Publius & Co.

Tour of Hope

The Tour of Hope National Team kicked off their ridy yesterday morning, leaving the Scripps Green Hospital in San Diego at 11:30 Pacific, en route to Washington DC, nine days and 3300 miles later. The gf and I plan to ride the last ten miles with them. I've made my minimum, with a bit of personal sacrifice. Once again, I'd like those who supported me--I, and those who will benefit from your donations, offer our deepest thanks.

Happy birthday...

...to me! Yes, I'm old, but I'm not as old as Ted. Or LeeAnn, who I will always remember fondly as being the first person who ever e-mailed me as a result of my blog--she wanted to know what "Rat People Bloggers" meant.

This is what I get for waiting until the last minute.

This will stay at the top until the day before my birthday.

A few years ago, I wrote about what September 11 means to me. Like everyone else, I think about airplanes being hijacked and used as weapons, but I also think about my stepmother, whose surgery that morning for breast cancer was postponed because the OR might be needed for survivors from the Pentagon. That date was already important to me.

There's a history of cancer in my family--all three of my parents have had it. My stepmother is a breast cancer survivor. My father has had problems with skin cancer, and my mother died of cervical cancer when I was 12.

I've known other people who've had cancer--I rememer one of the nicest ladies I've ever known--head of HR at a company I worked at. She won tickets to the Super Bowl and got to watch the John Riggins score against the Dolphins to win the game. She didn't know she had cancer and she died less than six months after that game. Munuvian goddaughter Heather has written about her struggle with cancer.

As a result, I strongly support the Lance Armstrong Foundation...and this year I plan to put my butt where my mouth is. I have ONE WEEK to raise $500 so that I, along with the gf, can ride in the Tour of Hope, with Lance Armstrong and the Tour of Hope National Team.

I am, in short, asking for your help. I had originally planned to make this post on September first, but Katrina hit New Orleans and I'm sure you've helped out there. I certainly have, but I hope you can help me out as well. If you can help out the Lance Armstrong Foundation by making a contribution support of me and my ride, the money will go a long way to wiping out cancer.

Thank you, folks!

I'd like to extend my deepest thanks to several people for supporting me in my bid to raise $500 (in one week!) so that I might ride in The Tour of Hope. My first contribution was from my MuNu goddaughter Heather. Corrine followed up with a donation of her own, and over the weekend, my good friend Ted threw several dollars my, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation's, way.

I'd also like to thank Jeff at Alphecca and Ted, once again, for plugging my fundraising effort.

To say that I'm in the homestretch is putting it mildly. Donations have to be in by 11:59PM Eastern, Wednesday, September 28--which, by some amazing coincidence, is also my birthday. Due to my lateness, if you mail a check it, too, must be received by C.O.B. Wednesday, September 28, which is pretty close. Contributions may be made on a secure server at my contribution page, located here.

Thank you all, once again.

Nothing to see here, move along...

I mentioned before I've been playing a lot of Urban Dead lately. I've still got four characters and I've decided two of them are human ("breathers") and two of them are zombies ("zeds"). One of my zeds has joined a new hoarde--that is, a flock of zombies. We had our first raid tonight but my boy Ratherder had been revivified just before the raid started and was unconscious. I am, to say the least, bummed.

Anyway, I need a place to store a couple of images for my hoarde discussion list, and what better place than here. First of all, my official hoard signature:

Note the hoarde name ("Minions of the Apocolypse") and mucho el lamo hoarde saying ("The End is Coming"). Most of the proposed sayings were in the same ilk...the end is near, there is no escape only horror...you get the idea. No one seemed to like my submissions:

• Zombie-4-Life (I hoped this would make someone go, "Huh?")
  
• The Minions of the Apocolypse. Not to be confused with The Midgets of the Apocolypse.
  
• Zombies don't die--they multiply!
  
• Who am I? What am I doing here? Ahhh, who cares? BRAAAAAINS!!!
  
• The Minions of the Apocolypse ate yo MAMA!
  

I think they're a lot more fun.

Second, my official hoarde avatar:

It's Niko yawning. My zeds name is Ratherder; you just know I'm using a rat for an avatar.

Friday Rat Blogging

Kanga and Zoe chill out during playtime.

Don't forget to check out the Friday Ark at The Modulator's.

Hello, woodland creature.

We've got a bunny living in our front yard!

The difference in picture quality is due to my using PhotoShop to "fix" the color on the second pictures.

