The Oregon Coast

Today Aunt Sis and I headed out to the coast, but we couldn't start our day without a little adventure right here in Eugene. Like me, Aunt Sis is an avid reader, so on the way out of town we had to stop by the bookstore to get the next book in a series that she is reading. As we rounded the corner to enter the store, Aunt Sis almost bowled a guy over and nearly messed her shoes. She didn't realize it, but she nearly had a collision with a man that was busy trying to relieve himself. He was obviously proud of himself, too, as he didn't even bother to turn himself toward the building. No sir, he pulled it out right in the middle of the sidewalk and watered the lawn so to speak. It was quite shocking. Whatever thoughts of moving to Eugene I may have had; they have all not been dispelled.

Aunt Sis did manage to keep her feet dry, and we found her book in the pile of nearly sorted paperbacks on the second floor of the store. After we paid, we were ready to get on the road. I'll tell what 's really amazing here in Oregon is that the roads wind so much that you can drive 10 or 15 minutes and only go one mile west. It only took about an hour to get to Florence, though, and once there we headed north. Aunt Sis assured me, for several miles, that we were about to see the ocean on the left. It took a while longer than she implied, but when we finally saw it, I nearly wrecked the car. It was breathtaking.

I'm not big on beaches like the Florida or Texas coast, but this rocky coast with waves crashing all over the place was amazing. We drove just a short way and stopped off at a tourist attraction simply called the Sea Lion Caves. It's a lookout over the ocean with a small cave in the rocks below where sea lions gather. I have uploaded some pics for you to enjoy below. It was really cool to see the animals playing in the ocean and with each other out in the wild. Apparently, you can also see whales migrating from this point, too, if you are there at the right time of year. We were about a month early for that they said.

From the Sea Lion Caves, we could also see the Heceta light house. It was really beautiful, and my pictures below do not do it justice. According to the sign, it is the most photographed light house in the world, so I'm sure you can find better pictures somewhere else. After all that, I'm not sure that I could live up here, but I know that I could definitely spend more time exploring these mountains and the coastline. It's just beautiful, and I can't wait until I get a chance to bring the kids up here.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Mexican Food….In Oregon?

My flight in yesterday was fairly uneventful. I checked my bags so that I wouldn't be able to blow up the plane with shaving cream, hair gel or toothpaste. Never mind that they let me take my laptop, PSP, cell phone, GPS unit, and digital camera on the plane with me. I mean, really, could any of those be explosive, or better yet, trigger an explosive device? I don't know. I just don't feel any safer knowing that the guy next to me wasn't allowed to bring deodorant on the plane.

Anyway, the flight was smooth. It's just long. Then after I got off the plane, I drove from Portland to Bend. Which was just about as long again but in a car. At least I didn't have some guy with no deodorant sitting next to me. The drive was nice, but you get out of the mountains fairly quickly and the Eastern part of Oregon is really pretty flat and featureless. It's very much like the plains.

Today, I went to visit our client in Redmond (yes, they have one in Oregon, too, Dad), and I took some of them out to lunch. They all wanted to go eat Mexican, and I agreed. It wasn't like any Mexican restaurant that I've ever been to before, though.

They brought out tortilla chips and salsa like anywhere else, but they really messed me up with the menu. The first page was all about hamburgers. Every which way you could get one made, but none of them really had much Mexican flair. The next page was all about pasta. It was like an excerpt from an Olive Garden menu. After that was seafood. What kind of Mexican place is this? Finally, on the back page they give you a choice between burritos, tacos and fajitas.

I've never really been to a Mexican restaurant that didn't specialize in Mexican food, but I've also never been one to where the wait staff didn't speak Spanish. Oh well, it's interesting up here in Oregon.

After all that, I headed out in the car again to see Aunt Sis in Springfield. I'm actually at her house now, but she's not home from work yet. On my way over, I got back into the mountains and saw some beautiful scenery. It was kind of tough to take decent pictures while driving 70 down a two lane road with no shoulder (hence the reason I couldn't stop to get a good pic), but I gave it my best. Enjoy my first few photos from this trip below.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Art Teachers Beware

"An award-winning Texas art teacher…has lost her job." So begins one of the hot stories of the day here in the metroplex. Check out the full article at http://www.nbc5i.com/education/9936513/detail.html?rss=dfw&psp=nationalnews

Here are the basic facts. The principal approved a field trip for the fifth grade. The parents signed permission slips for their kids to go to the art museum. The kids saw a nude sculpture. The teacher lost her job. Is anyone else baffled by this?

I can maybe see where a parent wouldn't want their kids to see a nude sculpture, but I can't imagine a parent approving their kids to go to an art museum and then being surprised that their kids saw a nude sculpture. That's part of art. It's been a part of art as long as art's been around. It's not surprising, shocking, or new. The only shock here is that the parents apparently didn't know there would be nude sculptures.

