. I draped myself over it with Doug up on the bed behind me putting his full body weight on his arms on the rice sock on my back. The nurse later told me I had back labor...no kidding! Poor Doug said his arms were smoked later.

7:59 The pain was getting pretty bad, but I was still able to relax myself through it. I asked the nurse to check on me. I was 6-7 cm and a 0 to -1 station. For a change of pace I tried to lay on my side as my knees were killing me. The position was the wrong one for me! I lost control of the pain and had to go back to the beanbag. What a difference just the position makes! If I'd had to be on my side the whole time, I don't think I'd have made it without drugs. Those first 5 breaths got much harder, and I started to have trouble focusing. I started rocking and tipping my pelvis down unconsciously. I soon started to feel like I was having convulsions, or whole body cramps during the first 5 breaths. I had no idea what was going on, until I started to realize I felt like I had to push. I didn't think I could be ready yet, since just an hour ago I was 6-7 cm! I had Jen my nurse come back in to check on me because I felt like I had to push so bad.

8:57She said I was fully dilated and had just a little lip showing. They had me go in to the bathroom to sit on the toilet and push while they got the bed ready. Doug came in with me. It felt so much better to push instead of fight the feeling! There was a med student, Beth, there, and some other ob in addition to mine (some kind of intern? I had no clue). She was African-American and had such an accent that it was very hard for me to understand her. Dr. Miller came, and sat with me on the bed. She had me push while she checked on me...that hurt! I was letting my breath out on pushes, and Dr. Miller had me focus on her and hold my breath during pushes. I could see him crown in the reflection from her glasses, and couldn't believe he was coming already! At one point the African-American doctor put her finger in me and pulled down while I was pushing, that HURT! I have no idea why she did that, and I was so po'd at her because it hurt so much.

9:25 His head ws starting to come, and I had only pushed for 25 minutes! His head came out, and I could look down and see. I couldn't believe it! Another push and he was out and put on my chest. (I wish they hadn't wrapped him in the cloth, skin to skin would have been better especially as he was a little cold.) Dr. Miller waited for the cord to stop pulsing and Doug cut it.

He was crying great, was nice and pink with a perfect head. Of course he came out so fast he had no chance to turn into a cone head! His APGARS were an 8 and 9. I think he only lost points because he was cold.

I was surprised to find that it didn't hurt to deliver the placenta.

I had no episiotomy, and had 2 small tears: one inside the labia and one at the bottom of the birth canal. She stitched me up which stung some. I had the shakes while she stitched. (Wonder if that made it harder for her? ) I remember my nurse Jen was pressing on my belly to help the uterus contract back down, and I was laughing at how jiggly it was. Another nurse tried to help me latch him on, but we weren't that successful at first. This was the same nurse who came in while I was laboring and said "What's that weird tribal music?" (We had Native American flute music playing). I didn' tpay any attention to her at the time. We stayed in the delivery room for an hour with Daniel, then I was wheeled to maternity while Doug went with Daniel to the nursery. Jen brought me some warm blankets with my wheelchair, and I remember saying to her "I love you! You're my new best friend!" I was so cold, and the blankets felt wonderful.

We passed the nursery on the way to maternity, and mom, Mary, Dad and Pat were all waiting in that hallway to see Daniel. Mom was funny, she saw me and hugged me and said she was so glad to see me and see that I was ok. She told me she was more concerned about me than the baby at that point...there's a mom for you!

Daniel pooped right away in the nursery, but his temp was cold so he had to stay there a while. Doug stayed with him. In retrospect, I wish I had done skin to skin, I think that would have warmed him right up. He warmed up enough for Doug to give him his bath, and then had to warm up a little more before they brought him back to me.

12:15 Doug finally brought Daniel to me. Daniel stayed with me, Doug went home for some much needed sleep. I stayed awake looking at Daniel in the bassinet and wrote his birth story. Not long after he came into the hospital bed with me, and has been in bed with me ever since! We coslept in the hospital. The nurses saw, but didn't say anything.

I had a very sore bottom and tailbone, and took some Tylenol for it. The labor was 4 hours and 43 minutes total, with only 25 minutes of pushing! Not a bad way to do it in my opinion.

Here is Nick's birth story.

Largest Known Star

This is very interesting, especially if you have a passing fancy for space stuff. If you only see the earth at first, wait a bit...