How sweet it is!

End of the first quarter...

...and Mark Brunell has just thrown an INT. Rob just lit up a cigarette. I kind of don't blame him.

Friday Rat Blogging

Misto relaxes in his hammock. Click for a slightly larger version.

Ever wonder what it's like to fight off a zombie invasion?

This guy found out. A bit longish at nearly 11 minutes--the action starts about five minutes in.

OK, this could be dangerous

Now at the Internet Moving Image Archive: Feature Films. Looks like I'll find a way to fill my 100+ gig of hard drive space now.

I flipped thru the title listings, and I didn't find anything like Casablanca or Citizen Kane, which was not unexpected. The copyright on those classics is being kept (by Ted Turner, if I'm not mistaken). However, tons of old b-films are, and I may have to start downloading some.

The first one that caught my eye was Carnival of Souls (not the 1998 remake), if only because it was the "Spotlight Item" on the front page. I also noticed it because I happen to own a copy on DVD and I watched it just a couple of weeks ago. Some of the IMDB reviews aside, I found this movie genuinely creepy and I enjoyed it immensly. I also admit the lead, Candace Hilligoss, is a stunning, classic beauty (from the mold that Katherine Ross was made from) who could genuinely act. It's a shame she made only two movies in her brief career.

The first movie I download may well be White Zombie (imagine that...a zombie movie). This old Bela Lugosi flick was made back in the day when zombies were created by voodoo priests and not weird viruses or radiation. You know, back when you could become a zombie without being bitten. What I find really interesting about its inclusion here is that according to the IMDB, this movie has been lost forever. Guess they didn't look in the rest of the internet for it.

You know, I had no idea where this post was going when I started it. I can end by saying it's the end of my lunch break and have fun looking thru the listings. I found some old W.C. Fields movies, serials from the fifties, WWII era Superman cartoons (I lovelovelove pre-fifties animation!), one Humphrey Bogart movie, exploitation movies from the 30's (you know, the ones that warn against pre-marital sex, drug use, and having fun in general), documentaries, and more old grade-B horror movies than you can shake a stick at. It should make for tons of viewing fun for the old movie fan.

Interesting question

I've been spending a lot of time playing Urban Dead lately. Right now, I'm running four characters. All of them started out as humans and three of them were killed immediately and turned into zombies. Since then two of them have been revived, then killed, then another one was revived. One human, created late last week, has managed to stay alive; he's currently holed up in a building with a couple of other humans.

In all honesty, it's a lot more fun being a zombie. You don't care if you die, because in five hours you'll be able to stand up again and start killing more humans. As a human I admit I'm too nervous to do much more than hole up somewhere and hope the zombies don't get me. Every now and then I run out to try to find some stuff (a crucifix? What do I do with a crucifix? This isn't a *vampire* game) and maybe take a swing at a zombie or two.

There are active discussion lists for both humans and zombies, where tips are traded and strongholds for the other side pointed out among the requests for help. I've found two blogs for the game; one is written from the point of view from their character (a human) and the other is the player discussing the game, among other things. You may find an update or two here.

But I'm ignoring the point of this whole post. On the zombie discussion list, someone asked a question that had me thinking: Do Zombies poop?

On another note, Land of the Dead is being released on DVD October 18. I'll probably get it that night.

UPDATE: All of my zombies have been revived! I admit I'm a little bummed about it, but I'll play the game that's been given to me. Besides...if any of my humans should find a flack jacket (extra protection) or a baseball bat or lead pipe, the zombie can use those against humans. Heh.

GF Update

Since my gf is back to blogging, and since all she really does is blog about serious stuff, I'll make jokes about her injury here.

Obviously, she went back to work. So there she is, at her little desk, typing v e r y s l o w l y with her wrong hand, with her good hand all bandaged up. Her co-workers noticed, and asked, "What happened to your hand?" And in the pause where she tried to formulate an anwer, little light bulbs went up over her co-workers heads and more often than not, they asked, "Did one of your rats bite you?"

What do you want from me!?!?!? Blood!?!?!?

No? Howzabout a purple dancing sumo hippopotomus instead?

Happy Birthday!

Today is Ted's forty-sixth birthday! The gf and I would like to wish him the happiest of birthdays!

Having met Ted, I can safely say he doesn't look half-bad for someone who was born in the fifties.