If you could take kids to any art museum in the world, wouldn't you want to take them to the Louvre? Heaven forbid that they see Venus de Milo, though. Not only is she one of the greatest art finds of all time, not only is she missing arms, but her breasts are exposed. Worse yet, we could take them to Florence and show them Michelangelo's David. Oh no, is that a nude man? It's just ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong. I don't advocate provocative, borderline porn as art. I don't advocate pushing the limits of reason and getting away with it by labeling it art. I am, however, a fan of art itself, and I am a fan of the great masters that have been able to capture the beauty of the human form. There is nothing wrong with the human form. It just is. We don't need to broadcast our privates to the world, but we also don't need to be ashamed of God's work of art.

One of the great revolutions of the Renaissance was the nude form. Not because the artists wanted to see naked people. Not because it was titillating (just look at the art; it's not getting anyone's engine going). Because they wanted to understand the human form. It was the precursor to modern anatomy and physiology classes. The leading edge of modern medicine. It's a part of our general collective knowledge, and it's a good thing.

It really concerns me that an obviously outstanding teacher can be run out of town with a huge blemish on her record for something so silly as a field trip to an art museum and for doing nothing wrong.

Fall Premieres

Let me hear your thoughts on this television season. What do you think about the new shows? How about the ones that are returning? Here's my take so far:

Most Missed:

Invasion – I really enjoyed this show last season and was looking forward to finding out what happens to Underlay and Larkin. Did the aliens heal her? What about the baby? I really miss this one.

Most Promise:

Heroes – If you missed the premiere last night, find somewhere online to download it. Unlike many other serial dramas, this show is moving very quickly and creating quite an intriguing story already. I don't want to ruin it for anyone so, highlight the rest to see some of my questions. [Possible spoilers follow] Did anyone else notice that the cheerleader was picked up by the news camera when she ran into the fire? I wonder if that will come up in later episodes. Did the cheerleader's dad know she was special when they adopted her? Or is he oblivious to her connection to the others? Were the others also adopted? What is the significance of the eclipse? Did anyone else notice that that was one of the paintings? And by the way, weren't the paintings cool? I think the art department did a great job on those giving them a slight comic book feel. What's the genetic theory that the Indian professor believes? Is the online porn star good, bad, or just confused? I mean she's trying to take care of her kids, but she (or her doppelganger) brutally killed two thugs. And can both of the brothers fly? Or just one? And is he a force for good or evil? [Spoilers end] I just can't wait until next Monday to see more.

Jericho – Another great drama. This one is moving more slowly, but the acting could make it worthwhile. It's really great that we, the audience, don't know any more about the situation in Jericho than the residents. I'll be watching this for a while to see how the story unfolds.

Good but not Great:

Vanished – Getting stale already. They need to find Sarah soon or I'll be tuned out.

Smith – A pretty good premiere with Ray Liotta doing a great job as usual. Lots of questions raised, but then also some bonehead moves by these professional criminals. If they can stay ahead of the law, this could be pretty interesting. If it gets bogged down in a weekly police interrogation, barely skating out of trouble type show, then I'll be out.

Returning Shows:

NCIS – I really enjoy this show. Mark Harmon is great and the banter of the team is always lively. Suspending belief for an hour is worth it to enjoy the ride.

The Unit – Interesting start for the season. Seems like they are trying to go a little deeper with the wives this time around. Definitely worth watching.

Lost – Getting a little old. We'll see how the season starts out, but I want to see some big changes if they are going to keep my attention for a third season.

Grey's Anatomy – I missed the premiere, but I'm sure it was more of the same. Meredith whining about her life, pouting around the hospital, being a little brat. I'm pretty much over this one.

Smallville – Coming up this week. Will Clark finally fly?

Supernatural – After a great first season and a big cliffhanger I wonder how this second season will unfold? This is one of my favorites, and I'm really looking forward to Thursday night.

Battlestar Galactica – Along with The Shield, one of the best shows on television. If you haven't been watching this, you're really missing out. The upcoming season promises to share some flashback scenes from the missing year, more revelations about the Cylon society, and a deeper investigation into what it means to be human.

The Amazing Race – Leah got me hooked on this a couple of seasons ago, but I quit watching about halfway through the family edition season. It was way too lame. This season has some promise, though, so I'm back to watching. I just wish they could find another couple like Rob and Amber; they were the best!

Back to School

As I understand it, my mother has been trying to predict the date that I would return to school since the afternoon of my graduation from Texas A&M when I celebrated finally being done. She says that it has something to do with an insatiable curiosity and desire to learn that’s just part of the genetic makeup of our family. Maybe she’s right.

I’ll be participating in a Graduate Certificate program at SMU during the winter semester (October through February). It’s not a degree program, but it’s still school. Mom wins, and I win. I’ll be in school but not officially.

If anyone is interested in the gritty details, the program is officially call the Business Intelligence Graduate Certificate Program. It’s about learning to analyze data using statistics, discrete optimization, simulation, database manipulation, data mining, and knowledge management for all kinds of business problems. I think it’s going to be pretty interesting.

You can read more on the SMU/Cox website.