Largest Known Star

The Best Teacher I Ever Had

Best Teacher I Ever Had

by David Owen

---

Extracted from Reader's Digest (Asian Edition), April 1991, pp. 47-48.
(From: Dr Leong Hon Wai, ISCS, NUS; To: All my students;)

---

Mr. Whitson taught sixth-grade science. On the first day of class, he gave us a lecture about a creature called the cattywampus, an ill-adapted nocturnal animal that was wiped out during the Ice Age. He passed around a skull as he talked. We all took notes and later had a quiz.

When he returned my paper, I was shocked. There was a big red X through each of my answers. I had failed. There had to be some mistake! I had written down exactly what Mr. Whitson said. Then I realized that everyone in the class had failed. What had happened?

Very simple, Mr. Whitson explained. He had made up all the stuff about the cattywampus. There had never been any such animal. The information in our notes was, therefore, incorrect. Did we expect credit for incorrect answers?

Needless to say, we were outraged. What kind of test was this? And what kind of teacher?

We should have figured it out, Mr. Whitson said. After all, at the every moment he was passing around the cattywampus skull (in truth, a cat's), hadn't he been telling us that no trace of the animal remained? He had described its amazing night vision, the color of its fur and any number of other facts he couldn't have known. He had given the animal a ridiculous name, and we still hadn't been suspicious. The zeroes on our papers would be recorded in his grade book, he said. And they were.

Mr. Whitson said he hoped we would learn something from this experience. Teachers and textbooks are not infallable. In fact, no one is. He told us not to let our minds go to sleep, and to speak up if we ever thought he or the textbook was wrong.

Every class was an adventure with Mr. Whitson. I can still remember some science periods almost from beginning to end. On day he told us that his Volkswagon was a living organism. It took us two full days to put together a refutation he would accept. He didn't let us off the hook until we had proved not only that we knew what an organism was but also that we had the fortitude to stand up for the truth.

We carried our brand-new skepticism into all our classes. This caused problems for the other teachers, who weren't used to being challenged. Our history teacher would be lecturing about something, and then there would be clearings of the throat and someone would say ``cattywampus.''

If I'm ever asked to propose a solution to the problems in our schools, it will be Mr. Whitson. I haven't made any great scientific discoveries, but Mr. Whitson's class gave me and my classmates something just as important: the courage to look people in the eye and tell them they are wrong. He also showed us that you can fun doing it.

Not everyone sees the value in this. I once told an elementary school teacher about Mr. Whitson. The teacher was appalled. ``He shouldn't have tricked you like that,'' he said. I looked that teacher right in the eye and told him that he was wrong.

---

David Owen, Condensed from Life (October '90). Time and Life Bldg.

Portraits

Sorry for the sideways one, I don't have the time right now to fix it!

New Pics

Laziness here, follow the link for a few new pics.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BcsWrlm4asd0¬ag=1

Personality Test

Make and Take

My mom and I went to the local "Make and Take Gourmet" yesterday, and had a blast! We made 8 dinners each to go into our freezers. I'm so thrilled, because now I don't have to do all the prep work for dinner after school, I just take it out and put it in the oven. Plus, I didn't have to mess up and then clean up my own kitchen!

This is what I made:

• Anniversary Chicken
• Beef Stroganoff
• Berry Baked French Toast
• Cheesy Pizza Casserole
• Chicken Divan (we're heating this one up tonight)
• Chicken Enchiladas
• Italian Herb Crusted Pork Chops
• Three Cheese Manicotti

I think I'll go again sometime in January!

Brothers

What Kind of Nerd Are You?

Happy Halloween!

Wilard Wigan

Wilard Wigan is an artist who creates works of art in the eye of a needle. Go here to check it out, pretty amazing!

10 Books That Every Child Should Read

There is a list here of the 10 most amazing books that the author thinks every child should read. Have you read them all? Here's the titles only version, go to the link to see the full list.

1- Charlotte's Web (read many times)
2- Miss Osborne the Mop (haven't heard of it)
3- Where the Red Fern Grows (read)
4- Pippi Longstocking (read once, wasn't hugely into her)
5- The Borrowers (read and LOVED)
6- Little Men (did not read)
7- The Mouse and the Motorcycle (read a few times)
8- The Giver (read in college for a class)
9- Island of the Blue Dolphins (always wanted to read, never did for some reason)
10-Hatchet (know of it, did not read)

Ron Mueck, Hyper-Realist Sculptor

Wow. Amazingly, creepily, fantastically life-like. Click here.