Snarky comment of the day

If you are as wide as you are tall, or if you are approaching that 1:1 wide/tall ratio, and you have a nose ring, don't be surprised if people start shoving apples into your mouth.

Seriously: Skinny people look ridiculous enough with a nose ring. If you're fat, you look like something that should be lying on it's stomach in the middle of a buffet table.

Saving gas the old-fashioned way..

...by not using it. At least, not to go to and from work. I'm using a tool that is just scores of feet from my door, and I save nearly $6 each day. In the four days per week I plan to do this, I'll be saving about $24 each week, $90.40 each month, and suddenly it ain't chump change.

Normally I drive to the Shady Grove Metro, take the train to work, and I usually walk to my office (they provide a shuttle that I'll jump on if it's there or if the weather is crappy). However, Montgomery County has a small bus service, Ride-On, and there are two stops just a minute or two (walking) from my door. Here's how it works:

First of all, the Metro is about 14 miles round-trip. My CR-V averages between 20 and 25 MPG (and yes, I do a quick calculation in my head when I fill up). Let's call it 21 MPG to make the math easier--that means I use up about 2/3 of a gallon each day. Let's also say gas is $3/gallon (again, to make the math easier), which means I'll use $2 worth of gas to go to and from the Metro.

Parking at the Metro is a highway-robberish $4/day, so $4+$2=$6 just in commuting expenses. I'm not counting Metro fare (more highway robbery, IMO) because that's a fixed cost...at least, until Metro raises the fares again.

Ride-On is $1.25 one-way $0.35 with a Metro transfer. Sounds like $1.60/day, but when the gf offers to give you a ride to the Metro on her way to work in the AM, it comes waaay down (of course, should I forget to get a transfer I pay the whole buck-and-a-quarter, but it still beats the hell out of $4 for parking.). So, if one remembers first-grade math, $6.00-$0.35=$5.65 each day in savings.

There are disadvantages. I usually get to Shady Grove between 5:20 and 5:25 each evening which means I'll catch the 5:27 bus. That doesn't leave much room for error if I should work late or if there are delays on the Metro. If the weather's bad, I get to wait in the cold or the snow or the rain. I think it goes without saying the first stop the bus makes isn't mine, so I get home a little later than I normally would. And there is no XM, or music of any kind, on the bus, unless I dig out my old CD player, which I guess I should.

I have to admit those little annoyances pale next to the $900-$1000 per year savings, just by using a resource that's been there all along. If I'm a good boy and I keep this up, I'll be able to take the gf on that Williamsburg vacation we rescheduled twice then ended up postponing.

That is, if the vet bills don't soak it all up first.

Deliveries to Hurricane-Affected areas

As I've mentioned in the past, I fix computers. I work for a nationwide company that has techs in pretty much every state of the country. Obviously, we have some in the states hit by Katrina, and we've been assured HR is trying to contact them and offer them assistance.

They also circulated a memo listing ZIP codes to which items cannot be delivered. I'm posting it here because someone might find it useful:

As of September 1, the following U.S. zip codes have been determined undeliverable at this time (except as noted):

Alabama
36501 – 36590
36720 – 36786
36601 – 36695

Florida
All locations operational

Louisiana
70000 – 70100
70452
70458
70459
70461
70469

Mississippi
39426
39452
39456
39457
39463
39466
39470
39501 – 39507
39520 – 39522
39525
39529 – 39535
39540
39552 – 39558
39560 – 39577
39581
39595

Friday Rat Blogging

Leather is our oldest rat, born September 11, 2002. She's just a week and a half shy of her third birthday, which puts her at 90+ in human years. She's an old girl.

She's the last of the second wave of rats, adopted in October 2002 with a group of siblings, half-siblings, and Pinky--seven in all. Of those seven, we never would have thought she'd be the last one to pass on. When she was about six weeks old, she started having seizures. We don't know what caused them; fortunately they passed.

After the seizures, she dealt with most of the standard rat problems: A couple of URI's, parasites, hind-leg paralysis. Then she broke her leg last month.

It's healed, but I think her age is catching up with her. She's slowed significantly since yesterday, and she looks tired all the time. She still loves sitting in a box, though--that picture was taken late Thursday night.

We hope she makes it to her third birthday, but realistically, we wonder if she will.

UPDATE 3 SEPTEMBER: Leather passed on at 7PM today. My gf and I were with her at the end. 11 September 2002 - 3 September 2005 Good night, sweet girl.