Proselytizing in the 21st Century

Just a quick random thought. Pope Benedict’s quotation from a medieval text that basically describes Islam as a violent religion has created quite the uproar. Obviously, the best retort for such an obviously incorrect accusation of violence is to demand an apology and demonstrate your commitment to peace.

Ummm...at least that the best retort in the civilized world. Of course, for extreme terrorist Muslims, the best response to such an accusation is to attack churches and kill Christians. “Yeah, that’ll teach them to say we’re the religion of violence.” I, for one, can totally see where that medieval text got it all wrong:

Extremist Islam is not spread by the sword. That’s way too outdated. This is the 21st century where nothing beats an AK-47 and a little C-4 for getting the word out.

Fall Softball Season

Fall softball is here, and the girls are all excited. Reagan and Abbie are both playing again, and Emma had hoped to play, but the t-ball league didn’t make.

Reagan is still playing 10 & under (10U) and Abbie is still 8 & under (8U), so they are not the same team. We had originally hoped to at least get them into the same club, but that didn’t work out. I’m not too disappointed, though. Reagan got picked up by the Cheetah Girlz which is really an 8U team that wanted more competition so they’re playing up in 10U. It’s been a little reality check for her to see these younger girls outperform her, so she’s had to work pretty hard.

Abbie’s team is really coming along well. Most of the girls are really similar in age, so this is their third season to play together. It’s been a noticeable improvement this season, too, in the skill level of all of the girls. Anyway, here’s the game schedule for each, if you are interested.

Reagan

09/19 (T) – 6:30pm

09/21 (Th) – 8:00pm

09/28 (Th) – 8:00pm

10/03 (T) – 6:30pm

10/12 (Th) – 8:00pm

10/17 (T) – 6:30pm

Abbie

09/21 (Th) – 6:30pm

09/28 (Th) – 6:30pm

10/05 (Th) – 6:30pm

10/12 (Th) – 6:30pm

10/19 (Th) – 6:30pm

10/26 (Th) – 6:30pm

11/02 (Th) – 6:30pm

All of the games are at Winters Park in Garland, and we'd love to see you there. Give me a call if you need directions to the ballpark.

Looking Forward

Just a quick note on the new version of Microsoft Office. I’ve got the beta of Microsoft Office 2007 on my machine now, and I’m posting this through Word 2007. It’s pretty neat.

When I choose to create a new document in Word, a blog post is one of the options. Word then let’s me configure my blog host (which Blogger is already in the dropdown), and I get a blank screen to type on. No more dealing with the Blogger editor. No more reading and re-reading to find typos, and no more cut-and-paste if you used a different editor in the past.

You get to work in Word with all of the benefits. Squiggly lines indicating spelling errors and grammar mistakes along with an environment that you work in all the time anyway. And when you’re done typing, you just push the publish button and your thoughts are automatically uploaded to your blog. It’s super simple.

I just thought you’d like to know.

On the Road Again

Almost one year later, I’m headed back to Oregon. I was there last October about mid-month, and I’ll be back again the first week of October this year. I’ll actually head out a little before then to visit with one of our clients and my aunt before my training in Portland the first week of October.

The details are this, I’ll fly out of DFW on September 28 and visit with our client in Bend, OR on September 29. I’ll stay with Aunt Debbie for the weekend, and then I’ll drive back to Portland for training October 2 through 6. Finally, I’ll fly home on October 7.

It’s always hard when I got to the west coast because of the time difference. By the time I’m getting ready for dinner, Leah and the family are getting to bed. It is definitely a challenge to stay in touch, but we’ll do our best to make it work. While I’m there, though, I expect that I’ll get to see some more awesome scenery and have a great time with Aunt Debbie. My only request of her is this: no sheep!

I know. I know. I can’t throw something like that out there without explanation, so here’s the story (with names omitted to protect the innocent):

When I last visited Aunt Sis (as we call her), I spent the weekend meeting her friends, eating great food, playing cards, and cutting firewood. Now, I knew we were going to cut firewood before I even arrived, and I’m not one to shrink away from manual labor, so off into the woods we went. Aunt Sis, me, and some friends of hers that enjoyed using chain saws a little too much, if you ask me. I mean, we had trucks full of wood. Enough to get a small village through a couple of long winters, and the chain saws were still going. It was really pretty funny, and most of us laughed about it afterward. It’s what happened on the way back to Aunt Sis’s house that was really the highlight of the weekend, though.

As we traveled back from the nether regions of the Pacific Northwest in trucks laden heavy with firewood, Aunt Sis thought it would be a great idea to stop by the home of some friends. It was really a cool place. They have a several different kinds of animals that they are sheltering and taking care of. It’s kind of like their own animal sanctuary. As we walked the grounds, though, the sheep hooves were noticed to be in need of care.

A couple of options were discussed as Aunt Sis and I stood off to the side expecting to get a show. I’ve never seen anyone clip a sheep’s nails before, so this should be fun. About that time, I realized that the plan was starting to center around me, though. “He’s from Texas. They do this for fun down there.” Or something like that was the phrase I caught, and the next thing you know there’s four of us (Aunt Sis and I included) walking into the sheep pen in an attempt to catch the animals.

