Noviembre 22, 2005
It's obvious they didn't consult with me on the script.
I'm watching House right now, which is a great show, and not just because Gregory House reminds me of the doctor I had for over half of my life, but that's for another post.
Interesting episode--got a guy who's HIV positive who's sicker than he should be. In one of the backstories, House's ex-wife is complaining about a rat in their house. House decides to be a hero and get rid of the rat for her.
Of course, when House comes face-to-face with the rat (and he's a cute little one, too. Looks kind of like George the gf-eater), he hesitates before deciding not to whack him because the rat tilts his head at him (Good thing there was no rat-murder, too, because I might never have watched the show again, but that's not important right now.).
So he consults with another doctor asking about what causes a head-tilt and the other doctor goes thru a whole laundry list of things, including an inner-ear infection and suggests a CAT scan and other tests. House says no, because the patient has no insurance.
Now, any rat-person can tell you if a rat gets a head-tilt, 99.9% of the time it's due to an inner-ear infection. Rats get inner-ear infections all the time--a round of baytril or doxycycline for two weeks and your rat will be good as new if it's caught in time. If it's not--depends on how "too late" you caught it. Rats can get the infection cleared up but they live with a permanent tilt for the rest of their short lives.
House goes to his ex's house and scrapes up a bit of an apparent urine puddle from the rat to run some tests, explaining mold or something could cause the head-tilt and he doesn't want to risk his ex-wife getting sick from whatever is causing the little rat (by this time, House has named him Steve McQueen) to have a head tilt.
House has a touching almost-reunion with his ex- but they catch the rat in the Hav-A-Hart trap he's set up to catch the rat. He takes the rat into the hospital for reasons yet to be revealed (show isn't over yet) and he runs into a doctor in the elevator...UPDATE: the rat has mycoplasmosis which is what EVERY FREAKIN' RAT IN THE WORLD HAS!!! Anyway, House realizes the rat has myco (despite the fact that some other doctor thinks any thing the rat has can infect the whole hospital) and that gives him a massive clue to what's causing Calvin the kid to get sick.
Oh, and mycoplasmosis doesn't cause head tilts. Upper respiratory infection, yes, but not an inner-ear infection.
The end, basically. Anyway, there was one good line in the show when House took the rat into the hospital and runs into a female colleague in the elevator:
Female Doctor: Why do you have a rat?
House: Jealous?
SUPER-DUPER INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT UPDATE: House kept Steve McQueen as a pet! The last shot was of House watching him run in a wheel...a wire wheel (bad) in a cage identical to what we use for a transport cage (12X12, very bad), and just how did he get that rat to run in a wheel? Anyway, I'm excited and if someone from Fox should read this, I offer my services as a special script consutant for any plots involving Steve McQueen the Rat.
Noviembre 18, 2005
It's Office Christmas Party Time!
I worked in a country club, on and off, for about twelve years. The job was a royal PITA, to be honest, but the people I worked with were great. We were so great that when, during a party when one of our co-workers (who later went on to be the manager of the club) decided to cut off a branch from a tree in his backyard, we sat there and watched while he cut away the offending branch while he was sitting on it.
Good times, you bet.
In order to keep member dues down (and we had some cheap-ass members) the club would take outside parties. Weddings, college halloween parties, high-school proms, you name it. We weren't proud--we'd take anybodies money!
And Christmas parties. Lord-a-mighty did we do Christmas parties. When that was my full-time job, fourteen to eighteen hour days were the norm for those of us with the stamina. Three parties a day were not unheard of.
I did everything for these parties over those years--cooked banquets, worked buffets, bussed the tables, waited on the tables, and tended bar (both main and satellite). Paul at Snooze Button Dreams talks about the end of the office Christmas party, and working those parties at the club, we saw it all.
Some girl would inevitably get drunk and start grinding a VP when the music came on. Yep, though I'm not sure all of those guys were VPs. One time it wasn't her husband, though. *That* was a great scene, believe you me.
Some guy would end up taking his shirt off on the dance floor and spin it over his head. Never a shirt. Jackets frequently, but no shirts that I can recall. Paul didn't mention that the guy to start swinging his jacket over his head was always, always white, and it was usually during Celebration or Shout, two songs that are banned from any celebration I should be having. Seriously--I'll put a clause in the contract that if the DJ plays those songs, no matter who asks for them, they forfeit all pay plus they pay me a penalty of $10,000.
Drunks would start asking the executive officers personal questions. Again, not sure if they were executives, but one guy asked another if it was true he and his wife had been in a three-way with another co-worker (the name of the "other" co-worker, as I recall, was "Chris" which could go either way). The guy said, "No," but the look on his face said, "Yes."
People would go outside and come back stinking of weed and then get approached by someone important. No weed, but you would frequently hear lots of snorting in the bathroom.
And, I admit, I've seen things like this.
Good times. Good times.
Noviembre 13, 2005
jackhammers...sounds like there are jackhammers in my head...
And there are. There was a watermain break on our block today. I called WSSC earlier in the day (about 2 or 2:30) and they started with the jackhammers at about 7:30 PM, right after Washington lost.
It's going to be a loooong night, for some people.
Noviembre 11, 2005
Noviembre 10, 2005
Noviembre 09, 2005
They are the worst Leafs of all!
Caps lost last night, after leading for about half the game. Dang. Anyway, these guys get the logo of the Toronto Maple Leaves up for...actually, I just leave it up.
Congrats, and enjoy your holiday! And don't think I won't forget you owe me a Caps logo on your site!
Noviembre 08, 2005
Hockey WhoopAss Jamboree
I owe CalTechGirl a second Whoopass Jamboree post. In accordance with the rules of the HWAJ, I will now post the logo of her Carolina Hurricanes:
Better late than never.
Noviembre 04, 2005
Good night, sweet Zoe!
My little girl Zoe has passed on. She had a stroke a few weeks ago and her condition deteriorated to the point where she could hardly hold her head up to eat or drink.
She was a very special girl to me--rather fat and very friendly. She loved people, and she loved licking. If you stuck your hand in the cage anywhere near her she'd lick and lick and lick...I never left my hand in there long enough to find out for how long, but I got the feeling she wouldn't stop until her tongue wore out.
I took this picture just a little while before we took her to the vet for her final nap. She was tired and she wasn't the same girl she was before. But she still cuddled with me and bruxed for a bit before I took this picture.
My favorite picture of me and Zoe, and how I'll always remember her--fat, happy, and grooming my beard.
*Bruxing is the rat equivalent of purring. It's the sound a rat makes when she grinds her teeth together and is an emotional release. It's normally a sound of contentment, but like a cat purring, a rat will also brux when under extreme stress or pain. There's no way to really tell which is which...but I think Zoe was bruxing because I was scratching her ears the way she liked to be scratched.