Knuckleheads

Reading the Washington Post Express this AM, and they had excerpts from yesterday's Travel Chat:

Ithaca, N.Y.: Have plans to vacation in New Orleans beginning of November 05 -- should I cancel?

Peter Greenberg: based on the damage I've seen so far, it seems unlikely, even if all the water is drained from the city, that all the infrastructure can get up to speed in time. November seems like it might be too soon. however, never underestimate the resilience and the recovery of a population that is so dependent upon travel and tourism. they might just pleasantly surprise us, and after all we need to support them.

I suppose Mr. Greenberg felt he should be diplomatic at first--not unreasonable; one doesn't want to burn bridges. But that wasn't the only time such a similar bone-headed question was asked:

Washington, D.C.: Hello Mr. Greenberg. We were planning a wedding in the Quarter on the 18th of November (this year). As it happens, we have dates held for us, but no contracts signed, money down, etc. And very fortunately, we haven't sent out invitations and have a back-up venue here in D.C. What's your opinion -- should we give up the NOLA wedding idea now or give them some time to recover? (we're on opposite sides of the fence here, so your opinion counts!)

Peter Greenberg: I wish I could tell you that I know for sure that November 18th will be fine for you, but I must stress that this is substantial damage in new Orleans, and we won't really know the long term extent of the damage for at least four or five more days, when they can drain the water. the good news, for you, is that I don't believe there will be a rush of new reservations to compete with yours for that date, so my advice is to get a plan B in place, and then, with luck NOLA will shine through and you'll be ok. you CAN wait for five days, yes? and after all, how many times do you get married?

Snarky comment: If they're more worried about the wedding than they are the marriage, they'll get married lots of times.

Laurel, Md.: What's your general response to people who wish to travel to the Gulf area right now? Wait? Go? What if it's an emergency?

Peter Greenberg: unless it is an absolute emergency, do NOT go. check online to various Web sites (operationusa.com, airlineamb.org, or even the today show Web site at today.msnbc.com) to determine what help is needed, where you can contribute, and how (and how fast!)

Translation: I'm a ghoul and I want to revel in the sight of others in misery. You think they'll let me in if I tell them it's an emergency?

Washington, D.C.: My elderly aunt didn't evacuate before the storm. She lives on St. Charles Street. My husband is driving towards New Orleans to try to get her and her cats out of her apartment. Will he be able to just drive up and get her? Are there detailed flood maps of the city?

Peter Greenberg: no, he will not. the city is in an official locked down state. he needs to contact the red cross immediately with her exact location and medical condition so they can go in and get her

"Detailed flood maps?" I'm speechless.

Blogging for the Humane Society

A few days ago I posted about a lady who had to evacuate: She took two of her animals behind and left the others behind.

A rat-friend of mine, a breeder in Louisiana, has over 120 rats. He was prepared to evacuate, but couldn't take all 120 rats, nor could he take the rest of his forty pets. He was fortunate; his house was not flooded. A bit damaged, but not flooded, and he did not have to evacuate.

Others, I'm sure, had to make similar decisions.

And, in the confusion and hurry that must have accompanied the evacuation, I'm sure other animals were lost. Some of these pets are certainly still alive; they're just separated from their family...and they need food and medical attention too.

For that reason, I'm contributing to The Humane Society, and I'd like to encourage you to do the same.

I'm sorry to say there won't be enough stories like this:

Parks crossed over, his skiff slapping on the waves, and found Jim Elorriaga, a New Orleans blues musician who goes by the simpler name of E.L.

"Do you want a lift?" Melinda Parks yelled. "Oh, God, do I," E.L. said.

As the skiff pulled up in some reeds, E.L. began to relate his tale.

Trapped in his apartment along the lake's edge, he had gone first to the second floor and then the roof as Katrina built in fury and the water rose.

Finally, with the water closing over the top of his roof, Elorriaga saw the Sundance sailboat adrift and passing nearby. He said he jumped to a floating refrigerator and from there to the boat, which began to lurch about crazily in the tempest.

Eventually, the Sundance rammed an even bigger boat, and the two of them ran aground in a T. With his belongings and home gone, Elorriaga sat down to wait for help.

"I even lost my dog, Woody," he said in despair.

But, as it happened, the Parkses had seen Woody earlier. He was nearby, jumping among the wreckage floating around a gas storage tank. Elorriaga splashed off and soon was carrying Woody in his arms.

From NOLA (scroll waaay down)

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