After the first failed attempt, which is when I learned that sheep don’t cower when cornered, they charge like a linebacker on steroids, the alternate plan of enticing them into a stall in the barn was starting to sound pretty attractive. Not everyone agreed, though, and what do I know. Just because you go to Texas A&M doesn’t make you an animal expert. Anyway, we finally caught the first one and clipped the nails. It was amazingly similar to trimming your own fingernails except with the world’s largest pair of scissors.

The next sheep proved extremely elusive, and after a minor injury to one of us, we all agreed with the “stall in the barn” plan. We put out some food to attract the sheep, walked slowly behind to herd it in, and then slammed the door behind. It did still take all of us to hold the sheep still for the nail trimming, but it was much easier than chasing the animals around the pen.

When it was all over, we had a good laugh about our antics and agreed that we’d probably win a few thousand on America’s Funniest Videos had someone been recording. I'm putting it out there now that I volunteer for that job the next time around.

I am really looking forward to heading back up there in a few weeks, and I’m sure that I’ll have more stories to share after this visit. You just never know what kind of crazy things you can get involved in when you spend time with Aunt Sis.

Freebirds Serenade

Okay, so about that singing guy at the Freebirds that I mentioned in my last post...

Before I get started, some of you may be wondering what in the world Freebirds even is. Well, if you have Chipotle around, then you've at least got an idea. It's a burrito joint like Chipotle only Freebirds came first and Freebirds is better. Of course, they also didn't have McDonalds funding them, so the only locations are in Texas (College Station, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Lubbock, and Austin).

The Freebirds in Dallas is very close to my office, so I get to eat there about once a month. On my last excursion, with my good friend Kenton, when it came to my turn the server approached, and I thought, "oh, no, a girl."

Whoa! Hold up! I know a lot of you readers are girls, but let me explain. I've been eating at Freebirds for a long time and it's a well known fact that the male servers put more stuff in your burrito. I think it's just that when you ask someone to judge a "little bit", they judge by what they think is a little bit, and most girls don't meet up to my expectations. Of course, some of the guys far exceed my standard.

Anyway, as the server came closer, I realized that it was not a girl, and then he smiled and sweetly asked what size burrito did I have...I mean want. I started to move aside and say that Kenton was there before me and should go first, but decided that my friendship was too valuable to throw away over a Freebirds server.

As we moved down the line, he started singing as I told him what I wanted on my burrito. Imagine this to an unknown tune: he wants the rice.....he wants the cheese.....all I doooo is meant to pleeeaase....

And then he licks his lips and smiles at me. Wow! If I wasn't married, I'd probably be just as confused, repulsed, and humored all at the same time. I really wanted to laugh, but I fought hard not to because I realized that if I laughed, I would smile, and if I smiled, then he might get the wrong idea. I just commented on the cool song and asked for steak and sour cream.

As it turns out, the burrito was very well made, and Kenton and I did get a good laugh out of the situation once we sat down otuside, on the patio, out of earshot.

Who are these freaks?

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. It just seems like nothing interesting has been going on over her in the Big D.

I haven't been to any football games with half-naked, barrel-sporting, mountain men like Melissa. I wonder if anyone else noticed that Melissa was wearing a sweatshirt and long pants. Is it already that cool in CO?

I don't have any makeup to sell like Windy, and I have to believe that there are some great stories there that we haven't heard yet; imagine a dude wearing a barrel asking Windy to sell him some Mary Kay. Now that would be blog post for the ages!

We haven't been on any trips like Caci and her family.

I haven't met any cute guys at the studen center like Megan. I did have a server at the Freebirds sing to me the other day, though. Maybe I'll tell more about that later and pass his name along for Windy if I see him on my next visit.

Basically, it's been pretty normal around here. It seems like there should still be something special about today...

Oh, yes, I remember...

Reagan is TEN YEARS OLD!!

I really can't figure out how ten years have already passed. You always think your parents are nuts when they say stuff like this, but it really does seem like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. Now, she's into double-digits.

The next thing I know, she's going to be asking Megan for tips on how to meet cute guys, and I'm going to be asking Uncle Johnny for tips on how to scare them off!

In all seriousness, I am very proud of the young lady that she is growing into. Tonight we are going to eat at her favorite restaurant: Pei Wei. I'm not sure what I'll be having since I don't eat Asian food, but it's her birthday.

And, btw, I didn't forget to post about my other kids' birthdays. None of them hit the ten year milestone. They all had wonderful birthdays, though.

Fishing for....turtles??

We have a playground a few houses down with a little pond. The girls and I have been pretty successful fishing down there from time to time, mostly catching bream but also getting some bass and catfish. This past Sunday, when a storm system blew through, Reagan and I decided it would be the perfect afternoon to go catch some fish, and we did really well: Reagan caught 3 and reeled in one of my 6.

While we were down there, we saw the strangest thing, though. Before I go on, I must admit that I have tried at times to catch things other than fish with my rod and reel. I've thrown baits into a bunch of sunning alligators (there's even a video of that floating around somewhere). I've thrown baits at nutrea. I've thrown baits at turtles. So far, though, I've never caught anything except fish, unless you count the random limb or pile of grass.

Imagine my surprise then as I looked across the pond this past Sunday to observe two boys and their dad trying to catch some bream. They had the whole setup: snoopy rod and reel, hook, worm, bobber, lawn chair. A great little outing. Then the older one got a bite, and the dad starting hollering for him to reel it in. It didn't really fight like a fish, though, and suddenly he pulled a decent size turtle from the water. Unbelievable!

I've never seen anyone catch a turtle on a worm and hook. That was pretty cool. That guy's kids agreed. They were hooting and hollering, jumping around, and basically jazzed about trying to catch another turtle. The dad was encouraging them to try and catch FISH. Then the younger brother had a bite.

He started reeling. There wasn't much fight. Out of the water he pulled another turtle. This is just crazy. It was pretty unbelievable that they caught one, but now they had two....in a row! I had just finished telling Reagan that it was just a crazy freak deal that they caught the first one, and now she was starting to think that I didn't know what I was talking about.

Maybe she was right. I never saw those boys catch any fish, but they did get 2 or 3 more turtles, and their dad got more and more frustrated with each one that they pulled out. He was really hoping for fish, but those boys loved every turtle that they caught. Reagan and I, like I said earlier, only managed to catch 9 fish. Not nearly as exciting.

What If I Put These Two Wires Together?

When were kids, we did all kinds of crazy stuff; especially when it comes to electricity. I think it's in our DNA. I mean consider for a minute: Uncle Matt's an electrician, we've all heard the story about using electricity to get the cuffs off Uncle Johnny, Uncle Robert works with A/C's (a huge electric motor, really), we've all heard the story about Tobi, the tweezers, and the outlet, and you might not know it, but Jeffrey and I learned all kinds of neat stuff with a slot car race track and the wiring of a boom box. It's no small wonder that we're tough and smart: what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right?

Considering all of that, perhaps I have been a little unfair in my judgement of a recent situation. We all, obviously, learned at a very young age what would happen if you put two electrical leads together and supplied power. If you didn't use too much, you get a cool blue spark; if you used a little more, you'd get that funny tingly feeling all over; and if you really went overboard, well, you'll probably only do that once.

Imagine now my surprise when the events of last week unfolded. I received a call from a tenant stating that there was no electricity in the house. This is not the first such call from a tenant just the first from this tenant. On previous occasions what they really meant was there was no electricity in the master bathroom, and I had to explain what a GFCI plug is all about. In this case, the tenant was not at the house, though, so I agreed to drive up and take a look.

It was quickly apparent that they were correct about there being no power, so what's the deal? The kids (teenagers) were home, and we went to the breaker box. I tried them all and got nothing. The main switch was in the "on" position, but I went ahead and tried to flip it off and back on. Still nothing. So I asked that fateful question: "What happened just before the power went out?"

Now, in telling this story to Uncle Matt, his guess was as good as any and would've made perfect sense. He guessed that it was a really hot day, so the A/C was running like crazy, clothes needed cleaning, so the dryer was on, and mom had to fix her hair so she fired up the hair dryer and boom everything goes down. Good guess, and an understable situation. Not the story that I got, though.

As I recount this to you, please keep in mind that these teens were only too happy to share what they did (I don't know who specifically was involved; I just know what happened). They were proud of their approach to the original problem. They were clueless as to how it translated into the catastrophe we were now dealing with.

They had just moved in, and they realized that the dryer had the wrong plug on it for the house. Knowing that it would be easy to correct, they went to the nearby hardware store and picked up a new dryer plug. They were pretty sure it was the right one, so they bought with confidence. When the got home, though, they didn't want to go through all of the trouble of hooking the plug up to the dryer just to find out that they still didn't have what they needed.

Picture this, a tightly wrapped dryer cord with two exposed ends (for attaching to the dryer) that are resting in contact with one another. Now imagine yourself plugging that into the highest power draw plug in your house. You just felt a little shock, and you weren't even there! This guy felt a little more than a shock and basically created a lightning bolt in the laundry closet before the main breaker blew.

Although I couldn't get the breaker reset, the electrician that I called was able to get the switch flipped and they are back in business now. The question that keeps rolling around in my head, though, is exactly how much life experience do you need before you know better than to plug exposed wiring into the wall with the leads touching one another? Just imagine if the leads hadn't been in contact; there may have been no spark, and he's liable to have left it plugged in while attaching it to the dryer.

I'm just glad that no one was hurt and that my house didn't get burned down.

Another Lucky Day

I keep getting questions about Lucky's status, and we really appreciate everyone's concern. The latest is that he is nearly completely back to his normal, nose-in-your-face, barking at the neighbors, hyperactive, labrador self. Our only concern at this point is incontinence.

He is continuing to do his business in the house and even in his kennel. It's almost like having a puppy again except that puppies don't generally go in their kennel unless you aren't paying any attention. We talked to the vet earlier today, and he said that he's never really seen anything like this. It may be an unrelated urinary tract infection or something, so they want us to continue working at the "kennel (re)training" through the weekend and touch base with them again next week to see if things are getting any better.

All I know is that if it wasn't so hot outside, he'd be out there all the time right now. As it is, he can only be in tiled areas or in his kennel because he'll just go when the urge strikes. There's no warning, so it doesn't even matter how closely you watch him.

Cowboys in the News

The Dallas area was shocked this morning to learn that another football player was involved in a criminal activity. Of course, this time, the player in question is completely innocent...

The Dallas Morning News reports that Dallas Cowboys safety Keith Davis was returning home from visiting friends and family in Shreveport, LA. He is reported to have been on his way to church since he had missed the week before and doesn't get to attend during the season. Based on the information available from the Dallas Morning News article, while driving down I-635, Davis' car was approached by a dark car with tinted windows. Someone from the other car opened fire on Davis' Impala hitting Davis in the thigh and grazing his head. Davis is happy to report of his corn rows, though, "...my braids still look good."

Apparently, Davis' training kicked in almost immediately and he applied pressure himself to his wounded leg. "As soon as I realized I got hit, I started applying pressure to the spot. I was a kinesiology major in college. I guess I learned something from all of those courses." I wish I'd been a kinesiology major in college. Now I'll be worried every time that I'm injured that I won't know how to respond.

Not to mention the fact that I'm going to have to start "pimping" in my truck for my own personal safety, "I was leaning quite a bit. If I had been sitting straight up, I might not be here." Who knew that laying your seat back is actually a safe way to drive?

I'm wondering if you are like me, and if you are suspicious of this story. A guy driving down I-635 does nothing wrong. Is headed to church no less (at 5am). Suddenly, a hailstorm of bullets is unleashed on his car, and his training kicks in like an instinct to help treat the wounds. If you ask me, this sounds a little more like road rage. Maybe the two were racing and Davis' Impala won. Maybe Davis cut the other guy off (how likely is that really at 5am). Maybe a far more nefarious story is waiting to be unfolded, but, "I was just minding my own business driving home...I'm a victim," doesn't really add up for me.

Plus, this isn't the first time Davis has been shot. Back in 2003, just after Coach Parcells warned the team to stay out of trouble, Davis was involved in an incident at a strip club. Now, being a model citizen and church going boy, we know that Davis wasn't actually in the strip club. No, he was "picking up a friend" when a gun fight broke out. At that moment, Davis' quick thinking took over again as he moved to protect his "girlfriend" and he ended up shot in the elbow.

Maybe I've been around Papa too long, but when's the last time someone shot at you? I've been hunting with bunches of people. Been around guns all my life. Been around some crazy guys that should never be allowed to own a cap gun. I've never been shot. I've never even been shot at. This guy on the other hand seems to be a magnet for gunfire, and he's completely innocent.

hmmm...I kind of doubt it.

Lukcy Update

So, Lucky stayed at an overnight clinic last Wednesday night and then spent all day with the vet on Thursday. Since he came home Thursday evening, he has not had any more seizures. He also not been himself, though.

He's getting a little better. At first he still acted as if he didn't know us. He paced the house non-stop and ran away when any of us got near. He wasn't interested in socializing at all which is very abnormal for Lucky. Additionally, he seemed to have forgotten the difference between inside and outside, creating a couple of messes for us to clean. Leah and I decided that we would give it through the weekend to see if he got back closer to normal.

As the weekend progressed he steadily improved, and last night he was trying to climb into my lap (like normal) to get some attention. He's also started responding to commands that he used to know like sit, down, kennel, etc. There are still a few things that concern me, though. I'm not convinced that he knows to do his business outside, he doesn't wag his tail (or even move it) anymore, he's still not interested in playing with his ball, and he doesn't make any vocalizations.

Previously, Lucky would whine when you didn't pay him enough attention, and he would bark like crazy when people walked behind our house on the trail. I haven't heard him make any noise for over a week now, and he doesn't seem to be at all concerned with strangers walking behind the house. Honestly, it concerns me that he's not barking, but it's also a relief that I don't have to listen to it.

Also, you could tell before when Lucky was losing interest in playing because he would stop holding his tail high, and of course, if he saw you from across the room he'd beat a hole in the wall with his wagging tail. Now he just carries it between his legs all the time.

Maybe it'll just take a few more days. We'll wait to see.

Apparently, He's Not So Lucky

What a crazy last few days! Our dog, Lucky, started having seizures Saturday night. Mom, Jeff, Katy, Logan, Leah, and I had all been up watching a movie and came back downstairs about midnight. Lucky had been outside, and when I went to bring him in, I realized that he had gotten out of an open gate. We found him in front of the house and brought him inside for bed.

Maybe 30 minutes later, he was lying on the floor in our bathroom, and I heard him making noise banging up next to the cabinets. I thought he was chasing a fly at first, but as the racket got worse our curiosity made us flip on the lights to see what was going on. By that time, Lucky was on the floor, rigid, and shaking; he was in the middle of his first seizure.

We didn't know what to do, but he stopped on his own after a couple of minutes. The next 20 minutes or so he spent walking in a circle in my bedroom, but it was like he didn't know where he was and couldn't see right because he kept running into stuff. Finally, he went to sleep and seemed fine the next morning. We all wondered if he had been dehydrated or had maybe gotten into something poisonous when he got out of the yard.

Nothing else happened during the day on Sunday, though, so we figured things were fine. That night, he slept in Abbie's room, and when we got up Monday morning there was dog poo all over her room. We just thought that was a little strange because he hasn't messed in the house in a very long time, and Lucky was his same old self at the time. Looking back, we believe that he seized during the night, lost control of himself, and walked through his mess during his disoriented pacing routine.

Later in the day, just after lunch actually, Lucky had another seizure. Leah called the vet and took him in for a look. They drew some blood, said they'd call with results, and sent him home. Silly us, we let him sleep in Abbie's room again with the same results as Sunday night: a huge mess to clean Tuesday morning. The only detail that was different was that Lucky was not at all himself. He wouldn't let any of us near him.

In the next couple of hours, while waiting for the vet to open, he seized one more time and continued to be very disoriented and shy of everyone. When we finally got the vet on the phone, they said that the blood work came back and that they could tell he had been having seizures. Love that wealth of information. Anyway, they prescribed Phenobarbital twice a day to get the seizures under control, and they said that we probably won't ever know what's causing the seizures.

Leah went and picked up the medicine and gave him his first dose yesterday morning. After that first dose, he had at least 4 more minor seizures, and he spent the rest of the day looking like he was stoned. He drooled uncontrollably and obviously had no idea where he was or who we were. By the time I got home it was obvious that something else needed to be done, so Leah called the after hours number for the vet.

We got a call back from a different vet at the clinic; the vet that we will be seeing from now on. He told us that there are 10 different things that can cause seizures in dogs. They can test for 8 of them with a blood test and that we know it's not one of those 8. The 8 being things like poison, nutritional issues, illness, etc. The other two being a brain tumor or epilepsy. Epilepsy is the most likely cause when the first 8 are ruled out, and there is no real test for that. The best they can do is treat the seizures with the medication that we started yesterday. If the medication didn't work, though, then we could look into tumors. He said, though, that epilepsy will present between 1 and 2 years of age (Lucky is right between those two) while tumors don't generally present until they over 5 or 6 years.

We learned more about this condition in a 10 minute phone conversation than we had gotten out of two visits to the other vet. Needless to say, we'll be seeing him from now on, but we still had to deal with the fact that Lucky was continuing to seize. The vet told us to go ahead and give him more medication right then and then another dose a few hours later at bedtime.

What a challenge. If you've ever tried to get a dog to take a pill, I'm sure you know how tough that can be a challenge in itself. Imagine trying to do that with a dog that doesn't know who you are, isn't interested in eating anything (so disguising it in cheese or peanut butter doesn't do you any good), and may have a seizure at any minute. It took both of us both times.

As far as I know, Lucky was up all night long drooling all over himself and having minor seizures, but at some point the medicine apparently started working. This morning he's very lethargic, but not as skittish, not drooling, and he actually went outside to relieve himself. Hopefully, we can get these medication worked out correctly to allow him to have a normal life, but we do still have a lot more information to find out.

If you want to read a more technical explanation of seizures in dogs, there's a good page on labradornet, or you can just do a google search. There is a lot of information out there.

UPDATE - 12:06pm - I just talked with Leah, and Lucky's apparent improvement only lasted a few hours this morning. He had another seizure midmorning and he's been pacing and drooling again the past hour or two. Leah called the vet again and they said that it may take a week or so for the Phenobarbital to get into his system enough to really be effective. For now, they are going to give us another emergency medication to use to make them stop for today.

The next few weeks we are going to really have to keep a close eye on him. If we can control this with medication, give Lucky a good quality of life, and not have unreasonable expenses, then I am all on board. If we can't have all of those, we're going to have to make some tough decisions. It's not fair for Lucky if we can't give him a good quality of life, and I'm not interested in having another car payment size expense right now. I've just told Leah that we have to draw some boundaries now so we don't get nickel and dimed to death and end up spending a small fortune. We'll just have to see how the next few weeks go.

UPDATE - 3:30pm - After two doses of the emergency medicine, Lucky continued to seize (and accidentally bit Leah as she was trying to give him his second dose), and his temperature got critically high. 106 is a bad situtaion, and his rose to 110. Leah rushed him to the vet, and I left work to meet her there.

They packed him in ice and gave him Phenobarbital through an IV along with some Valium. His temperature came down, and the drugs knocked him out. At least for now, the seizures have stopped. We're going to have to move him to an overnight clinic in an hour or so, and I'll be interested to see how they report on his progress through the night. If it really is just a matter of getting enough of the drugs in his system, then they say he should be fine in another day or so. If it's something else (something worse), then I'm not sure that we are in a position to continue to down this road much longer.

Devil's Den Pics

Finally, I got around to uploading my Devil's Den pics. Inspired by Caci, I put them all on dropshots. It's a pretty cool site and much easier for managing pics than blogspot. Anyway, here are some links that you can use to view the images:

Friday, June 30, 2006



Saturday, July 1, 2006



Sunday, July 2, 2006



Monday, July 3, 2006



Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Book Reviews

I've now read both Dan Brown's Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code, and I have to say that he is not a bad writer. Both of these novels have Robert Langdon, Harvard professor and symbologist, as the central protagonist and they both deal with conspiracies related to the Roman Catholic Church.

In the first, Angels and Demons, Langdon is called to Switzerland to help decipher a strange symbol left on the body of a murdered scientist. The symbol is related to an ancient organization sworn to destroy the Roman Catholic Church. As the plot unfolds, we learn that the Pope has recently died and Conclave is just about to start to elect his successor, but the entire proceeding is threatened by a very high-tech device that could destroy all of Vatican City.

This really is a good story with a very nice twist and reveal at the end. The characters are pretty well developed and believable and the ending is very nice. Overall, I think this is a great murder mystery/conspiracy novel that would leave anyone wanting to hear about Langdon's adventures.

In the second, The DaVinci Code, Landon returns to help the French police decipher cryptic clues left at the scen of a murder in the Louvre. Following these clues across Paris and into Great Britain reveals the truth of the murderer, a worldwide conspiracy, and startling information about the Holy Grail.

This could have been a great story if Langdon were built on as a character. In this novel, though, he seems to be a completely different person than the skeptical and cautious professor presented in Angels. That was really frustrating for me. I do have to say, though, that the book is still many times better than the movie, and that it addresses many of the plot holes that I had issue with in the movie.

Now we look forward to the next Robert Langdon adventure which Dan Brown is supposedly working on now. Apparently, it will be set in Washington DC and will deal with the secret history of our capitol. Sounds like it could be interesting.

Home Again

Our camping trip was great!

We didn't get to do the Butterfield as I had hoped. It would've been more than I could handle. We did a 3 mile hike on one day and it nearly wiped me out. Of course, I was carrying a backpack and a kid for part of the way. Jeffrey, on the other hand, claimed to be up for it even after carrying a kid and helping Leah manage the dog.

We also missed out on Farmer's Cave, but that was just due to a technicality. You have to have at least 4 people with two light sources apiece. We only had three people and 5 lights. Oh well, it's just one more reason to head back another time.

Jeffrey and I did participate in the horseshoes tournament on the 4th, and we made it all the way to the championship game. We dominated every other team along the way, and then got spanked in the final game. The score was something like 21 to 12. The trophy stays in Arkansas for another year.

The kids enjoyed seeing some wildlife around the campsite. We saw a cicada molting and another emerging from the ground. I think the second was drowned in the run off from the water faucet, though. We also saw a fox (twice), a groundhog (several times as its den was under a nearby rock), a raccoon (that was about the size of a small bear), lots of squirrel, a few snakes along the creek, fish in the creek, bats, and tons of lightning bugs. I didn’t get pictures of everything, but I have some of a few of the above.

The kids also got to do some hiking with us and go in a couple of caves. Reagan, Logan, Jeffrey, and I all went to the very end of Devil’s Den Cave. The next day, Logan, Reagan, Abbie, and Leah went about halfway, and Emma, Reagan, Jeffrey, Logan, and I all went about halfway through Devil’s Icebox, too. Abbie tried Icebox, but got a little scared and turned back. It’s really a much more difficult cave than Devil’s Den, and Emma only succeeded because Jeffrey and I could hold her.

All of the kids loved the hike to Yellow Rock, which we did a little differently this time than year’s past. In the past, we always hiked from Campground A to the Yellow Rock bluff and back again. This year, though, we started at the Yellow Rock overlook out on the highway and hiked the entire trail straight through. It was a longer hike (3 miles total), but a gentler grade. Since we started at the top of the mountain and hiked sideways, there was less stress on the kids. It also helped that we had two vehicles so we could leave one at either end of the trail.

Best of all, we missed being rained on by just a few minutes. As we were pulling out of the park, we ran into a downpour that we drove through for about 45 minutes. We ran into about 3 other rain patches on the remainder of the trip, but the first was the most stressful. As we drove through the rain, Leah and I racked our brains to think of everything that we had brought to be sure that there was nothing in the back of the truck that couldn’t get wet. We thought of nothing.

After we passed through all the rain, though, I thought of the camera. Leah wasn’t sure where it was; she just remembered that Jeffrey had taken it from the backpack just before he left to snap a couple of pics. She assumed that he had returned it to the top pouch of the backpack, and her assumption was correct. It had ridden in the top of the backpack, which was on the top of everything we had packed, through the rain. We pulled over after for a break, and after I shook the water out of it, I let it “bake” on the dashboard. It seems to be working fine, I just haven’t had a chance to plug it up and download the pictures yet, but I’ll get to it soon. I promise. :)